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Colorado legislature will convene to address skyrocketing property costs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis hoisted a red baseball bat and smashed emergency glass Thursday in a silly demonstration for a very real crisis — Colorado homeowners are looking down the barrel of a potential 40% jump in property tax bills.After a ballot measure meant to quell soaring property taxes failed in Tuesday’s election, Polis turned to the emergency option of calling a special legislative session to begin Nov. 17 with the goal of providing homeowners relief before the year is out and many are stuck with unaffordable property tax bills.Colorado’s situation isn’t unique. The last several years brought the steepest rise in home values nationwide in decades. The consequent hike in property taxes threatens seniors on fixed incomes and families struggling to afford their mortgage payments. “The cost of inaction is too high,” Polis said at a press conference, the red bat lying on the floor behind him. The Colorado proposition that floundered in Tuesday...

Panel to investigate Maine shooting is established as lawyers serve notice on 20 agencies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — The independent commission announced by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills to investigate the shootings that claimed 18 lives in Maine last month includes former judges, prosecutors and mental health professionals, who were directed Thursday by the governor and attorney general to “follow the facts wherever they may lead.” The governor formally created the panel with an executive order Thursday on the same day some victims and family members signaled their intent to sue with requests to 20 state and federal agencies to preserve evidence.“The community of Lewiston, especially the victims and their families, have many unanswered questions. Why did this happen? How did the system fail? What changes are needed to ensure this never happens again?” said attorney Travis Brennan from Berman & Simmons, a Lewiston-based law firm.The shootings at a bowling alley and a nearby bar on Oct. 25 in Lewiston killed 18 people and injured 13 others, making it the deadliest mas...

Lawyers say Canadians facing discipline at work over social media posts on Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

As fighting continues in the Middle East, thousands of people have been killed in the vicious Israel-Hamas war and many have turned to social media to voice their concerns, opinions or to advocate.Some lawyers tell CityNews, since then, there’s been an increase in calls from Canadians who say they are being disciplined at work for their posts, setting off critical discussions on freedom of speech. The Canadian Muslim Legal Support Centre said they’ve seen a 300 per cent increase in calls over the last month. Over 134 Canadians have sought advice because they were either fired, potentially facing termination or suspended. Of those calls, 30 per cent were from non-Muslims.Employers are also unsure of how to navigate these difficult situations.“There’s no precedent like this. There’s nothing that has happened to this magnitude where people are advocating online and that’s bleeding into the workplace,” said Iman Mohamed, a lawyer and t...

Baltimore police shooting prompts criticism of specialized gun squads

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — After a corruption scandal led the Baltimore Police Department to disband its plainclothes gun squad in 2017, the embattled agency pledged to increase oversight while remaining focused on seizing illegal weapons and curbing rampant violence.But several years later, two recent police shootings involving the department’s latest iteration of the specialized units have raised questions about how they are operating today.Officials have not yet released body camera footage of the most recent shooting, which occurred Tuesday afternoon, but residents of the southwest Baltimore neighborhood expressed outrage over what they called an unnecessary loss of life. They said the deadly police shooting has drawn attention to an issue they have been complaining about for years: that certain officers are known in the majority-Black community for harassing residents and escalating otherwise peaceful encounters.“They’re always jumping out on us for no reason. It happens all the time,” s...

Virginia Democrats lost in several key swing districts. So how did they win the General Assembly?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The election results this week in Virginia suggest that Republicans must essentially run the table in competitive areas across the state in order to find overall success at the ballot box. Democrats won full control of the General Assembly despite losing in key swing districts.Republicans had been able to do that in 2021, along with Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the governor’s race. In addition to Youngkin’s 2-percentage-point win, Republicans also won the races for lieutenant governor and attorney general that year in very close votes. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, defeated Donald Trump in Virginia in 2020 by more than 10 percentage points.In this year’s election, Republican candidates prevailed in three of the four Biden-Youngkin state Senate districts and in at least seven of 11 Biden-Youngkin state House districts. The Republican incumbent in an additional Biden-Youngkin state House district in Petersburg i...

