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An appeals court backs some abortion drug limits, pending the Supreme Court's approval

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mail-order access to a drug used in the most common form of abortion in the U.S. would end under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday that cannot take effect until the Supreme Court weighs in.The decision by three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned part of a lower court ruling that would have revoked the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of mifepristone. But it left intact part of the ruling that would end the availability of the drug by mail, allow it to be used through only the seventh week of pregnancy rather than the 10th, and require that it be administered in the presence of a physician. Those restrictions won’t take effect right away because the Supreme Court previously intervened to keep the drug available during the legal fight. The panel’s ruling would reverse changes the FDA made in 2016 and 2021 that eased some conditions for administering the drug.“In loosening mifepristone’s safety r...

Yankees Notebook: With ‘no time to waste,’ how are Bombers balancing Judge’s toe with putting out their best lineup?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

ATLANTA — Aaron Judge’s toe is not fully healed, but that hasn’t stopped him from playing the outfield.Prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Braves, Judge had played right field in three of the Yankees’ last four games. Following Tuesday’s 5-0 loss, he suggested that playing the outfield gives his last-place, .500 team the best chance to win with 42 games left in the season.“There’s no time to waste,” Judge said when asked if his recent outfield play meant his toe is feeling better. “We gotta try to put the best lineup out there every single day. So if that’s me playing outfield, we gotta do it. We’re running out of time, so yeah, I gotta be out there.”But Wednesday’s lineup had Judge filling the designated hitter role and Giancarlo Stanton in right field, as Aaron Boone still has to balance the slugger’s health with the Yankees’ unfavorable circumstances.Boone said that even as ...

Western Wisconsin football: River Falls is young, inexperienced and ready to build off recent success

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

Five sophomores are expected to see significant action when River Falls opens its 2023 high school football season at home Thursday against Wisconsin Rapids.That’s the most 10th-grade participation Wildcats coach Ryan Scherz can recall since 2017, when the current staff took over the program. That’s partially a product of the quality of the program’s young talent. This year’s senior class is also unusually small. The offensive line endured a heavy reconstruction.Take all those factors into consideration, and it would be more than acceptable to call this fall a rebuilding one for more programs. That simply is not the case in River Falls.River Falls senior quarterback Jacob Range throws a pass during prep football practice on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. The Wildcats are looking to build off a 10-win season from a year ago. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)The Western Wisconsin juggernaut — a word that would have been an antonym for the Wildcats as recently as five years ago — no longer d...

Vikings, Titans get meaningful work done at joint practice despite some chippiness

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

Maybe veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks didn’t mean anything by it.Talking to reporters about the Vikings hosting the Tennessee Titans for a pair of joint practices at TCO Performance Center this week, Hicks provided the typical cliche about how nice it was to compete against somebody else. He followed up that response with what some might consider a veiled shot when asked if Day 1 of joint practices was respectful.“It was,” Hicks said. “At least on our side.”In the same breath, Hicks credited the Vikings and Titans with ultimately keeping it clean amid the competitiveness, which allowed both teams to get meaningful work done. That’s exactly what Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and Titans head coach Mike Vrabel were looking for when they scheduled the joint practices in the lead-up to Saturday’s preseason game between the two teams.“I think we’ve been getting a lot of really good work in against ourselves,” Vrabel sa...

New charges against 'ChiefsAholic' in string of bank robberies, money laundering

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – More charges are coming in for the 29-year-old Chiefs fan known as "ChiefsAholic."Xaviar Michael Babudar was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for multiple bank robberies and money laundering the proceeds through area casinos. Babudar was charged in a 19-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City.Wednesday’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Babudar on May 24 and includes additional charges, according to the Department of Justice. Court documents say Babudar, who lived a nomadic existence at various locations around the Kansas City area, was known on social media as Kansas City Chiefs superfan Twitter user @ChiefsAholic, attending most games dressed as a wolf in Chiefs gear. According to the indictment, Babudar perpetrated a string of bank and credit union robberies throughout 2022 to attend Chiefs games.Investigators say Babudar laundered money he robbed through area casinos, attending Chiefs ho...

