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CP NewsAlert: B.C. dropping vaccine requirement for provincial public servants

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia is rescinding its policy that required provincial public servants to be vaccinated against COVID-19.The province says that from April 3, BC Public Service employees will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination.More comingThe Canadian Press

Ontario could ban TikTok in public schools, Lecce says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

One day after the province announced a ban of the social media platform TikTok on government-operated devices, Ontario’s education minister said they’re considering doing the same in public schools.Stephen Lecce was asked about the possibility at a press conference in Mississauga, admitting that officials are perturbed about the impact TikTok has on children.“That is a decision point I expect we will communicate on,” Lecce said. “We obviously share a very profound concern about the privacy impacts for young people.”When it comes to those specific effects on younger people, a Dec. 2022 study by the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate found that TikTok could surface potentially harmful content related to suicide and eating disorders to teenagers within minutes of them creating an account.That study also revealed that the app suggested videos about body image and mental health roughly every 39 seconds within 30 minutes.“I am concerned...

'The Emily Talk' aims to help local first responders treat people with disabilities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

PORTER COUNTY, Ind. — For the last eight years, a father and daughter in Northwest Indiana have been educating first responders and students on how to work with people with disabilities.Tom Felter Jr., of Hebron, has been in emergency services since 1986. He's always noticed a void in training first responders with how to treat people who have emotional and physical disabilities.For the last 27 years, he proudly holds another job as father to Emily Felter — who has Down syndrome.Knowing he wanted to combine his experience as Emily's dad and a veteran first responder, Felter Jr. said one moment in Maryland told him to mobilize.In 2013, 26-year-old Ethan Saylor was at a movie theater in Fredericksburg, Maryland watching "Zero Dark Thirty." After the movie was over, Saylor wanted to watch it again — something Felter Jr. said is typical with people with disabilities. "If we get somewhere and Emily is not ready to go in, we aren't going in," Felter Jr. said. "On the flip side, If we are ...

Here's how the 4 Americans abducted in Mexico were found

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — The anonymous tip that led Mexican authorities to a remote shack where four abducted Americans were held described armed men, people wearing blindfolds and plenty of activity around a ranch.Authorities headed for the rural area east of Matamoros on Tuesday morning, leaving the highway and driving remote dirt roads looking for the described location, according to Mexican investigative documents viewed Friday by The Associated Press.Finally, they saw the wooden shack far from any homes or businesses, surrounded by brush, and a white pickup parked outside that matched the one the Americans had been loaded into last Friday. Then they began to hear someone shouting, “Help!”Inside the shack, the documents said, Latavia “Tay” McGee and Eric Williams were blindfolded. Beside them were the bodies of Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, wrapped in blankets and plastic bags. When authorities arrived, McGee and Williams shouted desperately to them in English.A guard ...

3 Texas women sued for wrongful death after assisting with abortion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) -- A Texas man whose ex-wife terminated her pregnancy is suing three women who assisted her under the state’s wrongful death statute, the first such case brought since the state’s near-total ban on abortion last summer.Marcus Silva is represented by Jonathan Mitchell, the former solicitor general of Texas and architect of the state’s prohibition on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The lawsuit is filed in state court in Galveston County, where Silva lives.Silva alleges that his now ex-wife learned she was pregnant in July 2022, the month after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and conspired with two friends to illegally obtain abortion-inducing medication and terminate the pregnancy.The friends texted with the woman, sending her information about Aid Access, an international group that provides abortion-inducing medication through the mail, the lawsuit alleges. Text messages show they instead found a way to acquire the medication in Houston, where the t...

