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Prigozhin, the mercenary chief urging an uprising against Russia's generals, has long ties to Putin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

Once a low-profile businessman who benefited from having President Vladimir Putin as a powerful patron, Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight with Russia’s war in Ukraine.As the leader of a mercenary force who depicts himself as fighting many of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine, the 62-year-old Prigozhin has now moved into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against the leadership of the country's military.Prigozhin, owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, has escalated what have been months of scathing criticism of Russia’s conduct of the war by calling Friday for an armed uprising to oust the defense minister. Russian security services reacted immediately, opening a criminal investigation and urging Prigozhin’s arrest.In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infra...

One year later, the Supreme Court's abortion decision is both scorned and praised

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

Activists and politicians are marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a nationwide right to abortion by both bashing and celebrating it.Rallies on both sides were scheduled for Saturday in Washington and across the country.In a statement, President Joe Biden pledged to protect access and decried the court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The court's conservative majority on June 24, 2022, overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had been in place for nearly a half-century.“States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide,” Biden said.Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel praised the ruling, which was made possible by former President Donald Trump's adding three con...

Cause of death for Adam Rich, former 'Eight is Enough' child star, revealed in report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – The effects of fentanyl were said to be the cause of death for Adam Rich, the actor best known for his role as the youngest child on TV’s “Eight Is Enough.”Rich, 54, was found “lifeless” in his Los Angeles-area home in January, law enforcement sources told TMZ at the time. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner later said no foul play had been suspected.The medical examiner’s office ultimately ruled his death an accident, according to an online report.The cast of "Eight Is Enough" is seen in a promotional photo from the ABC series. Adam Rich (center, front row), who played the youngest child of the Bradford family, was found dead in his Los Angeles-area home in January at the age of 54. (Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)As a child actor, Rich played Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of the Bradfords in ABC’s “Eight Is Enough,” which aired from 1977 to 1981.Rich is also credited for roles in the ‘80s animated “Dungeons &...

BBB warns of 'big ticket item' scams on Facebook Marketplace

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning online shoppers to be careful after an increase in Facebook Marketplace scams, especially for big-ticket items like used cars and RVs.The BBB said the first warning sign is a seller trying to get your money upfront."You wire or you use one of these third-party money apps and you never receive the car, and you are out the money," the BBB's Paula Fleming told Nexstar's WPRI. Fake Microsoft virus scam targeting elderly According to Fleming, people have reported losing anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars because the listing seemed so believable."The bigger the ticket, like a car, it's not uncommon to have a payment required," she explained. "But if you are not going through a car dealer, a reputable business … it's really hard to know who is on the other end." LEARN MORE: How to report a Facebook Marketplace seller How the scam worksThe seller tells the prospective buyer they are out of the cou...

Texan diagnosed with malaria after working outdoors in Cameron County, DSHS says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A Texas resident was diagnosed with malaria after working outdoors in Cameron County, officials announced Friday.The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) issued a health advisory, stating that it was notified of a malaria case involving a Texas resident who has not traveled outside of the state.According to DSHS, the individual had spent time working outdoors in Cameron County. In the health advisory, DSHS states its been working with local health departments to determine whether any other people have been exposed. As of Friday, there are no other locally acquired cases of malaria."Malaria is a serious potentially fatal disease caused by protozoan parasite from the Plasmodium genus, which can be transmitted through the bite of a mosquito of the genus Anopheles," DSHS stated. The most common symptoms of malaria are "flu-like," including shaking, chills, sweats, body aches and vomiting, the advisory states. DSHS recommends the public prot...

