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‘People are suffering’: Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hunger

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

EAGLE RIVER, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a long-standing hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon that wiped out stockpiles of fish and fishing equipment. The backlog, which began last August, is especially concerning in a state where communities in far-flung areas, including Alaska Native villages, are often not connected by roads. They must have food shipped in by barge or airplane, making the cost of even basic goods exorbitant. Around 13% of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — or SNAP — in July, before the troubles began. “People are struggling and having to make choices of getting food or getting heating fuel,” said Daisy Lockwood Katcheak, city administrator in Stebbins, an Alaska Native village of 634 people, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage. ...

GOP lawmakers push for state control of St. Louis police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ten years after gaining local control of its police for the first time since the Civil War, the city of St. Louis has more murders than ever before — and Missouri’s Republican lawmakers are again pressuring for a state takeover of the police force. The debate over policing power in St. Louis — a racially diverse, heavily Democratic city long vexed by violent crime — carries political and racial overtones like those that have roiled other cities and states this year. But data suggest neither state nor local control may make much difference when it comes to stemming homicides.“Lots of things matter a whole lot more, like widespread social unrest, the economy crashing, that sort of thing,” said Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who analyzed the city’s crime statistics.With violent crime troubling many large cities, Republicans nationwide have pushed a tough-on-crime agenda that would make it harder for the ...

Report: Ukrainian forces cross key river, raising hopes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

Ukrainian military forces have successfully established positions on the eastern side of the Dnieper River, according to a new analysis, giving rise to speculation Sunday that the advances could be an early sign of Kyiv’s long-awaited spring counteroffensive.The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported late Saturday that geolocated footage from pro-Kremlin military bloggers indicated that Ukrainian troops had established a foothold near the town of Oleshky, along with “stable supply lines” to their positions.Analysts widely believe that if Ukraine goes ahead with a spring counteroffensive, a major goal would be to break through the land corridor between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, which would necessitate crossing the Dnieper River in the country’s south.Responding to Ukrainian media reports proclaiming that the establishment of such positions indicated the counteroffensive had begun, Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman for Ukrai...

Tourism booms in Jamaica after pandemic, overwhelms airport

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The number of tourists flocking to Jamaica’s sun-drenched beaches soared nearly 100% in the first three months of the year, causing long queues and hours-long waits for arriving passengers at the island’s main airport.Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett told The Associated Press that the problem stemmed from a shortage of airport staff to process the unexpected volume of people flying into Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay since the end of the pandemic.Bartlett told Parliament later that day that there were 1.18 million arrivals from January through March — 94% more than the same period of 2022 and a record high for Jamaica’s tourism high season.“The recovery has been stronger than anticipated and everybody all over the world is having difficulty with their airports because … (many) of the workers have not come back,” Bartlett said.He said authorities plan to spend more on technology as they strive to do away with paperwork at the airport, inc...

Brazil’s school violence mirrors US. Its reaction doesn’t

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

About two weeks after a man killed four children in a Brazilian daycare center, authorities already have rounded up some 300 adults and minors nationwide accused of spreading hate speech or stoking school violence.Little has been revealed about the unprecedented crackdown, which risks judicial overreach, but it underlines the determination of the country’s response across federal, state and municipal levels. Brazil’s all-hands effort to stamp out its emerging trend of school attacks stands in contrast to the U.S., where such attacks have been more frequent and more deadly for a longer period, yet where measures nowadays are incremental.Actions adopted in the U.S. – and some of its perceived shortcomings – are informing the Brazilian response, said Renan Theodoro, a researcher with Center for the Study of Violence at the University of Sao Paulo.“We have learned from the successes and the mistakes of other countries, especially the United States,” Theodoro told The Associa...

What to do when Medicare doesn't cover your prescription drug

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

(NerdWallet) - Although recent changes to Medicare Part D will eventually make covered prescription drugs more affordable for Medicare beneficiaries, there’s still a loophole: What if Medicare doesn’t cover your drug at all?Specific drug coverage varies by plan, and you may not be able to immediately switch to a plan that covers your drug, or you may find that no plans cover it.“The problems are the more expensive brand name medications,” says Katy Votava, who holds a doctorate in health economics and nursing and is president and founder of Goodcare, a consulting firm focused on the economics of Medicare. “That can be difficult for people, and they’re often based on medical necessity anyway, and prior authorization is typically required.”If you find that a medication you’ve been prescribed isn’t covered by your Medicare plan, here are some options to consider.Check the Medicare landscapeFirst, is this a medicine that’s ever covered by Medicare — just not your plan? Does Medicare cov...

Marijuana tax dollars and how they're spent in different states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

(NewsNation) — All across the country, the once-widely-criminalized drug is becoming more and more a mainstream part of American life. Twenty states, plus the District of Columbia, have legalized the use of recreational marijuana and more than three dozen states, territories, and D.C. allow for the use of medical marijuana. One of the reasons why an increasing number of state governments are legalizing marijuana is to tax its sales, opening up an additional stream of revenue. "One of the big talking points, one of the big focal points was, 'Hey, we'll shift the market from illegal to legal and that will create jobs, create tax revenues.' And in fact, many of the early campaigns... really tried to sell the tax revenue towards what might be viewed as the swing voter," Douglas Berman, a researcher at Ohio State University who has spent years studying marijuana legalization. But getting that taxation right can be tricky. "There's kind of a Goldilocks challenge here, how do you set the t...

Sunday Brunch: Sushi By Buo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

Executive Chef from Sushi By Bou joins us in the studio to make some special sushi recipes.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

TCSO identifies man shot, killed by law enforcement officials on Highway 290

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Saturday, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office identified the Austin man shot and killed Thursday by law enforcement officials off Highway 290.According to TCSO, the man was identified as 25-year-old Dimitri Amarillas.TCSO said its deputies and officers with the Manor Police Department responded to a 911 call at 9:02 p.m. Thursday for a man walking in the middle of the roadway, near a merging lane of travel, in the 10200 block of east US Hwy. 290. PAST COVERAGE: Man dies after being shot by officers on Highway 290 According to a release, a few minutes later, the Austin Police Department sent word of an attempted carjacking where someone was stabbed by the suspect in the 10000 block of east US Hwy. 290 Service Road heading East.“At 9:24 pm, a TCSO Deputy made contact with the subject, who was holding a knife and would not comply with instructions. Additional officers arrived, and the subject remained on the highway, non-compliant,” TCSO said.According to the releas...

Voter Guide: What you need to know ahead of the May 2023 local elections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — While there may not be headline-grabbing races like president or governor on the May 6 ballot, there are still several important local elections in which voters will get to have their say.Several local cities and school boards are holding elections. Here's what you need to know before heading to the polls.What am I going to see on my ballot?Unlike November's election, the ballot for many this time around will actually be pretty short. Some people may even only have one race to vote on. School district bonds and trustee elections make up the bulk of elections this time round, but some local cities have some important races too.The following cities have propositions: Austin, Burnet, Florence, Granger, Kempner, Luling, Round Rock and Webberville. Milam County has a county-wide proposition.The following cities will choose their next mayor: Bastrop, Blanco, Cottonwood Shores, Georgetown, Granite Shoals, Johnson City, Lakeway, Lampasas, Marble Falls, Schulenburg and Thornd...