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Challengers attack Georgia’s redrawn congressional and legislative districts in court hearing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The people who successfully sued to overturn Georgia’s congressional and state legislative districts told a federal judge on Wednesday that new plans Republican state lawmakers claim will cure illegal vote dilution should be rejected.The plaintiffs argued before U.S. District Judge Steve Jones in an hourslong hearing in Atlanta that the new maps don’t increase opportunities for Black voters to elect their chosen candidates. They also said they do not remedy vote dilution in the particular areas of suburban Atlanta that a trial earlier this year had focused on.“The state of Georgia is playing games,” lawyer Abha Khanna said of the new maps. “We’re going to make you chase us all over the state from district to district to achieve an equal opportunity for Black voters. It’s a constant game of whack-a-mole.”But an attorney for the state argued that lawmakers added the Black-majority districts that Jones ordered in October, including one in Congress, two ...

Federal agency wants to fine Wisconsin sawmill $1.4 million for violations found after teen’s death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

FLORENCE, Wis. (AP) — A federal agency wants to fine a northern Wisconsin sawmill more than $1 million after inspectors said they found “egregious” violations at the site following a June accident that killed a teenage worker.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it proposed fining Florence Hardwoods LLC $1.4 million for numerous violations of federal safety and health regulations, including for “the most serious violations the agency issues.”Florence Hardwoods previously agreed to pay nearly $191,000 and stop hiring children under the age of 16 to settle a federal lawsuit labor regulators filed against the mill, which is in northern Wisconsin along the border with Michigan.That lawsuit was filed after 16-year-old Michael Schuls died July 1, two days after he was injured at the sawmill, where other child employees were also injured in a string of accidents.“It is incomprehensible how the owners of this company could have such disregard for the saf...

New lawsuit against the US by protesters alleges negligence, battery in 2020 clashes in Oregon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Protesters who were injured by federal law enforcement officers in Portland more than three years ago have filed a new lawsuit alleging negligence and battery.In July 2020, “the federal government unleashed unprecedented and sustained violence and intimidation on the people of Portland,” the lawsuit states. Protesters after that filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, federal law enforcement agencies and individual officers, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Many of the lawsuits relied on a type of claim that the U.S. Supreme Court has since gutted.Tuesday’s lawsuit raises similar issues and involves the same injured protesters but was filed under a different federal legal theory, said David Sugerman, one of the attorneys involved.Thousands of protesters in Portland took to the streets in 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, part of a wave of protests nationally. The protesters in Portland at times clashed with police, and milita...

Pedestrian dies 10 days after being struck by vehicle in North York

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

A pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle while walking in North York on Dec. 9 has died in hospital, police said in an update on Wednesday.Emergency crews were called to the Epsom Downs Drive and William Cragg Drive area for reports of a pedestrian struck at around 8:42 p.m.A black BMW sedan was reportedly travelling eastbound on Epsom Downs Drive when it struck a pedestrian who was walking.The pedestrian was transported to Sunnybrook Hospital with life-threatening injuries.Police say the person passed away in hospital on Tuesday, Dec. 19.The investigation is ongoing and there’s no word on potential charges at this point.With files from Hayley McGoldrick

No charges in B.C. 2022 Christmas Eve bus crash that left 4 dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia Prosecution Service says there will be no charges stemming from a bus crash on an icy highway in the province’s Interior last Christmas Eve that killed four people. Service spokesman Dan McLaughlin says it reached the decision after the Crown counsel assessing the allegations concluded that the standard for charges had not been met.The prosecution service guideline says in order for charges to be approved, there must be a “substantial likelihood of conviction” based on the strength of the evidence as well as the public interest being served in a prosecution.The crash of the bus operated by Alberta-based Ebus happened on Highway 97C, the Okanagan Connector, east of Merritt, when the bus went off the road and flipped on its side. Police said extremely icy road conditions caused the rollover, with driving conditions described as “very poor with ice and snow on the road surface along with rain and hail falling.”Four of the 40...

