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Missouri Senate OKs limits on transgender treatments, sports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri youths no longer could receive gender-affirming treatments under a bill passed Thursday by the state Senate.The bill, which now heads to the GOP-led House for consideration, would prohibit doctors from providing puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries to minors for the next four years. Minors already receiving treatment and intersex youths would be exempt from the ban.The bill also would ban the federal low-income health care program Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming treatments for adults and prohibit gender-affirming surgeries for Missouri prisoners and inmates.“Children need love, compassion and counseling, not a doctor’s prescription to cut off their breasts or genitals," Sen. Denny Hoskins said before he joined 23 other Republicans in voting for the measure. Eight Democrats voted against it.Under clinical guidelines, children diagnosed with gender dysphoria and who receive counseling and guidance about transgender medical tr...

Maryland Heights juveniles reported missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. - Maryland Heights police are asking for the public's help in locating two juveniles who went missing Thursday morning.According to a police spokesperson, Kylie Crockett, 14, and Zuri Crockett, 12, were last seen at 10 a.m. in the 11800 block of Lackland Road.Police said both girls require daily medication. Top story: St. Louis car wash customers upset over monthly bills Kylie was last seen wearing a brown jacket, grey bra, and ripped blue jeans.Zuri was last seen wearing a denim jacket, burgundy leggings, white platform boots, and white/black checkered backpack.Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the Maryland Heights Police Department at 314-298-8700 (ext. 1).

St. Louis County considers ban of smoking marijuana at public parks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - The St. Louis County Council is considering some revisions to its "Clean Air Code" that would prevent people from smoking marijuana at county parks. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced Wednesday that the county council is expected to hold a special meeting in the upcoming weeks to discuss changes over the "clean air code. "Clean Air Code." Changes would potentially ban smoking marijuana, but not edibles, at many outdoor facilities of county-run parks, such as shelters, playgrounds, ball fields, trails. Trending: Major St. Louis hotel sits empty for nearly a decade Right now, St. Louis County' ordinances's "Clean Air Code" only bans smoking tobacco at such locations and doesn't address cannabis smoke. Page says the county council is considering a change to prevent second-hand marijuana smoke risks at large public-gathering places like parks. "While it's legal now for adults who smoke marijuana, we must think about those who do not," said Page duri...

Trump arrested? Putin jailed? Fake AI images spread online

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

By ARIJETA LAJKA and PHILIP MARCELONEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump getting gang-tackled by riot-gear-clad New York City police officers. Russian President Vladimir Putin in prison grays behind the bars of a dimly lit concrete cell.The highly detailed, sensational images have inundated Twitter and other platforms in recent days, amid news that Trump faces possible criminal charges and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.But neither visual is remotely real. The images — and scores of variations littering social media — were produced using increasingly sophisticated and widely accessible image generators powered by artificial intelligence.Misinformation experts warn the images are harbingers of a new reality: waves of fake photos and videos flooding social media after major news events and further muddying fact and fiction at crucial times for society. “It does add noise during crisis events. It also increases th...

“When can we just be kids again?” Students confront Colorado lawmakers after another East High School shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

Hundreds of students from at least five Denver high schools, reeling from another school shooting, filled lawmakers’ offices and surrounded them in the hallways of the Capitol on Thursday to demand safer schools.The rally was in response to the second shooting at East High School in as many weeks, but violence at any school affects every school, students said. They chanted slogans like “protect schools, not guns” from the Capitol steps.“This should have stopped with Luis,” Jasmine Brown, a junior at West High School, said. “This should have stopped with Columbine.”Luis Garcia, a junior and varsity soccer player at East High School, was shot last month while sitting in his car outside of school. He died of his injuries.On Wednesday, two administrators at the school were shot by a student, according to law enforcement. The student suspected of shooting the administrators was found dead by suicide hours later in Park County.“I’m numb to it,” East High School sophomore...

