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Southwest Airlines pilots ask to be freed from mediation. It’s another step towards a strike

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — The pilots’ union at Southwest Airlines is asking federal mediators to open the way for a strike, saying that big differences remain over pay and other items despite three years of bargaining over a new contract.The request Thursday by the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association doesn’t mean a strike is imminent, even though union members voted nearly unanimously in May to authorize a strike.If mediators grant the union’s request, pilots could strike but only after a 30-day cooling-off period, during which the White House could delay a walkout or Congress could impose a settlement on both sides.Southwest opposed the union’s request. Adam Carlisle, Southwest’s vice president of labor relations, said the two sides are meeting regularly and the company has proposed industry-leading compensation and changes in pilot scheduling. He said further mediation will drive negotiators closer to an agreement that helps both sides.The union’s m...

Man faces federal charges for swastika on Michigan synagogue

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

HANCOCK, Mich. (AP) — A man has been charged in federal court with defacing one of Michigan’s oldest synagogues with a swastika in 2019.A swastika was sprayed on the outside of Temple Jacob in Hancock in the Upper Peninsula. Nathan Weeden, 23, of Houghton was indicted on charges of conspiring against rights and damaging religious property. He was released on bond Thursday following his arrest in Saline in southeastern Michigan. A not-guilty plea was entered.“No one should be the target of hate because of their race, ethnicity, religion or any other status,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said.A message seeking comment was left with Weeden’s attorney.It wasn’t clear why there was a nearly four-year gap between the vandalism and the indictment. Totten spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said she couldn’t comment on charging decisions.In 2021, a New Jersey man, Richard Tobin, was sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to direct others to deface Temple Jacob as well...

U.K. wants NATO to speed up Ukraine’s membership process as alliance prepares to meet

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

OTTAWA — Britain’s defence secretary said Thursday that he wants NATO leaders to consider fast-tracking Ukraine’s membership in the military alliance when they meet next month in Vilnius, Lithuania.Ben Wallace met with Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand as she visited London, where the pair talked about priorities for the upcoming NATO leaders’ summit on July 11 and 12. Wallace said he believes the 31 member countries should consider allowing Ukraine to skip the membership action plan portion of the accession process.“Sweden and Finland didn’t have any of that and I think that opens a very fair question about, should at Vilnius we just skip that and say that, subject to other conditions, Ukraine should be able to come in and join,” he said.“After all, they’re going to have the most experienced land forces in Europe, and probably one of the most heavily armed countries in Europe.”Anand said that Canada supports Ukraine joining ...

Canadian Chamber of Commerce wants B.C. port strike averted, cites economic impact

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

VANCOUVER — The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says it is “deeply disturbed” the British Columbia port workers’ union has served strike notice and is prepared to take job action on Saturday.The chamber has issued a statement urging the federal government to “use all the tools in its tool box” to prevent a strike.It says the shutdown of Canadian ports would fuel inflation, increase costs for people and businesses and seriously damage the economy.The president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association says a work stoppage at the Port of Vancouver — Canada’s busiest port — “will have significant negative consequences for automotive supply chains in Canada and across North America.” Brian Kingston says frequent transportation disruptions undermine Canada’s reputation as a reliable place for producing and moving goods, and the federal government needs work with the parties “and reach a rapid resolution.”The comments come after ...

B.C. staff who failed to check on two abused foster children lose jobs: ministry

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

Staff members at the British Columbia Children’s Ministry who failed to check on two Indigenous children who were systematically abused by their foster parents have lost their jobs, the government says. A judge sentenced the foster parents this month to 10 years each in prison for the death of the 11-year-old boy and the serious injuries to his eight-year-old sister, saying it was incomprehensible how someone could inflict such pain, suffering and violence on an innocent child. While the Ministry of Children and Family Development did not provide the names or the number of people involved, it said in a statement “the staff who were directly involved in this case are no longer employed by the ministry.”Children’s Minister Mitzi Dean was not immediately available for comment Thursday.The statement said the ministry conducted a review of its involvement with the children and implemented changes to existing practices that include regular, in-person, private meeti...

Triple stabbing at University of Waterloo was hate-motivated, police say, man charged

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

A triple stabbing during a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo is believed to have been a hate-motivated attack, police said Thursday as they laid multiple charges against a 24-year-old former student. The attack that took place Wednesday injured three people and shocked the university campus located about 100 kilometres west of Toronto. Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, a recently graduated international student, faces three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, police said. “Investigators have reason to believe that this was a planned and targeted attack motivated by hate related to gender expression and gender identity,” Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell said at a news conference Thursday. Police said the suspect walked into the gender studies class of roughly 40 students, asked the 38-year-old professor for the subject of the class, then attacked her with t...

Here’s how to keep cool and stay safe during a heat wave

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Scorching heat across the U.S. already has caused more than a dozen deaths in Texas alone and led to mounting misery for millions of people from the Pacific Northwest to the South.And the official end of summer is still months away. Here’s a guide on how to keep cool and stay safe in the punishing temperatures as the latest heat wave ravaging the country spreads east. WHY IS EXTREME HEAT DANGEROUS?Heat kills more Americans than any other weather event, including tornadoes and flooding, even though most heat-related deaths are preventable through outreach and intervention, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “Heat is the silent killer. No one thinks about it,” said Ben Zaitchik, a professor and climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University whose research includes heat waves. “It’s getting hotter just about everywhere. That means even without a particular weather phenomenon, like what we’re seeing in Texas right now, we’re seeing temperatures we ar...

In the Supreme Court chamber, the subject was race, the mood was somber, the criticism harsh

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the Supreme Court ruling striking down race-based admissions in higher education, but it was the three justices who make the court the most diverse in its 233-year history who marked the stark, embittered battle lines over affirmative action.It was a moment heavy with history and emotion. Clarence Thomas, the longest serving justice and the court’s second Black justice, read a concurring opinion from the bench, pointedly rejecting the validity of using race as the basis for preferential consideration. He was followed by Sonia Sotomayor, its first Latina, whose dissenting opinion took aim at Thomas. Then came Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black woman, whose written dissent was its own biting, metaphor-laden rebuke. The mood in the courtroom Thursday was somber, with most of the justices sitting expressionless, taking occasional sips of water. Both Jackson and Sotomayor looked straight ahead as Roberts read ...

Judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to toss out defamation claims by columnist

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s claims that absolute presidential immunity and free speech rights shield him from the defamation claims of a New York columnist were rejected Thursday by a federal judge.The writer, E. Jean Carroll, can continue to press claims that Trump owes her at least $10 million in damages for comments he made before and after she won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him last month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a written opinion.Trump tried to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that he is entitled to absolute presidential immunity, his statements were not defamatory and that his statements were opinion protected by free speech rights.Kaplan said Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defense by failing to assert it years ago when the lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit was delayed until recently as appeals courts considered legal issues surrounding it.Trump countersued Carroll this week, claiming that she has libele...

California’s historic work on possible Black reparations moves to the Legislature

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:42 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Members of California’s Black reparations task force handed off their historic two-year report to state lawmakers Thursday, beginning the next chapter in the long struggle to compensate the descendants of slavery. The first U.S. panel of its kind met one last time Thursday, urging supporters to press lawmakers into action on more than 100 recommendations. State legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom must agree for any money to be paid or for any policy changes to be adopted.“This book of truth will be a legacy, will be a testament to the full story,” said Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and task force member. “Anyone who says that we are colorblind, that we have solved the problem of anti-Black animus and racism, I challenge you to read this document.”The mood was buoyant, but tinged with frustration and anger that hours earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education, programs that have disproportionately helped Bla...