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Get ready for an even busier holiday travel season in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

By Sally French | NerdWalletIf last year’s winter holiday travel season felt costly or chaotic, this year’s might seem even more so.That’s because half of Americans (50%) plan to spend money on flights or hotel stays this holiday season, according to a new NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll. The survey was based on responses from 2,057 adults collected Sept. 5-7, 2023.That 50% figure is higher than last year when 44% of Americans said they’d planned to spend money on travel.When will crowds be the biggest? Probably the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That was the busiest travel day in 2019, 2021 and 2022, according to a NerdWallet analysis of Transportation Security Administration data showing the number of passengers screened at TSA checkpoints over the past four years. Travelers can expect 2023’s winter holiday travel season to follow suit.The busiest travel days this holiday seasonWhile half of Americans will travel for at least one of the winter holidays (and...

Hospital director in Haiti says a gang stormed in and took women and children hostage

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

By EVENS SANON (Associated Press)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A heavily armed gang burst into a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday and took hostage women, children and newborns, according to the director of the medical center who pleaded for help via social media.Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press. “We are in great difficulty,” he said.Ulysse said on social media that “hundreds” of patients at the hospital were taken hostage, but the number could not immediately be confirmed. No further details were available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions for comment.A spokesman for Haiti’s National Police did not immediately return a message for comment.The hospital is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a...

Building housing Toronto strip club Brass Rail Tavern considered for heritage property designation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

The building housing one of Toronto’s oldest strip clubs, the Brass Rail Tavern, is being considered for a heritage property designation, but what does it mean for a Toronto building to have this designation bestowed on it?Currently, there is a proposal to turn the buildings at 699 and 707 Yonge Street into a 64-storey tower. “Underneath all that signage is in fact, the original building, a late 19th century building, that really is tied very closely to the rest of that historic Yonge Street streetscape. And that’s what the evaluation revealed,” said Gary Miedema, a Project Manager with Heritage Planning.The property at 699 Yonge St was listed on the City of Toronto’s Heritage Register back in 2016. While the commercial row at 699 and 707 Yonge Street has been over-clad, the original brick walls still stand underneath. The Bass Rail was first opened in 1948 as a family-friendly food establishment that featured live performances by local and touring musi...

Trump abandons his bid to move his New York hush-money criminal case from state to federal court

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has given up on his monthslong fight to move his New York hush-money criminal case to federal court, agreeing to proceed in a state court that he contends is “very unfair” to him.The former president’s lawyers said in court papers Wednesday that they were dropping an appeal that sought to have a Manhattan federal court take control of the case, which is one of four criminal indictments against him.The case is scheduled to go to trial in state court on March 25, 2024, though the judge has suggested that could change given Trump’s busy legal calendar.Trump’s lawyers first asked to move the case to federal court in May, arguing that some of Trump’s alleged conduct amounted to official duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president. That included checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.They appealed in June after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ruled that Trump had failed to meet a high legal bar to move the cas...

FTC warns food industry trade groups and influencers about disclosures on paid social media posts

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday said it issued warnings to two food and beverage industry groups, as well as a dozen online influencers, for failing to adequately disclose paid social media posts that promoted a sweetener and sugary products.The letters point to Instagram and TikTok posts made by the influencers who were apparently hired by the American Beverage Association, a lobbying group whose members include Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, and the Canadian Sugar Institute, which represents Canadian sugar manufacturers. The warnings follow updated guidelines the agency published this summer requiring influencers to prominently disclose advertisements and paid social media posts that promote products for companies. The FTC said it reviewed posts by health influencers — including registered dieticians — who endorse “sugar-containing products” and appear to be paid by the Canadian Sugar Institute. Meanwhile, the agency warned the American Beverage Association a...

