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72-year-old Florida man charged with threatening to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

(CNN) — A Florida man, 72, was arrested Wednesday and charged with threatening to kill Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and his children in several voicemail messages allegedly left at the lawmaker’s office in Washington, DC.Michael Shapiro called Swalwell’s office the evening of December 19 from his home in Greenacres, according to court records, and left five threatening voicemail messages. The member is not identified in the court documents, but Swalwell confirmed that he and his family were the target of Shapiro’s threats.“I’m gonna come after you and kill you,” Shapiro said in one message, according to court records.“I’m gonna kill your children,” Shapiro threatened in another voice message, investigators said in the court records.In some of the expletive-filled messages Shapiro called Shapiro “a Chinese spy” and a “greaseball,” the records stated.An investigator with the US Capitol Police Investigations Division, Threat Assessment Section, wrote in the court documents that p...

Scaffolding collapse at construction site in Fort Lauderdale injures 3, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

Fort Lauderdale Fire rescue confirmed that a scaffolding collapse at a construction site has injured three people. Emergency responders arrived at the construction site, located at 475 SW 27th Ave., and immediately transported the individuals. According to officials, two patients are in critical condition while the other is in stable condition. Live footage showed scaffolding equipment and wooden planks scattered on the ground.It is unclear if the injured individuals are construction workers. Construction on the site has been temporarily stopped as investigations continue. Authorities have been contacted for more details on this incident. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

‘Beyond crazy’: The liberal jew mugged by a post-10/7 world

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRAT, France — “If I had been given one dollar for each time someone told me that ‘the antisemitism you experience in France would never happen in America,’ I would be super rich now.”Delphine Horvilleur stops — “not that Jews care about money…,” she starts to say — and laughs wearily. She resumes her argument: The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and Israeli war in Gaza have brought out on American campuses and in public debates what she recognizes from France’s recent history.Horvilleur is a French rabbi who is a fixture in the media and public debates in her home country. She is passionate, learned and, even when conversation turns dark, funny. The weariness is recent. She is politically a woman of the left, a not shy critic of Israel’s government and a feminist. But now she finds herself soundinglike her ideological sparring partners when it comes to Israel and the threat of antisemitism. In the past three months, her world was turned “upside down,” and she is struggl...

Flood risk in Germany reignites coalition fight over debt rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

BERLIN — A widespread risk of floods in Germany has prompted renewed infighting within the country’s tripartite ruling coalition over calls to relax strict debt rules to provide aid to those affected.Rising water levels across large swaths of Germany in recent weeks have led to calls among members of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Greens for increased federal aid. Rolf Mützenich, the SPD’s parliamentary group chair, has called for new spending on flood aid to be counted outside Germany’s regular budget in order to circumvent the country’s constitutional debt brake, which restricts the federal deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP except in emergencies.“It is not a question of doing the calculations, but of the political will for the federal government to contribute to managing the damage,” Mützenich was quoted as saying on X, formerly Twitter.Leaders of the fiscally conservative Free Democrats (FDP) — a party in the ruling coalition with the SPD and Greens — ...

Under pressure, MIT’s Kornbluth vows to use ‘every lever’ to address conflict on campus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

New York (CNN) — MIT President Sally Kornbluth, the only university president who testified before Congress last month and is still in power, said the school is looking for ways to address tensions from the Israel-Hamas war, even as pressure mounts on her to step down.“I’m working to use every lever available to address conflict on our campus, enhance the tenor of our discourse and help us find improved ways to live and work together here at MIT,” Kornbluth said in a memo on Wednesday.The memo comes after Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who successfully fought to end Claudine Gay’s presidency at Harvard, has set his sights on Kornbluth.Minutes after Gay’s resignation made headlines, Ackman posted on social media: “Et tu Sally?”Kornbluth acknowledged the pressure on universities right now.“The Israel-Hamas war continues to cause deep pain for many around the world, including at MIT, and is an ongoing source of tension in our community,”...

