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Judge: No separate defamation trials for Fox News, Fox Corp.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The judge presiding over a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against Fox denied the company’s request Wednesday to hold separate trials — one for Fox News and another for the network’s parent company.The request by Dominion Voting Systems came a day after its attorneys told the judge that Fox attorneys had withheld critical information about the role company founder Rupert Murdoch, who is chairman of Fox. Corp., played at Fox News.Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who consolidated the cases against both entities in December, refused Dominion’s request to hold a separate trial during which Murdoch would testify as a Fox News witness.The request came after Dominion attorneys told the judge that they learned just this week that Murdoch also was an officer of Fox News, holding the title of executive chair. That was contrary to repeated assertions by Fox attorneys.Murdoch’s role and that of other top Fox executives i...

Space race! Meteorites hit Maine, museum offers $25K reward

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Somewhere in a remote stretch of forest near Maine’s border with Canada, rocks from space crashed to Earth and may be scattered across the ground — just waiting to be picked up.If you’re the first to find a really big one, a museum says it’ll pay out a $25,000 reward. The unusually bright fireball could be seen in broad daylight around noon Saturday, said Darryl Pitt, chair of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel. NASA said the falling meteors was observed on radar — a first for Maine — and witnesses heard sonic booms.The museum wants to add to its collection of moon and Mars rocks, Pitt said, so the first meteorite hunters to deliver a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) specimen will claim the $25,000 prize. According to Pitt, the fact that radar detected the fiery descent assures the meteorites can be found on the ground.“With more people having an awareness, the more people will look — and the greater the likeliho...

Juul Labs agrees to pay $462 million settlement to 6 states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Embattled electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday. The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states. The vaping company, which has laid off hundreds of employees, will pay $7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act by marketing its products to underage users, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday. Last month, the company paid Chicago $23.8 million to settle a lawsuit. Minnesota’s case against Juul went to trial last month with the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison a...

Ian Happ, Cubs agree to contract extension, reports say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

CHICAGO — A year after nearly trading him at the deadline, the Cubs are keeping one of their All-Star outfielders around for a few more years.Per multiple reports, the first from Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation, outfielder Ian Happ has agreed to a three-year, $61 million contract extension with the Cubs. The club has yet to confirm the move.A first round pick of the Cubs in 2015, Happ has been at the major league level for seven seasons with the club. He's played on three playoff teams and was named a National League All-Star for the first time in 2022.Happ is one of the few homegrown contributors that the Cubs have been able to reach a contract extension with over the last decade. A number of those key players from the teams in the mid-to-late 2010s, including Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, and Willson Contreras, were traded or let go after not coming to terms on deals.Check back with WGNTV.com for more on this story.

Meteorites crash into Maine; museum offers $25K reward for recovered rock

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Somewhere in a remote stretch of forest near Maine's border with Canada, rocks from space crashed to Earth and may be scattered across the ground — just waiting to be picked up.If you're the first to find a really big one, a museum says it'll pay out a $25,000 reward.The unusually bright fireball could be seen in broad daylight around noon Saturday, said Darryl Pitt, chair of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel.NASA said the falling meteors were observed on radar — a first for Maine — and witnesses heard sonic booms.The museum wants to add to its collection of moon and Mars rocks, Pitt said, so the first meteorite hunters to deliver a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) specimen will claim the $25,000 prize.According to Pitt, the fact that radar detected the fiery descent assures the meteorites can be found on the ground."With more people having an awareness, the more people will look — and the greater the likelihood of a recovery,” Pitt sa...

Juul Labs to pay $462 million settlement to 6 states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Embattled electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Wednesday.The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. marks the latest in a string of recent legal settlements Juul has reached across the country with cities and states.The vaping company, which has laid off hundreds of employees, will pay $7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act by marketing its products to underage users, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday. Last month, the company paid Chicago $23.8 million to settle a lawsuit.Minnesota's case against Juul went to trial last month with the state's Attorney General Keith Ellison asserting that t...

Moontower Just For Laughs kicks off this week. What makes Austin laughable?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Moontower Just For Laughs kicks off Wednesday, with headliners like Seth Meyers, Jenny Slate, and Leslie Jones to take stages in Austin. The annual festival takes place April 12-23 and will feature over 100 comics across more than 10 venues in Austin. Trevor Noah was previously on the lineup, but has since dropped from the list of performers. Leslie Jones, Jenny Slate among several comics added to Moontower Just For Laughs lineup Avery Moore, an Austin comedian who will be performing a few times over the two week period, said the festival is like "comedy Christmas," saying that it's a huge goal for local comedians to make the setlist. Moore said Austin inspires a ton of what she says in her performances. "I do a lot of observational stuff, and lots of pretty wacky... lots of impressions and parody songs and things like that," Moore said. "But I was a bartender forever, and now I'm a Texas history tour guide. So, I can draw a lot from the city when it comes to my...

Which Austin roads will be closed for the Statesman Capitol 10K race Sunday?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thousands will lace up their sneakers and take to the streets this Sunday for the 46th Statesman Capitol 10,000 (Cap10K), a 10-kilometer road race that takes first place as the largest 10K in Texas and sixth largest in the country. The 6.2-mile race takes runners on a scenic tour through the heart of downtown and parts of central and west Austin. As a result, a slew of area roadways will be fully or partially closed Sunday.Here's a comprehensive look at those road closures. The race will be held Sunday, April 16. Wheelchair racers will begin at 7:30 a.m., with the first corral of runners taking off at 8 a.m.More information about the race — including how to register and past year's attendance numbers — is available online.

Austin-based startup designing humanoid robot with NASA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin-based startup company is trying to change the future, designing robots aimed at altering the way we work and live.Back in 2016, Apptronik was founded by four men within the human-centered robotics lab at the University of Texas at Austin.Now, they’ve expanded to over 70 employees and are working with NASA to commercialize a humanoid robot.Nicholas Paine is Apptronik’s chief technology officer. Delivery robots coming to UT Austin campus for 5-year study "Being a graduate of UT Austin, the motto is 'what starts here changes the world' and that’s really our mission here at Apptronik,” he said. “To have the biggest impact in the world that we can."The robotics company, which operates in a warehouse in north Austin, has crafted a wide variety of products since its inception, ranging from exoskeletons to general-purpose robots. Apptronik’s clients include multiple Fortune 500 companies."We build everything from the hardware of the robot to the electronics, firm...

Border communities rally against 'Border Protection Unit' bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:06 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- The Texas House Committee on State Affairs on Wednesday will consider a bill to create the "Border Protection Unit," vesting broad new law enforcement responsibilities in a new arm of the Department of Public Safety and challenging the limits of the state's border jurisdiction.House Bill 20 by Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, gives DPS a new responsibility of "defense and security of this state's air, maritime, and land borders." The governor would have sole authority to appoint and remove the unit chief, and the director of DPS would not have authority over the unit or its officers.The unit would be headquartered in the "border region," but its jurisdiction would expand across the state. The bill confers broad responsibilities onto officers, including apprehending people crossing the Texas-Mexico border unlawfully, making arrests in any county in Texas, constructing border barriers, searching ships and vehicles near ports of entry, and using force to "repel cartel o...