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Prison guard gets job back after fired for anti-Muslim meme

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut prison guard who was fired in 2021, several years after posting what the state determined to be an anti-Muslim meme on Facebook, has been reinstated to his job.An arbitrator ruled in February that Anthony Marlak’s termination was an excessive response by the state Department of Correction and reduced the punishment to a 25-day suspension. He also ruled that Marlak must be compensated for lost pay and benefits.Marlak, who served as a correctional officer for 14 years, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he returned to his job at the Garner Correctional Institution in March.The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the country’s largest Muslim advocacy organization, had called for Marlak’s firing two years ago. The group cited a meme he posted on Facebook in 2017, which it said depicted five apparently Muslim men hanging from nooses with the caption “Islamic Wind Chimes.”Marlak, an Air Force veteran, h...

Police: 4 dead in plane crash off Florida’s Gulf Coast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

VENICE, Fla. (AP) — The bodies of two men and two women have been recovered following a small plane crash just off Florida’s Gulf Coast, police said Thursday.The plane had just taken off from Venice Airport when it crashed into the Gulf of Mexico west of the city’s fishing pier just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Venice police said in a news conference. Several people on the pier saw the plane crash and called 911, Venice police Capt. Andy Leisenring said. In addition video footage from the airport and the pier will be reviewed and turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is conducting an investigation, he said.Leisenring said police “were unable to deploy a dive team until we had daylight.” The plane — a Piper PA-32R — was spotted just before noon under about 23 feet of water, he said. Crews also found the bodies of the two female passengers.Authorities identified the victims as William Jeffrey Lumpkin, 64, who was piloting the plane, Patricia Lumpkin, 68, R...

Cattle farmers can rejig to avoid trade spat, bilateral deal gives edge: U.K. envoy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

OTTAWA — Britain’s envoy to Ottawa suggests that an uproar in the Prairies over expanded trade agreements could be overcome if ranchers rejig their use of hormones — and she says an additional bilateral deal between Canada and London would give both countries an edge over Europe.“We have quite similar approaches to trade,” said British High Commissioner Susannah Goshko.“Any negotiation — even when you’re negotiating with friends — requires you to think quite hard. Nobody signs up to something that isn’t in their national interest, as well as in the collective interest.”She was speaking just days after the announcement of the United Kingdom’s ascension to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.The 11 countries that helped craft the deal have approved the U.K.’s membership in principle, though member states will still have to individually ratify Britain’s membership.Ottawa pushed to get the pact&#...

Quebec ice storm: More than one million customers without power, man crushed by tree

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

MONTREAL — Hydro crews in Quebec raced on Thursday to restore power ahead of the Easter long weekend after a fierce ice storm left more than one million customers in the dark and led to the death of a man who was crushed by a tree.Freezing rain sent ice-laden tree branches crashing down onto power lines, streets and cars, knocking out power to more than a million homes and businesses in Quebec, the province’s electric utility said. More than 1,100 hydro workers were on the ground across the province to restore power. Hydro-Québec said in a morning news conference it expected to restore power to between 300,000 and 350,000 clients by the end of the day, and to 70 or 80 per cent of affected customers by midnight Friday.“I can already confirm to you that there will be some, unfortunately, where it will go into the Easter long weekend, possibly Saturday, depending on some areas that are more complex,” said Régis Tellier, a vice-president of operations and maintenance.P...

Linda Beardy, whose remains found in Winnipeg landfill, remembered as a loving mother

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

WINNIPEG — The family of a First Nations woman whose remains were discovered this week at a Winnipeg landfill says she will be remembered as a devoted mother and auntie whose contagious laugh could fill a room. The family of 33-year-old Linda Beardy says in a statement that they are devastated and heartbroken as they try to comprehend what happened after staff at the city-run landfill south of Winnipeg found her remains Monday. They describe Beardy as someone who fiercely supported her four older sisters, their children and her own four children, who were her pride and joy. Beardy was a mother and a member of Lake St. Martin First Nation but grew up in Winnipeg and was living in the city at the time of her death. The family says Beardy had a strong Christian faith and attended Believers Church in central Winnipeg. Police have not released the cause and time of her death, but the Winnipeg homicide unit said it is investigating it as a suspicious.“Linda was our baby girl, a momm...

