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Matt Gaetz speaks at pro-Trump women’s group event in Florida: 'I’m not going anywhere'
DORAL, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, embroiled in scandal after it was reported recently that he had been targeted by federal sex trafficking investigation, continued to dismiss the accusations as “smears” and said he’s “not going anywhere” Friday, during an event with a conservative women’s group in Doral. The Florida congressman said he has the support of other Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. “This past week has been full of encouragement,” Gaetz said at Trump National Doral during a dinner event organiz...
Orlando Sentinel
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All-electric 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E goes to sleep and won't wake up, Ford confirms
Early models of the all-electric 2021 Mustang Mach-E have a battery issue that may leave owners struggling to start their vehicles despite its being fully charged, according to a technical service bulletin that Ford sent to federal regulators. "Bad software is turning some Mustang Mach-Es into 'electric bricks,' " said a headline in TheVerge.com, a tech website that first reported news of the Mach-E battery problem Thursday. The brick term has been coined by Mach-E forum members seeking advice from one another online. The March 25 technical service bulletin filed with the National Highway Traf...
Detroit Free Press
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Fire-ravaged Bonhomme Richard will be decommissioned, then towed to Texas for scrapping
SAN DIEGO — After extensive cleanup and reclamation in the wake of a July inferno, the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard will be decommissioned in San Diego next week before being towed to Texas where it will be scrapped, the Navy said in a statement. Navy officials said in November that while Bonhomme Richard was salvageable, the time and price of repair — five to seven years at an estimated $2.5 billion to $3.2 billion — were too steep to warrant saving the 22-year-old ship. The Navy plans to hold a small decommissioning ceremony Wednesday with limited attendance. Then the ship will b...
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Kansas bill banning transgender students from girls' sports heads to governor's desk
TOPEKA , Kan. — Legislation banning transgender people from K-12 girls' and college women's sports is headed to Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's desk. After the Republican-backed bill stalled out in the Kansas House last month, lawmakers revived it in the final days of the legislative session, using procedural maneuvers to push it to passage in less than 36 hours. In heated and emotional debates on back-to-back days, the Senate approved the measure on a 26 to 11 vote Friday afternoon, and the House approved it 76 to 43 just before midnight Thursday. Neither chamber reached a veto proof majority, maki...
The Kansas City Star
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Not guilty plea entered for former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg in brief arraignment on latest charges
ORLANDO, Fla. — Although federal prosecutors and Joel Greenberg’s attorney said Thursday that they are working on a plea agreement, the former Seminole County tax collector pleaded not guilty Friday morning to the latest charges against him. Those include that he used his public position to divert more than $400,000 of public money to himself and that he bribed a government official to obtain fraudulent loans through a program meant to help small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Greenberg’s latest not-guilty plea, which was expected, happened during a brief hearing before Magistrate J...
Orlando Sentinel
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Biden wants funds to electrify federal vehicle fleet in next budget
President Joe Biden on Friday released a spending proposal for next fiscal year that, as expected, asks Congress to invest heavily in the electrification of America's vehicles. In the funding proposal, the Biden administration is specifically asking for: $600 million in new investments for the federal government to purchase electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, including $300 million to begin replacing the 200,000 fleet of vehicles provided to other agencies by the General Services Administration. $8 billion in Energy Department funding, a 27% increase over the current year, to advanc...
Detroit Free Press
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Ghislaine Maxwell’s family launches website declaring she’s ‘no monster’
NEW YORK – Ghislaine Maxwell’s family launched a website Friday seeking to improve her awful reputation ahead of yet another longshot bid for bail. The site, realghislaine.com, features a video from the British socialite’s brother, Ian Maxwell. “My sister is no monster,” Ian says, reiterating complaints from Maxwell’s defense that she is being wrongly held in solitary confinement and unable to prepare for trial. Maxwell is accused of procuring, grooming and trafficking underage victims of multimillionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Last month, Maxwell...
New York Daily News
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Suburban Chicago businessman suspected of using COVID-19 relief money to buy fleet of luxury cars
A suburban Chicago businessman is under federal investigation for allegedly fraudulently obtaining more than $1 million from COVID-19 relief loans and using a large portion of the money to buy a fleet of luxury vehicles, newly unsealed court documents show. In all, Francesco DiStefano, of Addison, Illinois, purchased four high-end vehicles over a monthlong period in 2020 using about $385,000 in ill-gotten funds, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit filed last month. The vehicles included a 2016 Lamborghini Huracan, a 2020 Range Rover Evoque, a 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera, and a 2017 Maser...
Chicago Tribune
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Is California ready to open health care to undocumented adults? Latino leaders say yes
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Members of the California Latino Legislative Caucus announced this week they are prioritizing two health care bills that would expand Medi-Cal coverage for nearly 1 million undocumented adults. The Democratic lawmakers have carried similar bills in the past only to see them fail, largely over concerns about costs. This time, they're optimistic because of the state's rosy budget outlook — tax revenue is coming in billions of dollars over Gov. Gavin Newsom's January estimates — and because the coronavirus pandemic highlighted inequities in the state's health care system. Rec...
The Sacramento Bee
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Will Bunch: If GOP, Mitch McConnell really want ‘woke’ corporations out of politics, here’s how
Some advice for any young readers out there still looking for their soulmate: Find a life partner who looks at you the way Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has looked at America’s CEOs, their three-martini lobbyists and their briefcases brimming with campaign cash. It’s the only green new deal the Kentuckian has ever cared about. Arriving in Washington as a Senate backbencher in the mid-1980s, McConnell conceived an unusual but diabolically brilliant path to power: Championing the idea that allowing corporations and their billionaire investors to funnel six- and seven-figure donations to...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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