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House Dems Show Up at State House, Quietly Advance $3.1 Bil Budget

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

In a few minutes, House Democrats on Monday accomplished what they could not during three previous sessions.House Democrats showed up in sufficient numbers to establish a quorum and to prevent Republicans from ending sessions, as the GOP did on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, largely to protest the state’s evolving approach to sheltering migrant families.  With a quorum present, the House, in a rare hand-counted 105-14 vote, sent to the Senate a $3.1 billion fiscal 2023 closeout budget.After the vote, House Speaker Ron Mariano, who has served in the House for more than three decades, could not recall another instance when there was a quorum during an informal House session. The bill includes critical funds to fulfill state employee raises and try to keep pace with elevated emergency shelter demand.“Now it’s over to the Senate. We’ll see when the Senate takes it up, and what their gameplan is, and then we’ll judge when it comes back,”...

In pitch to Shohei Ohtani, how would Blue Jays likely make their case?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

The first part is obvious. The Toronto Blue Jays are interested in Shohei Ohtani because he’s a historically talented player in his prime.The other side of that equation – why does Shohei Ohtani have interest in the Blue Jays? – is a more interesting question, and finding out what exactly appeals to him about Canada’s lone MLB team and emphasizing those points would be important in any final push for the two-time MVP.As of Monday morning, the specifics of the Blue Jays’ pursuit weren’t clear. At some point last month, they expressed serious interest to CAA, the agency that represents Ohtani. Since then, there’s been enough reciprocal interest for talks to continue alongside pursuits from the Dodgers, Cubs, Angels and possibly others. A small group of finalists met with the two-way star in Los Angeles this weekend, and it stands to reason the Blue Jays were among that group, but their executives have declined to comment.Landing such a meeting with Ohtani would be a necess...

Ontario introduces legislation to crack down on puppy mills, unethical dog breeding

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

Ontario’s government announced new legislation on Monday in an attempt to crack down on puppy mills and unethical dog breeding across the province.A spokesperson for Ontario’s solicitor general said the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act (PUPS), if passed, will amend the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act (PAWS) to prevent harmful dog breeding practices, impose penalties, and ensure that dogs across Ontario receive the care they deserve.The proposed changes would prohibit various unethical dog breeding practices, including breeding a female dog more than three times in a two-year period and/or breeding more than two litters from a female dog’s consecutive heat cycles, breeding a female dog that is less than a year old and separating a puppy from its mother before the age of eight weeks, among others.In 2011, Toronto became the second city in Canada, following Richmond, B.C., to ban the sale of puppies from puppy mills in pet stores. Under the p...

Vancouver home sales rise in November as newly listed properties add to supply

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

VANCOUVER — The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouversays home sales ticked up last month as the continued increase of newly listed properties has given prospective homebuyers in the region among the largest selection to choose from since 2021.The board says November home sales totalled 1,702, a 4.7 per cent increase from the same month last year, though it marked a slowdown from the prior month of October. The total was 33 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average of 2,538 for November.There were 3,369 new listings of detached, attached and apartment properties last month, a 9.8 per cent increase from a year earlier, as new listings were 2.8 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average.The composite benchmark home price in November for Metro Vancouver was $1,185,100, a 4.9 per cent increase from November 2022 and a one per cent decrease from October 2023.Andrew Lis, the board’s director of economics and data analytics, says the region has seen balanced market conditions sin...

Judge drops felony charges against ex-elections official in Virginia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge has dismissed felony charges against a former county elections official accused of misconduct in the 2020 election, a decision made after state prosecutors said a key witness changed his story.At the prosecutors’ request, the judge on Friday dismissed a felony charge of corrupt conduct and one for making a false statement, both of which had been levied against former Prince William County Registrar Michele White. She still faces trial next month on a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.Very little has been publicly revealed about exactly what prosecutors believe White did wrong. Court records merely indicate that the case revolves around 2020 election returns, including the presidential race.Prince William election officials have previously said that White’s successor reported “discrepancies” in results to state officials, but that those discrepancies would not have affected the outcome of any race.The case was brought by R...

