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Research is growing into how best to stop gun violence. One city looks to science for help

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — “That’s where I got shot,” said Rashaad Woods, nodding toward a convenience store in Knoxville’s “gun zone.” There were bullet holes in a church’s walls. Nearby was a shuttered nightclub where some people were killed.“There was a point in time I wasn’t comfortable standing here,” said Kodi Mills, 45. “But that time is passing.”The men work for Turn Up Knox, a year-old program that mentors kids and defuses situations that could escalate into violence. It’s a centerpiece of the Tennessee city’s attempt to follow a science-based playbook in fighting a surge in shootings. Research reviews have begun to conclude there’s enough evidence to say which public health interventions prevent shootings, which don’t, and which need more study. Knoxville is one of a growing number of cities teaming with researchers to develop an evidence-based plan to stop the bleeding.Knoxville’s program includes policing changes and other efforts. However, it does not count...

La mujer que empujó y causó la muerte a una profesora de canto de 87 años en Nueva York se declara culpable

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

(CNN) — La mujer que empujó y causó la muerte de una profesora de canto de Broadway de 87 años en Nueva York se declaró culpable de un cargo de homicidio premeditado, anunció este miércoles el fiscal del distrito de Manhattan, Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.Según los términos de su acuerdo de culpabilidad, Lauren Pazienza será condenada a ocho años de prisión y cinco años de supervisión tras su puesta en libertad, informó la oficina del fiscal en un comunicado de prensa.Después de ser empujada al suelo por Pazienza el 10 de marzo de 2022, la profesora de canto Barbara Gustern fue trasladada de urgencia al hospital, donde murió más tarde.Una selfie publicado por Barbara Gustern en su página de Facebook el 17 de marzo de 2021. (Crédito: Barbara Maier Gustern/Facebook)Gustern era una “talentosa intérprete de teatro musical y entrenadora vocal que tocó a tantos en la ciudad de Nueva York y más allá”, dijo Bragg en un comunicado.La oficina del fiscal dijo que el incidente tuvo luga...

Laporte leaves Man City to join Ronaldo and Mane in Saudi as Chelsea signs Brazilian striker

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Spain center back Aymeric Laporte is heading to Saudi Arabia to play with Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane after losing his place in Manchester City’s expensively assembled defense.The 29-year-old Laporte is joining Al Nassr, City said on Thursday, for a reported fee of 23.5 million pounds ($30 million).Chelsea, meanwhile, took its spending in this transfer window to around $400 million by signing 18-year-old Brazilian striker Deivid Washington from Santos for a fee reportedly in the region of $22 million. Laporte has dropped down the list of center backs at City, with new signing Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake ahead of him as left-sided defenders in the English Premier League champions’ new three-at-the-back formation.Along with Ronaldo and Mane, Al Nassr has also Alex Telles and Marcelo Brozovic as overseas players in its squad.Al Nassr is one of four storied Saudi clubs effectively nationalized by the sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund, ...

Thirsty Thursday? How midweek and weekend Virginia booze sales stack up

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

If you don’t like lines, Thursday may be a better day than Saturday to shop for booze in Virginia.Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority has released its fiscal year 2023 sales results, and Saturday is still the biggest day for sales.Saturday sales at the state’s 339 ABC stores totaled $280.4 million in fiscal 2023 — almost 25% of weekly retail sales. Sunday sales totaled $102.3 million.Daily sales rose every day except Thursday.Virginia ABC stores sell to both retail customers and businesses that hold liquor licenses, such as bars and restaurants. Retail sales rose by $44.6 million to $1.18 billion, with $8.8 million in online sales. Sales to licensees totaled $250.4 million, an increase of nearly $21 million, indicating what ABC calls continued strength of Virginia’s hospitality industry.The total $1.5 billion in sales was up $54.3 million over fiscal 2022. Those sales include distilled spirits, Virginia wines and mixers and the collection of license fees ...

Mayor to provide update on Denver homelessness following 2nd sweep

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston will provide another update on the city's homelessness state of emergency following a second encampment sweep.At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Johnston will address the latest activity that supports the state of emergency. Mayor Mike Johnston declares emergency over homelessness in Denver This update comes hours after the city conducted a sweep of an encampment between 17th and 18th and Logan.Mayor postpones encampment sweepFOX31 originally learned about the sweep late Tuesday night. It comes three days after a shooting on the same street sent two people to the hospital.The original announcement only gave those living in the encampment less than a day's notice. Denver’s mayor plans to house 1,000 homeless. Will it work? After speaking with advocacy groups, Johnston decided to postpone the sweep one extra day and start at 7 a.m. on Thursday, “in an effort to give people living in the encampment additional time to plan their next steps.”Johnston h...

