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Special counsel says Hunter Biden’s gun deal is ‘withdrawn’ and invalid

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

(CNN) — Special counsel David Weiss said the deal his team previously reached with Hunter Biden to resolve a felony gun possession charge was never approved by a probation officer and is not binding.The Justice Department prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday that for the “diversion agreement” to be legally binding, it would have had to be signed by a probation officer after last month’s court hearing in Delaware.They said the official who needed to sign it was Margaret Bray, the chief United States probation officer for the District of Delaware.“In sum, because Ms. Bray, acting in her capacity as the Chief United States Probation Officer, did not approve the now-withdrawn diversion agreement, it never went into effect and, therefore, none of its terms are binding on either party,” prosecutors wrote.Biden’s lawyers on Sunday said they believed an agreement to resolve a felony gun possession charge was “valid and binding.”The filing states that n...

State: 134,000 People Affected By UMass Chan Data Breach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

The state began getting in touch Tuesday with more than 134,000 people currently or previously enrolled in certain state programs whose personal information, potentially including private medical details and financial data, was part of a data breach involving a file transfer program used by the UMass Chan Medical School.The Executive Office of Health and Human Services said that exposed data varies by person, but in each case includes the person’s name and at least one other piece of information like date of birth, mailing address, protected health information like diagnosis and treatment details, Social Security number, and financial account information.The breach stems from a vulnerability in MOVEit, a product of Burlington-based Progress Software that the state said “was used to transfer files as part of the services provided by UMass to certain EOHHS agencies and programs.”“This incident was part of a worldwide data security incident involving a file-tran...

Knicks reportedly sign Josh Hart to 4-year, $81M extension: report

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

The Villanova Wildcats are running rampant at Madison Square Garden.The Knicks have agreed to sign forward Josh Hart to a contract extension worth $81 million over four years, according to ESPN. He is now under contract for the next five seasons, with a 2022-23 salary of $12.96 million, though he cannot officially sign the contract until Thursday due to the league’s collective bargaining agreement rules.Hart is reportedly due $18.1 million in Year 1 of his deal, which means his contract likely includes 8% annual raises. Under this pay structure, the Knicks forward is due $19.5 million in Year 2, $20.96 million in Year 3, and $22.4 million in Year 4.Hart is the third Villanova product to secure a payday at The Garden.The Knicks signed Jalen Brunson to a four-year deal worth $104 million last summer and signed free agent forward Donte DiVincenzo to a four-year, $46.8 million deal this offseason.The Knicks acquired Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers at last season’s trade...

Pioneering study links testicular cancer among military personnel to ‘forever chemicals’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

Hannah Norman and Patricia Kime | (TNS) Kaiser Health NewsGary Flook served in the Air Force for 37 years, as a firefighter at the now-closed Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois and the former Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana, where he regularly trained with aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF — a frothy white fire retardant that is highly effective but now known to be toxic.Flook volunteered at his local fire department, where he also used the foam, unaware of the health risks it posed. In 2000, at age 45, he received devastating news: He had testicular cancer, which would require an orchiectomy followed by chemotherapy.Hundreds of lawsuits, including one by Flook, have been filed against companies that make firefighting products and the chemicals used in them.And multiple studies show that firefighters, both military and civilian, have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at higher rates than people in most other occupations, often pointing to the presence of perfluoroalkyl and po...

When to repair or replace your appliances

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

By Liz Weston | NerdWalletWhen our 17-year-old refrigerator started wheezing, I fully expected we’d need a new one. I was shocked — and frankly a little disappointed — when a repair technician fixed it for less than $200. I had to postpone my dream of a shiny French-door replacement, but our no-frills Frigidaire is still working fine eight years later.Our experience illustrates that the decision about whether to repair or replace major appliances can be more complex than general guidelines may imply. Getting more useful years out of your existing appliances can save money and keep potentially dangerous components out of landfills, where they may harm the environment. But on the other hand, a replacement could be much more energy efficient, repairs sometimes can be expensive and prices for new appliances have been falling recently.All this makes the choice of repairing versus replacing a tricky one, says Dan Wroclawski, home and appliances writer for Consumer Reports, a nonprofit mem...

