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Israel plows ahead on Netanyahu’s legal overhaul

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

Associated PressJERUSALEM — The Israeli parliament on Monday advanced a bill that would make it harder to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the corruption charges against him, as it plowed ahead with a broader plan to overhaul the country’s legal system in defiance of mass protests.Lawmakers in the Knesset gave preliminary approval during a late-night vote on the bill, which would allow the parliament to declare a prime minister unfit to rule only for physical or mental reasons.The body was expected to vote later on a measure that would allow the Knesset to overrule Supreme Court rulings and enact laws that had been struck down. Both bills require additional votes before being enshrined into law.The steps were the latest in a series of moves by Netanyahu’s coalition to overhaul Israel’s legal system. The prime minister and his allies say the effort is aimed at reining in an activist court. Critics say the drive would upend the country’s democratic c...

Dick Fosbury dies; Olympic gold medalist revamped high jump event with his ‘Fosbury Flop’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

By Eddie Pells | Associated PressDick Fosbury, the lanky leaper who revamped the technical discipline of high jump and won an Olympic gold medal with his “Fosbury Flop,” has died. He was 76.Fosbury died Sunday after a recurrence with lymphoma, according to his publicist, Ray Schulte.Before Fosbury, many high jumpers cleared their heights by running parallel to the bar, then using a straddle kick to leap over before landing with their faces pointed downward. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Fosbury took off at an angle, leaped backward, bent himself into a “J” shape to catapult his 6-foot-4 frame over the bar, then crashed headfirst into the landing pit.Fosbury clears the bar in the high jump event at the AAAU Championships in 1972.F osbury started tinkering with his high-jump technique in the early ’60s as a teenager. Fosbury clears the bar in the high jump event at the AAAU Championships in 1972. Fosbury started tinkering with his high-jump technique ...

Alleged Concord MS-13 member convicted of murdering teen at local high school

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

MARTINEZ — A Contra Costa jury returned guilty verdicts against a Concord man whom authorities say shot and killed a 17-year-old boy in a bid to impress MS-13 members in San Francisco and receive their blessings to start a gang subset.Kristhiam Uceda, 24, was convicted Monday of second-degree murder, with a gun enhancement, in the 2017 shooting death of 17-year-old Lawrence Janson. Uceda was also convicted of shooting from a vehicle in a prior incident days earlier, where a woman was shot and wounded in the leg.Uceda faces 40 years to life on the murder charge alone, but the second shooting conviction could add decades in prison. The court still has to hold a second trial for jurors to decide whether Uceda should be convicted of gang charges too.During trial Uceda testified that the shooting was self-defense and that Janson had threatened him with a knife. But authorities say no knife was found and that Janson was attempting to flee when Uceda shot him in the back.Prosecutors ...

NFL coaching legend Bud Grant dies at 95; took Minnesota Vikings to 4 Super Bowls

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

By Dave Campbell | Associated PressMINNEAPOLIS — Bud Grant, the stoic and demanding Hall of Fame coach who took the Minnesota Vikings and their mighty Purple People Eaters defense to four Super Bowls in eight years and lost all of them, died Saturday. He was 95.The Vikings announced Grant’s death on social media.“No single individual more defined the Minnesota Vikings than Bud Grant. A once-in-a-lifetime man, Bud will forever be synonymous with success, toughness, the North and the Vikings,” owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf said in a joint statement distributed by the team. “In short, he was the Vikings.”Wearing his trademark purple Vikings cap and a stone-faced demeanor, Grant displayed a steely sideline gaze that became synonymous with his teams. He was a mainstay among coaches of his era, a decorated group that included Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, John Madden and Hank Stram. Grant, however, had little interest in accolades.“The only reason...