Rome court convicts far-right activists for storming union offices to oppose COVID vaccine passes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

MILAN (AP) — A court in Rome convicted the leader of a far-right party and six other far-right activists Wednesday for rampaging through the headquarters of Italy’s most powerful labor confederation during an October 2021 protest against COVID-19 certification requirements for workplaces.Roberto Fiore, leader of the Forza Nuova, or New Force, party, was found guilty of resisting public officials, instigation to delinquency and an aggravated charge of causing devastation. He received a prison sentence of 8 1/2 years.His convicted co-defendants were sentenced to terms ranging from eight years and two months to eight years and seven months. All had denied the charges, describing the protest as peaceful and joyful. Prosecutors presented testimony to the contrary from numerous law enforcement officers as well as video evidence.An Associated Press report at the time said that 10,000 opponents of a government decree requiring vaccine certificates to return to work turned out in Rome’s vast...

Federal regulators give more time to complete gas pipeline extension in Virginia, North Carolina

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The builders of a proposed natural gas pipeline that will enter North Carolina from Virginia now have another 2 1/2 years to complete the project after federal regulators pushed back a deadline for the work.The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved on Tuesday a request by owners of the proposed 75-mile (121-kilometer) Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline to allow for more time for construction, news outlets reported.According to the previous FERC certificate, the project was supposed to be built and in service six months ago. But permitting problems in North Carolina and Virginia amid legal challenges to the larger Mountain Valley Pipeline meant the owners missed the deadline.Now, with the FERC’s order, the owners have until June 2026 to complete the MVP Southgate project and bring it into service. More permits still must be secured for construction to occur.The owners of the project, which includes a consortium of natural gas and energy c...

International astronaut will be invited on future NASA moon landing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An international astronaut will join U.S. astronauts on the moon by decade’s end under an agreement announced Wednesday by NASA and the White House.The news came as Vice President Kamala Harris prepared to convene a meeting of the National Space Council, the third such gathering under the Biden administration.There was no immediate word on who the international moonwalker might be or even what country would be represented. NASA has included international astronauts on trips to space for decades. Canadian Jeremy Hansen will fly around the moon a year or so from now with three U.S. astronauts. Another crew would actually land; it would be the first lunar touchdown by astronauts in more than a half-century. That’s not likely to occur before 2027, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.All 12 moonwalkers during NASA’s Apollo program of the 1960s and 1970s were U.S. citizens. The space agency’s new moon exploration progr...

3 charged after woman killed, body set on fire in Riverdale

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

RIVERDALE, Ill. — Three people have been charged after a woman was killed and her body was set on fire in Riverdale.Officers were called to the 14400 block of South Wallace just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 9.Upon arrival, officers found the body of a woman who they said had been set on fire. On Wednesday, the woman was identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office as Danielle Banks, 29, of Harvey. Her body was found in an alley.Prior to her body being found, Banks sustained sharp force injuries and her death was ruled a homicide.Riverdale police announced first-degree murder charges Wednesday against Keith Bassett, 55, of Riverdale, Latoya Laramore-Milons, 39, of Evanston, and Scotty Jobe-Scott, 30, of Evanston.No other details have been provided regarding their arrests or circumstances around the incident. Previous: Police seek help identifying woman found dead after south suburban fire Police reached out to the public earlier with a picture of a watch in an effort t...

Naloxone, the crucial opioid overdose-reversal medication, to be available for free at certain South, West Side gas stations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:48:31 GMT

CHICAGO — A new effort to save lives by reversing opioid overdoses has been unveiled in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the city's West Side.An initiative to deliver naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose-reversal medication, was announced Wednesday morning outside the Amoco gas station at 4402 W. Roosevelt Rd. That location and 14 others across Chicago's South and West sides will now be stocked with free-of-charge naloxone, delivered via Zimhi.Zimhi is a naloxone injection intended for emergency use. According to its website, Zimhi "offers the highest dose of naloxone available as an intramuscular injection to get into the blood fast."Officials say gas stations are often "hot zones" where opioid overdoses occur. Used effectively, naloxone can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and potentially save someone’s life. Officials say the Zimhi injections that will be stocked at gas stations and available for free are being paid for through a donation by a medical company to t...