# Putin says Russia prefers Biden to Trump because he's 'more experienced and predictable'
February 14, 2024. 6:07 PM EST

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**MOSCOW (AP)** - President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia would prefer to see President Joe Biden win a second term, describing him as more experienced than Donald Trump.

Speaking in an interview with a correspondent of Russian state television, Putin declared that he will work with any U.S. leader who is elected, but noted unequivocally that he would prefer Biden's victory when asked who would be a better choice from the point of view of Russia.

"Biden, he's more experienced, more predictable, he's a politician of the old formation," Putin said. "But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust."

Asked about speculation on Biden's health issues, Putin responded that "I'm not a doctor and I don't consider it proper to comment on that."

Biden's team worked to alleviate Democratic concerns over alarms raised by a special counsel about Biden's age and memory. They came in a report determining that Biden would not be charged with any criminal activity for possessing classified documents after he left office.

Putin noted that the talk about Biden's health comes as "the election campaign is gaining speed in the U.S., and it's taking an increasingly sharp course."

He added that allegations of Biden's health problems were also circulating at the time when they met in Switzerland in June 2021, adding that he witnessed the contrary and saw the U.S. leader in a good shape.

"They talked about him being incapacitated, but I saw nothing of the kind," Putin said. "Yes, he was peeking at his papers, to be honest, I was peeking at mine, not a big deal."

At the same time, Putin noted that he sees the Biden administration policy as wrong.

Russia-West ties have plunged to their lowest levels since the Cold War era after Putin sent his troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

"I believe that the position of the current administration is badly flawed and wrong, and I have told President Biden about that," Putin said.

Putin has claimed that he has sent troops into Ukraine to protect Russian speakers there and to prevent a threat to Russia's security posed by Ukraine's bid to join NATO. Ukraine and its Western allies have denounced Moscow's action as an unprovoked act of aggression.

Putin argued that Moscow was forced to act after Ukraine and its allies refused to fulfill a 2015 agreement to grant more powers to separatist territories in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists launched a rebellion in 2014.

"We only can regret that we didn't act earlier, thinking that we are dealing with decent people," Putin said.

Asked about Trump's statement on Saturday, in which he said he once warned he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that are "delinquent" in devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to defense, Putin responded that it's up to the U.S. to determine its role in the alliance.

Trump's statement sharply contrasted with Biden's pledge "to defend every inch of NATO territory," as the alliance commits all members to do in case of attack. It shocked many in Europe, drawing a pledge from Poland, France and Germany to bolster Europe's security and defense power.

Putin noted that Trump's statement followed his policy during his first term when he prodded NATO allies in Europe to increase their defense spending.

"He has his own view on how relations with allies should develop," Putin said about Trump. "From his point of view, there is some logic in this, while from the point of view of the Europeans, there is no logic at all, and they would like the U.S. to keep carrying out some functions they have fulfilled since the formation of NATO free of charge."

He described NATO as a "U.S. foreign policy tool," adding that "if the U.S. thinks that it no longer needs this tool it's up to it to decide."

Asked about his impressions from his last week's interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Putin said he expected Carlson to be more aggressive. Putin used the interview to push his narrative on the fighting in Ukraine, urge Washington to recognize Moscow's interests and press Kyiv to sit down for talks.

"I expected him to be aggressive and ask the so-called tough questions, and I wasn't only ready for it but wanted it because it would have given me a chance to respond sharply," Putin said.

Carlson didn't ask Putin about war crimes Russian troops have been accused of in Ukraine, or about his relentless crackdown on dissent.

"He didn't allow me to do what I was ready for," Putin said, describing Carlson as a "dangerous man."


# Special counsel asks Supreme Court to let Trump's 2020 election case proceed to trial without delay
By **ERIC TUCKER**, **ALANNA DURKIN RICHER**, and **MARK SHERMAN**
February 14, 2024. 6:58 PM EST

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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Special counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to let former President Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case proceed to trial without further delay.

Prosecutors were responding to a Trump team request from earlier in the week asking for a continued pause in the case as the court considers whether to take up the question of whether the former president is immune from prosecution for official acts in the White House. Two lower courts have overwhelmingly rejected that position, prompting Trump to ask the high court to intervene.

The case - one of four criminal prosecutions confronting Trump - has reached a critical juncture, with the Supreme Court's next step capable of helping determine whether Trump stands trial this year in Washington or whether the proceedings are going to be postponed by weeks or months of additional arguments.

The trial date, already postponed once by Trump's immunity appeal, is of paramount importance to both sides. Prosecutors are looking to bring Trump to trial this year while defense lawyers have been seeking delays in his criminal cases. If Trump were to be elected with the case pending, he could presumably use his authority as head of the executive branch to order the Justice Department to dismiss it or could potentially seek to pardon himself.

Reflecting their desire to proceed quickly, prosecutors responded to Trump's appeal within two days even though the court had given them until next Tuesday.

Though their filing does not explicitly mention the upcoming November election or Trump's status as the Republican primary front-runner, prosecutors described the case as having "unique national importance" and said that "delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict."

"The national interest in resolving those charges without further delay is compelling," they wrote.

Smith's team charged Trump in August with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, including by participating in a scheme to disrupt the counting of electoral votes in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters stormed the building in a violent clash with police.

"The charged crimes strike at the heart of our democracy. A President's alleged criminal scheme to overturn an election and thwart the peaceful transfer of power to his successor should be the last place to recognize a novel form of absolute immunity from federal criminal law," they wrote.

Trump's lawyers have argued that he is shielded from prosecution for acts that fell within his official duties as president - a legally untested argument since no other former president has been indicted.

The trial judge and then a federal appeals court rejected those arguments, with a three-judge appeals panel last week saying, "We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter."

The proceedings have been effectively frozen by Trump's immunity appeal, with U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan canceling a March 4 trial date while the appeals court considered the matter. No new date has been set.

Trump's appeal and request for the Supreme Court to get involved could cause further delays depending on what the justices decide. In December, Smith and his team had urged the justices to take up and decide the immunity issue, even before the appeals court weighed in. But the court declined.

The Supreme Court's options include rejecting the emergency appeal, which would enable Chutkan to restart the trial proceedings in Washington's federal court. The court also could extend the delay while it hears arguments on the immunity issue. In that event, the schedule the justices set could determine how soon a trial might begin, if indeed they agree with lower court rulings that Trump is not immune from prosecution.

On Wednesday, prosecutors urged the court to reject Trump's petition to hear the case, saying that lower court opinions rejecting immunity for the former president "underscore how remote the possibility is that this Court will agree with his unprecedented legal position."

But if the court does wants to decide the matter, Smith said, the justices should hear arguments in March and issue a final ruling by late June.

Prosecutors also pushed back against Trump's argument that allowing the case to proceed could chill future presidents' actions for fear they could be criminally charged once they leave office and open the door to politically motivated cases against former commanders-in-chief.

"That dystopian vision runs contrary to the checks and balances built into our institutions and the framework of the Constitution," they wrote. "Those guardrails ensure that the legal process for determining criminal liability will not be captive to 'political forces,' as applicant forecasts."


# Review: 'Bob Marley: One Love' doesn't stir
By **JAKE COYLE**
February 8, 2024. 2:15 PM EST

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Bob Marley was born in 1945, the son of an 18-year-old mother and a much older white man who had nothing to do with his son. As a boy raised in poverty, he often slept on the cold ground. Five years after moving to Kingston's Trench Town, he made his first record, at 17. Not 20 years later, he was dead.

By then, Marley had become the face of not just reggae, Rastafarianism and Jamaica, but of revolution, resistance and peace. He left behind a body of work that has only grown more monumental with time. "Redemption Song." "No Woman No Cry." "War." "Trench Town Rock." "Get Up Stand Up." "Lively Up Yourself." "One Love People Get Ready." The Beatles could argue they were bigger than Jesus but no one thought - like some did Marley - that they were actually the Second Coming.

So, yeah, it's a lot for a movie -- any movie. "Bob Marley: One Love," directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, is a noble but uninspired attempt to capture some of the essence of Marley. Its lived-in textures and attention to Marley's political consciousness, just by themselves, are enough to make "One Love" something more substantial than many recent, glossier music biopics.

But the power and complexity of Marley is still out of reach for "One Love," which takes a typical biopic framework in plotting itself around the run-up to an important concert with flashbacks mixed in. When footage of the real Marley inevitably plays over the credits, it's a painful comparison to the ruminative but inert movie that played before it.

The first thing you notice about the performance by Ben Kingsley-Adir, the talented British actor of "One Night in Miami..." and "Barbie," is that he's got the voice. His Marley has the growl and lilt of the singer's resonant Jamaican accent. But what the performance is missing - an absence so clear when the real Marley turns up - is the physical dynamism and charismatic velocity of Marley.

The sheer vibrancy of Marley, who spent afternoons playing soccer and had at least 11 children in his short life, would undoubtedly be a tall order for most films. "One Love," set in the aftermath of a 1976 shooting that wounded Marley, follows a more contemplative Marley in self-imposed exile in London - on tour in Europe, recording the 1977 album "Exodus" and ultimately receiving a diagnosis of cancer.