Alberta premier says politicians cannot talk to accused, but her call was OK

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a week after she was overheard on a leaked phone call offering to help an accused with his upcoming criminal trial, says MLAs and cabinet ministers are not free to engage in such discussions because the system must be independent.Smith says her conversation with Calgary street pastor Artur Pawlowski about his trial stemming from a COVID-19 protest does not represent a policy change by her government.She also says she did nothing irregular on the call, and her job as a politician is to consult a broad range of people and raise their concerns.During the call, the premier tells Pawlowski the charges against him are politically motivated while offering to make inquiries on his behalf and sharing details with him about internal disagreements over Crown strategy.Legal experts say the call was a clear violation of the democratic guardrail that keeps politicians from having a say in who gets charged and how cases are prosecuted.The Opposition NDP s...

EPA proposal takes on health risks near US chemical plants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

In what could prove a significant move for communities facing air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Thursday that chemical plants nationwide measure certain hazardous compounds that cross beyond their property lines and reduce them when they are too high.The proposed rules would reduce cancer risk and other exposure for communities that live close to harmful emitters, the EPA said. The data would be made public and the results would force companies to fix problems that increase emissions. “This is probably the most significant rule I’m experiencing in my 30 years of working in cancer alley,” said Beverly Wright executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She referred to an area dense with petrochemical development along the Gulf coast. In the past, Wright said, even when emissions caused harm, residents weren’t able to sue and reduce the threat.The proposed measur...

Thirty per cent of Defence Department procurement positions vacant: internal report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

OTTAWA — An internal Defence Department report has found that a shortage of procurement officials is hindering efforts to buy much-needed equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces.Recently published online, the report appears to offer an explanation for some of the delays that have plagued Canada’s efforts to purchase new warships, aircraft and other military gear.The report says the lack of trained procurement experts represents a “key risk” for the department, with 30 per cent of such positions vacant at the end of May 2022.It goes on to blame the shortage on competition with the private sector for experienced acquisition experts, adding the vacancies are threatening the government’s plan to invest billions of dollars into the military in the coming years.The report is the latest to raise concerns about a shortage of procurement officials within the Defence Department and military amid delays and challenges in the delivery of new equipment.Those delays have c...

New Hampshire House passes bipartisan $15.9 billion budget

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — In a surprising display of cooperation and compromise, the narrowly divided New Hampshire House approved a two-year state budget Thursday, sending the $15.9 billion plan on to the Senate.The total, which includes federal funds, would be more than 18% higher than the current budget. Republican Rep. Ken Weyler, chair of the House Finance Committee, said the increase reflects the high rate of inflation and that when federal money is taken into account, the actual increase is closer to 7 percent. “It’s more than I’d like to see as an increase. But the same thing happens when I fill up my gas tank or go to the grocery store,” he said. “We have to face reality and adjust to it.”Weyler also emphasized another key reality: With Republicans holding a miniscule 201-196 majority, bipartisanship was the smoothest path forward. Though party leaders were bickering over the budget as recently as last week, they ultimately came together with an amendment jointly sponsored by Re...

Rowdy protests again hit France, but striker numbers dwindle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:19 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Police fired clouds of tear gas against unruly protesters in Paris and other French cities Thursday as hundreds of thousands of people returned to streets across the country to vent anger against President Emmanuel Macron’s contested pension reforms.Macron’s drive to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64 has ignited a months-long firestorm of opposition. Talks between trade union leaders and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne quickly collapsed Wednesday without a breakthrough, setting the stage for the fresh demonstrations that were largely peaceful but also punctured by violence. Trade unions vowed to keep up their resistance and called for another round of protests in a week. But labor strikes that have caused significant disruptions since January lost some of their bite, with fewer workers taking part. The Paris Metro ran almost normally Thursday, in contrast with previous days of action. Less than 8% of teachers were on strike, according to the Education...