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Winning the presidential nomination is all about delegates. But how does the process work?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — By now, Americans should be well aware that the process of electing a president isn’t like electing a senator or governor. That’s especially true during the presidential primaries, when the major political parties use a complex and decentralized system to pick their nominees to compete in November. That complicated process was highlighted in the nomination plans released Tuesday evening by the Republican National Committee, which lays out numerous ways in which states will assign the delegates that a candidate must accumulate to win the party’s nod to become its presidential candidate in 2024. Although voters across the country cast ballots for their preferred presidential candidate during the presidential primary season, it’s actually the delegates to the national party conventions who select the presidential nominees for each major party. Much like in the general election, where a candidate needs a majority of votes in the Electoral College to win the White...

Michigan to join state-level effort to regulate AI political ads as federal legislation pends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is joining an effort to curb deceptive uses of artificial intelligence and manipulated media through state-level policies as Congress and the Federal Elections Commission continue to debate more sweeping regulations ahead of the 2024 elections. Campaigns on the state and federal level will be required to clearly say which political advertisements airing in Michigan were created using artificial intelligence under legislation expected to be signed in the coming days by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. It also would prohibit use of AI-generated deepfakes within 90 days of an election without a separate disclosure identifying the media as manipulated.Deepfakes are fake media that misrepresent someone as doing or saying something they didn’t. They’re created using generative artificial intelligence, a type of AI that can create convincing images, videos or audio clips in seconds. There are increasing concerns that generative AI will be used i...

Opening statements to begin in the final trial in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — Opening statements are scheduled Wednesday in the third and final trial over the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died after he was stopped by police in suburban Denver.Jurors will have to decide if two paramedics committed a crime when they gave the 23-year-old Black man an overdose of the sedative ketamine after he was forcibly restrained by officers in Aurora. Three officers already have gone to trial and two were acquitted, including one who is back at work for the police department. The third officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.The last trial is expected to explore largely uncharted legal territory since it is rare for medical first responders to face criminal charges.Aurora Fire Department paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and several counts each of assault — all felonies. Shortly after the ketamine injection, McClain, a mass...

A mom chose an off-the-grid school for safety from COVID. No one protected her kid from the teacher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — When Raynesha Cummings enrolled her three teenagers in a private school, she hoped to keep them safe from COVID-19. It was small, with no frills — there was just one teacher and the school didn’t serve lunch — but it worked for her family, at least initially.Her son graduated in May at the top of his class, with hopes of attending a trade school. But when he started applying, schools said they would not recognize his diploma.Then, a couple weeks later, Cummings says she discovered the teacher had been texting her 16-year-old daughter to offer money for sexually explicit photos. The teacher was arrested, and Cummings learned he previously had been accused of raping a child.Cummings didn’t know it when her kids started at Second Chance Academy, but the school had no accreditation, no approval from the state and no one supervising the teacher she left her kids with every day.“If I had known that, I would never pay my money for them to go there,” Cummings said. “...

Conservative attack on government regulation reaches the Supreme Court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to fight fraud, part of a broad attack on regulatory agencies led by conservative and business interests.The case before the justices Wednesday involves the Biden administration’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that threw out stiff financial penalties imposed on hedge fund manager George R. Jarkesy by the SEC.The high court’s decision could have far-reaching effects on the SEC and other regulatory agencies, and it’s just one of several cases this term that could constrict federal regulators. The court’s conservative majority has already reined them in, including in last May’s decision sharply limiting its ability to police water pollution in wetlands.Last year, a divided panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Jarkesy and his Patriot28 investment adviser group on three separate issues.It f...

Trump embraces the Jan. 6 rioters on the trail. In court, his lawyers hope to distance him from them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has embraced the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 as patriots, vowed to pardon a large portion of them if he wins a second term and even collaborated on a song with a group of jailed defendants.In his election interference case in Washington, his lawyers are taking a different tack. Despite losing a bid to strike from the indictment references to that day’s violence, defense attorneys have made clear their strategy involves distancing the former president from the horde of rioters, whom they describe as “independent actors at the Capitol.” At the same time, special counsel Jack Smith’s team has signaled it will make the case that Trump is responsible for the chaos that unfolded, and point to Trump’s continued support of the Jan. 6 defendants to help establish his criminal intent. The competing arguments highlight the extent to which the riot serves as an inescapable backdrop in a landmark trial set to begin on March 4 i...

Georgia Republicans move to cut losses as they propose majority-Black districts in special session

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers will open a special session Wednesday as majority Republicans move to minimize their losses while also trying to increase the number of Black-majority districts to comply with a federal court order.It’s one in a series of redistricting sessions across the South after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 1964 Voting Rights Act, clearing the way for Black voters to win changes from courts.Georgia House Republicans on Tuesday released a map that would likely cost them only two seats from their current 102-78 majority while creating five more majority-Black districts that Democrats would be likely to win. That’s because the map would also pair three sets of Democratic incumbents, meaning Democrats would lose three of those members after 2024 elections And Senate Republicans could improve on that performance — the map they proposed on Monday creates two additional Black-majority voting districts, but would probably retain the GOP’s current ...

17 residents displaced after fire burns entire city block in South L.A.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

A fiery inferno stretching an entire city block in South Los Angeles served as a terrifying early morning wake-up call for residents in the Central-Alameda neighborhood.  The fire was reported around 3:25 a.m. and involved a “city-block-sized area” of structures in the 1500 block of East Vernon Avenue, according to an alert from the Los Angeles Fire Department. Investigators said the blaze started at a multi-family residential building that was in the framing stages of construction. It quickly spread, impacting a total of seven homes, leaving five of them a total loss. The intense flames blew out Omar Hernandez’s living room windows and gutted the place he called home for more than 10 years.  The charred remains of Omar Hernandez's Central-Alameda home after a fire broke out at a nearby building under construction on Nov. 28, 2023. (KTLA)In Spanish, he told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo that he’s staying to protect what’s left of his salvageable personal items in his bedroom ...

1 dead, 1 hospitalized in shooting at L.A. Live downtown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

At least one person was killed after being shot in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday night and a shooting suspect is still on the run, authorities confirmed to KTLA.  Calls about the shooting at 800 West Olympic Boulevard, the address for L.A. Live, near the Peacock Theater and across from Crypto.com Arena, came in at around 6:15 p.m., officials with the Los Angeles Police Department said.  Details are limited and it’s unclear what led to the shooting, but police requested an ambulance for an approximately 40-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound, who was not conscious or breathing. Video of the incident obtained by KTLA showed police and firefighters arriving on the scene and going into Fixins Soul Kitchen within the entertainment complex. Authorities later confirmed that the victim had died. First responders on the scene of a fatal shooting in downtown L.A. on Nov. 28, 2023. (KeyNews.TV)First responders on the scene of a fatal shooting in downtown L.A. on Nov....

Silver Alert issued for missing person in North Bay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:25 GMT

(KRON) -- California Highway Patrol issued a Silver Alert on Tuesday for a missing person. Michele Paul, 81, has not been seen since Nov. 14. Paul is 5-foot-2, 110 pounds with gray hair and black eyes. Paul was last seen in Geyserville, and the alert was activated on behalf of the Healdsburg Police Department. Paul is believed to be driving a black 2019 Volkswagen Jetta with the California license plate 8LBD141. Anyone who sees Paul is asked to call 9-1-1 or (707) 431-3377. A Silver Alert is issued for an elderly, developmentally, or cognitively impaired person who has gone missing.