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Members of public service union vote in favour of federal strike mandate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

OTTAWA — Members of the public service’s largest union, which represents more than 120,000 federal workers, have voted in favour of a strike mandate.The Public Service Alliance of Canada can now launch a strike anytime in the next 60 days, with national president Chris Aylward saying workers were prepared to strike as soon as Wednesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that the government believes in collective bargaining and is looking closely to ensure that it can still deliver important services. Trudeau acknowledged that some federal workers are hurting.“We know they are challenged with the rising cost of living as so many people are, we see inflation starting to come down and those conversations will continue to happen at the bargaining table,” he said. Aylward said at a press conference Wednesday morning that bargaining for fair wages is top of mind and members are prepared to strike for as long as it takes. “The majority of our members are ...

Alleged boat pilot charged in English Channel migrant deaths

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A man who allegedly piloted a small boat packed with migrants that capsized while crossing the English Channel in December has been charged with four counts of manslaughter.Ibrahima Bah, 19, is due to appear at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to face the charges related to the Dec. 14, 2022 capsizing. His nationality was not made public.Helicopters and lifeboats that responded to a distress call in the night rescued 39 people — many plucked from the frigid waters — off the coast of southern England, authorities said. Four bodies were recovered.The British government has been trying to dissuade migrants from coming to the U.K. and has been trying to stop smugglers, who charge thousands of dollars per person to cross the Channel in flimsy inflatable boats. At least 27 people died when a boat sank in November 2021. Bah also faces a charge of facilitating attempted illegal entry into the United Kingdom. He is due to stand trial for that crime later this year.The ...

Judge blocks rules intended to protect nation’s waterways

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a federal rule in 24 states that is intended to protect thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways throughout the nation.U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland in Bismarck, North Dakota, halted the regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the 24 states, most of which are led by Republicans. The regulations were finalized in December 2022, repealing a rule implemented during President Donald Trump’s administration but thrown out by federal courts.Opponents of the regulations, which define which “waters of the United States” are protected by the Clean Water Act, have called the rules an example of federal overreach and argued they would unfairly burden farmers and ranchers. The preliminary injunction affects Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Misso...

Former Art Institute of Chicago payroll manager admits to stealing millions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

CHICAGO — A former payroll manager for the Art Institute of Chicago, accused of misappropriating more than $2 million in museum funds, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court. Michael Maurello, 56, of Beach Park, was federally charged with multiple counts of wire fraud and bank fraud after being accused of depositing museum funds into his personal bank account from 2007-2020.SEE ALSO | Juul to pay $462 million settlement to 6 states including IllinoisAccording to a written plea agreement, Maurello admitted to keeping spreadsheets and notes to track the misappropriated money so that he could later make reversals within the payroll system.When asked about such payments in January 2020, Maurello lied to the museum’s assistant controller and later edited and altered a report from the museum’s payroll system to hide information about the stolen funds.Maurello will be sentenced on Sept. 14. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison followed by up to three years on supervised rel...

It's a different feel in this Bulls' postseason in 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

Matt Peck of CHGO joined "9 Good Minutes" on WGN News Now, an online talk show that features local journalists discussing a wide variety of Chicago sports topics.TORONTO — Getting back to postseason play hasn't been the celebration it was a year ago for a franchise that is looking to return to the top of the National Basketball Association.While fans weren't naive to the fact that the team needed work in April 2022, winning 45 games and returning to the playoffs was something to feel good about. It was a small step back to respectability after a mostly forgettable Fred Hoiberg and Jim Boylan era that saw the team miss the playoffs for four-straight campaigns.But an inactive offseason started turning the tide more towards the negative and that only continued into an inconsistent regular season. Never were the Bulls over .500 after November 2, never winning more than three games in a row over the 82-game slate.Great efforts against some of the NBA's best were often followed by lacklus...