Marley was by many accounts a more private person than often remembered, so the rendering here is surely a genuine aspect of a man rife with contradictions. "One Love," which lists four screenwriters and was made with Marley's estate (Ziggy and Cedella Marley are producers), appears to have wrestled with finding a single portrait, and the movie's patchwork pacing occasionally shows signs of that struggle.

But just as he showed in "King Richard," Green is skilled at finding intimacy in the lives of larger-than-life figures. Early in "One Love," Marley and his band assemble in a smoke-filled living room to play "I Shot the Sheriff," and it's moments like these that work far better than those in the public eye.

The performance that bookends the film is the One Love Peace Concert, which was put on in Jamaica in 1978 as a way to heal the divided, violent country. Marley, during "Jammin'," brought the rival party leaders Edward Seaga and Michael Manley on stage.

The turmoil in Jamaica weighs heavily on Marley throughout film; images of fields aflame run repeatedly as a reflection of his memories. Though largely set in Europe, the real through line of the film is Marley as consumed with the plight of his countrymen, and others in similar situations around the world. When white executives push back against touring in Africa due to its lack of infrastructure, he replies, "So we build it." How all of this percolates in Marley and gets filtered into the music is, ultimately, what "One Love" is about.

"The music and the message are the same thing," Marley explains.

"One Love" is attuned to the communal aspect of Marley's life - he rarely appears alone in the film - yet few other individuals come through vividly. The events of the film are years after the breakup of the Wailing Wailers so Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer are little seen. The most notable supporting roles go to Lashana Lynch as Rita Marley, his wife, and James Norton, as Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.

Though "One Love" drifts into increasingly conventional biopic scenes, its spirit remains fairly true to Marley - enough, at least, that you overlook some of its faults. But what's harder to forgive is the lackluster music performances peppered throughout. Ben-Adir doesn't himself sing the songs but relies on Marley recordings - which is fine. Yet when Marley and company take the stage, Green sticks to largely drab coverage. Precisely when "One Love" should be, as Marley was, striving for transcendence, it feels like it's going through the motions. Come on, you want to plead, and stir it up.

"Bob Marley: One Love," a Paramount Pictures release is rated PG13 by the Motion Picture Association for marijuana use and smoking throughout, some violence and brief strong language. Running time: 107 minutes. Two stars out of four.


# Shaquille O'Neal's No. 32 jersey is the first to be retired by the Orlando Magic
By **TIM REYNOLDS**
February 13, 2024. 11:16 PM EST

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**ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)** - Shaquille O'Neal was Orlando's first in lots of ways. First No. 1 overall draft pick. First player to make an All-Star team in a Magic uniform. First rookie of the year. First All-NBA selection. And the first big-time superstar to leave the franchise.

It's that last part that he figured might cost him.

O'Neal never thought that the Magic would raise his jersey to the rafters of their arena. But he was wrong, and on Tuesday night, Orlando retired O'Neal's No. 32 - another first for the team and its first star. Most fans stayed for the postgame ceremony, even after the Magic fell to Oklahoma City.

"You know, there's an old saying: Never forget where you come from," O'Neal said. "And my professional career started here. I've been living here mostly all my life. The fans have been hospitable. The people have been very, very hospitable. I never thought this day would happen."

The Magic, who are celebrating their 35th season, drafted O'Neal No. 1 overall in 1992. They've never retired a number for a player, but decided their anniversary season was the right time. Many of O'Neal's former Orlando teammates were there Tuesday night, including Penny Hardaway, Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson. O'Neal brought Anderson to the lectern at one point in the ceremony, telling him he should have been the first to get the jersey retirement from the Magic.

"There's no one more deserving to be the first than Shaq," Magic CEO Alex Martins said. "Shaq put the Orlando Magic on the map. And the foundation of his Hall of Fame career started right here in Orlando."

O'Neal - who has No. 34 retired by the Los Angeles Lakers and No. 32 retired by the Miami Heat - is the third player to have his jersey retired by three franchises, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Pete Maravich.

Chamberlain's No. 13 has been retired by the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors and the Lakers. Maravich had No. 44 retired by the Atlanta Hawks and No. 7 retired by the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans - even though he never played for that franchise. His number is retired in New Orleans because he played there for the Jazz and went to LSU.

"It means that every franchise you played for, they enjoyed you," O'Neal said. "The fans enjoyed you. The people enjoyed you. They appreciated your hard work."

There are 11 players - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Clyde Drexler, Julius Erving, Elvin Hayes, Bob Lanier, Moses Malone, Earl Monroe, Dikembe Mutombo, Oscar Robertson, Nate Thurmond and Charles Barkley - to have jerseys retired by two franchises for whom they played. Barkley, like O'Neal, is part of the award-winning cast of Turner Sports' "Inside The NBA" program.

Many other players have been honored by multiple teams or in multiple ways. Bill Russell's No. 6 is retired by Boston and, after the Hall of Famer's death, was retired leaguewide by Commissioner Adam Silver. Michael Jordan never played in Miami; his No. 23 is retired there. Kobe Bryant had both of his numbers, 8 and 24, retired by the Lakers.

The Magic were 70-176 in their first three seasons, then got O'Neal and went 41-41 in his rookie year, 50-32 with the team's first playoff appearance in his second season, 57-25 with a trip to the NBA Finals in 1994-95 and finally 60-22 - still the franchise record for wins - in his fourth and final season with Orlando.

The ceremony had O'Neal seated adjacent to center court on a throne, one big enough to make the 7-footer seem small. The stories flowed - the one about O'Neal arriving in the city known for Walt Disney World wearing Mickey Mouse ears seemed to delight the crowd - and O'Neal savored them all.

The banner was hoisted amid a display of fireworks in a darkened arena, roughly an hour after the game ended.

"There's no other place I would have wanted to start my career," said O'Neal, whose words were often drowned out by cheers. "Orlando will always have a special place in my heart."

O'Neal learned how to be a pro in Orlando. His first few months in the city, he said, were spent living in an airport hotel with his entire family. By the time Scott explained to him that he needed to buy a house, O'Neal said he had run up a $900,000 hotel bill.

He speaks with reverence about his time in Orlando, and now having gone through four jersey retirements - LSU also gave him the honor, along with the three NBA clubs - O'Neal made no secret of what this one meant.

"Truthfully speaking, this will probably be the most impressive one," O'Neal said.

O'Neal left Orlando after the 1995-96 season for the Lakers, having played 295 regular-season games with the Magic. But he remains sixth on the team's all-time scoring list - four of the five players ahead of him played at least twice as many games for Orlando - and third all-time in rebounds for the Magic.

"This is where it all started," O'Neal said.

And it's where his number will sway.


# Chocolates, flowers and procrastination. For many Americans, Valentine's Day is a last-minute affair
By **DEE-ANN DURBIN**
February 14, 2024. 6:41 AM EST

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In a classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch, a young man hands his girlfriend a Valentine's Day gift: a bear dressed in a bee costume that he picked up at the drugstore.

"When did you get this?" she asks with a strained smile.

"One minute ago," he replies.

It has more than a ring of truth. For a day meant to celebrate romance and the depths of feeling we have for loved ones, a large portion of Valentine's shopping is done at the last minute.

In each of the past two years, nearly half of U.S. spending on Valentine's Day flowers, candy and cards occurred between Feb. 11 and Feb. 14, according to Numerator, a market research company. But sales do not peak until Valentine's Day itself.

Walmart - which sells nearly 40 million red roses for the holiday - says around 75% of its Valentine's Day sales occur on Feb. 13 and 14. Those two days account for 80% of Kroger's sales during Valentine's week.

"Although stores begin pushing their Valentine's Day inventory weeks ahead of the day, before the holiday itself, most consumers save their shopping for the last minute," said Amanda Schoenbauer, an analyst with Numerator.

For last-minute shopping, Americans still tend to spend a lot. This year, they're expected to shell out a collective $25.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Candy is the most popular gift; nearly 60% of Valentine's shoppers planning to buy some. Greeting cards are second.

Some of that spending takes place well before the holiday. Target says consumers start snapping up Valentine's home décor soon after Christmas ends. Valentine's-themed potted plants were also popular this year, Target said, and many of those plants were bought early rather than closer to the holiday as is usually the case with cut flowers.

Yet procrastination seems to be part of the holiday tradition, according to data from Walgreens, which sold 44% of its Valentine's candy and 56% of its Valentine's cards on Feb. 13 and 14.

Delivery companies help some consumers shave it even closer. Uber Eats says its flower orders peak on Valentine's Day between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Uber Eats says it also appears to be a resource for forgetful lovers: Its flower orders are 60% higher than average on the day after Valentine's Day.

Procrastinators can make it tough for businesses to keep customers satisfied.

Linda Bryant grows many of the flowers she sells at Just Bouquets, her flower shop in Panama, Nebraska. Usually she delivers the flowers herself, but on Valentine's Day her husband helps.

"Valentine's would not be my favorite florist holiday just because it's stressful," she said. "I don't go out. I'm too tired. But I love making people happy."

