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Dear Abby: Mom left decades ago, now she’s dying

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

Dear Abby: I was married young to my high school sweetheart. We had five children together. During that time, I joined the Air Force. After six years of marriage, I discovered my wife was cheating on me. Once I realized we couldn’t reconcile, I told her I wanted a divorce and custody of the children. She agreed. It cost me my career with the USAF.Flash-forward to today: Thirty-seven years have passed. I have never said a bad word to my children about their mother. My ex never took the time to build meaningful relationships with them. My oldest daughter once tried to have a relationship with her. A month or so later, she asked, “Dad, why did you ever marry that woman?”I have just learned from my oldest daughter that her mother is dying and has less than six months to live. My oldest shared the news with her siblings, who had given up on having a mother years ago. She also offered to drive her mom to appointments.Do you think it would be good for my children to write...

Campo father of 3 dies in hit-and-run on Thanksgiving; suspect released on supervised OR

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. -- A Campo family is mourning the loss of 26-year-old Austin Spirz, a beloved son, father of three and boyfriend of 10 years."He's awesome, he's way better a man than I ever was, he's a pillar, everybody loves him, he's entertaining, he's smart, everybody lives him, he's perfect," father Jason Spirz said.Austin was riding his 2020 Kawasaki motorcycle around 5:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, when he was hit by 45-year-old Gary Baker, driving a 2015 Jeep Wrangler, who allegedly crossed over the solid double yellow lines and drove into the eastbound lanes of Sheridan Road in Campo.California Highway Patrol said Baker left the scene after the crash, and Spirz died from his injuries at the scene.According to the deputy district attorney, Baker had driven just a little bit away from the crash scene and stayed there "for some time." As Spirz's family members drove to the scene, many of them recalled passing Baker sitting in his jeep.A few hours later, Baker's girlfriend called po...

Live updates | Israel and Hamas agree to extend their cease-fire by another day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

A temporary cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war has been extended another day, according to mediator Qatar. The announcement Thursday came minutes before the cease-fire was set to expire.Israel had agreed to extend the truce by one day for every 10 militant-held hostages who are freed. The cease-fire, which began Nov. 24 and was originally set to expire on Monday, has paused the deadliest fighting between Israel and Palestinians in decades.Israel has vowed to resume the war in an effort to end Hamas’ 16-year rule of Gaza, but it’s facing mounting international pressure to spare southern Gaza a devastating ground offensive like the one that has demolished much of the north.Roughly 240 hostages were captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. Abou...

DeSantis and Newsom will face off in a Fox News event featuring two governors with White House hopes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis are meeting in a nationally televised event on Thursday night that will feature two young, high-profile leaders with presidential aspirations who may have to wait for future cycles to realize them. Newsom, 56, has talked about eventually running for president but is backing President Joe Biden ‘s reelection in 2024. DeSantis, 45, entered the 2024 GOP presidential race six months ago as the perceived top challenger to Donald Trump, only to fail to dent the former president’s commanding early lead in the party’s primary. DeSantis is betting big on Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses on Jan. 15 and could still turn things around. For now, though, he’s in a fight for second with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, with both well behind Trump. The 90-minute event — billed by Fox News Channel as “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate” — will...

Haley and DeSantis are relying more on outside campaign groups with time running out to stop Trump

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are increasingly outsourcing central parts of their campaigns, drawing on the growing urgency of Donald Trump opponents to find a single alternative to the former president.Struggling to energize his campaign, DeSantis this week privately encouraged his donor network to support a newly formed super PAC that’s taking over advertising responsibilities. That’s after a leadership shakeup at the pro-DeSantis super PAC that for months has been handling the bulk of both his advertising and his get-out-the-vote operation.At the same time, Haley’s self-described “scrappy” political campaign, which has never enjoyed the same level of funding or manpower as DeSantis’ operation, won the support of the the Koch network, the largest conservative grassroots organization in the nation. By week’s end, scores of Koch-backed activists are expected to begin advocating on Haley’s be...