Japanese mountaineer dies and another is injured while climbing mountain in northern Pakistan

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Japanese climber died and a fellow mountaineer was injured when an apparent rock fragment hit them while trying to scale one of the highest peaks in northern Pakistan, a mountaineering official and the injured climber said Tuesday.The two mountaineers from Japan were taking part in a climbing expedition organized by a local tour operator, said Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. He said the purpose of the expedition was to summit a never-before scaled peak in the Andaq Valley in the country’s north. Haidri said that while ascending the mountain Friday, Shinji Tamura slipped and fell at an altitude of 5,380 meters (17,650 feet). Haidri told The Associated Press that the man’s colleague, Semba Takayasu, was injured when he was hit by something, presumably a piece of rock. However, he said Takayasu later safely managed to reach the base camp to seek help from local authorities. Haidri said a search team was quickly sent to the area where th...

Man sent to prison for 10 years for setting a fire at an Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A man who set a fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Illinois was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison.Tyler Massengill has admitted using a homemade explosive to set a fire at the Peoria clinic in January, a few days after Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law with additional legal protections for abortion procedures. No one was inside the clinic when the fire happened.“I feel for the people who have lost their jobs. I’m not trying to play like I am victim at this. I was sincerely hurt,” Massengill, 32, said in court, apparently a reference to his belief that a former girlfriend had an abortion a few years ago.Prosecutors, however, said the woman told the FBI that wasn’t true.U.S. District Judge James Shadid said people who typically visit the clinic for a variety of services have had to look elsewhere because of extensive damage to the building, WMBD-TV reported.“And to add to your accomplishments, there’s the striking of fear, stress an...

WeWork sounds the alarm, prompting speculation around the company’s future

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — WeWork has sounded the alarm on its ability to stay in business, prompting speculation around the future of the troubled workspace-sharing company.Last week, WeWork warned there was “substantial doubt” about the New York-based company’s “ability to continue as a going concern” — which is accounting-speak for having the resources needed to operate and stay in business. WeWork pointed to increased member churn, financial losses and the company’s need for cash, among other factors, over the next year.This isn’t the first time the future of WeWork has been uncertain. The company went public in October 2021 after a spectacular collapse during its first attempt to do so two years earlier — which led to the ouster of its CEO and co-founder, Adam Neumann. WeWork was valued at $47 billion at one point, before investors started to drop off due to Neumann’s erratic behavior and exorbitant spending.WeWork has made notable efforts to turn the company around sinc...

A study of fracking’s links to health issues will be released by Pennsylvania researchers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Researchers in heavily drilled Pennsylvania were preparing Tuesday to release findings from taxpayer-financed studies on possible links between the natural gas industry and pediatric cancer, asthma and poor birth outcomes.The four-year, $2.5 million project is wrapping up after the state’s former governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, in 2019 agreed to commission it under pressure from the families of pediatric cancer patients who live amid the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir in western Pennsylvania.A number of states have strengthened their laws around fracking and waste disposal over the past decade. However, researchers have repeatedly said that regulatory shortcomings leave an incomplete picture of the amount of toxic substances the industry emits into the air, injects into the ground or produces as waste.The Pennsylvania-funded study involves University of Pittsburgh researchers and comes on the heels of other major studies that are finding...

COVID-19 activity showing early signs that it may be increasing, new PHAC data says

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:47:24 GMT

New datafrom the Public Health Agency of Canada suggests that COVID-19 infections may be slowly starting to rise again in Canada. On its website, the agency says there are signs of continued fluctuations in some COVID-19 activity indicators after a long period of gradual decline.It says this may be an early sign of increases, although the overall COVID-19 activity is still low to moderate across the provinces and territories. McMaster University immunologist Dawn Bowdish says the XBB family, an offshoot of Omicron, is dominant in Canada right now. That family includes the EG.5 subvariant, which she expects will start dominating in the coming weeks. Bowdish says EG.5 appears to be more contagious than past subvariants, but there’s no sign that it causes more serious illness in otherwise healthy people.   She says the COVID-19 vaccines expected this fall are a good match to combat the virus. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2023.Canadian Press healt...