Author: potus

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida Republican congressional candidate accused of stalking and plotting to have his primary opponent murdered by a purported foreign hit squad was sentenced Wednesday to three years in federal prison.William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg was sentenced in Tampa federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in February to sending an interstate transmission of a threat to injure.In 2021, Braddock and U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna were both candidates in the primary election to represent the 13th Congressional District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives. Luna eventually won…

(The Center Square) – California Democrats aren’t ruling out new taxes on state residents to pay for health care for illegal immigrants despite the program’s costs growing from $9.5 billion this year to $12.1 billion in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest budget proposal, or just a little more than the state’s $11.9 billion budget shortfall.Should new federal penalties pass, the program could cost the state an additional $4.4 billion in lost federal funding each year, increasing the relative cost of the program to $16.5 billion. An analysis from The Center Square has found the three main House GOP proposals for…

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, speaks during an unveiling event in New York on Feb. 26, 2025.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAmazon CEO Andy Jassy said Wednesday that the company hasn’t seen any signs of consumers tightening their wallets in the face of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.Jassy’s comments came during Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually on Wednesday.”We have not seen any attenuation of demand at this point,” Jassy said during a question-and-answer portion of the meeting. “We also haven’t yet seen any meaningful average selling price increases.”Amazon and other retailers continue to digest the impact…

(The Center Square) — Louisiana legislators advanced a bill designed to streamline environmental permitting for advanced nuclear power projects, a move that aligns the state with a broader national push to accelerate next-generation reactor deployment.The legislation blew through the House Natural Resources committee without objection.Senate Bill 127, authored by Sen. Adam Bass, R-Bossier City, would allow electric utilities to expedite permits for small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear projects, provided those efforts align with collaborative agreements with federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Energy or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”We’re not asking for the authority to do anything that…

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman appears on screen during a talk with Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Build 2025, conference in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty ImagesOpenAI said on Wednesday that it’s buying Jony Ive’s AI devices startup io for about $6.4 billion in an all-equity deal that pushes that artificial intelligence company firmly into the world of hardware.Ive is taking on “deep creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and io,” the company said in a statement. OpenAI said that io is coming in-house, while Ive…

Windows 11 operating system logo is displayed on a laptop screen for illustration photo. Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesMicrosoft said Wednesday that it broke down the Lumma Stealer malware project with the help of law enforcement officials across the globe.The tech giant said in a blog post that its digital crimes unit discovered more than 394,000 Windows computers were infected by the Lumma malware worldwide between March 16 through May 16. The Lumma malware was a favorite hacking tool used by bad actors, Microsoft said in the post. Hackers used the malware to steal passwords, credit cards, bank…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an “aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care about wasting money.’’ Democrats countered that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s tenure will likely mean more Americans contracting lung cancer and other illnesses.The heated exchanges, at a Senate hearing to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash the agency’s budget in half, showed the sharp partisan differences over Zeldin’s deregulatory approach. Zeldin. a former Republican congressman, has said his tenure will turbocharge the American economy while ensuring clean air and water. Democrats…

(The Center Square) – Coupons or other help Ohio patients receive to pay for prescriptions could soon count toward copays and out-of-pocket expenses.New bipartisan legislation in the state Senate would stop health insurance companies from using copay accumulator programs that don’t count the discounts and potentially increase out-of-pocket expenses when the help ends.“Money is money, no matter who’s paying,” said Sen. Beth Liston, D-Dublin. “If someone gets help paying for their medication, that help should count toward what they owe, not disappear into the insurance company’s pocket.” The legislation, which includes Rep. Susan Manchester, R-Waynesfield, as a cosponsor, looks to help…

Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesBitcoin rose to a new all-time high on Wednesday, breaking its January record.The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by 2% at $108,955.10, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $109,500.”Bitcoin’s new high has been concocted by an array of favorable ingredients in the macro cauldron, namely softer U.S. inflation numbers, a de-escalation in the U.S.-China trade war and the Moody’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, which has put the spotlight on alternative stores of value like bitcoin,” said Antoni Trenchev, cofounder of crypto exchange Nexo.Stock Chart IconStock chart…

(The Center Square) – “Make no mistake. Transitioning the energy mix isn’t a simple task. It’s not a shift from one resource to another. It’s a monumental change to how the bulk power system operates and it will take careful planning – and we risk blackouts if we don’t get this right.” The cautionary statement by Diane Holder, vice president of engineering and strategic engagement at Reliability First, a regional entity of NERC, or the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, was made at a recent House Energy Committee hearing on electric transmission.Meeting the growing electricity demand, driven by increased use of…