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New rule to expand background checks on gun sales proposed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

WASHINGTON  — The Biden administration is proposing a rule that would require thousands more firearms dealers to run background checks, in an effort to combat rising gun violence nationwide.The proposal comes after a mandate from President Joe Biden to find ways to strengthen background checks following the passage of bipartisan legislation on guns last year.People who sell firearms online or at gun shows would be required to be licensed and run background checks on the buyers before the sales under the rule proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.The bureau estimates that the rule would affect anywhere from 24,500 to 328,000 sellers. It is aimed at those who are in the business of gun sales, rather than those with personal collections.Background checks help prevent guns from being sold to people convicted of crimes, teenagers and others who are legally blocked from owning them, said the agency’s director, Steve Dettelbach. Federally licensed firear...

Two ex-Proud Boys leaders get some of longest sentences in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Two former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group were sentenced to more than a decade each in prison Thursday for spearheading an attack on the U.S. Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.The 17-year prison term for organizer Joseph Biggs and 15-year sentence for leader Zachary Rehl were the second and third longest sentences handed down yet in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. They were the first Proud Boys to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who will separately preside over similar hearings of three others who were convicted by a jury in May after a four-month trial in Washington that laid bare far-right extremists’ embrace of lies by Trump, a Republican, that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Enrique Tarrio, a Miami resident who was the Proud Boys’ national chairman and ...

Canada issues US travel advisory warning LGBTQ+ community about laws that may affect them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

By ROB GILLIES (Associated Press)TORONTO (AP) — Canada this week updated its travel advisory to the U.S., warning members of the LGBTQ+ community that some American states have enacted laws that may affect them.The country’s Global Affairs department did not specify which states, but is advising travelers to check the local laws for their destination before traveling.“Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the U.S. have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events,” Global Affairs spokesman Jérémie Bérubé said Thursday in an emailed statement.“Outside Canada, laws and customs related to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics can be very different from those in Canada,” the statement added. “As a result, Canadians could face certain barriers and risks when they travel ou...

From car battery to coffee maker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Batteries in older Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are getting a new life as portable power sources that can be used to run gadgets on the go or deliver emergency power in disasters.Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. has sold more than 650,000 Leaf EVs. Their batteries often retain a charging capacity longer than the car’s life span.Nissan says it is using the old batteries in portable power sources it developed with electronics maker JVCKenwood Corp. and 4R Energy Corp., a company co-owned by Nissan and Sumitomo Corp. which works on ecological vehicles and power storage systems.The 32-pound power source sells for 170,500 yen or about $1,170, in Japan. Overseas sales are not yet set.Each Leaf uses 48 battery modules. The portable power stations contain two modules.Nissan officials said they are testing the batteries in Leafs after their owners stop driving them, and reusing those that can still hold a charge.EV batteries use expensive rare metals and other raw...

Swingman Svi Mykhailiuk reportedly agrees to one-year contract with Celtics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

The Celtics have reportedly signed well-traveled swingman Svi Mykhailiuk to a one-year contract.The Athletic’s Shams Charania was the first to report the deal. Mykhailiuk, a 6-foot-7 small forward/shooting guard, hails from the Ukraine, but played four seasons at the University of Kansas.He was drafted 47th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.He has played in 252 regular-season NBA games, seeing action with the Lakers, Pistons, Thunder, Knicks and Hornets in his five-year pro career.Mykhailiuk has averaged 6.6 points as an NBA player. Last season, he split time between the Knicks and Hornets. He was productive in his 19 games with the Hornets, averaging 10.6 points per game and shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range.The 26-year-old averaged 14.6 points during his senior season at Kansas.

Housing advocacy group donates $50K to rent control ballot question committee

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

An out-of-state advocacy group is throwing its weight early into a ballot question push to institute rent control in Massachusetts, handing $50,000 to supporters looking to repeal a 1994 ban on the measure.Housing Is A Human Right made the donation to a ballot question committee run by state Rep. Mike Connolly, the Cambridge Democrat said in a statement. The organization has taken part in successful rent control campaigns in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Pasadena, California.“We are engaging with a broad set of stakeholders to build consensus for the roll out of a full-fledged signature-gathering campaign this fall,” Connolly said in a statement. “We’re also working with experienced campaign professionals to map out a winning campaign plan for the 2024 general election and hoping to bring everyone to the table in support of housing justice in our commonwealth.”Housing Is Human Right is the housing advocacy division of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare, a global ...

Efforts to punish Fani Willis over Trump prosecution are ‘political theater,’ Georgia Gov. Kemp says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday offered his strongest denunciation to date of efforts by his fellow Republicans to go after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, dismissing the moves as “political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment.”Some Republicans in Washington and Georgia have been attacking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis since even before she announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Kemp said that any calls for a special session to impeach Willis or defund her office were wrong and that she had done nothing to merit removal.A special session, the second-term governor said, “would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government.”“The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as I’m governor, we’re going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms...

More Canadians opting for home co-ownership amid affordability crunch: Royal LePage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

TORONTO — Affordability is the top reason cited among Canadians who opted for co-ownership with family members and friends, according to a new Royal LePage survey.The survey, published Thursday, revealed six per cent of respondents co-owned their property with people who weren’t their significant other. Of those, 76 per cent cited affordability as the top reason, followed by the need to buy a bigger property.In the online survey, conducted by Leger between Aug. 10 and Aug. 21, 89 per cent of those co-owned homes were purchased with a family member, seven per cent with friends and eight per cent with someone who is not a friend or family. Co-ownership has existed for years, mostly driven by necessities such as help with raising children or supporting parents or grandparents in a multi-generational setting, said Karen Yolevski of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd. in an interview.That seems to be changing, she said. The historical, family-related reasons for multi-generation...

Polar Express ride at the CNE in Toronto reopens after injury earlier this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

A popular ride at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto has reopened after a rider was injured earlier this week. CNE spokesperson Tran Nguyen says the Polar Express ride has reopened with permission from the province’s Technical Standards and Safety Authority. The ride was shut down on Aug. 28, after a man suffered undisclosed injuries and was taken to hospital. The TSSA says in a statement that it conducted a thorough technical inspection of the ride and it was deemed safe to resume operation. It says the investigation into the “root cause” of the incident is ongoing. It also says the ride met all safety requirements before it was initially allowed to operate.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.The Canadian Press

Judge says Kansas shouldn’t keep changing trans people’s birth certificates due to new state law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:42 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that Kansas officials shouldn’t keep changing transgender people’s birth certificates so the documents reflect their gender identities.U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree approved Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach’s request to block the changes because of a new state law rolling back trans rights. Kansas joins Montana, Oklahoma and Tennessee in barring such birth certificate changes.Kansas is for now also among a few states that don’t let trans people change their driver’s licenses to reflect their gender identities. That’s because of a separate state-court lawsuit Kobach filed last month. Both efforts are responses to the new state law, which took effect July 1.In federal court, Kobach succeeded in lifting a policy imposed when Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration settled a 2018 lawsuit from four transgender people challenging a previous Republican no-changes policy. The settlement came only months after Kelly t...