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Wildfire smoke blankets Ontario, Quebec, air quality plummets, affects activities

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

TORONTO — Poor air quality is forecast to persist into the weekend across parts of Ontario, as plumes of wildfire smoke blanket the province and prompt school boards to limit outdoor activities.Environment Canada has issued special air quality advisories for large swaths of Ontario and Quebec, warning of high levels of pollution from wildfires burning across both provinces.Ottawa, Belleville and Kingston registered some of the worst air pollution levels in the country, maxing out the air quality index at very high risk. Air quality index levels were forecasted to peak at high risk in many other Ontario cities, from Windsor through to Toronto and north to Sudbury. Toronto District School Board says all strenuous outdoor activities will be rescheduled, or moved indoors when possible, while school boards in York Region say they will hold recess inside. As of Tuesday, there were more than 200 forest fires burning across Quebec and northern Ontario. This report by The Canadian Press was ...

Money wasted? Drivers speak out on newly rebuilt Gardiner on-ramp nobody can use

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

Our Speakers Corner report takes us to the intersection of Lake Shore Boulevard and Lower Jarvis Street, where there are daily traffic jams in nearly all directions.“It’s a mess morning, noon and sometimes late at night,” said Toronto driver Omid Ghiei.The issues can be traced back to 2021 when the city tore down the Gardiner Expressway’s on and off ramps at Logan Avenue. That forced traffic heading east off the Gardiner to exit at Lower Jarvis onto Lake Shore Boulevard.Drivers heading west to access the Gardiner had to use the expressway west on-ramp at Lower Jarvis. Mix in some road repairs being made to Lake Shore Boulevard, and drivers say it’s the perfect recipe to create daily headaches.“You sometimes have to wait 20 minutes on Lakeshore just to go a couple of blocks,” Ghiei said.Another ongoing problem has drivers scratching their heads. It’s for vehicles accessing the Gardiner Expressway East at Lower Jarvis. In 2021, that east...

Voices from the violent civil rights era see attacks on voting rights as part of ongoing struggle

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

They are part of a small, vanishing group who lived at the epicenter of the struggle for voting rights six decades ago, an era driven by segregation, violence and the yearning for equality that eventually led to laws bringing the U.S. closer to its promise of democracy for all its citizens.As the country awaits a Supreme Court decision on whether one of those laws, the Voting Rights Act, will be reinforced or further eroded, they reflect on the times and their struggles, and why they are certain it all was worth it. Ten years ago this month, the court halted what many consider the heart of that landmark law — the ability of the Justice Department to enforce it in states and counties with a history of voter suppression. The justices now will decide how strongly to protect minority groups when they challenge political boundaries drawn through states’ redistricting.The stories from those on the front lines of history recount tragedy, racism, oppression and ultimately hope in seei...

Statistics Canada reports merchandise trade surplus rose to $1.9B in April

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada say the country’s merchandise trade surplus increased to $1.9 billion in April, helped by higher exports of gold, oil and cars and light trucks.The result followed a revised surplus of $231 million in March. The agency’s initial reading for March released last month had indicated a surplus of $972 million.Exports for April rose 2.5 per cent to $64.8 billion as exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products gained 13.6 per cent, lifted higher by a 46.0 per cent gain in unwrought gold.Exports of energy products gained 6.4 per cent as higher prices helped lift crude oil exports 7.1 per cent. Exports by the motor vehicles and parts sector rose 7.4 per cent as exports of passenger cars and light trucks gained 7.7 per cent and engines and parts added 9.9 per cent.Meanwhile, imports in April fell 0.2 per cent to $62.9 billion as imports of energy products fell 12.8 per cent with crude oil imports down 20.5 per cent, in part due to lower shipments ...

Young lawyer who helped write voting rights bill ‘star-struck’ as he witnessed 1965 signing into law

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joel Finkelstein is an accidental witness to one of the seminal events of the civil rights movement, the signing in 1965 of the Voting Rights Act.He was a year out of law school at Cornell when he received the call to head to the Capitol for the signing. Now 83, Finkelstein still isn’t sure how he ended up witnessing the signing — on his 25th birthday — but figured President Lyndon Johnson wanted people who had worked on the bill to be present.Finkelstein helped write the law as a lawyer in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.“Well, I was one of the staff and that’s how I got there,” he said.Finkelstein had wanted to work for the Justice Department as long as he could remember. He was raised in Savannah, Georgia, and had gone to undergraduate school at Tulane in New Orleans.“I was not unfamiliar with what went on in the South,” he said.It was a time when some of the nation’s best young lawyers sought work at the Justice Department, where Finkelstein reca...

