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Poor air quality from Canadian wildfires affects people as far as away as North Carolina

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it’s a thick, hazardous haze that’s disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.With weather systems expected to barely budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.That means at least another day of a dystopian-style detour that’s chased players from ballfields, actors from Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and sparked a resurgence in mask wearing and remote work — all while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such bad air.The weather system that’s driving the great Canadian-American smokeout — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — “will probably be hanging around at le...

LBJ’s daughter Luci watched him sign voting rights bill, then cried when Supreme Court weakened it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Luci Baines Johnson was a somewhat impatient 18-year-old on Aug. 6, 1965, when she happened to be on what she called “daddy duty,” meaning “I was supposed to accompany him to important occasions.”The occasion that day was President Lyndon Johnson’s scheduled signing of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress had passed the day before. She assumed the ceremony would be in the East Room of the White House, where the Civil Rights Act had been signed the previous year.“And that would probably take an hour and then I could be on my way,” she recalled in a recent interview from the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Instead, her father met her and guided her to the South Portico, where the presidential motorcade was waiting. They were going to Congress.Knowing a trip to Capitol Hill would take more time than she anticipated, she asked why.“‘We are going to Congress because there are going to be some courageous men and women who may not be returning to Congress b...

Officials: Devastating 2021 Colorado blaze caused by smoldering fire outside home and power lines

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Embers from a smoldering scrap wood fire outside a home days earlier and a sparking power line caused a Colorado wildfire fanned by high winds that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and left two people dead, authorities said Thursday.The Dec. 30, 2021, blaze in heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder caused $2 billion in damage, making it the most destructive in Colorado history. Two people were also found dead after what was known as the Marshall Fire.The inferno erupted following months of drought amid a winter nearly devoid of snow and fed on bone-dry grassland surrounding fast-growing development in the area near the Rocky Mountain foothills. It spread rapidly in winds that gusted up to 100 mph (160 kph) in places.There is no evidence to support criminal charges against anyone for the fire, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said at a news conference.The scrap wood fire — buried by residents Dec. 24 and OK’d by firefighters who stopped by th...

US says it has suspended all food aid to Ethiopia after investigation finds supplies were diverted

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United States Agency for International Development says it has suspended all food aid to Ethiopia, Africa’s second most-populous country, after an internal investigation found supplies intended for needy people were being diverted on a “widespread” scale. It did not say by whom.“After a country-wide review, USAID determined, in coordination with the government of Ethiopia, that a widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance from the people of Ethiopia,” the agency said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Thursday.“As a result, we made the difficult but necessary decision that we cannot move forward with distribution of food assistance until reforms are in place.”The U.S. is the biggest single donor to Ethiopia, providing $1.8 billion in humanitarian assistance, including food aid, in the 2022 fiscal year. In total, 20 million people across Ethiopia rely on aid because of conflict and drought, out of a total population...

Ex-national security adviser to PM unsurprised Chong memo didn’t reach politicians

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

OTTAWA — A former top adviser to the prime minister says a memo warning about Beijing’s alleged targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong was produced after he retired, but he was aware of issues in the way intelligence is handled. Vincent Rigby appeared this morning at a parliamentary committee that is investigating allegations that MPs were targeted by foreign interference.His testimony comes after the release of watchdog David Johnston’s first report, which found there are serious issues with the way the government handles confidential information.Former public safety minister Bill Blair blamed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last week for the fact he did not receive the 2021 classified memo about Chong.Rigby says that during his tenure, he was concerned about intelligence being appropriately followed up on, but he says he can’t speak to what specifically happened with Blair’s office or the memo.Current adviser Jody Thomas said last week the me...

Expulsions, walkouts, filibusters: Lawmakers grapple with acrimonious legislative sessions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Lawmakers this year have kicked rival colleagues out of office in Tennessee and off the chamber floor in Montana. They have staged walkouts in Oregon and filibusters in Nebraska, where interactions are so fraught that some lawmakers say they’re unsure they can work together anymore.In a year of outsized acrimony at statehouses, it would be wrong to say tensions have never been worse. Legislatures have seen fistfights, unpopular members hounded from office, mass expulsions and even armed confrontations.Experts say what’s different now is that politics can reward sparring and punish bipartisanship, making reelection tougher for those who seek compromise.Lawmakers “recognize that the general electorate would prefer that they compromise, but they think that the primary electorate wants them to oppose it,” said Laurel Harbridge-Yong, a Northwestern University political scientist.Civility can crumble when lawmakers draw gerrymandered districts or make voting rules ...

IDPH investigating Salmonella outbreak after 26 cases in Chicago area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Public Health is investigating a Salmonella outbreak in the Chicago area after at least 26 confirmed cases.The infections are linked to ground beef, IDPH said. The source has not been identified yet at this time.The 26 confirmed cases have been reported in Chicago as well as Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.IDPH said they are working with local health departments, the CDC and the USDA-FSIS to identify additional cases, to perform lab testing and to identify the source.Some of the ill people reported eating undercooked ground beef. Over $600K worth of counterfeit watches, socks, sunglasses seized at O’Hare Symptoms caused by Salmonella most commonly include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps.Visit here for more information on how to prevent Salmonella.

Man, 54, dead after gas station shooting in Austin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

CHICAGO — A 54-year-old man is dead after a shooting near a gas station in Austin Thursday morning. According to reports, there was a verbal altercation near the 700 block of South Cicero Avenue around 4:19 a.m. between two men when one man produced a firearm and shot the victim. Police say he sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead. CPD: Man charged in connection to death of missing Logan Square woman The offender got into a red sedan and fled southbound on Cicero Avenue. There were no other injuries reported and there is no one in custody at this time. Police are actively investigating the incident.

WATCH LIVE | Parental leave changes for Chicago Public Schools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

CHICAGO — Changes are coming to Chicago Public School's (CPS) parental leave policy.Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is set to host a press conference Thursday alongside CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) president Stacy Davis Gates. ‘We will destroy you’: Northwest Indiana man accused of showing up to Taylor Swift’s residence, stalking A press release states it is to "announce changes to the CPS parental leave policy" and nothing more.Details of the changes will be added to this story as soon as they become available.WGN plans to livestream the press conference within this story beginning at approximately 12 p.m.

Two accused of 'harassing' bison calf at Grand Teton, NPS investigating

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:48:22 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - Authorities are searching for two visitors who were seen "harassing" a bison calf in Grand Teton National Park earlier this month, marking just the latest unsafe interaction between humans and wildlife investigated by the National Park Service. The two people, who appear to be men, were seen approaching and touching a bison calf at the southern end of Elk Ranch Flats around 1 p.m. on June 4, Grand Teton rangers said in a press release Thursday. "Interference by people can cause wildlife to reject their offspring," rangers noted. "Often, these interactions result in euthanizing the animal." Yellowstone bison calf forced to be killed, man pleads guilty to disturbing it Unlike a similar case in Yellowstone National Park last month, this bison calf was reunited with its herd. Officials are asking that if you were in the area on June 4 and have information about the incident, or recognize the individuals in the photo below provided by the national park, to call the Grand Te...