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Budget 2023 gives boost to dental care, green economy while searching for savings

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2023 federal budget promises “transformative investments” in Canada’s green economy as the country tries to maintain its place in the global clean tech revolution and realign its supply chains toward allies who won’t use energy as a political weapon.“Together these two great shifts represent the most significant opportunity for Canadian workers in the lifetime of anyone here today,” Freeland said Tuesday in the House of Commons.She is also using the budget to provide another top-up of the GST rebate, styled this time as a grocery rebate, to low-income Canadians who are feeling the pinch of inflation and keep making good on pledges in the confidence-and-supply agreement with the New Democrats.There are also some measures reacting to political fires that have been burning around the Liberals in recent weeks and months, including some money to combat foreign interference, and to make airport securit...

Revived N. Carolina sports wagering bill wins big House vote

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sports gambling in North Carolina soared over a major hurdle on Tuesday as the House voted for legislation to permit, regulate and tax wagering activities less than a year after the chamber scuttled a similar effort.The winning 66-45 vote for pro-gambling forces signals the legislature could be willing to offer residents in the nation’s ninth-largest state the chance to bet on professional, college and Olympic-type athletics by computer, mobile app or in person by early next year. One more House vote is needed Wednesday before the legislation can move to the Senate, which voted for sports betting in 2021. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper supports sports wagering legislation, as does Republican Senate leader Phil Berger. Last June, a different version of the House amended a wagering proposal and ultimately defeated a Senate bill in a razor-thin vote. A coalition of Christian conservatives and liberal Democrats turned back the measure on grounds of protecting fami...

Debt ceiling impasse: McCarthy presses Biden to negotiate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday he’s increasingly concerned about President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to negotiate on lifting the nation’s borrowing authority, saying in a letter to the president that the White House position could “hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”Rather than open direct talks on the debt ceiling, which the Democrats agree must be raised, Biden and his party’s lawmakers are challenging Republicans to publicly present their own budget proposals — something McCarthy has so far declined to do.For now, the Treasury Department has resorted to “extraordinary measures” to avoid default on the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing authority. But those measures will run out — and put the U.S. at risk of being unable to pay all of its bills — possibly as early as June.The White House has emphasized that Biden is not willing to entertain proposed cuts in programs simply in exchange for lifting the ...

Brazil hits 700,000 virus deaths, 2nd highest in the world

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government on Tuesday reported the 700,000th death from COVID-19 in the South American nation, which has the second most victims of the virus after the United States.Brazilian health experts say most people dying of COVID-19 in recent days are either unvaccinated or suffer from other debilitating diseases. “The vaccine currently available in every health care unit in Brazil could have changed the lives of families who lost beloved ones in the pandemic,” said the country’s Health MinistryHealth Minister Nisia Trindade criticized former President Jair Bolsonaro for his handling of the pandemic. Bolsonaro, who became ill with COVID, later declined to take the coronavirus vaccine and flouted health restrictions.“We have to look at the past, but at the same time we have to say the health ministry cannot make the mistake of not coordinating, not taking care, not treating (the disease). We need to be united so new tragedies do not happen,” Trinda...

NCIS, rescue canines join search in Waukegan for missing Navy sailor

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The Naval Criminal Investigative Service on Monday continued their search in Waukegan for missing Navy sailor Seamus Gray, with rescue canines focusing on an area near Government Pier. Despite divers from the Waukegan and Gurnee fire departments searching the area, the whereabouts of Gray were not discovered. The news is the latest development in the disappearance of the 21-year-old, who has not been seen or heard from since March 18. As the search continues, the military service member's mother, Kerry Gray, has since returned to Florida after traveling to Illinois. In a March 26 Facebook post, Gray said it appears her son was in a tragic accident. While she described the days since her son has gone missing as "grueling, nauseating, heartbreaking and quite honestly soul-crushing," in an earlier Facebook post, she thanked the Waukegan first responders for their efforts. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Police in Waukegan searching for missing 21-year-old Navy sailor"I'm holding on...