Bryant sympathizes with the people who call in orders on Valentine's Day. She spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many flowers to order for her shop this Valentine's Day. The decision was made last minute.

"The people who call on February 14 are usually desperate," she said. "I try to be kind and remind them, it's always February 14. The date doesn't change."

One could argue that people order flowers at the last minute just to keep them fresh, but the procrastination trend extends beyond gifts that can wilt.

In 2023, 30% of OpenTable reservations for Valentine's Day were made the day before and 18% were made on the day of.

Flowers and cards from the drugstore are one thing, but you're likely to miss out on a special date if you wait too long.

Meadow Brook Hall, a historic estate in Rochester, Michigan, says the 115 tickets available for its annual Valentine's Day dinner sold out weeks ago. The venue gets requests all the way through Valentine's Day, says Katie Higgins, Meadow Brook's marketing and communications manager. The week before the dinner, 50 couples were on the wait list.

Joseph Ferrari, a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago, says around 20% of men and women are chronic procrastinators. But in the case of Valentine's Day, there are other reasons consumers might put things off.

"There's a lot of fatigue. We just did Christmas, now you're hitting me up for this," he said. Others procrastinate because they fear failing or buying the wrong gift, he said.

Ferrari has some advice: Don't procrastinate when it comes to telling people you love them.

"We should be celebrating love all the time, not just once in a while," he said.


# Some worry California proposition to tackle homelessness would worsen the problem
By **TRÂN NGUYỄN**
February 14, 2024. 3:27 PM EST

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**OROVILLE, Calif. (AP)** - Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging voters to approve a ballot initiative that he says is needed to tackle the state's homelessness crisis, a change social providers say would threaten programs that keep people from becoming homeless in the first place.

In 2004, voters approved legislation that imposed a tax on millionaires to finance mental health services, generating $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue each year that has mostly gone to counties to fund mental health programs as they see fit under broad guidelines.

Newsom wants to give the state more control over how that money is spent. Proposition 1, before voters on the March 5 ballot, would require counties to spend 60% of those funds on housing and programs for homeless people with serious mental illnesses or substance abuse problems.

The single formula would mean rural counties such as Butte, with a homeless population of fewer than 1,300 people, would be required to divert the same percentage of funds to housing as urban counties such as San Francisco, which has a homeless population six times bigger. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she supports the measure. Butte County officials have expressed concerns.

The funding from the millionaire tax in Butte County has mostly gone to prevention services to combat high suicide and childhood trauma rates. Officials estimated they would have to divert at least 28% of current funding from existing programs toward housing. They say the change could cause cultural centers, peer-support programs, vocational services and even programs working with homeless people to lose funding.

Tiffany McCarter burst into tears when talking about how the African American Family & Cultural Center she runs in rural Oroville, a city in Butte County, might have to close its doors. The 14-year-old center with a mission of breaking the cycle of trauma in the Black community relies heavily on mental health funding from the county.

The center offers an after-school program, art and dance classes and anger management sessions - designed to steer young people away from the streets. McCarter said some have learning disabilities or parents who are incarcerated.

"I'd love to solve the homeless problem," McCarter, the center's executive director, said as the halls filled with laughter of children who ran around her to win her attention. "But then which one of my kids are we going to leave behind?"

With makeshift tents lining streets and disrupting businesses in communities across the state, homelessness has become one of the most frustrating issues in California and one sure to dog Newsom should he ever mount a national campaign. The Democratic governor has raised about $10 million to back the ballot measure and has appeared in television ads promoting it, indicating it's one of his top political priorities.

Already he has pushed for laws that make it easier to force people with behavioral health issues into treatment, and he touts the proposition as the final piece of the new approach.

"We are in a unique position to take what we have been promoting - these promises - and make them real, and finally address the issue that defines more stress and more frustrations than any other issue in this state," Newsom said at the proposition kickoff event.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who authored the 2004 millionaire tax, said the funding is meant to serve homeless people with serious mental illnesses and that county officials and providers "miss the big picture."

"While it has funded many good programs over 20 years, it has gotten away from the original purpose," Steinberg said. "Nothing is more important than alleviating the unacceptable suffering of people living and dying on our streets."

The two-part measure would authorize the state to borrow $6.38 billion to build 4,350 housing units, half of which would be reserved for veterans. It also would add 6,800 mental health and addiction treatment beds.

Newsom's administration already has spent at least $22 billion on various programs to address the crisis, including $3.5 billion to convert rundown motels into homeless housing. California is also giving out $2 billion in grants to build more treatment facilities.

But the crisis is worse than ever, many say.

The state accounts for nearly a third of the homeless population in the United States; roughly 181,000 Californians are in need of housing. A recent survey by the University of San Francisco's Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative found about two-thirds of homeless people in California have a mental health disorder, but only 18% had received recent treatment and only 6% had received any addiction treatment despite rampant abuse.

The state needs some 8,000 more beds to treat mental health and addiction issues, according to researchers who testified before state lawmakers last year.

California has 5,500 beds, down from as many as 37,000 more than a half-century ago, the governor said.

The proposal could also add beds in locked psychiatric facilities, which advocates say could force more people into involuntary treatment. Newsom and state lawmakers haven't decided what types of facility would be built.

"From a humanitarian and civil rights perspective, we vehemently oppose Proposition 1," said Mark Salazar, executive director of Mental Health Association of San Francisco, which serves more than 15,000 people monthly. "There are studies that show over and over that coercing treatment just doesn't end well for the individual."

Mark Cloutier, CEO of Caminar, which provides mental health services, employment placement and supportive housing to mostly young adults, believes the ballot measure is needed because the lack of housing and treatment beds means many people end up in jail or the emergency room.

Joe Wilson, who runs Hospitality House in San Francisco, said more housing and beds are needed but not at the expense of other programs like his organization's two drop-in centers in the Tenderloin neighborhood and Sixth Street Corridor. Workers there, most of whom were once homeless, help navigate services for people, update resumes, and drive them to appointments.

"Everyone agrees that we need more resources for housing," he said. "Is this the best way to do it? We don't believe so."

One of the center's workers, Anthony Hardnett, a San Francisco native who was homeless and suffered from addiction issues, said many people he has helped have become independent and productive by learning new skills and hobbies, like in the chess club he hosts. The group connected more than 30 people to jobs last month.

"You've got to show them something different to change their mindset," Hardnett said. "We can't just give up on them."

In the Butte County city of Chico, about 165 miles (265 kilometers) north of San Francisco, providers say the city's only drop-in center for troubled youth is at risk. The 6th Street Center for Youth also offers rent assistance to college students, but workers do not believe that would protect it from having its budget cut.

Solace Kalkowski, who uses the pronoun they, found themself sleeping in their truck after a breakup a few weeks ago and said the center kept them from ending up chronically homeless.

"It's a healthy outlet for me to come where people will listen and give you advice," Kalkowski said. "I've been working on myself and being more productive. ... Me having this chance, I'm blown away."


# Detecting Russian 'carrots' and 'tea bags': Ukraine decodes enemy chatter to save lives
By **SAMYA KULLAB**
February 14, 2024. 7:32 AM EST

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**SEREBRYANSKY FOREST, Ukraine (AP)** - As the radio crackles with enemy communications that are hard to decipher, one Russian command rings out clear: "Brew five Chinese tea bags on 38 orange."

A Ukrainian soldier known on the battlefield as Mikhass, who has spent months listening to and analyzing such chatter, is able to quickly decode the gibberish. It means: Prepare five Beijing-made artillery shells and fire them on a specific Ukrainian position in the Serebryansky Forest, which forms the front line in the country's restive northeast.

Hiding in the basement of an abandoned home 12 kilometers (7 miles) away, Mikhass immediately warns the commander of a unit embedded in that part of the forest, giving him crucial minutes to get his men into trenches, saving their lives.

On the defensive and critically short of ammunition and soldiers after two years of war, Ukrainian forces are increasingly resorting to an age-old tactic - intelligence gleaned from radio intercepts - in a desperate effort to preserve their most vital resources.

The painstaking work is part of a larger effort to beef up and refine electronic warfare capabilities so that soldiers can be warned earlier of impending attacks, while having the battlefield intelligence needed to make their own strikes more deadly. To prevent enemy drone attacks, signal-jamming is also on the rise.

After months of near stalemate along the 1,000 kilometer (621 mile) front line, Ukraine expects fierce attacks in the year ahead from a Russian enemy determined to wear down its defenses to forge a breakthrough. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there will be no peace until Russia achieves its goals, which include recapturing the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which it illegally annexed in 2022.

The commander elevated last week to lead Ukraine's army, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, has highlighted the importance of electronic warfare, and the country's defense ministry has increased spending on the people and technology behind it.

## SAVING LIVES
Russia, which controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, has the advantage of a more developed domestic weapons industry and it uses conscription and coercion to call up troops.

For Ukraine, ammunition shortages have forced brigades to use shells sparingly and only after locating precise targets. Difficulty in mobilizing troops means Ukrainian commanders must be extra protective of soldiers' lives as they try to fend off ferocious Russian attacks.