Soucheray: We need a wait-a-minute person on the St. Paul school board

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

Maybe a ballot question could be redemptive, and a modest one at that. Do the citizens of St. Paul require that at least one member of the school board have a background in the financial industry, not limited to, but including the banking, accounting or auditing professions, or at one time in his or her life has at least run a curbside Kool-Aid stand?The board just approved its first-ever $1 billion budget, despite declining enrollment. Only one board member, Uriah Ward, the board’s treasurer, voted no on the submitted budget. Ward pointed out the board received the budget only four days before voting on it and had not been given time to consider changes. Good for you, Mr. Ward. What a lonely awareness you must have. Then again, I am assuming that Ward thought it was too much money. Maybe he thought it wasn’t enough.Jenelle Hill, a reading teacher at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School, called the lack of stakeholder involvement “appalling.’’ No input by the stakeholders, she said. N...

Working Strategies: Reigniting the ‘spark’ in a stuck job search

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

Amy LindgrenPeople get stuck in their job searches for any number of reasons. They may run out of ideas, may not understand what employers in their field are looking for, may feel confused about their goals or uncertain about leaving a current job. Or, as described in last week’s column, they may be dealing with depression or other mental health issues.If your job search has lost its spark, it’s time to rekindle the flame and get moving again. Here are 15 steps to consider.1. Take job search classes. State workforce/career force centers are a good source of online and in-person classes, almost always at no cost. Likewise, you’ll find options through your community education system, as well as libraries and local universities.2. Join a job search support group. Many of the same places that offer job search classes also provide group sessions that support job seekers. These groups can also be found through nonprofit groups and houses of worship.3. Take a part-time or temporary job. Ev...

Crisis could turn to coup as mutineers head to Moscow

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

All Russia’s leaders have feared a military coup but a successful one has proved elusive. Yevgeny Prigozhin needs to succeed in winning over elements of the regular army to threaten President Putin’s grip on power, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.To start an armed revolt is to risk everything. When Yevgeny Prigozhin turned his troops away from the front line in Ukraine to seize the Russian city of Rostov-na-Donu, he crossed the Rubicon, as Julius Caesar literally did when he turned his and his army’s attention from Gaul to Rome.Seizing Rostov, Russia’s main military command centre of the war in Ukraine, could only ever be the start and Prigozhin knew it. So, he and his Wagner Group Private army are heading north, towards Moscow. But what is his plan?If it was that a grateful Vladimir Putin would dismiss the ministers and generals Prigozhin despises, that has been swiftly exposed as wrong and naive. Putin has warned of civil war, as he relies on the Russian army to confront and d...

Four wounded in Oakland shootings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

OAKLAND — Four people were wounded in three shootings that happened within two hours Friday night and early Saturday in different areas of the city, authorities said.All of the victims were in stable condition Saturday.The shootings are not related, police said.About 12:10 a.m. Saturday two men, one a 36-year-old Richmond resident and the other a 39-year-old Oakland resident,  were shot near the intersection of 76th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland.  Police said the men knew each other.The younger man was sitting in a parked vehicle and the other man was standing outside, authorities said.  They told police they heard multiple gunshots and realized they had been wounded. The men got a ride to a hospital from another person.The shooting activated a gunshot detection system and police found multiple shell casings in the area.Police are trying to determine a motive for the shooting and if the men were they intended targets of whoever was shooting.  No arrests have b...

YWCA fundraiser a high-heeled walk in the park at Santana Row

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:24 GMT

What do you call a crowd of more than 600 people — overwhelmingly men — walking around Santana Row in high heels and carrying signs? If you’re Adriana Caldera Boroffice, CEO of the YWCA of Golden Gate Silicon Valley, you’d call that a huge success.That was the scene Thursday at the swanky shopping center in San Jose for Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, the YWCA’s annual event to raise funds and awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence.“We’re well on our way to surpassing what we did last year,” Boroffice said. As of Friday afternoon, the event had brought in more than $113,000. “It’s an amazing turnaround.”Walkers, including hundreds of men wearing high heels, take to the streets at Santana Row in San Jose for the YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley's Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event on Thursday, June 22, 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)Kaiser Permanente Nurse Leaders Darren Friday, left, and Josh Huezo...