Stocks up 25% in 2023 vs. 5% gains for homes. Why the gap?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

Stock performance clobbered home prices in 2023, the year after the reverse was true.My trusty spreadsheet looked at a half-century of stock-trading patterns (the Wilshire 5000-stock index) and home-price swings (the Federal Housing Finance Agency US index) to determine how these two assets vary in price fluctuations.Consider that the Wilshire was up 25% in 2023. Only 12 years have fared better since 1974.Why the pop? Stock investors spent much of 2023 worried about a recession. It was only late in the year that trader sentiment turned toward an economic “soft landing” – motivation to bid up share prices anticipating a less-than-horrific 2024.By the way, a similar “no deep recession” mentality helped US home prices a bit in 2023, too.REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER: Get our free ‘Home Stretch’ by email. SUBSCRIBE HERE!The FHFA home index was rising at a 5% annual rate as of September, the latest reading available. That would rank as the 29th-best year.Yet that seeming...

Chicago Bears’ Jaylon Johnson and Montez Sweat are named Pro Bowlers for the 1st time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson and defensive end Montez Sweat were named Pro Bowlers for the first time Wednesday.Johnson’s selection to the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, which will be held in Orlando, Fla., in early February, comes amid a career season for the fourth-year Bears player. Johnson has four interceptions, including a pick-six, 10 passes defended, a forced fumble and 36 tackles in 14 games.He has allowed a career-low 50.9 passer rating by opposing quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Reference.“It is special that God has blessed me with the opportunity and favor to be selected for the Pro Bowl,” Johnson said in a statement released by the Bears. “I’m thankful for all of those who have played a role in my success because when I win, we all win.”Johnson has been open about aiming to be an All-Pro in this contract season, after which the Bears must try to either work out an extension, use the franchise or transition tag, or let Johnson...

Police searching for suspect after Ajax gas station robbed at gunpoint

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

Police in Durham Region are searching for a suspect after a gas station in Ajax was robbed at gunpoint.Officers were called to a Shell gas station on Salem Road South just north of Highway 401 around 3:45 a.m. on Dec. 13.It is alleged that a male walked in to the store and asked to buy cigarettes from the employee behind the register. When the worker opened the register the suspect allegedly pulled out a gun and demanded cash from the till.The suspect fled the store before officers arrived.The victim was not injured.Police are searching for a male suspect with a medium build, approximately six feet tall and say he was dressed in a black jacket with black pants.Anyone with additional information about the incident is being asked to contact police.

Students march in Prague to honor the victims of the worst mass killing in Czech history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Hundreds of students and other Czechs marched in silence in the Czech capital on Thursday to honor the victims of the country’s worst mass killing two weeks ago that left 14 dead.The march started at an impromptu memorial in front of Prague’s Charles University headquarters where thousands came to light candles after the Dec 21 shooting.“Our academic community has been hurt but not broken,” Charles University Rector Milena Králíčková said. “Our steps on the streets of Prague towards the Faculty of Arts will symbolize our way to recovery.”Králíčková together with Faculty of Arts Dean Eva Lehečková led the march carrying an oil lamp lit from the candles through Prague’s Old Town to the nearby Palach Square where the shooting occurred inside the main faculty building.Twenty-five other people were wounded before the gunman killed himself.The students formed a human chain around the building in a symbolic hug before lighting a fire at the square while bells in nearby churc...

Germany’s government waters down a cost-cutting plan that infuriated the country’s farmers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:40 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Thursday watered down cost-saving plans that have infuriated farmers, announcing that it is giving up a proposal to scrap a car tax exemption for farming vehicles and will stagger cuts to tax breaks for diesel used in agriculture.The cuts were part of a package agreed last month by leaders of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition to fill a 17 billion-euro ($18.6 billion) hole in the 2024 budget. Farmers staged a protest with tractors in Berlin and threatened more demonstrations this month, and even Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir spoke out against the cuts being implemented in full. He said farmers have no alternative to diesel.The budget revamp was necessary after Germany’s highest court annulled an earlier decision to repurpose 60 billion euros (almost $66 billion) originally meant to cushion the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic for measures to help combat climate change and modernize the country. The maneuver fell foul of G...