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Thousands remain out of homes as wildfire officials urge caution for long weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

Officials urged caution ahead of the long weekend as thousands of residents in Western Canada and the Northwest Territories remained out of their homes due to wildfires.“Don’t be responsible for starting a new wildfire,” Christie Tucker of Alberta Wildfire said Thursday.She said there were 92 active wildfires in the province, with 26 of them classified as out of control.Two weeks after evacuation orders started being issued in the province, about 10,000 evacuees are still out of their homes.More than 2,600 people are helping to fight Alberta’s fires, including crews from across Canada, the United States and the Armed Forces. Tucker said another 113 firefighters from the U.S. and 18 from Yukon were joining Thursday.Todd Loewen, Alberta’s Minister of Forestry, Parks and Tourism, urged people in the northwestern region near fires to voluntarily restrict recreational activities on Crown land, including backcountry camping, mountain biking and hiking.He said...

Train engineers union reaches first sick-time deal with Norfolk Southern railroad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The union that represents railroad engineers finally secured its first deal for paid sick time with Norfolk Southern, several months after other rail unions began reaching similar agreements with the major freight railroads.The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the deal with the railroad Thursday. Roughly 3,300 engineers who operate trains for Norfolk Southern will soon get five days of paid sick leave along with the option to convert two personal leave days to sick time, for a total of seven days a year.This deal follows the model established by the conductors union in its first sick-time deals with Norfolk Southern and CSX. Those train crew workers are getting better deals, with five days of sick time, than the other smaller rail unions that received four days of sick time. But train crews work much more unpredictable and demanding schedules than other rail workers.The railroads have also agreed to pay workers for any unused sick time at...

Music Review: Marty Stuart’s new album ‘Altitude’ is vibrant country inspired by the Byrds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

“Altitude,” Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives (Snakefarm)The geekiest fan would be hard-pressed to match Marty Stuart’s vast memorabilia collection, which will be displayed as part of his ambitious country music complex being built in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi.But Stuart wants to ensure the genre he loves isn’t a mere museum piece. No country artist is better at bringing the past into the present than the Country Music Hall of Famer, who approaches the music with passion, earned authenticity and enormous chops. “Altitude,” his first album in more than five years, was inspired by the Byrds’ groundbreaking cosmic country of the late 1960s. As such, it sounds like a throwback, but also entirely fresh. The set is an intoxicating mix of guitar reverb and tremolo, bent notes, chiming 12-string and keening harmonies in support of Stuart, whose robust tenor is filled with wit and wisdom. The 13 original tunes are as vibrant as the colorful suits worn by Stuart’s ban...

‘Make it go away’: Ethics probe finds Alberta Premier Smith in conflict of interest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

EDMONTON — Alberta’s ethics commissioner says United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith undermined democracy and broke conflict-of-interest rules by intervening in a criminal case and pressuring her attorney general to “make it go away.”Marguerite Trussler said Smith’s actions illustrate how democratic freedoms can quickly disappear when politicians start deciding who is and isn’t above the law.“(Judicial independence) is a fundamental pillar of our democracy,” said Trussler in a report released Thursday.“The premier breached this principle by discussing the accused’s case with him.”The accused is Artur Pawlowski, who was convicted earlier this month of mischief for inciting the continuation of a border blockade in protest of COVID-19 pandemic rules. The protest blocked Alberta’s main border crossing into the United States for more than two weeks in early 2022.Trussler’s investigation focuses on a Jan. 6 phone conversation between Smith and Pawlowski before h...

Indigenous band could have been more help, says judge in Wisconsin Line 5 dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

WASHINGTON — The Indigenous band in Wisconsin that’s trying to shut down the Line 5 pipeline got a chilly reception Thursday from a federal court judge who is dismayed they aren’t helping Enbridge Inc. to avoid an ecological disaster. The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa has asked district court Judge William Conley to order the pipeline shut down, fearing that heavy flooding last month could cause the line to spring a leak on their territory. But from the outset of Thursday’s hearing, it was clear Conley — who ordered the two sides to work together last fall on finding a solution to their impasse — doesn’t believe the band is holding up its end of the bargain. “The band has not helped itself by refusing to take any steps to prevent a catastrophic failure,” Conley said as the hearing got underway. “You haven’t even allowed simple steps that would have prevented some of this erosion.”In court documents, Enbridge has ac...

