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Biden prepares Oval Office speech on wars in Israel and Ukraine, asking billions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will deliver a rare Oval Office address Thursday night as he makes his case for providing billions of dollars in military assistance to Israel and Ukraine, deepening American involvement in two very different, unpredictable and bloody foreign conflicts.The speech will be an opportunity for Biden to argue that the United States has an obligation to help in both places, and a chance for him to publicly lobby lawmakers for the money to do so.The funding request, expected to be formally unveiled on Friday, is likely to be around $100 billion over the next year, according to people directly familiar with the proposal who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The total figure includes some money for Taiwan’s defense and for managing the flow of migrants at the southern border with Mexico.Biden hopes that combining all of these issues into one piece of legislation will create the necessary political coalition for congressional approv...

Police: Duo arrested for $200 meat heist and stolen motorcycle in Miami Springs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

Two people were arrested after allegedly stealing over $200 worth of meat from Milam’s Market in Miami Springs.According to police, on Wednesday morning, Amalia Gomez-Alvarez and Miguel Montejo-Vega entered Milam’s Market, located at 80 Curtiss Pkwy in Miami Springs, and walked out with over $200 worth of items from the meat department. The Detective Bureau and Crime Suppression Team located and arrested both suspects at a residence in Hialeah. During the arrest, authorities said they recovered a motorcycle reported stolen in Miami-Dade.Amalia Gomez-Alvarez and Miguel Montejo-Vega face charges including retail theft with multiple convictions, auto theft and resisting arrest without violence.

More arrivals from Israel touch down at MIA as war rages on

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

Another flight from Tel Aviv landed at Miami International Airport Thursday morning as more people tried to escape the war zone in the Middle East. While some are fleeing the region, others are heading towards it.“We all are literally in mourning and in a state of shock,” Moshe Fraind said. “On the day that the war broke out, my husband was called first thing in the morning to serve the country,” Elana Salomon said.Salomon fled from the danger with her three small children.“It’s very hard for me to leave Israel,” she said. “It was hard for me to leave my husband knowing he’s in danger himself to protect us.”And there were many more like her as they arrived in South Florida.“We had a lot of flights scheduled, I was going to go to maybe Dubai, maybe Canada first, we were trying to work everything out and the flights are crazy,” Tyler Kaufman said.Kaufman brought as many belongings as he could, which included hi...

GameStop manager accused of killing suspected shoplifter bonds out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

Derrick Guerrero, 33, bonded out of jail Thursday after a judge required him to wear an ankle monitor following his court hearing. “You’re charged with manslaughter,” said the judge in Wednesday’s proceeding. The GameStop store manager was arrested on Tuesday night after he opened fire on a shoplifter when, he says, he was trying to stop a crime, but Guerrero would be the one ending up in cuffs. “Mr. Guerrero’s actions resulted in the death of another person, an individual that was unarmed, that was fleeing from the location,” said a prosecutor.Police say Guerrero shot and killed a man shoplifting at a GameStop store he manages in Pembroke Pines.The victim, according to detectives, was in the store for about an hour then grabbed merchandise from the behind the counter before running out the front door.“The manager observed him and yelled him got his firearm and shot one round towards the victim,” said Pembroke Pines Police Maj. Al Xiques in a pres...

EU Parliament calls for ‘humanitarian pause’ in Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

STRASBOURG — MEPs on Thursday called for a “humanitarian pause” to provide food, water and medical aid to Palestinians in the besieged enclave of Gaza.The Parliament called for a de-escalation of the conflict, a “humanitarian pause” and demanded Israel comply with international humanitarian law in its war against Hamas alongside the country’s right to self-defense. A humanitarian pause would allow for aid to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. In a resolution backed by 500 MEPs, EU lawmakers called for Hamas, which governs Gaza — and is listed as a terrorist group by the EU — to be “eliminated,” demanding also the unconditional release of the hostages taken to Gaza, who the Israeli army believes number 203, according to the BBC. MEPs overwhelmingly condemned the October 7 attacks which killed 1,400 people, as they did last week at a gathering in front of the Parliament in Brussels.Israel has placed a complete siege on Gaza since the beginning of t...

