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Houston mayor’s race heads to runoff between US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — The race for Houston mayor headed to a runoff Tuesday night between U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire, two Democrats who breezed past a wide field of candidates in a race dominated by issues of crime, crumbling infrastructure and potential budget shortfalls. If elected, Jackson Lee would be Houston’s first Black female mayor, a meaningful change for America’s fourth-largest city. Since 1995, she has represented Houston in Congress. Whitmire has lapped his rivals in fundraising after five decades in the Texas Legislature, where he has helped drive tough-on-crime policies while also casting himself as a reformer.The runoff will be Dec. 9. Jackson Lee told supporters Tuesday night that she’s focused on providing for the needs of families and children as well as prioritizing public safety, creating more jobs for residents and showing she can be a mayor “for all of the people.” Whitmire told his supporters that while he’s focused o...

Escondido working on short-term rental ordinance for early 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

ESCONDIDO, Calif. — The City of Escondido is working on an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals within the city and welcoming the community’s input.“We want to invite people to come to the city, but we also have to respect the people that are here and that is all we are looking to do,” Escondido Mayor Dane White said.According to the city, there are an estimated 181 short term rentals throughout Escondido operated without any rules. The city plans to have an ordinance in place by early 2024.“Number one, we are not benefiting from the transient occupancy tax that we could be and number two, we have received a large number of complaints, noise complaints, nuisance type complaints that we need to get addressed and we just need an avenue to make that happen,” White said.The city says its missing out on a potential of $300,000 or more in revenue from the transient occupancy tax, each year. Hop aboard for free train rides through Balboa Park Residents have been vocal about a select ...

Stock market today: Asian shares mostly slip ahead of China-US meeting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined in muted trading Wednesday as attention focused on prospects for improved China-U.S. relations from meetings next week on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings in San Francisco offer an opportunity for top leaders from the U.S. and China to mend troubled trade and political ties. Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are due to meet then, and White House officials expect to make some modest announcements as part of the tete-a-tete, but fundamental differences in the relationship will remain unchanged. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to meet Thursday and Friday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in San Francisco before finance ministers of the APEC member nations officially kick off the summit Saturday.On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5% to 17,585.60, while the Shanghai Composite declined 0.2% to 3,049.92. Gloom over worse-than-expected export data offset any positive ...

Growing numbers of Palestinians flee on foot as Israel says its troops are battling inside Gaza City

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north, a U.N. agency said Wednesday, as Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City. Over 70% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already fled their homes, but the growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza’s largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment.The war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault inside Israel has entered a second month, with an increasingly dire humanitarian situation inside the besieged Palestinian enclave and no end in sight. Israel has said its war to end Hamas’ rule and crush its military capabilities will be long and difficult, and that it will maintain some form of control over the coastal enclave indefinitely.About 15,000 people fled northern Gaza on Tuesday, triple the nu...

Andy Beshear’s path to reelection as Kentucky governor went through Trump country

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear won reelection to Kentucky’s highest office Tuesday by improving upon the path to victory he carved in his successful 2019 bid.That year, Beshear barely defeated Republican incumbent Matt Bevin, 49.2% to 48.8% — a margin of just over 5,000 votes. He did so by posting huge margins in the state’s Democratic strongholds, cobbling together wins or near-wins in a number of Republican-leaning areas, and minimizing the damage in traditionally safe Republican areas.Beshear appears to have carried 29 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, all but two of them in counties Donald Trump carried in the 2020 presidential election. In comparison, he won 23 total counties four years ago.Beshear was the overwhelming choice of voters who cast their ballots before Election Day, winning about 62%. Since the 2020 presidential election, Democrats tend to make up the lion’s share of pre-Election Day voting. More notably, Beshear held Republican nominee Daniel Camer...