It is within this context that better surveillance, eavesdropping and jamming have become more urgent.

Several kilometers south of where Mikhass is positioned, in the Donetsk region town of Konstantinivka, the 93rd Brigade's Electronic Warfare unit is using jammers to stave off attack drones, the main driver of injuries for soldiers in the region.

The platoon commander is alert, staring at a laptop that shows signals picked up by small antennas planted near the front line. When a Russian Lancet attack drone approaches their area of operation, his screen lights up with activity.

The commander, known on the battlefield as Oleksandr, flips a switch to activate the jammer which interferes with the drone's radar; it's the equivalent of shining a bright light in someone's eye to disorient them.

"It's a must," he says of their operation. "A lot of guys are dying because of drones."

Radio operators like Mikhass work in shifts around the clock.

The antennas he relies on to pick up Russian radio signals are camouflaged, jutting out of trees in the forest near Kreminna, close to Russian positions. From a quiet basement command center nearby, Mikhass and other soldiers chain smoke cigarettes and listen through headphones.

A new and sophisticated signal-finding antenna, which resembles a carousel, uses triangulation to locate where the radio waves are emanating from.

They cross-reference what they hear against images they gather from reconnaissance drones and use detailed maps of their enemy's positions to slowly piece together what it all means.

They are part of a 50-man intelligence unit dubbed the Bunnies of Cherkess - the name inspired by the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, who advised warriors to feign weakness when one is strong.

"No one takes bunnies seriously, right?" said Cherkess, the commander of the eponymous unit.

Radio intercepts reveal that the Kremlin is determined to control the entire Serebryansky Forest, which divides Ukraine-controlled Lyman from Russian-occupied Kreminna. It's part of an effort to reach Torske, a village in Donetsk that is west of Kreminna. From Torske, Russia will be closer to recapturing the nearby hub of Lyman, which would be a devastating setback for Ukraine and disrupt its ability to move supplies to the front.

## DECODING ORDERS
Cherkess and his men, most of whom are volunteers who signed up for the infantry, understand the stakes couldn't be higher, especially as signs grow that support from Western allies is less secure.

After listening to hours and hours of Russian communications each day, much of it related to troop rotations, artillery fire and drone reconnaissance, they gradually build an understanding - with help from specialized computer software - of what it all means.

"Cucumbers" are mortars, "carrots" are grenade launchers -- and locations are conveyed in a numerical code with a corresponding color. It took the unit months to decode these Russian orders.

The arrival of new combat equipment and ammunition - and especially infantrymen - signals a fresh attack is imminent.

"(A soldier) is not interested in what kind of radar Russians have, he needs information on if there will be an attack tonight, and who will come, if they will have tanks, if they have armored vehicles or if it's just infantry," said Cherkess.

"And we have to understand how long we have to prepare. A week? Two weeks? A month?"

Advance word of enemy troops being rotated in and out is also useful to Ukrainian soldiers seeking to go on the offensive, he said. That is when they can exact maximum personnel losses.

The previous week, a Russian assault operation was carried out against a neighboring brigade. But the Ukrainian soldiers positioned there were prepared to greet them.

## STAYING AHEAD
The importance of electronic surveillance can't be underestimated, said Yaroslav Kalinin, the CEO of Infozahyst, a company under contract with Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

Before the war, Infozahyst provided anti-wiretapping services for the offices of the president and prime minister. Once the war began, the company pivoted to help the army by manufacturing a versatile signal direction finding system, which is now in high demand.

The government recently doubled its contract with Infozahyst, according to Kalinin.

The buildup of surveillance capabilities is partly a recognition of the need to catch up to the Russians, who invested heavily in this technology long before it invaded Ukraine.

Kalinin believes that better and smaller devices that are easier to hide and move around will eventually give Ukraine an edge.

The Russians know they are being listened to and routinely try to deceive their enemy with bogus information. It is up to Mikhass and other radio operators to discern the signal from the noise.

"Their artillery helps us," he explained. "They say where they will shoot, and then we check where the shells landed."

"38 orange," the location Mikhass recently heard about for an upcoming attack, is represented on a map by a small dot. And it is surrounded by hundreds of other dots that signify locations they have decoded.

"We need a lot of time to uncover these points," he said.

And, as Russia steps up the pressure, the clock is ticking.


# Democrats cheer New York win as good omen for November. But is it enough to calm anxiety over Biden?
By **ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE** and **WILL WEISSERT**
February 14, 2024. 3:37 PM EST

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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi's winning back his Long Island House seat could provide a blueprint for Democrat Joe Biden 's reelection campaign heading into November, demonstrating his party's strength in competitive suburban territory that also happened to be where Donald Trump grew up.

But the good news followed several rough days for the White House, which watched House Republicans vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday. That followed a special counsel's conclusion that characterized Biden's memory as "faulty," "poor" and having "significant limitations," though also saying charges weren't warranted against the president for mishandling classified documents.

So how far Suozzi's win will go to calm Democrats' anxiety about the president's age and low approval ratings is hardly clear.

The Democratic former congressman's emphatic victory came in a special election where heavy snowfall may have affected turnout and with nearly nine months still to go in the presidential race. He made immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, playing political hardball with an issue that had helped the GOP win in previous cycles.

He also called Biden "old."

Suozzi easily topped Mazi Pilip to replace expelled former Republican New York Rep. George Santos, narrowing the GOP House majority to 219-213. The district backed Biden by 8 points in 2020 but voted for Santos during 2022's midterm election - when Republicans fared better across New York than expected by campaigning on getting tough on immigration and combating crime rates that had risen in some areas.

After Santos' ouster, the special election to replace him was seen as a dead-heat - though Suozzi was the more familiar figure. He won the seat in 2016 and was reelected twice before retiring in 2020 and losing in the Democratic primary to incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.

A surge of migrants arriving to large, Democrat-run cities, including New York, has turned security along the U.S.-Mexico border into an especially tricky issue for Biden's party across the country. Queens is home to one of New York City's few large-scale tent housing facilities for migrants - and yet Suozzi took the issue head on.

"This is the template for Democrats everywhere because you could not imagine a district that could have been more hostile to what the stereotype of a Democrat is," said Lis Smith, a national Democratic strategist and advisor to Suozzi's campaign. "You just need to go on offense and say, 'I'm the one who wants to secure the border. It's the Republicans who want chaos at the border.'"

That's "a very easy message that can be adopted by Democrats across the country," Smith said.

During the campaign, Suozzi spoke often about strengthening immigration policy, and said he would support a temporary closure of the U.S.-Mexico border to slow the influx of migrants, echoing Biden's recent willingness to do the same. Last month, Suozzi rushed to Queens' tent migrant housing area for a rebuttal news conference directly after Pilip held an event there seeking to link him to federal immigration policy.

Souzzi was a vocal supporter of a bipartisan Senate deal on immigration that Republicans turned against after Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential primary front-runner, urged them to do so. Souzzi even began his victory speech by scoffing at being attacked as "the godfather of the migrant crisis" and "sanctuary Souzzi."

That resonated with Lois Clinco, 59, who said she voted for Suozzi because she hopes he can "keep the migrants out, because we're overpopulated now."

Still, Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, cautioned against extrapolating Suozzi's win, noting the snowstorm and a short runup to the special election which also had unique, Santos-related contours.

"If I were a Democratic consultant or strategist, I would be taking a huge grain of salt before I base my playbook on this election," Reeher said.

Biden's reelection campaign noted that Democrats have racked up a series of special election and off-year legislative victories since he took office. It also said that more immigrants had arrived to Queens County in the last year than in all of Chicago - emphasizing how important the issue was to Suozzi's win.

White House, spokesman Andrew Bates called Tuesday's result "a devastating repudiation of congressional Republicans."

"Tom Suozzi put support for the bipartisan border legislation – and congressional Republicans' killing of it for politics – at the forefront of his case," Bates said in a statement. "The results are unmistakable."

Despite years of Trump stressing a law-and-order message, Republicans have seen their support slip in many suburban areas as the former president has solidified his hold on the national GOP. Still, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson shrugged off larger implications of Tuesday's race for his party.

"The result last night is not something, in my view, that Democrats should celebrate too much," Johnson told reporters Wednesday, adding that Suozzi "ran like a Republican, he sounded like a Republican talking about border and immigration because that's the top issue on the hearts and minds of everybody."

But Suozzi also promoted defending abortion rights, echoing a message Democrats have used around the country since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. New York will have a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to bar discrimination based on "pregnancy outcomes." Despite not explicitly guaranteeing the right to an abortion, supporters argue the measure will further protect access to the procedure, and Democrats see it as a way to drive turnout.

Suozzi's victory could also be viewed as a personal slap for Trump since the former president's childhood home was in the Jamaica Estates section of Queens. Still, Trump advisors blamed Pilip's defeat on her not embracing the "Make America Great Again" movement more closely.

New York Republican chair Ed Cox said the party isn't abandoning its winning issues and would defeat Suozzi when he's up for reelection in November. That's when, he said, "the campaign resets to focus on Joe Biden and Democrats' disastrous open-borders, soft-on-crime policies, rather than the specific circumstances that brought about this special election."

