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Seattle, feds seek to end most oversight of city’s police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department and Seattle officials asked a judge Tuesday to end most federal oversight of the city’s police department, saying its sustained, decade-long reform efforts are a model for other cities whose law enforcement agencies face federal civil rights investigations.Seattle has overhauled virtually all aspects of its police department since DOJ investigators in 2011 found officers were too quick to use force and too often escalated encounters to the point where force was necessary.Since then, officials say, the use of serious force is down 60% and the department has new systems for dealing with people in crisis, responding to complaints of biased policing, supervising officers and identifying any who get physical too often.Both sides asked U.S. District Judge James Robart to terminate their 2012 settlement agreement, known as a consent decree, which gave the court oversight of reform efforts.However they agree that more work remains to be done in two...

Probe of chocolate factory blast focuses on gas pipeline

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

Federal safety officials are investigating the role of a natural gas pipeline in a fatal blast at a Pennsylvania chocolate factory, the National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday.Friday’s powerful explosion at R.M. Palmer Co. killed seven people, sent 10 to the hospital and damaged several other buildings in West Reading, a small town 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia, where the 75-year-old, family-owned company has long had a factory.The National Transportation Safety Board announced the probe late Tuesday afternoon, calling the incident a “natural gas” explosion and fire. The agency has preliminary information from local authorities and a natural gas utility that a gas pipeline was involved, an agency spokesperson, Keith Holloway, told The Associated Press.NTSB is investigating “what caused, how and why the explosion occurred,” according to Holloway.Other local, state and federal investigations are ongoing.Pennsylvania State Police have said “eve...

Puerto Rico governor unveils solar energy plans in address

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced new solar energy initiatives on Tuesday during his annual state of the territory address, a speech viewed by many as critical as he fights plummeting ratings amid growing discontent over costly electric bills, government corruption and slow-moving hurricane reconstruction.The more than hourlong speech and ceremony at the U.S. territory’s seaside Capitol was powered entirely by generators to avoid any potential interruptions given the ongoing instability of the island’s crumbling power grid.The frail grid has been a priority for Pierluisi’s administration, which oversaw the privatization of the operation of the island’s generation, transmission and distribution of power in widely criticized moves given persistent outages.On Tuesday evening, Pierluisi announced that the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency approved microgrid projects to supply 100% of power to the neighboring islands of Vieques and Culebra, which are popu...

Arkansas bathroom bill condemned as too extreme is revamped

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas bathroom bill that went further than a 2016 North Carolina law that was repealed after widespread boycotts was revamped Tuesday following complaints from members of the transgender community and their families that it would criminalize trans people simply for using public restrooms.The House Judiciary Committee endorsed the proposal to allow someone to be charged with misdemeanor sexual indecency with a child if they use a public restroom or changing room of the opposite sex when a minor is present. The majority-GOP panel advanced the measure after it was amended to make it a crime only if the person enters the restroom “for the purpose of arousing or gratifying a sexual desire.” The proposal now heads to the full House for a vote as early as Wednesday.The Republican lawmaker behind the bill said he was OK with the latest version, saying his intent wasn’t to target transgender people with the bathroom restriction.“I think this new language ...

Another powerful Pacific storm hits soggy, snowy California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A powerful weather system from the Gulf of Alaska pushed into Northern California on Tuesday, bringing more wind, rain and snow to a state battered by months of storms.Forecasters warned of heavy snow in coastal mountains and the Sierra Nevada, where accumulations up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) were possible, highway chain requirements took effect and a backcountry avalanche warning was issued for the greater Lake Tahoe area.The National Weather Service said the storm was expected to pull a plume of Pacific moisture into California as it tracked south, but the rainfall was not expected to be as intense as the atmospheric rivers that impacted the state in recent weeks.After a dozen previous atmospheric rivers and blizzards fueled by arctic air, the water content of California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack is more than double normal overall, and nearly triple in the southern Sierra. Damage since the onslaught began in late December includes buildings crushed by s...

