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Railroad unions want scrutiny of remote control trains after death of worker in Ohio railyard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

By JOSH FUNK (AP Business Writer)OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Most of the reaction to the predawn death of a rail worker who mistakenly stepped in front of two CSX locomotives last month has focused on whether the 19-year veteran should have seen the train coming and not on the actions of a worker who could hardly see the front of the locomotives he or she was operating using a remote control.Some railroad unions want more scrutiny of the safety of remote control operations major railroads have used for years in and around railyards without significant problems. Remote control helps limit costs by using less experienced workers to move locomotives that help assemble trains — a task that once required licensed engineers who are among the highest-paid rail workers. Even if the CSX remote control operator in the Sept. 17 incident in Walbridge, Ohio, did everything right, as the railroad suggests, Don Grissom, president of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen union, questions why locom...

Paul Pierce talks Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and importance of Celtics connection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

For about 30 minutes after Thursday’s practice, the clocks at the Auerbach Center turned back 15 years. On one court, a trio of 2008 Celtics champions – Paul Pierce, Eddie House and Sam Cassell – engaged in an intense three-point competition with a few other C’s staffers.Jayson Tatum walked out of a media scrum and watched the festivities from the side as the three former teammates went at it, trash talking one another.“He’s making a comeback!” Tatum joked as Pierce launched 3-pointers from the corner. “We got one more spot! We got one more spot on the team!”All week, former Celtics have taken over the Auerbach Center with training camp starting. Pierce and House have joined the proceedings for several days. Cassell is now an assistant coach. Earlier this week, Leon Powe and Satch Sanders stopped by. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has made it a priority to keep an open door to the building for the past. He sent out an email to all of the franchise’s former players with an open invitatio...

Cannabis chair’s hearing scrapped, Treasurer will meet over her removal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

A hearing to have the courts consider whether to order the ousted Cannabis Control Commission chair returned to her position leading the state’s pot board has been called off — for now.According to an attorney representing CCC Chair Shannon O’Brien, a hearing seeking a court order to have her reinstated was continued after the state treasurer agreed to hold her own hearing on the matter “which will take place on November 7, 2023.”“After being suspended by the State Treasurer without cause and no due process on September 28, 2023, Chair O’Brien then immediately requested a meeting with Treasurer Goldberg and received no reply on that request until yesterday,” Howard Cooper, a founding partner with Boston law firm Todd & Weld, said in an emailed statement.Cooper said his firm “filed a notice with Suffolk Superior court this morning stating that (O’Brien) was voluntarily continuing tomorrow’s court hearing as a result of Goldber...

Mortgage bite: Average rates hits 7.49%, highest since 2000

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

The cost of financing a home surged again this week as the average long-term mortgage rate climbed to its highest level since December 2000, further dimming the affordability outlook for many would-be homebuyers.The average rate on the 30-year home loan rose to 7.49% from 7.31% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.66%. The average rate  is now more than double what it was two years ago, when it was just 2.99%.Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loan, also increased. The average rate rose to 6.78% from 6.72% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.90%, Freddie Mac said.The combination of elevated rates and low home inventory has worsened the affordability crunch by keeping home prices near all-time highs even as sales of previously occupied U.S. homes have plummeted 21% through the first eight months of this year versus the same stretch in 2022.Home loan applications fell to the l...

A man seeking Wisconsin’s governor illegally brought guns to the state Capitol – twice in one day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man illegally brought a loaded handgun into the Wisconsin Capitol, demanding to see Gov. Tony Evers, and returned at night with an assault rifle after posting bail, police said Thursday.The man, who was shirtless and had a holstered handgun, approached the governor’s office on the first floor of the Capitol around 2 p.m. Wednesday, state Department of Administration spokesperson Tatyana Warrick said. The 43-year-old man said “he would not leave until he saw Governor Evers” so he could talk about “domestic abuse towards men,” Capitol police said in a bulletin sent to lawmakers and their staffs.Evers was not in the building at the time, Warrick said.A Capitol police officer sits at a desk outside of a suite of rooms that includes the governor’s office, conference room and offices for the attorney general. The man was taken into custody for openly carrying a firearm in the Capitol, which is against the law, Warrick said. Weapons can be brought into th...

