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Federal minister LeBlanc calls changes to N.B.’s LGBTQ school policy a ‘mistake’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

FREDERICTON — A federal cabinet minister says it was a mistake for New Brunswick to change the province’s policy on sexual orientation in schools.Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters today in Fredericton that the changes to Policy 713 complicate things for young people and their families.LeBlanc says he doesn’t think the prolonged and divisive debate in the legislature has been a success for Premier Blaine Higgs.Two members of Higgs’ cabinet resigned this month after the government made it no longer mandatory for teachers to use preferred names or pronouns for transgender and nonbinary students under 16, among other changes to Policy 713.As well, six members of his government voted with the Opposition earlier in June to force a motion through the legislature asking the province’s child and youth advocate to review the changes made to the policy.After the two resignations, Higgs shuffled his cabinet Tuesday, bouncing out two more ministers wh...

What you need to know about the potential Postmedia-Nordstar merger

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

TORONTO — What’s happening with Postmedia and Nordstar? Postmedia Network Canada Corp. and Nordstar Capital LP are in talks about a potential merger. They said in a press release that they’re trying to create greater scale in order to respond to the “existential threat” facing the media industry.Postmedia owns newspapers across the country including the National Post, the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald, as well as the Sun in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton.Nordstar owns Metroland Media Group and the Toronto Star, and is a relatively new company, having been created to acquire Torstar Corp. in 2020. Is this a done deal? No, this is not final yet. The companies are in ongoing talks about the merger, which they said is currently in the form of a non-binding letter of intent. Does the government need to weigh in? The Competition Bureau will likely have to sign off on this deal amid an industry that’s been shrinking and consolidating for years. Industry Minister François-P...

Man’s death awaiting trial on charges he killed his mother at sea was not suspicious, autopsy says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — An autopsy has determined that the death of a man awaiting trial on charges of killing his mother off the coast of New England in a scheme to inherit millions of dollars was not suspicious, the New Hampshire attorney general’s office said Wednesday.Nathan Carman, 29, of Vernon, Vermont, was found dead in his cell in a county jail in New Hampshire on June 15. The attorney general’s office does not release the cause and manner in deaths that are not suspicious, according to spokesperson Michael Garrity. The U.S. Marshals Service in Vermont said it will not be releasing the cause of Carman’s death at the request of family. The attorney general’s office confirmed that authorities consider a death to be not suspicious when they’ve determined no one else was involved, or if no crime was committed.Carman pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman, in 2016, and was scheduled to go on trial in ...

Muti ends 13 seasons with Chicago Symphony Orchestra with praise and honors – and Beethoven

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Riccardo Muti was in total control to the very end.He had signaled the last note of his final Orchestra Hall concert as Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director on Sunday when several people started to applaud. His back to the audience, the 81-year-old conductor snapped out his right arm and baton, demanding silence to frame Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis.”Moments later, he relaxed his shoulders, setting off seven minutes of sustained applause.“It needs a moment of tranquility to think about,” he said the next day.Muti’s 13 seasons as music director were celebrated with Sunday’s subscription finale, and he ended his tenure on Tuesday night the way it began: with a free concert in Millennium Park, although the denouement of Florence Price’s Andante moderato and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony was played in a smoky haze caused by Canadian wild fires.His 540th performance with the orchestra and 508th as music director wasn’t a final goodbye. While the search for a...

Biden delivers 'Bidenomics' remarks in Chicago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is in Chicago Wednesday to deliver a speech on what the White House has called "Bidenomics."Biden delivered his address at The Old Post Office in downtown. The speech is to begin a new effort to actively convince a worried public that the U.S. economy is not heading for recession but actually thriving because of his leadership. For him, there's a happy confluence of the coming 2024 reelection campaign and a favorable turn in recent economic data, leading the White House to believe that public messaging about “Bidenomics” will help to rally Democratic voters going into next year.But polling has consistently shown the economy to be a weak spot for Biden's reelection hopes. Just 33% approve of his leadership on the issue, according to a May survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs.Biden is eager to take full political ownership of the U.S. economy — a reflection of the White House belief that infla...

