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Georgia lawmakers advance congressional map keeping 9-5 GOP edge; legislative maps get final passage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Brushing aside concerns that they may be breaking law that protects coalitions of nonwhite voters, Georgia state senators on Tuesday passed a new congressional map that would maintain a likely 9-5 GOP edge in the state’s delegation.The Senate voted 32-22 to pass the plan, which seeks a wholesale reconfiguration of a suburban Atlanta district now represented by Democrat Lucy McBath. It goes to the House for more debate.Meanwhile, lawmakers gave final passage to maps likely to keep each chamber of the General Assembly under the control of Republicans, sending House and Senate maps to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto.Senators voted 32-21 to give final passage to a new state House map, despite Democrat concerns that the map harmed minority coalitions and would likely preserve all but one or two seats in the Republicans current 102-78 House majority.The House voted 98-71 to pass the Senate map, which aims to keep Republicans 33-23 majority. Democrats lambast...

‘Late for the party’: Teen driver clocked going 199 km/h on QEW

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

An 18-year-old is facing charges after they were pulled over by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) at a speed of just under 200 km/h, claiming they were late for a party.The driver was stopped on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) near Stoney Creek by responding Burlington OPP officers.“I’m late for the party,” an OPP spokesperson wrote on X. 199km/h – "I'm late for the party"…. #QEW/Stoney Creek, 18 year old driver sropped by #BurlingtonOPP, charged with #StuntDriving, speeding and careless.#14DayVehicleImpound #30DayLicenceSuspension. ^ks pic.twitter.com/LcL41W3uSc— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) December 5, 2023The unidentified 18-year-old driver is facing charges that include stunt driving, speeding and careless driving.The vehicle will be impounded for 14 days, and the driver has had their licence suspended for 30 days.In late November, a driver from Caledon was charged after he was caught going nearly 100 km/h over the speed li...

As news is still shared on Facebook, Instagram, Meta may yet be regulated: St-Onge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge says Canada’s broadcasting regulator should look into regulating Meta when the Online News Act comes into effect, as users find loopholes to share news on its platforms.Meta began blocking news on Facebook and Instagram when Parliament passed the law this summer, arguing that will put it in compliance with a bill that requires tech giants to pay up for shared media content that helps them generate revenue. But news remains accessible on Instagram for some Canadian users when they view posts from media organizations using an internet browser on their phone or computer.Users have also found other ways to share news stories on Facebook and Instagram, by direct messaging news links, sharing screenshots of articles and shortening news links so they can appear on stories, which are photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. The Online News Act compels Google and Meta to enter into compensation agreements with news publishers, and Goog...

In a rare action against Israel, US says extremist West Bank settlers will be barred from America

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — n a rare punitive move against Israel, the State Department said Tuesday it will impose travel bans on extremist Jewish settlers implicated in a rash of recent attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the step after warning Israel last week that President Joe Biden’s administration would be taking action over the attacks. Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but officials said those would be coming this week and could affect dozens of settlers and their families. “We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Blinken said in a statement. “As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable.”“Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security ...

North Carolina Rep. McHenry, who led House through speaker stalemate, won’t seek reelection in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who presided temporarily over the U.S. House for three intense weeks while Republicans struggled to elect a permanent speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection to his seat next year. McHenry, who was first elected to the House in 2004 at age 29, unveiled his surprise decision as candidate filing started this week in North Carolina. He currently represents the 10th District covering several counties north and west of Charlotte entering the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He had announced his reelection campaign in late October, just two days after the completion of another congressional redistricting by the Republican-controlled legislature that kept the reconfigured 10th District on the GOP side of the ledger in the November 2024 election. That announcement also came two days after U.S. House Republicans ultimately got behind Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana to bec...

Officials in Quebec investigating after two deaths in Montreal-area hospital ER

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

CHÂTEAUGUAY, Que. — Quebec health officials are investigating after two people died in a hospital emergency room in the Montreal suburb of Châteauguay last week.The local health authority confirmed today it has launched a probe into the deaths at Anna-Laberge hospital but refused to give details.It says the Quebec coroner’s office is also investigating.The authority says the two people died during a period of high traffic and “very high” wait times in its facilities.It adds that officials are meeting with the Health Department to find ways to reduce pressure on the health-care network.The office of Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé says he visited the Anna-Laberge Hospital on Sunday to get a sense of the situation.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2023.The Canadian Press

Music Review: Neil Young’s ‘Before and After’ offers one continuous stream of rarities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

Leave it to Neil Young to give streaming songs a whole new meaning with a new album, “Before and After,” out Friday.Young delivers reinventions of 13 deep tracks as one continuous piece of mostly acoustic music, with no breaks, over 48 minutes. The tracks appear to have been recorded on Young’s solo 2019 live tour but are presented here as a single piece of music with no audience applause.The technique creates a new, cohesive narrative by weaving together songs from disparate points over a 54-year span. It also puts the songs in a new light, placing the 78-year-old Young’s voice with all of its aging, aching beauty front and center. Anyone hoping to hear Young jamming out new transitions from one song to the next, a la the Grateful Dead, will be disappointed. Instead, a guitar strum here or a harmonica note there keeps the musical ball in the air.“I’m the Ocean,” originally recorded with Pearl Jam on “Mirror Ball” in 1995, is dramatically reworked and sets the mood as th...

Apple-Podcasts-2023 Show of the Year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

Top Show of the YearWiser Than Me with Julia Louis-DreyfusThe Associated Press

Air Force identifies the eight US crew lost in Osprey crash in Japan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Air Force Special Operations Command said Tuesday it has identified the eight service members lost when their Osprey crashed off the coast of Japan last week and was now focused on recovering all of their bodies and the aircraft debris. The CV-22B Osprey crashed on Nov. 29 during a training mission. Ospreys have had a number of crashes, including in Japan, where they are used at U.S. and Japanese military bases, and the latest accident has rekindled safety concerns.On Monday, the Air Force said six of the eight crew members’ remains had been located. Three of those have been recovered. The two lost crew members were unlikely to have survived and the search for their remains was continuing, the Air Force said Tuesday. “The depth of sorrow is immeasurable,” Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, who heads Air Force Special Operations Command, said in a statement announcing the names of the crew. “The honorable service of these eight airmen to this great nation ...

Argentina’s President-elect Milei replies to Musk’s interest: ‘We need to talk, Elon’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:47 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the social network X, shared a video Tuesday in which Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei says equality should never come before freedom, in a sign of how some notable conservatives are closely watching the incoming libertarian head of state.“We need to talk, Elon,” Milei replied on X, formerly Twitter. This is not the first time that Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, has expressed support for Milei on social media. “Prosperity is about to come to Argentina,” Musk wrote when Milei won the election runoff on Nov. 19.In the interview excerpt that Musk posted, Milei spoke against efforts to make societies more equal, saying it is far more important for people to be free.“There’s a sublime phrase by Milton Friedman that I find to be outstanding, which is that when you prioritize equality over freedom, you end up achieving neither. But when you prioritize freedom over equality, you achieve many of b...