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Green Bay-area legislators ask finance committee for $2m to support NFL draft

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two lawmakers have asked the Wisconsin Legislature’s budget-writing committee to give tourism officials $2 million to help stage the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay.The league announced Monday that the draft will take place in and around Lambeau Field, home to the Green Bay Packers. Sen. Rob Cowles of Green Bay and Rep. David Steffen of Howard, a Green Bay suburb, submitted a motion to the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee that same day seeking a $2 million grant for Experience Greater Green Bay, a group that promotes tourism in the Green Bay area. Cowles and Steffen are both Republicans. The lawmakers told the committee in a written summary that the three-day draft has become a massive event and could draw 240,000 people to Wisconsin, generating an estimated $20 million for Green Bay and $94 million for the state. The lawmakers pulled those estimates from a letter the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce sent to the finance committee. “While the event is l...

Real Madrid players and fans honor Vinícius Júnior after Brazilian was racially abused

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

MADRID (AP) — With Vinícius Júnior watching from the stands, Rodrygo scored the winning goal and raised his fist in solidarity with his Real Madrid and Brazil teammate.It was one of the many tributes to Vinícius in Madrid’s first game since the latest case of racial abuse against the player, who considered leaving the field Sunday after being insulted by Valencia fans.“All the support for Vini was beautiful,” said Rodrygo, whose late goal gave Madrid a 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish league on Wednesday. “What happened to him can happen to many players. We know that it has happened a lot of times in soccer. But we are happy because we see that the world is uniting to fight this.”The show of support came a day after Spanish police arrested seven people on suspicion of hate crime and after Valencia was fined and ordered to partially close its stadium for five games.Vinícius was not on the field because of a minor injury, but his Real Madrid teammates all came out wear...

Typhoon Mawar lashes Guam, US island territory known as ‘Where America’s Day Begins’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

The powerful Typhoon Mawar that lashed Guam on Thursday has interrupted travel and tropical island life for residents and U.S. military members in one of the nation’s most remote territories.The island in the Pacific Ocean is known for a cheerful greeting drawn from the Indigenous Chamorro language: “Hafa Adai,” which generally means “Hello.” Visitors learn that Guam is “Where America’s Day Begins,” as it is hours ahead of Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. mainland, and the jet-lagged traveler will certainly notice the humidity.They’ll also see seagulls and sunsets, but probably no songbirds. Non-native brown tree snakes, introduced after World War II, decimated the native jungle bird population on the largest of the tropical Mariana Islands.People born on Guam are U.S. citizens with a huge time difference from those on the mainland. The sun rises 14 hours earlier for the 170,500 people who live on Guam than in New York City. Wednesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., was ...

Postal workers’ union settles defamation lawsuit with B’nai Brith

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

OTTAWA — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says it has agreed to settle its lawsuit against Jewish activist group B’nai Brith Canada.The lawsuit stems from news releases in 2018 by B’nai Brith saying CUPW was aligned with a pro-terrorism union, calling their leadership “radical” and accusing them of being aligned with a “path of violence and extremism.” CUPW co-operates with similar organizations in other countries, including with one that speaks for Palestinian postal workers, and has also supported an international boycott of Israeli products on the grounds that Israel mistreats Palestinians in the occupied territories. The union sued B’nai Brith for malicious defamation, and the organization sought to block the lawsuit but was unsuccessful. The union says in a press release Wednesday that it will receive an undisclosed amount from B’nai Brith, that the organization will remove the two articles in question from its website, and th...

U.S. will not default, but Republicans won’t be to blame if it does, McCarthy says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

WASHINGTON — The United States won’t go into default on its debt, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted Wednesday — but the highest-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill also said it won’t be his fault if it does.The double-barrelled message from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, whose caucus is locked in a spending standoff with the White House, came amid the ongoing, ominous countdown to the so-called “X-date.” That’s when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the U.S. government will run out of the money it needs to pay all of its bills without Congress agreeing to raise the debt ceiling — a day which could come as soon as June 1. “I don’t think there’ll be a default, and I don’t see how you would blame Republicans,” McCarthy told a news conference on Capitol Hill. Democrats, he said, have done nothing to prevent the standoff, even since February when McCarthy first indicated he wanted to see spending cuts before...

