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Michelle Wu blames ‘racial bias’ for Claudine Gay’s downfall as Harvard president: ‘I’m just really saddened’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is defending Harvard President Claudine Gay after the campus’ shortest-ever tenured prez resigned following her explosive comments about antisemitism and as the leader faced plagiarism allegations.Wu is blaming “racial bias” for Gay’s downfall at Harvard, noting that people against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) have been pushing hard for the president’s resignation. Gay was Harvard’s first Black president.The Boston mayor, who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, was asked about Gay during an interview on Wednesday.“I’m just really saddened by how the whole thing played out,” Wu said on ‘Java with Jimmy.’“I simply don’t believe that three minutes of a video clip, especially in a certain setting where you’re in a place where people are putting you in a ‘gotcha’ moment, that that should define everything,” she later added.Gay has bee...

Trump asks US Supreme Court to review Colorado ruling barring him from the ballot over Jan. 6 attack

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI (Associated Press)DENVER (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling barring him from the Colorado ballot, setting up a high-stakes showdown over whether a constitutional provision prohibiting those who “engaged in insurrection” will end his political career.Trump appealed a 4-3 ruling in December by the Colorado Supreme Court that marked the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was used to bar a presidential contender from the ballot. The court found that Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualified him under the clause.The provision has been used so sparingly in American history that the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on it.Wednesday’s development came a day after Trump’s legal team filed an appeal against a ruling by Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, that Trump was ineligible to appear on...

Alzheimer’s drugs might get into the brain faster with new ultrasound tool, study shows

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

By LAURAN NEERGAARD (AP Medical Writer)WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have found a way to help Alzheimer’s drugs seep inside the brain faster — by temporarily breaching its protective shield.The novel experiment was a first attempt in just three patients. But in spots in the brain where the new technology took aim, it enhanced removal of Alzheimer’s trademark brain-clogging plaque, researchers reported Wednesday.“Our goal is to give patients a head start,” by boosting some new Alzheimer’s treatments that take a long time to work, said Dr. Ali Rezai of West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, who led the study.At issue is what’s called the blood-brain barrier, a protective lining in blood vessels that prevents germs and other damaging substances from leaching into brain from the bloodstream. But it also can block drugs for Alzheimer’s, tumors and other neurologic diseases, requiring higher doses for longe...

GOP wants to impeach the Maine official who cut Trump from ballot. They face long odds

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

By PATRICK WHITTLE (Associated Press)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Republicans who want to unseat Maine’s secretary of state for barring former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot will face long odds impeaching a stalwart and influential Democrat whose party holds firm control over both Legislative chambers.Shenna Bellows is the first secretary of state in history to block someone from running for president by using the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause. Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has appealed the decision to a Superior Court in Maine and he has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a similar ban in Colorado.As Maine lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to begin this year’s legislative session, retribution against Bellows was among the first orders of business for many Republicans. They filed an order of impeachment against her, called for her to resign and encouraged legislators to vote...

Justice Department sues Texas over law that would let police arrest migrants who enter US illegally

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Texas over a new law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the U.S. illegally, taking Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to court again over his escalating response to border crossers arriving from Mexico. The lawsuit draws Texas into another clash over immigration at a time when New York and Chicago are pushing back on buses and planes carrying migrants sent by Abbott to Democrat-led cities nationwide. Texas is also fighting separate court battles to keep razor wire on the border and a floating barrier in the Rio Grande.But a law Abbott signed last month poses a broader and bigger challenge to the U.S. government’s authority over immigration. In addition to allowing police anywhere in Texas to arrest migrants on charges of illegal entry, local judges could also order migrants to leave the country.The law is set to take effect in March. The lawsuit was filed in Austin. Civil rights organizations and official...

