AP source: FBI searched U. of Delaware in Biden docs probe
The FBI has searched the University of Delaware in recent weeks for classified documents as part of its investigation into the potential mishandling of sensitive government records by President Joe Biden. The search, first reported by CNN, was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Justice Department declined to comment. The university is Biden’s alma mater. In 2011, he donated his records from his 36 years serving in the U.S. Senate to the school. The records are to remain sealed until two years after he retires from public life.
New Zealand fears more fatalities after cyclone kills 4
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says a cyclone that left a devastating wake of extensive flooding and landslides has claimed at least four lives and police have “grave concerns” for other residents who remain unaccounted for. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country’s north on Monday and has brought more destruction to the nation of 5 million than any weather event in decades. Police say at least four people have been confirmed killed by the storm, including a child caught in rising water on Hawke’s Bay. All four fatalities occurred near the same North Island east coast bay. Hipkins said he could not put a figure on how many missing person reports were of grave concern.
2nd Amendment sanctuary measure overturned in Oregon
An Oregon court has ruled that local governments in the state can’t declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries and ban police from enforcing certain gun laws. The opinion comes in the first court case filed over the concept, which hundreds of U.S. counties have adopted in recent years. The measure approved in Columbia County forbids local officials from enforcing most federal and state gun laws and could impose thousands of dollars in fines on those who try. But the Oregon Court of Appeals found that it violates a law giving the state the power to regulate firearms and would create a patchwork of gun laws.
White supremacist gets life in prison for Buffalo massacre
A white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket has been sentenced to life parole. Payton Gendron was forced to listen as relatives of his victims express the pain and rage over racist attack. Wendesday’s sentencing was disrupted briefly when a man in the audience rushed at him and was quickly restrained. Gendron pleaded guilty to charges including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. He still faces federal charges that could result in a death sentence if prosecutors choose to seek it. Judge Susan Eagan said his rampage was a reckoning for a nation “founded and built, in part, on white supremacy.”
Social Security Costs Are Rising Fast
New forecasts from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, released Wednesday, showed Medicare and Social Security spending growth rapidly outpacing the growth in federal tax revenues over the next 10 years. That is the product of a wave of baby boomers reaching retirement age and beginning to tap the programs, which provide guaranteed income and health insurance from the time benefits are claimed until death. On Wednesday, the budget office predicted Social Security spending would grow by two-thirds over the coming decade. That’s more than double the expected growth rate for spending on the military and on domestic programs like education and environmental protection.
Justice Dept. won’t bring charges against Gaetz in sex-trafficking inquiry
The Justice Department has decided not to bring charges against Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., after a lengthy sex-trafficking investigation. In recent months, investigators signaled they were not likely to pursue criminal charges against Gaetz, after concluding that they could not make a strong enough case in court, people familiar with the matter said. Department officials told his legal team about the decision early Wednesday. In 2020, federal prosecutors began examining whether Gaetz, 40, broke federal sex-trafficking laws, focusing on his relationships with women recruited online for sex, and whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl.
Six more people rescued in Turkey as death toll tops 35,000
As six more people were pulled from rubble in southeastern Turkey, officials said Wednesday that rescue efforts were underway in 682 buildings across the 10 provinces of Turkey where survivors of last week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake may still be alive. Such rescues have been a small sliver of positive news in a country where more than 35,000 people died and more than 1 million have been left without shelter. As state-controlled news outlets have covered the rescues, less of a spotlight has been put on the many more bodies being pulled out each day, the conditions of those rescued or the public anger over the government’s response to the tragedy.
Retail Sales surge as prices rise and shoppers keep buying
Retail sales surged in January, a sign of the resiliency of consumers as prices continued rising at a rapid pace. It was also good news for companies but a potential worry for the Federal Reserve as it tries to slow the economy to rein in inflation. U.S. retail sales increased 3% in January from the previous month. That’s a reversal from the 1.1% decline posted December, and the biggest rise since March 2021. The apparent robustness of shoppers at the beginning of the year could make retailers more optimistic about 2023.
Scientists get a close-up look beneath a troubling ice shelf in Antarctica
Deploying an underwater robot beneath a rapidly melting ice shelf in Antarctica, scientists have uncovered clues about how it is melting. The findings will help assess the threat it and other ice shelves pose for long-term sea-level rise. The researchers said that overall melting of the underside of part of the Thwaites shelf in West Antarctica was less than expected from estimates derived from computer models. But they also discovered that rapid melting was occurring in unexpected places. The findings do not alter the fact that the Thwaites is among the fastest receding and least stable ice shelves in Antarctica, and of the most concern when it comes to sea level rise.
By wire sources
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