Author: ANews

Edgar James Bridgemon, 24, was arrested over the weekend on one count of attempted capital murder against his infant daughter, police in Paris, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas, said Tuesday.

The Paris Police Department reported that they responded to a neighborhood just east of downtown on Saturday to assist Paris Emergency Services after receiving information that a 4-month-old girl’s father “had intentionally given the infant gasoline to drink.”

At the scene, officers saw a man later identified as Bridgemon fleeing the scene on foot, according to a news release issued by the department on Monday.

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The preliminary injunction marks the first time a U.S. judge has ruled against a university over the demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed in June by three Jewish students at UCLA. The students alleged that they experienced discrimination on campus during the protest because of their faith and that UCLA failed to ensure access to campus for all Jewish students.

“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith.” Scarsi wrote.

UCLA argued that it has no legal responsibility over the issue because protesters, not the university, blocked Jewish students’ access to the school. The university also worked with law enforcement to thwart attempts to set up new protest camps.

Scarsi ruled that the university is prohibited from providing classes and access to buildings on campus if Jewish students are blocked from it.

Yitzchok Frankel, a UCLA law student who filed the lawsuit, celebrated the order.

“No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish,” Frankel said in a statement. “I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put a stop to this shameful anti-Jewish conduct.”

UCLA spokesperson Mary Osako said the ruling “would improperly hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground and to meet the needs of the Bruin community.”

The university is also considering all available options moving forward, she said.

“UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment,” Osako said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The ruling came after Scarsi ordered UCLA last month to create a plan to protect Jewish students. The University of California, one of the nation’s largest public university systems, is also working on systemwide campus guidelines on protests.

The demonstrations at UCLA became part of a movement at campuses across the country against the Israel-Hamas war. At UCLA, law enforcement ordered in May that over a thousand protesters break up their encampment as tensions rose on campus. Counter-demonstrators had attacked the encampment overnight and at least 15 protesters suffered injuries. In June, dozens of protesters on campus were arrested after they tried to set up a new encampment.

UCLA can’t allow protesters to block Jewish students from campus, judge rules

The preliminary injunction marks the first time a U.S. judge has ruled against a university over the demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed in June by three Jewish students at UCLA. The students alleged that they experienced discrimination on campus during the protest because of their faith and that UCLA failed to ensure access to campus for all Jewish students.

“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith.” Scarsi wrote.

UCLA argued that it has no legal responsibility over the issue because protesters, not the university, blocked Jewish students’ access to the school. The university also worked with law enforcement to thwart attempts to set up new protest camps.

Scarsi ruled that the university is prohibited from providing classes and access to buildings on campus if Jewish students are blocked from it.

Yitzchok Frankel, a UCLA law student who filed the lawsuit, celebrated the order.

“No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish,” Frankel said in a statement. “I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put a stop to this shameful anti-Jewish conduct.”

UCLA spokesperson Mary Osako said the ruling “would improperly hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground and to meet the needs of the Bruin community.”

The university is also considering all available options moving forward, she said.

“UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment,” Osako said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The ruling came after Scarsi ordered UCLA last month to create a plan to protect Jewish students. The University of California, one of the nation’s largest public university systems, is also working on systemwide campus guidelines on protests.

The demonstrations at UCLA became part of a movement at campuses across the country against the Israel-Hamas war. At UCLA, law enforcement ordered in May that over a thousand protesters break up their encampment as tensions rose on campus. Counter-demonstrators had attacked the encampment overnight and at least 15 protesters suffered injuries. In June, dozens of protesters on campus were arrested after they tried to set up a new encampment.

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Among the new revenue measures are proposals to legalize marijuana and expand online gambling. Another would free up an estimated $25 million a year by allowing early parole for people who are incarcerated and meet certain criteria, as well as encouraging judges to offer alternatives to jail for some offenders — moves that would ease prison overcrowding and lower the state’s cost of feeding and caring for people in prison.

Republican Gov. Jim Pillen called the summer special session after the Legislature failed to pass his proposed plan to cut property taxes by an average of 40% during the regular session earlier this year.

Soaring housing and land prices in recent years have led to ballooning property tax bills for homeowners and farmers alike. Nearly all lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature agree that ever-increasing property tax bills are forcing some people, including young and older people on fixed incomes, out of homeownership.

But they disagree on how to fix the problem. Democrats accuse Pillen and his allies of trying to ease property taxes on the backs of poor people, while some hardline conservatives object to any tax increase without significant cuts to spending.

Democratic Sen. Terrell McKinney introduced the bill intended to ease prison overcrowding and costs, which has not advanced from committee.

McKinney and fellow Democrat Justin Wayne have also proposed bills that would legalize marijuana use and regulate its production and distribution.

“That could bring in potentially $150 million,” McKinney said Tuesday. “Y’all don’t want to entertain that conversation, which is wild to me if we’re coming here and you guys are saying to put everything on the table.”

