Delores Menendez, Cape Coral city attorney, dies at 67

Associated Press
Funeral held for 2 Detroit kids who died in cold while family gets promise of a home
A group has stepped forward to provide a home for surviving family members of two Detroit children who died in a cold van in a casino parking garage, an official said. A funeral was held Thursday for Darnell Currie Jr., 9, and A’millah Currie, 2, who were among five children and two adults in a van that stopped producing heat as the temperature fell far below freezing on Feb. 10. Deputy Mayor Melia Howard said a local group has stepped forward to pay rent for a year to house the family.
Associated Press
Scottish Highland bull on the loose in Connecticut's rural hill country
A Scottish Highland bull is the talk of the town in the rural hills of western Connecticut, where it has been roaming for over a month in the frigid winter weather after escaping from its confines. Local residents have reported sporadic sightings, including a few over the past week, said Lee Sohl, the animal control officer in Kent. “People keep spotting it and they don’t know that people are looking for it,” Sohl said in a phone interview Thursday.
NBC News
Missing tomb of Egyptian pharaoh solves one of ancient Egypt's great mysteries
CAIRO — A long lost tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh has been found, the country’s antiquities ministry said Tuesday, answering a great mystery of one of ancient Egypt’s most prosperous eras.
AFP
Moon or Mars? NASA's future at a crossroads under Trump
Is NASA still Moonbound, or will the next giant leap mean skipping straight to Mars?Though Artemis was conceived in President Donald Trump's first term, he has openly mused about bypassing the Moon and heading straight to Mars -- a notion gaining traction as Elon Musk, the world's richest person and SpaceX's owner, becomes a key ally and advisor.
Associated Press
CDC vaccination committee meeting postponed days after RFK Jr. took over at HHS
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was slated to meet in Atlanta from Feb. 26 to 28 — the first gathering since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Health and Human Services secretary. HHS director of communications Andrew Nixon confirmed Thursday the meeting was postponed, and the ACIP meetings website also reflected that. Kennedy was critical of ACIP during his confirmation process, and ACIP is on a list of federal advisory committees that are being reviewed, according to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Time
Kash Patel, Trump Pick for FBI Director, Confirmed by Senate
Kash Patel, a known Trump loyalist and critic of the FBI, has been confirmed as the agency's new director.
NBC News
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested over anti-Trump protest at city council meeting
Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe called for "peaceful civil disobedience" and "no kings" Thursday in the wake of his highly publicized arrest at a Southern California city council meeting earlier this week.
NBC News
Mitch McConnell announces he'll retire, ending his four-decade Senate career
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving Senate leader in history, announced Thursday he won't seek re-election, bringing to an end a four-decade in the chamber.
Reuters
US agency staff told not to speak with Congress, lawmaker says
Staff at the U.S. farm, environment and interior agencies have been instructed by the Trump administration not to speak with the U.S. Congress, Representative Chellie Pingree said in a letter sent to the agency administrators on Thursday. Pingree said the disruption in communication strayed from longstanding relationships with agency staff that provide information critical to Congressional decision-making. Unfortunately, nearly all communication has stopped since President (Donald) Trump took office.
AFP
EU trade chief says tariff reciprocity 'must work for both' sides
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said Thursday that reciprocity in tariffs should be made to work for both the bloc and Washington, after talks with his counterparts in US President Donald Trump's administration.But Sefcovic stressed after his four-hour meeting with trade counterparts that if Washington were seeking reciprocity, "it must work for both" sides.
AFP
Curfew imposed after bomb attacks in Colombia injure six
Guerrilla fighters carried out four bomb attacks that wounded six people in a restive region of northeast Colombia, prompting officials to declare an overnight curfew Thursday and stoking concerns for a fragile peace process.The police and military blamed the ELN group, with which the government called off peace talks last month, for the attacks in a cocaine-producing region near Colombia's border with Venezuela on Wednesday night.
Associated Press
What to know about Fort Knox's gold depository
President Donald Trump says Elon Musk will be looking at Fort Knox, the legendary depository in Kentucky for American gold reserves, to make sure the gold is still there. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says there is an audit every year and that “all the gold is present and accounted for.” The United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox has stored precious metal bullion reserves for the United States since 1937 and has become synonymous for secure and well protected.
AFP
US Senate confirms Trump loyalist Kash Patel to head FBI
The Republican-controlled US Senate on Thursday confirmed Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist of President Donald Trump, to be director of the FBI, the country's top law enforcement agency.Patel drew fire from Democrats for his promotion of conspiracy theories, his defense of pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and his vow to root out members of a supposed "deep state" plotting to oppose the Republican president.
AFP
Mexico says won't accept US 'invasion' in fight against cartels
Mexico's president warned the United States on Thursday her country would never tolerate an "invasion" of its national sovereignty and vowed fresh legal action against US gunmakers after Washington designated cartels as terrorist organizations.But the designation "cannot be an opportunity for the US to invade our sovereignty," President Claudia Sheinbaum told a news conference.
USA TODAY
New FBI director: Senate approves Kash Patel for ten-year term
The controversial Trump ally drew intense backlash from Democrats and even some Republicans.
CNN
Senate confirms Kash Patel as Trump’s FBI director
The Senate voted on Thursday to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director, installing a staunch loyalist of President Donald Trump and conservative firebrand at the head of the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
AFP
'One of the hardest days': Israelis gather for return of hostages' bodies
Thousands of grieving Israelis gathered in the Tel Aviv plaza dubbed Hostages Square on Thursday, standing or sitting in silent mourning, after Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages. Earlier in the day, hundreds of tearful Israelis clutching flags had lined the route of the convoy bringing the bodies of the hostages to the forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
CNN
Pope Francis’ condition ‘slightly improving’ after pneumonia diagnosis, Vatican says
Pope Francis’ condition is “slightly improving” and he continues to have no fever, the Vatican said on Thursday evening, adding that he carried out work activities after receiving Eucharist this morning.
Reuters
Macron says he will tell Trump not to be weak with Putin in Washington visit
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he will travel to Washington to try to convince President Donald Trump that his interests were in line with European allies and that showing any weakness to Russia's Vladimir Putin would make it harder to deal with China and Iran. Macron said the uncertainty in how Trump was handling Russia's three-year-old invasion of Ukraine was worrying for U.S. allies because he could negotiate something that was insufficient, but it was also creating uncertainty for Putin and this was something that needed to be used to help negotiations.
Associated Press
Unions sue over federal worker firings, alleging Trump administration misused probationary periods
Unions for federal workers have filed a lawsuit to block the mass firings of probationary federal employees by President Donald Trump's administration, alleging that officials are exploiting and misusing the probationary period to eliminate staff across government agencies. The unions allege in the complaint filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in California that the firings "represent one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.” The lawsuit says the administration’s Office of Personnel Management acted unlawfully by directing federal agencies to use a standardized termination notice falsely claiming performance issues.

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