Freshmen 'Move-In Day' at SIUE

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – It’s a big day at the campus of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. More than a thousand first-year students arrive on Wednesday and Thursday, and returning students make their way back to campus living on Friday.“Our first-year students live in three communities,” said SIUE Director of Housing Mallory Sidarous. “That’s Bluff, Prairie, and Woodland Hall. They are the same as far as layout and structure, so that makes it easy for students. And we do have general assignment or focused-interest communities, so they could be living with folks in the same major as them or general assignment.”Bluff Hall was a beehive of activity Wednesday afternoon as first-year students and families tried to get settled in for all that awaits when classes begin Monday.“Went to the check in and saw my friend from school; that was exciting,” said Erin Mansfield, a freshman nursing student. “We got in here and had two girls help us out; put all our stuff in. Got it all done in an...

Kiszla: Is Javonte Williams strong enough to carry Russell Wilson and Broncos back to respectability?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson is more full of corn syrup than a box of Lucky Charms.Where you or I might regard the Denver offense as marshmallow soft, Wilson looks around the huddle and sees talent that’s magically delicious: Stalwart O-lineman. Dangerous playmakers. Give it time and look out, NFL world.“It takes time to paint a beautiful picture,” Wilson said Wednesday, preaching patience for the offense’s development under new coach Sean Payton.Well, I might not know much about football or art, but even my untrained eyes could see it wasn’t a Monet in the opening preseason game against the Cardinals.Working against backup defenders on a bad Arizona team, DangeRuss and the Denver offense huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the doors off the Cards, scoring one touchdown in four drives before calling it a night in the desert.No matter how Wilson might try to sugarcoat the problems, the Broncos often looked like the same boring team that has missed the playoffs for seven straigh...

For U.S. Amateur history-maker Blades Brown, golf is a show of love for dad. Basketball is for mom.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE — Blades Brown isn’t afraid to name-drop the greats. His ultimate dream would be for his own name, which is already rather extraordinary, to someday belong in the same stratosphere.Speaking at practically a word per millisecond, and even briefly mistaking the 123rd U.S. Amateur Championship for something a little bigger — “Augusta … er, not Augusta,” he called it at one point — Brown was still brimming with enthusiasm Wednesday after three and a half hours of match play at Cherry Hills County Club.With good reason: Brown is only 16. Makes sense that he would wield outsized ambition with a bright future in front of him, especially after he made history Tuesday on the biggest stage of his budding career. Brown is the youngest co-medalist at stroke play in U.S. Amateur history, breaking a 103-year-old record previously held by Bob Jones. He was 18.Up three at the halfway point of his Round of 64 matchup, then suddenly tied after 16 hol...

Southwest flight attendants say “backroom” deal has stripped them of Colorado’s new sick leave protections

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

A flight attendants union is suing Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado’s labor department and Southwest Airlines for agreeing to a settlement that drastically reduced a $1.3 million fine and carved the airline’s unionized workers out of the state’s sick-leave law.The suit, filed in Denver court Monday, seeks to unwind a deal that ended a months-long legal battle waged by Southwest against the state’s sick-leave law. State investigators had previously determined that the airline had violated “dozens of Colorado labor laws,” including the sick-leave statute, and they hit the company with a hefty fine. But the settlement reduces that fine from more than $1.3 million to $133,140, and it includes an agreement that the state won’t investigate further sick-leave complaints from Southwest’s unionized workers in Colorado.“The message I feel like this sends is that the workers can do anything and everything to stand up for our rights, 100% follow t...

Boulder police searching for driver that struck cyclist riding with child

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:24 GMT

Boulder police are searching for a driver who clipped a cyclist who was riding with a child on Wednesday.According to a tweet, a woman riding an e-bike with her child northbound on Lehigh Street in south Boulder at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.As the woman was turning left onto Cragmoor Road, a vehicle behind her passed on the right and clipped the bike’s rear tire. The vehicle reportedly did not stop.The contact caused the bike to fall over and the woman suffered minor injuries that required stitches. Her 3-year-old child was not injured.Based on video footage, the vehicle is believed to be a Subaru Outback, possibly silver, gold or champagne-colored, with rear tinted windows and a roof rack.Anyone with any information about this crash is asked to contact Boulder police Accident Report Specialist Frank Leyhe at 720-305-7554 or [email protected] Police Searching for Vehicle That Struck Cyclist with a Child; Mom Suffered Minor Injuries, Child Uninjured Traffic officers are as...