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Marijuana job lands Oregon secretary of state in trouble

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan is in hot water, with Republican lawmakers calling for her resignation and the Democratic governor seeking investigations because Fagan took a consulting job with a marijuana firm.Early Saturday, Fagan released a statement saying she welcomed the governor’s inquiry. “I am relieved that the Governor has asked DOJ and the Government Ethics Commission to engage in fact finding because the facts will restore trust in our audits division and in me as your Secretary of State,” Fagan said in an email to The Associated Press. The matter came to a head Friday after Fagan’s office released an audit of the state’s marijuana regulators, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. The audit called for the OLCC to “reform” some rules for marijuana businesses, saying they are “burdens” when combined with federal restrictions on interstate commerce, banking and taxation.Fagan, a Democrat, recused herself from the audit because she...

Be tough in seizing Iran oil, bipartisan senators urge Biden

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A dozen senators are making a bipartisan appeal to President Joe Biden to reinvigorate the power of U.S. authorities to seize Iranian oil assets under an enforcement program they say has been allowed to languish.Despite existing sanctions, Iranian oil exports jumped 35% last year and proceeds are being used to sponsor attacks on U.S. citizens and service members as well as allies, the senators said in a letter to the president.Brinkmanship at sea was on display Thursday when masked Iranian navy commandos seized a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, one of several vessels it has taken as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. Without providing evidence, Tehran said the tanker had run into an Iranian vessel.Specifically, the senators, led by Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa and Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — both from the Armed Services Committee — complain that the Homeland Security Department’s security investigations office has bee...

Four injured in three-vehicle crash in Major Mackenzie Drive area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

Four people are in hospital after a three-vehicle crash in the Major Mackenzie Drive area in Richmond Hill on Saturday morning.ROAD CLOSURE – Major Mackenzie Drive between Bathurst St and Don Head Village Blvd in Richmond Hill due to a serious vehicle collision. Please avoid the area and expect delays.— York Regional Police (@YRP) April 29, 2023Police were called to the scene just west of Don Head Village Boulevard where four people were injured. Two were sent to hospital with serious injuries while two were sent to hospital with minor injuries.The cause of the crash is unknown and an investigation is ongoing as the major collision investigation unit on scene.Roads in the area are closed and will be for a few hours.

Louis Vuitton turns Seoul bridge into massive runway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Louis Vuitton transformed a bridge spanning the Han River into a massive runway for its latest collection Saturday.Models strutted down the Jamsugyo Bridge to music to showcase the luxury fashion house’s pre-fall collection that included sunglasses, chunky black-and-white loafers and sandals as well as an assortment of large, colorful bags and smaller ones adorned with the label’s logo.The audience for Louis Vuitton’s first South Korea show included a mix of K-pop stars including Taeyeon from Girls’ Generation, members of Le Sserafim and Yeji from ITZY and celebrities like Chloë Grace Moretz, Jaden Smith and “Squid Game” director Hwang Dong-hyuk.The show opened with a burst of traditional Korean music before the lighting changed and cast the bridge in an eerie blue. Global luxury brands have been keen recently to expand into South Korea with the rise of K-pop music and global interest in the country’s film and television projec...

NYC partly shutters 4 parking garages after deadly collapse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After the deadly collapse of a parking structure in lower Manhattan, New York City building officials swept through dozens of parking garages and ordered four of them to immediately shutter because of structural issues that “deteriorated to the point where they were now posing an immediate threat to public safety.”Two of the parking garages have apartments above them — a 25-story high-rise in downtown Manhattan and an eight-story building in Chinatown — but officials said the residential areas appear to be in no danger.City officials directed the owners of the parking facilities to make immediate repairs to corroded concrete and other damage.Inspections were launched soon after a three-story stand-alone parking structure, about a century old, imploded into shards of concrete and twisted metal on April 18, crushing to death its manager.“This work was done in the interest of public safety, and out of an abundance of caution,” said Building Department spokesperson Andre...

