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Biden approves a new $300M military aid package for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

By AAMER MADHANI and LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has approved a new package of military aid for Ukraine that totals up to $300 million and includes additional munitions for drones and an array of other weapons. It comes as Russia has continued to pummel Ukraine’s capital and unmanned aircraft have targeted Moscow. U.S. officials have said there is no suggestion that U.S.-made drones or munitions were used in the Moscow strikes, which the Kremlin blamed on Ukraine but Kyiv has not acknowledged. The Biden administration has said it has made clear to Ukraine that U.S.-made weapons should not be used for attacks inside Russian territory.“We don’t tell them where to strike. We don’t tell them where not to strike. … Ultimately President Zelenskyy and his military commanders decide what they’re going to do from a military perspective,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said...

Veteran character actor John Beasley, who appeared in the TV drama ‘Everwood,’ dies at 79

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — John Beasley, the veteran character actor who played a kindly school bus driver on the TV drama “Everwood” and appeared in dozens of films dating back to the 1980s, has died. He was 79. Beasley died Tuesday after a “brief and unexpected illness” at a hospital in his hometown of Omaha, his manager, Don Spradlin, said. Beasley played an assistant coach in the 1993 football film “Rudy” and a retired preacher in 1997’s “The Apostle,” co-starring and directed by Robert Duvall. On TV, Beasley was the father of Cedric the Entertainer in the TV Land comedy “The Soul Man” and later starred for four seasons alongside Treat Williams in The WB’s “Everwood.”Most recently, Beasley had small parts in the Showtime drama “Your Honor,” with Bryan Cranston, and “The Mandalorian,” a Star Wars offshoot on Disney+. For more than a dozen years, he ran the John Beasley Theate...

Former Connecticut lawmaker gets 27 months in prison for stealing $1.2M in COVID-19 relief money

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

Michael DiMassa, a former Democratic state representative and West Haven, Connecticut, political insider who stole about $1.2 million of the city’s pandemic relief money and blew much of it gambling, was sentenced to 27 months in prison Wednesday.He also was ordered to pay $866,000 in restitution.As the pandemic reached Connecticut in late 2020, DiMassa was empowered by West Haven’s mayor to approve spending for prevention measures and other unexpected costs and had signature authority over the money.He admitted conspiring with his wife and two others — including John Trasacco, a convicted felon who introduced him to a gambling ring — to embezzle the federal grant money by creating dummy invoices and directing payments to sham companies.In a short statement before U.S. District Judge Omar Williams imposed an admittedly “lenient” sentence, DiMassa acknowledged that his crimes have contributed to the erosion of faith in politics and government.“I gave them another reason not to trust ...

3 more GOP governors sending National Guard troops to US-Mexico border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The governors of Virginia, West Virginia and South Carolina on Wednesday joined a growing list of Republican leaders sending their state National Guard soldiers or other state law enforcement officers to the U.S. border with Mexico.Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is considered a possible presidential aspirant, announced an executive order directing the deployment of 100 Virginia National Guard soldiers and 21 support personnel. South Carolina’s Henry McMaster and West Virginia’s Jim Justice announced their deployments shortly thereafter, also in response to a request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The announcements bring to at least eight the number of Republican-led states deploying soldiers or offering other assistance in the weeks since Abbott appealed for help.“The ongoing border crisis facing our nation has turned every state into a border state,” Youngkin said in a statement. “As leadership solutions at the federal level fall short, states are ...

Census Bureau again delays release of most detailed data from 2020 census

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

The U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday that it would once again delay the release, and narrow the scope, of some of the most detailed data from the 2020 census — this time until next year.Detailed numbers dealing with household types — such as if the household is a family — broken down by race and ethnicity, and whether homes are owned or rented, won’t be released until September 2024, more than four years after the data’s collection in the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident, the Census Bureau said.Also being delayed is the release of numbers on household and family sizes. This data set will also be much more limited than anticipated. It will only be released for the entire United States and individual U.S. states because a controversial new privacy method implemented by the Census Bureau couldn’t guarantee individuals wouldn’t be identified at smaller geographies.“It is a pretty severe delay and cutback in granularity,” demographer Steven R...