At least 1 injured in collision involving tractor-trailer on Hwy. 401 EB ramp to Hwy. 427

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

At least one person has been injured after a collision between a tractor-trailer and another vehicle on Highway 401 EB at Highway 427.Toronto Fire Services were called to the scene on the eastbound ramp from the Hwy. 401 collectors to Hwy. 427 north to extricate a person who was trapped in a vehicle.A 27-year-old male has been taken to hospital in serious, but stable condition, according to EMS. It’s unclear if anyone else was in the vehicle.The eastbound 401 collector lanes are closed approaching the ramps to Hwy. 427. There is no access to the eastbound 401 to the northbound or south Hwy. 427.More to come

At trial, Minnesota says e-cigarette maker Juul targets kids

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison personally opened his state’s case against Juul Labs on Tuesday, accusing the e-cigarette maker of using “slick products, clever ads and attractive flavors” to hook children on nicotine as the first of thousands of cases against the company reached trial.Minnesota is seeking more than $100 million in damages, accusing Washington, D.C.-based Juul of unlawfully targeting young people to get a new generation addicted to nicotine. “They baited, deceived, and addicted a whole new generation of kids after Minnesotans slashed youth smoking rates down to the lowest level in a generation,” Ellison said. “Now, big tobacco is back with a new name but the same game. Juul wiped out the work of our state with their slick products, clever ads, and attractive flavors.”Juul has faced thousands of lawsuits nationwide but most have settled, including 39 with other states and U.S. territories. Not Minnesota, which won a landmark $7.1 bil...

Skeletal remains from Lake Mead are from person who died nearly 49 years ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada county officials have identified skeletal remains found at Lake Mead as a person who died there nearly 49 years ago.According to officials from Clark County, the skeletal remains found in the area of Callville Bay on Oct. 17, 2022, belong to Donald Smith, of North Las Vegas. Officials said Smith drowned in April 1974. He was 39 years old at the time. Here’s what we know about all of the remains found at Lake Mead The identification comes after DNA analysis, and officials have ruled Smith's death accidental.The discovery of Smith's remains in October was the fourth such find at Lake Mead. The initial set, reported first by Nexstar's KLAS, was found on May 1 when a body was discovered in a barrel near Hemenway Harbor. Additional human remains were found at Callville Bay less than a week later. The third set of remains was found on July 25, when a person at Swim Beach near Boulder Beach reported human remains to the National Park Service.

Capital Craft Beverage season kicks off with 'Drink Schenectady' on April 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The 2023 Capital Craft Beverage season is kicking off on April 1 with "Drink Schenectady." The event is set to take place at the MiSci Museum of Science and Innovation from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The new Capital Craft Beverage Trail Passport will be released on the same day. The passport is free and is a guide to craft beverage producers in the eight-county region around Albany that also offers rewards to trying the local establishments."To celebrate this year’s craft beverage season opening, we will offer attendees of Drink Schenectady both a new passport and a special, free ‘Drink Schenectady’ passport stamp to get them started on completing their first page,” said Capital Craft Beverage Trail (CCBT) President Mike DiCrescenzo of Altamont Vineyard & Winery. New Walloomsac tavern features mini-museum Producers providing samples at "Drink Schenectady" include:Adi...

Lawmakers press for answers on northern border security

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:44:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - Lawmakers say there should be a priority on keeping northern border communities safe from any dangers that could cross the border between Canada and the U.S."The northern border is wide open," Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Penn.) said. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Some lawmakers are concerned about what they say is happening along the more than 5000 miles long border."It's really a crisis and it's tragic on a human level as well," Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said.Tenney says illegal crossings and drug trafficking along the northern border are rising."There has been nearly an 850% increase in border crossings," Tenney said. Agents added to US Northern border amid crossing spike Kelly says part of the problem is there aren't enough agents to do the job."There's just not enough men up there to do it. They're just worn out," Kelly said.Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) blames the administration."Do we have operatio...