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DEA warns of spike in fentanyl mixed with xylazine: ‘Making the deadliest drug threat… even deadlier’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

The Drug Enforcement Administration is sounding the alarm on a surge of fentanyl mixed with the animal tranquilizer xylazine, “making the deadliest drug threat… even deadlier.”The DEA issued a public safety alert about a spike in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine, also known as “Tranq” — a powerful sedative that the Food and Drug Administration has approved for veterinary use.Xylazine and fentanyl mixtures put drug users at a higher risk of suffering a fatal drug poisoning. Because xylazine is not an opioid, Narcan does not reverse its effects.“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.“DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states,” Milgram added. “The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA ...

Free ice cream at Dairy Queen, Rita’s Italian Ice to celebrate the first day of spring

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

Do we all scream for ice cream on the first day of spring?If the ice cream is free, then maybe so. Dairy Queen and Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard are giving away cold treats Monday to welcome spring and, theoretically, warmer temperatures.IT'S FINALLY HERE! Say goodbye to winter and hello to GETTING A FREE SMALL CONE TODAY!!! Grab your free cone only at participating DQ locations pic.twitter.com/hwukUFsLbJ— Dairy Queen (@DairyQueen) March 20, 2023Dairy Queen fans can make their way to any non-mall location in the U.S. for a free small vanilla soft-serve cone. The celebration lasts all day but is limited to one cone per person while supplies last, and may not be available on delivery or mobile orders.Everyone's favorite First Day of Spring FREE Ice Giveaway is back, today only! (No app needed.) Plus, enter for a chance to win FREE ICE FOR A YEAR when you download the Rita's Ice mobile app and enter promo code SPRING23 Official rules: https://t.co/pJXy8Xjim...

Philadelphia announces $9.25 million settlement in 2020 George Floyd protest lawsuits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

By RON TODTThe Associated PressPHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia officials announced a $9.25 million settlement Monday with hundreds of people over several lawsuits challenging the police response to the protests and civil disorder in 2020 after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.Officials said the money will be distributed among 343 plaintiffs in connection with police actions during the protests that erupted in west Philadelphia and along Interstate 676 in the city center that spring. In addition, a grant will provide $500,000 to $600,000 for mental health counseling for west Philadelphia residents.Videos of Philadelphia police firing tear gas on June 1, 2020, at dozens of protesters trapped on I-676 by SWAT team officers on both sides — many unable to retreat to an on-ramp and clambering to get up a steep embankment and over a concrete wall and fence — were spread widely on social media.Attorneys suing over events the day before in and around a west Philadelphia bu...

Alliston hospital laying off 13 nurses due to funding cuts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

A small community hospital about in Alliston is about to lose 13 nurses. Stevenson Memorial Hospital, which services Alliston and other parts of Simcoe County, announced the layoffs last week citing funding cuts as the reason.Angela Preocanin with the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) tells CityNews this was a complete surprise, and she fears it could be a sign of things to come.“I am deeply concerned these layoffs have come in the worst crisis in nursing history,” said Preocanin. “If we can layoff at this hospital, why can’t we lay off at others and ‘we’ is the employer. Let’s be clear it’s not the union laying people off.”According to the Ministry of Health, funding for those nurses was part of temporary re-imbursement funding that was given to hospitals to deal with increased volumes during the pandemic.“As this re-imbursement funding, there should be zero impacts to patients, service or staff,” said the government in a statem...

Snow plow drivers, residents clash in some GTA cities this winter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

It’s been a challenging winter for some snow plow operators and residents in cities across the Greater Toronto Area.The region has seen several significant snowstorms in recent months – resulting in large snowbanks and the need for a lot of shovelling – and the cities of Mississauga and Oshawa have said reports of clashes between snow plow operators and residents have increased.The situation became so tense at times that the cities east and west of Toronto had to ask residents to be kinder to municipal snow removal operators.“Snow-clearing crews and operators have been experiencing escalating harassment and violence – including verbal and physical abuse, threats and unacceptable behaviour from several residents upset about snow-clearing operations,” Helen Noehammer, a spokesperson for the City Mississauga, wrote in a statement.After a major storm in early March, city crews and operators hired by the municipality were confronted by some residents who blocked snow-cl...

Guatemala seeks to remove opposition candidate’s immunity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A prosecutor in Guatemala asked a court Monday to lift the immunity of one of the candidates in June presidential elections, because the candidate had asked about a judge’s motive in prosecuting journalists. Candidates in Guatemala normally have immunity from being prosecuted while they are running, to ensure free elections. But on Monday government prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche asked the country’s Supreme Court to lift the immunity of candidate Edmond Mulet, because Mulet had asked for an investigation into a judge. It was the latest chapter in which Guatemala prosecutors have gone after journalists, politicians, former prosecutors and judges for having investigated corruption inside the government and judicial system. Experts, opponents and foreign governments say that, instead of going after corruption, prosecutors in Guatemala are now going after those who denounce it. “Let’s see if this crazy, totally unjustified request made by the prosecutor is uph...

Biden issues first veto, taking on new Republican House

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday in an early sign of shifting White House relations with the new Congress since Republicans took control of the House in January — a move that serves as a prelude to bigger battles with GOP lawmakers on government spending and the nation’s debt limit.Biden sought to kill a Republican-authored measure that would ban the government from considering environmental impacts or potential lawsuits when making investment decisions for people’s retirement plans. In a video released by the White House, Biden said he vetoed the measure because it “put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country.”His first veto represents a more confrontational approach at the midway of Biden’s term in office, as he faces a GOP-controlled House that is eager to undo parts of his policy legacy and investigate his administration and his family. Complicating matters for Biden, several Democrati...

‘Not a matter of state secrets’: Anand dismisses concerns over McKinsey contracts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

OTTAWA — Defence Minister Anita Anand says there are no security risks from her department’s contracts with McKinsey & Company.Anand told a parliamentary committee this afternoon that the Defence Department has signed about $30 million in contracts with the consulting firm.But she says those contracts focused on helping defence and military officials with human-resources issues and data management, and did not touch on “state secrets.'”McKinsey came under fire last year for working with the U.S. military while also under contract with Russia and China.Its contracts in Canada have been under the microscope amid revelations its work has expanded rapidly since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government came to power in 2015.Anand says McKinsey has been helping the Canadian military with culture-change efforts, which included organizing and reporting on recent consultations with Armed Forces members.This report by The Canadian Press was first publishe...

Two people shot outside Fairview Mall in North York: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

Toronto police say two people have been shot outside Fairview Mall.Officers were called to a parking lot in the Sheppard Avenue East and Don Mills Road area just after 4 p.m. on Monday for reports of a shooting.Police located two adult male victims suffering from gunshot wounds.Toronto Paramedics tell CityNews both men were rushed to a trauma centre, one with serious injuries and the other with non-life-threatening injuries.There is no information on suspects, but police say the shooting did not happen inside the mall.

Court inclined toward government view in water rights case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seems inclined to side with the federal government and a group of states in a dispute with the Navajo Nation over water from the drought-stricken Colorado River.The high court was hearing arguments Monday in a case that states argue could upend how water is shared in the Western U.S. if the court sides with the tribe.Water is a critical resource for the Navajo Nation. The mainstream of the Colorado River flows along the northwestern border of the tribe’s reservation, which extends into New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. And two of the river’s tributaries, the San Juan River and the Little Colorado River, also pass alongside and through the reservation. Still, a third of the some 175,000 people who live on the reservation, the country’s largest, don’t have running water in their homes.The facts of the case go back to two treaties the tribe and the federal government signed in 1849 and 1868. The second established the reservation as the...