3 indicted in Alabama mail thefts involving stolen keys

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Three Alabama residents have been indicted in a federal investigation that found letter carrier illegally sold keys that allowed others to open and pilfer Birmingham-area mailboxes.The indictment filed Thursday in federal court in Birmingham accuses Keaundria Janae Gresham, 30, of Pleasant Grove, a letter carrier at a local post office, of selling two keys for $3,000 each to Derrell Allen Matthews, 25, of Birmingham.What the U.S. Postal Service calls “arrow keys” open mail collection boxes. It’s illegal for someone who doesn’t work for the post office to have them.U.S. Postal Inspector Montaleto Barber said in a sworn statement on April 4 that people who steal mail often then try to illegally cash checks that they find. Barber said thieves have hit boxes outside multiple post offices, including in Hoover and Birmingham, with postal inspectors tracking down Matthews based on surveillance videos of a car registered to him. When they raised Matthews&...

US conducts 1st evacuation of its citizens from Sudan war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of Americans fleeing two weeks of deadly fighting in Sudan reached the east African nation’s port Saturday in the first U.S.-run evacuation, completing a dangerous land journey under escort of armed drones.American unmanned aircraft, which have been keeping an eye on overland evacuation routes for days, provided armed overwatch for a bus convoy carrying 200 to 300 Americans over 500 miles or 800 kilometers to Port Sudan, a place of relative safety, U.S. officials said.The U.S., which had none of its officials on the ground for the evacuation, has been criticized by families of trapped Americans in Sudan for initially ruling out any U.S.-run evacuation for those among an estimated 16,000 Americans in Sudan who wish to leave.U.S. special operations troops briefly flew to the capital, Khartoum, April 22 to airlift out American staffers at the embassy and other American government personnel. More than a dozen other nations have already been carrying out evacua...

Man, 39, fatally shot in Austin neighborhood overnight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was found shot dead in the Austin neighborhood overnight.Police responded to shots fired in the 4900 block of West Hubbard Street around 12:32 a.m. where they found a 39-year-old man lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the torso. 5 killed in ‘execution style’ mass shooting in Texas, suspect on the run Police said he was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead. There is no one custody and police are investigating the incident.

What's the cheapest day of the week to buy gas? Here's when to fill up

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – As temperatures heat up, so do gas prices – unfortunately. Prices at the pump – already averaging around $3.60 nationwide – are expected to rise over the next few months as we head into the peak summer travel season. Not every station in your town will have the same prices, of course. But saving money at the pump doesn’t just mean knowing where to fill up – it also helps to know when to fill up.In general, gas prices tend to be lowest at the beginning of the week, on Monday and Tuesday, GasBuddy’s lead petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told Nexstar. As the week goes on, gas prices tend to rise until they reach their most expensive point on the weekend – especially on Friday and Saturday.What drives this trend? Judge tentatively OKs $725M Facebook settlement: How to apply for a payout “If I had to venture a guess, energy markets are closed over the weekend, but they’re open Monday through Friday,” De Haan said. “By the time the weekend rolls aro...

Obama, Spielberg and Springsteen hang together in Barcelona, pose for photo with restaurant staff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:38 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Former President Barack Obama, Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg and singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen dined together in Barcelona on Thursday, the night before Obama and Spielberg attended Springsteen’s concert at the city’s Olímpic Lluís Companys Stadium on Friday.The three also stopped to pose for a photo with the restaurant’s chefs, waitstaff and management inside the eatery.“It was an honour to welcome Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen and Steven Spielberg at Amar Barcelona,” a member of the restaurant’s team wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of the group.“Pleasures that this job gives you!!” staffer Pol Perello, who shared the image, added in a caption posted to his personal account. Crowds, high prices and the ‘White Lotus’ effect: Worst places to travel this summer The former president and wife Michelle Obama had visited cultural sites across the Catalan capital on Friday, including stops at the Sagrada Familia basilica and the Picasso museum, Reuters...