The question of legalizing marijuana could appear on the November ballot after a petition effort turned in nearly 115,000 signatures to state election officials in July — more than the 87,000 or so needed. The Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office is in the process of verifying the signatures.

A plan by Democratic Sen. Eliot Bostar would put on the November ballot a proposal to allow online sports gambling. The General Affairs Committee advanced for debate of the full Legislature but without a companion bill that would adjust ballot language deadlines to allow it to make the ballot. Bostar estimates the proposal could bring in more than $30 million a year in tax revenue.

Wayne, who supports the expanded gambling bill, said Nebraska is losing out on revenue that state residents already spend on online sports betting by simply crossing the border into neighboring states that allow it. That happened during the most recent College World Series held in Omaha, just west of Iowa, which allows online sports betting, he said.

“They literally drove over to Carter Lake, (Iowa), if they were in a car, and if they weren’t, they walked over to the Bob Kerrey bridge, got on their phone and made a bet,” Wayne said. “All that revenue is gone.”

The plan backed by Pillen, which remained in flux Tuesday, calls for dozens of goods and services currently exempt to be subject to the state’s 5.5% sales tax. That includes such things as pet grooming and veterinary care, real estate transactions, lawn mowing and landscaping, taxi and other transportation services, moving and storage. Many agriculture services and purchases — including machinery, chemicals, seeds, irrigation, and grooming and veterinary care for livestock — remain exempt.

Pillen’s plan would also issue several so-called sin taxes on purchases of candy, soda, cigarettes and vaping items, CBD products and alcohol. It would also cap the amount public schools and city and county governments could collect in property taxes.

Lawmakers expected to debate a version of the governor’s proposal throughout the week.

In Nebraska special session on taxes, some ideas to raise millions in revenue get little attention

Among the new revenue measures are proposals to legalize marijuana and expand online gambling. Another would free up an estimated $25 million a year by allowing early parole for people who are incarcerated and meet certain criteria, as well as encouraging judges to offer alternatives to jail for some offenders — moves that would ease prison overcrowding and lower the state’s cost of feeding and caring for people in prison.

Republican Gov. Jim Pillen called the summer special session after the Legislature failed to pass his proposed plan to cut property taxes by an average of 40% during the regular session earlier this year.

Soaring housing and land prices in recent years have led to ballooning property tax bills for homeowners and farmers alike. Nearly all lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature agree that ever-increasing property tax bills are forcing some people, including young and older people on fixed incomes, out of homeownership.

But they disagree on how to fix the problem. Democrats accuse Pillen and his allies of trying to ease property taxes on the backs of poor people, while some hardline conservatives object to any tax increase without significant cuts to spending.

Democratic Sen. Terrell McKinney introduced the bill intended to ease prison overcrowding and costs, which has not advanced from committee.

McKinney and fellow Democrat Justin Wayne have also proposed bills that would legalize marijuana use and regulate its production and distribution.

“That could bring in potentially $150 million,” McKinney said Tuesday. “Y’all don’t want to entertain that conversation, which is wild to me if we’re coming here and you guys are saying to put everything on the table.”

The question of legalizing marijuana could appear on the November ballot after a petition effort turned in nearly 115,000 signatures to state election officials in July — more than the 87,000 or so needed. The Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office is in the process of verifying the signatures.

A plan by Democratic Sen. Eliot Bostar would put on the November ballot a proposal to allow online sports gambling. The General Affairs Committee advanced for debate of the full Legislature but without a companion bill that would adjust ballot language deadlines to allow it to make the ballot. Bostar estimates the proposal could bring in more than $30 million a year in tax revenue.

Wayne, who supports the expanded gambling bill, said Nebraska is losing out on revenue that state residents already spend on online sports betting by simply crossing the border into neighboring states that allow it. That happened during the most recent College World Series held in Omaha, just west of Iowa, which allows online sports betting, he said.

“They literally drove over to Carter Lake, (Iowa), if they were in a car, and if they weren’t, they walked over to the Bob Kerrey bridge, got on their phone and made a bet,” Wayne said. “All that revenue is gone.”

The plan backed by Pillen, which remained in flux Tuesday, calls for dozens of goods and services currently exempt to be subject to the state’s 5.5% sales tax. That includes such things as pet grooming and veterinary care, real estate transactions, lawn mowing and landscaping, taxi and other transportation services, moving and storage. Many agriculture services and purchases — including machinery, chemicals, seeds, irrigation, and grooming and veterinary care for livestock — remain exempt.

Pillen’s plan would also issue several so-called sin taxes on purchases of candy, soda, cigarettes and vaping items, CBD products and alcohol. It would also cap the amount public schools and city and county governments could collect in property taxes.

Lawmakers expected to debate a version of the governor’s proposal throughout the week.