Duluth refuses to give incumbent mayor a third term

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

DULUTH, Minn. — Roger Reinert will be the city’s next mayor after defeating the incumbent officeholder, Emily Larson, on Tuesday night.The two longtime DFLers squared off against each other in the tightest mayoral race since Don Ness faced Charlie Bell in 2007.Despite running against an incumbent, Reinert emerged as the political favorite in the race, after a strong primary performance, garnering 60% of the vote to Larson’s 40% in final but unofficial returns.Larson managed to narrow that gap slightly in the general election, shrinking the margin as Reinert received just 60% of the vote to her 40%, according to unofficial results released Tuesday.As far as the keys to the race, Reinert said: “I think it really was a couple things. It was how we approached it and being really thoughtful about getting out on the front end and meeting with people to have those conversations that really informed the five big issues that we just kept talking about.“And I think it was about staying the co...

Mikko Rantanen, penalty killers help Avalanche fend off the Devils after wild, violent second period

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

It’s not often that a team can allow two power-play goals, and the penalty kill deserves a huge amount of a credit in a winning effort, but Tuesday was an atypical night at Ball Arena for the Colorado Avalanche.Ryan Johansen and Nathan MacKinnon scored less than two minutes apart in the third period to help the Avs defeat the New Jersey Devils, 6-3, but a wild chain of events in the middle 20 minutes provided the biggest talking points from this contest.Colorado took five penalties in the period, and spent seven minutes shorthanded, including a five-minute major. That the Avs started started the period tied and ended it even was a significant positive, given the circumstances.The win kept the Avalanche undefeated at home this season and moved the club to 8-3 overall. Colorado had lost three of the previous four games, all by shutout, including 7-0 on Saturday night in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights.The opening period was pretty standard stuff from two teams that fancy th...

European Greens call for top candidates for EU elections 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

The European Green Party is opening the call for top candidates for the 2024 EU elections, also known as “Spitzenkandidaten”. The selected Green leading candidates will be the heart and face of our political family in the campaign debates and events leading up to the EU elections on 6th-9th June 2024. Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel, co-chairs of the European Green Party comment: “During our Electoral Congress in Lyon on 2-4 February hundreds of delegates from all Green parties will elect our two European frontrunners. We call on other European political parties to do the same, to ensure a transparent political discussion prior to the EU elections taking place on 6th-9th June. Our top candidates are also our nominees for key positions, such as the Commission presidency if the opportunity arises. This is because we believe that behind-the-scenes arrangements, like the one we witnessed in 2019 with von der Leyen's appointment to the Commission presidency despite not being a candidate, ...

Thieves ransack, trash beloved local coffee shop and barbecue spot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

A beloved local coffee shop and barbecue spot in Sylmar was ransacked and trashed over the weekend, leaving the owners devastated.  Buffalo Bruce’s Mercantile, located at 13661 Hubbard Street, has been in business for 26 years, according to one of the owners, Vivian Hartman, who said when she and her husband arrived at work on Monday, they noticed the doors were broken.  “When we entered, we saw our place and it was destroyed,” Hartman told KTLA. “It smelled, there was drug [paraphernalia] everywhere.”  The store’s owner added that the thieves not only took items of value like their computers and the restaurant’s knives and other equipment, but they also used a bat to further damage the shop.  Surveillance cameras set up in the coffee shop and restaurant were dismantled and taken, she said, and the shop’s internet connection was cut by the thieves.  Even more upsetting, Hartman said that after police came and looked at everything, the thieves broke back into the ...

Blackwood shines, Eklund yells and the San Jose Sharks’ nightmare ends

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:11 GMT

SAN JOSE – Forget about the San Jose Sharks losing streak and every ugly night that was a part of it.Put away the record book for now.The Sharks, almost four weeks after their season began, have earned a win.Thanks to an often spectacular performance from goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and goals from Anthony Duclair and William Eklund, the Sharks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Tuesday, ending an 11-game season-opening losing streak that tied an NHL record first established in 1943. Eklund’s goal was the winner. And after he scored at the 16:18 mark of the second period, giving the Sharks their first two-goal lead of the season, Eklund stood two dozen feet away from the Flyers net and let out a roar, a release of sorts after three-plus weeks of frustration.“It was a big relief,” Eklund said of his second goal of the season.A goal by Joel Farabee with 1:11 left in the second period cut the Sharks’ lead to 2-1. At first, it appeared Blackwood made an unbelievable glov...