Biden nominates April Perry for Chicago's top federal prosecutor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

CHICAGO — While in town for a speech Wednesday, President Biden announced that he's nominating April Perry as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. If confirmed, she would be the district's first woman in the position.Perry is currently senior counsel with global investigations and fraud and abuse prevention at GE HealthCare. Prior to serving as general counsel for Ubiety Technologies from 2019 to 2022, Perry was the Cook County State's Attorney's Office's first ever Chief Ethics Officer under Kim Foxx.In April 2019 during the Jussie Smollett scandal, Perry left the office for her role at Ubiety Technologies.Prior to Dan Webb being appointed as the special prosecutor in the case that summer, which led to criminal charges against Smollett, the Chicago Tribune reported that Perry advised Foxx's assistant who headed up the case, Joseph Magats, to seek a special prosecutor.The outlet reported he told Perry that Foxx had decided that a special prosecutor should not be ...

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejects Rodney Reed's innocence claims and new trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas' highest criminal appeals court on Wednesday rejected death-row inmate Rodney Reed’s most recent applications claiming his innocence and seeking a new trial.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejections – years in the making – are the culmination of a massive effort by Reed’s defense team that included a two-week evidentiary hearing in Bastrop in July 2021. Dozens of witnesses testified, including the victim Stacey Stites’ mother and her former fiancé Jimmy Fennell. EXPLORE: Full coverage of the Rodney Reed case Reed, now 55, was convicted and sentenced to death in Bastrop County for the murder of 19-year-old Stites in 1996. Reed has maintained his innocence and has fought for years with the legal assistance of the New York-based Innocence Project.Over the years, Reed’s legal team has filed 10 applications for relief with the CCA, and all have failed. On Wednesday the CCA rejected his ninth and tenth applications.Jane Pucher, a staff attorney with the Innoce...

Slow temperature drop begins tomorrow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It's been a LONG couple weeks of triple digit heat here in Central Texas... but a bit of relief from the 100°+ temps & dry weather is on the horizon.A mix of Heat Advisories and Excessive Heat Warnings continues for much of the area today as 'feels like' temps could climb up to 110°. Sunshine and dry skies will stretch areawide.Heat alerts continue for most of the area WednesdayThe powerful heat dome responsible for the prolonged June heat wave will finally shift east and weaken late week into the weekend. This displacement will allow high temperatures to drop slightly each day, falling below 100° in Austin by early next week.Sub-100° temperatures in Austin late weekend into early next weekThis change in pattern will also allow low daily rain chances to return beginning Sunday. A few isolated storms are possible through the July 4th holiday, with wetter weather possibly persisting through next week.6-10 day precipitation outlookSummer Fan DriveOur Summer Fan Dri...

'Groundhog day:' Second special session convenes with no signs of compromise on property tax cuts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As the second special legislative commenced Wednesday, lawmakers in the House and Senate hurried through their own familiar plans for property tax relief and showed no signs the two chambers are any closer to a compromise.The House of Representatives convened for less than 20 minutes. The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a property tax relief bill that is identical to the bill that failed in the first special session. The full House is expected to pass it when they convene again Friday morning.The Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed its own plan, which provides a $100,000 homestead exemption and is nearly identical to the version that failed to reach the Governor's desk in the first special session.Gov. Abbott again directed the legislature to consider only property tax relief in this special session. As governor, he alone has the power to convene legislators and define the topics of debate in a special session. His call included two charg...

Former Saratoga Springs motel to be Code Blue shelter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:01:24 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Shelters of Saratoga has secured a lease to operate a Code Blue Winter Shelter for 2023-24 starting in the fall. The shelter will be located in the former Grand Union Motel on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! According to a press release, the lease was signed in early June, and will have semi-private rooms for those experiencing homelessness when the temperature is below 32 degrees. Shelters of Saratoga will operate the shelter in partnership with Saratoga County.“In past seasons, the shelter was an open space lined with cots," said Duane Vaughn, executive director of Shelters of Saratoga. “The new location will offer guests additional privacy, critical for restful sleep. Sleep is key to a healthy life, and we are working diligently to make accommodations as comfortable as possible." New 24/7 homeless shelter in Saratoga Springs already at capacity In t...