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Airline industry claims traveller safety at risk with proposed passenger rights rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

MONTREAL — Aviation companies are making the pitch to Ottawa that stricter rules designed to boost customer compensation and improve service could put passenger safety at risk — an argument consumer advocates reject as “ridiculous.”The push, made in regulatory submissions and meetings on Parliament Hill, comes on the heels of sweeping reforms to the passenger rights charter announced in April and currently being hashed out by Canada’s transport regulator before going into effect next year.The changes appear to scrap a loophole through which airlines have denied customers compensation for flight delays or cancellations when they were required for safety purposes. The sector wants that exemption restored, and says pilots shouldn’t feel pressured to choose between flying defective planes and costing their employer money.“We want our pilots to be entirely free from any financial consideration when they take a safety-related decision,” WestJet chief ex...

Trump animates California Republicans with calls to shoot people who rob stores

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — In an occasionally dark and profane speech, Donald Trump on Friday sought to win over Republicans in California by complaining that rich people in Beverly Hills smell bad because they’re denied water, reiterating lies about widespread election fraud and calling on police to shoot people robbing stores.While many of his remarks at the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim were familiar retreads of Trump’s attacks and grievances, his encouragement of violent retribution against criminals marked an escalation of his longstanding tough-on-crime message.“We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store,” he said, drawing loud applause. “Shot!” he added for emphasis. Trump was one of several Republican presidential contenders appearing at the event in this Democratic stronghold. While there’s little hope for any of them to defeat Presi...

Nisga’a Nation in B.C. welcomes ‘dear ancestor’ totem home after century away

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

LAXGALTS’AP, B.C. — The Nisga’a Nation has finally brought its family history home, almost 100 years after a totem pole was stolen and sold to Scotland’s National Museum. The memorial totem was carved to honour one of Amy Parent’s relatives more than 160 years ago. The Simon Fraser University anthropologist was the driving force behind its return to their homeland. “Welcome home, dear ancestor,” she said during a ceremony Friday in the remote community in British Columbia’s Nass Valley. “My heart is so happy to be here with you today.” The 11-metre, red-cedar pole was taken in 1929 by an ethnographer researching life in the Nisga’a Village and sold a year later to the museum in Scotland. Parent said they asked for the pole two decades ago, but the museum said then that it was in rough shape and couldn’t be moved. But they persisted, and last year, the museum agreed to allow them to bring their history home, she said. “...

Endangered red wolf can make it in the wild, but not without `significant’ help, study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (AP) — The endangered red wolf can survive in the wild, but only with “significant additional management intervention,” according to a long-awaited population viability analysis released Friday.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also released an updated recovery plan Friday for “Canis rufus” — the only wolf species unique to the United States. It calls for spending nearly $328 million over the next 50 years to get the red wolf off the endangered species list.“This final revised recovery plan will help the conservation and survival of the Red Wolf, ensuring these endangered canids endure in the wild for future generations,” Interior Department Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz said in a news release. But the announcement comes with a lot of caveats. The viability analysis says it will take drastic reductions in gunshot and vehicle deaths, stepped-up efforts to prevent wolf-coyote mixing, and creative methods to increase reprod...

Chicago man accused of sexually assaulting 2 women captured in Oregon after manhunt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago man accused of sexual assault, robbery and escaping from electronic monitoring is in custody after he was tracked down in Oregon, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.Authorities say 34-year-old Rene Chandler, who is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Chicago in 2018, was taken into custody in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday after he was tracked down by the Cook County Sheriff’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit. ‘We are all in shock’: 3 dead after being found unresponsive in Edgewater apartment According to authorities, there were four arrest warrants out for Chandler. Two were connected to alleged sexual assaults in 2018, a third was in connection to a robbery charge in 2019 and a fourth warrant stemmed from an alleged escape from electronic monitoring in 2020.Authorities say Chandler used several fake names, IDs and social security numbers to evade capture by police. Girl, 10, shot by stray bullet that entered her home on South Side Following his...

