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U.S. childhood vaccination exemptions reach their highest level ever

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

NEW YORK — The proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements has hit its highest level ever, 3%, U.S. health officials said Thursday.More parents are questioning routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect of the political schism that emerged during the pandemic around COVID-19 vaccines, experts say.Even though more kids were given exemptions, the national vaccination rate held steady: 93% of kindergartners got their required shots for the 2022-2023 school year, the same as the year before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Thursday. The rate was 95% in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic.“The bad news is that it’s gone down since the pandemic and still hasn’t rebounded,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, a University of Colorado pediatric infectious diseases specialist. “The good news is that the vast majority of parents are still vaccinating their kids according to the recommended schedule...

Denver officer arrested on assault charge in Adams County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

A Denver police officer was arrested in Adams County on Wednesday on suspicion of third-degree assault related to domestic violence.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | A second Green Valley Ranch arson suspect is on track for plea deal, attorney says Crime and Public Safety | Aurora man already sentenced for 2021 murder now to serve 45 years for shooting at Denver police Crime and Public Safety | Denver Police, 911 launches automated response messaging program Crime and Public Safety | Man dies in custody at Denver detention center Tuesday Crime and Public Safety | 2 dead, 5 injured in shooting outside motorcycle club in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood Officer Anthony Guzman Jr. was arrested on assault allegations related to an incident that occurred Aug. 8 in Thornton, the Denver Police Department announced in a news release Thursday.Guzman, 31, was hired by the department in 2022 and worked...

U.S. 85 northbound reopens in Brighton after closure for jackknifed semitruck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

U.S. 85 northbound is open after a jackknifed semitruck closed the highway for three hours between 144th Avenue and Colo. 7, according to Brighton police and the Colorado Department of Transportation.Related ArticlesTransportation | Bus rapid transit is coming to more of Denver’s arterial streets as CDOT ups its support Transportation | Woman dies after being struck by Cadillac on East Montview Boulevard in Aurora Transportation | Aurora woman running across South Parker Road dies after collision with SUV Transportation | Eastbound I-70 reopens at Floyd Hill after sun glare closure Transportation | Silicon Valley ditches news, shaking an unstable industry The semi was jackknifed at East Bridge Street, also signed as Colo. 7, according to Brighton police. No injuries were reported in the incident.TRAFFIC ALERT: Full closure of Highway 85 northbound at Bridge Street due to a jackknifed semi. No injur...

Man charged in crash that killed law enforcement cadet, injured 24 others

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

Nearly a year after a driver plowed into a large group of jogging law enforcement cadets in South Whittier, prosecutors have announced felony charges in the case.Nicholas Gutierrez, 23, faces one count of vehicular manslaughter and nine counts of reckless driving resulting in injury, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference on Thursday.If convicted, Gutierrez could face up to 12 years in prison.The Nov. 15, 2022 crash, which was captured on surveillance video, shows a vehicle swerve into the path of several dozen recruits who were on a training run in the area of Mills Avenue and Telegraph Road.In total, 25 cadets were hurt, five critically.Alejandro Martinez, 23, a U.S. Army Veteran, died of his injuries eight months later.The scene of the crash where 25 cadets were injured in South Whittier on Nov. 16, 2022. (KTLA)The scene of the crash where 25 cadets were injured in South Whittier on Nov. 16, 2022. (Francisco Silva)Alejandro Martinez was among...

Suspected DUI driver charged in crash that killed LAPD officer and injured SBSD deputy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

A suspected DUI driver in a Northridge crash that killed two people, including an off-duty officer, and injured a deputy has been charged with murder on Thursday.The suspect, Brian Olivarez, 20, was charged with the murders of Los Angeles Police Officer Darrell Cunningham and his passenger, Jorge Soriano, while seriously injuring two others, according to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office.The crash happened on Nov. 4 near the intersection of Roscoe Boulevard and Lindley Avenue around 1:15 a.m.Cunningham was driving with an off-duty San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputy and another passenger in a white Infiniti on Lindley Avenue when he was hit by a speeding car.The suspect, Olivarez, had failed to stop at a red light as he was going over 100 miles per hour, police said.Olivarez was also suspected of being under the influence of alcohol at the time, said LAPD.A deadly two-car collision in Northridge claimed the lives of two people and sent three more to the hospit...