Illinois considers letting non-citizens become police officers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

There's a push to crack down on banking executives responsible for the collapse of their financial institutions.Iowa could ban the state's public universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And Illinois lawmakers consider a proposal to let people who aren't United States citizens become police officers.We'll talk about that this morning with Scott County Democratic Party Chair Kay Pence and former Iowa State Rep. David Millage, a Republican.We start in Illinois with House Bill 37-51. This proposal would allow people who aren't U. S. citizens to become police officers in the state. They do have to be in the country with legal authorization to work.Applicants have to meet all other requirements for the job, just not citizenship. That would make DACA recipients eligible.We know police departments across the country are having problems recruiting officers."I think it's a good idea," Pence said. "They've been having trouble finding and retaining police o...

Man stops traffic to help teacher, children escape Nashville school shooting

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — There are many unsung heroes from Monday's school shooting that left seven dead (six victims and the shooter), including teachers that ushered kids to safety. Some headed through the wood line seeking shelter at the fire department, while others crossed Hillsboro Road, gathering at an apartment until given the clear.Jason Hoffman was driving down Hillsboro Road when he heard gunfire."I think I heard at least maybe 10-15 shots," Hoffman explained. Covenant School Shooting: Victims in shooting were not targeted by shooter, police say He says he hunkered down, seeking cover in his car as he tried to leave the area before a woman, who appeared to be a teacher, jumped out of the wood line, waving him down with dozens of children."When I saw the kids coming out of the woods, it just really hit me," he said.Without hesitation, Hoffman began stopping traffic on the busy four-lane road.  Bodycam video shows moments police killed active shooter at Nashville ...

Florida board bans 'This Book Is Gay' from middle school libraries

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The school board of Hillsborough County, Florida, held a special meeting on Tuesday and voted to ban a book from all public middle schools in the area. The book, titled "This Book Is Gay", explores a number of topics, including stereotypes and "coming out." Advocates and the book's author say it was written to help young people who are beginning to explore their sexuality.Controversy over the book began last year when a parent filed a complaint because the book was available in the Pierce Middle School library in Tampa. A committee at the school reviewed the book and decided it should stay. Their decision was appealed, and then a district committee reviewed the book, and also voted that it could remain on library shelves. That decision was appealed, leading to Tuesday's special school board meeting. Italian mayor invites Florida parents to see David sculpture after uproar More than 60 people showed up to the meeting to discuss both sides of the i...

Hawaiian hula teacher latest to appear on US quarter

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

HONOLULU (KHON) — A commemorative quarter honoring the late, legendary Hawaiian hula teacher rolled out on Monday.Edith Kanakaʻole is one of five American women to be minted on new quarters this year as part of the American Women Quarters Program.Kanakaʻole was selected to be honored for her efforts in preserving Native Hawaiian knowledge, serving the Hawaiian community, and applying a new lens to academic science. These are the hardest to find state quarters: Where does yours fall? “She was a renowned practitioner of, and an authority on, modern Hawaiian culture and language," said Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson. “Edith Kanakaʻole believed that the oli, or Hawaiian chants, formed the basis of Hawaiian values and history."U.S. Mint said that Kanakaʻole was a clear role model for all Americans.The portrait of Kanakaʻole was designed by U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program Designer Emily Damstra and sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic Artist Renata Gordon. Boy Scout...

Video shows guards walking away during fire that killed 40

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:16:15 GMT

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — After migrants in northern Mexico placed mattresses against the bars of their detention cell and set them on fire, guards quickly walked away and made no apparent attempt to release the men before smoke filled the room and killed at least 40, surveillance video showed Tuesday.Hours after the fire broke out late Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under shimmery silver sheets outside the immigration detention facility in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, and a major crossing point for migrants.Twenty-nine people were injured and were in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.At the time of the blaze, 68 men from Central and South America were being held at the facility, the agency said.In the video, two people dressed as guards rush into the camera frame, and at least one migrant appears by the metal gate on the other side. But the guards did not appear to make any effort to open th...