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Transgender health: Comparing model bills to real proposals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

Many of this year’s statehouse proposals to restrict gender-affirming care for youths, as introduced or enacted, are identical or very similar to some model legislation, or ready-made bills suggested to lawmakers by interest groups, an Associated Press analysis has found.The AP obtained the texts of more than 130 bills in 40 state legislatures from Plural, a public policy software company, and analyzed them for similarities to model bills touted by the conservative groups Do No Harm and the Family Research Council.Some statehouse bills share similarities with Do No Harm’s model legislation and a 2021 Arkansas bill endorsed as a model by the Family Research Council. The model bills have similar preambles, including the assertion — rebutted by major medical organizations — that the risks of gender-affirming care outweigh its benefits.They both also include nearly the same list of circumstances under which the care would be permitted and similar descriptions of how the provisions...

Biden meeting with Indo-Pacific leaders at G7 summit while confronting stalemate over US debt limit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — President Joe Biden was seeking to rally regional cooperation against China on the margins of the Group of Seven summit Saturday, while confronting a stalemate in Washington over how to ensure the U.S. avoids default.Hoping to avert an outcome that would rattle the global economy and prove to be a boon to Beijing, Biden began his third day in Japan at the annual meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies with a briefing by staff on the latest fits and starts in the showdown over how to raise the federal debt limit. The president on Saturday was also squeezing in meetings aimed at challenging China’s buildout across the Indo-Pacific, including with the so-called Quad partnership made up of the U.S., Australia, Japan and India. The Quad members originally had been scheduled to meet in Sydney next week, but rescheduled their meeting for the sidelines of the G-7 to allow Biden to make an early return to Washington on Sunday in hopes of finalizing a deal to ...

2024 Republican hopefuls rush to defend Marine who put NYC subway rider in fatal chokehold

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged the nation to show Daniel Penny that “America’s got his back.” Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called for New York’s governor to pardon Penny, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy donated $10,000 to his legal defense fund.Republican presidential hopefuls have lined up to support Penny, a 24-year-old U.S. Marine veteran who was caught on video pinning an agitated fellow subway passenger in New York City to the floor in a chokehold. The passenger, 30-year-old Jordan Neely, later died from compression of the neck, according to the medical examiner.Penny has been charged with manslaughter. His attorneys say he acted in self-defense.He’s already become a hero to many Republicans, who have trumpeted Penny as a Good Samaritan moving to protect others in a Democrat-led city that has seen crime rates rise. The support has been unwavering, despite the fact that Neely, who was Black, never got physical with anyone on th...

Low-income tenants lack options as old mobile home parks are razed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Alondra Ruiz Vazquez and her husband were comfortable in Periwinkle Mobile Home Park for a decade, feeling lucky to own their mobile home and pay about $450 a month for their lot in a city with spiraling rents.But now they and dozens of other families have until May 28 to leave the Phoenix park, which nearby Grand Canyon University purchased seven years ago to build student housing. Two other mobile home communities are also being cleared this spring for new developments in a city where no new parks have been built in more than 30 years. “I’m here, well, because I have nowhere to go,” said Isabel Ramos, who lives at Periwinkle with her 11-year-old daughter. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”The razing of older mobile home parks across the United States worries advocates who say bulldozing them permanently eliminates some of the already limited housing for the poorest of the poor. Residents may have to double up with relatives or live in their car...

Mother of 8-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody says pleas for hospital care were denied

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The mother of an 8-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody said Friday that agents repeatedly ignored pleas to hospitalize her medically fragile daughter as she felt pain in her bones, struggled to breathe and was unable to walk.Agents said her daughter’s diagnosis of influenza did not require hospital care, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks said in an emotional phone interview. They knew the girl had a history of heart problems and sickle cell anemia.“They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe,” the mother said. “She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her.The girl died Wednesday on what her mother said was the family’s ninth day in Border Patrol custody. People are to be held no more than 72 hours under agency policy, a rule that is violated during unusually busy times. The account is almost certain to raise questions about whether the Border Patrol...