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The study by the World Weather Attribution, a group of scientists who use established climate models to quickly determine whether human-caused climate change played a part in extreme weather events around the world, found that the 15 centimeters (5.91 inches) of rain that fell in a 24-hour period July 29-30 was 10% more intense because of global warming. The group expects further emissions of planet-heating gases will result in increasingly frequent intense downpours that can lead to such disasters.

Nearly 200 people were killed and rescuers are still searching for more than 130 missing people in Kerala state, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations.

“The Wayanad landslides are another catastrophic example of climate change playing out in real time,” said Mariam Zachariah, a climate scientist at Imperial College of London and one of the authors of the rapid study.

Last month’s rainfall that caused the landslides was the third-heaviest in Kerala state since India’s weather agency began record-keeping in 1901.

Last year over 400 people died due to heavy rains in the Indian Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. Multiple studies have found that India’s monsoon rains have become more erratic as a result of climate change. “Until the world replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy, monsoon downpours will continue to intensify, bringing landslides, floods and misery to India,” said Zachariah.

India’s southern state Kerala has been particularly vulnerable to climate change-driven extreme weather. Heavy rainfall in 2018 flooded large parts of the state, killing at least 500 people, and a cyclonic storm in 2017 killed at least 250 people including fishers who were at sea near the state’s coasts.

“Millions of people are sweltering in deadly heat in the summer. Meanwhile, in monsoons, heavier downpours are fuelling floods and landslides, like we saw in Wayanad,” said Arpita Mondal, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and one of the study’s authors. Earlier this year another study by the same group found that deadly heat waves that killed at least 100 people in India were found to have been made at least 45 times more likely due to global warming.

India, the world’s most populous country, is among the highest current emitters of planet-heating gases and is also considered to be among the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate impacts.

“When it rains now, it rains heavily. In a warmer world, these extreme events will be more frequent and we cannot stop them. However, we can try to establish early warning systems for landslides and also avoid any construction activity in landslide-prone regions,” said Madhavan Rajeevan, a retired senior official at India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences who is from Kerala state.

Tuesday’s study also recommended minimizing deforestation and quarrying, while improving early warning and evacuation systems to help protect people in the region from future landslides and floods. The study said the Wayanad region had seen a 62% decrease in forest cover and that that may have contributed to increased risks of landslides during heavy rains.

“Even heavier downpours are expected as the climate warms, which underscores the urgency to prepare for similar landslides in northern Kerala,” said Maja Vahlberg, climate risk consultant at Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre who was also an author of the study.

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Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Study finds rains that led to deadly Indian landslides were made worse by climate change

The study by the World Weather Attribution, a group of scientists who use established climate models to quickly determine whether human-caused climate change played a part in extreme weather events around the world, found that the 15 centimeters (5.91 inches) of rain that fell in a 24-hour period July 29-30 was 10% more intense because of global warming. The group expects further emissions of planet-heating gases will result in increasingly frequent intense downpours that can lead to such disasters.

Nearly 200 people were killed and rescuers are still searching for more than 130 missing people in Kerala state, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations.

“The Wayanad landslides are another catastrophic example of climate change playing out in real time,” said Mariam Zachariah, a climate scientist at Imperial College of London and one of the authors of the rapid study.

Last month’s rainfall that caused the landslides was the third-heaviest in Kerala state since India’s weather agency began record-keeping in 1901.

Last year over 400 people died due to heavy rains in the Indian Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. Multiple studies have found that India’s monsoon rains have become more erratic as a result of climate change. “Until the world replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy, monsoon downpours will continue to intensify, bringing landslides, floods and misery to India,” said Zachariah.

India’s southern state Kerala has been particularly vulnerable to climate change-driven extreme weather. Heavy rainfall in 2018 flooded large parts of the state, killing at least 500 people, and a cyclonic storm in 2017 killed at least 250 people including fishers who were at sea near the state’s coasts.

“Millions of people are sweltering in deadly heat in the summer. Meanwhile, in monsoons, heavier downpours are fuelling floods and landslides, like we saw in Wayanad,” said Arpita Mondal, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and one of the study’s authors. Earlier this year another study by the same group found that deadly heat waves that killed at least 100 people in India were found to have been made at least 45 times more likely due to global warming.

India, the world’s most populous country, is among the highest current emitters of planet-heating gases and is also considered to be among the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate impacts.

“When it rains now, it rains heavily. In a warmer world, these extreme events will be more frequent and we cannot stop them. However, we can try to establish early warning systems for landslides and also avoid any construction activity in landslide-prone regions,” said Madhavan Rajeevan, a retired senior official at India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences who is from Kerala state.

Tuesday’s study also recommended minimizing deforestation and quarrying, while improving early warning and evacuation systems to help protect people in the region from future landslides and floods. The study said the Wayanad region had seen a 62% decrease in forest cover and that that may have contributed to increased risks of landslides during heavy rains.

“Even heavier downpours are expected as the climate warms, which underscores the urgency to prepare for similar landslides in northern Kerala,” said Maja Vahlberg, climate risk consultant at Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre who was also an author of the study.

___

Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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