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Arkansas lawmakers OK restrictions on trans student pronouns

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A bill that would require parental approval for Arkansas teachers to address transgender students by the pronouns and names that they use is headed to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ desk.The bill was approved Wednesday by the majority-Republican Senate on a 19-5 vote. It requires parental approval for teachers at public schools, including colleges and universities, to use a minor student’s pronoun that is “inconsistent” with the student’s biological sex or a name that’s not listed on the student’s birth certificate. It also would prohibit schools from requiring teachers to use the pronouns or name a student uses.The bill is among a wave of bills being considered in statehouses that would formally allow or require schools to deadname transgender students or out them to their parents without consent. Transgender students, who already are at high risk of bullying and depression, have said the measures would make schools feel even more unsafe.Supporters of t...

Kansas lawmakers OK bill on live deliveries during abortions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Doctors accused of not providing enough care to infants delivered alive during certain kinds of abortion procedures in Kansas could face lawsuits and criminal charges under a bill that won final approval Tuesday in the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature. The legislation faces an uncertain fate in a legal and political climate that’s made Kansas an outlier on abortion policy among states with GOP-led legislatures. The bill applies not only to “botched” or “unsuccessful” abortions but also when doctors induce labor to deliver a fetus that is expected to die within minutes or even seconds outside the womb, which often occurs because of a severe medical issue. The Kansas House voted 86-36 to approve a proposed “born-alive infants protection” law similar to a proposed law that Montana voters rejected in November. The Senate approved the measure last week and it goes next to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who vetoed such a bill in 2019.The Senate voted...

Man dead after being struck by falling tree in Markham

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

York Regional Police say a man died after being struck by a falling tree in Markham on Wednesday.Officials were called to the 19th Avenue and Highway 48 area near Dickson Hill Road around 6 p.m.A duty inspector tells CityNews that a man was cutting a tree when it shifted and hit him. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the official said.It’s not being treated as suspicious.About 800,000 people in Ontario and Quebec were without power Wednesday after a messy mix of freezing rain and thunderstorms battered parts of both provinces.York-Durham and other regions in southern Ontario were under weather warnings, including a rainfall warning, for most of the day, but they were mostly lifted once the heavy rain subsided in the evening.

Arkansas House OKs social media age verification requirement

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas children would need their parents’ OK to access social media sites under a bill Arkansas lawmakers advanced Wednesday, moving the state closer toward becoming the second to enact restrictions that critics say raise privacy and enforcement concerns.The majority-Republican House approved by an 82-10 vote the restrictions, which have the support of GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The proposal goes back to the Senate, which approved an earlier version of the bill, for one more vote before it can head to Sanders’ desk.“It is a bill designed to create a level of protection for our young people,” Republican Rep. Jon Eubanks, the bill’s House sponsor, said before representatives approved the measure without any debate.The proposal is similar to a first-in-the-nation law that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed last month. Several other states are considering similar measures, touted by supporters as a way to protect children.Sanders last month a...

‘Explosion’ at Yorkdale Mall deemed vehicle mechanical issue

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

Toronto police say an explosion heard in a parking lot outside Yorkdale Mall was nothing but a mechanical issue with a vehicle.Officers were called to the mall on Dufferin Street around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.No injuries were reported, but police confirmed that the bomb squad would respond after an explosion was heard underneath a vehicle.In an update, police said it wasn’t an explosion, and reports of a loud noise had come from a vehicle experiencing a mechanical issue.The scene has been cleared, authorities said. The mall was not evacuated following initial reports.POLICE INVESTIGATION: (UPDATE)Yorkdale Mall Parking Lot7:25pm– determined no explosion occurred– sound was mechanical issues with the vehicle#GO751908^se— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) April 6, 2023

City should permanently close landfill where women were found: First Nations leader

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

WINNIPEG — The leader of a First Nations advocacy group wants to see the Winnipeg landfill where the remains of two Indigenous women were found permanently shut down.“I think given the circumstance, that it should be. It’s not an isolated issue,” Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said in a phone interview Wednesday.“I know there are lots of (Indigenous women) that have been missing throughout time, and I’m pretty sure that some of those women are in the Brady landfill.”The Winnipeg homicide unit started an investigation after staff at the Brady Road landfill south of the city found the body of 33-year-old Linda Mary Beardy on Monday.The cause and time of her death have not been released.The landfill has been closed as police investigate. The city said contingency plans for garbage and recycling are in place.Merrick said the city should look at opening a new landfill that would include measures to help with police investi...