Hundreds of thousands in North Carolina will be added to Medicaid rolls this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A decade after the federal government began offering expanded Medicaid coverage in states that opted to accept it, hundreds of thousands of adults in North Carolina are set to receive benefits, a development that boosters say will aid hospitals and local economies in addition to the long-term uninsured.North Carolina elected officials agreed this year to expand Medicaid, which will provide the government-funded health insurance to adults ages 19 to 64 who make too much money to receive traditional Medicaid but generally not enough to benefit from public subsidies available for private health insurance. The federal government will pay 90% of the cost, as stipulated under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. More than 600,000 North Carolinians are ultimately expected to qualify, with roughly half to be automatically enrolled as of Friday. That means they’ll be able to get annual checkups, prescription drugs and other services with little or no out-of-pocket expenses.Resi...

Study says the US is ill-prepared to ensure housing for the growing number of older people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Michael Genaldi’s road to homelessness began early this year when a car slammed into the rear of his motorcycle, crushed three of his ribs, and left him in a coma for over a month. The 58-year-old lost his job as a machine operator, then his home, and he was living in his truck when he was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer. Too young to get Social Security, Genaldi now lives temporarily in a shelter for people 55 and older in Phoenix while he navigates the process of qualifying for disability payments. As its population ages, the United States is ill-prepared to adequately house and care for the growing number of older people, concludes a new report being released Thursday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Without enough government help, “many older adults will have to forgo needed care or rely on family and friends for assistance,” warned Jennifer Molinsky, project director of the center’s Housing an Aging Society Program. Many, like Ge...

Henry Kissinger was a trusted confidant to President Nixon until the bitter, bizarre end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Decades later, the scene still is almost too bizarre to imagine: a tearful president and his perplexed aide, neither very religious, kneeling on the floor of a White House bedroom in prayer in the waning hours of a shattered presidency.Until the bitter end, Henry Kissinger was one of the trusted few in Richard Nixon’s tight circle. That trust, combined with Kissinger’s intellectual heft and deft manipulation of power, made him a pivotal player in a tense period in American history, a giant of U.S. foreign policy and a fixture in pop culture who stood witness to some strange moments in the White House.The German-born diplomat who got the U.S. out of Vietnam after bloody, costly years of delay and into China in a sudden burst of secret diplomacy died Wednesday at his home in Connecticut. He was 100. With his gruff yet commanding public presence and behind-the-scenes maneuvers, Kissinger exerted unprecedented influence on global affairs under Presidents Nixon and Gera...

Oklahoma prepares to execute man for 2001 double slaying despite self-defense claim

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man for a 2001 double slaying despite his claims that he acted in self-defense. Phillip Hancock, 59, is scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 this month to recommend Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt spare Hancock’s life, but Stitt had taken no action on the recommendation by early Thursday morning.Stitt previously commuted the death sentence of Julius Jones in 2021 just hours before Jones was scheduled to receive a lethal injection, but he rejected clemency recommendations for two other death row inmates, Bigler Stouffer and James Coddington, both of whom were later executed.A spokeswoman for Stitt has said the governor planned to interview prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victims’ families before making a decision.Hancock has long claimed he shot and killed Robert Jett Jr., 37, and Jame...

OPEC+ suppliers struggle to agree on cuts to oil production even as prices tumble

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:57 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The OPEC oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and allied producers including Russia will try to agree Thursday on cuts to the amount of crude they send to the world, with prices having tumbled lately despite their efforts to prop them up.That’s been a good thing for U.S. drivers, who have been able to fill their gas tanks for less money in recent months and whose costs at the pump can be sensitive to moves by the OPEC+ coalition. But it’s bad news for OPEC+ countries whose oil income props up their economies and who have faced setbacks in keeping prices up despite initial fears that the Israel-Hamas war could affect oil flows.Now, they are struggling to come to a consensus on production cuts, analysts say. The group postponed its meeting originally set for Sunday by four days, indicating that a new agreement will prove to be challenging, said Jorge Leon, senior vice president of oil market research for Rystad Energy.“Despite the challenges, we still expect OPEC+ ...