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New US rules, aimed at curbing China, could make it harder for EV buyers to claim a full tax credit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

By MATTHEW DALY (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans could have a harder time finding electric vehicles that qualify for a full $7,500 federal tax credit under new rules proposed Friday that are likely to hinder President Joe Biden’s goal that half of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. run on electricity by 2030.Plans outlined by the departments of Treasury and Energy would limit EV buyers from claiming the full tax credit if they purchase cars containing battery materials from China and other countries that are considered hostile to the United States. The new rules, required under Biden’s signature climate law approved last year, are likely to slow consumer acceptance of electric vehicles just as Biden is trying to ramp up sales to help meet his goal to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. EV sales have tripled since Biden took office, but the U.S. still depends on foreign sources, especially China, for many of critical minera...

Dead longhorn found on Oklahoma State fraternity lawn the day before championship game with Texas

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

Police say a dead longhorn cow was found on the lawn of an Oklahoma State University fraternity on Friday, the day before the school’s football team plays the University of Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 championship game.Police were notified just after 6:30 a.m. of the dead animal on the lawn of Farmhouse fraternity, according to Stillwater police Officer TJ Low.The carcass had an expletive carved into its side and the stomach was cut open, according to the campus newspaper, The O’Colly.“It’s a very cruel crime to be committed, especially right before the Big 12 Championship,” Low told The Oklahoman. “Nothing is worth doing that kind of crap.”A representative for the fraternity, which was founded in 1905 by agriculture students, did not immediately return a phone call for comment.Oklahoma State University said in a statement that it “is appalled at the disturbing display of animal cruelty … at an off-campus location near a fraternity house.”The university sai...

New York’s College of Saint Rose will close in May 2024 amid financial woes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The College of Saint Rose, a century-old Roman Catholic College in Albany, New York, will close in May 2024 after years of financial struggles, college officials announced Friday.“It is with a heavy heart that the Board decided to close the college at the end of this academic year,” Jeffrey D. Stone, chair of the college’s board of trustees, which voted to close the school on Thursday, said in a statement. “The Board determined that the College does not have the financial resources to operate for the full 2024-2025 academic year and therefore cannot remain a standalone institution.”Stone added, “We are devastated that despite all our efforts we were unable to avoid closure. Our goal now is to ease the transition for our students, faculty, and staff.”The college will help students either graduate in May or continue their studies elsewhere, officials said, and the human resources department will assist faculty, administrators and staff in their job se...

More than 30 people are trapped under rubble after collapse at a mine in Zambia, minister says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — More than 30 people are trapped under rubble at an open-pit mine in Zambia after part of a waste pile was thought to have collapsed on them, a government minister said on Friday.Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu said in Parliament that the collapse happened in the city of Chingola, in Zambia’s copperbelt, about 400 kilometers (248 miles) north of the capital, Lusaka.“May I just inform the nation that we have a tragedy that is brewing in Chingola, where a number of our people have been affected by a collapse of the open pit,” Mwiimbu said. “We have more than 30 people under the rubble and we are struggling to retrieve them.”He said rescue teams were at the site.Mines and Minerals Development Minister Paul Kabuswe was also at the scene and said no one had yet been found and it wasn’t clear exactly how many people were trapped under the rubble.Informal artisanal mining is common in Chingola, although the ministers didn̵...

Kangaroo spotted running along Oshawa roadside: lost pet group

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

A lost pet search group has posted a video that appears to show a kangaroo running along an Oshawa street on Friday morning.The group, Team Chelsea, says the video was recorded at around 7:45 a.m. this morning on Winchester Road and was later posted to its site by one of its followers. The kangaroo can be seen running westbound on Winchester from Harmony Road.“If you see the kangaroo, do not approach it,” the group’s Facebook post states, adding that the animal has not been spotted since.According to the University of Melbourne, kangaroos can be dangerous, with potentially deadly kicking power.“Kangaroos are wild animals,” an article on the unversity’s website says.“It’s important to remember that while they can make interesting pets, they have never been domesticated, so their behaviour is driven mostly by instinct.“While a kangaroo’s first response is usually to flee, it will attack if feels cornered…”There’s no wor...