Another version of the Las Vegas Sphere could be built in West Hollywood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

A smaller version of the Las Vegas Sphere could be coming to West Hollywood should a developer’s proposal become reality.The West Hollywood Planning Commission's Design Review Subcommittee and Sunset Arts & Advertising Subcommittee will look at plans for “The Sphere on Sunset” during their meeting on Thursday. Saee Studio is designing the project. What we know about the high-speed rail from metro Los Angeles to Las Vegas The new structure won’t be an entertainment venue, like the one in Vegas, but instead will be a “broadcast venue.” The project will consist of a “49-foot-diameter glass sphere hovering above a pedestrian plaza and a neighboring apartment complex,” Urbanize L.A., the first to report the news, said.Concept art of what the project could look like in West Hollywood. (Saee Studio)Concept art of what the project could look like in West Hollywood. (Saee Studio)Concept art of what the project's interior could look like in West Hollywood. (Saee Studio)Concept art of wh...

Jorge Lerma on path to filling critical Oakland school board seat, but more results to come

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

OAKLAND — Former school principal Jorge Lerma has a substantial lead in the race for a vacant Oakland Unified school board seat, but later returns on Thursday indicated that opponent Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez is cutting into it.Lerma now has roughly a 57% to 43% advantage over Ritzie-Hernandez, narrowed down from the 63% to 37% advantage he held in initial Tuesday night results.Close to 1,300 additional eligible ballots were counted in the latest returns, bringing the total turnout to about 3,500 in Oakland’s District 5, a largely Latino area south of I-580 that includes parts of East Oakland, including Fremont High and the Fruitvale neighborhood.It’s unclear how many votes are left to count, given that any ballots that arrive in the coming days must be tabulated, as long as they were postmarked on or before the day of the special election on Nov. 6.The District 5 seat is the only one vacant on the Oakland Unified School District board, which frequently finds itself s...

After 25 years in prison, man has his conviction overturned

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

By Christopher Weber | Associated PressLOS ANGELES — A California man who has spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit was exonerated and ordered released by a judge on Thursday after prosecutors agreed he had been wrongly convicted.Miguel Solorio, 44, was arrested in 1998 for a fatal drive-by shooting in Whittier, southeast of Los Angeles, and eventually sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.Superior Court Judge William Ryan overturned Solorio’s conviction during a Los Angeles court hearing that Solorio attended remotely.When the hearing concluded, Solorio thanked his attorneys with the Northern California Innocence Project, calling them his “dream team.”“It’s like a dream I don’t want to wake up from,” he said. “This day finally came.”The attorneys who petitioned for Solorio’s release argued that his conviction was based on faulty eyewitness identification practices.In a letter last month...

Miss. polling places ran out of ballots on election day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

By Emily Wagster Pettus, Michael Goldberg and Ayanna Alexander | Associated PressJACKSON, Miss. — People in Mississippi’s largest county are demanding answers about why some polling places ran out of ballots and voters had to wait for them to be replenished on the day the state was deciding its most competitive governor’s race in a generation.It’s unclear how many people left without voting, and activists and local leaders say election officials’ failure is shocking, especially in a state where civil rights leaders were beaten or killed in the 1960s and earlier to secure voting rights for Black residents.“If you can’t vote, that’s a problem for democracy,” said Paloma Wu, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney who filed one of two lawsuits to keep polling places open later than usual in Hinds County.Republican Gov. Tate Reeves defeated Democratic challenger Brandon Presley in Mississippi’s most expensive gubernatorial race.Nea...

Alabama can’t prosecute people who help women leave the state for abortions, Justice Department says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:28 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said Alabama cannot use conspiracy laws to prosecute people and groups who help women leave the state to obtain abortions.The Justice Department filed a statement of its position in consolidated lawsuits against Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, arguing that such prosecutions would be unconstitutional. The lawsuits, filed by an abortion fund and former providers, seek a court ruling clarifying the state can’t use conspiracy statutes to prosecute people who help Alabama women travel elsewhere to obtain an abortion. Marshall has not prosecuted anyone for providing such assistance, but he has made statements saying that his office would “look at” groups that provide abortion help.The Justice Department argued in the filing that the U.S. Constitution protects the right to travel. The department said that just as Marshall cannot stop women from crossing state lines to obtain a legal abortion, “neither can he ...