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Infrastructure woes face B.C.’s Shuswap and Okanagan communities, hard hit by fires

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

Officials in British Columbia’s Shuswap and Okanagan regions are shifting some of their attention from wildfire response to the challenges of recovery as flames abate and many evacuees begin returning home, although crews continue to fight out-of-control blazes.Major infrastructure woes will confront both regions, including hundreds of downed power poles and cables.Neighbourhoods in West Kelowna sustained extensive damage to the power grid and other key infrastructure when the McDougall Creek wildfire swept through nearly two weeks ago, the community’s Fire Chief Jason Brolund told a briefing on Monday.The damage is especially severe in the West Kelowna Estates area, he said.“The power poles have burned, the lines are on the ground, the transformers are tipped over. All of that is being removed, and it’s being rebuilt.”Crews are also assessing whether additional key infrastructure, including the water supply, drainage and roads will need repair or recon...

Guatemala’s electoral registry has suspended the party of the presidential election winner

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s electoral registry suspended the Seed Movement, the party of Bernardo Arévalo, the progressive candidate who won Guatemala’s presidential elections this month, the party’s lawyer confirmed on Monday.The elimination of the party’s registration comes after one of the most tumultuous elections in the Central American nation’s recent history, and waves of judicial efforts to knock Arévalo out of the race. The question that now stands is: what will it mean for Arévalo as he’s set to take the presidency?Associated Press, The Associated Press

Missouri law banning minors from beginning gender-affirming treatments takes effect

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Two new laws restricting the access of transgender youth in Missouri to gender-affirming health care and school sports took effect Monday.One law bans minors from beginning puberty blockers and hormones and outlaws gender-affirming surgeries for youths. The other law requires student athletes from kindergarten through college to play on sports teams that align with their sex as assigned at birth. Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed the bills in June after he and other proponents of the laws pressured the GOP-led legislature to act during this year’s session. Both laws are set to expire in 2027.LGBTQ+ advocates who sued to overturn the health care law were dealt a blow last week when a judge allowed the law to take effect as the court challenge plays out. HEALTH CARE The health care law prohibits physicians from providing gender-affirming health care to minors, but young people prescribed puberty blockers or hormones before Aug. 28 can continue to receive th...

GOP silences ‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat on House floor for day on ‘out of order’ rule; crowd erupts

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican lawmakers on Monday voted to silence a Democratic member of the so-called Tennessee Three during an already tense House floor session after determining the young Black member violated newly enacted rules designed to punish disruptive members.The move was directed at Rep. Justin Jones, which prohibited him from speaking and debating on bills for the remainder of the floor session. The vote prompted loud cries and chants that drowned out proceedings for several minutes even after the House speaker ordered the gallery to be cleared out.Moments prior, Jones had been criticizing legislation that would have allowed more law enforcement officers in schools and began listing other resources that the state should be providing. House Speaker Cameron Sexton had warned Jones not to stray off topic. Under new rules adopted by the GOP-dominant chamber last week, members can be silenced anywhere from a day to the rest of the year for not sticking to the bill bein...

Former Pirates investor and newspaper group publisher G. Ogden Nutting has died at 87

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — G. Ogden Nutting, whose 2006 investment in the Pittsburgh Pirates led to his son taking control 11 years later and helped grow his family’s newspaper business to more than 50 daily publications in 18 states, has died. He was 87.Nutting died Friday, according to The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register, which published his obituary and a separate story on his death Monday.A Wheeling resident, Nutting was the longtime publisher of Ogden Newspapers Inc. and spent more than 60 years in various roles with the private company. His grandfather, H.C. Ogden, founded The Wheeling Evening News in 1890, and it formed the basis of the newspaper chain.Nutting was a partner in the Pirates when he joined team owner Kevin McClatchy in buying out a disgruntled investor’s stake in the club in 1996. McClatchy and Nutting knew each other initially through their newspaper industry ties before McClatchy brought Nutting into his ownership group that kept the team from leaving Pit...

HBCU president lauds students, officer for stopping Jacksonville killer before racist store attack

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A campus security officer tipped off by observant students likely stopped the killer who fatally shot three people at a nearby Dollar General Store from carrying out his racist attack at Edward Waters University, the president of the historically Black institution said Monday.Students reported seeing a young, white man, pull into a campus library parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, and begin putting on tactical gear Saturday, Edward Waters University President Zachary Faison Jr. said. They immediately flagged down a security officer who was on patrol to tell them what they saw.The officer approached the car on foot when the driver — who would later be identified as the shooter at the store — sped off, hitting a curb and narrowly avoiding a brick column, Faison said. The campus officer, who the campus president called a hero, then called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and shared the description of the vehicle. Minutes later, the gunman made his way to a...

Denver to pay $4.7 million to settle claims it targeted George Floyd protesters for violating curfew

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Denver will pay $4.7 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged that protesters were unjustly targeted for violating the city’s curfew during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020. City councilors unanimously agreed to the deal Monday without any debate.The lawsuit alleged that the city directed police to only enforce the emergency 8 p.m. curfew against protesters, violating their free speech rights, even though the curfew applied to all people in any public place. It also said that over 300 protesters were taken to jail in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic rather than just being issued tickets for violating the curfew.“The First Amendment does not allow police to clear the streets of protestors simply because they do not agree with their message,” the lead attorney for the protesters, Elizabeth Wang, said in a statement.The city denied having an official policy of using the curfew against protesters but decided that continuing ...

Two adults, two young children found fatally stabbed inside New York City apartment

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Four people, including a 3-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy, were found fatally stabbed inside a New York City apartment Monday, police said.Officers who were called for a wellness check on Manhattan’s Upper West Side at about 3 p.m. found the bodies of the children and two adults, a 41-year-old man and 40-year-old woman. The adults had trauma to the neck and the children had trauma to their bodies, a police spokesperson said.Emergency officials pronounced all of them dead at the scene. Additional information was not immediately available. The investigation is ongoing. The Associated Press

Field Museum scientists help identify mystery objects during annual 'ID Day'

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

CHICAGO — Wondering if that rock you found recently is actually a fossil? Or maybe you have questions about the unique leaf you found outside? Let the experts at Chicago's Field Museum answer all of your questions during its annual ID Day. Fan favorite to be decided during ‘Chi Food Truck Fest Taco Throwdown’ During the annual event, guests have the chance to bring in items from the natural world and have a scientist at the museum answer questions about them and do their best to identify them.According to the museum, guests are allowed to bring in clean & dry bones, fossils, rocks, meteorites, seashells, artifacts, and photographs of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects for identification. The museum asks guests not to bring in live animals. See the Blackhawks’ 2023-2024 promotional schedule The event is set to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 9, a day when admission to the museum is free for Illinois residents. The Field Museum is located at 14...

Over 50 officers promoted to detective as Mayor Johnson seeks to fulfill campaign promise

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:47:01 GMT

On Monday morning, Mayor Johnson, and his choice to lead the Chicago police, Larry Snelling, attended a department graduation and promotion ceremony. At the ceremony, the department promoted more than 50 detectives, a step forward in Mayor Johnson’s goal to promote 200 more officers to the position.Department staffing has been under the microscope recently. During the last mayoral campaign, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara predicted an exodus of officers if Brandon Johnson was elected, but it has not happened, in fact, CPD has seen an increase in officers year over year. Over 250 CPD officers sworn in graduation and promotion ceremony According to the Chicago Inspector General, CPD currently has 11,722 sworn officers. Last August, there were 111 fewer officers. But CPD still has 1,600 fewer officers than it did in January 2019. The department continues to face recruitment challenges and one city official wants police to change their strategy."We need more [police...