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Wisconsin sawmill agrees to pay $191K to federal regulators after 16-year-old boy killed on the job

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A northern Wisconsin sawmill has agreed to pay nearly $191,000 and stop hiring children under 16 to settle a federal lawsuit labor regulators filed after a teenager was killed on the job this summer and other child employees were hurt in a string of accidents.Michael Schuls died in July after he became pinned in a wood-stacking machine at Florence Hardwoods. He was trying to clear a jam in the machine in the facility’s planing mill when the conveyor belt he was standing on moved and left him pinned, according to Florence County Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by The Associated Press through open records requests. An ensuing U.S. Department of Labor investigation found that three children ages 15 to 16 were hurt at the sawmill between November 2021 and March 2023.The sawmill also employed nine children between the ages of 14 and 17 to illegally run machines such as saws, the investigation found. Most work in sawmills and logging is prohibited for mi...

Is hurricane Lee headed for Canada? The ‘spaghetti models’ can be misleading: expert

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

HALIFAX — For residents of Canada’s East Coast, some of the latest images showing the potential path northward for hurricane Lee are disturbing. By combining multiple computer-generated forecasts, meteorologists have produced maps of the western Atlantic Ocean that suggest the powerful storm could slam into the Maritimes late next week. But Chris Fogarty, program manager at the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax, says these long-range models are of little value at this stage.Fogarty says these spaghetti models — so called because the layers of predicted tracks look like splayed noodles — don’t adequately represent the broad range of possible forecasts.“In the case of Lee, these maps are not very useful beyond about five days because the noodles can become very scattered and confusing,” he said Friday in an email.“Beyond about five days — depending on the degree of chaos in the atmosphere — they can appear more focused than they should be. At those lon...

The death toll from flooding in central Greece has increased to 10 while 4 others are missing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The death toll from severe flooding in central Greece rose to 10 people Friday, while another four remained missing, the country’s civil protection minister said. Rescue crews in helicopters and boats ferried hundreds of people from inundated villages to safety. Flooding triggered by rainstorms also hit neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, killing a total of 22 people in all three countries since the rains began Tuesday. In Greece, the rainstorms turned streams into raging torrents that burst dams, washed away roads and bridges and hurled cars into the sea, and many of the flooded areas were left without power or drinking water. Authorities have said some regions received twice the average annual rainfall for Athens in the space of just 12 hours.Although the rainstorms had stopped by Friday, floodwater continued to rise after the Pineios River burst its banks near the city of Larissa, one of Greece’s largest cities with a population of around 150,000, t...

Toronto police officer charged in North York shooting that seriously injured 31-year-old man

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

A Toronto police officer is facing criminal charges related to a shooting in North York in February that left a man with serious injuries.Officers responded to reports of a man with a knife in the area of Black Creek and Trethewey drives just before 8 a.m. on Feb. 27.At the time, police said a 31-year-old man was walking his dog in a nearby park when he got into an argument with another man. The man with the dog then allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened the other man.In an update on Friday, the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said a police officer fired his gun twice at the man with the dog and two other officers fired their Tasers at him.Const. Andrew Davis has been charged with one count of aggravated assault contrary and one count of discharge firearm with intent to maim, wound, disfigure or endanger life.The SIU didn’t provide a rationale for the charges.The accused is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto on Oct. 3, 2023....

Trump lawyers move ‘insurrection’ clause lawsuit aiming to bar him from the ballot to federal court

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump moved a lawsuit seeking to bar him from running again for the White House from state to federal court in the first step of what promises to be a tangled legal battle that seems ultimately destined for the U.S. Supreme Court.The liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed the initial lawsuit on Wednesday in Colorado state court, arguing a Civil War-era clause prohibiting higher office for those who once swore an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in “insurrection” prevents Trump from running in 2024.Trump’s attorneys on Thursday moved the case to federal court. “Plaintiffs’ challenge to Colorado’s ability to place Donald Trump on the presidential ballot depends solely on the Fourteenth Amendment,” they wrote. “Trump’s basis for removal of the state court action is federal question jurisdiction under Section 3 of Fourteenth Amendment.”CREW’s case is the first of what’s expected to...

