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With no end to federal deficits in sight, budget spells dismay for some economists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

OTTAWA — Even as the Liberals keep a tight focus on new clean-tech and health-care spending, the federal budget released Tuesday still projects deficits for the next five years.Many economists are expressing disappointment in those fiscal projections, noting the government could be in trouble if the economy slows more than it is expected to — and saying the Liberals could’ve saved themselves headaches with better planning in previous years. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised that Tuesday’s budget would be fiscally restrained in light of a slowing economy that could weigh on government coffers.But the fiscal projections in the budget show the deficit has been revised upward since the fall, showing no end in sight for deficits despite the fall budget update in November projecting a balanced budget in 2027-28. “The idea that you’re not even getting to a balanced budget within this budget horizon, is, in my mind, not fiscally responsible,” said Jam...

Congress approves measure to toss Biden’s water protections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress on Wednesday approved a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s protections for the nation’s waterways that Republicans have criticized as a burden on business, advancing a measure that President Joe Biden has promised to veto.Republicans have targeted the Biden administration’s protections for thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, labeling it an environmental overreach that harms businesses, developers and farmers. They used the Congressional Review Act that allows Congress to block recently enacted executive branch regulations. The Senate voted in favor 53 to 43 Wednesday to give final legislative approval to the measure. Four Democrats and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Republicans to vote in favor of the resolution.“The overreach, basically, it’s unreal,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D.-W. Va., a critic of some of the White House’s environmental policies.The Senate vote is the latest development in a lon...

GOP lawmakers override veto of transgender bill in Kentucky

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kentucky on Wednesday swept aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill regulating some of the most personal aspects of life for transgender young people — from banning access to gender-affirming health care to restricting the bathrooms they can use.The votes to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto were lopsided in both legislative chambers — where the GOP wields supermajorities — and came on the next-to-last day of this year’s legislative session.The debate is likely to spill over into this year’s gubernatorial campaign in Kentucky and could reach the courts if opponents follow through on a threat to mount a legal challenge against the bill.Activists on both sides of the impassioned debate gathered at the statehouse to make competing appeals shortly before lawmakers took up the transgender bill.A few hours before the vote, as transgender-rights advocates rallied outside Kentucky’s Capitol, trans teenager Sun Pacyga held up a sign summin...

‘Small world’: Luke Schenn, long-time Maple Leaf Tomas Kaberle are neighbours

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

A text message popped up from a number so old, Luke Schenn had forgotten it was still among his contacts.The returning Maple Leafs defenceman had just moved his growing family into his new Toronto home, excited about his third baby and his shot at a third Stanley Cup.“Hey, it’s Kabby. I heard we’re neighbours.”Sitting in the middle of the defencemen’s bank of stalls inside the Leafs Scotiabank Arena dressing room, Schenn motions across the logo on the carpet toward Auston Matthews’ stall on the other side.That’s how far away, he said, the Kaberles’ driveway is from the Schenns’.Unbeknownst to him, the newly reacquired Schenn has moved in directly across the street from his original Maple Leafs D partner, Tomas Kaberle, now 45.“It’s a small world. You don’t anticipate that,” Schenn, 33, said with a wide grin.“Different paths in life, but here we are.”Kaberle “a great mentor” for Sche...

Colorado man cites fear of homelessness in ax killings case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

DENVER (AP) — An 81-year-old Colorado man accused of killing his wife and daughter with an ax told police he lost his job and was afraid they would end up homeless. Reginald Maclaren told police he didn’t regret killing them because he “knows they are in a better place,” according to court documents.Maclaren was arrested Saturday in the killings and booked into jail Tuesday after being taken to the hospital for what police have described as a preexisting medical condition, Crystal Essman, a spokesperson for police in the Denver suburb of Englewood, said Wednesday. Maclaren is scheduled to appear in court Monday, when prosecutors say they plan to file formal charges against him. Police said Maclaren called authorities Saturday to tell them that his wife and adult daughter had been killed and that he thought he knew who the suspect was. When officers arrived at his apartment, they found the bodies of two women in trash cans in the living room, police said in a press release. One of th...