But Suozzi didn't exactly embrace Biden. He even said during a television interview, "The bottom line is he's old." Suozzi also suggested that he didn't think it would be helpful to have Biden campaign alongside him for this race.

"If I were advising him," Reeher said of the president, "I would have a big red headline on top that says 'consider this race with caution, there are a number of things here that may not apply to you.'"


# Democrat Tom Suozzi flips George Santos' seat in Congress
By **ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE**
February 14, 2024. 4:17 AM EST

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Democrat Tom Suozzi won a special election for a U.S. House seat in New York on Tuesday, coming out on top in a politically mixed suburban district in a victory that could lift his party's hopes heading into a fiercely contested presidential election later this year.

Suozzi defeated Republican Mazi Pilip to take the seat that was left vacant when George Santos, also a Republican, was expelled from Congress. The victory marks a return to Washington for Suozzi, who represented the district for three terms before giving it up to run, unsuccessfully, for governor.

It's unclear how long his next stint on Capitol Hill will last, as a redistricting process unfolds that could reshape the district. But for now the result narrows the already slim Republican majority in the House. And it provides Democrats a much-needed win in New York City's Long Island suburbs, where the GOP showed surprising strength in recent elections.

Suozzi stressed his campaign trail theme of bipartisan cooperation in a victory speech that was briefly interrupted by protestors criticizing his support of Israel.

"There are divisions in our country where people can't even talk to each other. All they can do is yell and scream at each other," he said, acknowledging the demonstrators. "That's not the answer to the problems we face in our country. The answer is to try and bring people together to try and find common ground."

"The way to make our country a better place is to try and find common ground. It is not easy to do. It is hard to do," Suozzi told supporters at his election night party in Woodbury.

Suozzi's win will likely reassure Democrats that they can perform well in suburban communities across the nation, which will be critical to the party's efforts to retake control of the U.S. House and reelect President Joe Biden.

Still, forecasting for November could be complicated given that turnout, already expected to be low given the abbreviated race, was potentially hampered by a storm that dumped several inches of snow on the district on election day. Both campaigns offered voters free rides to the polls as plows cleared wet slush from the roads.

In the short term, the result could be a factor in ultratight votes in the House, where Republicans hold just a 219-212 majority. In an example of how important one seat can be, House Republicans voted Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a single vote, punishing the Biden administration over its border policies.

At a polling place on Long Island earlier in the day, 59-year-old Eliezer Sarrias said he cast a ballot for Suozzi because the former congressman appeared more able to work with the opposing party to reach agreements and end congressional gridlock.

"The constituents elect our officials to perform a certain job, and we've really had a very stagnant congressional year," Sarrias said after voting at a middle school in Levittown. "Even with the migrants now, we had bipartisan deal in Congress and suddenly it evaporated, like, why? Do we really need to wait for another president to come, or aren't the issues that are pressing to everyone important at the moment?"

On the campaign trail, Suozzi, a political centrist, leaned into some of the same issues that Republicans have used to bash Democrats, calling for tougher U.S. border policies and a rollback of New York laws that made it tougher for judges to detain criminal suspects awaiting trial.

The unusual midwinter election became necessary after Santos was ousted by his colleagues in December, partway through his first term.

Santos won office in what had been a reliably Democratic district partly by falsely portraying himself as an American success story - a son of working class immigrants who made himself into a wealthy Wall Street dealmaker. But many elements of Santos' life story were later exposed as fabrications, and he was indicted on multiple charges including allegations he stole money from Republican donors. He has pleaded not guilty.

With no time for a primary before the special election, Democrats nominated Suozzi, a political centrist well known to voters in the district.

Republican leaders turned to Pilip, a relatively unknown candidate with a unique personal backstory. Born in Ethiopia, she migrated to Israel as part of Operation Solomon and served in Israel's defense forces before eventually moving to the U.S. and winning a seat in Nassau County's legislature in 2021.

Pilip conceded the race and said she congratulated Suozzi in a phone call Tuesday night.

"Yes we lost, but it doesn't mean we are going to end here," Pilip told supporters at her election watch party.

Biden's campaign manager was quick to link the victory to the upcoming presidential race: "Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump's extreme agenda – even in a Republican-held seat - voters reject them," Julie Chavez Rodriguez said.

Trump responded to the result in a post on his social media site Truth Social, calling Pilip a "very foolish woman" who was "running in a race where she didn't endorse me and tried to 'straddle the fence,' when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America."

The short campaign was dominated by issues - abortion, immigration and crime - that are expected to shape crucial suburban races nationwide in this year's battle for control of Congress.

Despite being an international migrant once herself, Pilip hammered Suozzi over an influx of asylum-seekers into New York City, accusing Democrats and Biden of failing to secure the U.S. southern border.

In response, Suozzi spent much of the campaign talking about the need to strengthen border policy, pointing out times when he bucked his own party on the issue while in Congress. In the final stretch, Suozzi said he would support a temporary closure of the border to slow the number of arrivals, similar to comments that Biden has made.

Suozzi counterattacked Pilip on abortion, saying she couldn't be trusted to protect abortion rights in places like New York where it remains legal.

Pilip said she is personally against abortion but wouldn't force her beliefs others and would oppose any attempt by Congress to impose a nationwide ban. She has also said mifepristone, an abortion medication, should be available nationally.

Both candidates expressed unwavering support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas, even appearing side-by-side in an unusual joint event intended to convey solidarity.

Democrats and Republicans will get a chance to fight over the congressional seat again in November's general election, though the battleground may look different.

That's because the state's congressional districts are set to be redrawn again in the next few months because of a court order. Democrats, who dominate state government, are widely expected to try to craft more favorable lines for their candidates.

New York is expected to play an outsize role in determining control of Congress this year, with competitive races in multiple contests in the suburban and exurban rings around New York City.


# Trump's pick to lead the RNC is facing skepticism from some Republicans
By **BRIAN SLODYSKO**
February 13, 2024. 8:03 PM EST

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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - In pushing Michael Whatley as the next leader of the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump zeroed in on the North Carolina GOP chairman's dedication to "election integrity," baselessly suggesting he would ensure the 2024 race "can't be stolen."

Some of Trump's most ardent supporters in Whatley's home state would, no doubt, like a word.

Whatley has been accused by some Republicans of essentially manufacturing his win as state party chairman last year following a chaotic vote, which resulted in a legal challenge that offered evidence some ballots were improperly cast. While Whatley and his allies acknowledged that technical problems made voting with the party's mobile app difficult, they vehemently deny that the irregularities changed the outcome of the contest and note that the lawsuit was dismissed.

But for some conservatives, primed by years of Trump urging vigilance against voter fraud, the episode instilled a suspicion that the party contest was stolen by a Washington Beltway fixture whose work for the George W. Bush administration and as a lobbyist they viewed skeptically.

"I can only conclude two possibilities. One, he felt he needed to cheat to win. Two, he is completely incompetent. Both are disqualifying," said Whatley's challenger, John Kane Jr., who described himself as "unquestionably" the true "MAGA candidate" in the contest.

The controversy surrounding Whatley's election to the GOP's top political post in North Carolina is one of several emerging signals suggesting challenges ahead. Trump is aiming to wrest control of the RNC by muscling Whatley through in an orchestrated ouster of the organization's current chair, Ronna McDaniel. But in doing so, he's elevating someone with a relatively scant national profile and a gilded resume that includes links to establishment figures largely reviled by the hardline activists who are most vocal in supporting Trump.

Whatley, 55, declined through a spokesman to comment for this story. The Trump campaign did not respond to a message.

If Whatley ultimately becomes RNC chair, he would be charged with leading the effort to defeat President Joe Biden at a time when the party is struggling to raise money and navigating a restless far-right flank. To his critics, Whatley represents more of the same at a time when they're seeking more dramatic change.

## 'A complete overhaul'
"We need a complete overhaul of the RNC. Choosing, or anointing, someone that is the male version of Ronna is the exact opposite of what the RNC needs at this time," said Sigal Chattah, an RNC committeewoman for Nevada who is closely aligned with the group Turning Point, which advocated for McDaniel's ouster.

Whatley's allies portray him as a steady hand and strategic thinker with decades of Republican political experience, stretching from the mountains of western North Carolina to the halls of Congress and the executive branch.

A formative political experience came when Whatley was still a sophomore at Watauga High School. He volunteered for the 1984 reelection campaign of Jesse Helms, a hard-edged conservative senator whose crusades against civil rights, art and homosexuality presaged the GOP's embrace of grievance politics under Trump.

Yet for much of his professional life, Whatley's political sensibilities appeared to align far more closely with the party's mainstream and corporate establishment.

He spent much of his 20s as a student earning four degrees, including a law degree, as well as a master's in theology, from Notre Dame. Later, he clerked for a federal judge in North Carolina before departing for Washington as Bush campaigned for the presidency.

One early assignment dispatched him to Broward County, Florida, where he worked among a team of lawyers on Bush's behalf to dispute the outcome of the 2000 presidential contest.