Voters in North Carolina tribe back adult use of marijuana in referendum

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

CHEROKEE, N.C. (AP) — Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have backed overwhelmingly the adult use of marijuana on their tribal land, even as they await the opening of a dispensary for those who seek it for medicinal use.Unofficial results show that 70% of voters said “yes” Thursday in a referendum that opens the door to the western North Carolina reservation being the first location in the state where pot for recreational use can be legally purchased, news outlets reported. The question put to a vote by the Eastern Band tribal council asked whether members supported legalizing the possession and use of cannabis by people at least 21 years old, and requiring the council to develop legislation to regulate a market.In 2021, the tribe decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana within the Eastern Band’s 89-square-mile (231-square-kilometer) Qualla Boundary in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The tribe also formed a medical marijuana system that includes a tribe-created...

What's the biggest single-season turnaround in Bears' history?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — With the addition of a number of new players, there is a hope that the Bears might be able to turn things around quickly in 2023. After winning an NFL-low three games last fall, there's nowhere to go but up for Matt Eberflus' team as they look ahead to the season opener against the Packers on Sunday at Soldier Field. Expectations fluctuate for the group that has added a number of players this offseason but still has plenty of questions ahead of the start of their 17-game schedule. So what would the Bears' have to do to have the biggest turnaround in franchise history? You have to go back 22 years to find that answer.(AP Photo/Stephen J. Carrera, File)In 2001, the Bears enjoyed one of their more successful and wild regular seasons in franchise history, surprising many to go 13-3 and win the NFC Central division for the first time since 1990. They won eight games by seven points or less and had five comeback victories, including back-to-back wins in late October an...

Expert: Consumers don't want 'bizarre' new car subscriptions

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

(NewsNation) — In an era where subscriptions dominate our digital lives, it appears that luxury car manufacturers are eager to jump on the bandwagon.While the concept of monthly car payments has been the norm for many, automakers are now eyeing an additional source of revenue by introducing subscription-based services for vehicle features.While some consumers are enthusiastic about the development, it's earned the ire of others.The trend was highlighted recently by BMW, which showcased its subscription model for vehicle add-ons such as the high beam assistant. With the simple press of a button, BMW owners can now unlock additional features for their vehicles via the "Connected Drive Store," raising questions about the necessity and affordability of such services."It's an interesting concept," said Tom Maoli, CEO and dealer principal of six New Jersey car dealerships. "Everybody's trying to be Apple, that's what's going on. Everybody's trying to get a subscription and our monthl...

WATCH LIVE: Private texts, whistleblower memes revealed in Paxton impeachment trial

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Whistleblower Ryan Vassar resumed testimony in Ken Paxton's impeachment trial Friday morning, recounting the events surrounding his decision to report Paxton to the FBI for alleged ethical and legal violations.Friday morning began with tense cross-examination from Paxton's defense team.Thursday afternoon, Vassar teared up at Paxton's suggestion that he and the whistleblowers were "rogue employees." That assertion was "contrary to the years that I dedicated my life to the state," he said. Defense attorneys on Friday appeared to attempt to discredit those solemn emotions, referencing text messages Vassar sent in a private group chat of whistleblowers.Paxton defense attorney J. Mitchell Little displayed numerous text messages showing Vassar and other former employees demeaning other colleagues, insulting their intelligence and making light of their difficult experience following the FBI complaint.One text from Vassar included an image of "Going Rouge: The Sarah Pali...

Letters: Extra taxes for increasing profit? Bad idea

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:44:17 GMT

Unproductive tax ideasA letter writer had a few suggestions about how to fix our national deficits, including the imposition of a corporate tax that taxed corporations 100% of any profit increase that was more than 2% of the previous year.Imagine if a car company invented a new electric vehicle that was 50% the cost of any existing vehicle, had five times the mileage in a charge, had batteries that lasted three times as long before needing replacement, plus other wonderful innovations. With this writer’s idea in place, the company would be allowed to gain 2% more profit this year, but every additional penny of profit would be taken away from them by the government.There might be 10 million customers in line to purchase this wonderful product, but the company would have absolutely no incentive to manufacture vehicles for them. It would be assuming the risk of worker injury in the factory and liability for vehicles on the road, but would receive no benefit for assuming the additional ...