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Woman whose home was damaged by Irma waits for assistance from state fund started to help homeowners rebuild

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

A state program set up years ago is supposed to help people rebuild after hurricanes. But one homeowner has been waiting for help since Hurricane Irma, and the damage is only getting worse. 7’s Karen Hensel investigates.Owning a home is supposed to be the ultimate American dream. But with collapsing ceilings and growing mold, Runae Sneed’s dream is turning into a nightmare.Runae Sneed: “It’s kind of scary. I just – I don’t know which direction to turn in.”Runae’s Miami home was damaged in Hurricane Irma back in 2017.She couldn’t afford the repairs, so she signed up for a state program called Rebuild Florida.The fund was started in 2018 after the feds gave the state $615 million to repair and rebuild properties damaged by Irma.Runae was approved for assistance but never got any.Runae Sneed: “I called just about every day or every other day. I called Rebuild Florida, I called the contractor, back and forth, back and forth, to...

Jason Momoa, ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ co-stars talk about reprising roles in action-packed sequel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Things are about to get wet, and I’m not just talking about the weather. “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is almost here. The stars told Deco what to expect from their newest wet and wild film, so get ready to take the plunge.Patrick Wilson (as Orm/Ocean Master): “We need to find Manta.”Jason Momoa (as Arthur Curry/Aquaman): “He’s different now. He’s stronger than before. It’s the Black Trident.”There’s plenty going on above and below the surface in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”Big changes have taken place since 2018’s “Aquaman,” especially for the film’s star, Jason Momoa.Jason Momoa: “A lot has happened. I am king now, and I have a lot of responsibilities — not only to my family, but to the Kingdom of Atlantis.”This time around, Jason’s character, Arthur Curry, does indeed have a full plate. Besides his royal duties, he’s a daddy.Jason Momoa (as Arthu...

EU busts the Orbán myth with historic decision on Ukraine accession 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Viktor Orbán both relented unexpectedly and refused to budge on Day One of the European Council summit.EU leaders on Thursday agreed to open accession talks with Kyiv, taking a definitive step toward Ukraine’s integration into the European project by bypassing Moscow’s closest ally in the bloc: the Hungarian prime minister.But they failed to agree on a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine and on a renegotiation of the shared EU budget. That decision was postponed to an extraordinary leaders’ meeting in January, European Council President Charles Michel told reporters at the end of the first day of the summit. “Two concessions in one summit was too much to sell back home in Hungary,” said one official briefed on the negotiations. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters early Friday morning he was optimistic a budget deal could be reached in January. The decision on enlargement, to open talks with Ukraine and Moldova, was key. So important that Michel took the un...

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and the dolphins are taking over

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.This is the last regular Declassified until 2024 (or forever if the author gets his Christmas wish of a boatload of cash). There will be an end-of-year edition that, in the grand traditions of TV festive specials, was written in June.Donald Trump’s coming back, two horrific wars are raging — and in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has invited British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and failed social media owner Elon Musk to a right-wing festival called Atreju (rough translation: “Dear Lord, that sounds bloody awful”). It’s hard to see how things could get much worse.No, wait, dolphins are about to take over the world! Scientists have discovered a dolphin in Greece that appears to possess a pair of thumbs. That’s right, thumbs — as in for hitchhiking and texting! I, for one, welcome our new dolphin overlords. Perhaps when Flipper becomes supreme leader, their human representative will be Sam Lim, an Australia...

Migration is derailing leaders from Biden to Macron. Who’s next?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

BRUSSELS — Western leaders are grappling with how to handle two era-defining wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine. But there’s another issue, one far closer to home, that’s derailing governments in Europe and America: migration. In recent days, U.S. President Joe Biden, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak all hit trouble amid intense domestic pressure to tackle immigration; all three emerged weakened as a result. The stakes are high as American, British and European voters head to the polls in 2024. “There is a temptation to hunt for quick fixes,” said Rashmin Sagoo, director of the international law program at the Chatham House think tank in London. “But irregular migration is a hugely challenging issue. And solving it requires long-term policy thinking beyond national boundaries.”With election campaigning already under way, long-term plans may be hard to find. Far-right, anti-migrant populists promising sharp answers are...

Germany stands with Ukraine in its existential struggle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Jens Plötner is foreign and security policy advisor to the German Federal Chancellor. Andriy Yermak is the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.The world is currently navigating turbulent waters, facing what some describe as a “perfect storm” of geopolitical, geostrategic and economic challenges. At its eye sits Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, with its wide-ranging global implications for food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and economic growth.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents a daunting security challenge. It has left an indelible mark on the map of Europe, reshaping its political and economic dynamics. In his speech on February 27, 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Russia’s war of aggression as a Zeitenwende — a watershed moment after which the world would no longer be the same. Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war has shattered peace on the Continent, constituting a “...

Netanyahu’s opponents dither as he plots how to survive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe.Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to hang on as his political foes circle, trying to fathom when and how they can call time on his long, tempestuous political career — and, of course, muster the political courage to do so.Much like the Charles Dickens character Wilkins Micawber, Bibi is now left waiting for an assault, planning how to duck and weave, while hoping something that will turn up to shift the tide of his personal fortune. His ruling Likud party much like Micawber’s long-suffering wife, Emma, who pawns family heirlooms as she stands by her man despite his financial exigencies.Lawmakers from his ruling Likud party fear they too may be pawning the party’s future in standing by Bibi — if recent opinion polls are any indication. But none has the temerity to raise the flag of rebellion and risk angering the man who has dominated their party for 20 years and reshaped it in his image.Last month, it lo...

Top EU stories of 2023 — POLITICO’s guide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Acast Amazon Music Our last episode of 2023 is a bumper edition, reviewing some of the key stories that drove the conversations in Brussels and throughout Europe this year.Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by a roundtable of POLITICO’s policy editors including Joanna Roberts, Aoife White and Jan...

On defense, French lawmakers don’t want to be wedded to Germany

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

PARIS — France can’t be the only faithful partner in its defense marriage with Germany. Paris needs to look beyond Berlin for partnerships to avoid becoming isolated, the chair of the French National Assembly’s defense committee Thomas Gassilloud told POLITICO.“Given the state of the world, Franco-German relations have never been more necessary,” said the lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. However, “we have to be constantly aware of the need to speak to everyone and not let ourselves be too consumed by the Franco-German relationship. We try to divide our efforts between the different players.”French presidents have historically made nurturing the relationship with Germany — the couple franco-allemand, as it’s known in French — one of their key priorities, and that especially applies to very expensive joint defense projects. Paris and Berlin are engaged in (bumpy) industrial cooperation deals to build the next-generation battle t...

School bus involved in chain-reaction crash in Hyde Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Multiple people were hurt and multiple vehicles were damaged Thursday when a school bus crashed into a series of cars in front of the Henry Grew School in Hyde Park According to Boston police, only the driver was onboard the school bus when it allegedly struck multiple vehicles as well as a pedestrian by 40 Gordon Ave around 8:15 a.m.7NEWS learned the pedestrian was a parent who had been dropping her child off at the school when the crash occurred. The parent’s mother-in-law, Michelle Legette, later said it appeared a malfunction on the bus led to the crash, adding that the driver had tried to lessen the impact before the pileup.Legette described the moment of impact in an interview, saying her daughter had just dropped her granddaughter off and was coming back to her car when she was hit.“[The driver] couldn’t stop the bus, so he had no other choice but to turn the bus off to stop the bus,” she said. “But by the time he did that, he had a mess out ...