Lawyer for former elections supervisor says he released videos in Georgia 2020 interference case

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A lawyer for a former elections director charged alongside former President Donald Trump and others over efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election said Wednesday that he released videos of prosecutors’ interviews with some of their codefendants because he thought they helped his client and the public had the right to see them.Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Misty Hampton, made the comments at a hearing requested by Fulton County prosecutors after news outlets earlier this week reported on the videos, which were recorded as part of plea deals. Prosecutors initially asked the judge to impose an order to prevent the release of any evidence in the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said he expected to rule Thursday and seemed inclined to issue a more limited protective order to prevent the release of materials deemed “sensitive.”Hampton was one of 18 people charged along with Trump by a Fulton County grand jury in August. The indictment alleges a wid...

Big buyouts for college coaches are the norm. If athletes start getting revenue, that could change

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

The business of college athletics is run by stakeholders rather than stockholders and the bottom line is measured by victories rather than profits.That, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist says, is why Texas A&M is paying Jimbo Fischer more than $75 million to not coach its football team and coaches at some of the nation’s top programs have similar, massive severance packages baked into their contracts.There will be no end to these golden parachutes, Zimbalist and others said, until the business model changes and significantly more revenue is redirected to the athletes.“If we’re having this conversation in 30 years and athletes are employees, all these benefits and ridiculous severance payments coaches get will start to come down,” said Zimbalist, a Smith College professor emeritus of economics who has written more than a dozen books on college and pro sports. “In the meantime, there’ll be substantial losses for athletic programs.”Fisher was fired Sunday, just ov...

Iowa teen convicted of killing Spanish teacher gets life with possibility of parole after 25 years

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa teen convicted in the 2021 beating death of a high school Spanish teacher was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with a possibility of parole in 25 years.A judge sentenced Jeremy Goodale for his role in killing Nohema Graber, a 66-year-old teacher at Fairfield High School. Goodale, 18, and a friend pleaded guilty earlier this year to first-degree murder in the beating death of Graber.The two high school students used a bat to kill Graber after stalking her as she took her daily walk in a large park in Fairfield, a small Iowa city about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines.Before being sentenced, Goodale apologized to the teacher’s family, the community and his own family.“I’m sorry, truly sorry. What I’ve taken can never be replaced,” Goodale said, at times through sobs. “Every day I wish I could go back and stop myself, prevent this loss and this pain that I’ve caused everyone.”Prosecutors said Goodale a...

24 people arrested in a drug trafficking investigation in Oregon

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — An investigation into what authorities described as a major drug trafficking group based in in southern Oregon resulted in two dozen arrests and seizures of guns, fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs, law enforcement agencies said Wednesday.The Drug Enforcement Administration, Oregon State Police and the Grants Pass Police Department were among the agencies involved in the probe, which lasted more than a year. The agencies announced the investigation at a joint press conference in Grants Pass on Wednesday.As part of the investigation, 24 people were arrested in Oregon on Tuesday, authorities said.Officers seized 37 guns, 2,000 grams of meth, 636 grams of fentanyl pills and 52 grams of fentanyl, Oregon State Police said. That amount of fentanyl had the potential to yield more than 144,000 lethal doses, said David Reames, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Seattle division. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be deadly, according to the DEA.Officers...

Workers’ SIN, IDs likely taken in Toronto library hack, could end up on dark web: TPL

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:30:00 GMT

TORONTO — The Toronto Public Library says information on current and former employees has likely been taken in a cyberattack, including social insurance numbers and copies of government-issued identification.  The library says hackers stole a large number of files from its servers in an attack that first came to its attention on Oct. 28. It says cardholder and donor databases were unaffected, but some customer, volunteer and donor data that was on the compromised server may have been exposed.In an update this week, the library says current and former staff employed by the library and its charitable foundation from 1998 have been affected. It says staff names, home addresses, social insurance numbers, and copies of their government-issued identification were likely taken in the cyberattack. The library says it did not pay a ransom and it’s aware that stolen data connected to the cyberattack may end up on the dark web.“It is so unfortunate that data security and ransomware...