Dr. Arwady heading to CDC to lead National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

ATLANTA — The former commissioner of the Chicago Dept. of Public Dr. Allison Arwady will be heading to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a director position.Dr. Arwady will be leading the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. It is focused on violence, suicide, overdose and injury prevention.Her first day is on Jan. 16, 2024."I am honored to join the CDC in tackling some of the most pressing public health issues that face our communities today,” said Dr. Arwady. “During my time leading Chicago’s Department of Public Health, I saw the power of using local data to drive public health action and I look forward to translating this experience to a national scale. From overdose to violence, this country is in crisis, and we must meet the crisis with strong public health approaches that center evidence and equity." ‘The honor of my life:’ Chicago’s former top doc speaks out after sudden firing Dr. Arwady was confirmed as commissioner in Jan. 2020...

Krispy Kreme to give 12 free doughnuts to customers on World Kindness Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE/KSEE) – Krispy Kreme is celebrating World Kindness Day with — what else? — free doughnuts.This week, Krispy Kreme announced plans to give a dozen doughnuts to the first 500 customers who visit a participating U.S. location on Nov. 13, no other purchase necessary.The idea, according to Krispy Kreme, is to inspire customers to share their sweet treats with others in honor of World Kindness Day. The original 'Dunkin' Donut' had a rather unique shape “We hope a dozen Original Glazed doughnuts — one doughnut for you and many to share with others – will inspire millions of small acts of kindness," Dave Skena, the global chief brand officer for Krispy Kreme, said in a statement included with Wednesday's press release. The free dozen will include mostly Original Glazed, though each box will contain one World Kindness Day Chocolate Iced Heart Doughnut, a representative for the company confirmed.The company estimates it will give away "around 2 million" of the doug...

The Bears can snap a streak Thursday - and it's all about the uniforms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — For the better part of the past year, the Bears have been looking to snap streaks, mostly negative. Another one of those comes up on Thursday, and it all has to do with the color of their uniforms. You see the Bears are wearing their orange jerseys for the second and likely final time for the 2023 season when they host the Panthers at Soldier Field at 7:15 p.m. They're hoping that the jersey combination will finally be lucky after nearly five years of it being the opposite.(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)The Bears' Week 2 loss to the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in the orange jerseys marked the team's seventh-straight loss while wearing the uniforms. In the orange helmets, which were introduced by the team in 2022, they've lost all three games they've played. That included a 12-7 loss to the Commanders in Week 6 at Soldier Field and a Week 8 loss to the Cowboys in Arlington last season. Here's the current Bears' losing streak in the orange jerseys.10/2...

Jill Stein launches 2024 bid as Green Party candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

Jill Stein announced a surprise presidential bid Thursday, seeking the Green Party’s 2024 nomination.Stein, a physician who ran against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016 as the Green Party's nominee, previewed her latest run for the White House on social media and unveiled an accompanying website. An official launch is slated for later this month.“Our democracy is on life support,” Stein wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, previewing a Nov. 21 campaign kickoff.“Belief in our political system is at historic lows and the number of Americans who feel that neither establishment party represents them is at a record high. We need real choices on the ballot, because without freedom of choice in elections, there is no democracy. It’s time to revive the promise of democracy.”Stein wrote on her website that she is entering the presidential race “to offer people a choice outside the failed two-party system, so we can put a pro-worker, anti-war, climate emergency agenda front and cent...

New $370M State Emergency Operations Center to be built near Austin airport

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:36 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Construction on a $370 million State Emergency Operations Center near the Austin Bergstrom International Airport was approved Thursday by the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Board of Regents.The center will also serve as agency headquarters for the Texas Division of Emergency Management, according to the board.Of the $370 million, $9.7 million will go toward land acquisition, and the remaining will help build the 295,978-square-foot facility.TAMUS said the current State Operations Center in Austin was built in the 1950s and was no longer suitable to support the state’s emergency response operations.Construction will begin this month and is expected to be completed in August 2026, according to TAMUS.“With this investment by the Legislature and the support of the Governor and Board of Regents, Texas will increase its capabilities to better prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate against any disaster we face,” said Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim...