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Death toll rises to 11 in powerful explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital; 10 still missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

SAN CRISTOBAL, Dominican Republic (AP) — The death toll from a powerful explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital rose to 11 on Tuesday, with dozens injured. Firefighters were searching through smoldering rubble as people gathered outside hospitals, looking for missing loved ones.President Luis Abinader visited San Cristobal, located just west of Santo Domingo, to meet with those affected. Authorities said an additional 10 people were missing and that authorities were still trying to extinguish the fire amid collapsed buildings and charred vehicles.“The search for survivors has been very difficult,” Abinader said.Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Emergency Operations Center, said at a press conference Tuesday night that authorities had found the remains of unidentified people inside one building but were waiting on forensics to determine the number of bodies.Monday’s explosion also left more than 50 people injured as the blast tore through a bustling commercial c...

Judge calls new Texas election law unconstitutional but state says it will appeal ruling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A judge has called a new law unconstitutional that passed in the GOP-led Texas Legislature and will dictate how elections are run in the state’s most populous county, which is a Democratic stronghold and home to Houston.The law, which would abolish a position that oversees elections in Harris County, was temporarily blocked by state District Judge Karin Crump in Austin after county officials filed a lawsuit earlier this month.But the judge’s order, issued Monday, was short-lived. It was put on hold on Tuesday after the Texas Attorney General’s Office filed a notice that it will appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. The new law, set to take effect Sept. 1, was pushed through by Republican lawmakers who accused Harris County officials of mismanaging recent elections. Democrats accused Republicans of singling out the county because, like other large urban areas around the state, it has increasingly voted Democratic.In a statement, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said th...

Georgia case against Trump presents problems from the start, from jury selection to a big courtroom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Putting 19 people on trial at the same time is a difficult assignment for any prosecutor — whether or not one of those defendants is a former president of the United States running to reclaim his old office.The sprawling racketeering indictment returned this week by a grand jury in Atlanta presents a wide range of challenges. A big one is political: Finding jurors who don’t have unshakeable opinions about Donald Trump and others in his orbit.Beyond that, with so many defendants, prosecutors and defense lawyers will labor to keep the names and conflicting stories straight for those jurors over weeks or months. There will be countless legal details and basic logistics to argue or work out — even down to finding a courtroom big enough to fit everyone.In an early example of the lengthy litigation ahead, lawyers for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows filed a quick motion Tuesday to transfer the case from state to federal court. They said all the actions he took were ...

Company asks judge to block Alabama medical marijuana licenses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A company that failed to win a potentially lucrative medical marijuana license in Alabama asked a judge Tuesday to block the state from issuing the licenses to anyone, arguing a state commission improperly deliberated in private before selecting the winners.The filing is the latest legal skirmish in the battle over who will get licenses to grow and distribute cannabis for the state’s developing medical marijuana program.The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission on Thursday nominated and approved companies after meeting in private for several hours. Alabama Always, a company that was not among the winners, said the commission violated the Open Meetings Act, and is seeking a temporary restraining order to block the licenses from being issued.The filing said commissioners “retreated into executive session, only to emerge three and a half hours later and ratify a slate of applicants that it had voted on during executive session.”“It is painfully clear now that the ...

Forecasted winds pose biggest wildfire threat amid heat wave: BC Wildfire Service

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — While scorching temperatures are expected to reach their climax Tuesday in a prolonged heat wave in southern British Columbia, the BC Wildfire Service says the greatest wildfire risk won’t come until later this week.Fire information officer Sarah Budd says a cold front from the northwest due Thursday will hit the high-pressure system, bringing heat, creating strong winds, dry lightning and a greater potential for new fire starts.Budd says it comes as the heat wave that began Sunday and swept across the southern half of the province is already challenging firefighting efforts on active blazes. B.C.’s is in the midst of its worst wildfire season to date in terms of area burned, with more than 1,700 wildfires charring about 16,000 square kilometres so far this year. Budd says the service is prepared for the Kamloops and Southeast fire centres to be the most affected by Thursday’s weather forecast, both for new starts and an increase in fire activity o...