GOP-led Oklahoma Legislature agrees on largest-ever budget with little input from governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Republican leaders in Oklahoma, who control every lever of political power in the state, unveiled their largest-ever budget proposal this week, the result of bruising negotiations that left the GOP governor fuming and even some Democrats happy with what it included. The $13 billion state budget, a nearly 20% increase over last year’s final spending plan, did not include one of Gov. Kevin Stitt’s top priorities of cutting the state’s income or grocery sales tax. House and Senate leaders also apparently blindsided the governor by voting to extend tobacco compacts with several Oklahoma-based Native American tribes that Stitt was hoping to renegotiate to get a better deal for the state.Stitt’s office didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on the spending plan that easily passed the House and is expected to clear the Senate on Thursday. But during a press availability last week, Stitt said he was continuing to urge the Legislature to cut t...

Shell agrees to pay $10 million for air pollution at massive new Pennsylvania petrochemical plant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

Shell has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it polluted the air around its massive new petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania, the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday.Shell acknowledged that the plant, located along the Ohio River about 30 miles (48 kilometers) outside of Pittsburgh, violated air emissions limits, officials said. The multibillion-dollar facility opened in November, only to be shut down months later after the company said it identified a problem with a system that’s designed to burn off unwanted gases. Shell said it has made repairs and planned to restart the plant on Wednesday.Under an agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Shell Chemicals Appalachia LLC — a subsidiary of British oil and gas giant Shell plc — will pay a civil penalty of about $5 million, a portion of which will go toward environmental projects in Beaver County. The company will funnel a total of $6.2 million to th...

Vote on resources to help asylum seekers tabled during Chicago City Council meeting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

CHICAGO — A vote to address financial resources for asylum seekers living in makeshift shelters across Chicago was tabled during Wednesday's city council meeting.Before the meeting wrapped up, a protest in the morning led by some city council members was interrupted.The protest was led by Ex-cons for Community and Social Change and they demanded those who are getting out of prison aren't overlooked. Mayor Johnson presides over his first Chicago City Council meeting "They got housing for us to go in prison but no housing for us when we return," one person said.Part of the coalition's proposal includes three types of shelters, some housing up to 400 people and others with no more than 30 people."This plan should be implemented to house every single person experiencing homelessness across the City of Chicago," another person said. "These issues are hand-in-hand and we should be working together."During Wednesday's city council meeting, several aldermen deferred discussion and a possi...

ISP reveals details about crash that claimed Ohio 'honest work' farmer's life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) -- The Illinois State Police has revealed new information about a crash on Interstate 74 that resulted in the death of an Ohio farmer known for a viral Internet meme. Farmer known for ‘It ain’t much, but it’s honest work’ meme dies at 76 in Illinois Dave Brandt, 76, was the face of the meme dubbed "It ain't much, but it's honest work." A friend and colleague told WCIA sister station WCMH that Brandt was in Central Illinois picking up red corn and was driving back to his Carroll, Ohio, farm when his truck crashed.State Police officials said the crash happened Thursday on Interstate 74 near Farmer City. Brandt, they said, was driving eastbound when for undisclosed reasons, he lost control of his truck. The truck rolled over and Brandt was ejected.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesBrandt was taken to Carle Hospital in Urbana, where he died from his injuries two days later.

A design gets a group of Chicago students national recognition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

CHICAGO — A group of high school students from Chicago were crowned champions this spring in an event that tested their creativity and ingenuity.One of the teams in the city's ACE Mentor Program - which aids students interested in architecture, construction, and engineering - won first place in the Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT) national design and construction contest in April in Washington D.C.The 20 students on Chicago Team 11 were given the $5,000 prize for their design for a school of the future, which was the category for their competition. Participants come from a mix of public and private schools, including Chicago Public School students Whitney Young, Jones College Prep, and Lindblom Math and Science."It was just so rewarding to see how amazing this experience was," said Kayla Magdaleno, a senior at Bennett Day School of the competition. "To be able to work with everyone and see our progress over the weeks. It was super rewarding and honestly the biggest confiden...