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Mobile morgue arrives to assist in identification of confirmed dead in Maui wildfires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

By CLAIRE RUSH, JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and CHRISTOPHER WEBER (Associated Press)LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to help Hawaii officials working painstakingly to identify the 99 people confirmed killed in wildfires that ravaged Maui, and officials expected to release the first list of names even as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighborhoods reduced to ash.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deployed a team of coroners, pathologists and technicians along with exam tables, X-ray units and other equipment to identify victims and process remains, said Jonathan Greene, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for response.“It’s going to be a very, very difficult mission,” Greene said. “And patience will be incredibly important because of the number of victims.”A week after a blaze tore through historic Lahaina, many survivors started moving into hundreds of hotel rooms set aside for displaced locals while donations of food, ice, wa...

Vigil, memorial tree planned to honor Stacy teen killed in Forest Lake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

Friends and family members of Darisha Bailey Vath will gather Wednesday night at Lakeside Park in Forest Lake to mark the one-month anniversary of her hit-and-run death.Vath, 17, of Stacy, Minn., was killed July 16 when prosecutors say she was intentionally run over during a fight between two groups of people in the parking lot of the park in downtown Forest Lake.Darisha Vath (Courtesy of GoFundMe)The candlelight vigil, which will begin at 7 p.m., will include music and readings. It is open to anyone who wants to pay their respects, said Sarath Vath, Darisha’s mother.“She was loved. She still is loved,” Sarath Vath said. “She was beautiful inside and out. She loved helping people, and she loved helping animals. She was just becoming.”Vath plans to read a letter her daughter wrote before she died; Vath found the note stored in her daughter’s phone after her death, she said. “This is what she wrote: ‘This summer I want to celebrate and have so much fun – as much fun as I can,’” Darish...

Gov. Walz: Tax rebates to start going out this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

Minnesotans could see tax rebates, worth as much as $1,300 per household, hitting their bank accounts later this week with more than two million payments expected to be send out by the end of September.Gov. Tim Walz is expected to formally announce the rebate checks have started to be distributed Wednesday at the Capitol in St. Paul during a back-to-school event with Paul Marquart, state revenue commissioner, parents and students.Direct deposits could be received by some taxpayers later this week and paper checks will be mailed later.All rebates should be sent to eligible taxpayers by the end of September, according to the governor’s office.To qualify, single filers must have $75,000 or less in income and couples must have earned $150,000 or less. Individual filers will get $260 and couples filing together $520 with an additional $260 for each dependent for a maximum rebate of $1,300.The state Department of Revenue will use 2021 adjusted gross income, line 1 on most state inco...

American Airlines passenger service workers picketing for better pay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Passenger service employees at American Airlines and members of the Communications Workers of America-International Brotherhood of Teamsters Association held an informational picket at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport on Tuesday to demand a new bargaining agreement.“We just want to be appreciated,” CWA Chief Shop Steward Carleton Smith said. “Fair contract, job security, things that we all want here in America.”Workers said negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement have stalled for 10 months.They want a contract that guarantees job security, worker safety, adequate pay, and better working conditions.“We need a contract,” said Arianna Gray, a customer service representative. “We haven’t had a contract in four years, and as much as we do for this company, we need to get things negotiated.” Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News ...

2 Missouri moms charged with misdemeanors for children's absences lose their court battle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

LEBANON, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a state law criminalizing parents whose children miss school, ruling against two mothers charged in their young children's tardiness.Prosecutors charged two moms from Lebanon, Missouri, with misdemeanors and the mothers then went to the state Supreme Court to challenge the law’s constitutionality.One mother was sentenced to a week in county jail for her first-grade daughter’s nine unexcused absences in the 2021 school year. Another was sentenced to two years of probation for her kindergartener’s seven unexcused absences that year. Road rage mystery solved as ghost driver gets prison time Missouri law requires K-12 students to attend school “on a regular basis.” A public defender for the mothers argued the law is unconstitutionally vague.Supreme Court judges disagreed, ruling that regular attendance means going to school when it is in session.Judges wrote that school officials can excuse an absence for menta...

