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OPP urging ‘better decisions’ from drivers after spike in impaired charges over holidays

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

Provincial police are out with the their end of years statistics and are urging Ontario drivers to “make better decisions” behind the wheel after a year-over-year increase in impaired driving charges, including a significant spike during the holiday period.In a post to X on Tuesday, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Sgt. Kerry Schmidt ran through the 2023 numbers and says impaired driving charges were up for the whole year compared to last, with a more than 20 per cent increase over the holiday period.He says the annual festive RIDE campaign, which ran from Nov. 16 to Jan. 1, saw a total of 916 drivers charged with a total of 1,471 charges.The OPP laid 196 charges in the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, which Schmidt says marks a 21 per cent increase from the same week the prior year.“We do this because people are dying as a result of preventable causes,” Schmidt says. “Please do your part, make better decisions and be a better driver....

After 180 years, a small daily newspaper in the US Virgin Islands says it is closing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A small daily newspaper in the U.S. Virgin Islands whose owner credited past generations of literate slaves for its survival is closing after 180 years in print.The St. Croix Avis, which published its first edition in 1844, can no longer compete with social media and digital newspaper subscription services, according to owner and publisher Rena Brodhurst.“That is an impossible mission we are unable to fulfill,” she said in a statement published Sunday.It wasn’t immediately clear when the paper would stop publishing, although Brodhurst said the company would soon exhaust its final shipment of newsprint.“I give thanks to the Moravian Church that insisted the enslaved learn to read, write, and comprehend. The St. Croix Avis would never have been possible without that concept of ensuring a literate Black population,” she said.The paper is based on the island of St. Croix, home to some 41,000 people, the majority of them Black of slave descent.Slavery in the ...

2 N.B. men to learn if they will be tried again after 1984 murder convictions quashed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

FREDERICTON — Two New Brunswick men whose 1984 murder convictions were recently quashed are expected to learn this week whether they will be put on trial again.A hearing is set for Thursday involving Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie at the Court of King’s Bench in Saint John, during which they will be represented by lawyers with Innocence Canada.Innocence Canada co-president Ron Dalton says the two men will plead not guilty and the Crown is expected to reveal at the hearing whether it intends to launch a new trial.Last month federal Justice Minister Arif Virani quashed the second-degree murder convictions related to the Nov. 30, 1983, slaying of George Gilman Leeman.Virani said he found a reasonable basis to conclude a miscarriage of justice occurred in the men’s convictions.Innocence Canada, which advocates for the wrongfully accused, has said that Gillespie served 21 years of his life sentence in prison, and Mailman served 18 years.This report by The Canadian Press ...

Judge rules former clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses must pay $260,000 in fees, costs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Former county clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky to same-sex couples, must pay a total of $260,104 in fees and expenses to attorneys who represented one couple, according to a federal judge’s ruling.That’s in addition to $100,000 in damages a jury said the former Rowan County clerk should pay the couple who sued.Attorneys for Davis had argued that the fees and costs sought by the attorneys were excessive, but U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning disagreed and said Davis must pay since the men prevailed in their lawsuit, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.Attorneys for Davis were expected to appeal the ruling. Davis drew international attention when she was briefly jailed in 2015 over her refusal, which she based on her belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.Davis was released only after her staff issued the licenses on her behalf but removed her name from the form. Kentucky’s state legislatur...

Somalia dismisses Ethiopia-Somaliland coastline deal, says it compromises sovereignty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s president on Tuesday rejected an agreement signed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland to give landlocked Ethiopia access to its coast, calling it a violation of international law.“We will not stand idly by and watch our sovereignty being compromised,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told a joint session of Somalia’s federal parliament.Somaliland, a region strategically located by the Gulf of Aden, broke away from Somalia in 1991 as the country collapsed into warlord-led conflict. The region has maintained its own government despite its lack of international recognition.On Monday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi signed a memorandum of understanding to allow Ethiopia to lease a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) stretch of coastline to establish a marine force base.Somaliland’s president said the agreement also included a clause that Ethiopia would recognize Somaliland as an independent cou...

