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Uber and Lyft to pay $328M in New York wage theft settlement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft will pay a combined $328 million to settle wage theft claims in New York, Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday.James said the settlements resolve investigations into the companies improperly charging drivers sales taxes and other fees when the costs should have been paid by customers. Uber will pay $290 million and Lyft will pay $38 million. The money will be distributed to current and former drivers, she said. The companies have also agreed to provide drivers outside of New York City with paid sick leave and give drivers outside of New York City a minimum wage of $26 per hour. “For years, Uber and Lyft systemically cheated their drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in pay and benefits while they worked long hours in challenging conditions,” James said in a statement. Tony West, chief legal officer for Uber, said the agreement “helps put to rest the classification issue in New York and moves us forward...

Ferry that ran aground off the Swedish coast and leaked oil reported back in harbor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A ferry that ran aground last month off southeastern Sweden and started leaking oil into the Baltic Sea, arrived Thursday at a Swedish harbor where its tanks will be emptied, Swedish media reported.No new leaks were reported as the Marco Polo was towed into Karlshamn, public broadcaster SVT said. SVT quoted a Coast Guard spokesperson as saying the move was “undramatic and has gone completely according to plan.” Separately, German shipping company TT-Line said “the remaining 300+ tons of heavy fuel oil from the unbreached tanks and unloading the cargo on board” the ferry would take place in the Swedish harbor and there would be “a more in-depth investigation into the damage sustained to the vessel.” Authorities and volunteers continued to clean up the shores of southeastern Sweden where more than 500 birds are estimated to have been affected by oil that washed up there. An estimated 50 cubic meters (almost 1,800 cubic feet) of oil and oil waste have been removed so f...

Oakville outside workers, facility operators walk off the job. What’s closed during the strike?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

Community centres and arenas in Oakville are now closed and a number of services have been suspended as some of the town’s workers hit the picket lines.CUPE Local 135, which represents more than 285 outside workers and facility operators in the Town of Oakville, say they have officially gone on strike as of 12:01 a.m. Nov. 2.The job action means several facilities and recreational programs will be shut down. Here’s how the strike will impact services:The following facilities/programs are closed or cancelled:Community centres and arenas Washrooms in parks Leash free dog parks Field house at Bronte Athletic ParkRecreation and culture rentals and programs will be cancelled Loose leaf collection suspended on residential roads, service will continue only on primary and secondary roadsSome other services offered by parks, and roads and works operations will also be at reduced capacityTown services that will remain open:Town Hall including ServiceOakvilleLibraries (including th...

Bank of England keeps main UK interest rate at 15-year high of 5.25% and cautions over oil prices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged on Thursday at the 15-year high of 5.25% and indicated that borrowing costs will likely remain at these sort of elevated levels for a while, especially if oil and gas prices increase sharply in light of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.In a statement, the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee indicated that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, is set to fall quite dramatically in the next month but will need time to get toward its 2% target rate over the coming year. “We’ve held rates unchanged this month, but we’ll be watching closely to see if further rate increases are needed,” Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said.Minutes to the meeting showed that three of the nine members of the policy committee backed a quarter-point increase to 5.5% in order to push down harder on the inflation rate, which stood at 6.7% in the year to September.In economic projections accompanying the dec...

Treasury Secretary Yellen calls for more US-Latin America trade, in part to lessen Chinese influence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants Latin America to trade more with the United States as part of an initiative that so far has failed to disrupt China’s dominance in global manufacturing.Still, U.S. efforts to diversify supply chains with “trusted partners and allies” including select South American nations have “tremendous potential benefits for fueling growth in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Yellen says in a prepared speech slated for delivery on Thursday. Yellen will kick off an Inter-American Development Bank investment event on the sidelines of the inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit, which will be hosted at the White House on Friday.The heads of state of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica will be in attendance for both events. Yellen, who regularly talks about her friendshoring strategy for increasing supply chain resilience by working primarily with friendly nations...