Couple says city is forcing them to pay red light violation that isn't theirs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

CHICAGO (WGN-TV) — A couple says the City of Chicago is coercing them into paying a red light ticket for a car that isn't theirs.Steve Stallings and his wife, Celeste Galizia, received a $100 red light violation in the mail four months ago. The catch is that the car on camera isn't theirs, and they say the camera misread the plate.The license plate shown in the photo starts with the letters "CE." Stallings and Galizia said their plate starts with "CL.""It's clearly not ours," Scalling said. "We weren't there or nothing. It's got a Kansas City Chiefs decal on it, and we wouldn't own one of those." Chicago-area native being hailed a hero after Nashville school shooting The couple, who live in a suburb outside Chicago, appealed the violation, but a judge ruled against them. After that, they sent the Department of Finance proof the car and plate isn't theirs through the mail, but it was also refused and sent back."We're completely innocent, yet they want us to jump through hoops," Sca...

What was Jonathan Toews reaction to the Patrick Kane trade?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

CHICAGO - For the first time in his 16 years with the Blackhawks, the captain was taking the ice without one of his closest teammates Patrick Kane was still on the squad when Jonathan Toews last played for the team back in late January before he had to leave the lineup due to long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome. When he returned on Tuesday for morning skate ahead of the Blackhawks' 4-1 loss to the Stars, Kane has already played a few weeks for the New York Rangers after he was traded there on February 28.So what has it been like to see Toews no longer with the team?"I was definitely shocked. The possibility was there for a while but, god, it's not actually going to happen. You just can't see a guy like him in another jersey," said Toews when asked about his reaction to the Kane trade. "I heard he was flying home from San Jose to kinda wait things out until the trade was actually going through, I think it might have been Tuesday night or something."Then I realized 'OK, th...

Nashville school shooting: Everything we know about victims, suspect and timeline so far

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — On Monday, March 27, seven people, including the shooter — later identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale — were killed in a shooting at The Covenant School in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville.As police continue their investigation into the shooting, including the search for a motive, here's what we know about the violence that unfolded. The VictimsThe Metro Nashville Police Department identified the six victims as Evelyn Dieckhaus (9), Hallie Scruggs (9), William Kinney (9), Cynthia Peak (61), Dr. Katherine Koonce (60), and Mike Hill (61).Each of the six victims is said to have died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to Davidson County Medical Examiner Feng Li, who performed the autopsies on Tuesday.Chief John Drake of the MNPD said by the time he arrived on scene, the three children had already been transported to the hospital. However, he found the other victims spread out in different places throughout the building. SEE ...

Hitman in New Jersey murder-for-hire gets 16-year sentence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A career criminal whose rap sheet includes bank robberies and a murder conspiracy was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison for killing a New Jersey political consultant in exchange for money in 2014.George Bratsenis, 74, pleaded guilty a year ago to a charge that he and another man accepted thousands of dollars from another political consultant, Sean Caddle, in exchange for killing Michael Galdieri. Galdieri was stabbed to death in his Jersey City apartment, which was then set on fire.U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez imposed the 16-year sentence plus five years of supervised release on Wednesday in federal court in Newark.A man who served time in a New Jersey prison with Bratsenis in the early 2000s, Bomani Africa, also pleaded guilty in the killing and was sentenced last month to 20 years. He named Bratsenis as the accomplice who helped kill Galdieri.Revelations about Galdieri’s killing jolted political circles in a state infamous for dozens of poli...

Protesters try to drown out the I-35 North construction groundbreaking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation broke ground on its I-35 Capital Express North project. It's a $606 million project that would add one non-tolled, high-occupancy vehicle lane in each direction along the interstate between SH 45 North and Hwy 290 in north central Austin.I-35 Capital Express North would also reconstruct six bridges, construct a diverging diamond interchange at Wells Branch Parkway, reconstruct entrance and exit ramps, and create shared-use paths for pedestrians and cyclists.But not everyone is on board to see the expansion. Rethink 35 protesters were on site doing their best to drown out the speakers at the groundbreaking presentation. Rethink35 is pushing for a study of alternatives, including rerouting non-local traffic and completely replacing the highway with a boulevard.That's something TxDOT Austin District Engineer, Tucker Ferguson said is not a realistic option, "The projects we put together for Capital Express North, South and Central a...