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Denver Referred Question 2P: Voters approve extension of preschool tax

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

Denver voters approved Referred Question 2P, which would permanently extend the existing city sales tax that provides preschool tuition for Denver kids, preliminary results released on Tuesday night show.In updated results posted by the Denver Elections Division at 8:30 p.m., 76.2% of voters favored the measure while 23.8% opposed it. The question held a more than 50,000-vote lead with roughly 96,000 ballots counted as of that update.With the measure’s passage, the city’s 0.15% sales tax — or 15 cents on every $100 purchase — that raises money for preschool tuition for Denver kids will become a permanent fixture of the city’s tax hierarchy.“We are extremely grateful to the voters of Denver,” Elsa Holguín, the president and CEO of the Denver Preschool Program, said after the first batch of results rolled in Tuesday.As the law is currently written, the city’s preschool tax would sunset in 2026. But Holguín and supporters felt strongly th...

Proposition II results: Colorado voters approve measure allowing state to keep excess tobacco taxes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

Colorado’s tobacco and nicotine taxes will remain unchanged and the state will reap an extra $23.65 million in preschool program funding after voters on Tuesday night approved Proposition II.As of 8:25 p.m., about 66% of voters were supporting Proposition II while 34% voted against it, out of more than 1.1 million votes counted.Prop. II is a tax-retention measure that asked voters to allow the state to keep excess tax collections under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. It’s a sequel to 2020’s Proposition EE, which raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products and created a new tax on certain nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Voters approved that tax increase by a 2-to-1 margin.Prop. EE added $1.10 to the price of a pack of cigarettes on top of an existing 84-cent tax; the EE portion of the tax is set to increase to $1.40 in July and then to $1.80 in July 2027. Tax increases on other items included an initial 50% tax on e-cigarettes and v...

12-year-old boy found shot to death on Santa Clarita roadside

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

A person who was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Monday was identified as a 12-year-old boy.On Tuesday night, authorities confirmed the body belonged to Willians Lemus Ayala, a Canyon Country resident, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.Ayala’s body was discovered near the intersection of Sand Canyon and Placerita Canyon roads in Canyon Country at around 6:30 a.m.vAuthorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a 12-year-old boy was found shot to death on a Santa Clarita roadside on Nov. 6, 2023. (KTLA)Authorities are investigating after a body was discovered in the Santa Cl...

Cold case homicide victim identified after 43 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

The remains of a homicide victim discovered in Orange County 43 years ago have finally been identified and the victim’s family notified, authorities announced Tuesday.  The skeletal remains of what investigators determined to be a Black male between the ages of 17 to 24 were discovered in May 1980 adjacent to an oil well in an unincorporated area of Tonner Canyon near the city of Brea, according to a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.  Attempts to identify the young man over the years were unsuccessful and the case had remained cold.  In Dec. 2021, the sheriff’s department was contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to conduct a forensic investigative genetic genealogy analysis of the victim. The young man was exhumed in May 2022 so investigators could collect DNA samples. In June, a private forensic biotechnology company developed a DNA profile from the skeletal remains and submitted it to the Federal Bureau of Investigat...

In showy late-game swing, Oakland mayor calls for MLB owners to reject A’s move

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

OAKLAND — Ahead of a decision by Major League Baseball owners on whether Oakland’s last major sports franchise can leave the city for Las Vegas, Mayor Sheng Thao on Tuesday urged them to offer a clear “no” vote.“This is more than just a game,” Thao, at a City Hall event, said of the A’s, who will need 75% approval from the owners next week to secure the right to relocate. “These are intergenerational memories, tradition, culture.”It’s unclear if the public showing by Thao and the City Council — which later on Tuesday approved a resolution affirming that the “A’s belong in Oakland” — will move the needle among MLB owners. While some retired A’s players and many fans have called for the team to stay, none of the MLB owners have indicated that they will get in A’s owner John Fisher’s way.The A’s are focused on clearing legal hurdles in Nevada to build a 33,000-seat ballpark...