GOP walkout in Oregon Senate hits 4th week; uncertain if boycotters will be sanctioned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The longest-ever walkout in the Oregon Legislature completed its fourth week on Wednesday as the enforceability of a ballot measure that would disqualify the boycotters from immediate reelection appeared in doubt.Senate President Rob Wagner once again tried on Wednesday to convene the Senate, which last met on May 2. “We’ll give this another shot,” the Democrat said. But a roll call again showed that nine Republicans and an Independent party senator were absent without being excused, preventing a quorum and keeping votes on Democratic bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and guns on ice. In what has become a Groundhog Day ritual in the past four weeks, Wagner then banged the gavel to close the aborted session. He said he’d try again the next day. But Sen. Tim Knopp, leader of the minority Senate Republicans, says the boycott will end only on the last day of the legislative session, June 25, to pass “bipartisan” legislation and budget bills. Wagner ...

David Johnston plans to keep role, as House of Commons votes for him to step aside

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

OTTAWA — David Johnston said his mandate to probe allegations of foreign interference comes from the government and not the House of Commons, after members of Parliament voted in favour of his ouster on Wednesday. The former governor general released a statement following vote on a motion brought forward by the NDP, which the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois supported while the Liberals stood opposed. It passed 174 to 150. It called on Johnston, whom Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named back in March to look into allegations that China tried meddling in the past two federal elections, to “step aside from his role.” It asked the government to instead launch a public inquiry into the issue of foreign interference, which the former governor general recommended against in his initial report last week.“When I accepted the mandate to act as independent special rapporteur, I did so with full knowledge of the fact that the work ahead would be neither straightforward nor unc...

More federal ministers could get security details as threats increase

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is looking to better protect cabinet ministers and MPs as the threats against them continue to grow, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.“We are looking into real measures to increase the safety of ministers and we’re working with the sergeant-at-arms to ensure security for all parliamentarians,” Trudeau said in French in the House of Commons.He was responding to a question from Independent Quebec MP Alain Rayes, who said all provincial cabinet ministers in Quebec get a bodyguard, and all federal ministers and party leaders should as well. “We’re all aware that the number of threats and aggressive speeches, whether in person or online, is increasing,” Rayes said in French. “The risks are real. We shouldn’t wait for an unfortunate event to happen before we all say, ‘Oh, we should have done something.'”Trudeau agreed, though he did not say if a bodyguard for every minister is in the ca...

S&P/TSX composite down almost 170 points in broad-based decline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down almost 170 points Wednesdayin a broad-based decline led by losses in energy and base metals, while U.S. markets also moved lower. The S&P/TSX composite index was down 167.46 points at 19,572.24.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 134.51 points at 32,908.27.The S&P 500 index was down 25.69 points at 4,179.83, while the Nasdaq composite was down 82.14 points at 12,935.29.Market growth has been really concentrated in the tech sector, said Brianne Gardner, senior wealth manager of Velocity Investment Partners at Raymond James Ltd. However, she expects to start seeing investors rotate into other sectors especially as the economy slows down. “I just don’t think it’s sustainable on where they are in their valuations in pretty much the whole (tech) sector,” she said.  With a potential recession in the second half of the year, Gardner said certain sectors tend to do better in that environment, such as u...

Over 380K people vote against private health care in referendum conducted by advocates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:24 GMT

Health care advocates took to at Queen’s Park Wednesday to oppose what they call “the gutting and dismantling of public hospitals.”Almost 400,000 people voted across Ontario, including 100,000 in Toronto in what’s being described as a citizen-led referendum organized by the advocacy group Ontario Health Coalition. The ballots were hand-delivered to the provincial government on Wednesday.The question on the ballot was: do you want our public hospital services to be privatized?Ninety-nine per cent or almost 380 thousand people voted no. “That is not insignificant, and if this government wants to continue to call it a stunt or whatever, I challenge them [to hold your own referendum,” said Marit Stiles, the Ontario NDP Leader. “And actually consult with the people of this province if you’re going to gut our healthcare system.”Bill 60 allows more private clinics to offer certain publicly funded surgeries and procedures in an effort to...