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Storms strike Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana; 7 reported dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

By ANDREW DeMILLO (Associated Press)LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly weather including tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois and made a fatal sweep into rural Indiana.The storm caused three deaths in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said in an email to The Associated Press early Saturday. The storm damaged homes and some residents were missing in the county seat of Sullivan, located near the Illinois state line about 95 miles (152 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris.Authorities said a theater...

Massachusetts reaches $40M settlement with minority police officers over civil-service suit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

The state attorney general has reached a $40 million settlement with the hundreds of minority police officers the state has ruled the civil-service promotional exam discriminated against, drawing to a close a long-running case that has wide-ranging repercussions.Assistant Attorney General Kate Isley of AG Andrea Campbell’s office and labor attorney Harold Lichten both signed the agreement on Friday, and a notice will begin to go out to the assorted officers who are part of the class-action suit next week.“This is a tremendous victory for minority police officers who have been held back,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, a well-known labor attorney who is a law partner with Lichten, told the Herald on Friday. The ruling comes about half a year after a judge said that the way the police sergeants promotional test was run resulted in lower scores for Black and Hispanic officers.The full agreed-upon $40,000,000 divided by the 600-or-so officers who potentially stand to gain in th...

Battenfeld: Trump indictment an anchor that could sink his 2024 hopes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

Former President Donald Trump faces a circus trial, months of court appearances and the release of sordid details about his case – all in the middle of a bare-knuckled presidential campaign.Related ArticlesOpinion Columnists | MassGOP leader: Trump indictment was ‘politically motivated’ No one looks good in a mug shot or a perp walk. Getting arrested and wearing handcuffs is not a plus.Just ask Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was handcuffed and perp-walked after he was arrested.The politically motivated case against Trump, which reportedly includes 30 counts related to business fraud and possibly campaign finance violations, may be legally flimsy and never stand up in court but it still lurks as a real danger to his 2024 hopes.Once Trump is fingerprinted and the mug shot is released, possibly on Tuesday when Trump will be arraigned, it will be around the world in 2 seconds.Trump and his supporters should be concerned and can’t just laugh it off.The notion...

Lucas: Don’t give Liz Warren a walk in the park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

Where is Geoff Diehl when you need him?No, he will not be running for the U.S. Senate against progressive Democrat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.Geoff Diehl did that the last time around and got burnt. That was back in 2018 when Diehl, a Donald Trump conservative Republican, won a GOP primary and the right to challenge Warren, who was seeking a second term.He got beaten badly, but he did get 979,210 people to vote for him. Warren, however, got 1,633, 371.Undeterred, Diehl remerged four years later to challenge woke Democrat Maura Healey for governor and again had his head handed to him. Healey won with 1,584,403 votes to 859,343 for Diehl.A third Diehl statewide campaign would most likely invoke the imaginary political three strikes and you’re out rule.So, it looks like nobody will challenge Warren, at least not in the 2024 Democrat primary.And the Republican Party in Massachusetts is in such tough shape that it will be lucky to find a candidate of Diehl’s experience — or madness ̵...

Israeli police fatally shoot man at Jerusalem’s holiest site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police shot and killed a man who they alleged tried to snatch an officer’s gun at an entrance to a Jerusalem holy site early Saturday, raising fears of further violence during a time of heightened tensions at the flashpoint compound.Palestinian worshippers at the entrance to the site on Saturday morning had a different account, saying that police shot the man at least 10 times after he tried to prevent them from harassing a woman who was on her way to the holy compound. The police said the slain man was 26-year-old Mohammed Alasibi from Hura, a Bedouin Arab village in southern Israel. The village council called for a thorough investigation of his killing and a general strike Saturday in protest.Hours after the incident, the muddy stone alleyway leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque was still stained with blood. Israeli Arab politicians identified Alasibi as a physician who had recently passed his exams and earned his M.D. in Romania. They widely condemned his killing an...

Tornadoes strike Arkansas, Illinois; 7 dead, dozens injured

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois and made a deadly sweep across the border into rural Indiana.The storm caused three fatalities in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said in an email to The Associated Press early Saturday. The storm damaged homes and some residents were missing in the county seat of Sullivan, located near the Illinois state line about 95 miles (152 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris.Authorities said a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in B...

Liberals’ political will on pharmacare questioned as minister promises progress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

OTTAWA — Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the government’s plans for pharmacare are moving forward, but experts who study government drug plans suggest the Liberals may have lost the political will to take bold steps toward a national program.People like Marc-André Gagnon were still holding out hope that spending would be set aside in Tuesday’s federal budget to create a national, single-payer drug plan. But though the Carleton University health policy professor said he was optimistic, he also admitted he wasn’t surprised when there was no mention of pharmacare in the document. “We don’t see the political willingness anymore,” Gagnon said in an interview Friday.Progress on pharmacare is one of the conditions of the confidence-and-supply agreement the NDP entered with the Liberals last year, in which the NDP throws its support behind the government on key confidence votes in exchange for progress on the party’s priorities.Under the agree...

Amanda Marshall reflects on her first three albums as she readies a fourth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

TORONTO — Amanda Marshall released three studio albums between 1995 and 2001 before effectively vanishing from the music scene.As she releases her new single “I Hope She Cheats,” and prepares to unleash her fourth record “Heavy Lifting” in June, Marshall shared a few memories.“Amanda Marshall” (1995)Songs include: “Let It Rain,” “Birmingham” and “Dark Horse”Taken under the wing of legendary Canadian blues and rock musician Jeff Healey as a teenager, Marshall cut her teeth in Toronto bars before her self-titled debut hit stores when she was 23 years old. Produced by David Tyson, co-writer of Alannah Myles’ No. 1 hit “Black Velvet,” the album ushered in a vocally confident and soulful young artist — and it hit huge. “Amanda Marshall” scored seven Top 10 singles and is one of only 24 albums by Canadian artists with Diamond certification status in Canada with more than a million copies sold.Marshall says recording the album involved a substantial learning curve t...

Ottawa is going all in on ‘friendshoring.’ Here’s what that could mean.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

OTTAWA — This year’s budget reveals the federal Liberals envision Canada relying more on its allies for trade in the future, economists and geopolitical experts say — even if that could result in higher prices or missed opportunities.“It’s a reframing,” University of British Columbia professor Vina Nadjibulla said after the budget’s release this week. “It’s essentially saying what we’ve been doing for the last 30 years of engagement is over.”U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen coined the term “friendshoring” a year ago, saying allies should rely on each other to make supply chains more resilient, and defang hostile actors from taxing or withholding goods.The Liberals have sent mixed messages in the past year on the extent to which they agree with that approach. Last October, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canada was “decoupling” from China, but days later Foreign Affairs Minister Mélan...

As economy slows, Liberals push off EI reform over worries it could drive up premiums

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:13 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberal government left employment insurance reform out of the federal budget this week over concern that reforming the program amid a slowing economy could drive up premiums for workers and employers.That’s according to a spokesperson for Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough, who said the federal government “remains committed to modernizing the EI system.”“However, the current and near-term economic context caution against measures that could put pressure on EI premiums and we needed to be careful about any decision that could make it harder for workers and employers to make ends meet,” the spokesperson said in an email.After the last federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau handed out a mandate letter that tasked Qualtrough with bringing forward and implementing a plan to “modernize the EI system for the 21st century” by summer 2022. As the summer was ending, the minister promised reform was coming soon. “By the e...