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Encroaching wildfires prompt North Carolina and Tennessee campgrounds to evacuate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

PINNACLE, N.C. (AP) — Wildfires have prompted campgrounds in North Carolina and Tennessee to evacuate starting Sunday while firefighters prepared for high winds and low humidity on Monday, though officials hoped for some help from expected rain.The National Weather Service’s office in Morristown, Tennessee, office issued a red flag warning into Tuesday in the East Tennessee mountains and southwest North Carolina, with winds between 25 and 50 mph Monday afternoon, increasing to 40 to 70 mph on Monday night with 80 mph gusts possible in some places. In North Carolina, a youth camp and about a dozen homes were evacuated Sunday evening as the fire spread in the Sauratown Mountains in Stokes County, said Jimmy Holt, a ranger with the N.C. Forest Service, on Monday. About 50 children were safely evacuated from the Mountain Top Youth Camp and residents of about 12 threatened homes were advised to evacuate as the fire spread, Holt said. No injuries or damage to structures have been re...

2024 presidential general election debates are planned for September and October in 3 college towns

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three debates for next year’s presidential general election are set to be held in college towns in Texas, Virginia and Utah between Sept. 16 and Oct. 9, with the lone vice presidential debate happening in between in Pennsylvania — though it remains to be seen whether the Republican nominee will participate. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday that presidential candidates will first be scheduled to meet Sept. 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos, south of Austin. The vice presidential debate is scheduled nine days later at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Presidential debates planned for Virginia State University in Petersburg on Oct. 1, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Oct. 9, round out the schedule ahead of Nov. 5’s Election Day. “The United States’ general election debates, watched live worldwide, are a model for many other countries: the opportunity to hear and see leading candidates addr...

Saskatchewan squabbles with Ottawa over pavilion presentations at COP28 in Dubai

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

REGINA — Saskatchewan is squabbling again with Ottawa — this time over an event space at a climate conference in Dubai. The province says because Ottawa rejected most of its proposals, it decided to pull out of participating in the federal Liberal government’s pavilion at the COP28 conference, set for later this month.The province then decided to purchase its own pavilion for $765,000.Jim Reiter, the provincial energy minister, said last week the federal government accepted a proposal from Saskatchewan to have a reception at Ottawa’s pavilion. However, he said Ottawa offered the province 45 minutes for the reception. It also rejected the province’s nine other proposals, which he said included panels led by industry leaders.   Reiter said there are 40 Saskatchewan companies and organizations accompanying Premier Scott Moe and four other government staff on the trip. He said Saskatchewan wants to showcase the companies’ sustainability efforts. “We want to...

Former Blue Jay José Bautista on MLB’s 2024 Hall of Fame ballot

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

Longtime Toronto Blue Jays outfielder José Bautista has made baseball’s 2024 Hall of Fame ballot.Bautista was one of 28 players announced on the ballot, including former Blue Jays starting pitcher Mark Buehrle and infielder José Reyes. It’s Bautista’s first year of eligibility.The 43-year-old played 10 seasons in Toronto, emerging as one of baseball’s best sluggers while North of the Border. He ranks among the top five in several Blue Jays all-time categories, including home runs (288), RBIs (766), walks (803), and games played (1,235). He also ranks first among Blue Jays position players in Wins Above Replacement (WAR), with 38.3 accrued during his tenure.During his time in Toronto, Bautista was a six-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger. He had 288 homers with the Blue Jays, including a major league-leading 54 in 2010 and 43 in 2011. The 54 home runs he slugged in 2010 are a single-season Blue Jays record, as is the 8.4 WAR he posted in 2011. Relate...

Congolese businessman Katumbi launches his presidential campaign to challenge Tshisekedi

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congolese businessman and opposition leader Moise Katumbi launched his presidential campaign on Monday, five years after the regime in power at the time blocked him from running.Katumbi’s rally in the city of Kisangani came a day after his two main competitors, President Felix Tshisekedi and opposition figure Martin Fayulu, started their campaigns ahead of the Dec. 20 vote.Katumbi criticized Tshisekedi’s record in the country’s volatile east, where the army has been battling M23 rebels and other armed groups.“Tshisekedi has recruited foreign mercenaries instead of increasing the salaries of the military and police to defend territorial integrity,” Katumbi told his supporters.Katumbi, the former governor of Katanga province, also rebuffed Tshisekedi’s insinuations Sunday that unspecified opposition candidates backed Rwanda. The neighboring country has been accused of funding and arming the M23 rebels, which its government denies.Represen...