US Navy plane removed from Hawaii bay after it overshot runway. Coral damage remains to be seen

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — A U.S. Navy jet has been moved from a coral reef in an environmentally sensitive Hawaii bay where it got stuck after overshooting a runway nearly two weeks ago, officials said Monday.A team worked through the weekend to use inflatable cylinders to lift and roll the plane off the reef where it crashed on Nov. 20 and move it to the nearby runway at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay. Rear Adm. Kevin Lenox, the commander of Carrier Strike Group 3 who is leading the $1.5 million salvage effort, said absorbent material around the plane showed no indication of any fluid other than sea water, giving officials confidence that the plane hadn’t released any hazardous materials such as fuel. None of the nine people on board the P-8A — the military’s version of a Boeing 737 — were injured. The Navy is investigating the cause of the crash. The Navy released underwater video last week showing the aircraft’s wheels resting on parts of crushed coral and m...

Heavy snowfall drops tree branches onto power lines, causing outages in New England

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

A storm dropped a mix of rain and snow on parts of New England with some locations recording more than a half-foot (15 centimeters) of snowfall on Monday, knocking out power for tens of thousands of people and causing slick roads that contributed to a fiery propane truck crash in Vermont.Evacuations were ordered in two communities, including at a pair of schools, in Vermont after the propane tanker went off the Vermont Route 14 bridge over the Black River in Irasburg and caught fire, state police said. Emergency workers created a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) perimeter around the crash site in the event of an explosion.At the peak, more than 25,000 homes and businesses in Maine and more than 11,000 in Vermont were without electricity as trees and branches laden with heavy, wet snow fell on power lines, officials said. The temperatures were hovering close to freezing across much of northern New England on Monday.The National Weather Service declared the first winter storm warning of the sea...

Man suspected of shoplifting stabs 2 security guards at Philadelphia store, killing 1

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man who had tried to steal merchandise from a department store in Philadelphia returned 15 minutes later and stabbed two security guards, killing one and injuring the other, city police said.The attack at the Macy’s store occurred shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. Security guards saw the man attempting to steal some hats and took back the merchandise, police said. When the man returned, he stabbed a 30-year-old male guard in the neck and a 23-year-old guard in the face and arm when he tried to help his colleague.The older guard was taken to a hospital and was pronounced dead there a short time later. The other guard was being treated for his injuries, police said, but further details about his condition were not disclosed.The stabbing suspect fled the store after the attack and tossed a knife on the tracks on the platform of a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train station, police said. He was later captured at another SEPTA station in the city, p...

A Nigerian military attack mistakenly bombed a religious gathering and killed civilians

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian military attack that used drones to target rebels instead killed some civilians, government and military officials said Monday. The misfire during a religious celebration was the latest such errant bombing of local residents in Nigeria’s violence hot spots.Muslims observing Maulud on Sunday night in Kaduna state’s Igabi council area were “mistakenly killed and many others injured” by the drone “targeting terrorists and bandits,” Gov. Uba Sani said. Officials did not confirm the number of people killed, but a large crowd typically gathers in the state to celebrate that holiday that commemorates the bird of the Prophet Muhammad. Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said 120 people were killed in the attack, citing reports of its workers and volunteers in the area. “Many of them were children (and) more dead bodies are being discovered,” Isa Sanusi, the organization’s director in Nigeria, told The Associated Press.At least 50 bodies ...

UK unveils tough new rules designed to cut immigrant numbers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:11:53 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The British government announced tough new immigration rules Monday that it says will reduce the number of people able to move to the U.K. each year by hundreds of thousands.Home Secretary James Cleverly said he was taking “robust action” to lower authorized immigration, which hit a record level of almost 750,000 people in 2022. Critics said the moves would leave overstretched sectors like health and social care at a breaking point.Under the new rules, immigrants will have to earn more to get a work visa and will find it harder to bring family members to the U.K.Cleverly said that from the spring of 2024, prospective immigrants will have to earn 38,700 pounds ($48,900) to get a skilled worker visa, up from 26,200 pounds ($33,000) now. British citizens who want to bring their foreign spouse to Britain will have to earn the same amount – almost double the current threshold.Health and social care, sectors that are highly reliant on immigrant staff, are exempt from the sal...