US inks modest trade deal with Taiwan in show of support in the face of pressure from China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has reached a modest trade agreement with Taiwan, signaling Washington’s support for the island democracy as it comes under increasing pressure from China.The first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade is expected to set the stage for a bigger deal later — “a robust and high-standard trade agreement,’’ U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.The initiative announced Thursday will, among other things, cut red tape at customs and reduce waiting times for U.S. businesses bringing products to Taiwan. It also commits the U.S. and Taiwan to adopting measures to combat bribery and other forms of corruption and to encouraging more trade involving small- and medium-sized businesses.The agreement does not require approval from the U.S. Congress. But there is broad bipartisan support in Washington for Taiwan, an island of 23 million that split from China when the communists took over the mainland in 1949 and has since develop...

AP analysis: Most beauty school programs would be in jeopardy under US proposal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

Under a new proposal intended to protect students, nearly two-thirds of cosmetology certificate programs at for-profit colleges would would risk losing federal funding. So would over a third of such programs in massage therapy and dental support services.Overall, 22% of programs at for-profit schools would face a federal crackdown, according to an Associated Press analysis of data released by the U.S. Education Department.The rules proposed Wednesday by the Biden administration aim to punish programs that leave graduates underpaid or buried in loans.Borrower advocates say the findings reflect the realities of higher education — that for-profit colleges are more likely to leave graduates with lower incomes, heavier debt and an increased risk of defaulting on their student loans. When the Obama administration proposed an earlier version of the rule in 2014, it also found that the vast majority of failing programs were at for-profit colleges.Cosmetology and health care have long been m...

Feinstein’s office details previously unknown complications from shingles illness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office said Thursday that she is suffering from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a complication from the shingles virus that can paralyze part of the face, and that she contracted encephalitis while recovering from the virus earlier this year.Feinstein, 89, had not previously disclosed those medical details, though she said in a statement last week that she had suffered complications from the virus. The longtime California senator returned from a more than two-month absence on May 10 after weeks of questions about her declining health and whether she would be back in the Senate at all.Adam Russell, a spokesman for Feinstein, said that the encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, “resolved itself shortly after she was released from the hospital in March.” Feinstein continues to have complications from the Ramsay Hunt syndrome, Russell said.Russell confirmed the two complications after the New York Times first reported them, raising questio...

New police council prioritizing youth safety after teens shot outside West Side library

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

CHICAGO — Newly-formed Chicago police council on Thursday weighed in on its first case, the shooting and wounding of two boys at the Garfield Park Library two days prior.A coalition of change-makers, including members of newly formed police district councils, alongside groups working to address violence in Garfield Park and surrounding communities, stood in unison outside the Henry E. Legler Regional Branch of the Chicago Public Library.  Man, woman in custody after 2 boys shot outside Chicago library Alees Edwards, an 11th police district council member, lamented Tuesday's double shooting."This will not be our normal," Edwards said. "We don’t want to get used to these sorts of scenarios."On Tuesday, May 16, around 5:30 p.m., a 16-year-old and a 12-year-old were shot outside the library on the 100 block of N. Pulaski Road.  Darnell Weatherspoon is the grandfather of Damarion, the 12-year-old shooting victim who was shot in the back. "I feel that kids right now don’t have a chance ...

New iPhone feature can replicate user's voice in 15 minutes: Apple

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:08 GMT

(NewsNation) — Amid a new wave of artificial intelligence, Apple iPhones will soon be able to speak in their users' voices, the tech company announced on Tuesday.The new iPhone feature, Personal Voice, will give users randomized text prompts to generate 15 minutes of audio. Another feature, Live Speech, will allow users to save commonly used phrases for the device to speak during phone calls and in-person conversations.Apple said it will use machine learning, a type of AI, to create the voice on the device itself, rather than externally, so the data can be more secure and private.The tech giant notes that these tools will help users who are speech-impaired. For example, a man who was diagnosed with ALS and is losing his ability to speak said, "If you can tell them you love them, in a voice that sounds like you, it makes all the difference in the world." But critics say this could pose security and privacy threats in the future. Montana becomes 1st state in nation to ban TikTo...