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US commerce chief says she complained to Chinese officials about being hacked

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo confirmed Sunday she was hacked by Chinese actors shortly before visiting the country this past week.“They did hack me, which was unappreciated, to say the least. I brought it up, clearly. Put it right on the table,” Raimondo told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Raimondo was the first Commerce secretary to visit the country in five years, having received an invitation from Chinese Minister of Commerce Weng Wentao. Her visit represented both an attempt to improve dialogue between the two economic powers and reinforce President Joe Biden’s new tech blockade against China.“It’s a complicated relationship,” Raimondo said. “There’s no doubt about it. We are in a fierce competition with China at every level. And anyone who tells you differently is naive. All of that being said, we have to manage this competition. Conflict is in no one’s interest.”The Commerce secretary, having joined multiple senior Cabinet officials who have visited th...

Plymouth police seek public’s help identifying pickup truck driver after hit and run

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

Police in Plymouth are seeking the public’s help to identify a suspect in a hit and run that sent a motorcyclist to the hospital, the department posted on Facebook.Investigators said the accident happened around noon on Saturday in the area of 2171 State Road in Plymouth.Officials are looking for the driver of a dark-colored pickup truck. While attempting to pass an SUV, the pickup truck nearly hit the motorcyclist, who then swerved into the side of the SUV and was seriously hurt. The motorcyclist was airlifted to the hospital and is expected to survive. Anyone with information about the pickup truck is asked to call police at 508-830-4218, ext. 15219.

OPP lays 97 charges in Wasaga Beach area on Friday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

The Huronia West Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have laid 97 charges so far this long weekend in the Wasaga Beach, Springwater and Clearview townships as well as surrounding areas.On Friday, officers reported preliminary numbers showing 97 charges laid including Highway Traffic Act (HTA) charges of nine suspended drivers, six unnecessary noise from the vehicle, six improper mufflers and four drivers with no licence. OPP also laid multiple charges under the Liquor Licence and Control Act. One motorist was charged with impaired operation by drug.With other events happening in the area over the weekend, OPP say they will continue to investigate after the weekend. People may still face charges following the weekend, and should expect to see a heightened police presence in these areas.

Florida fishing village Horseshoe Beach hopes to maintain its charm after being walloped by Idalia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — This remote seaside enclave known as “Florida’s Last Frontier” took much of the pounding from Hurricane Idalia when it struck the state’s west coast as a Category 3 storm last week. The damage left behind in the fishing village of Horseshoe Beach is exposing a gulf between haves and have-nots as cash-strapped residents could be forced to leave the quaint, remote community rivaled by few others along the Florida shoreline. With emergency crews still working to restore electricity and provide temporary housing, locals worry that those unable to afford insurance will struggle to reconstruct homes that must comply with modern, more expensive building codes. Longtime residents share varying degrees of bullishness that the charm — and business — will return to the quiet town of less than 200 people.“We have all of old Florida here,” said Tammy Bryan, the song director of First Baptist Church, “and today we feel like it’s been taken away.” Horseshoe...

Americans have long wanted the perfect endless summer. Jimmy Buffett offered them one

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

It seemed wistfully appropriate, somehow, that news of Jimmy Buffett’s death emerged at the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, the demarcation point of every American summer’s symbolic end. Because for so many, the 76-year-old Buffett embodied something they held onto ever so tightly as the world grew ever more complex: the promise of an eternal summer of sand, sun, blue salt water and gentle tropical winds. He was the man whose studied devil-may-care attitude became a lifestyle and a multimillion-dollar business — a connecting filament between the suburbs and the Florida Keys and, beyond them, the Caribbean. From Margaritaville to the unspecified tropical paradise where he just wanted to eat cheeseburgers (“that American creation on which I feed”), he became a life’s-a-beach avatar for anyone working for the weekend and hoping to unplug — even in the decades before “unplugging” became a thing.“It’s important to have as much fun as possible while we’re here. It balances out t...

