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Nebraska latest Republican state to expand Medicaid to cover postpartum care for low-income mothers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lower-income new mothers will get a full year of Medicaid health care coverage in Nebraska under an order issued Wednesday by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. The move makes Nebraska the latest in a growing list of Republican-led states that had previously refused to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage beyond the minimum 60 days after women give birth. Conservatives are now largely embracing the change as part of an anti-abortion agenda in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year overturning Roe v. Wade, which for 50 years guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.Since that ruling, the Nebraska Legislature enacted a 12-week abortion ban, and Pillen has promised to push for a six-week ban next year.State lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year to expand Medicaid’s postpartum coverage to at least six months. Pillen said his order of a full year of coverage is “a significant step in supporting Nebraska’s mothers and children.” Other states that h...

New storms batter central Greece as government prioritizes adapting to effects of climate change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — New floods following torrential rain swept Wednesday across swathes of central Greece already battered by deadly storms weeks earlier, once again damaging roads, flooding homes and causing power outages in the city of Volos and the island of Evia.At least eight villages were ordered evacuated late Wednesday as floodwaters rose, and road traffic was banned in Volos — a coastal city of about 140,000 — with residents urged to stay indoors.The fire service received hundreds of calls for assistance in Volos and dozens of people were evacuated from flooded homes, but there were no reports of deaths or people missing. State-run ERT television said the basement of the Volos hospital was inundated, although services were not affected.The new heavy storms follow deadly wildfires that caused record destruction in the summer, and earlier Wednesday the government declared that adapting to climate change has become a national priority.Volos, the nearby Mount Pilion area and ...

Nebraska police standoff stretches into day 2 with hostage still trapped in home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A police standoff with a man who barricaded himself in a Nebraska home with a hostage passed the 24-hour mark Wednesday. Local law enforcement agencies said the standoff began after the 37-year-old fled when a deputy tried to pull him over for a traffic violation Tuesday in the western Nebraska city of Gering. Gering police and the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Office said the man shot at the deputy’s vehicle during a brief chase, then crashed into a residential garage.The man barricaded himself inside the home around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported. He took a woman and two girls hostage but eventually freed the children.Local law enforcement says the man has fired at officers with multiple weapons during the standoff.The FBI and the Nebraska State Patrol are helping local law enforcement. Source

Boulder mass shooting suspect suggested to psychologist that he wanted police to kill him

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The man accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 told a mental health evaluator he bought firearms to carry out a mass shooting and suggested that he wanted police to kill him, according to Wednesday court testimony.Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa made the statements at a state mental hospital during an August evaluation that determined he was mentally competent to stand trial, said Loandra Torres, the forensic psychologist who evaluated the 24-year-old suspect. Remains of Suzanne Morphew found during unrelated search The defendant, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, also “recognized that there are guns that have his fingerprints on them and that can be used as some evidence against him," Torres said.Alissa is charged with murder and multiple attempted murder counts after the shooting rampage on March 22, 2021, in a crowded King Soopers store in Boulder, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Denver. He has not yet been asked to enter...

Mother speaks out after 3-year-old accidentally shoots hand with gun left unattended at home in SW Miami-Dade

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

A South Florida mother is making a plea to other parents after her little girl shot herself with a gun that was left unattended on a couch. Now, a relative is in trouble for what happened.Surveillance video on Sunday showed the moment Serenity ran to the couch and grabbed the gun inside of her family’s apartment in Southwest Miami-Dade.Warneicia Williams, Serenity’s mother, spoke with 7News on Wednesday about the chilling footage“I just kept rewatching it, I just kept replaying it, replaying, it, because I’m like, ‘How can this happen?'” she said. “I’m just grateful my daughter is alive, because if you watch the video, the gun was pointed at her chest.”As Serenity began playing with the gun, she accidentally fired the gun and shot her hand.“The bullet went straight through her finger,” Williams said. “Her hand stopped the bullet. Her hand saved her life.”Serenity on Tuesday was released from the hospital a...