Concerns emerge over NextStar’s plans to hire foreign workers for battery plant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

WINDSOR, Ont. — Concerns are rising over plans by NextStar Energy Inc. to bring in foreign workers to help build a battery plant in Windsor, Ont., that is being supported by an expected $15 billion in public funding.Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday that he is pushing for a full inquiry into the issue, and wants a commitment that no public funding will go to foreign workers. It’s not clear how many workers NextStar Energy, a joint venture between automaker Stellantis and South Korea’s LG, plans to bring from outside Canada. NextStar Energy chief executive Danies Lee says in a statement that the company is committed to hiring Canadians to fill more than 2,500 full-time jobs at the battery plant, and engage with up to 2,300 more local tradespeople to help with construction and installation.However, he says the installation phase of the project also requires temporary specialized global supplier staff, who have proprietary knowledge and specialized ex...

Black Friday, Cyber Monday shoppers to focus on quality, timing this year: experts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

TORONTO — For Harley Finkelstein, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are akin to the Super Bowl.Staff at his e-commerce software company Shopify Inc. start preparing for the big week during the summer by stress-testing systems and ensuring checkout will be as seamless as possible for the firm’s thousands of merchants during the November shopping stretch.“I don’t sleep for that five-day period,” said Finkelstein, Shopify’s president. “My wife knows about it. My kids know about it. I am in full Black Friday, Cyber Monday mode.”This year the e-commerce heavyweight expects the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales period to be just as frenzied, but something will be different: shoppers’ moods.Inflation, high interest rates and layoffs are weighing on wallets — and Finkelstein thinks it will make shoppers more intentional about what they buy.“I think ‘less but better’ is probably going to be one of the themes,” he said.R...

CP NewsAlert: Saskatchewan man pleads guilty to killing wife with strychnine drink

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

A Saskatchewan man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the poisoning of his wife on their family farm.Cindy MacKay of Meota, who was 38, died in February of 2020.Court in Battleford has heard Michael MacKay mixed strychnine, a toxic pesticide, into a drink he served his wife, causing her a painful death.Medical staff contacted RCMP because her death seemed suspicious.An agreed statement of facts read into court says Michael MacKay was having an affair.Family members told court Cindy MacKay was a loving mother and her death has left them shattered and fearful.The Canadian Press

Commission investigating Lewiston mass shooting seeks to subpoena shooter’s military records

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — An independent commission investigating the mass shooting that killed 18 people in Maine last month moved Monday to seek subpoena power so it can obtain the military service records of the shooter.Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey have tasked the commission with performing a review of the events leading up to the Lewiston shootings and the response to it. Army reservist Robert Card, 40, killed 18 people in a bowling alley and a restaurant on Oct. 25 before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.The commission held its first meeting on Monday and members unanimously voted to request subpoena power from the Maine Legislature.“We will be seeking military records, and those might not be accessible to us without subpoena power,” said Toby Dilworth, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Maine and a commission member. “It’s essential that we have this subpoena power.”The commission is chaired by Daniel Wathen, former chi...

Solar panels will cut water loss from canals in Gila River Indian Community

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:41 GMT

In a move that may soon be replicated elsewhere, the Gila River Indian Community recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to put solar panels over a stretch of irrigation canal on their land south of Phoenix.It will be the first project of its kind in the United States to actually break ground, according to the tribe’s press release. “This was a historic moment here for the community but also for the region and across Indian Country,” said Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis in a video published on X, formerly known as Twitter. The first phase, set to be completed in 2025, will cover 1000 feet of canal and generate one megawatt of electricity that the tribe will use to irrigate crops, including feed for livestock, cotton and grains.The idea is simple: install solar panels over canals in sunny, water-scarce regions where they reduce evaporation and make renewable electricity.“We’re proud to be leaders in water conservation, and this project is...