"It was really the first time that Republicans got down into the trenches and fought," Whatley recalled during a 2021 appearance on an election integrity panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "We knew if we were not there, they were going to steal it."

After the Supreme Court ruled in Bush's favor, Whatley landed a job in the Department of Energy, which was he followed by a two-year stint working for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the North Carolina Republican.

## Oil and gas lobbying
Lobbying on behalf of oil and gas giants soon became his calling, however.

He launched his own firm, the Patriot Group, in 2005. But it wasn't until joining forces with two other oil and gas lobbyists in 2009 that his fortunes precipitously rose. Their firm, HBW Resources (the W stands for Whatley), became a political will-bending force.

HBW became a key proponent of the Keystone XL pipeline. Whatley was also an architect of a federal and state-level campaign that played a pivotal role in stopping a bipartisan push to enact cleaner standards for oil used in the U.S.

The regulations would have drastically curtailed imports of crude extracted from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada - a labor-intensive process that requires so much energy usage that fuels derived from the region are considered among the world's dirtiest.

But the legislative push collapsed after the campaign amped up pressure in Congress as well as members' home states.

To advance their aims, Whatley's firm also established the Consumer Energy Alliance, a nonprofit organization that presented itself as nonpartisan. In reality, the group was supported by some of the world's biggest oil companies, including Chevron, ExxonMobil and British Petroleum, as well as major industrial energy users. The group has been accused of using deceitful tactics to generate support for their efforts, including allegations that they gathered petition signatures under misleading pretenses for local initiatives in Ohio, Wisconsin and South Carolina.

After a major corruption scandal at the North Carolina Republican Party, which saw the party's former chairman convicted in a bribery scandal, Whatley ran to replace him and stepped down from the nonprofit after he won. He left the firm that he helped found in 2022.

## Army of poll watchers
His focus soon turned to "election integrity." As Trump railed against fraud ahead of the 2020 election, Whatley said he recruited hundreds of lawyers, as well as an army of poll watchers, to fan out across the state. After Trump won the state, he took credit for the effort, claiming that it stopped Democrats from cheating.

"They knew if this happens, we were going to scream bloody murder," Whatley said in 2021 . "Because we put so much pressure on the system more than a year in advance, it really came down to being a pretty clean election."

But to Democrats, many of the North Carolina GOP's tactics are tantamount to voter intimidation or suppression, which they say is ironic in light of Whatley's own contested election last year, as state party chair.

"The next chair of the Republican Party is running on election integrity. His own election was called into question. And a lot of people in North Carolina don't think he was elected fair," said Anderson Clayton, chairwoman of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

As Whatley looks to take the reins of the RNC, which will require approval by the organization's 168 voting members, much of his success will turn on whether or not he can raise enough money to turn around the organization's dismal finances. The RNC has been significantly outraised in recent months by the Democratic National Committee, reporting cash reserves of just $8 million at the end of last year, while carrying $1 million in debt.

Art Pope, a North Carolina businessman and major conservative donor, said Whatley was well-equipped to lead the organization. But he wasn't sure that the underlying dynamics would change.

"When the Republican National Committee was helping with Donald Trump's legal fees, a lot of people didn't want to give" for that reason, said Pope. "Anyone who has been, or will be, the Republican National Committee chairperson will have that challenge."


# Democrats and Republicans hold Black History Month celebrations with an eye on November's election
By **MATT BROWN**
February 14, 2024. 12:57 PM EST

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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Black History Month, often a time to recognize the contributions of African Americans in U.S. history, was marked in the nation's capital this week with a focus on present divides and the November election when Black turnout will be integral to the outcome.

At the White House, the Biden administration on Tuesday hosted more than two dozen family members of civil rights icons and major historical figures for a gala celebrating Black history. Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance where she praised the families and recounted the administration's commitment to Black communities.

A few hours later, Republicans held a reception in Washington's U Street neighborhood, a key part of Black history in the city, to celebrate former GOP officials and activists who have engaged Black voters.

The White House has taken Black History Month as an opportunity to highlight the administration's efforts on priorities such as education, voting rights and jobs. Republicans see a chance to win more votes from a core Democratic constituency, noting President Joe Biden's lower popularity with Black adults and the criticism he has taken for inflation and his handling of the border.

Biden's approval rating among Black adults was 42% in a January poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a substantial drop from the first year of his presidency.

Democrats are spotlighting Biden's support with civil rights stalwarts and lambasting Republicans for enacting policies restricting how educators discuss race and history in the classroom.

"We know that those who don't remember their history are doomed to repeat it," said Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell, to the families assembled at the White House. Sewell represents Selma, Alabama, where white police beat Black civil rights marchers in 1965 on a day remembered today as "Bloody Sunday."

"At a time when extremists seek to erase our history and roll back our progress, we should take a lesson from our foremothers and forefathers," she said.

Republicans held their own Black History Month celebration later that evening with about 100 people.

"As RNC Chair, I have made it a mission to reach out to communities and voters that we have ignored as a party," said Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel during Tuesday night's event. "Black voters are going to make history this November because they're going to vote Republican at the highest level we've ever seen," McDaniel predicted to applause from the audience.

The RNC intends to expand its number of community outreach centers in Black communities after the GOP primary concludes. The party has been optimistic about its chances to improve its poor margins with Black voters since Republicans made slight inroads with them in the 2022 midterm elections.

But the party's current focus on issues like the teaching of race and history may risk mobilizing Black voters against the GOP. Republican officials in at least a dozen states have enacted policies that regulate how educators discuss topics including race, history and gender in the classroom.

"This moment in time is evidence that our history is unbannable, that teaching it is core to our progress, and that Black history is American history," Nevada Rep. Steve Horsford, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told the White House crowd.

The Biden campaign dismissed GOP Black voter outreach as insincere and noted that former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the GOP nomination, had dinner in 2022 with Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.

"In Donald Trump's Republican Party, celebrating Black History Month means teaching kids that slavery benefited Black people, papering over slavery as the cause of the Civil War and sharing well-done steaks doused in ketchup with white supremacists at Mar-a-Lago," said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler. "I'm sure they'll serve up plenty of the same at their little event."

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, the Biden campaign rolled out new ads targeting Black voters by highlighting the administration's investments in historically Black colleges and universities as well as the number of Black officeholders appointed by Biden, including Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday unveiled digital ads targeting HBCUs in battleground states that touts Biden's record on student debt.

Democrats point to record-low Black unemployment, policies capping the cost of insulin and Biden's cancellation of about $137 billion in student loan debt as policies they hope will boost support among Black voters. And party officials and strategists stress that its emphasis on Black voters extends beyond a single month of events.

Biden also moved to increase Black political power when he upended precedent to place South Carolina and its substantial Black population first in the party's primary calendar. South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, a veteran of the Civil Rights movement and a close Biden ally, co-chairs the president's reelection campaign.

According to some of the assembled Republican activists on Tuesday night, many of whom are Black, the GOP simply lacked the sustained efforts needed to court more Black voters. Quenton Jordan, a Republican activist who won an award at the event, said that the GOP is now "putting forth an effort to capture the Black vote where in previous years, that just wasn't the case."

"I remember when we had a greater pool," said Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio Republican secretary of state who received an award at the reception. "That's why this is important. To reengage, to give our narrative and give them a choice. But first, we've got to show up."


# Republican Michigan elector testifies he never intended to make false public record
By **COREY WILLIAMS** and **JOEY CAPPELLETTI**
February 14, 2024. 4:51 PM EST

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**LANSING, Mich. (AP)** - A Michigan Republican accused of participating in a fake elector plot after the 2020 presidential election testified Wednesday that he did not know how the electoral process worked and never intended to make a false public record.

"We were told this was an appropriate process," James Renner, 77, said during a preliminary hearing for a half-dozen other electors who face forgery and other charges.

If he had known any part of the process was illegal, Renner - who served with the state police during the 1970s - said he "would have challenged it."

"My background was enforcing the law, not breaking the law," he testified under cross-examination by a defense attorney for one of the electors.

Attorney General Dana Nessel has said Renner, of Lansing, was one of 16 Republicans who acted as false electors for then-President Donald Trump.

Charges against Renner were dropped last year after he and the state attorney general's office reached a cooperation deal. He was called to testify Wednesday by the prosecution.

Renner, who has served as a precinct delegate and volunteer with the Michigan Republican Party, said he and other electors attended a Dec. 14, 2020, meeting at the party's headquarters in Lansing. He was asked to replace an elector who canceled. They signed a form that authorized them to be electors. There was a companion sheet that purported that Trump had won the election, Renner testified.

Renner added that his understanding was that the Republican electoral slate votes would be used if it later was deemed that Trump had won.

Fake electors in Michigan and six other battleground states sent certificates to Congress falsely declaring Trump the winner of the election in their state, despite confirmed results showing he had lost. Georgia and Nevada also have charged fake electors. Republicans who served as false electors in Wisconsin agreed to a legal settlement in which they conceded that Joe Biden won the election and that their efforts were part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 results.

