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Brazil’s president offers to try to win release of bishop imprisoned in Nicaragua

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered Thursday to help try to gain the release of a Roman Catholic bishop imprisoned in Nicaragua. Lula made the comments after visiting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Bishop Rolando Álvarez was jailed by the regime of President Daniel Ortega for supposedly helping anti-government protesters. The bishop was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and he later refused to board a plane bound for the United States in February. “I want to talk to Daniel Ortega about freeing the bishop,” Lula said, adding, “I am going to try to help, if I can help.”“The only thing the church wants is for Nicaragua to free the bishop so he can go to Italy,” Lula said.There was no immediate reaction from the Ortega government. Relations between Ortega and the church have frayed to near non-existence since Nicaragua’s government began jailing opponents and clergy and expelling church-related groups.Since anti-government street protests bro...

B.C. vineyards devastated by winter freeze, slashing wine output up to 56%: growers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

KELOWNA, B.C. — Wine growers in British Columbia say a bitter cold snap last winter has devastated vineyards, causing irreparable damage to almost half of the province’s planted acreage that may force some producers out of business. The fallout from last December’s freeze, that saw temperatures in the Okanagan dip to minus 30 C, has the potential to cut this year’s grape and wine production by between 39 per cent and 56 per cent, with direct revenue losses of up to $145 million, said Miles Prodan, Wine Growers B.C. president.The extent of the weather damage was only realized this spring when growers were able to examine their budding vines, he said Thursday at a news conference at a Kelowna winery.The impact would be severe, immediate and long-lasting, he said, hitting harvests, output, revenue and jobs.“Following bud break, our industry-wide research concluded that our worst fears were realized with a 54 per cent reduction in 2023, and 45 per cent of total p...

Two dead after shooting outside Florida McDonald’s, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two people were found dead following a shooting Thursday afternoon outside a McDonald’s restaurant in the Florida Panhandle, police said.Tallahassee police said in a Facebook post that they were conducting a double homicide investigation.When officers responded to the fast-food restaurant about 5 p.m., they reported finding two men dead in the parking lot.Police haven’t released the names of the victims or who might have killed them.No injuries were reported inside the restaurant.The Associated Press

‘Rust’ weapons supervisor charged with dumping drugs on day of Alec Baldwin shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

The weapons supervisor charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust” was charged Thursday with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed “did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself.” the special prosecutors appointed in the case said in a Santa Fe County court filing. They gave no further details. Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles called the move “retaliatory and vindictive.” “It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed, with no prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports, or evidence to support it,” Bowles said in a statement. Gutierrez-Reed is the sole remaining defendant in the case after prosecutors in April dropped an inv...

Virginia jury acquits school spokesman of perjury in probe that was a focus of governor’s campaign

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A jury on Thursday acquitted the longtime spokesman for a northern Virginia school system of perjuring himself during a high-profile investigation of two school-based sexual assaults.The jury took only about two hours to deliberate before acquitting Loudoun County Public Schools Public Information Office Wayde Byard on the sole perjury count lodged against him by a special grand jury.The perjury case was the first prosecution to go to trial from the special grand jury’s probe, commissioned by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares at the request of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The grand jury examined the school system’s handling of two sexual assaults at two different high schools in 2021. Youngkin made the assaults a major part of his successful gubernatorial bid that year, and he issued an executive order requesting the investigation on his first day in office.Youngkin’s critics accused him of exploiting the situation for political gain. The ...

N.W.T. RCMP warn against vigilante justice after assaults in Fort McPherson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

FORT MCPHERSON, N.W.T. — Police in the Northwest Territories are warning residents not to take justice into their own hands after a group assaulted two men suspected of drug trafficking and stealing a vehicle in Fort McPherson.RCMP say they found a truck early Wednesday that had been reported stolen, but it refused to stop and sped away.Later that day, police say a group of residents swarmed two men just outside the community and assaulted them, resulting in injuries. Insp. Yannick Hamel says people involved in vigilante justice can put themselves and others at risk, impede investigations and face arrest.RCMP say during they investigation they recovered 43 bags of what is suspected to be crack cocaine and $2,230 from the truck.Nuno De Sousa and Zachary Sullivan from British Columbia face several charges.They are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds obtained by crime, theft of a truck, dangerous operations, flight from a police officer, misch...

US Navy detected what was likely Titan implosion on Sunday, official says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – A U.S. Navy acoustic system detected an ‘anomaly’ Sunday that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion, according to a senior military official.The Navy went back and analyzed its acoustic data after the Titan submersible was reported missing Sunday. Coast Guard officials on Thursday announced that the craft suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard. How long had the Titan journeyed before its ‘catastrophic implosion’? That anomaly was “consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the TITAN submersible was operating when communications were lost,” according to a senior Navy official.The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.The Navy passed on the information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the Navy did not consider the data to be definitive.FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. ...

NHL won't wear Pride, other specialty warmup jerseys next season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

NEW YORK — The days of having NHL-themed jerseys during warmups are over.In an interview with SportsNet Canada after a meeting with the league's Board of Governors, commissioner Gary Bettman said that teams will no longer be able to wear a different sweater before games in order to honor a specific cause.This comes after wearing Pride jerseys became a topic of debate in the NHL during the 2022-2023 season, with some players refusing to wear them. Now teams will only be able to use their normal warmups before games going forward. "I've suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because its become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs, in some form or another, hosts nights in honor of various groups or causes, and we'd rather they continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve, and not be a distraction," said Bettman to SportsNet reporter Elliotte Friedman.Last season, a few players decided not to we...

Take a walk through automotive history at Roscoe's 'Historic Auto Attractions'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

ROSCOE, Ill. (WTVO) — A museum in the stateline takes residents on a journey through time.It is a massive collection of historic cars and artifacts. Roscoe's Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe is no small-time car museum, but rather an impressive display of American history."We have around 86,000 square feet, we have over 25 different exhibit focuses throughout the museum, so there is a lot of different things that are going to peak everyone's interest through American history, world history and automotive history," said Alex Merry, museum director of Historic Auto Attractions. Destination Illinois: Floatzilla The centerpiece being a stunning collection of presidential limousines, authentic cars used by nearly every president of the last 100 plus years, including the car that was directly behind President Kennedy's Lincoln when he was assassinated in 1963."It's almost unreal," Merry said. "You're standing next to something that was there that day, when America really shifted and ...

Texas is now a majority minority state

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:45 GMT

(The Hill) – Hispanics are the largest demographic group in Texas, outnumbering non-Hispanic whites for the first time since the mid-19th century, according to U.S. Census data.In 2022, the state's Hispanic population reached 12 million, surpassing the non-Hispanic white population and turning Texas into a majority minority state.Some 40.2 percent of Texans are Hispanic, and 39.8 are non-Hispanic white.The demographic milestone means that Hispanics are the largest demographic group in the two largest states in the union, California and Texas.Per the Census population estimates, Texas also breached another milestone last year, joining California as the only two states with more than 30 million inhabitants."Numbers alone do not tell the whole story," said Robert Tellez, the state director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the country's oldest Hispanic civil rights organization, which started in Texas. "While it is inevitable that Hispanics would become the...