EPA emissions proposal could drive automakers to electric future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – The Biden administration is proposing new emissions rules that could transform the U.S. auto industry into a mostly electric one.By implementing strict new emission standards, the administration will essentially force automakers to make the majority of their new cars electric.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced a proposed new set of rules with the strictest emission limits yet starting in 2027.“It will ensure American leadership in the world in terms of leading on technology and transportation,” Regan said. “We're not prescribing any mandates and we're not driving any particular industry out of business.”To reach the emission standards, two-thirds of the new vehicle fleets from automakers will need to be electric by 2032.Regan says it's a step the country must take “if we are to protect this planet and to ensure the health and safety of all of our children.”But Republican lawmakers call the plan misguided and the American Petr...

What the end of the COVID national emergency means for housing, health care aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The federal government is scaling back its pandemic-era safety net after President Joe Biden this week signed a resolution that brought an end to the national emergency for COVID-19.The programs were designed to keep food on the table, people out of the emergency room and families in their homes while the virus upset people's lives and the economy. The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example, offered emergency rental assistance, which leaders said did its job."We're very fortunate that many of our grantees took advantage of the emergency funds," HUD Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman said.She said an emergency mortgage forbearance program worked so well that HUD is keeping and expanding it."In addition that, we have what we call our loss mitigation options and that will allow Americans with (Federal Housing Administration) home insurance to be able to restructure their mortgage," Todman said.Housing expert Ted Tozer, formerly the president o...

Twins win game but lose a shortstop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

Lucas Giolito was dealing on Wednesday. Fortunately for the Twins, his teammate Gavin Sheets had a fall in right field.Ryan Jeffers drilled an opposite-field line drive at Sheets in the fourth inning and the White Sox outfielder tripped himself up while trying to get a bead on it. Sheets fell, the baseball bounced and Jeffers wound up at third.Four batters later, the bases were loaded with one out for Michael A. Taylor, whose half-swing fielder’s choice grounder to first scored Jeffers for a 1-0 lead. The Twins augmented that lead with a two-run eighth inning and the Twins beat their American League Central rival, 3-1, in front of an announced 17,658 at Target Field.Taylor drove in a pair of runs, and Willi Castro — who replaced injured shortstop Kyle Farmer in the fourth — added an RBI double.Twins right-hander Sonny Gray (2-0) pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks while walking two as the Twins took two of three from Chicago and improved to 8-4 ahead of...

Theater review: ‘Hamilton’ lives up to the hype at Orpheum

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

When hip-hop was a considerably younger art form, one of its first great groups, Public Enemy, issued a caution: “Don’t believe the hype.” I confess that message had taken up residence in the back of my mind as I headed toward my first encounter with “Hamilton,” the hip-hop history lesson that’s been hailed as something like the reinvention of musical theater.Yet, after attending a touring version at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre, I’ve concluded that the hype is well deserved. “Hamilton” is a relentlessly exciting, imaginative and, yes, revolutionary work that blows the dust off your American history education.What makes it all the more astounding is that it’s primarily the creation of one artist. Broadway musicals tend to emerge from the womb of a writing room where a librettist, composer and lyricist have gathered. But Lin-Manuel Miranda was all of the above for “Hamilton,” also taking on the title role in its original incarnation. It was he who spent a beach vacation reading Ron C...

Wild center Ryan Hartman suspended for one game with playoffs looming

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:53 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With nothing to play for in Thursday night’s game against the Nashville Predators. the Wild are expected to rest most of their starters. Thus, it’s unclear if No. 1 center Ryan Hartman was slated to play in the final game of the regular season.Now he certainly will not.After delivering a hit to Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers on Tuesday night in St. Paul, and getting called for interference in the process, Hartman has been suspended for one game. This seemed imminent after news broke Wednesday morning that Hartman was set to have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety.The sequence in question started with Ehlers finishing a check on Wild star Kirill Kaprizov. He retreated through the neutral zone after doing so and got stood up by Hartman in open ice.Asked about the hit postgame, Hartman claimed he was simply trying to brace himself with Ehlers skating straight at him.“I had the puck,” Hartman said. “If I didn’t touch the puck,...