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Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, one year on: ‘It’s restoring the American dream’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden rattled off an impressive list of economic wins Wednesday to mark one full year of “transformative” climate spending that’s better known among critics in Canada and overseas than it is by voters in the United States. It was August 2022 when Biden signed the $1.2-trillion Inflation Reduction Act — a misnomer, he has acknowledged, that says more about the American mood throughout much of last year than it does about the law itself. And Biden’s own mood Wednesday seemed to betray one of the White House’s most enduring frustrations: that his economic and political victories are being drowned out in a country wracked by partisan division.“We’re still a country that believes in hard work. We’re still a country that believes each and every one of us is created equal,” Biden told his East Room guests, his tone rising, his face stern.  “We’ve never fully lived up to it, (but) we never walked aw...

Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records and Rock Hall of Fame member, dies at 88

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

Jerry Moss, a music industry giant who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert and rose from a Los Angeles garage to the heights of success with hits by Alpert, the Police, the Carpenters and hundreds of other performers, has died at age 88.Moss, inducted with Alpert into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, died Wednesday at his home in Bel Air, California, according to a statement released by his family.“They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun,” the statement reads in part, “the twinkle in his eyes as he approached every moment ready for the next adventure.”For more than 25 years, Alpert and Moss presided over one of the industry’s most successful independent labels, releasing such blockbuster albums as Albert’s “Whipped Cream & Other Delights,” Carole King’s “Tapestry” and Peter Frampton’s “Frampton Comes Alive!” They were home to the Carpenters and Cat Stevens,Janet Ja...

US wildlife managers agree to review the plight of a Western bird linked to piñon forests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. wildlife managers announced Wednesday that they will investigate whether a bird that is inextricably linked to the piñon and juniper forests that span the Western United States warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act.The pinyon jay’s numbers have declined over the last half-century as persistent drought, more severe wildfires and other effects of climate change have intensified, leaving the birds with less food and fewer nesting options as more trees die or are removed.Environmentalists also are concerned that without the pinyon jay — a social bird that essentially plants the next generation of trees by stashing away the seeds — it’s possible the piñon forests of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and other Western states could face another reproductive hurdle.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to review the jay’s status comes in response to a petition filed more than a year ago that included research showing the speciesR...

Steven Guilbeault to become first cabinet minister to visit China since 2018

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

OTTAWA — Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will travel to China on a diplomatic mission later this month, even as politicians in Ottawa continue to negotiate a public inquiry into alleged foreign interference.Guilbeault will be in Beijing from Aug. 26 to 31 in what will be the first official visit of a Canadian cabinet minister to China since 2018.A spokesperson for Guilbeault says the world is faced with the “triple crisis” of climate change, pollution and biodiversity, which can only be handled through urgent international co-operation.His office said the minister will attend a meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development while in Beijing.Guilbeault’s office noted that he and his Chinese counterpart, Huang Runqiu, strengthened their ties when their countries co-hosted the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal in December.Despite that example of co-operation, relations between the two countr...

North Carolina House completes 1st half of veto override on gender-affirming care ban for minors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A GOP supermajority in the North Carolina House voted Wednesday to override the Democratic governor’s veto of legislation to ban gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors, putting those youth just a vote away from losing access to that care.The vote followed by mere minutes an earlier vote by the chamber overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of another bill banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams from middle and high school through college.House lawmakers voted 73-46 to surmount Cooper’s veto of the bill that would bar medical professionals — with limited exceptions — from providing hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs and surgical gender-transition procedures to anyone under 18. Minors who began treatment before Aug. 1 could continue receiving that care under parental consent if their doctors deem it medically necessary.Democratic state Rep. John Autry of Mecklenburg County, who has a transgender grandchild, choked up w...

Wildfires edge closer to Yellowknife as N.W.T. continues to battle blazes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

Wildfires menacing the capital of the Northwest Territories crept closer Wednesday while evacuees continued to arrive in Alberta, recounting stories of roads on fire and homes melted to their metal frames.The N.W.T government, in its latest fire update, said a blaze had advanced slightly overnight and was within 16 kilometres of Yellowknife, home to 20,000 people.Residents in three western Yellowknife neighbourhoods were put on evacuation notice. Across the city, residents continued to deal with heavy smoke and falling ash while crews tried to contain the blaze from entering the community.“A network of fuel breaks, sprinklers and other protective measures are being put in place by the city of Yellowknife and our team,” stated the N.W.T. government in a fire update posted online Wednesday.The city was organizing shelters in another part of the community for evacuees from the west end.N.W.T. fire information officer Mike Westwick said the fire could reach the outskirts of Yellowknife ...

Kids overdosing is a public health emergency, Canadian pediatricians say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

An alarming number of kids and teens have been treated for drug overdoses across Canada, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.  The report by the 2022 Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program compiled survey responses from more than 1,000 pediatricians across Canada about providing care related to “severe/life-threatening opioid, stimulant or sedative use” among 12-to 18-year-olds.  The survey responses suggested that stimulants were the most commonly reported cause of severe or life-threatening overdoses, followed by sedatives and opioids. Drug overdoses among children and teens are a public health emergency in Canada, the report said.“I think it is, from my perspective, of the highest urgency,” said Dr. Matthew Carwana, one of the  principal investigators and a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. To illustrate the depth of the crisis, the report pointed to data from the BC Centre for Disease Control s...

Sixth person dies from injuries suffered in Pennsylvania house explosion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

PLUM, Pa. (AP) — The co-owner of a home that exploded in western Pennsylvania last weekend has died from injuries he suffered in the blast, which also killed his wife and four other people.Paul Oravitz, 56, who had severe burns over most of his body, died Wednesday in a Pittsburgh hospital, four days after the explosion in Plum. The town is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh.The cause of the blast — which destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others — remains under investigation, but officials have said Oravitz and his wife, Heather, were having issues with their hot water tank. The Allegheny County fire marshal’s office is leading the investigation, along with local law enforcement.The explosion occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Heather Oravitz, 51, who was Plum’s community development director, was killed in the blast along with Plum Borough Manager Michael Thomas, 57, and three others who lived in the neighborhood: Kevin Sebunia, ...

NDP and Green leaders cleared to review secret evidence on foreign meddling attempts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal leaders for the New Democrats and Green Party have both received the security clearance they need in order to be briefed on specific allegations of foreign interference attempts in Canadian elections.Former special rapporteur David Johnston released an initial report on alleged meddling in May, along with a confidential annex of evidence that he said opposition party leaders who obtained relevant clearance could review.The report found the federal Liberals did not knowingly or negligently fail to act on foreign interference attempts, but serious reforms to the government’s handling of intelligence were needed.Green Leader Elizabeth May said in a press release that she was reviewing the documents in Ottawa and would provide an update to media on Friday. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s office said he has also received clearance and arrangements are currently being made for him to view the documents. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader...

Florida art museum sues former director over forged Basquiat paintings scheme

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:30 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida art museum which was raided last year by the FBI over an exhibit of what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings has sued its former executive director and others, claiming they were part of a scheme to profit from the eventual sale of the fake artwork.The Orlando Museum of Art filed the lawsuit Monday in state court against former CEO Aaron De Groft and others whom the museum says were involved in the scheme, seeking undisclosed damages for fraud, breach of contract and conspiracy.The 99-year-old museum, also referred to as OMA, was left with a tattered reputation that resulted in its being put on probation by the American Alliance of Museums, the lawsuit said.“OMA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars — and unwittingly staked its reputation — on exhibiting the now admittedly fake paintings,” the lawsuit said. “Consequently, cleaning up the aftermath created by the defendants has cost OMA even more.”Basquiat, who lived an...