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Packages from China are surging into the U.S. Lawmakers wonder if an $800 exemption was a mistake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservatives anxious to counter America’s leading economic adversary have set their sights on a top trade priority for labor unions and progressives: cracking down on the deluge of duty-free packages coming in from China. The changing political dynamic could have major ramifications for e-commerce businesses and consumers importing products from China valued at less than $800. It also could add to the growing tensions between the countries.Under current U.S. law, most imports valued at less than $800 enter duty-free into the United States as long as they are packaged and addressed to individual buyers. It’s referred to as the de minimis rule. Efforts to lower the threshold amount or exclude certain countries altogether from duty-free treatment are set to become a major trade fight in this Congress.“De minimis has become a proxy for all sorts of anxieties as it relates to China and other trade-related challenges,” said John Drake, a vice president at th...

Mother ship of doomed Titan submersible returns to port in Newfoundland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The Canadian ship that launched the doomed Titan submersible into the depths of the North Atlantic on Sunday has returned to port in Newfoundland.The Polar Prince pulled up alongside the Canadian Coast Guard building this morning in St. John’s after a journey of about 700 kilometres from the site of a massive international search for the Titan.The Titan lost contact with the Polar Prince about an hour and 45 minutes into its descent to the wreck of the Titanic, almost four kilometres below the surface of the sea.All five passengers and crew were presumed dead Thursday, soon after a team guiding a remotely operated vehicle spotted the Titan’s wreckage about 500 metres from the sunken luxury liner’s bow.The Titan was owned by the Washington-based company OceanGate Expeditions, and its chief executive officer Stockton Rush was among those who perished when the craft imploded and burst apart.The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has said it...

Russian mercenary chief says his forces are rebelling, entering Russia and ready to 'destroy anyone who stands in our way'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

The owner of the Wagner private military contractor made his most direct challenge to the Kremlin yet, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by calling for the arrest of Yevgeny Prigozhin.In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin was taking the threat, security was heightened in Moscow and in Rostov-on-Don, which is home to the Russian military headquarters for the southern region and also oversees the fighting in Ukraine.While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow's war effort as Kyiv's forces were probing Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. The dispute, especially if Prigozhin were to succeed, also could have repercussions for President Vladimir Putin and his ability to maintain a united front.Prigozhin claimed early Saturday that his forces had crossed into Russia from Ukraine and had reached Rostov, saying they ...

Seven days of triple-digit heat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Overnight showers fell over parts of the Hill Country. A couple of rain gauges in San Saba County had totals between .40" and .50".Most high temperatures Friday reached the upper half of the 90s. This afternoon's maximums return to 100° and higher for many locations.Today's normal high is 94°A Heat Advisory is in effect today for the entire area. Maximum heat index readings this afternoon will likely rise to between 108° to 115° at many locations. Friday's highest heat indices were 114° at La Grange and 111° at San Marcos. Most heat index readings will top 105°A Heat Advisory will be needed tomorrow and Monday. Excessive Heat Warnings could return by Tuesday and Wednesday.High pressure over Mexico continues to be our main weather feature. The high will drift to the northeast, parking over Central Texas Tuesday and Wednesday.The heat dome is over Central Texas Tuesday and WednesdayIt's those two days that are forecast to be our hottest days of the week with the ther...

Number of abortions in Texas dropped 99.5% in the months after Roe v. Wade was overturned

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The number of abortions performed in Texas dropped by 99.5% in the wake of the Supreme Court's overruling of Roe v. Wade one year ago.In the first half of 2022, a total of 17,126 abortions were performed in the state, according to official data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.That figure dropped to just 85 between July and December, a 99.5% decrease from the first six months of the year.The Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision on June 24, 2022, eliminating the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion. The ruling gave states the authority to limit or ban the procedure.Despite the state’s trigger law banning most abortions not going into effect until Aug. 22, Texas saw an immediate and dramatic decrease in the number of abortions after the Supreme Court ruling.Just 68 abortions were performed on Texas residents in the state in July, a 97% decrease from June. Only 17 abortions were reported in the las...