10 people injured after Mississauga Transit bus crashes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

10 passengers have been injured after a Mississauga Transit bus crashed into a ditch Tuesday morning. Toronto police say the crash occurred at Highway 27 and Dixon Road just after 11 a.m. between the bus and one other vehicle.Both drivers have been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They were among ten people who have so far been transported to hospital that includes one man with serious injuries and nine others with minor injuries.Police say a total of 30 people are being assessed by paramedics.The northbound Highway 27 is closed at Eglinton and southbound Highway 27 is closed at Dixon. No further details about what caused the crash have been released.

Costco rumored to be swapping food court item for 'behemoth' cookie

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — It’s the new year, and with it, it appears Costco is bringing a new item to its food court — and perhaps replacing another. It’s not the hot dog that we're losing, though that item has caused controversy in the past.Instead, Costco is rumored to be taking the churro off its menu. Reddit users claiming to be or know Costco employees began reporting last month that Costco was pulling the churro and replacing them with chocolate chip cookies. Many seemed content with the alleged change, calling the churros “the worst item in the food court” and “tasteless dough.” Costco CEO comments on possible membership price hike: ‘You’ll see it happen’ Costco has not responded to Nexstar’s request for comment, but some customers are claiming the cookie is currently at their warehouses. The cookie is already on the menu in at least one location the Pacific Northwest, according to one Reddit user that shared an image from their food court. There, the cookie costs $2....

Passengers on United’s ‘time travel’ flight miss New Year’s Eve after plane lands in wrong year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Passengers flying with United Airlines on New Year’s missed their opportunity to “time travel” back to Dec. 31 after flight didn’t go back in time as far as they had hoped.The flight, which departed from Guam on the morning of Jan. 1, was scheduled to cross the International Date Line and land in Honolulu on the evening of Dec. 31 — allowing passengers to celebrate New Year’s Eve for a second time in Hawaii.“Time travel is real,” United Airlines said of the flight, according to an Instagram post shared a few days before New Year’s. “You only live once, but you can celebrate New Year's Eve twice!” the carrier added.Data from FlightAware, however, shows that the plane ended up leaving more than six hours late — and landed in Honolulu at 12:34 a.m. on Jan. 1, and not on the evening of Dec. 31 as scheduled. United Airlines is about to completely change the way you board a plane A representative for United Airlines did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday...

Midwest couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

VALLEY PARK, Mo. – A local pair of centenarians has reached a major milestone.Andrew and Bertha “Bunny” Kowalczyk celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary on Monday amongst family and friends at Cape Albeon Lakeside Retirement Living in Vally Park, Missouri.The couple, ages 103 and 102, tied the knot on Jan. 1, 1944. A random draw at a collegiate dance started the partnership.SEE ALSO: Single $842.4 million Powerball ticket sold in Michigan"They were both going to the University of New Hampshire, and there was a dance at the dorm," David Kowalczyk, the couple’s son, said. "And the way they got couples to dance is you had a lottery and you picked a number. Well, both my father and my mother picked number 23. And, so, that's how they ended up together."Andy, a veteran of World War II, mustered up the courage to ask his future flame for another date one month later."He comes walking up the path to pick me up and, lo and behold, there he was in uniform," Bunny said.What's the key to su...

It’s official: The Twin Cities experienced the warmest December on record

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:42 GMT

With 2023 in the rear-view mirror, it’s official:The metro experienced the warmest December on record, the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service confirmed on Monday.Also on Monday — New Year’s Day — the weather service reported that 2023 was the third warmest year on the books in the metro.In the Twin Cities, temperature records date back to the 1870s.Joe Soucheray: Are we headed for another ‘Year Without Winter’? It’s too soon to tell.A little more than five inches of snow has fallen so far this winter in the Twin Cities — 14 inches below average.By this time last year, more than 33 inches had piled up during what was to become the third snowiest winter on record (90.3 inches) in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area.Challenged by friends, the Maas family team, from left, Rebecca, 14, Emmanuel, 10, Julian, 7, and Christopher, 12, spent three days building this snowman in their St. Paul yard, seen Tuesday, March 14, 2023. The 10-f...