Stabbing in Mattapan leaves victim with life-threatening injuries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

Boston police are investigating what led up to a stabbing that left a man with life-threatening injuries in the city’s Mattapan neighborhood.Authorities said officers found the victim after they were called to the area of Rugby Road near Milton around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.According to police, the man was believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of a stabbing, and was rushed to a nearby hospital.More investigators were arriving at the scene and caution tape was being set up along the street as SKY7-HD flew over the area around noon.Details on a possible suspect have not yet been released.https://twitter.com/JHall7news/status/1715033106896290272This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Doug Emhoff, America’s Jewish second gentleman, on how he navigated tragedy in Israel and Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

By Courtney Subramanian, Los Angeles TimesDoug Emhoff had a job to do, but first he had to gather himself.Four days earlier, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, Hamas terrorists had launched a brutal surprise assault on Israel, killing more than 1,400 people. Vice President Kamala Harris and her boss, President Biden, had been fully briefed on the attacks the next morning, and she had called Israeli President Isaac Herzog to offer her condolences. Later that week, she told reporters she had been “completely outraged” by the “extreme acts of terrorism.” Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.But Emhoff, Harris’ husband and the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, had a special role to play, he said in an interview this week with The Times.For more than a year, Emhoff had led the Biden administration’s efforts to fight antisemitism. The work was not always easy —...

Bailey Zappe unsure if he’ll remain Patriots’ emergency third QB

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

FOXBORO — The Patriots have not publicly fully explained why they made a quarterback change in Week 6, but Bailey Zappe was demoted.The second-year pro had been Mac Jones’ backup quarterback through the first five weeks of the season before being made inactive as the team’s emergency third QB against the Raiders with hybrid quarterback/wide receiver Malik Cunningham serving as the backup.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Callahan: It’s time for a Patriots kitchen sink game against Buffalo New England Patriots | Patriots extra points: Running back, pass rusher replace wide receiver, D-tackle New England Patriots | How Patriots are using Malik Cunningham in practice ahead of Bills game New England Patriots | Patriots-Bills injury report: Rhamondre Stevenson among 20 players listed after Wednesday practice New England Patriots | Patriots get bad news at Wednesday practice ahead of Bi...

Palestinians in Gaza find nowhere is safe amid steady bombing, as Israeli ground invasion looms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

By NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMYA KULLAB and RAVI NESSMAN (Associated Press)KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes pounded locations across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including parts of the south that Israel told Palestinians to take refuge, heightening fears among more than 2 million Palestinians trapped in the territory that nowhere was safe. Israel’s defense minister told ground troops to be ready to enter Gaza, though he didn’t say when the invasion will start.With authorities still working out logistics for a delivery of aid into Gaza from Egypt, overwhelmed hospitals tried to stretch out ebbing medical supplies and fuel for diesel generators to keep the equipment running. Doctors in darkened wards stitched wounds by mobile phone light. A doctor at the largest hospital said staff were using vinegar from the corner store to treat infected wounds.The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for a devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel almost two...

Big federal dollars for small state projects aim to get more cars off the roads

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:42 GMT

By Erika Bolstad, Stateline.orgA 60-mile pedestrian and cycling trail in Arkansas, an electric street sweeper in Oregon and truck parking facilities in Florida don’t appear to have much in common — let alone any similarity with a conversion of California highways to toll roads or a roundabout in Michigan.But all of the projects will be paid for by the Carbon Reduction Program, a five-year, $6.4 billion federal program to reduce the tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming. The program, known as the CRP, was authorized in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the $1.2 trillion federal investment in everything from roads and bridges to the electrical grid.The CRP is small in comparison to, say, the infrastructure law’s $40 billion pledge to fix the nation’s bridges. Yet it could be mighty for bringing to life what are known as transportation alternatives, or small-scale infrastructure designed to take cars off the road and therefore reduce emissions. They include sidewal...