BCE reports Q3 profit down from a year ago, operating revenue edged higher

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

MONTREAL — BCE Inc. reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue edged higher.The parent company of Bell Canada says it earned a profit attributable to common shareholders of $640 million or 70 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.The result compared with a profit of $715 million or 78 cents per share a year earlier.BCE reported operating revenue totalled $6.08 billion, up from $6.02 billion in the same quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 81 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from 88 cents per share a year ago.The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share, based on estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)The Canadian Press

Millions more adults should be screened for lung cancer under new American Cancer Society guidelines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

(The Hill) -- Nearly 5 million additional Americans should be screened for lung cancer, according to an updated guideline released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society (ACS). The update marks the first change to screening recommendations in a decade. The group now recommends annual screening with low-dose computed tomography for men and women between the ages of 50 and 80 who currently smoke or formerly smoked, with a 20-pack-year history. A pack-year is equal to smoking one pack, or about 20 cigarettes, per day for a year. For example, someone who smoked two packs a day for 10 years has a 20-pack-year history, as well as someone who smoked one pack a day for 20 years. A computed tomography scan uses X-rays to make detailed images of a person’s chest, including the lungs. It can help find abnormal areas in the lungs that may be cancer before they start causing any symptoms.The previous recommendation, from 2013, said screening should be for adults ages 55 to 74 with at least a 3...

Hundreds of Austin ISD students caught between a backlog and getting help

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Madalyn Betts has spent most of her life in special education classrooms, working through the challenges of having dyslexia, a speech impairment, and being on the autism spectrum. At 12, her aunt passed from a medical condition, and her grandmother died from coronavirus during the pandemic. Their deaths had a huge impact on Maddie. Her psychologist diagnosed her with social phobia and depression. She stopped going to Covington Middle School. Instead, she learned from her house as part of the Austin Independent School District homebound program. “Her anxiety popped up, and she was almost agoraphobic about going out,” Maddie’s mom Donna Betts said.  ‘She was struggling’: Austin ISD still working to finish delayed special education evaluations From home, the school’s special education services were inconsistent. State investigators with the Texas Education Agency found when Maddie was in seventh grade, the district violated special education requiremen...

UTMB researchers to use AI to study cultural barriers and cancer treatment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

GALVESTON, Texas (KXAN) – The University of Texas Medical Branch said Monday its researchers will study the social and cultural barriers patients face when getting cancer treatment. According to the UTMB announcement, its researchers along with those from Texas Southern University in Houston got a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to use human-centered artificial intelligence to study those barriers to diagnoses and treatment in the United States. Many Americans have social and cultural hurdles that prevent them from getting timely cancer diagnoses and effective treatments, the announcement said. It pointed to a lack of transportation preventing women from being regularly screened for breast cancer which can increase the risk of a late cancer diagnosis that can be difficult to treat.“Such social factors, also called social determinants of health, are well-known but have been difficult to analyze and interpret despite the use of powerful machine learning methods...

No. 4 Westlake goes for another perfect regular season Thursday vs. Buda Johnson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The No. 4 Westlake Chaparrals are one win away from a fourth consecutive perfect regular season, and they'll try to complete the feat Thursday against Buda Johnson at Bob Shelton Stadium in the KBVO Game of the Week.The Chaps will advance to the Class 6A-Division I playoffs as the district's top seed regardless of Thursday's result against the Jaguars, but a Jags upset and a Bowie loss to Lake Travis would put Johnson in the postseason. Johnson and Bowie are tied for the fourth playoff spot out of the district at 4-3. If both lose and end up 4-4, Bowie would get the nod to the playoffs via a 21-16 win Oct. 12.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteChaps senior running back Jack Kayser needed just three carries to rush for 94 yards in a 62-0 win over Bowie last week. Kayser scored on runs of 58 and 37 yards before calling it a ...