‘One day I hope to hug you in heaven,’ New Hampshire nurse tells kidnappers who held her for 13 days in Haiti

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

(CNN) — American nurse Alix Dorsainvil gladly would give medical care to the captors who held her and her daughter hostage for nearly two weeks this summer in Haiti, she said in her first public comments since the pair’s release this month.“I want you guys to know that everything I said during my time in captivity was sincere,” Dorsainvil said directly to her abductors in Haitian Creole in a video on YouTube also shared on the website of the community ministry where she works.“They were not the manipulative words of someone desperate to escape but simply the truth, especially when I told you my clinic doors are always open to you or anyone in need when you’re sick or wounded, without any problem.”The New Hampshire native also told the kidnappers, whom she called “gangsters,” she holds “no grudges against you in my heart,” adding, “I love you in Christ, and one day I hope to hug you in heaven.”Dorsainvil and her daughter were set free 13 days after they ...

FDA warns against using certain eye drops over microbial contamination

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

(CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning against buying or using certain eye drops from Dr. Berne’s and LightEyez due to microbial contamination.The drops contain methylsulfonylmethane or MSM, a naturally occurring organosulfur compound popular in complementary and alternative medicine, as the active ingredient.The FDA says Dr. Berne’s agreed to recall its MSM Drops 5% Solution after sampling and testing showed contamination with bacteria and fungus.Samples of LightEyez MSM Eye Drops – Eye Repair were found to have four types of bacteria in them, the FDA says, but the company has not responded to the agency’s requests to discuss concerns or recall products.“These products are unapproved drugs and illegally marketed in the U.S.,” the FDA said in an announcement Tuesday. “There are no legally marketed ophthalmic drugs that contain MSM as an active ingredient.”Consumers who have these products should discard them.“Using contaminated eye drops coul...

Wisconsin elections head won’t testify at reappointment hearing that state AG says is improper

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s top elections official said she will not testify next week at a Senate committee hearing on her reappointment, leaning on a letter from the state attorney general that says lawmakers have no authority to force a vote on firing her.Republicans who control the Senate have vowed to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe before the 2024 presidential election. They moved in June to begin the process of holding a vote on her reappointment despite not receiving a nomination from the bipartisan elections commission, which deadlocked along party lines on the matter.Democratic elections commissioners hoped that by not nominating Wolfe, they could avoid a confirmation vote and keep her in office indefinitely under a recent state Supreme Court ruling that conservatives have used to maintain control of key policy boards.Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul backed that argument in a letter sent to the Legislature’s attorneys on...

CIA stairwell attack among flood of sexual misconduct complaints at spy agency

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — In a secluded stairwell at CIA headquarters last year, officer trainee Ashkan Bayatpour came up behind a colleague, wrapped a scarf around her neck and plainly spoke as he tried to kiss her on the mouth.“There are many uses for this,” the woman recalls him saying. “This is what I want to do to you.”Bayatpour was convicted Wednesday of a state misdemeanor charge of assault and battery in a case that was remarkable for breaking through the CIA’s veil of ultra-secrecy and playing out in a public courtroom where it has emboldened a sexual misconduct reckoning.At least two-dozen women have come forward in recent months with their own complaints of abusive treatment within the CIA, telling authorities and Congress not only about sexual assaults, unwanted touching and coercion but of what they contend is a campaign by the spy agency to keep them from speaking out, with dire warnings it could wreck their careers and even endanger national security.“There are harassers ev...

Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq kills 4 Kurdish insurgents as Ankara’s top diplomat visits region

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:19:07 GMT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — A Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed three members of a Kurdish insurgent group, officials said, as Ankara’s top diplomat visited the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government. Turkish military actions against members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, hiding in northern Iraq, have intensified in recent weeks. The violence is pitting Turkey and Turkish-backed groups on one side, and Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria on the other.Ankara considers the PKK — which has waged a decadeslong insurgency within Turkey — and allied Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations. It claims members of the PKK regularly find sanctuary in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region. On Thursday, a Turkish military drone targeted a vehicle some 137 kilometers (86 miles) north of the city of Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish government, authorities said. One PKK leader and two fighters were killed.Meanwhile, Tu...