Ohio votes to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, becoming 24th state to do so

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters approved a measure legalizing recreational marijuana on Tuesday, defying Republican legislative leaders who had failed to pass the proposed law. Passage of Issue 2 makes Ohio the 24th state to allow adult cannabis use for non-medical purposes. “Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “Ohioans demonstrated this by passing State Issue 2 in a landslide. Ohioans are being extremely clear on the future they want for our state: adult-use marijuana legal and regulated.”The new law will allow adults 21 and over to buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and to grow plants at home. A 10% tax will be imposed on purchases, to be spent on administrative costs, addiction treatment, municipalities with dispensaries and social equity and jobs programs supporting the industry itself. The election’s outcome represents a blow to GOP lawmakers, Republican Gov. Mike ...

Democratic incumbent Vin Gopal holds on to Senate seat in competitive New Jersey coastal district

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democrats on Tuesday held on to a heavily contested state Senate district, with incumbent Vin Gopal winning a third term, and flipped an Assembly seat from GOP control in a heavily Republican area. Gopal defeated Republican Steve Dnistrian in the 11th Legislative District in Monmouth County. His victory means Democrats successfully fended off a challenger in an increasingly moderate district. In Ocean County’s 30th District, Rabbi Avi Schnall defeated GOP incumbent Assemblyman Edward Thomson. “I think voters are tired of the political bickering,” Gopal said Tuesday before his victory. “They want people to bring them together. There needs to be discussion and debate and decorum back in government.”That campaign was among the most heavily contested this year, and saw more political spending than any other race, according to October figures from the state’s campaign finance watchdog. Other races were too early to call, but the Democratic victories buoyed...

Uvalde mother whose daughter was killed in the Robb Elementary shooting loses bid for mayor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

In Uvalde’s first mayoral race since the Robb Elementary School shooting, former mayor Cody Smith won back the job Tuesday over Kimberly Mata-Rubio, a mother who has led calls for tougher gun laws since her daughter was among the 19 children killed in the 2022 attack. The race tested the mood of the South Texas town more than a year after one of America’s deadliest mass shootings and a botched police response that remains under criminal investigation. Two teachers were also killed in the attack, which was carried out by a teenage gunman with an AR-style rifle. Mata-Rubio, who pressed Uvalde leaders for answers and transparency after the shooting, campaigned on unifying the small town that is still riven with division. Her candidacy put on the ballot one of Uvalde’s most outspoken figures and an aggressive proponent of stricter gun laws.“I’ll never stop fighting for you, Lexi,” Mata-Rubio posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I meant it when I said this was only the beginning. Aft...

Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek score in third to lift Wild over Islanders 4-2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek scored on consecutive shots in the third period Tuesday night, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders.Kaprizov snapped a tie by scoring a power play goal at the 6:50 mark before Pat Maroon forced a turnover by Pierre Engvall deep in the Islanders’ zone and Eriksson Ek scored.Maroon scored on the opening shift of the game and Vinni Lettieri tied the game in the second for the Wild, who also scored twice in the third period of a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday night. Maroon and Eriksson Ek each added an assist Tuesday.Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury had 26 saves.Noah Dobson scored for the second straight game for the Islanders. Oliver Wahlstrom also scored for New York, which had its point streak snapped at five games. Goalie Semyon Varlamov, starting at home for the first time this season, collected 27 saves.Maroon scored just 19 seconds after the opening faceoff by sending an angled shot past Va...

Democrats Parker, Innamorato elected first women to lead Philadelphia, Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:22 GMT

Voters elected women for the first time to lead Philadelphia and Pennsylvania’s second-largest county, installing Cherelle Parker as the 100th mayor of the state’s largest city and Sara Innamorato as executive of the county that includes Pittsburgh.Parker, 51, who has held office at the state and local level after first becoming involved in politics as a teenager, emerged from a crowded field of Democrats in the May primary as the only leading Black candidate and was heavily favored over Republican David Oh in the Democratic stronghold. She will replace Democrat Jim Kenney, who was ineligible for reelection due to term limits.Across the state in Allegheny County, Innamorato, 37, defeated Republican Joe Rockey, a political newcomer. The former state legislator who campaigned on progressive models to modernize county government will replace Democrat Rich Fitzgerald, who has served in the role since 2012 and was ineligible for reelection due to term limits.The races will set the electo...