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Big money, fancy homes, old jokes – inside Joe Biden’s fundraisers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If you’re a Democrat with money to burn and friends in high places, you can spend thousands on tickets to a fundraiser with President Joe Biden. If not, keep reading to see what you’re missing. With an election year around the corner, Biden is accelerating his fundraising to prepare for an astronomically expensive campaign. (Think billions, not millions.) In this rarefied world, money equals access, and supporters regularly pay top dollar for a personal glimpse of the world’s most powerful man. Biden is collecting cash across the Los Angeles area this weekend, and his first stop was a sprawling estate where the host joked “it’s just a normal Friday at our house” as hundreds of donors sipped wine in the backyard.“You’re the reason why we’re gonna win, God willing, in 2024,” Biden told the audience.Each fundraiser is a little different, but they generally follow a similar script. Here’s what it’s like inside the presidential...

Ukraine aid in growing jeopardy as Republicans double down on their demands for border security

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A deal to provide further U.S. assistance to Ukraine by year-end appears to be increasingly out of reach for President Joe Biden. The impasse is deepening in Congress despite dire warnings from the White House about the consequences of inaction as Republicans insist on pairing the funding with changes to America’s immigration and border policies.After the Democratic president said this week that he was willing to “make significant compromises on the border,” Republicans swiftly revived demands that they had earlier set aside, hardening their positions and attempting to shift the negotiations to the right, according to a person familiar with the talks and granted anonymity to discuss them.The latest proposal, offered by lead GOP negotiator Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., during a meeting with a core group of senators before they departed Washington on Thursday afternoon, could force the White House to consider proposals that many Democrats will seriously oppose,...

Polish truck drivers are blocking the border with Ukraine. It’s hurting on the battlefield

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

KORCZOWA, Poland (AP) — Pickup trucks and tourniquets bound for Ukraine’s battlefield are stuck in a mileslong line at the border with Poland. Components to build drones to fight off Russian forces are facing weeks of delays.Ukrainian charities and companies supplying the war-torn country’s military warn that problems are growing as Polish truck drivers show no sign of ending a border blockade that has stretched past a month. The Polish protesters argue that their livelihoods are at stake after the European Union relaxed some transport rules and Ukrainian truckers undercut their business.While drones will make it to the front line, they’re delayed by two to three weeks, said Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, operational director of the KOLO foundation, which helps the Ukrainian army with battlefield tech, including drones and communications equipment.“This means that Russian army will have the ability to kill Ukrainian soldiers and terrorize civilians for several weeks longer,” he ...

DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy will appear in northwest Iowa days after a combative GOP debate

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidates will cross paths again in Iowa just days after a fractious debate and as the countdown to the caucuses nears the one-month mark.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will make their case — this time without the others interrupting — in northwest Iowa, a more rural, conservative corner of the state.Each will get time onstage with Rep. Randy Feenstra and his wife, Lynette, to discuss faith, family and politics at Dordt University in Sioux Center.On Friday, DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy made stops across Iowa as the pressure mounts to secure an attention-grabbing finish in the Jan. 15 contest that kicks off the Republicans’ nominating calendar. Former President Donald Trump, who will not join the Feenstra family on Saturday, continues to sit comfortably atop the field in polls of Republicans in Iowa and nationwide.DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy last appear...

From urchin crushing to lab-grown kelp, efforts to save California’s kelp forests show promise

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

CASPAR BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A welding hammer strapped to her wrist, Joy Hollenback slipped on blue fins and swam into the churning, chilly Pacific surf one fall morning to do her part to save Northern California’s vanishing kelp forests.Hollenback floated on the swaying surface to regulate her breathing before free diving into the murky depths toward the seafloor. There, she spotted her target: voracious, kelp-devouring purple urchins. Within seconds she smashed 20 to smithereens. “If you’re angry, it’s a cathartic way to get it all out,” Hollenback joked. “It’s ecologically sanctioned mayhem.”The veterinarian who lives in Berkeley, California is part of a crew of volunteers who swim, snorkel and dive armed with pick axes and hammers on a sole mission: To crush purple urchins that largely destroyed 96% of California’s iconic bull kelp forests between 2014 and 2020, and with it harmed red abalone and other sea life they supported.The pilot project off th...