Voting activist killed during Freedom Summer in Mississippi believed country should be integrated

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Schwerner doesn’t remember how he learned that his younger brother Michael, nicknamed Mickey, was missing in Mississippi along with colleagues Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. What he remembers is that as soon as the family heard the news, they were certain of the young men’s fate.“We were sure they were killed,” he said. “There was little doubt about that. There was no reason for them to be missing in Mississippi.”It was the summer of 1964, an era marked by murders, beatings, disappearances and church bombings amid the struggle for civil rights and the fight against segregation. Just a year before, a bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young Black girls.The disappearance of the three men, who had been part of a drive to register Black voters in Mississippi during what was called Freedom Summer, and the discovery of their bodies weeks later was an inflection point that shocked the national conscience.“The most i...

Ex-Indiana AG eyes GOP governor’s race after groping case derailed 2020 reelection

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is considering whether to join the 2024 Republican governor’s race, nearly three years after his reelection bid was derailed by allegations that he drunkenly groped four women during a party.Hill built a following among social conservatives during his time in office and his entry into the governor’s race could further complicate what already is shaping up to be an expensive fight for the Republican nomination. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden are already vying to replace Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who can’t seek reelection because of term limits.Hill expects to make a decision in the coming weeks as he and his wife “are carefully praying for guidance,” he said in a statement provided to The Associated Press by his political advising firm.“At a time when Hoosiers are hungry for fresh leadership, it is crucial that we distinguish between those who g...

Lionel Messi is going to play in MLS, reports say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

MIAMI — The greatest player in soccer is going to be making his way to America for his next professional stop in the sport. Per a report from Guillem Balague of CBS Sports, Lionel Messi will play for Major League Soccer's Inter Miami CF after his contract with Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain expires in June. He had been weighing a major offer from Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad of Saudi Professional LeagueThe club nor Messi has officially confirmed the move. This makes Messi, a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner for world's best soccer player and 2022 World Cup champion with Argentina, arguably the most high-profile signing by an MLS club since play began in 1996.He joins an Inter Miami CF club that started play in 2020 and is co-owned by former superstar David Beckham, who is also the team's president. Beckham himself joined MLS after a successful European soccer career in 2007, when he signed with the LA Galaxy.

Father loses second child in 2 months after son drowns in Tennessee

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A father is mourning after his son drowned in Tennessee just two months after he lost his daughter in a deadly car crash. "I can't believe it. It's unreal. It's unbelievable. I don't know how to deal with it right now," said father Calvin Johnson. Ke'Von Smith Johnson, 24, was one of five people who have died while boating on Percy Priest Lake so far this year. Safety reminders for Percy Priest Lake after recent drownings The heartbroken dad said his son disappeared while on the water in the Party Cove area and never returned."He had a friend that tried to save him, but in order to save himself, because my son was out too far, my son caught a cramp in his leg and was panicking. He panicked so much that he almost drugged his friend down with him, but his friend got to where he could break away and turn around. He had gone under, and he didn't see him anymore," his dad said.Calvin Johnson said he had to bury his 21-year-old daughter, Ke'Asia Franklin, ...

CEO Chris Licht to leave CNN

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:32:40 GMT

(The Hill) -- Chris Licht, the embattled CEO of CNN, plans to step down as the company’s top executive after just one year on the job, bringing an end to his tumultuous tenure as the cable news network's chief executive.The news was announced to staffers on the network’s Wednesday morning editorial call, a source told The Hill, after multiple reports surfaced early in the day that Licht was leaving.David Zaslav, president and CEO of CNN's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, joined the call and said he has "great respect for Chris, personally and professionally.”“The job of leading CNN was never going to be easy, especially at a time of huge disruption and transformation, and he has poured his heart and soul into it," Zaslav said. "While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader, we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world-class journalism.” Biden names two Louisiana judicial nominee picks An in...