Deadly school bus crash in Ohio yields new safety features and training – but no seat belt mandate
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — After a last summer, a task force convened by Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended Wednesday more training, driver benefits and safety features — but not a seat belt mandate.
How and when safety upgrades are made would be up to individual school districts, DeWine said at an event releasing the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group’s final report. He said his office has begun discussions with the Legislature about establishing a grant fund to help school districts pay for vehicle upgrades or new safety
Traffic dispute in suburban Chicago erupts into gunfire, with 4 shot
DOLTON, Ill. (AP) — A traffic dispute in suburban Chicago erupted into gunfire Wednesday, with four people taken to hospitals after being shot, authorities said.
Saul Mazon told the said he was headed to a store when he saw several cars traveling quickly down a street, one car hit another, and the vehicles pulled into a parking lot where people got out and were yelling and arguing before he heard several shots.
Dolton Village Trustee Kiana Belcher said she was in the drive-thru lane at a Dunkin Donuts
First of back-to-back atmospheric rivers pushes into California. Officials urge storm preparations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The first of two back-to-back slowly pushed into California on Wednesday, triggering statewide storm preparations and calls for people to get ready for potential flooding, heavy snow and damaging winds.
Known as a because its long plume of moisture stretched back across the Pacific to near Hawaii, the storm rolled into the far north first and was expected to move down the coast through Thursday. Forecasters expect an even more powerful storm to follow it Sunday.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency
Georgia governor signs bill that would define antisemitism in state law
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday signed a law defining antisemitism in state law, proclaiming support for Jewish residents despite concerns the measure would hamper people opposing the actions of Israel.
The Republican governor said by enacting the law, he was “reaffirming our commitment to a Georgia where all people can live, learn and prosper safely, because there’s no place for hate in this great state.”
Kemp likened it to when he in 2020 that allows additional penalties to be imposed
Alberta to require parental consent for name, pronoun changes at school
Premier Danielle Smith has announced a raft of changes affecting transgender Albertans, including requiring parental consent for students 15 and under who want to change their names or pronouns at school.
Smith says students 16 and 17 would not need consent, but their parents must be notified.
She announced the changes Wednesday in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and said they came after discussions with her United Conservative Party caucus.
Smith was slated to hold a news conference on the topic Thursday in Calgary
House tees up vote to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House accomplished something unusual Wednesday in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly $79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit for millions of lower-income families and boost three tax breaks for businesses, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle .
Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the could represent a rare
Californians don’t have to pass a background check every time they buy bullets, federal judge rules
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California residents don’t have to pay for and pass a background check every time they buy bullets, a federal judge has ruled.
The Tuesday ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez took effect immediately. California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked Benitez on Wednesday to delay the ruling to give him time to appeal the decision. It’s unclear if Benitez will grant that request.
Many states, including California, make people pass a background check before they can buy a
Kentucky juvenile facilities have issues with force, staffing, report says
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s juvenile justice system has lingering problems with the use of force and isolation techniques and has done little to implement a 2017 state audit’s suggestions for improvement, according to a report released Wednesday.
The from Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball says the state’s juvenile detention centers lack clear policies concerning the use of isolation cells, Tasers and pepper spray, and have significant staffing problems. It also found that Department of Juvenile Justice staffers were using pepper spray at
Man, 23, wanted in violent assault of another man in Little Italy
Police have issued an arrest warrant for a 23-year-old man wanted in connection with a violent assault in Little Italy last year.
Investigators say around 6 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2023, two men were involved in a physical altercation in the area of College Street and Ossington Avenue. One of the men then produced a knife and stabbed the other before fleeing the scene. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital.
Police say the suspect and victim were known to
Earthquakes raise alert for Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano. But any eruption is unlikely to threaten homes
HONOLULU (AP) — A surge of earthquakes at Kilauea’s summit prompted scientists to raise the alert level for the Hawaiian volcano on Wednesday. But any eruption is unlikely to threaten homes.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said it detected 25 to 30 small earthquakes per hour since 3 a.m. at the southern part of the volcano’s caldera. This spot is inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and far from homes.
Magnitudes ranged from less than 1 to 3.4. Several quakes were large enough to