With Putin’s reelection all but assured, Russia’s opposition still vows to undermine his image

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Behind bars in penal colonies or in self-exile abroad, Russian opposition figures vow they will still put up a fight against President Vladimir Putin as he seeks yet another term in office in an election in March.Although they believe Putin will be declared the winner no matter how voters cast their ballots, they say they hope to undermine the widespread public support he enjoys, turn popular opinion against the devastating war he unleashed on Ukraine, and show those who oppose it already that they are not alone.“No one but us will step into this battle for the hearts and the minds of our fellow citizens. So we need to do it and win,” imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said in an online statement relayed from behind bars.Putin, 71, announced Friday that he will run for president again, to pile another six years onto his two dozen in power. He could even run again in 2030.The vote is scheduled for March 15-17, with his victory all but assured....

Voters to choose between US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire for Houston mayor

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Two of Houston’s most powerful and longest serving political titans are facing off in a mayoral runoff election Saturday to see who will lead the nation’s fourth largest city, a young and diverse metro area facing challenges including crime, crumbling infrastructure and potential budget shortfalls.U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire, both Democrats, made it to Saturday’s runoff after breezing past a crowded field of nearly 20 candidates in the Nov. 7 general election.If elected, Jackson Lee, 73, would be Houston’s first Black female mayor. Since 1995, she has represented Houston in Congress and before that served on Houston’s City Council.Whitmire, 74, is one of Texas’ most powerful Democratic lawmakers in the state Legislature, where he has helped drive tough-on-crime policies while also casting himself as a reformer during his 50 years in office.His campaign focused on reducing crime, improving streets and reaching across the political aisle.“I...

Tensions are soaring between Guyana and Venezuela over century-old territorial dispute

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A century-old territorial dispute deepened by the discovery of oil is boiling over between neighbors Guyana and Venezuela. Steeped in patriotism, the Venezuelan government is seizing on the fight to boost support ahead of a presidential election among a population fed up with a decade-long crisis that has pushed many into poverty.Venezuelans on Sunday approved a referendum to claim sovereignty over Essequibo, a mineral-rich territory that accounts for two-thirds of Guyana and lies near big offshore oil deposits. Military confrontation appears unlikely for now, but several countries have echoed Guyana’s concerns over an annexation by its neighbor to the west.These are some of the key aspects of the growing dispute:WHY IS THE BORDER UNDER DISPUTE?Venezuela says it was the victim of a land theft conspiracy in 1899, when Guyana was a British colony and arbitrators from Britain, Russia and the United States decided the boundary. The U.S. represented Venezuela in...

Temps trend lower Saturday after some early showers; a cold Sunday may include few flurries for the Bear's game, but warming returns later next week

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

WGN WEATHER HEADLINESTOM SKILLING: "AN HONOR WHICH IS BEYOND WORDS. THANK YOU!""I have to thank the faculty and staff at NIU and all of the incredible Northern Illinois University meteorology interns who have worked with over the years here in our WGN weather office. I understand a number of you played a major role in making this happen. To each of you — and to Dr. Victor Gensini and all of his colleagues in NIU's meteorology department — THANK YOU! Anyone who knows me knows I'm not often beyond words — but I'm there right now! Never expected this recognition."NIU-trained meteorologists play an incredible role across the the meteorological profession — so to be recognized in this manner by NIU is an honor which is beyond words. THANK YOU!"Friday GOES EAST satellite view of the warm air flooding into the country from the Pacific and the GulfFRIDAY’S ABNORMALLY MILD TEMPS — A RESULT OF AN EL NIÑO WINTER?Friday's abnormally mild temps and weather pattern across the central U.S. has El ...

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass renders first aid to injured news photographer

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:50:21 GMT

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lept into action when a KCAL television news photographer collapsed while covering a press event on Thursday.The incident unfolded at the L.A. Police Department's training academy in Elysian Park where Bass joined LAPD Chief Michel Moore in congratulating the graduating class of recruits.According to KNX News Radio reporter Craig Fiegener, who witnessed the incident, the photographer collapsed and hit his head on the ground."The very first person to run to his rescue was the mayor," Fiegener said.KNX shared cell phone footage on X, formerly Twitter, that shows Bass, an LAPD officer and another person tending to the injured man.L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is seen assisting a news photographer who collapsed at a press event on Dec. 7, 2023. (KNX News)"A couple of people who, I don’t know if they were medics but they had some medical equipment, helped wrap his head up from the bleeding ... but the mayor was the one who was in charge," Fiegener said.Bass, who work...