'Suspicious' skull brings checked baggage to a halt at Salt Lake airport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (KTVX) — The checked baggage system at the Salt Lake International Airport was brought to a screeching halt for two hours earlier this month while the Transportation Security Administration investigated a suspicious item in someone's luggage. The suspicious item? A plastic skull fitted with a sensor and a 9-volt battery. 5in1 Rocker Bassinet recalled; company not cooperating The skull was flagged on Monday, Sept. 18, around 8 a.m. by a TSA explosive detection unit as a "potential security threat." When TSA officers reviewed the X-ray image on-screen, they saw what appeared to be a human skull with "unidentifiable components" inside. Altogether, authorities said, it resembled an improvised explosive device. The Salt Lake City Police Airport Division was notified of the discovery. Together with TSA, officers worked to mitigate any immediate threat with an explosive canine. Officers also located the passenger to explain what they found in his luggage. A "suspicious" sk...

Capitol Hill lawmakers honor and remember Senator Dianne Feinstein

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) -- A black cloth and white roses sat upon the senate desk that for years belonged to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The other California senator, Alex Padilla (D-CA), joined a tearful remembrance on the senate floor, just hours after Feinstein's death was announced."We bid farewell to my dear friend," Padilla said. "An outright champion for the state of California."Lawmakers also honored her as a trailblazer for women."When we talk about the giants on whose shoulders we stand, for me that's Dianne." said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)."Dianne was a leader in fighting for women’s rights and protecting our communities from violence and gun violence," noted Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).Sen. Feinstein’s legacy includes her work to help pass the 1994 assault weapons ban. She was known on Capitol Hill for fighting for the causes she believed in and she worked until the very end, casting her vote Thursday afternoon."And she won and she won and each time made the country ...

Austin wants to 'cap and stitch' TxDOT's I-35 expansion -- but can it afford it?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The City of Austin has been working with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for years to make major changes to the state's Interstate 35 Capitol Express Central project. But as a major funding deadline looms, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes hinted at the question during a mobility committee meeting Thursday: How is the City going to pay for it? The City of Austin needs to fork over roughly $730 million dollars to TxDOT if it wants all of the "caps and stitches" it worked into TxDOT's central expansion plan. As of Friday, a spokesperson for the City of Austin said there are no funds secured, though they said they are "continuing to discuss all options available with TxDOT including funding deadlines" and that it's continuing to work with its finance department to locate funding options. What’s a ‘cap and stitch’ and why do Austin leaders say it’ll revamp I-35? "Austin Transportation and Public Works Department just applied for $105M from the USDOT for a ...

Boat ramp at Decker Lake closed due to low water levels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Beginning Sunday, public access to the boat ramp at Lake Walter E. Long, or Decker Lake, would be closed, according to the City of Austin.The city said on Sept. 12, the elevation of the lake was 554.07 feet above mean sea level, which was approximately one foot below the normal operational range. Officials said the lake level was too low to safely allow boating.“The lake level is maintained by pumping water from the Colorado River. Flows from the Colorado River have been insufficient to allow pumping into Lake Walter E. Long due to lack of local rainfall and reduced inflows into the Highland Lakes,” the city said.According to the city, the decision about lake access was made in collaboration with Austin Energy, Austin Water and the Lower Colorado River Authority. “Austin Energy, Austin Water and Austin Parks and Recreation will continue to monitor available Colorado River flows and will resume pumping operations as conditions allow which will allow the boat...

'My fight will continue': Paxton whistleblower ready for lawsuit to move forward

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:08 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) - Two weeks after Attorney General Ken Paxton's acquittal in his impeachment trial, the Texas Supreme Court announced on Friday that the whistleblowers' lawsuit against Paxton can move forward.The lawsuit was filed by former top deputies at the Office of Attorney General who claim they were wrongfully fired by Paxton. The former employees say the firings came after making "good faith" reports to the FBI about alleged actions taken by Paxton for the benefit of Austin-area real estate developer Nate Paul. Whistleblower lawsuit against Ken Paxton can move forward in real court, Supreme Court rules The ruling from the Texas Supreme Court clears the way for the lawsuit to return to a Travis County trial court. The lawsuit had been on hold after a $3.3 million dollar settlement with the whistleblowers was proposed. Concerns over using taxpayer funds to pay the settlement helped lead to the Texas House investigation of Paxton and subsequent impeachment trial.Nexstar s...