Suspect takes plea deal in Fremont DUI crash that killed piano deliveryman

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

OAKLAND — More than five years after an SUV collided with a moving truck in a Fremont neighborhood, killing a man who was there to deliver a piano, the suspect has pleaded no contest.Robert Greer, 62, pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter in exchange for a four-year prison term, court records show. He was scheduled to be sentenced this month, but at the March 1 hearing it was postponed until mid-April, records show. He remains out of custody in the meantime.Police say Greer was under the influence of opiate painkillers on Dec. 8, 2017, when he crashed his SUV and killed 44-year-old Yani Leppanen, a Huntington Beach resident, who had stepped out of his truck to deliver a piano to a woman on Mowry Avenue when he was struck. Witnesses watched his SUV veer off Mowry Avenue and collide with Leppanen’s trailer at around 10 a.m. that day. Leppanen died before paramedics got there.When police attempted to interview Greer, he appeared sedated and kept repeating, “The...

Man shot by a driver after a car accident in SF

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- After two cars collided in San Francisco, one of the drivers shot the other one on Sunday night, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Two students arrested for knives on campus days after student died in school stabbing Around 8 p.m. on Sunday, officers were called to Hoff Street after a report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they were told by witnesses that a victim had been shot and then drove himself to a local hospital. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now KRON4 Breaking News SIGN UP NOW Officers found the man at the hospital, and determined he was suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound. Police say the man was driving when he got into a crash with another vehicle. As he got out of the car to check for dam...

Diocese of Santa Rosa files for bankruptcy over wave of sex abuse lawsuits

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

(BCN) -- The Diocese of Santa Rosa filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on Monday in the face of potentially hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits. Bishop Robert Vasa had announced the filing was imminent in a media release Friday. "This decision was made necessary due to the number of child sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Diocese over the course of the past three years," Vasa said in the release. Principal at school where student was fatally stabbed placed on leave Those suits were made possible by a 2019 California law that opened a three-year period during which victims of alleged childhood sexual abuse could file lawsuits that were otherwise prohibited under existing statute of limitation rules. That period ended in December 2022 and since then the Diocese of Santa Rosa learned that it could be facing more than 200 such suits, Vasa said. "These cases are too numerous to settle individually and so they have accumulated until the closing of the three-year window," he...

2 found dead after double shooting, car crash in Capitol Hill

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

D.C. police have released new information, including the identity of one of the passengers, in a double shooting and car crash case from Sunday night.In a release, police confirmed that 34-year-old Othaniel Gaither, of Southeast D.C., was one of the victims of the shooting around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night.The second man, who was transported and later died in a hospital, has not been identified as officials notify his next-of-kin. A third man, presumably the driver of the vehicle, was also transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.More Local NewsMore DC NewsThe two men were found inside a crashed SUV suffering from gunshot wounds, First District Cmdr. Tasha Bryant said at a news conference Sunday night.“We do everything that we can to keep communities and our visitors safe,” Bryant told reporters. “This is a tragedy and I’m so hurt, my heart is broken that I’m standing in front of you guys again talking about gun violence.”Tra...

Michigan State women’s hoops coach Suzy Merchant steps down

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Suzy Merchant has stepped down as Michigan State’s women’s basketball coach, citing health concerns.“After much consideration and consultation with my health care providers, I have come to the difficult decision that it is in my best interest,” Merchant said in a statement released by the school on Monday.The 53-year-old Merchant had not coached the Spartans since she was in a one-car crash after a medical incident in late January. Six seasons ago, she fainted and collapsed onto the court during a game and doctors later discovered she had a heart abnormality.Associate head coach Dean Lockwood, who filled in for Merchant this season, will serve as the team’s interim coach while the school searches for a new leader for the program.Merchant had a five-year rollover contract with a base salary of $700,000.The 2011 Big Ten coach of the year won two Big Ten titles, earned 10 NCAA Tournament bids and reached the Sweet 16 in 2019. She was 327-186...

NBA fines Celtics’ Smart $25K for skirmish with Hawks’ Young

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:46:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for pulling Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young to the floor and initiating an on-court altercation, the league announced Monday.The altercation occurred late in Boston’s 134-125 win over Atlanta on Saturday.With 1:25 remaining and Boston leading 129-121, Young and Smart had to be separated after they were entangled and fell to the court under the Celtics’ basket. Smart was called for an initial foul before a lengthy review by the officials called both players for technical fouls and ejected Smart.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource