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Illinois earmarks $160 million to keep migrants warm in Chicago as winter approaches

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday that Illinois will funnel an additional $160 million to help migrants arriving in Chicago to resettle, including $65 million to help the city launch “winterized” temporary shelter to avoid people sleeping outdoors in cold weather.The announcement came on an unseasonably warm Chicago day in the 60s, but with a forecast for temperatures to dip as low as 17 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius) next week. Most of the roughly 24,000 asylum seekers who have come to Chicago since Gov. Greg Abbot began sending buses last year hail from much warmer climates, leaving them vulnerable to Chicago’s winters.Chicago and other U.S. cities, including New York, have struggled to house asylum-seekers as winter weather hits and accommodate a growing migrant population. State officials said roughly 700 new migrants arrive each week. Similar issues could occur as wintry weather closes in on New York, which is struggling to accommodate a growin...

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of years of rape, abuse by singer Cassie in lawsuit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs, was accused in a lawsuit Thursday of subjecting R&B singer Cassie to a yearslong relationship that included beatings and rape.Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, alleged in the suit filed against the producer and music mogul in New York federal court that Combs brought her into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle” not long after she met him and signed to his label when she was 19 and he was 37 in 2005. Combs. attorney Ben Brafman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In a statement to the New York Times, he said Combs denies the allegations. Ventura, now 37 herself, said Combs, now 54, began the pattern of abuse soon after. The suit alleges he subjected her to savage beatings, plied her with drugs, and forced her to have sex with other men while he masturbated and filmed them. The suit says Combs forced his way into her home and raped her as the relationship was ending in 2018. “After years in ...

The protests outside DNC headquarters signal the divides in Biden’s base over Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Democrats this year have insisted the party is united and ready to rally around President Joe Biden heading into next year’s election. But a protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters signals growing tension within the coalition that has propelled Democrats to victory in recent elections.Clashing with police Wednesday night were demonstrators calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticizing Biden’s support of Israel’s offensive following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Inside the building were Democrats organizing to try to take back the U.S. House next year, including moderates from swing states Biden flipped from former President Donald Trump. Both the protesters and the members of Congress on Thursday said they were shaken and angry at the other side. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan, a longtime Biden ally, said: “We were so close. I mean, I was just on the other side of that door. I was rattled.”The political symbolis...

Canada’s long-standing support of Israel at the UN faces pressure in Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s long-standing support of Israel in votes at the United Nations has come under renewed scrutiny during the latest Israel-Hamas war. On Oct. 27, Canada abstained on a motion calling for a sustained humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, and last week, it joined Israel and the U.S. in voting down a motion about Israeli settlements in the West Bank.Canada was also among only four states that rejected a different motion last week calling on Israel to stop impeding the work of the UN agency that conducts humanitarian efforts for Palestinians, and it also rejected a motion affirming the property rights of Arabs inside Israel.Here’s how Ottawa has approached these votes over time, and what experts say it could mean for Canada’s relationship with developing countries.A LONG-STANDING POLICYIsrael is regularly subject to motions at the United Nations condemning its treatment of Palestinians. Many Arab countries argue that Israeli officials are violating inter...

Tesla didn’t squelch United Auto Workers message when it cracked down on T-shirts, court says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Automaker Tesla did not infringe on its workers’ rights to unionize when it ordered employees at a California assembly plant to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the United Auto Workers logo, a federal appeals court has ruled. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a 3-2 decision issued last year by the National Labor Relations Board, which had said Tesla couldn’t prohibit union attire. The court opinion noted that Tesla allowed workers to affix “any number or size” of pro-union stickers to company-issued clothing. “We may have concluded differently had Tesla prohibited union insignia,” read the opinion issued Tuesday by a unanimous panel of three 5th Circuit judges.The Associated Press sent emails requesting comment to Tesla and the UAW. According to the court record, Tesla issued special black clothing with the company name and logo, dubbed “Team Wear,” to employees who worked on autos that had been recently painted. The clothing is issued to ...