SXSW 2023: Bob Odenkirk, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert Downey Jr. among celebrities expected at spring festival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — South by Southwest is back and giving guests a whole lot to check out. The big event brings together the worlds of tech, politics, fashion, music, comedy and film, to name a few. The 10-day conference and festival also continues to bring big names to the capital city.Be on the lookout because here's a list of the some of the celebrities expected to be in Austin for SXSW 2023.*List is subject to change due to scheduling.Comedy US actor Bob Odenkirk arrives for the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California, on February 26, 2023. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)Abbi Jacobson Anna KendrickBob OdenkirkChelsea HandlerEric AndréPatton Oswalt Speakers PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 03: Eva Longoria attends the Victoria Beckham Womenswear Fall Winter 2023-2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on March 03, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)Kristen Bell and D...

Woman charged with arson, accused of setting several fires on East 2nd, 3rd Streets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A woman is facing an arson charge for allegedly setting several fires near downtown Austin in February, according to an arrest affidavit. Ruth Rogmad, 43, was arrested in connection to multiple fires involving a residence, fences, trash cans, and motorcycles, according to the affidavit.Image of Ruth Rogmad (APD photo)Around 3 a.m. Feb. 10, the Austin Fire Department responded to reports of multiple fires near the 1000 block of East 2nd Street. Crews found two motorcycles on fire in the area, then found two other fires in a nearby alleyway involving a fence. The fires were extinguished, but approximately $10,000 in damage was caused. The next morning, a resident in the 900 block of East 3rd Street reported to AFD that a fire had occurred on their porch during the night and said they had video of it. Rogmad was seen on surveillance video entering the property through an open gate and using an open flame device to ignite the bottoms of three separate curtains, according...

Minnesota Law Library exhibit to connect Mayflower Compact to modern law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

The Minnesota Law Library’s upcoming exhibit and Continuing Legal Education program will transport visitors to the development of the first framework of government in a future United States — one that still has influence today.Four hundred years after the Mayflower Compact was signed aboard the Mayflower ship to Plymouth Colony, “Join In! The Rise of Self-Governance and American Organizing from the Mayflower Compact to the Modern Day,” from the U.S. Library of Congress is coming to the State Law Library to guide visitors to explore the impacts of the framework on civic life.The Minnesota Law Library, near the Capitol on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, will host the exhibit from March 20 to March 31.From noon to 1 p.m., on March 23, attorneys will have the opportunity to gain one CLE credit for attending a presentation on the Mayflower Compact by Julia Ernst, associate dean for Teaching & Engagement and professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law.Er...

The future of the Justus Ramsey House is up in the air — again — after prospective owners pull out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

The Justus Ramsey House, one of St. Paul’s oldest private residences, has been disassembled from its previous location on the patio of a West Seventh Street burger restaurant and moved in sections to a secure storage facility about 30 minutes outside the city.Its future? That’s up in the air after two potential owners recently backed off plans to reassemble the structure and live in it.The Fort Road Federation, the nonprofit community organization that executed the contract to have the cottage-style structure moved rather than demolished, is still working out details with Historic St. Paul, a nonprofit heavily involved in advocating for the 171-year-old house and its distinct limestone walls.The goal is to issue a request for proposals in coming months to determine if a future owner would host the house on their premises and shepherd the historic residence into the next phase of its life, preferably somewhere in or very close to St. Paul.“We’re hoping to have...

How will Gophers men’s basketball look next season?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:59 GMT

Ben Johnson can now look at the Gophers men’s basketball roster and say, “Finally.” For the first time since he became head coach two years ago, Minnesota’s roster should have approximately half or two-thirds of its players return for next season.Johnson also knows he must add “hopefully” to any assessment, with defections possible through the NCAA transfer portal.Johnson’s first team in 2021-22 returned no healthy players; Isaiah Ihnen was the only one who stuck around after Richard Pitino was fired, and Ihnen had a season-ending knee injury.Johnson’s second team brought back healthy two players: starting forward Jamison Battle and reserve big man Treyton Thompson.His third team, on paper, should include: all-Big Ten honorable mention big man Dawson Garcia and four freshmen who gained a wide breadth of experience: Pharrel Payne, Josh Ola-Joseph, Jaden Henley and Braeden Carrington.“This is going to be the first year where you actually have some carryover,” Johnson said before...