Ramaswamy says protesters slammed a car into his vehicle while he was campaigning in Iowa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says protesters in Iowa slammed a car into his vehicle while he was campaigning in the early voting state Thursday.“Had a civil exchange with protestors today, right before two of them then got into their car & rammed it into ours,” he posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Those two should be held accountable, but the rest of the peaceful protestors shouldn’t be tarred by the behavior of two bad actors.”Ramaswamy was campaigning in Grinnell, a small city in central Iowa east of Des Moines and home to Grinnell College, a small liberal arts school with an enrollment of about 1,700 in Poweshiek County. A message left with the Grinnell police chief wasn’t immediately returned Thursday afternoon. Thomas Beaumont, The Associated Press

US Customs officials seize giraffe feces from woman at Minnesota airport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal customs agents pooh-poohed the plans of a Iowa woman who wanted to make jewelry from giraffe feces she picked up on a trip to Kenya and brought back to the U.S. in her luggage. The woman declared the small box of feces when she was selected to have her belongings inspected upon arriving at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport on Sept. 29, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The woman, who was not identified, told officials she planned to use the waste to make a necklace, as she had done in the past with moose poop. The agency’s agriculture specialists seized the small box and destroyed the giraffe poop.“There is a real danger with bringing fecal matter into the U.S.,” Customs and Border Protection’s Chicago field Director LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke said in a statement. “If this person had entered the U.S. and had not declared these items, there is high possibility a person could have contracted a disease from this jewelry and developed seriou...

Nobel Peace Prize guesswork focuses on the Ukrainian war, protests in Iran and climate change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who will join the ranks of Elie Wiesel, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, will be revealed on Friday and the annual guessing game has reached its climax.As usual, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has dropped no hints about who’s in the running this year, leaving those speculating with very little to go on.Bookmakers who take bets on prospective winners are giving the lowest odds to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. However, guessing a winner is notoriously hard and the bookies rarely get it right. Zelenskyy would seem like an unlikely choice, as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to spread death and destruction. When the committee has picked world leaders embroiled in conflicts in the past, it has usually been after they reached a peace agreement.“I don’t think the panel can give it to a national leader in the midst...

Ex-treasurer for Rep. George Santos pleads guilty to conspiracy, tells of bogus loan and fake donors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The ex-treasurer for U.S. Rep. George Santos pleaded guilty Thursday to a fraud conspiracy charge and implicated the indicted New York Republican in a scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports with a fake loan and fake donors.Nancy Marks, who was a close aide to Santos during his two congressional bids, entered the plea at a federal courthouse on Long Island, where she was a longtime political operative and bookkeeper for multiple candidates.Speaking to the judge, Marks said that among other things, she and Santos had submitted bogus campaign finance reports falsely saying he had loaned his campaign $500,000 even though in reality he didn’t have that kind of money and the loan didn’t exist. She said the purpose of the fake loan was to make it look like he was richer than he really was, which might attract other donors including a Republican committee. Reading from a prepared statement, Marks also said she had provided the Federal Elections Commissi...

Accused in secrets case was expected to achieve ‘significant outcomes’ for RCMP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:51:02 GMT

OTTAWA — Evidence at the trial of a former RCMP intelligence official charged with breaching Canada’s secrets law reveals he led a unit expected to work in a complex, high-pressure environment.A detailed job description for Cameron Jay Ortis says he became director of the national police force’s Operations Research group in 2013. The unit had the task of assembling and developing classified information on terror cells, transnational criminal networks, cybercrime actors and commercial espionage.“Given the perspective of imminent national security threats, the unit must evolve in a no fail operational environment that demands that its outputs lead to significant outcomes,” says the job description, filed in Ontario Superior Court as part of a statement of agreed facts in the case.The unit director is expected to manage a high-risk program that provides actionable packages of information to senior RCMP executives, the description says.It adds the director is key...