Trial or trail? City of Toronto apologizes for misspelled bike path signs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

Are you on a trail or on trial? That’s the question some Toronto residents were asking after noticing a typo on a bike path sign in the east end of Toronto.The word trail in “Lake Shore Trail” was misspelled as trial on the sign. John Oughton, a retired Centennial College English professor, was one of the people to notice the typo and call attention to it. “I noticed it two weeks ago. That’s when I posted the thing on Facebook, and it just sort of trickled into the media awareness in the last couple of days,” said Oughton.And it’s not the first one he’s seen.“I’m on a Facebook group called Weird Toronto and a few weeks ago, somebody posted another typo that occurred around the Danforth and these signs are for bike paths,” explained Oughton. “So that was the first one, but I wasn’t expecting to see this.”“We think of them as being so official … and checked by numerous people,” he add...

Flooding at Boston hospital disrupts IVF services for 200 patients, leaving some devastated

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — Flooding from a burst water main at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital has disrupted services for about 200 patients seeking to have children through in vitro fertilization, leaving some of them devastated.Alexis Goulette, who runs a private IVF support group on Facebook, said Wednesday that a lot of the women had been informed of cancellations by voicemail and hadn’t been offered emotional support or been given explanations for alternative timelines or cost reimbursements.Goulette also noted the enormous amount of intense preparation that is required for an embryo transfer.“All the medications, the internal ultrasounds, the bloodwork,” she said. “It can sometimes be every single day for an entire month.”The disruption has left some of the women burdened with extra costs such as canceled flights or new insurance deductibles as they move into the new year, Goulette added.The pipe burst about 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve on the eighth floor of Brigham and Wom...

Petition to limit size of Toronto running groups on sidewalks gaining traction

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

Toronto residents are speaking out on social media and a petition has been launched to regulate the size of running groups along public sidewalks.Among them is Leah Madley, who said her dog was nearly trampled when she passed a group of runners. “She’s five pounds and they kicked her.”Madley says she was downtown at King Street and Spadina Avenue one evening in November taking her dog for a bathroom break when she turned around and saw a big group of runners.“I would say about 30 people started running down the sidewalk towards us and I just kind of stood there with her thinking they’ll move out of the way because my dog is going to the bathroom but unfortunately one of the runners, I don’t think it was intentional, but they did end up kicking her.”She says the runners carried on without apologizing, leaving her dog shaken but ok. Madley posted her video to TikTok in response to several other Toronto residents who shared similar stories.“There’s nowhere for us to go, they’re running...

Nebraska lawmakers reconvene for new session that could shape up to be as contentious as the last

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Legislature returned to the Capitol in Lincoln on Wednesday for the start of the short 2024 session that could end up as contentious as last year’s historically combative session, with a key lawmaker reviving her efforts to target LGBTQ+ youth.As one of her first acts in the new 60-day session that ends in April, conservative Omaha state Sen. Kathleen Kauth followed through on her promise to prioritize a bill that would restrict transgender student participation in high school sports and limit trans students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms. On the other end of the political spectrum, progressive Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, of Omaha, introduced a bill to repeal a hybrid measure passed last year that included Kauth’s restriction on gender-confirming care for transgender minors as well as a 12-week abortion ban.It was conservatives’ push for those measures that led Cavanaugh and a handful of other progressive lawmakers to filibuster near...

The Supreme Court is expected to determine whether Trump can keep running for president. Here’s why

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:37 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to determine whether former President Donald Trump can keep running for the White House.Trump on Wednesday appealed a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that he’s ineligible for the presidency because he violated a rarely used constitutional prohibition on those who hold office having “engaged in insurrection.” On Tuesday, he appealed a similar ruling from Maine’s Democratic secretary of state, but it’s the Colorado appeal that’s most significant.That’s because the nation’s highest court has never before ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 to prevent Confederates from regaining their former government posts. Whatever the Supreme Court decides applies to Colorado will apply to all other 49 states, including Maine.Trump remains on the ballot in both states until the appeals are done.WHAT IS SECTION 3?The provision is only two sentences and seems relatively straightforward.Sec...