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West Virginia places anti-abortion pregnancy center coalition at the helm of $1M grant program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia coalition that helps support a network of anti-abortion pregnancy centers in the state is receiving $1 million in taxpayer dollars to distribute to organizations committed to encouraging people not to end their pregnancies. The West Virginia Pregnancy Center Coalition has been selected to manage the new West Virginia Mothers and Babies Support Program, the state department of health and human resources announced this week. Authorized by the GOP-dominated state Legislature and Republican Gov. Jim Justice earlier this year, officials said the program is intended to help support pregnant women and families following the passage of the state’s near-total abortion ban in September 2022. In a statement, West Virginia Pregnancy Center Coalition Executive Director Jenny Entsminger commended Justice and other state leaders for recognizing “the need of our state to support pregnant women and families with practical help as they seek to provide sa...

A Kansas woman died in an apartment fire. Her family blames the 911 dispatch center’s mistakes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The family of a 22-year-old woman who died in an apartment fire in Kansas’ largest city after mistakes by the 911 dispatch center believes the center has “systemic issues,” and the local firefighters union is calling for an independent investigation.Paoly Bedeski’s family in Wichita issued a statement Thursday, The Wichita Eagle reported. It was the family’s first since the fatal fire and it came two days after the city firefighters union held a news conference to detail “significant and devastating” errors by the dispatch center in Sedgwick County, where the city is located.The dispatch center failed to relay the number of Bedeski’s third-floor apartment to firefighters and waited 17 minutes to sound a second alarm to bring more crews to the scene. Bedeski called 911 just before 4 a.m. on Oct. 13 to report her apartment was on fire.County officials said they are still gathering information and expect to have an advisory board review the ...

Walmart Canada investing $1 billion in modernization, ‘store of the future’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

Walmart Canada says it will invest nearly $1 billion this fiscal year on a slew of projects meant to modernize the retail giant’s Canadian footprint.The spending will include more than $300 million for store remodels and renovations.Some of the chain’s stores will be altered to include larger produce areas with an expanded assortment of products, more space for employees to prepare customer orders and clearer aisle markers.Walmart will also bring a “store of the future” to Mississauga, Ont., where shoppers will find electronics typically stored in product cases are instead set up in open displays allowing for more interaction.Also in the electronics department, customers will be able to see real-time product availability, scan a QR code to place orders and experience immediate on-site delivery by an associate.The location will be rounded out with a health hub that brings Walmart’s pharmacy, vision centre and medical clinic into one area.The changes are ...

Parents can fight release of Tennessee school shooter’s manifesto, court rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Parents of school shooting victims in Tennessee can seek a court order to keep the writings of the shooter from ever being released to the public, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday. The parents, along with The Covenant School and Covenant Presbyterian Church, which shares a building with the school, all have a right to participate in a court case that will determine which police records can be released to the public, the Appeals Court ruled. The public records case was brought by media groups, nonprofit organizations and a state senator. Those groups all requested police records from the March 27 shooting at the private Christian school in Nashville where three 9-year-old children and three adults were murdered. When police denied their Tennessee Public Records Act request, they sued.The shooter left behind at least 20 journals, a suicide note and a memoir, according to court filings. Metro Nashville Police have said they will release the recor...

Guatemalan electoral magistrates leave the country hours after losing immunity from prosecution

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Three magistrates of Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal left the country in the hours after the country’s Congress opened them to prosecution by stripping them of their immunity as the losing side in the presidential election continued its efforts to interfere with the results. A spokesperson for Guatemala’s immigration agency confirmed Friday that the jurists had left Guatemala that day after the Congress voted near midnight Thursday to lift the immunity of four of the court’s five magistrates. The agency did not say where the magistrates had travelled to. None of the magistrates have commented.Blanca Alfara, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, said Friday that two magistrates had requested leave.The magistrates certified the election result but came under pressure from allegations by two attorneys tied to a far-right candidate who did not advance to the runoff round of the presidential election. The attorneys complained that the tribunal overpaid...