Aurora police hire new interim Deputy Chief Heather Morris

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

Aurora interim Deputy Chief of Police Heather Morris (Provided by Aurora Police Department)A police veteran with experience in Houston and Miami will join the Aurora Police Department’s executive staff as interim deputy chief of police.Heather Morris, who has worked in patrol, field training, DWI task force, and criminal and internal affairs investigations, will be sworn in to the position on April 3, police said in a news release.Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo announced the hiring. Their tenures overlapped in Houston and Miami.Morris was hired by the Houston Police Department in 1999 and she retired from that department in 2021 as an assistant chief. Community engagement and transparency are top priorities for Morris, according to the release.“I plan on working with the community and finding ways to bring them into our processes so everyone understands our department and the good work we’re doing,” Morris stated in the release.Morris received a Bachelor of...

Endangered bird escapes from Oakland Zoo during storm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

This image provided by the Oakland Zoo, Oliver, a male African hooded vulture, roosts on a tree limb at the zoo in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, March 23, 2023. Officials were working Thursday to capture the endangered hooded vulture that escaped from a zoo aviary that was destroyed after a massive tree fell on it during a storm this week. (Oakland Zoo via AP)An endangered hooded vulture escaped from a zoo aviary in the San Francisco Bay Area that was destroyed after a massive tree fell on it during a storm. But the bird has remained on zoo grounds, and officials were working Thursday to entice it back.The male hooded vulture and five other exotic birds, including two pied crows and three superb starlings, flew out from the aviary at the Oakland Zoo on Tuesday amid a wind-packed storm that pummeled the Bay Area, zoo spokeswoman Erin Dogan said.But the birds stayed on zoo grounds, and a team of at least 12 zoo workers armed with binoculars, nets, and crates has already recovered the thr...

Bill to punish oil companies for high gas prices breezes through California Senate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

A first-in-the-nation bill to punish oil companies for profiting from price spikes at the pump breezed through the California Senate on Thursday at the urging of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, the first major vote in an effort to pass the law by month's end.The proposal is in response to sales last summer, when the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California soared to a record high $6.44. Drivers in some places paid as much as $8 per gallon, prompting widespread outrage in an election year.Newsom, a Democrat seen as a possible presidential candidate beyond 2024, reacted by attacking the oil industry, specifically the five companies that provide 97% of gasoline in the state. He asked the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to pass a new tax on oil company profits, arguing it would protect consumers by preventing price spikes. Newsom: ‘oil company extortion’ behind disproportionately rising gas prices in California That idea went nowhere in the Legislature, as lawmakers f...

7 arrested after jewelry store robbery; second time business has been targeted in a year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

The Manhattan Beach Police Department has arrested seven individuals in connection with a smash and grab robbery at Pasha Fine Jewelry in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday evening. This is the second time that the store has been robbed in the last year. In June 2022, Pasha Fine Jewelry was targeted when as many as ten thieves robbed the business during a brazen midday heist. Multiple suspects entered the store around 5:50 p.m. Wednesday evening and used hammers to break display cases before fleeing the store with miscellaneous merchandise, according to the Manhattan Beach Police Department. No shots were fired despite multiple suspects appearing to be armed with handguns. The suspects were able to escape into “awaiting vehicles” and left the scene in an alley. Approximately two hours later, Manhattan Beach Police Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle involved in the robbery. The driver failed to yield, and the subsequent pursuit ended in the City of Los Angeles,...

Heads up! Asteroid expected to pass close to Earth on Saturday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:15:57 GMT

Scientists looking to observe asteroids will get a rare chance this weekend. According to NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, a newly discovered asteroid -- which is known as a Near-Earth Object -- will "safely" pass within only 100,000 miles on Saturday.NASA defines Near-Earth Objects as "comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood."The office says the asteroid, named 2023 DZ2, measures between 140 feet and 310 feet in diameter. "While close approaches are a regular occurrence, one by an asteroid of this size (140-310 ft) happens only about once per decade, providing a unique opportunity for science," the office said. The asteroid, which was first observed on Jan. 14, will pass between the Earth and the Moon's orbit. It is considered to be an Apollo-class asteroid, meaning its diameter is less than 10 kilometers in size. These asteroids' orbits pass through Earth...