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With Democratic control, Michigan’s governor pushes for health care and climate change laws

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave an outline of Democratic plans for the final months of the year in a speech Wednesday that included calls for funding paid family and medical leave, mandating a 100% clean energy standard and codifying protections ensured by the Affordable Care Act.The second-term Democratic governor highlighted her policy priorities during a “What’s Next Address,” following the first half of 2023 that saw the party roll back decades of Republican measures while implementing its own liberal agenda.“What’s next on the fall agenda for Michigan is: the health of our people; the health of our planet; the health of our economy; and the health of our democracy,” Whitmer said Wednesday in Lansing. Lawmakers are set to return to the state Capitol Sept. 5 after a two-month summer break. Michigan is one of the few states with a full-time legislative session and Democrats are looking to take advantage of every minute with control of the state House up f...

Children’s report outlines rise in food insecurity, other threats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

More children are facing food insecurity, as well as several other threats in Canada, according to a new report.Children First Canada is out with its latest top 10 threats to Canadian kids, with its most recent report showing the number of kids experiencing food insecurity has risen by almost a third since 2022.“Child poverty rates have increased sharply,” the report explains, noting 15.6 per cent of children up to the age of 17 live in low-income households.Citing data from the Census Family Low Income Measure, After Tax, Children First Canada says that percentage represents more than 1.1 million children from coast to coast to coast, and the increase marks a 13.5 per cent rise from 2020.Researchers say about 60 per cent of low-income families report feeling “very concerned” about being able to provide daily needs, as the cost of essentials like housing and food continue to rise.“Approximately 1.8 million children under the age of 18 were affected by f...

‘Freedom Convoy’ leaders’ criminal trial goes beyond mischief charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

OTTAWA — The leaders of the “Freedom Convoy” are preparing to answer to criminal charges next week for their part in the massive demonstration that gridlocked Ottawa last year — but the stakes go beyond the actions of two protest organizers.Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were among the most prominent organizers of the protest movement that rolled into Ottawa early in 2022, and they’re scheduled to be the first members of the organizing committee to stand trial on Sept. 5.But that is not where the scrutiny will stop.Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer representing Lich, told the court earlier this summer that the focus should be on the case at hand.“This should not be the trial of the ‘Freedom Convoy,'” he said.Even so, University of Ottawa criminologist Michael Kempa said the attention paid to the trial could mean that Canadian institutions will also be judged, for how the case is handled and the precedents it could set.The organizers of the “Freed...

US OKs military aid to Taiwan under program usually reserved for sovereign nations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has approved the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan under a program generally reserved for assistance to sovereign, independent states.The State Department notified Congress of the sale on Wednesday. It said the material would “be used to strengthen Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities.”The package is modest — only $80 million of what Congress had set aside as a potential $2 billion — but the implications of using the so-called Foreign Military Financing program to provide it will likely infuriate China. Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has repeatedly not ruled out the use of force to reunite it with the mainland, and vociferously protests all U.S. arms sales to the self-governing island. However, previous arms sales to Taiwan have been approved under other authorities that do not necessarily imply statehood. U.S. officials were quick to say that the provision of FMF funding to Taiwan did not represent a change i...

UN calls for $15.5 million for aftermath of clashes in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees appealed Wednesday for $15.5 million to respond to the fallout of clashes in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp earlier this month.The agency, known as UNRWA, said the money is needed to repair infrastructure damaged in the clashes in the Ein el-Hilweh camp, provide alternate schooling locations for children who will now be unable to use the schools in the camp, and hand cash assistance to people who have been displaced from their homes.Several days of street battles broke out in the camp between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and Islamist groups in the camp after Fatah accused the Islamists of gunning down one of their military generals on July 30.While an uneasy truce has prevailed since Aug. 3, clashes could resume if the Islamist groups do not hand over the accused killers of the Fatah general, Mohammad “Abu Ashraf” al-Armoushi to the Lebanese judiciary as demanded by a committee ...