Quebec teachers accuse Legault of ’emotional blackmail’ after plea to end strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

QUEBEC — A striking Quebec teachers union says it won’t give in to “emotional blackmail” from the premier after he asked them to return to work for the good of their students.Premier François Legault told reporters in Quebec City today that he wants the teachers to think of the children who are being harmed by the strike, now into its second week.The union responded on social media, saying its members are striking to prevent the further deterioration of public schools — which they say is what’s really hurting children.The 66,000 members of the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement have been on an unlimited strike since Nov. 23.Union leaders are meeting for a second day today to evaluate the state of their negotiations with the province and evaluate their options.Several other Quebec public sector unions — including one representing another 95,000 teachers — have been holding temporary strikes, with the next one scheduled to take place between Dec. 8 and...

Blue over ‘G0BLUE’: University of Michigan grad sues after losing license plate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

BEVERLY HILLS, Mich. (AP) — A passionate University of Michigan graduate is booing the state — and suing — over the loss of his revered “G0BLUE” car license plate.Joseph Hardig III said the plate has been on family vehicles for years. But he was told it was assigned to another car owner when he recently tried to renew it at a Secretary of State office.“My dad’s passed away. I got it from him. It’s meaningful to me. We’re just huge fans and love the university,” Hardig told The Detroit News.Hardig, a suburban Detroit lawyer, is asking a judge to block the state from giving the plate to an Ann Arbor man, who is also a University of Michigan graduate and lives just minutes from the football stadium.The Secretary of State won’t comment on the lawsuit.Hardig, 65, said he visited a branch office on Nov. 4, a month before the plate renewal deadline, and was told “G0BLUE” was no longer available for his Ford Edge.Blue is a University of Michigan color, and “Go Blue!” is a battle cry a...

Man escapes from Philadelphia jail by walking away from orchard in fourth city breakout this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police were searching on Friday for an inmate who escaped from a Philadelphia jail by walking away from a work detail, the fourth breakout from a city lockup this year.Gino Hagenkotter, 34, who was serving time on theft and burglary charges, was working in the orchard on the grounds of the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center in northeast Philadelphia shortly before noon Thursday when he asked the guard assigned to him for permission to use the bathroom, said Blanche Carney, commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.After Hagenkotter failed to return, the guard checked the restroom, but he wasn’t there, officials said. Hagenkotter scaled a fence, walked through a city sanitation department yard next to the prison, took off his jumpsuit and was last seen on surveillance video walking down the street, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore.No one was hurt.Vanore said Hagenkotter does not have “any dangerous history,” but offi...

‘I’m a micro-manufacturer’: Canadian-owned company changes the game plan to stay alive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

In 1981, Paul Vella, who immigrated from Malta and spoke little English, was working as a foreman at an Ontario manufacturing plant when he got some tough news.“The plant where he worked was shutting down,” his son David Paul Vella said. “He was sad. I was happy because I said, ‘Dad, now’s our chance’.”That chance was creating their own company, something the younger Vella had wanted to do, even though he was just 17 at the time.“I was still in high school but my dad had the skills and knew how to create and spin quality pizza pans,” said Vella.They saw an opportunity.“There weren’t many companies that continued to make the pans, so we decided to create our own company.”They started in a garage, then eventually moved to a small facility on Norfinch Drive in North York, which was the start of a company called Crown Cookware, now located in Etobicoke.“We bought some of the equipment from my father’s company that was shutting down, we still have some of that today,” s...

Climate protesters twice interrupt Wagner’s `Tannhäuser’ at Metropolitan Opera

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:10 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Climate protesters caused a pair of interruptions totaling 22 minutes during the opening night of a revival of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” at the Metropolitan Opera.Christian Gerhaher, a German baritone making his Met Opera debut, was singing Wolfram’s second-act aria on Thursday night in which he says “und sieh, mir zeiget sich ein wunderbronnen (before me a miraculous spring appears)” when people on either side of the balcony unfurled long vertical banners with white capital letters on a black background.“NO OPERA ON A DEAD PLANET,” read the one on the north side of the 4,000-capacity auditorium. Met general manager Peter Gelb said Friday the other banner had the name of the group, Extinction Rebellion NY, which took responsibility.“Wake up! The spring is polluted,” one protester shouted. “The spring is tainted! The spring is poisoned! This is a climate emergency! This is a climate crisis! There will be no opera on a dead planet!”Yelled another: “...