Death toll from Alaska landslide hits 5 as authorities recover another body; 1 person still missing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities have recovered the body of one of two people who had been missing following a deadly landslide last week in the southeast Alaska community of Wrangell.The body of Otto Florschutz, 65, was found late Thursday afternoon and recovered from the debris, Alaska State Troopers said in a statement Friday. One person, 12-year-old Derek Heller, remained missing following the late night Nov. 20 landslide that came down into the path of three homes, one of which was unoccupied.Five people have been confirmed killed in the landslide: Florschutz; Timothy and Beth Heller and two of their children, Kara, 11, and Mara, 16.Florschutz’s wife, Christina Florschutz, survived. In a recent interview with the Wrangell Sentinel and KSTK radio, she described the force of the landslide, saying it tossed her “like a piece of weightless popcorn” before she lost consciousness. She described regaining consciousness and being trapped between the roof of her house and debris ...

Ottawa didn’t verify disputed Métis communities covered by federal bill: official

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

OTTAWA — A high-ranking federal official says Ottawa has not verified the legitimacy of disputed Métis communities in Ontario that have been at the centre of heated debate over a government bill.Martin Reiher, a senior assistant deputy minister in the Crown-Indigenous Relations Department, said Bill C-53 only recognizes provincial Métis organizations that govern and the government isn’t required to dig into the legitimacy of specific communities. He made the comments at a parliamentary committee, where Indigenous leaders have been hotly debating legislation that would recognize Métis self-governance in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.The Chiefs of Ontario and other First Nations groups have argued that six new communities within the Métis Nation of Ontario, which the provincial government recognized in 2017, have no historical basis to exist. Nipissing First Nation Chief Scott McLeod says the official’s comments are yet another example of the federal government not doi...

Families arrive from the West Bank to care for the 3 college students shot in Vermont

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Nearly a week after three college students of Palestinian descent were shot and seriously wounded while taking an evening walk, relatives of two of the victims have arrived in Vermont from the war-torn West Bank, grappling with a new reality that has shattered their lives and a place they thought was a safe haven.Elizabeth Price and her husband Ali Awartani flew in Wednesday just as their son, Hisham Awartani, underwent surgery. After the Israel-Hamas war erupted in early October, they agreed it would be safer for Hisham to stay in the United States instead of coming home for the holidays. Now they don’t know if he will ever walk again.“When my nephew came to this country to pursue his studies and when he came to stay with me for Thanksgiving in Burlington, Vermont, it never occurred to me that he may be victim to this type of violence,” Awartani’s uncle Rich Price said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. “And so I feel...

Twenty-year-old Calgary man pleads guilty to one count related to TikTok video

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

CALGARY — A 20-year-old Calgary man facing charges stemming from a TikTok video has pleaded guilty to one count of facilitating terrorist activity.Zakarya Rida Hussein was charged in June with two counts of facilitating terrorist activity and two counts of participating in or contributing to an activity of a terrorist group.Hussein appeared today via video in the Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary.An agreed statement of facts between the Crown and the defence admits Hussein knowingly facilitated terrorist activity by posting an Islamic State group recruitment video on TikTok.It says he also posted to Snapchat on June 1 that his mission began the next day for Pride month.The statement of facts says Hussein also replied to automated text messages from the United Conservative Party that he was going to commit a terrorist attack.This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Dec. 1, 2023.The Canadian Press

Nickel ore processing plant that will supply Tesla strikes deal to spend $115M in federal funds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:54:36 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Developers of a proposed nickel ore processing plant in North Dakota that would supply electric automaker Tesla have reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Energy on how to spend nearly $115 million the federal agency awarded the project last year.The recent agreement was the result of over a year of negotiations to determine how the money would be doled out to Talon Metals, the Bismarck Tribune reported Friday.The Biden administration has backed the North Dakota facility as part of a national effort to bolster domestic production of critical minerals. It would process ore from Talon’s proposed underground mine near Tamarack in northeastern Minnesota. That project still requires approval from Minnesota regulators. It’s at the early stages of its environmental review, a process that could take at least a few years.The federal funding will be made available at various stages, including once the company receives the necessary permits to build and o...