Crackdown on immigrants who use public benefits takes effect
By ANITA SNOW Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — Advocates say new guidelines that disqualify more people from green cards if they use government benefits is prompting droves of immigrants to drop government social services. That even includes citizens and legal residents who may be entitled to the benefits but fear they will be kicked out of the U.S. Advocates are scrambling to find other options to fill the needs of a traditionally low-income population. They predict that the Trump administration guidelines taking effect Monday will result in extreme hardship for many. The government says the rule will help make immigrants more self-sufficient and protect American taxpayers.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar is dedicating $4.2 million to run ads in states that will vote in the March 3 Super Tuesday contests, the clearest sign yet that she plans to stay in the race for the nomination. Klobuchar campaign manager Justin Buoen says in a memo Monday that Klobuchar remains “a top choice for persuading Republican and independent voters we need in order to beat Donald Trump in the fall” and is “the best person to take on Bernie Sanders.” With Sanders’ commanding win in the Nevada caucuses there have been calls for Klobuchar and other moderate candidates to drop out of the race.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders has become the clear front-runner in the Democrats’ presidential nomination fight. And his Democratic critics are only now beginning to realize they’re running out of time to stop him. Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, among others, dramatically intensified their attacks against the Vermont senator over the weekend. But the cluster of candidates splitting up the anti-Sanders vote is not shrinking. Biden is committed as ever ahead of South Carolina’s Feb. 29 primary, betting that his first victory could slingshot him to the front of the moderate muddle.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The widow of Kobe Bryant has sued the owner of the helicopter that crashed in fog and killed her husband and her 13-year-old daughter last month. The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Vanessa Bryant in Los Angeles says the pilot was careless and negligent by flying in cloudy conditions Jan. 26 and should have aborted the flight. The pilot was among the nine people killed in the crash. The lawsuit was filed as a public memorial service for Kobe Bryant and his daughter was being held at the arena where Bryant played most of his career.

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein’s legal team is vowing to appeal his conviction. Defense attorney Arthur Aidala spoke briefly Monday after the jury convicted Weinstein of rape and sexual assault, saying: “As sure as I’m a bald man, we’ll appeal.” Defense attorney Donna Rotunno says the “fight is not over.” She says Weinstein is “disappointed” with the verdict, but that he “took it like a man.” Weinstein was immediately taken into custody and was led out of the courthouse in handcuffs. Aidala says Weinstein will be going to “more of a hospital than a jail” after the judge granted the defense’s request to give him medical attention. His lawyers say Weinstein had an unsuccessful back surgery recently.

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein has been convicted at his New York City sexual assault trial. He was found guilty of criminal sex act for assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006 and third-degree rape of a woman in 2013. The jury found him not guilty on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault, that could have resulted in a life sentence. The landmark reckoning for the former movie producer comes after years of whispers exploded into a torrent of sexual misconduct allegations that ended his reign in Hollywood and gave rise to the #MeToo movement. The jury’s verdict followed three weeks of testimony that included harrowing accounts of rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation, lewd propositions and casting-couch excuses from Weinstein.

A London resident had quite the wake-up call in her home when she found a red snake underneath her vacuum cleaner. Kasia Radochonska found it when she was picking out a pair of shoes. So she shut the door, contacted the charity Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and waited in her kitchen. No word on how the snake got underneath the vaccum clearn. The woman admits she was shocked by the discovery, but says if it had been a spider, she would have run a mile.