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Top Massachusetts court backs Boston in COVID-19 vaccine mandate fight, throws out lower ruling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

The state’s top court has ruled in favor of the city in the battle over its COVID-19 mandate, throwing out the preliminary injunction against the Wu administration and clearing the way for future versions of such policies.Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Elspeth Cypher wrote the opinion issued Thursday, throwing out an appellate judge’s order not to enforce the vaccine-mandate police from December 2021 — a policy under which no one’s ever been disciplined.“The defendants’ policy decision to amend the COVID-19 policy was based on concerns not only for the health of their employees, but also for the residents of the city, for whom the defendants were obligated to provide continued access to public safety services,” Cypher wrote. He added that “the potential harm to the city and the public resulting from the spread of COVID-19 clearly outweighed the economic harm to the employees.”This fight stems from the start of the omicron-var...

A quick look at rainfall totals across San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A cold low pressure system swept over San Diego County the last two days, bringing bands of scattered showers.Widespread precipitation occurred in bouts on Wednesday and into Thursday morning, making the morning commute a wet one for some. Padres change time of Opening Day game due to weather The National Weather Service San Diego has released its two-day precipitation totals, with some areas recieving more than others.Here’s a breakdown of accumulating precipitation levels across some parts of the county as of 4:18 a.m. Thursday, according to calculations from NWS.*Areas above the freezing level may not show accurate precipitation totals, said NWS.North CountyGeneral locationPrecipitation levelPalomar Observatory1.19 inchesFallbrook0.73 inchesValley Center0.73 inchesSan Onofre0.68 inchesEscondido0.57 inchesCarlsbad0.51 inchesOceanside0.49 inchesSan Marcos0.47 inchesVista0.36 inchesEncinitas 0.36 inchesEast CountyGeneral locationPrecipitation levelAlpine 0.98 inchesO...

Covering over well at Indian temple collapses, killing 11

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A structure built over an old temple well in India collapsed Thursday as a large crowd of devotees prayed at a festival for Rama, one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, killing at least 11 people, officials said.Up to 35 people fell into the well in the temple complex in Indore in central Madhya Pradesh state when the structure collapsed and were covered by falling debris, police Commissioner Makrand Deoskar said. The structure apparently caved in because it could not handle the weight of the large crowd. The state’s top elected official, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, ordered an investigation.Chouhan said 18 people were rescued and hospitalized with injuries.Rescue workers were pumping the water out of the well looking for any more people still trapped there, local news reports said.Temple authorities had stopped using the well years ago and covered it with the structure.Witnesses said a large crowd of devotees had thronged the temple to perform a fire ritu...

Top UN court rejects Iranian bid to free assets frozen by US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ top court on Thursday rejected Tehran’s legal bid to free up some $2 billion in Iranian central bank assets frozen by U.S. authorities to be paid in compensation to victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Iran.In a 10-5 majority ruling, the International Court of Justice said it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the Iranian claim linked to the central Markazi Bank.The world court’s vice-president, Kirill Gevorgian, said the majority “upholds the objection to jurisdiction raised by the United States of America relating to the claims of the Islamic Republic of Iran” related to the bank.In a complex, 67-page judgment, the world court also found that some other U.S. moves to seize assets of Iran and Iranians in the United States breached a 1955 treaty between the countries and said they should negotiate compensation. If they fail to reach a number, they will have to return to the Hague-based court for a ...

A look at the 22 Nova Scotians killed in Canada’s worst mass shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

TRURO, N.S. — The victims in Canada’s worst mass shooting included an RCMP officer, a teacher, health-care workers, retirees, neighbours of the shooter and two correctional officers killed in their home.Here is a look at the 22 lives lost on April 18-19, 2020:Elizabeth Joanne Thomas and John ZahlThomas and Zahl died in Portapique, N.S., where their home was among those set on fire by the gunman. During the inquiry it was revealed they bought their home from a woman who had warned police about the killer’s spousal violence in 2013. Thomas was in her late 50s and was known as Joanne to friends and family. She was from Winnipeg and fell in love with Nova Scotia on a trip during her teenage years, her son Justin Zahl said. After raising two boys in Albuquerque, N.M., Thomas and her husband retired to their dream home in Portapique in January 2017. Originally from Minnesota, John Zahl, in his late 60s, was a U.S. Navy veteran who served as a Russian linguist. He worked for Fe...