Why are actors making movies during the strike? What to know about SAG-AFTRA’s ‘interim agreements’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

The actors and writers strikes have resulted in most Hollywood film and television productions being shut down, from the “Gladiator” sequel to the live action “Lilo & Stitch.” But some independent films and television productions are are still filming after reaching agreements with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists that will allow them to continue with union actors amid the strike. It’s a move that the union leadership says is an essential negotiating tactic, but that’s also proved divisive and confusing to many sweating it out on the picket lines while movie stars like Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey continue to work.Here’s what to know about the “interim agreements” that are keeping some Hollywood productions filming.WHAT FALLS UNDER THE INTERIM AGREEMENTS?Actors are striking against studios and streaming services that bargain as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The group’s ranks include the ma...

Metro says union refused request to meet amid ongoing grocery strike in the GTA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

TORONTO — Amid an ongoing strike by Metro workers in Toronto, the grocery giant says Unifor refused its request to meet with the bargaining committee. Metro Inc. spokeswoman Marie-Claude Bacon says in a statement that Metro’s bargaining committee reached out to Unifor over the weekend and offered to meet as soon as Sunday or Monday. But Unifor says it’s waiting for an acceptable offer from Metro.Around 3,700 Metro workers have been on strike since late July at 27 stores across the Greater Toronto Area.The workers voted against a tentative agreement that Unifor national president Lana Payne described as their best in decades, choosing instead to strike and demand more from their employer. Bacon says the tentative agreement included paid sick days for part-time workers, improvements in benefits and pensions, and significant wage increases.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MRU)The Canadian Press

The EPA is rejecting calls for tougher regulation of big livestock farms. It’s promising more study

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration Tuesday rejected pleas to strengthen regulation of large livestock farms that release manure and other pollutants into waterways, promising more study instead.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it had denied two petitions from environmental and community groups seeking revision of rules dealing with the nation’s biggest animal operations, which hold thousands of hogs, chickens and cattle.“A comprehensive evaluation is essential before determining whether any regulatory revisions are necessary or appropriate,” an agency statement said.In a letter to advocacy groups, Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox said EPA will look closely at its program overseeing the farms as well as existing pollution limits. The agency will establish a panel with representatives of agriculture, environmental groups, researchers and others to develop recommendations, she said.“We want to hear from all voices and benefit fr...

New Paraguay president stresses South American country’s ties with Taiwan at swearing-in ceremony

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — President Santiago Peña said Paraguay and Taiwan are “not just allies, but also brothers” when he was sworn in as the South American country’s new president on Tuesday.Peña took the presidential oath outside the government palace in the capital of Asunción in a ceremony attended by several regional leaders and Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai. Paraguay is the only country in South America, and a member of a dwindling group of 12 governments around the world, to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. It lost a key ally in the region earlier this year when Honduras cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan. “We will build alliances and cooperation with a geostrategic vision, seeking horizontal agreements,” Peña said, noting that the country’s relationship with Taiwan “is an example of this and of Paraguay’s friendly and cooperative spirit with nations for which we have deep affection and with whom we feel not only as allies, but also like brothers.”Before leaving on...

West Virginia Public Broadcasting chief steps down in latest shake-up at news outlet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:53:32 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting has stepped down after one year on the job, the latest sign of upheaval at a news outlet recently shaken by a reporter’s allegation that she was fired for writing an unfavorable story about a division of the state health department. Butch Antolini, former communications director for Gov. Jim Justice and the state Department of Agriculture, didn’t give a reason for his resignation in a brief letter submitted to the board chairman of the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority on Friday. The EBA, which comprises 11 voting members, including Justice and seven Justice appointees, accepted the resignation at a meeting Monday. The board then appointed Eddie Isom, Public Broadcasting’s chief operating officer and director of programming, as interim director, according to a recording of the meeting aired on YouTube. Antolini joined Public Broadcasting in October 2021 as the interi...