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Peter Lucas: Massachusetts Legislature auditing plan takes on phase 2

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

Attorney General Andrea Campbell may have boxed herself in over the squabble of auditing the Massachusetts Legislature.Campbell ruled last week that State Auditor Diana DiZoglio does not have the authority to audit either branch of the Legislature, a proposal that DiZoglio campaigned on and made a key initiative of her office since she was elected in 2022.DiZoglio served in both the House and Senate before she ran and was elected auditor.Campbell, in her decision, also declined to represent fellow progressive DiZoglio in her effort to sue the Legislature over its “closed door operation” and get it to open its books.Herald file photoDiana DiZoglio (Herald file photo)In a letter to DiZoglio, Campbell said the auditor’s office was created by the Legislature and vested with the authority to audit the state’s various state agencies and departments, but, she wrote, “that authority does not include the power to audit the Legislature itself over the Legislature’s objection.”And ...

The actors strike is over — what now?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune (TNS)Union negotiators representing TV and film actors have agreed to a new contract with the studios, putting an end to a strike that began in July.The entire membership will have to vote to approve it before it’s official. But with the Writers Guild of America ending its own four-month strike in September, the picket lines are over, clearing the path for everyone to return to work, including crew, who also saw their jobs paused during the two strikes. What happens now?TelevisionLooking to have new episodes ready to go after the first of the year, broadcast network sitcoms and dramas will be ramping up quickly. According to Deadline.com: “Just minutes after the end of the strike was announced, casts and crews started receiving notifications for tentative start dates in late November and early December.”A half-season is typically around 13 episodes. But Deadline is also reporting that “Wolf Entertainment crime procedurals (which include the One Chicago sh...

Brush fire burns 10 acres near Otay Mesa

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Firefighters were working Friday to extinguish a brush fire in the Otay Mesa area.The fire, dubbed the Border 36 Fire, had burned between 10 and 15 acres as of noon, Cal Fire San Diego said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Watch: Police chase ends in Carlsbad The fire was moving in a southernly direction, towards the U.S.-Mexico border.No structures were threatened, Cal Fire said.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Drugs at B.C. prison ‘insane’ with multiple drone drops daily, says union boss

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

VANCOUVER — A union leader says a prison in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley is experiencing an “insane” drug problem, with drones making multiple deliveries to prisoners each day. John Randle, regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, says staff at the Mountain Institution in Agassiz are exhausted from handling the “non-stop” drone drops and overdoses among inmates.The union says in a statement that officers seized almost 200 grams of crystal meth and other drugs at the prison on Wednesday.It also says there have been two fatal overdoses in the prison since mid-October.Randle says the planned expansion of a needle exchange program to facilities that he says includes medium-security Mountain Institution risks worsening the problem.Correctional Service Canada says on its website it has been rolling out the needle exchange program since 2018 and it’s currently being used at nine federal facilities.This report by The Canadian...

RBC commits to racial equity audit after shareholder pressure

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

TORONTO — Royal Bank of Canada has committed to racial equity audits after facing pressure from shareholders.The bank says it will conduct a third-party audit of employment practices next year and another on business practices in 2025.RBC spokesman Jeff Lanthier says the bank remains focused on identifying and helping to address barriers that can impede the success of Black, Indigenous and other racialized groups.The bank’s announcement comes after it met this week with shareholder advocacy group SHARE and the British Columbia General Employees’ Union, which had together put forward a resolution at RBC’s annual general meeting calling for an audit that received 42 per cent shareholder approval.Racial equity audits look to identify and fix practices that may negatively affect Indigenous peoples and communities of colour, and overall evaluates how well a company is addressing systemic racism.The two groups also filed a similar resolution at BMO that got 37 per cent s...