Mexico moving migrants away from borders to relieve pressure

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is flying migrants south away from the U.S. border and busing new arrivals away from its boundary with Guatemala to relieve pressure on its border cities.In the week since Washington dropped pandemic-era restrictions on seeking asylum at its border, U.S. authorities report a dramatic drop in illegal crossing attempts. In Mexico, officials are generally trying to keep migrants south away from that border, a strategy that could reduce crossing temporarily, but experts say is not sustainable.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported Friday that in the week since the policy change, Border Patrol averaged 4,000 encounters a day with people crossing between ports of entry. That was down dramatically from the more than 10,000 daily average immediately before.Between the migrants who rushed to cross the border in the days before the U.S. policy change and Mexico’s efforts to move others to the country’s interior, shelters in northern border citi...

Sanctions against Russia and what the G7 may do to fortify them

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — The Group of Seven advanced economies are expected to announce a new set of sanctions against Russia to try to further hinder its war effort in Ukraine during their summit in Hiroshima, Japan.In traveling to Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will help to drive home the need to better enforce measures meant to stifle Moscow’s war machine. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about their effectiveness. EU Council President Charles Michel said the plan was to close loopholes and ensure the sanctions are painful for Russia, not for the countries enforcing them. Here’s a look at what may be next, the sanctions so far, and the impact they have had on Russia’s economy and military effort.WHAT THE G7 MIGHT DOMichel said the 27-nation EU was focused on “shutting the door on loopholes and continuing to cut Russia off from critical supplies.” It is working on a plan to restrict trade in Russian diamonds...

Twins claw back but fall 5-4 to Angels in series opener

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Hundreds of feet away from the action, in the bullpen in left field, Jhoan Duran was readying himself in the seventh inning.It would seem he was preparing to face superstar Shohei Ohtani.Except he didn’t.Twins manager Rocco Baldelli opted to let Griffin Jax face Ohtani, after he had already given up a single and a triple, wiping away the Twins’ one-run advantage. Jax’s 3-2 pitch to the star came close to clipping the corner, but instead, was ball four.Jax was left to face the next hitter, too, surrendering the go-ahead run on a Hunter Renfroe single in the Twins’ eventual 5-4 loss on Friday night at Angel Stadium.The late Angels comeback came on a night where the Twins had stormed back against starter Reid Detmers after spending most of his start doing little but swinging and missing at his offerings.They did so 24 different times — mostly chasing after his slider — as he tied a career high with 12 strikeouts.It took them until the sixth inning to collect their fir...

South Jeffco: A chance to create a custom home on an acre-plus site beside Bear Creek Greenbelt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

See custom sites today at Sundance at Bear CreekWhat: Sundance at Bear Creek Greenbelt by Kurowski Custom Homes & Remodeling, one-acre-plus home sitesWhere: 8855 W. Bear Creek Dr., Lakewood. From S. Wadsworth Blvd take Yale Ave. west along Bear Creek Greenbelt, 0.7 mile to Estes St., left (south) on Estes past the trailhead to entry.Price: Finished custom home and acre-plus site from $2.9MWhen: Sunday, May 21, noon until 3 p.m.Phone: Set an appointment: 303-726-5990Phone: John Kurowski: 303-303-594-7040 or 303-972-8680More Info: Sundance.Kurowski.comFrom the raw suburban landscape that wrapped Denver in the early 1950s, no area disappeared to developers quite so fast as Jefferson County—the prettiest suburbs, closest to the parks and foothills, and equally close to the entertainment attractions Denver would come to offer.Builder John Kurowski still has a couple of acre-plus home sites that show off all of those attractions—each of them totally secluded, with views of Mt. ...

Study shows Coloradans really love Modern Farmhouse style

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:37:00 GMT

The Modern Farmhouse design is the most popular home style in Colorado and 31 other states.Hovia, a British wallpaper designer, analyzed Google Trends data using 575 search terms relating to 25 interior design styles to reveal the most popular style in each state.And Coloradans, like most Americans, like the Modern Farmhouse look.The design merges traditional rural style with a sophisticated, contemporary flair by using smooth lines and a neutral color palette, stainless steel appliances, sleek lighting fixtures, and granite countertops.TV home makeover shows and social media helped popularize the modern country vibe. It pays homage to classic and traditional aspects of homes that have been passed down for generations.Coloradans ready to renovatePerhaps because more people are staying in their homes, more homeowners are exploring options to renovate and improve their houses.Data compiled by Contractor Growth Network analyzed search terms related to home renovations, extensions, and ...