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Possible 2024 Questions May Address Rents, MCAS, Driver Rights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

Efforts to subject the Legislature to outside scrutiny, reform the role of standardized MCAS tests, allow cities and towns to regulate rent levels, and reshape rights and benefits for on-demand drivers took steps Wednesday toward potentially being decided by voters in 2024.After months of noncommittal answers and behind-the-scenes whispers, the outer limits of the ballot question universe became clear as the deadline arrived for supporters to file measures they want to bring to the ballot box.Altogether, 42 ballot questions were filed by the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday, proposing 38 laws that could be decided at the 2024 ballot and four Constitutional amendments that could be decided in the 2026 election, according to Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office.Another 12 questions had been filed in late 2022 with a goal of reaching the 2024 or 2026 ballot.Supporters filed multiple versions of the same question on several topics, including nine versions of a revived app-...

Security measures in place ahead of Former President Trump’s arraignment in alleged election interference case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

Barricades were in place around the US district courthouse in Washington D.C. Thursday morning hours before Former President Donald Trump’s expected arraignment on federal charges linked to his alleged interference in the 2020 election. Trump is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.. Less than two days after his indictment in the case on Tuesday, multiple agencies have combined forces to turn the courthouse into a secure fortress. “They’re going to have a surge of manpower around this building,” said Former Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt Doherty.Agencies involved security preparations for Trump’s Washington arraignment include the Secret Service, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, the US Marshals Service, Capitol Police and the Federal Protective Service While sources told CNN this week there’s nothing to indicate an active threat to the courthouse, law enforcement will be keeping a close eye on online platforms, where threats co...

Chicago White Sox’s Liam Hendriks — who returned to mound after cancer — has Tommy John surgery and will be out 12-14 months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

Liam Hendriks, who made an inspirational return to the mound this season after battling stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, will miss the rest of 2023 after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow Wednesday.The Chicago White Sox reliever appeared in five games before heading to the injured list with right elbow inflammation. Dr. Keith Meister at TMI Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery in Arlington, Texas, performed the procedure.Hendriks’ recovery time is expected to take 12-14 months.“It’s been a tough year, but he’s a tough guy and I know he’s going to pull through and do whatever he has to do,” catcher Seby Zavala said.The right-hander has touched the baseball world and beyond with his comeback.Hendriks disclosed in an Instagram post in January that he was beginning treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, later detailing it was stage 4. He completed treatment on April 3 and announced he was cancer-free on April...

13 injured in South Korea when a man rams a car onto a sidewalk and stabs pedestrians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — At least 13 people were injured in South Korea on Thursday when a man rammed a car onto a sidewalk, before stepping out of the vehicle and stabbing people inside a shopping mall in the city of Seongnam.Yoon Sung-hyun, an official from the southern Gyeonggi provincial police department, said at least nine people were stabbed and four others were injured by the vehicle in the attacks that occurred in a crowded leisure district near a subway station. Police did not confirm whether any were in serious condition.Police were questioning an unidentified suspect in his 20s who was arrested at the scene. Police officials did not immediately comment on any potential motive for the attack.Photos from the scene showed forensic units examining the halls of the AK Plaza, where the stabbings took place. A white Kia hatchback with a broken front window and ruptured front tire could be seen on a sidewalk near the Seohyeon subway station. The National Police Agency held an o...

Stock market today: Wall Street falls again as its big rally cools some more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling again Thursday as Wall Street’s red-hot rally this year cools a bit more.The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in early trading and on pace for a third straight loss after hitting a 16-month high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 143 points, or 0.4%, at 35,139, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.A day earlier, U.S. stocks tumbled to their worst loss in months. While the drop came after Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating, several analysts say they expect the move to have minimal impact on financial markets. U.S. Treasury debt is the cornerstone of the global financial system, but the rating change by itself likely won’t push any investors to dump theirs.The big questions remain whether the economy will avoid a recession, how corporate profits will do and where interest rates are heading. Hanging over them all is whether the stock market’s big run this year was overdone, as critics sugges...

Man filmed youth in Mississauga camp washroom, arrested on child porn charges: police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

A former Mississauga camp counsellor is facing several charges related to child pornography after allegedly filming a 6-year-old youth while they were in the washroom.Peel Regional Police said between December 2022 and July 2023, while at MC Day Camp in the Lakeshore Road East and Hurontario Street area, a 6-year-old child was filmed in a washroom facility.The accused had been a camp counsellor volunteer since June 2018.Police arrested 26-year-old Alexander Clarke on charges including voyeurism, possession of child pornography, making child pornography and making available child pornography.He was held on bail after attending a court in Brampton.Police executed a search warrant at Clarke’s residence and noted that it became evident there may be additional victims. Officers noted anyone who has had contact with Clarke is asked to contact investigators.

Lebanon hands over to Italy suspected drug dealer arrested near Beirut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon handed over to Italy on Thursday morning a suspected Italian drug dealer arrested last month north of the capital of Beirut, judicial officials said.Bartolo Bruzzaniti was flown to Italy on a private jet that took off from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.The anti-Mafia prosecutors based in Reggio Calabria, a city in the region of Calabria in southern Italy, have called Bruzzaniti a major organized crime figure. He was also described as a prominent player in the Bruzzaniti-Morabito-Palamara clan, which is based near the Calabrian town of Africo and is known for criminal activities abroad.Bruzzaniti was arrested while dining in July at a restaurant in the coastal town of Jounieh, north of Beirut, in a joint action by Lebanon’s General Security Directorate and Italy’s financial police as part of an Interpol action and a crackdown on the prominent Italian organized crime sy...

Mexico recovers 2 bodies from the Rio Grande, one found near a floating barrier that Texas installed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities are trying to identify two bodies found in the Rio Grande this week, including one that was spotted along the floating barrier that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had installed recently in the Rio Grande, across from Eagle Pass, Texas.Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department reported for the first time Wednesday that a body had been found along the floating barrier. The Coahuila state prosecutor’s office later told local media outlets that the two bodies were recovered and that the process of identification was underway. The department initially said one body was found along the barrier, then hours later said a second body was found about 3 miles (5 kilometers) upriver, away from the area of the buoys. The cause of death was unknown in both cases.Many had warned about the danger of the barrier, designed to make it more difficult for migrants to climb over or swim under.The department said Mexico had warned about the risks posed by the bright orange,...

Weekly applications for US jobless aid tick up from 5-month low

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose slightly last week but remained at a historically low level that points to a robust job market. Applications for jobless aid rose 6,000 to 227,000 for the week ending July 29, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell 5,500 to 228,250.Jobless benefit applications are seen as a proxy for the number of layoffs in a given week. Thursday’s report comes just a day before the July jobs report will be released, which will provide a broader and more detailed look at the labor market and economy. Economists forecast the report will show that employers added a solid 200,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate will be unchanged at 3.6%. The Associated Press

Lizzo says she’s ‘not the villain’ after her former dancers claim sex harassment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:15 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lizzo said Thursday that she’s “not the villain” that three of her former backup dancers falsely accuse her of being in a sexual harassment lawsuit.The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims Lizzo pressured the dancers to engage with nude performers at a club in Amsterdam and shamed one of them for her weight gain before firing her.“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” Lizzo said in a statement posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”Plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez make numerous charges including sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment. They ...