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Supreme Court justices and donors mingle at campus visits, including in Colorado

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas headlined a 2017 program at McLennan Community College in Texas, his hosts had more than a speech in mind. Working with the prominent conservative lawyer Ken Starr, school officials crafted a guest list for a dinner at the home of a wealthy Texas businessman, hoping an audience with Thomas would be a reward for school patrons -– and an inducement to prospective donors.Before Justice Elena Kagan visited the University of Colorado’s law school in 2019, one official in Boulder suggested a “larger donor to staff ratio” for a dinner with her. After Justice Sonia Sotomayor confirmed she would attend a 2017 question-and-answer session at Clemson University and a private luncheon, officials there made sure to invite $1 million-plus donors to the South Carolina college. Biden administration asks appeals court to block order limiting its contacts with social media The Associated Press obtained tens of thousands of pages of emails ...

Police pursuit ends in crash; no injuries reported

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

A high-speed pursuit involving police ended in a crash on Tuesday.It happened near Okeechobee Road and 117th Street. 7News, was on the scene as the car was towed away.Police have confirmed that no one was injured in the incident.

A tour around Hialeah’s Amazon facility on Prime Day

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

One of the biggest shopping days of summer has arrived: Prime Day! At Amazon’s same-day delivery facility in Hialeah, factory employees are working hard to get those packages to local customers. A look inside the warehouse showed robots maneuvering around the floor as they move products for packaging. These high-tech devices are used to work effectively to get the most work done as workers stay in one place to continuously prepare each item for shipment.Approximately 300 people work in the building and contract hundreds of drivers to get the packages out quickly. Employees handled and packaged items as they moved quickly and efficiently as online orders came in. Those packaged items then get moved onto a conveyor belt where a different set of workers handle the sortation process. A woman in a yellow and blue-striped vest was seen scanning each package as she put them into a gray cart which then gets picked up by one of the drivers hired by Amazon to deliver to customers throug...

Ryan Gosling sings his heart out as poor, overlooked Ken in latest ‘Barbie’ trailer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

(CNN) — With the “Barbie” movie release date fast approaching, the latest teaser features Ryan Gosling’s Ken bemoaning life in his female companion’s shadow.“I just don’t know who I am without you,” Ken tells Margot Robbie’s Barbie in the trailer, released Monday.We then see Ken singing about the dynamic between the pair, who are best friends.“It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, I’m always number two,” he croons. “No one knows how hard I try.”Ken then reveals his unrequited feelings for Barbie.“I’m just Ken. Where I see love she sees a friend,” he sings. “What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan, and fight for me?”The teaser is part of promotional efforts for the new “Barbie” movie from Warner Bros., which is set for release on July 21. Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.The live-action movie is directed by Greta Gerwig and sees Barbie and Ken leave Barbie Land to explore the “real world.”Creating the perfect backdrop for the upcoming movie r...

Far-right racism scandals rock Finland, pressure new PM

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

Finland’s new prime minister has had his honeymoon period savagely cut short by two racism scandals that have thrown his government into turmoil.Center-right leader Petteri Orpo, widely regarded as a dependable political operator, is already watching the uproar undercut one of his key strategic moves: The decision to team up with the far-right Finns Party in government. The Finns Party has long been seen as something of a wild card in Finnish politics, pushing a “Finland first” line, which has seen it advocate strong anti-EU and anti-immigration positions. Its leaders, from Timo Soini to Jussi Halla-aho to current chief Riikka Purra, have long kept headline writers busy with flamethrowing speeches and populist blog posts. After elections in April, Purra secured serious influence in Orpo’s new government, not least by taking the role of finance minister and deputy prime minister for herself during lengthy government formation talks. But shortly after the ne...

Biden officials applaud Sweden’s NATO ascension, promise Ukraine a path ‘eventually’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

Biden administration officials on Tuesday celebrated Sweden’s ascension into NATO and promised that Ukraine will one day be on the same path.Fourteen months after applying to the military alliance, Stockholm’s bid got the green light from Turkey on Monday after months of being blocked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Sweden is now on track to become NATO’s 32nd member.“It sends two messages. First of all, our alliance is stronger, it’s bigger with two new members — Finland and now Sweden, and it’s more united than ever,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CBS. “In terms of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, it’s sending a very strong message to Putin that he’s not going to outlast us, he’s not going to outlast Ukraine, and the sooner he ends this war of aggression the better.”As part of the agreement, Turkish, Swedish and NATO officials explained that Stockholm had changed laws, expanded counterterrorism cooperation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and resta...

MEPs sling mud ahead of knife-edge nature restoration vote

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

STRASBOURG — A tense debate ahead of a key vote on a new EU biodiversity law in the European Parliament descended into a slanging match Tuesday.A year out from the next European election, a right-wing alliance led by the Parliament’s largest grouping, the European People’s Party, is trying to kill a Green Deal nature restoration law proposed by the European Commission, warning about its impact on economic growth.“For the next five years we have to care a lot about our industrial base … so we have to manage the big changes needed in a way that we don’t lose economic power,” said EPP leader Manfred Weber.The vote at midday on Wednesday promises to be very tight.“We are in the gray zone, if the vote took place right now I don’t know what the result would be,” said Pascal Canfin, a French Renew MEP who chairs the environment committee and is championing a compromise that hews more closely to the position adopted by EU countries.Outside the Parli...

Glass falls from UK parliament ceiling in new Commons calamity

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

LONDON — Shards of glass have fallen from the ceiling in one of the U.K. parliament’s main buildings — sending water gushing through the roof onto staff working below.The incident occurred in the glass atrium of Portcullis House, one of the busiest meeting spots in Westminster and home to many MPs’ offices. One parliamentary official on the scene said they were preparing for the possibility of more glass falling from the panels above, which appeared unstable.A House of Commons spokesperson said: “Teams are currently attending to an issue with the atrium roof in Portcullis House. The central part of the atrium has been cordoned off, with additional safety mitigations implemented to allow us to continue our investigations.”Anne Alexander, an ITV journalist who was present, tweeted: “Water just flooded down from the roof in Portcullis House sending people running for cover.”Portcullis House has been plagued by structural problems since its completion in 2001, including persistent ...

Bank of America accused of opening fake accounts and charging illegal junk fees

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

New York (CNN) — Federal regulators accused Bank of America on Tuesday of harming customers by double-dipping on fees, withholding credit card rewards and opening fake accounts.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Bank of America (BAC) to pay more than $100 million to customers and $90 million in penalties. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also ordered Bank of America (BAC) to pay $60 million in fines.Some of the allegations are reminiscent of the Wells Fargo scandal last decade that involved opening millions of bank accounts without customer authorization.“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust. The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.”Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bank of America to pay more than $100M for doubling fees, opening accounts without customer consent

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:14 GMT

Bank of America must pay more than $100 million to customers for doubling up on some fees, withholding reward bonuses and opening accounts without customer consent.Bank of America will pay $90 million in penalties to its organization and $60 million in penalties to the OCC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found the bank’s double-dipping on fees was illegal. Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, serves 68 million people and small business clients. The bank had $2.4 trillion in consolidated assets and $1.9 trillion in domestic deposits as of March 31, making it the second-largest bank in the U.S.Bank of America had a policy of charging customers $35 after the bank declined a transaction because the customer did not have enough funds in their account, the CFPB said. The agency determined that the bank double-dipped by allowing fees to be repeatedly charged for the same transaction.The bank said that it ...