In between witness testimony Wednesday, a defense attorney for one of the Republican Michigan electors discussed the 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in which Hawaii's Republican governor certified a Republican slate of electors after the initial count had Nixon winning the state by about 100 votes. But Democratic electors met anyway and insisted that Kennedy would win an ongoing recount.

The Democrats were right, and when it came time for Congress to consider which group of electors to count, it chose the Democratic one. It was Nixon himself, who was presiding over Congress as the outgoing vice president, who made the decision.

Kahla Crino, a Michigan assistant attorney general, said in court Wednesday that the 1960 Hawaii case became inspiration for multiples slates of fake electors in battleground states.

"Somehow, your honor, this became, and the people do not dispute, that this became inspiration for a multistate criminal conspiracy that was absolutely linked to the Trump campaign," Crino said.

The Associated Press on Wednesday reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Trump-allied lawyer Kenneth Chesebro could be called as a defense witness when the Michigan hearing resumes, possibly in April. Chesebro pleaded guilty in October to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents in the Georgia election interference case. He was sentenced to probation.

Prosecutors alleged Chesebro unlawfully conspired with Trump and lawyers associated with his campaign to have a group of Georgia Republicans sign a false elector certificate and to submit it to various federal authorities. He also communicated with Trump campaign lawyers and Republican leaders in other swing states won by Biden to get those states to submit false slates of electors as well, prosecutors alleged.

Dan Schwager, who served in 2020-2021 as general counsel to the secretary of the U.S. Senate, testified Tuesday in the Lansing courtroom that a fake Certificate of Votes from Michigan was submitted to the Senate after the 2020 election. But the purported Certificate of Votes didn't match an official document signed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and feature the Michigan state seal, Schwager said.

When announcing charges last July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the fake electors allegedly met Dec. 14, 2020, in the basement of the state's Republican Party headquarters "and signed their names to multiple certificates stating they were the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president."

Certificates of votes are opened by the vice president, and the votes counted by members of Congress.

The defendants have insisted that their actions were not illegal, even though Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes over Trump, a result confirmed by a GOP-led state Senate investigation in 2021.

In December, former Michigan GOP Communications Director Anthony Zammit testified that he believed an attorney for Trump's campaign "took advantage" of some of the 15 Republicans.

Preliminary hearings don't involve a jury and are for the judge to determine if there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the charges.

A seventh defendant, Kenneth Thompson, had his case postponed because his attorney didn't show up. The other eight defendants will have preliminary examinations at later dates.


# Democrats retain majority in the Pennsylvania House with a 102-100 partisan divide
By **BROOKE SCHULTZ**
February 13, 2024. 8:29 PM EST

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**HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)** - Democrats retained their slim majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday after voters elected a former school board member to represent them in a Philadelphia suburb that has been trending more to the left.

Jim Prokopiak's election to the Bucks County seat will give Democrats a 102-100 majority in the House, which they have sought to defend in four special elections in the past year. A Republican lawmaker's resignation last week shifted the power back to Democrats, and Prokopiak's win kept it in place.

He defeated Republican challenger Candace Cabanas and will replace former state Rep. John Galloway, who resigned to serve as a magisterial judge. Cabanas has said previously she plans to run again during the general election.

"What I heard from voters is that Bucks County residents need help supporting their families, want control over their own bodies, and ensure they have the ability to chart their own paths in life," Prokopiak said in a statement. "I'm committed to taking my conversations with voters to Harrisburg and making their dreams a reality."

While campaigning, Prokopiak, 49, said his goals as a lawmaker aligned with the party's larger ambitions since they retook the chamber - more money for K-12 education, preserving access to abortions and a higher minimum wage.

"No one can afford to live on the federal minimum wage in this area," he said. "If we're going to be talking about good-paying jobs and creating life-sustaining jobs, the first thing we have to do is raise the minimum wage because it's clear that is not sustaining anybody."

Democrats have kept all six seats that have gone up for special elections in the past year, in mostly reliably Democratic districts. Prokopiak will represent a seat that has favorably elected Democrats in past election cycles.

Galloway's seat has trended Democratic, and Republicans have slowly been losing their grip on the county as a whole.

The race drew national attention from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which spent $50,000 to protect the party's majority in the chamber.

It was a first step for the committee, which has said it is planning to spend at least $60 million on statehouse races nationally this cycle, the group's largest-ever budget. It will feature special emphasis on erasing GOP majorities in Arizona and New Hampshire and in the Pennsylvania Senate while holding small Democratic majorities claimed in 2022 in Minnesota and Michigan.

"This victory is a promising sign for Democrats up and down the ballot this year – it's clear that momentum is on our side," Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams said in a statement, adding that their focus will be on defending the House majority and flipping the state Senate.

Democrats in Pennsylvania have used their newfound power this year to advance a number of the caucus' priorities, and they have a philosophical ally in the governor's office with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. The Legislature remains politically divided with a firm Republican majority in the Senate.

"Over the last year I think, since the Democrats have been in the majority, they've pushed legislation that has helped the middle class," Prokopiak said previously. "I want to do that."


# A Georgia judge is set to consider whether to remove Fani Willis from the election interference case
By **KATE BRUMBACK**
February 14, 2024. 9:27 AM EST

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**ATLANTA (AP)** - A Georgia judge who is deciding whether to toss Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis off of the state's election interference case against former President Donald Trump has set a hearing for Thursday that is expected to focus on details of Willis' personal relationship with a special prosecutor she hired.

As soon as allegations of an inappropriate romantic relationship between Willis and attorney Nathan Wade surfaced last month, speculation about the future of the case began to swirl. Even if the prosecution isn't derailed, the upheaval has certainly created an unwanted distraction for Willis and her team and could undermine public confidence in the case.

The defense attorney who first exposed the relationship says it creates a conflict of interest and is asking the judge to dismiss the indictment and to prohibit Willis, Wade and their offices from further involvement in the case. In a response filed earlier this month, Willis acknowledged a "personal relationship" but said it has no bearing on the serious criminal charges she's pursuing and asked the judge to dismiss the motions seeking her disqualification without a hearing.

The law says "disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said during a hearing Monday. Because he believes "it's possible that the facts alleged by the defendant could result in a disqualification, I think an evidentiary hearing must occur to establish the record on those core allegations."

The highly anticipated hearing, like all courtroom proceedings in the case, will be streamed live on the judge's YouTube channel, as well as by news outlets. McAfee has said it could continue into Friday.

As he makes another run for the White House and faces three other criminal prosecutions, the former president has exploited the revelation of the relationship, repeatedly referring to Wade as Willis' "lover" or "boyfriend" to try to cast doubt on Willis' motivations and the legitimacy of the case. Other Republicans have piled on, using the claims to justify calls for investigations into or sanctions against Willis, an elected Democrat who's up for reelection this year.

The original motion was filed by former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide Michael Roman, but Trump and several other co-defendants have joined with motions of their own.

Roman's motion says Willis and Wade were romantically involved when she hired him in November 2021 to manage an investigation into whether Trump and others committed any crimes as they tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. That investigation led to the indictment in August of Trump and 18 others who are accused of participating in a sprawling illegal scheme to keep Trump in office.

Four of the people charged have already pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the remaining 14 have all pleaded not guilty.

Willis has paid Wade more than $650,000 for his work and then, Roman alleges, profited personally when Wade used that money to take her on expensive vacations, including cruises in the Bahamas and trips to Aruba, Belize and Napa Valley. His filing also questions Wade's qualifications for the job, saying there's no evidence he had ever prosecuted a felony or handled a racketeering case.

Just under a week after Roman's motion was filed, Willis used a speech at a historic Black church in Atlanta to forcefully defend Wade's qualifications and her own decision to hire him. She didn't address the allegations of a relationship in that speech, waiting nearly three more weeks to acknowledge a "personal relationship" in a court filing.

Attached to that filing was a sworn statement from Wade saying that the pair began a personal relationship in 2022, after he was hired as a special prosecutor. His statement also said travel expenses for him and Willis were "roughly divided equally between us" and that Willis "received no funds or personal financial gain" from his position as a special prosecutor.

McAfee said Thursday's hearing needs to explore "whether a relationship existed, whether that relationship was romantic or non-romantic in nature, when it formed and whether it continues." Those questions are only relevant, he said, "in combination with the question of the existence and extent of any personal benefit conveyed as a result of the relationship."

Roman's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, has subpoenaed Willis, Wade, seven other employees of the district attorney's office and others, including Wade's former business partner, Terrence Bradley. Merchant told McAfee on Monday that Bradley would testify that Willis and Wade's romantic relationship began before Wade was hired as special counsel and that they had stayed together in homes where the county was paying for Willis to stay.

Willis sought to quash those subpoenas. She argued Roman's attempts to subpoena people in her office "suggests an eye toward public narrative as opposed to legal remedy" and that anything Bradley knows is protected by attorney-client privilege as he once served as Wade's divorce attorney. McAfee declined on Monday to quash those subpoenas, but agreed to revisit that after Bradley testifies.

Aware of the personal nature of some of the details that could arise in Thursday's hearing, the judge said that if there's anything that amounts to "harassment or undue embarrassment," he is "not going to feel inhibited from stepping in, even without an objection from counsel, to move this along and keep it focused on the issues at hand."

