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Vessel owner pleads guilty in plot to smuggle workers, drugs from Honduras to Louisiana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Pennsylvania man described by authorities as the lead defendant in a drug distribution and human smuggling case has pleaded guilty to federal crimes in Louisiana.Court records show that Carl Allison, 47, of Pittsburgh pleaded guilty Thursday before U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans. Sentencing was scheduled for March 28. The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement that Allison, the fourth person to plead guilty in the case, faces a possible life sentence. Prosecutors said Allison was the president and owner of a company that supplied immigrant labor for factories in the U.S. But, according to an indictment, Allison was involved in illegally smuggling Honduran nationals into the country to work illegally as part of a seagoing operation that also involved transporting cocaine.Authorities found 23 Honduran nationals and about 24 kilograms (53 pounds) of cocaine aboard after a vessel owned by Allison became disabled last year in the Gulf of Mexico ...

Local New Hampshire newspaper publisher found guilty of political advertisement omissions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A judge has found the New Hampshire publisher of a weekly community newspaper guilty of five misdemeanor charges that she ran advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising. The judge acquitted Debra Paul, publisher of the Londonderry Times, of a sixth misdemeanor charge on Thursday following a bench trial in November. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 20. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.The New Hampshire attorney general’s office charged Paul last year, saying she failed to identify the ads with “appropriate language” indicating that they were ads and saying who paid for them as required by state law. The office said it had warned her in 2019 and 2021. Last year, it received more complaints and reviewed the February and March issues of the paper. Two political ads leading up to a local election in March did not contain the “paid for” language and a third had no “...

Pregnant woman in Kentucky sues for the right to get an abortion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A pregnant woman in Kentucky filed a lawsuit Friday demanding the right to an abortion, the second legal challenge in days to sweeping abortion bans that have taken hold in more than a dozen U.S. states since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.The suit, filed in state court in Louisville, says Kentucky’s near-total prohibition against abortion violates the plaintiff’s rights to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution.The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, is about eight weeks pregnant and she wants to have an abortion in Kentucky but cannot legally do so because of the state’s ban, the suit said. She is seeking class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion.“This is my decision — not the government’s or any other person’s,” the plaintiff said in a news release Friday issued by the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups backing her challenge. “I am ...

Toronto Black Farmers in Downsview fighting food insecurity by teaching locals to grow food

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

In the north end of Toronto, the neighbourhood of Downsview is best known for its urban park. Nestled in this expansive green space is the Toronto Black Farmers and Food Growers Collective, which is fighting for food justice by teaching its members how to farm.For the past decade, co-founder Jacqueline Dwyer and other collective members have fed local residents by empowering racialized farmers.“It’s a platform created to empower black farmers, black growers, black gardeners, black food entrepreneurs in a space [as well as] other racialized people who want to join us, because not everybody is down with our cause to actually have a space that references culture in [a] food space by us and for us,” Dwyer said.The Toronto Black Farmers and Food Growers Collective’s welcome sign outside their greenhouse in Downsview Park. (Julia Lawrence/The Green Line)Sarah Ali is a member of The Collective Group, a resident-led organization representing over 30 neighbourhoods in ...

Canada dusts off sanctions law on corrupt officials, joins allies to target 7 abroad

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada is using a rarely invoked sanctions law that targets corrupt office holders to join peer countries in taking aim against officials in Russia, Iran and Myanmar.The sanctions target officials whom Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. accuse of having a role in long-standing human-rights violations.Those listed for sanctions include two senior Iranian officials accused of overseeing the torture of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in custody in 2003.Canada has also joined its allies in sanctioning four Russians accused of helping a violent anti-gay crackdown in Chechnya, such as by overseeing the kidnapping and torture of LGBTQ+ people.Those sanctioned also include Myanmar’s commander-in-chief, who oversaw a coup d’état against a democratically elected government in 2021.The new sanctions come under the Magnitsky Act, legislation aimed at punishing corrupt officials that has only been used twice since its passage 2018.Senators have argued that...