ATCEMS: 1 adult, 1 child dead following Travis County motorcycle collision

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two people died Friday night after a motorcycle collision in eastern Travis County, near Hornsby Bend, according to Austin-Travis County EMS.Officials said the incident occurred at approximately 10 p.m. in the 5500 block of Delta Post Drive.ATCEMS said medics attained two “deceased on-scene” pronouncements. One was for a pediatric patient, and the other was for an adult patient.There was no other information available from ATCEMS.

We Are Blood sees donation shortage during heat wave

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — During record high temperatures, Central Texas blood provider We Are Blood says they are seeing a donation shortage. The blood provider said they're asking for any blood donations including an urgent need for Type O. Blood and platelet donations drop every summer because of vacations and fewer mobile drives at schools, according to the nonprofit. But the need for blood transfusions remains high. "The season’s early stretch of extreme heat has likely contributed to a shortage of donors, compounding the usual dip in donors every summer," We Are Blood said. The nonprofit said it needs 200 donors daily to meet hospital and medical center needs. We Are Blood provides blood to over 50 medical centers in 10 counties. To donate, people can schedule appointments online or by calling 512-206-1266. Donation centers are in central Austin, south Austin, Round Rock and Cedar Park.

'You're not God': Doctors and patient families say HCA hospitals push hospice care

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

(NBC) — As Marisol Perez fought for her life in a Texas hospital in autumn 2021, her mother, Alma Salas, sat with her every day praying. Perez, then 42, had such a virulent case of Covid and pneumonia that doctors at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, an HCA Healthcare facility, had put her on a ventilator and into a coma to try to save her.Salas said she believed her daughter would pull through, but doctors and nurses at the hospital kept telling her otherwise. Over 10 days in October, less than a month after Perez entered St. David’s, Salas received repeated visits from a palliative care nurse, her hospital record shows. Every other day, Salas said, the nurse urged her to initiate end-of-life care for her daughter. Several of Perez’s doctors also pressed Salas to remove her daughter from the ventilator, she said, in visits confirmed by details from Perez’s chart.On one occasion, six or seven doctors and nurses gathered around Perez’s bed, Salas said. "We really fee...

The “Singularity” is here. Or is it? Silicon Valley nears a tipping point.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — For decades, Silicon Valley anticipated the moment when a new technology would come along and change everything. It would unite human and machine, probably for the better but possibly for the worse, and split history into before and after.The name for this milestone: the Singularity.It could happen in several ways. One possibility is that people would add a computer’s processing power to their own innate intelligence, becoming supercharged versions of themselves. Or maybe computers would grow so complex that they could truly think, creating a global brain.In either case, the resulting changes would be drastic, exponential and irreversible. A self-aware superhuman machine could design its own improvements faster than any group of scientists, setting off an explosion in intelligence. Centuries of progress could happen in years or even months. The Singularity is a slingshot into the future.Artificial intelligence is roiling tech, business and politics like nothing...

Bringing AI tools to the workplace requires a delicate balance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:11:28 GMT

By Kevin J. Delaney, The New York Times CompanyBy midyear, all of Morgan Stanley’s thousands of wealth advisers are expected to have access to a new artificial-intelligence-powered chat tool.The tool, which is already in use by about 600 staff members, gives advisers answers to questions such as “Can you compare the investment cases for Apple, IBM and Microsoft?” and follow-ups such as “What are the risks of each of them?” An adviser can ask what to do if a client has a potentially valuable painting — and the knowledge tool might provide a list of steps to follow, along with the name of an internal expert who can help.“What we’re trying to do is make every client or every financial adviser as smart as the most knowledgeable expert on any given topic in real time,” said Jeff McMillan, the head of analytics, data and innovation for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.Experts disagree about whether AI will wind up destroying more jobs than it creates over time. But it is clear that ...