Air Canada slashing routes out of Calgary in face of ongoing pilot shortage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

CALGARY — Air Canada is slashing six major routes out of Calgary this winter, in part due to an industry-wide pilot shortage.The airline confirmed Wednesday it will no longer offer non-stop flights from Calgary to Ottawa, Halifax, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Cancun, or Frankfurt as of the end of October.Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the cancellations are intended to improve the “overall operational stability” of the airline. “The industry-wide shortage of regional pilots is expected to have a prolonged impact on Air Canada’s regional network,” Fitzpatrick said in an email. “This has resulted in resource pressures as Air Canada has been required to operate certain routes with mainline aircraft that are normally served by its main regional partner.”He added the Montreal-based airline is facing pressure due to supply chain challenges that are making it more difficult for the airline to obtain parts and complete airplane maintenance on time.&...

Missouri Republican seeks exceptions to near-total abortion ban, including for rape and incest cases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri Republican on Wednesday pitched exceptions to the state’s near-total abortion ban in cases of rape, incest and fatal abnormalities. It wasn’t immediately clear when a fetus would be considered viable under the plan. St. Louis resident Jamie Corley proposed the constitutional amendments to allow the exceptions. Another option would allow abortions until viability, though it’s unclear when a fetus would be considered viable under the proposal. Missouri bans almost all abortions. The only exception is for medical emergencies. Another group of activists have been campaigning to enshrine those rights in the Missouri Constitution. That effort has been tied up in court battles and fights with the Republican attorney general and secretary of state. Missouri is among many states turning to voters after the U.S. Supreme Court last year reversed Roe v. Wade and took away a nationwide right to abortion.Since then, the issue appeared on the ballot in s...

Journalist for top Polish paper allegedly denied medication in Belarusian prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A former correspondent for a top Polish newspaper has been denied life-saving heart medication in Belarusian prison, a representative of Belarus’ largest Polish community organization told reporters Tuesday.Andrzej Poczobut, 50, a former reporter with the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, has been put in solitary confinement with no access to lawyers or medical care, Marek Zaniewski from the Union of Poles in Belarus said at a press briefing. The country’s largest and most prominent rights group, Viasna, also reported on its website that Poczobut has been transferred to a one-man “punishment cell” at a prison in Navapolatsk, a city in northern Belarus, where he is serving an eight-year sentence. Poczobut, a prominent member of Belarus’ sizable Polish minority, was found guilty in February of “sowing discord” and harming the country’s national security. His closed trial in the Belarusian city of Grodno was widely seen as part of Minsk’s sweeping crackdown on opposi...

Critical fire weather in arrives Northern California’s interior; PG&E cuts power to 8,400 customers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gusty winds and low humidity brought high risk of wildfires to the interior of Northern California on Wednesday and a utility proactively cut electricity to approximately 8,400 customers to prevent potential ignitions in the blustery conditions.Red flag warnings for critical fire danger were to remain in effect until 8 p.m. in much of the Sacramento Valley and adjacent areas to the west, the National Weather Service said.Pacific Gas & Electric said that shortly before 2 a.m., it began public safety power shutoffs in small portions of eight counties.Customers in the “targeted high-fire-threat areas” were notified in advance Tuesday, the utility said in a statement.The gusty northerly winds were generated in the wake of a trough of low pressure that moved through Northern California on Tuesday, the weather service said.Public safety power shutoffs are intended to prevent fires from starting when power lines are downed by winds or struck by falling trees or win...

B.C. posts $704 million budget surplus for 2022-2023, say audited public accounts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:34 GMT

VICTORIA — An audited public accounting of British Columbia’s financial records shows the province posted a surplus of more than $700 million in the 2022-2023 budget year.Finance Minister Katrine Conroy outlined the province’s financial performance in the government’s public accounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.The government’s budget forecasts have been on an up-and-down ride for the past two years, with the 2022-2023 budget originally forecast in February last year to show a $5.5 billion deficit, before that was revised to a surplus of almost $6 billion, then downgraded to a $3.6 billion surplus.The final numbers now show a surplus of $704 million.Conroy forecast three years of consecutive budget deficits last March, with the current 2023-2024 budget projected to bring a deficit of $4.2 billion.She says the audited public accounts show B.C.’s economy grew by 3.6 per cent, tied for fourth highest among the provinces and equal to Canada...