2024 - Page 16 of 25

11 Mar 2024

President Joe Biden Says He’ll Consider Ban on TikTok If Congress Passes Bill

TikTok has risen in popularity quickly, especially among younger users, with its short video format and viral challenges. However, concerns about privacy and data security have plagued the app since its inception. The idea that user data could potentially be accessed by the Chinese government has led to calls for action to be taken against TikTok in the United States.

The legislation passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee is a step in that direction. By forcing ByteDance to sell its ownership of TikTok or face a ban in the US, the bill aims to protect American users’ data and privacy. While TikTok has denied any wrongdoing, the potential risks associated with a foreign-owned app having access to user data are too great to ignore.

If this bill does indeed make it to President Biden’s desk and is signed into law, it could have a significant impact on the app’s future in the US. TikTok would either have to comply with the new regulations or face being banned from the country altogether.

11 Mar 2024

Florida Senate Approves Ban Of Homeless People From Sleeping on Public Property

The Florida Senate has recently passed a bill that places a ban on homeless camps to address the homelessness crisis in the state. This new legislation will require cities and counties to prevent individuals from sleeping in public places, forcing local governments to create designated encampment sites instead.

While some see this bill as a positive step towards addressing homelessness and providing necessary services to those in need, others are wary of the potential consequences. Critics argue that criminalizing homelessness by banning individuals from public spaces and threatening them with arrest is not a solution to the root causes of homelessness. They also raise concerns about the lack of provisions for safety, sanitation, and basic necessities in these encampment sites.

Despite the controversy surrounding the bill, Governor Ron DeSantis has expressed his support for it and is expected to sign it into law soon. Proponents of the bill, such as Ron Book of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, believe that while the bill may not be perfect, it is a step in the right direction. Book emphasizes the need for a comprehensive plan, adequate funding, and strong leadership to effectively address homelessness in the state.

Implementing this program statewide would come with a hefty price tag of over $500 million.

11 Mar 2024

Fulton County DA Fani Willis disqualification ruling anticipated this week

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is anticipated to make a ruling this week over whether District Attorney Fani Willis and/or special prosecutor Nathan Wade — with whom she had a romantic relationship — should be disqualified from their investigation and subsequent indictment of former President Donald Trump.

On March 1, McAfee heard three hours worth of closing arguments from attorneys representing Willis and some of Trump’s co-defendants, and said he hoped to make a decision on the case “over the next two weeks.” That two-week window expires on Friday, March 15, meaning Georgia’s March 12 presidential primary could be held while McAfee is still making his decision.

Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing the nation’s 45th president and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

Willis is facing allegations she misused taxpayer funds and crossed ethical boundaries during her romantic relationship with Wade.

11 Mar 2024

Early turnout nears 440K Georgia voters before election day Tuesday

Heading into election day Tuesday, nearly 440,000 people have already voted in Georgia’s presidential primary, and most of them have cast Republican ballots. Early voting ended Friday with a turnout of about 416,000 in-person voters during the past three weeks, according to state election data. An additional 24,000 voters have returned absentee ballots.

11 Mar 2024

Driver dead after crash in South Baltimore

One person was killed after a fiery crash near the Port of Baltimore in South Baltimore.

Police say the driver was speeding when the driver went through a gate at the South Locust Point Terminal Sunday around 5 a.m.

The driver struck a concrete barrier and then the car burst into flames.

The driver was killed.

11 Mar 2024

Weather: Wind Advisory for Monday in Maryland with gust up to 50 mph

Meteorologist Ava Marie says we are in an impact weather day for Monday due to the Wind Advisory in place until the afternoon.

SCHOOL CLOSINGS AND DELAYS | WEATHER MAP | TRAFFIC | HOURLY FORECAST

The winds will be steady around 25 mph but we could see gust up to 55 mph possible. The gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects and could cause damage to tree limbs and branches.

Watch out for fallen debris as well as limbs falling into power lines that could cause power outages across the area. The Wind Advisory is in place until 5 p.m. and should subside by the early evening.

11 Mar 2024

Baltimore police to roll out plan for increased traffic enforcement

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley has announced plans to increase traffic stops for traffic violations in the coming weeks.

In an interview on WBAL NewsRadio’s Jayne Miller show, Worley said that the move aims to address the rise in fatal crashes, severe injuries, and road rage incidents linked to speeding and other traffic violations.

“Believe it or not, it is one of my pet peeves over the last couple of months, more so, especially the more I drive around in the city,” Worley said.

Worley described why the police department plans to focus on traffic enforcement.

“Part of the reason is, not only the fact that we’re disregarding the these signs and the speed limits and the stop signs and the parking signs, but the fact that we have vehicles speeding that are causing more fatal crashes and more severe injuries,” Worley said.

Worley expressed concern about the surge in road rage, noting an increase in incidents involving firearms, leading to shootings.

“What’s happening is so many people were carrying guns and the road rage are leading to more and more shootings,” he said. “We have them probably one or two a week where it’s either a shooting at or a shooting or something really egregious. That would not have happened five or six years ago had it not been for the guns being here and the road rage that people express for simple things that really shouldn’t amount to anger issues like that.”

6 Mar 2024

Commitment 2024: Live results from Super Tuesday presidential primaries

More than one-third of the total delegates available in both the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries will be awarded on Super Tuesday , when 16 states and one U.S. territory hold presidential nominating contests.

I SUPER TUESDAY: LIVE RESULTS

On the Republican side, 854 of 2,429 will be at stake on Super Tuesday, which is traditionally the biggest day on the presidential primary calendar when it comes to the number of states holding presidential primaries and caucuses, as well as the number of delegates in play. Democrats will award 1,420 delegates, also more than one-third of those at stake in all. Nobody will lock up the nomination on Super Tuesday, but each party’s frontrunner can get pretty close.

Former President Donald Trump , who has won every presidential contest in which he’s appeared on the ballot and earned 122 delegates, needs 971 more to hit his “magic number” of 1,215. Once he receives that many, he’ll have won a majority of available delegates to the Republican convention this summer and will be considered the party’s presumptive nominee.

5 Mar 2024

Supreme Court restores Trump to ballot, rejecting state attempts to ban him

The Supreme Court on Monday restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to hold the Republican former president accountable for the Capitol riot. The justices ruled a day before the Super Tuesday primaries that states, without action from Congress first, cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots. The outcome ends efforts in Colorado, Illinois, Maine and elsewhere to kick Trump, the front-runner for his party’s nomination, off the ballot because of his attempts to undo his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Trump’s case was the first at the Supreme Court dealing with a provision of the 14th Amendment that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office again. Colorado’s Supreme Court, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, had decided that the provision, Section 3, could be applied to Trump, who that court found incited the Capitol attack. No court before had applied Section 3 to a presidential candidate. Some election observers have warned that a ruling requiring congressional action to implement Section 3 could leave the door open to a renewed fight over trying to use the provision to disqualify Trump in the event he wins the election. In one scenario, a Democratic-controlled Congress could try to reject certifying Trump’s election on Jan. 6, 2025, under the clause. The issue then could return to the court, possibly in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.