WATCH: SUV destroys two parked cars in Worcester before driving away

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

A surveillance camera captured a wild wreck in Worcester Saturday night.An SUV lost control and crashed into two parked cars before driving off around 9 p.m. on Pleasant Street. Oscar Bogue’s company Guardian and A to Z Integrated Systems owns the camera that captured the crash.“How he managed to drive away, I don’t know,” Bogue said. “An SUV was coming up the hill, heading towards downtown Worcester, crossed the double line, hit the two cars, did a 360, stopped and managed to drive away,” Bogue said. The parked cars were damaged, with the back bumper hanging off of one, and the front bumper, hood and side of the other seriously damaged. Debris also filled the street.“Luckily no one was walking the street cause usually people are out in the street and it just happened to be quiet, as matter of fact one of the owners of the car said he was in the car 10 minutes earlier, so he was lucky,” Bogue said.Steve Matin and his band were set to play at a club across the s...

Emergency crews respond to serious crash in Hooksett, NH

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

Emergency crews responded in Hooksett, New Hampshire Wednesday after a serious crash in the area. Hooksett police in a statement Wednesday afternoon said Main Street was shut down between Grant Drive and Hooksett Road. Police said Hooksett Road was also shut down between Morse Drive and College Park Drive “due to a motor vehicle accident.”SKY7-HD was over the scene during the emergency response, showing debris strewn over the area. All roads had reopened as of around 6 p.m., according to police.No further information was immediately available.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Law enforcement, government officials gather to memorialize 13 fallen officers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

In a solemn ceremony held once every year, members of the law enforcement community gathered at the State House to memorialize fallen officers.This year the names of 13 officers — many of whom passed in the early part of the 20th century — will join the hundreds already etched into the memorial.“They all had one thing in common and that was to keep the peace that makes our lives possible, to protect our freedoms, our way of life,” Gov. Maura Healey said Wednesday. “To do so, they showed up every day; they were role models and helpers, who devoted their lives to their communities.”Standing next to the badge-shaped memorial tucked into the corner of Ashburton Park along the State House’s eastern flank, Healey spoke to dozens of family members and uniformed police there to witness the name of their loved one join those of fellow officers.One of them, Trooper Tamar Anoush Bucci, died in March of last year when she was attempting to help a stranded motorist and a tanker truck struck her ...

Narrow tracks on MBTA’s $2.3B Green Line Extension under investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

The MBTA has slowed travel to a crawl on its brand new $2.3 billion Green Line Extension after discovering the tracks on stretches of the new line are too narrow.The speed in some spots along the affected lines, which bring service to Union Square in Somerville and Tufts-Medford, has dropped to 3 miles per hour, according to the T’s slow zone dashboard.T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said track inspectors performed a “regularly scheduled” scan of the Green Line Extension tracks and found areas where the width between the rails “was slightly out of the limits of the regular track standards.”The tracks were constructed and opened under the Baker administration, Pesaturo said, adding “the track gauge has always been narrow, but up until recently, did not require mitigation.”“The T has been conducting regular inspections and, in the past three months, has detected areas where the track condition has progressed to the point of requiring speed restrictions to ensure the safety of riders and crew...

Winner of last month’s $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot claims prize in Florida

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:01 GMT

By FREIDA FRISARO (Associated Press)FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The winner of last month’s $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot — the third-largest in U.S. history — has come forward to claim the prize, officials said Wednesday.In all, Mega Millions has had five prizes of more than a billion dollars.Under a new Florida law, the winner’s name remains anonymous for 90 days from the date the prize was claimed, which was on Sept. 25, lottery officials said in an email. The lottery did not confirm whether the winner took the lump sum or the annuity, and did not specify the estimated lump sum amount.In Florida, winners have to claim the lump sum within 60 days of the drawing. They have up to 180 days if they choose to go with an annuity, which is paid out in 30 annual installments. The jackpot is also subject to federal taxes. There’s no state income tax in Florida. The winning ticket was sold at a Publix supermarket in Neptune Beach, a town along th...