The GOP congressman who leads the House’s probe of COVID-19’s origins says he won’t seek reelection

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who leads the House GOP’s investigation of the origins of COVID-19, says he won’t seek reelection next year.Wenstrup represents Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District and was first elected to the House in 2012. He said in a video posted on X on Thursday that he would be stepping down to spend more time with his family.A married father of two young children, the Cincinnati native is a doctor of podiatric medicine and colonel in the Army Reserve. As chair of the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, Wenstrup led an inquiry into the virus’ origins and the government’s response.Wenstrup, who is also a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, has accused U.S. intelligence of withholding key facts about its investigation into the coronavirus. Republicans on the committee last year issued a staff report arguing that there are “indications” that the virus may have been developed as a biowe...

Montreal Jewish, Muslim communities describe anxiety amid rising tensions tied to war

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

MONTREAL — Hateful acts targeting Jews and Muslims in Montreal since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war are prompting anxiety but also some defiance among community members.Ethan Armand Hotchkiss says a recent series of antisemitic acts in the city, including the firebombing of a synagogue and shots fired at two Jewish schools, led him to don his kippah Thursday to proudly exhibit his Jewish identity.But though he feels safe wearing the symbol at Jewish community events, he says he’s not doing so regularly in public to avoid potentially dangerous situations.National Council of Canadian Muslims CEO Stephen Brown, who is based in Montreal, says many Muslims have become scared to express their identities after recent cases of vandalism and assault.He says his organization has heard of three Muslim women in Montreal who have had their hijabs torn off as tensions rose in the past month.In the month after the Oct. 7 start of the war, 41 hate crimes targeting the Jewish community a...

Siemens Gamesa scraps plans to build blades for offshore wind turbines on Virginia’s coast

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

A European company has canceled plans to build blades for offshore wind turbines in coastal Virginia, the latest sign of struggle within the U.S.’s nascent industry. Siemens Gamesa confirmed the cancellation in a statement Friday. The company’s proposed $200 million factory at the Port of Virginia in Portsmouth would have created more than 300 jobs and aided the state in its aspirations to become a hub for offshore wind projects amid the nation’s efforts to tackle climate change.The change in plans by the Spain-based firm comes at a time when inflation, raised interest rates and supply chain issues have cut into profitability — and even the viability — of some offshore wind projects in the U.S. For example, Danish energy developer Orsted recently scrapped two large offshore wind power projects off the coast of New Jersey, citing supply chain issues and rising interest rates.A handful of other projects have been canceled. They include the Park City Wind project off ...

Kansas City to hire 2 overdose investigators in face of rising fentanyl deaths

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City will hire overdose investigators as part the Missouri city’s effort to lower the number of fentanyl deaths. An ordinance passed Thursday by the city council allows the city health department to hire two investigators and requires overdoses to be reported within 24 hours, the Kansas City Star reported. The health department now has access to overdose data that sometimes is up to two years old. A Kansas City police official told the newspaper that the agency has confiscated more than 61,000 grams (about 134 pounds) of fentanyl so far this year, and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said there was a suspected overdose every day but one in 2022 in Kansas City emergency rooms.“Overdose deaths are at an epidemic level in Kansas City and fentanyl is driving the epidemic,” Lucas said. “Overdose death numbers surpassed our homicide numbers in 2021.”The new ordinance also calls for the creation of a review board tasked with reviewing real-time dat...

10th arrest made in Mississauga kidnapping, Canada-wide warrant still active for wanted man

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

Peel Regional Police have charged a 19-year-old man, the tenth person arrested in an ongoing kidnapping investigation from this summer, with a Canada-wide warrant issued for a suspect who remains at large.Authorities said at around 8:45 p.m. on August 24, a Toronto woman was attending a nightclub in the area of Britannia Road East and Dixie Road in Mississauga when she was kidnapped and forced into a stolen vehicle and held for 48 hours.The female victim was taken to several locations in Owen Sound, Ont., before being released in the Toronto area. She was not physically injured, police noted.In October, police announced the arrests of nine people in connection to the alleged kidnapping. On Friday, investigators said a tenth person is now facing charges.He was identified as 19-year-old Dmani Cummings of Brampton, who’s facing multiple offences, including kidnapping, five counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and five counts of failing to comply with a sentence, among...