Council to again consider renaming stadium at Centennial Park after Rob Ford

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

Toronto city council will again consider the previously rejected idea of renaming the stadium at Centennial Park ‘Rob Ford Stadium’ in honour of the controversial late former mayor.The item, which will be considered by council at its upcoming meeting on Wednesday, was put forward by councillor Paul Ainslie and seconded by councillor Shelley Carroll.The motion outlines Ford’s considerable career in municipal politics, serving on Toronto City Council for nearly 15 years, with 10 as councillor for Etobicoke North, before serving as mayor for four unforgettable years.His tenure as mayor was marked by controversy as he dealt with addiction issues that seeped into the public eye. At the same time he was beloved by many who applauded his refreshing frugality and dedication to responding to his constituents’ issues, however minor.He also patrolled the sidelines for 10 years at Don Bosco as football coach. Related: Video: Rob Ford’s love of sports, especial...

Extremely rare white leucistic alligator is born at a Florida reptile park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — An extremely rare white leucistic alligator has been born at a Florida reptile park.The 19.2-inch (49 cm) female slithered out of its shell and into the history books as one of only seven known leucistic alligators, Gatorland Orlando said Thursday. Three of the seven are at the park, officials there said.“This is beyond rare. It is absolutely extraordinary,” Mark McHugh, president and CEO of Gatorland, said in a statement.The park is asking for the public’s help in the naming the alligator, which is descended from a nest of leucistic alligators discovered in the swamps of Louisiana in 1987. The blue-eyed newborn is the first solid white alligator ever recorded to have descended from those original alligators, McHugh said.Leucistic alligators are the rarest genetic variation in the American alligator. They differ from albino alligators, which have pink eyes and a complete loss of pigment, according to Gatorland.Park visitors will be able to see the leucis...

Scottish court upholds UK decision to block Scotland’s landmark gender-recognition bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Scotland’s highest civil court on Friday upheld the British government’s move to block a landmark gender-recognition law passed by the Scottish parliament, underscoring the growing divide over local control of legislation in the nations of the United Kingdom.The ruling by the Court of Session in Edinburgh is a setback for Scotland’s semi-autonomous government, which overwhelmingly approved a bill allowing anyone 16 or older to change the gender designation on their identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.The legislation set Scotland apart from the rest of the U.K., where the minimum age is 18 and a medical diagnosis is required.Britain’s central government blocked the law, invoking for the first time a section of the 25-year-old act that gave the Scottish parliament control over most of its own affairs. Section 35 gives U.K. authorities the power to prevent the implementation of measures that interfere with ...

2 nurses, medical resident injured in attack at New Jersey hospital, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

NEWARK N.J. (AP) — Two nurses and a medical resident were stabbed Friday inside a New Jersey pediatric intensive care unit, suffering cuts, and a woman has been arrested and charged in the attack, authorities said. It unfolded about 7 a.m. Friday at Newark Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, arising from a “domestic dispute” involving two visitors to the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, according to a statement posted on social media by the hospital.Firdousi Abdul-Hakim, 37, then attacked the hospital workers, who are in stable condition, according to Fritz Fragé, Newark’s public safety director. Abdul-Hakim faces aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes charges. Abdul-Hakim was arrested immediately, and no patients or family members were injured, the hospital said.The injured nurses and the medical resident were not identified. The 655-bed facility is a teaching hospital with more than 800 doctors a...

Peel dissolution will leave Brampton with $72 million deficit every year: new report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:02:28 GMT

As the Ford government considers whether to reverse its decision to dissolve Peel Region, there is a new, yet-to-be-released report that shows breaking up Peel would have severe financial consequences for Brampton.It is being described by CityNews’ source as “the messiest divorce you’ve ever seen.”Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has been publicly lobbying to try and stop the break up of Peel since it was first announced earlier this year by the province.Last week, he released data from an updated Deloitte report that he maintains concludes if Peel were dissolved, property taxes would rise by 17 per cent in Mississauga, 34 per cent in Brampton and 256 per cent in Caledon.For this new report, Brown hired KPMG to examine the consequences for Brampton. Using publicly available data, it concludes that if Brampton becomes an independent municipality, it would have a budget hole of nearly $72 million, every year.Brown tells CityNews he hasn’t seen even seen the report ...