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Indian student shot dead at Chicago gas station, MEA promises assistanceWASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, on Tuesday called on President Joe Biden to pardon some "working-class Americans" after drawing criticism for pardoning his own son, Hunter Biden. "During his final weeks in office, President Biden should exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated throughout his life, including toward his son, and pardon on a case-by-case basis the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses," Jeffries said in a statement. Biden, who leaves office on Jan. 20, for months had said he would not pardon his son, who was found guilty of lying about being addicted to illegal drugs while buying a gun and pleaded guilty to criminal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. The sweeping pardon also applied to any other crimes "he committed or may have committed" between Jan. 1, 2014 and Dec. 1, 2024. The president said he believed his son had been made the target of a politically motivated prosecution. Republicans including President-elect Donald Trump blasted the move, as did some Democrats who said it eroded trust in the judicial system. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter, additional reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Scott Malone and Caitlin Webber)

Liverpool boss Arne Slot talks up ‘special player’ Mohamed SalahThe opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global. BOSTON - Oxford University Press has officially dubbed "brain rot" its 2024 word of the year. It's described as that feeling you get after spending hours scrolling through social media. You could say this news has been 170 years in the making. That's how long it's been since Henry David Thoreau sat by Walden Pond and reflected on the spread of brain rot. And now an unholy union of clever tech and cultural dreck have turned that illness into a global plague. Brain rot and social media Experts define brain rot as mental lethargy and cognitive decline caused by too much doomscrolling, zombie scrolling, video gaming and other forms of social media addiction. "In many ways we have abdicated our responsibility as parents because we feel we aren't competent in the digital space," said Dr. Michael Rich of the Digital Wellness Lab at Children's Hospital, author of "The Mediatrician's Guide: A Joyful Approach to Raising Healthy, Smart, Kind Kids in a Screen-Saturated World." He says the issue isn't so much the lure of the web and its seductive algorithms, but kids being left alone, unchallenged, and easily seducible. "First of all, a parent should model the kind of behavior they want to see in their kids," said Rich. "We have to be the change we want to see in our kids. The smartphone, the laptop is a power tool that can do incredible things, we can be all around the world with all kinds of people, and yet we often choose the path of least resistance which is well-paved for us by very sophisticated psychological design in these online programs." Fighting brain rot in kids But for parents willing to fight brain rot, here's the good news. "Kids actually do want our attention, that's one of the most frequent answers I get from kids when I ask them what could your parents do better - pay more attention to me," said Rich. The deck might seem stacked when it comes to the rotting of our kids' brains by social media - unsavvy mom and dad vs. billion-dollar corporations peddling garbage dressed up with slick graphics and addictive technology. But you parents have a secret weapon - you're right there, while Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are not. And as Dr. Rich puts it: "the kids are going to be alright, if we are there with them." Jon Keller is the political analyst for WBZ-TV News. His "Keller @ Large" reports on a wide range of topics are regularly featured during WBZ News at 5 and 6 p.m.

Excellence has been the 49ers’ calling card for the past several seasons. Since 2019, they’ve been one of the elite teams in the NFL, amassing 54 wins against 29 losses in the regular season with two Super Bowl runners-up and two NFC Championship losses in five years. Yet on Sunday night in frigid Orchard Park, the 49ers, mired at 5-6 and a game out of first place in the NFC West, find their season hanging in the balance with a showdown against the 9-2 Bills. “I think the vibe is probably a lot lower outside of this locker room than it is inside,” 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey told reporters this week. “I think our team is hungry. We still have everything in front of us and we’re ready to go.”A week ago, Matt Gaetz was on his way to becoming Donald Trump’s avenging angel as U.S. Attorney General, the nation’s top law enforcement official. But now that the former Florida congressman has withdrawn his nomination amid persistent questions about his involvement in a sex scandal involving a 17-year-old girl, his political prospects are not so clear put. “His future is not as bright as it once was,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. “I don’t mean to imply this is the end of his political career, or lobbying career, because he still has the ear of the president-elect.” Gaetz’s fall has left him politically adrift and battered by allegations of drug-fueled sex parties. One option — considered a remote possibility — would be to try to reclaim the North Florida congressional seat he resigned from on Nov. 13, a move that effectively shut down the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations. In his resignation notice, Gaetz said he was stepping down from his current term to pursue the Attorney General nomination and didn’t “intend to take the oath” for the upcoming term he was reelected to on Nov. 5. Technically, Gaetz could show up when Congress reconvenes on Jan. 3 to be sworn into that new term, said Michael T. Morley, a professor of election law at Florida State University College of Law. Ultimately, the House would decide whether Gaetz could change his mind and keep his seat, Morley said. Mark Herron, a Tallahassee lawyer specializing in state and federal election and ethics laws, agreed that Gaetz has wiggle room on his future in Congress. “I don’t think anything is real until Jan. 3,” he said. The Constitution requires that House vacancies be filled by a special election, and state governors are responsible for scheduling those special elections. Gov. Ron DeSantis has already ordered Secretary of State Cord Byrd to schedule a special election for Gaetz’s district seat but no date has been set as of Thursday. GOP state Reps. Joel Rudman and Michelle Salzman announced they would run for the opening, but they signaled Thursday they would step aside if Gaetz needs to run to get his old job back. Gaetz easily won reelection in November with 66% of the vote in the solidly red North Florida district. Salzman called Gaetz a “real friend” and said she “will stand with the congressman and whatever he decides.” In a post on X, Rudman wrote he will support Gaetz “100%” if he wants to return to Congress. Politically, though, it might not make sense for Gaetz to return to Congress, which would resurrect a House ethics report said to contain damaging testimony against him, Morley said. His colleagues could vote to censure or expel him based on the report’s findings. One of Florida’s U.S. Senate seats likely will be open as Trump has tapped Sen. Marco Rubio to be his Secretary of State. But it seems unlikely that DeSantis would appoint Gaetz to take Rubio’s Senate seat, Jewett said, especially if DeSantis wants to stay in Trump’s good graces by appointing his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as many MAGA supporters want. Gaetz can also expect other high profile political candidates to run for Rubio’s senate seat when a special election is held in 2026, he added. “They would have no compunction going after him and the baggage he brings.” Gaetz has been mentioned as a possible GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2026, when DeSantis leaves office. But U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is Trump’s most likely choice for governor in 2026, said state Sen. Joe Gruters, a Trump backer and former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, and the president’s endorsement could effectively end the race. “It’s a primary of one,” Gruters previously told The Orlando Sentinel. Gaetz has repeatedly denied accusations that he paid for sex, had sex with a 17-year-old girl and used illicit drugs. The U.S. Department of Justice investigated those allegations for several years but did not file charges. But House ethics investigators continued with a separate investigation and were preparing to release their findings when Gaetz resigned. Two women who testified to the committee behind closed doors said Gaetz paid them for sex, and one of the women testified she witnessed Gaetz having sex with her 17-year-old friend at a July 2017 Orlando-area house party, their attorney Joel Leppard said. The ethics panel had a paper trail linking Gaetz to more than $10,000 in Venmo payments made to two women who were witnesses in the probe, ABC News reported. Although his political brand his tarnished, Gaetz continues to hold favor with Trump, and “he could still get a soft landing somewhere,” Jewett said. In his statement, Gaetz didn’t describe his future plans — only that he will “remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history.” In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that Gaetz has a “wonderful future.” Gaetz’s wife, Ginger, posted a photo on social media of the couple walking up the Capitol steps after news broke that he had withdrawn. “The end of an era,” she wrote. ©2024 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Packers' improving run defense ready for challenge against NFC North-leading Lions