McAfee also made clear that he does not believe arguments over Wade's qualifications are relevant, saying that as long as an attorney "has a heartbeat and a bar card," it is within the district attorney's discretion to hire him.


# New York City schools went online instead of calling a snow day. It didn't go well
By **PHILIP MARCELO** and **ANNIE MA**
February 13, 2024. 5:47 PM EST

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**NEW YORK (AP)** - When New York City officials got wind of the major winter storm headed their way, they rewound the clock four years, reopened their coronavirus pandemic playbook, and announced that instead of canceling school, teachers and students would once again meet online. No snow day.

Mayor Eric Adams said it was important to give children enrolled in the nation's largest school system stability considering the massive upheaval to education the pandemic had caused throughout the country. Some school districts in other states have done the same since adopting the technology essential in 2020 to make virtual school days possible.

Unfortunately for Adams, the plan didn't go so well: Many students, teachers and administrators were unable to log in to their accounts - a problem that city officials blamed on a technology contractor.

Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan resident, said he struggled to get his 4-year-old daughter logged on because of the district's technical issues even though his 9-year-old son was able to gain access. He hoped to take both out for sledding later in the day.

"It honestly worked out for the best," Hasan said. "I'd rather not have the youngest on a device all day anyways."

Schools nationwide shuttered classrooms for the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and some did not reopen fully for more than a year. Some children barely logged on, and many struggled with the social isolation.

The months spent with online education were marked by widespread learning losses. Young students often struggled with the technology, and some parents said online learning was a factor in their decision to delay enrolling their kids.

In a November 2020 survey conducted by the EdWeek Research Center, 39% of district leaders said they had converted snow days to remote learning. Another 32% said they would consider the change. But in recent years, some districts, including Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, have reverted to prepandemic snow day policies. School systems in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut, among many others, closed in response to Tuesday's storm.

Connecticut does not allow remote learning on a snow day to count toward the minimum 180 learning days in the school calendar. The state weighed factors such as the challenges of setting up remote classrooms on short notice, and local officials also reported that parents and students wanted traditional snow days, said Irene Parizi, chief academic officer for the state Department of Education.

"Let them have their snow day and go sledding and have their hot chocolate and things like that," Parizi said.

With schools closed in Columbia, Connecticut, Susan Smith spent the day at home with her three children, ages 14, 11 and 8. She said she likes traditional snow days, but would also like to see remote learning on some bad weather days.

"I still remember being a kid and really looking forward to snow days, so I don't want to completely wipe that off the map with remote learning," Smith said.

Adams defended the decision to have NYC schools operate virtually.

"Using this as a teaching moment to have our children learn how to continue the expansion of remote learning is so important," the mayor said in an interview on WPIX-TV Monday evening. "We fell back in education because of COVID. We cannot afford our young people to miss school days."

Gina Cirrito, a parent on Manhattan's Lower East Side, said she appreciated the structure the remote classes provided for her three sons, even if Tuesday morning was a bit of rough sledding in her household.

"I know people around the country get really frustrated with the idea of these remote days and not just letting the kids have a day," she said. "But I don't think the teachers are asking above and beyond and to be honest, they're so far behind. If there's a way to keep their (students') brains a little engaged, I'm all for it."

Cirrito said the family had to work through some early morning logistics, including making sure everyone had a functioning computer and a quiet spot in the apartment to work - only to run into the district's login issues.

By about 9:15 a.m. her sons - ages 10, 13 and 17 - had settled into the day's routine.

"For the kids, it's like riding a bike. Like, 'Here we go again,'" Cirrito said.

New York City officials did not say how many students were prevented from accessing online classes but they blamed the problem on their technology contractor, IBM. While both teachers and students recently participated in simulations to prepare for remote instruction, IBM was not involved in those walk-throughs, officials said at a news conference.

"IBM was not ready for prime time. That's what happened here," said New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks.

In a statement, IBM said it had been "working closely with New York City schools to address this situation as quickly as possible."

"The issues have been largely resolved, and we regret the inconvenience to students and parents across the city," the statement read.

The morning technical glitches only added to the stress for teachers already scrambling to pivot lessons and assignments to remote work, said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents roughly 200,000 NYC public schools teachers and staff.

But Mulgrew said educators anticipated trouble after their experience with distance learning during the pandemic. He noted that by 12:30 p.m., 900,000 students and teachers were utilizing the district's remote learning system - a testament, he said, to how teachers were able to keep their classes engaged despite the morning challenges.

"It's also a good lesson for students," he said. "This is what happens when things go wrong. You don't get frustrated or angry. You got to figure it out."

Mulgrew added that this year's school calendar only allows for one or so snow days, "so you want to save that, just in case."

Still, Hasan, a software developer, wondered whether students and teachers alike would have been better served with a snow day, even as he acknowledged Tuesday's accumulations in the city might not have warranted it in a bygone era.

"It's like a mental health day for kids to just go and play," he said. "It's already enough of a challenge for parents to figure out how they are going to do their work."


# An Oregon resident was diagnosed with the plague. Here are a few things to know about the illness
By **REBECCA BOONE**
February 13, 2024. 6:23 PM EST

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Officials in central Oregon this week reported a case of bubonic plague in a resident who likely got the disease from a sick pet cat.

The infected resident and the resident's close contacts have all been provided medication, public health officials say, and people in the community are not believed to be at risk. The cat was also treated but did not survive.

Plague isn't common, but it also isn't unheard of in the western United States, where a handful of cases occur every year. It's different from Alaskapox, a rare, recently discovered disease that killed a man in Alaska last month.

Here are a few things to know about what the plague is, who is at risk and how a disease that was once a harbinger of death became a treatable illness.

## What is plague?
Plague is an infectious disease that can affect mammals. It's caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is carried by rodents and fleas. Sunlight and drying can kill plague bacteria on surfaces, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Humans and pets suspected to be sick with plague are typically treated with antibiotics, and sometimes with other medical measures.

Plague symptoms can manifest in a few ways. Bubonic plague - the kind contracted by the Oregon resident - happens when the plague bacteria gets into the lymph nodes. It can cause fever, headache, weakness and painful, swollen lymph nodes. It usually happens from the bite of an infected flea, according to the CDC.

Septicemic plague symptoms happen if the bacteria gets into the bloodstream. It can occur initially or after bubonic plague goes untreated. This form of plague causes the same fever, chills and weakness, as well as abdominal pain, shock and sometimes other symptoms like bleeding into the skin and blackened fingers, toes or the nose. The CDC says this form comes from flea bites or from handling an infected animal.

Pneumonic plague is the most serious form of the disease, and it occurs when the bacteria gets into the lungs. Pneumonic plague adds rapidly developing pneumonia to the list of plague symptoms. It is the only form of plague that can be spread from person to person by inhaling infectious droplets.

All forms of plague are treatable with common antibiotics, and people who seek treatment early have a better chance of a full recovery, according to the CDC.

## Am I at risk of plague?
In the U.S., an average of 7 cases of human plague is reported each year, according to the CDC, and about 80% of them are the bubonic form of the disease. Most of those cases were in the rural western and southwestern U.S.

A welder in central Oregon contracted it in 2012 when he pulled a rodent out of his choking cat's mouth in 2012 - he survived but lost his fingertips and toes to the disease. A Colorado teen contracted a fatal case while hunting in 2015, and Colorado officials confirmed at least two cases last year - one of them fatal.

Worldwide, most human cases of plague in recent decades have occurred in people living in rural towns and villages in Africa, particularly in Madagascar and Congo, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

People can reduce the risk of plague by keeping their homes and outdoor living areas less inviting for rodents by clearing brush and junk piles and keeping pet food inaccessible. Ground squirrels, chipmunks and wood rats can carry plague as well as other rodents, and so people with bird and squirrel feeders may want to consider the risks if they live in areas with a plague outbreak.

The CDC says repellent with DEET can also help protect people from rodent fleas when camping or working outdoors.

Flea control products can help keep fleas from infecting household pets. If a pet gets sick, they should be taken to a vet as soon as possible, according to the CDC.

## Isn't plague from the Middle Ages?
The Black Death in the 14th century was perhaps the most infamous plague epidemic, killing up to half of the population as it spread through Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa. It began devastating communities in the Middle East and Europe between 1347 and 1351, and significant outbreaks continued for roughly the next 400 years.

An earlier major plague pandemic, dubbed the Justinian plague, started in Rome around 541 and continued to erupt for the next couple hundred years.

The third major plague pandemic started in the Yunnan region of China in the mid-1800s and spread along trade routes, arriving in Hong Kong and Bombay about 40 years later. It eventually reached every continent except Antarctica, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and is estimated to have killed roughly 12 million people in China and India alone.

In the late 1800s, an effective treatment with an antiserum was developed. That treatment was later replaced by even more effective antibiotics a few decades later.

Though plague remains a serious illness, antibiotic and supportive therapy is effective for even the most dangerous pneumonic form when patients are treated in time, according to the World Health Organization.