France will soon ban disposable vapes under an anti-smoking plan, prime minister says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Sunday that disposable vapes will soon be banned in the country as part of a national anti-smoking plan.Borne, speaking on RTL radio, did not say when the ban would enter into force.She said the government would soon unveil its new plan to combat smoking, which she said is the cause of 75,000 deaths a year in the country.It will include a ban on disposable vapes, which she said “are giving bad habits to young people.”“It’s a reflex and a gesture that young people get used to. That’s how they get into smoking,” she added. Most of the disposable e-cigarettes, which are thrown away after they’re used up, come in sweet and fruity flavors like pink lemonade, gummy bear and watermelon that makes them attractive to teenagers. They are sold in France usually at a price of between 8 euros ($8.7) and 12 euros ($13). An existing ban on the sale of electronic cigarette devices to those under 18 is not widely respected. Promoting or adverti...

The Globe and Mail’s Phillip Crawley turns the page on a 58-year newspaper career

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

TORONTO — In 1998, Canadian newspapers faced the toughest environment in decades amid the launch of the National Post, fresh competition that put media companies in a cutthroat competition to gain the most readers, advertisers and scoops.The Globe and Mail sent for Phillip Crawley.A newspaper veteran from Northumberland in England’s northeast, Crawley arrived in Toronto ready to do battle in the coming newspaper war. After a nearly six-decade career in journalism, including 25 years as CEO and publisher of the Globe, Crawley marked his last day at the newspaper’s helm on Thursday.He retires as the journalism industry faces different challenges in an era defined by media concentration and continued uncertainties.“I’ve been in the business for 58 years, so I’m not exactly rushing out the door,” said Crawley, 79, in an interview last month.“At my age and stage, it’s the right time to hand on to a successor who’s already very well versed in the Globe.”Crawley is ...

How soon until daylight saving time ends?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — The unofficial end of summer, Labor Day, is upon us. Kids are heading back to school, the leaves are starting to change color, and there’s a certain crispness to the air (unless you’re still dealing with late summer heat). That can only mean one thing: we’re losing daylight. We’ve been steadily losing daylight since the summer solstice on June 21. It starts slow, at about a minute a week, before ramping up during September. In Chicago, for example, the sun sets at around 7:25 p.m. on September 1. By October 1, the sun will set around 6:32 p.m.Darkness will only fall sooner when daylight saving time ends. We’ve been on daylight saving time since March 12, and reaping the benefits: more daylight. But that will come to an end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 5, when we will "fall back," bringing in early sunsets and more darkness for the winter. (We will, however, get an extra hour of sleep that night.) Student loan payments start soon: Everything you need to ...

Labor Day watercraft ban in effect on Lake Austin through Tuesday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A personal watercraft ban is in place on Lake Austin for Labor Day weekend.The ban went into effect at sunset Friday. It will lift Tuesday at sunrise.The ban applies to personal watercraft, wet bikes, motorized surfboards and similar vessels. Kayaks, canoes and paddleboards are not affected.Austin Police Department’s Lake Patrol Unit will enforce the ordinance. The city’s annual ordinance, which aims to enforce public safety, also goes into effect for periods around the Memorial Day and July 4 holidays.People operating motorboats on Lake Austin should stay to the right of the lake except when assisting a downed water skier, the ordinance says.Lake Travis is not affected by the watercraft ban. Lake Austin stretches from Mansfield Dam to the Tom Miller Dam.Boaters should call 911 for emergencies or to report reckless boat operations.

Richard Striner: Eisenhower created a unifying brand of politics that the GOP needs today

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:09 GMT

During his first term as president, Dwight Eisenhower turned to his press secretary, Jim Hagerty, and said, “If the right wing wants a fight, they’re going to get it. If they want to leave the Republican Party and form a third party, that’s their business, but before I end up, either this Republican Party will reflect progressivism, or I won’t be there with them anymore.”Eisenhower wrote in his diary that he might even have to form a third party himself, and he would dedicate it to “the Middle Way” — his term for the political centrism that he favored. This could be a potent theme for today’s Republican Party after next year.Third parties in American history have come and gone. Our current two-party party system was born when another system failed. The Republican Party began in 1854 when renegades from two other parties — the Democrats and Whigs — joined together. A pithy term had been making the rounds among Democrat...