S&P/TSX composite up nearly 100 points, U.S. stock markets also climb higher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was up nearly 100 points in late-morning trading as gains in the base metals sector helped lead a broad-based rally and U.S. stock markets also advanced.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 97.90 points at 19,935.55.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 89.55 points at 32,807.15. The S&P 500 index was up 23.31 points at 4,051.12, while the Nasdaq composite was up 103.47 points at 12,029.71.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.87 cents US compared with 73.66 cents US on Wednesday.The May crude contract was up US$1.23 at US$74.20 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was down six cents at US$2.12 per mmBTU.The June gold contract was up US$5.90 at US$1,990.40 an ounce and the May copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.08 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Used car prices are surging. Here’s why you should buy now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

Well, it was nice while it lasted.For nearly a year, the average used vehicle in the United States had been edging toward affordable again for millions of people. The relief felt belated and relatively slight, but it was welcome nonetheless.From an eye-watering peak of $31,400 in April of last year, the average price had dropped 14% to $27,125 early this month.Now, with the supply of used vehicles failing to keep up with robust demand, prices are creeping up again, with signs pointing to further increases ahead. So many buyers have been priced out of the new-car market that fewer trade-ins are landing on dealer lots. Deepening the shortage, fewer used vehicles are coming off leases or being off-loaded by rental car companies.Average list prices for used car have edged up by about $700 in the past month, and Alex Yurchenko, chief data officer for Black Book, which tracks prices, expects them to keep rising at least into summer.“If you have to buy a used vehicle,” he suggested, ...

Maine 19-year-old will plead guilty in mosque attack plot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A 19-year-old from Maine who the FBI says built homemade explosives and plotted to attack a mosque in the name of the Islamic State group will plead guilty to providing material support to terrorists.Xavier Pelkey of Waterville faces a maximum of 15 years in prison under a plea agreement in which a second charge will be dropped, according to court documents filed Wednesday. The change-of-plea hearing is set for next week in U.S. District Court.Pelkey’s attorney did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on Thursday. Law enforcement officials said Pelkey was in communication with two juveniles — one in Canada, the other in Illinois — about conducting a mass shooting at a Shiite mosque in the Chicago area and possibly other houses of worship. All three alleged plotters believed in a radical form of Sunni Islam that views the Shiite branch of Islam as nonbelievers, officials said. Pelkey was 18 when he was arrested last year by FBI agents who fo...

Israeli author: Netanyahu legacy imperiled by judicial plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli historian, philosopher and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari said Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may go down in history as the man who destroyed Israel.Harari, who has been vocal about his opposition to a proposed judicial overhaul by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, said the long-serving prime minister has divided the country to preserve his political longevity. This has caused rifts that will be difficult to heal, Harari said.“If Netanyahu had retired after two terms in office or after, say, eight years. I think even though I didn’t like many of the things he did, I think he would have retired as one of the great leaders of Israel,” Harari said during an interview with The Associated Press in Tel Aviv. “Now, his legacy is he is the certainly the divider of Israel, the person who divided the Israeli nation against itself. And I hope … we don’t get there,” he said. “But he could go down in history as the pe...

Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry identifies many RCMP failings, recommends overhaul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:43 GMT

A public inquiry has found widespread failures in how the Mounties responded to Canada’s worst mass shooting and recommends that Ottawa rethink the RCMP’s central role in Canadian policing.“The RCMP must finally undergo the fundamental change that many previous reports have called for,” commissioner Leanne Fitch said in written remarks prepared for delivery Thursday.In a seven-volume report spanning more than 3,000 pages, the Mass Casualty Commission also says police missed red flags in the years leading up to the Nova Scotia rampage that resulted in 22 people being murdered on April 18-19, 2020, by a denture maker disguised as an RCMP officer and driving a replica police vehicle.The murderer, Gabriel Wortman, was killed by two Mounties at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., 13 hours into his rampage.The final report delves deeply into the causes of the mass shooting. These include the killer’s violence toward his spouse and the failure of police to act on ...