Coal use climbs worldwide despite promises to slash it

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

The burning of coal for electricity, cement, steel and other uses went up in 2022 despite global promises to phase down the fuel that’s the biggest source of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere, a report Wednesday found.The coal fleet grew by 19.5 gigawatts last year, enough to light up around 15 million homes, with nearly all newly commissioned coal projects in China, according to a report by Global Energy Monitor, an organization that tracks a variety of energy projects around the globe. That 1% increase comes at a time when the world needs to retire its coal fleet four and a half times faster to meet climate goals, the report said. In 2021, countries around the world promised to phase down the use of coal to help achieve the goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). “The more new coal projects come online, the steeper the cuts and commitments need to be in the future,” said Flora Champenois, the report’s lead author and the project manager for ...

Chicago girls boxing program looks to change perceptions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

CHICAGO — Girls are fighting outdated stereotypes, poor self confidence and preconceived ideas with a right hook at Saint Thomas School in Hyde Park."I just want every girl to know how much strength and power she has inside herself," says Box United Founder, Mary Kate Vanecko.Vanecko founded Box United in 2019, the only all girls boxing program in Chicago."Anytime someone looks at a young girl boxing really well it can instantly transform or change perceptions about what you think is possible in terms of how strong girls are or what you think girls can do," says Vanecko. ‘Let’s show them’: Elmhurst mother starts sports program for special needs children More than 350 girls have found new inner strength through the ten week boxing program, finding their power and voice through a set of pink gloves.A two punch approach, teaching fundamentals, followed by a second hit of self love. The second half of every session is dedicated to building mental health and wellness, through...

Maryland AG accuses Baltimore’s Catholic Church of widespread sexual abuse 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

(The Hill) - Maryland’s Attorney General on Wednesday released a report accusing Catholic priests and others at the Archdiocese of Baltimore of decades of sexual abuse against more than 600 children, following a multi-year grand jury investigation.“The incontrovertible history uncovered by this investigation is one of pervasive and persistent abuse by priests and other Archdiocese personnel," a 463-page, partially redacted report, released by Attorney General Anthony Brown, said. "It is also a history of repeated dismissal or cover up of that abuse by the Catholic Church hierarchy."Investigators interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses, whose stories “reveal themes and behaviors typical of adults who sexually abuse children, and of those who enable abuse by concealing it,” according to the report. “What was consistent throughout was the absolute authority and power these abusive priests and church leadership held over victims, their families, and their communities,” it con...

Why you can stream these canceled HBO shows for free

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:42 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – If you never quite got around to watching the HBO smash hit "Westworld" when everyone was talking about it in late 2016, there's good news.Thanks to a deal between HBO and streaming platforms Roku and Tubi, the hit show starring Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton and Jeffrey Wright, along with several other canceled HBO shows, are now streaming on 14 new free, ad-supported channels. Don’t use the front passenger seat in these 140K recalled vehicles, Volkswagen says The decision to axe "Westworld," which garnered 54 Emmy nominations, came abruptly in late 2022, just weeks after showrunners were talking about possibly extending the show for a fifth and final season.Another highly acclaimed HBO show, "Raised by Wolves," is also streaming now on WB TV Watchlist, one of the 14 channels. The sci-fi series was canceled in 2022 after two seasons, despite excellent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes."Please someone swoop in and save this freaking show!" one person commented after the in...