Texas detention officer arrested in Riverside deadly hit-and-run crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

A man who worked as a detention officer in Texas has been arrested in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian in Riverside last week.Giovanni Ceja, 31, was arrested in Bexar County, Texas Monday and is awaiting extradition on suspicion of murder, manslaughter with gross intoxication, DUI causing injury and hit-and-run, according to the California Highway Patrol.Ceja, of San Antonio, Texas, resigned after being taken into custody, the San Antonio Express-News reported.The incident occurred around 1:45 a.m. Aug. 7 along the 215 Freeway east of the 91 Freeway, according to the CHP. CHP investigating deadly Riverside hit-and-run A preliminary investigation revealed that Ceja allegedly allowed his truck to drift into the right shoulder, striking a 38-year-old man who was fueling his disabled vehicle on the right shoulder of the highway.The victim died at the scene and Ceja allegedly drove away.A relative had taken fuel to the victim after he had run out of gas and ...

Firearm homicide rate in California 33% lower than national average, report finds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

The newly formed California Department of Justice’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention (OGVP) released a first-of-its-kind Gun Violence Prevention Data Report Tuesday, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced. According to the OGVP, the report helps highlight the policies that are working and where more work is needed.  There are more than 116 gun deaths per day across the United States, but on Tuesday, AG Bonta said his office is working to bring that number down.  “We chose to change the trajectory of where we’ve been and to end the gun violence epidemic,” said Bonta, alongside local leaders outside Homeboy Industries.Formed in September of last year, the OGVP’s new data-driven report shows that California’s homicide rate is 33% below the rest of the country.  “If the national gun death rate matched California’s gun death rate over the last ten years, nearly 140,000 Americans who have died from gun violence would still be with us today,” Bonta said.  The report cla...

Suspect arrested after woman stabbed in Reseda

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

A 40-year-old woman was stabbed in Reseda Tuesday morning and police arrested a suspect. The incident was reported around 10:10 a.m. near the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.Responding officers found the victim suffering from a stab wound. She was taken to a hospital in unknown condition.Police were searching the area for the suspect and he was eventually located and taken into custody, authorities said without elaborating. No further details about the incident have been released.KTLA's Isabel Ochoa contributed to this story.

California's 1% are richer than most other states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

As the saying goes, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems.The Golden State, the most populous state in the country, has the third highest threshold for the top 1% of taxpayers, according to a new study from Smart Asset.Researchers analyzed 2020 IRS tax data for individual filers and adjusted those figures for May 2023 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index, according to the website. The report shared that households that earn at least $844,266 per year are considered to be among California’s top earners. However, households who make that amount or more pay 26.95% in taxes. Angelenos who make $70,000 a year are still considered ‘low-income’ Connecticut and Massachusetts were the only states with higher thresholds for their top 1% of taxpayers.In Connecticut, households who make at least $952,902 pay 28.40% in taxes, and in Massachusetts, households who make at least $903,401 pay 27.15%Connecticut had the highest thresholds for its 1% and Massachusetts was ranked seco...

Charming Vicini Ristorante & Wine Bar Has A Nostalgic Opening On The Westside

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:24 GMT

Chef-owner Lucio Bedon has opened Vicini Ristorante & Wine Bar in West LA this week, back in the same kitchen where he took his first chef position in Los Angeles in 1995. The menu will celebrate familial roots from the Veneto region of Italy in a bright and airy dining room and bar, featuring crudos, cicchetti small bites, handmade pasta and platters of ribs served over polenta from the grill.Risotto nero con sepia (Cara Harman)Raised in Piove di Sacco near Venice where his father was a sardine fisherman and he and his mother gathered soft-shelled crabs, an homage to his parents will include cured fresh Mediterranean sardines according to his family recipe in bigoli in salsa with toasted bread crumbs. There are crudo offerings like the capesante con agrumi, scallops with ruby grapefruit, kiwi, Meyer lemon and black salt, Fiore di Zucca, squash blossoms with herbed ricotta with cicchetti, and salads like the Cavolo Nero with chopped kale, shaved beets, ricotta salata, avocado, p...