Kansas to appeal ruling blocking abortion rules, including a medication restriction

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican attorney general in Kansas is appealing a state judge’s ruling that has blocked enforcement of multiple abortion restrictions, including a new limit on medication and an older rule forcing patients to wait 24 hours before they can get the procedure. Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a notice Thursday in Johnson County District Court in the Kansas City area, saying he will ask higher courts to overturn Judge K. Christopher Jayaram’s decision last month. The judge concluded that abortion providers were likely to successfully argue in a lawsuit that the restrictions violate the Kansas Constitution.“The attorney general has a responsibility to protect women against radicals who want to deny them the ability to make informed decisions about their own health and the welfare of their babies,” Kobach spokesperson Danedri Herbert said in an email. Jayaram’s order is set to remain in effect through a trial of the providers’ lawsuit at the ...

Eight Las Vegas high schoolers face murder charges in their classmate’s death. Here’s what we know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Eight Las Vegas high school students between the ages of 13 and 17 years old were arrested on murder charges in the beating death of a schoolmate that was captured on cellphone video.Jonathan Lewis Jr., 17, was hospitalized with severe head trauma and other injuries after the Nov. 1 attack and died a week later, according to police.The fight appeared to be over a pair of headphones and a vape pen, police said, and the students had agreed to walk to an alleyway around the corner from campus to fight after classes ended for the day at Rancho High School in eastern Las Vegas. Here’s what to know about the case:WHAT’S NEW IN THE INVESTIGATION?Authorities arrested the eight students Tuesday on suspicion of murder charges. But they believe at least 10 students took part in the beating. Police on Wednesday released images of two students taken from cellphone video of the fight and asked for the public’s help in identifying them. Homicide Lt. Jason Johanss...

B.C. announces minimum wage and other labour protections for app-based gig workers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — The B.C. government says it’s introducing new protections for ride-hailing and food delivery app workers including a minimum wage, compensation for expenses and other standards.A minimum hourly wage of $20.10 — which is $3.35 more than the current minimum wage — would apply for a gig worker’s “engaged time,” beginning when they accept an assignment to the time of completion.The Ministry of Labour says the new pay standard, which doesn’t include tips, put a 20 per cent premium on top of the general minimum wage to account for the time gig workers spend waiting for assignments.The protections would also provide workers with compensation coverage under WorkSafeBC, prohibit platform companies from withholding tips and establish compensation standards for costs such as using a personal vehicle.The Ministry of Labour says the rules, which will require new legislation to implement, are the result of consultation with app-based workers, ...

Movie Review: ‘Fallen Leaves’ is deadpan nirvana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

In a movie year rife with grand, three-hour opuses from auteur filmmakers comes a slender 81-minute gem that outclasses them all. Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” short, sweet and utterly delightful, is the kind of movie that’s so charming, you want to run it back the moment it’s over.Kaurismäki, the writer-director Finnish master of the deadpan, has for nearly four decades been making minimalist, clear-eyed fables about mostly working-class characters in harsh economic realities. Bleak as his films are, they’re also funny, compassionate and profound. They put up a tough, droll front that never quite hides the heart underneath.The same could be said for one of the main characters in the plaintive and tender “Fallen Leaves.” When Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), a construction worker, is invited by his friend Houtari (Kaurismäki veteran Janne Hyytiäinen) to karaoke, he replies: “Tough guys don’t sing.”“You’re not a tough guy,” Houtari responds.“Fallen Leaves,” Kaurismäki’s first...

Leak of B.C. police document on gang murders prompts investigations, warning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:55 GMT

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — British Columbia’s gang squad and the Abbotsford Police Department say a sensitive law enforcement intelligence document was posted on an online media site. A statement from police and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says the document was part of a response to the ongoing gang war that has killed numerous people in the last several years. Abbotsford police say in the statement that the naming of people in the document doesn’t necessarily mean they are related to the shootings or that they are involved in illegal activity. The statement says police have identified how the information was compromised and the document has since been removed from the unnamed media site. Police say they are “actively connecting” with those who have been affected by the release of information. The statement says the RCMP has also been called in to investigate, while notifications have been issued to both the privacy commissioner and the police oversi...