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Pope open to helping return Ukrainian children in Russia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Sunday the Vatican was willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war, saying the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.“All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary.Francis also revealed a secret peace “mission” was under way. However, he gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.“I’m available to do anything,” Francis said. “There’s a mission that’s not public that’s underway; when it’s public I’ll talk about it.”The International Criminal Court last month issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s commis...

When states limit care, some trans people do it themselves

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — With her insurance about to run out and Republicans in her home state of Missouri ramping up rhetoric against gender-affirming health care, Erin Stille nervously visited a foreign pharmaceutical site as a “last resort” to ensure she could continue getting the hormones she needs. Stille, 26, sent a $300 bank transfer to a Taiwan-based supplier for a 6-month supply of estrogen patches and androgen-blocking pills. For three weeks she feared she’d been scammed but breathed a sigh of relief when a large package arrived at her home in St. Peters.“It’s definitely a little scary,” Stille said. “Taking a chance like this, I could have my money stolen and there’s not much I can do about it. But I figured, at this point, that the benefits outweigh the risks.”Stille, and others nationwide, are scrambling to form contingency plans as Republican politicians rapidly erode access to the gender-affirming treatments many credit as life-saving. Fears became...

Police: Armed man wounded, 2 officers hit but saved by vests

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police say an overnight standoff with an armed man barricaded in a Philadelphia home ended when he was shot and wounded by officers who had been fired upon and struck by bullets in their protective vests.First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford told WPVI-TV that officers were called to the Germantown home at about 4 p.m. Saturday after a report of an armed man and were given access to the property by a relative but were fired upon by the man.Officials say the barricade situation lasted overnight into Sunday, and SWAT negotiators tried to talk with the man but at some point they lost communication with him. Stanford said they were concerned about the man’s safety and went inside Sunday morning and found him on the third floor when he opened fire.Stanford said two officers were hit but “luckily in their vest area and so they were saved by their vest.” They returned fire, striking the man and he was transported to the hospital, he said. WPVI-TV reported t...

'March for Babies:' A Mother of a Movement, walk for families in NCIU

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

CHICAGO — The March of Dimes hosted their annual fundraiser 'March for Babies: A Mother of a Movement,' to help raise money for families going through the neonatal intensive care unit (NCIU) process. Ashley Thies, with the march of Dimes organization shine light on the work they do from research and programs to advocacy and education. "We have a staff member here in Chicago at Lurie's Children Hospital who provides support to families who have that experience," tease said. Volunteers, non-profit group plant trees across Little Village Thies said many families do not expect to end up in the NCIU so it is important to provide care in their time of need. From hosting NCIU holiday dinners to parent's nights, March of Dimes, Thies said it is important to provide families with care during those tense times. Thies shared that Illinois has a "D+" in the report card of maternal mortality and pre-term birth rate and the South Side Birth Equity task force identifies the cause of it. Along w...

Sunday Brunch: 'Char.CUTE.rie' style

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

Check out this morning's Sunday Brunch where WGN Morning News is joined by 'Char.CUTE.rie' style with their custom charcuterie boards and food artistry.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.

Fired Big Lots manager says she was just trying to get shopping cart back from shoplifter

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – You wouldn’t think that a retail store manager would have to make a decision between recovering store property and keeping her job but that’s exactly what a Big Lots manager in California says happened to her.On April 5, at a Big Lots store outside Bakersfield, a customer had apparently loaded his shopping cart with 15 big orange jugs of Tide laundry detergent and headed straight out the door. Two Big Lots managers followed him out – but not to try and detain him or even confront him. They just wanted to get their shopping cart back after he was finished with it. A week later, they were both out of jobs, Lily Oxford said. She had been the manager of the store's furniture section. Amazon driver allegedly tried to hit dogs after chase, company apologizes: family “For Christmas, we had just got 40 brand new carts,” Oxford said. “It’s March, we’re down to five carts. So, we are instructed, no carts are to leave that store whatsoever. No matter … custo...

Weekend Break: Mozart Immersive Chicago

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Join WGN Weekend Morning News at the Mozart Art exhibit at the LightHouse Artspace.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.

How to get out of a payday loan nightmare

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

(NerdWallet) - When Minnesota resident Sherry Shannon was short on cash after her car broke down in 2013, she turned to a storefront payday lender for a $140 loan. She remembers the process as quick and easy — she signed on the dotted line, got the cash and was out the door within minutes.But when it came time to repay, the combination of her monthly bills, plus the triple-digit interest rate on her payday loan, meant she was short on cash again, so she took out another loan.As the amount she owed ballooned, Shannon says she soon felt trapped by her debt."I experienced homelessness once, and I didn't want to be homeless again, so I had to keep taking [payday loans] out just to pay my rent and my light bill," she says. "I didn't see any way out of this."Shannon's story doesn't stand alone. Payday lenders operate in 32 states, and about 12 million Americans use payday loans each year, according to research from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Though these loans may be advertised as a way t...

Arrest made in Minneapolis mosque fires that rattled metro-area Muslims

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis police arrested a man suspected of setting two fires that damaged mosques in the city last week as part of what the chief called “an attempt to inflict terror onto our Muslim community.”Police Chief Brian O’Hara announced the arrest of 36-year-old Jackie Rahm Little early Sunday but didn’t provide details of how he was apprehended. He was charged with second-degree arson after the fires were set on April 23 and 24 and an arrest warrant was issued.“Houses of worship should be safe places. Setting fire to a sacred facility, where families and children gather, is incredibly inhumane. And this level of blatant hatred will not be tolerated in our great city,” O’Hara said in a statement Sunday.Leaders with the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the arrest after the fires that had unnerved the Muslim community in the area.“This arrest brings some relief to our community, which has been on edge for the past week,” said Jayla...

Hundreds participate in mass casualty training at SPAC

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:43:00 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) — With summer around the corner, State Police were conducting a mass casualty training at SPAC and had been planning this training since July. The training included almost 20 city and county agencies across the Capital Region and 200 volunteers.Police say about 400 people participated in three presented scenarios to teach first responders how to most efficiently handle a mass casualty situation while also improving public safety. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Several volunteers posed as critical condition victims and were transported to Saratoga Hospital, Albany Medical Center, and other regional health partners. The goal was to review how these situations can impact their emergency plans.“The first responders are doing well handling the emergency as we would hope and expect that they would efficiently and professionally,” Sergeant Jeffrey Santor, New York State Park Police Emergency Manage...