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Boston City Council, Mayor Wu exploring cash payments to low-income families

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

The Wu administration is exploring a guaranteed basic income program for low-income families in Boston — basically cash payments — but concerns about cost, sustainability and the risk of creating a “benefits cliff” for qualifying applicants is giving the cabinet pause.Segun Idowu, the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, said Monday that there have been “a lot of discussions” about the potential policy shift, which would involve dishing out money every month to families living below the poverty line, but there are no plans in place for a pilot program.Data from other municipal pilot programs across the country, including how successful a short-term income boost is in lifting people out of poverty and whether it hurts or helps the local economy, will inform whether Boston moves forward with a similar effort, Elijah Miller, the city’s director of policy, said.“If guaranteed income is a way that we determine with our colleagues here is the way to go, it is so...

LEGOLAND California loses power, forced to close early

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- LEGOLAND California in Carlsbad closed early Monday after losing power for about an hour, theme park officials said.Around 2:40 p.m., the power went out at the park, but it was restored an hour later, Christina Fillippis with LEGOLAND California emailed FOX 5 in a statement."There were no injuries or damage reported and any guests who were on rides at the time were safely evacuated," Fillippis said. Naked guy spotted on iconic Disneyland Ride The outage prompted the theme park to close an hour earlier (4 p.m.), according to the park.The City of Carlsbad posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that a power outage was reported in parts of northwest Carlsbad due a car accident.Guests will be able to return to the park within one year as part of its “Rainy Day Promise.”SEA LIFE Aquarium in LEGOLAND was also shut down temporarily on Monday, but it is now open until 6 p.m.

Conservative deputy calls MP ‘unhinged’ for linking Poilievre and Winnipeg killings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — Federal Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman is calling a Metro Vancouver MP “unhinged” for a social media post that questioned if there was a connection between Pierre Poilievre and a weekend shooting in Manitoba that killed four people.Liberal Ken Hardie, who represents the B.C. riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, posted on Monday that the shooting that left four dead in Winnipeg was “beyond troubling” and asked if it was connected to a “burn everything down” attitude creeping in from the United States.His post on X, formerly known as Twitter, then referred to Conservative Leader Poilievre, asking if he was the “creep” on the Canadian side.Lantsman responded by referring to a previous instance when Hardie said Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels would be proud of Conservative MPs, calling Hardie “unhinged then” and “unhinged now.”Conservative spokesman Sebastian Skamski said in a statement it wa...

Peru’s top prosecutor blames President Boluarte for deaths of protesters as political crisis deepens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s attorney general on Monday blamed President Dina Boluarte and her prime minister for the deaths of “several” anti-government protesters earlier this year, and charged them with first-degree murder before the nation’s congress in a procedure known as a “constitutional complaint.”A congressional committee must now review the complaint, which could lead to a trial if the charges are approved by a majority of the nation’s lawmakers.Peru’s constitution protects heads of state from most criminal charges while they are still in office. This means the complaint filed Monday against Boluarte would most likely initiate a trial after she finishes her term or if she is ousted from office through other means, such as an impeachment vote.Peru has had five presidents since 2016, with none finishing their terms, and two of them impeached by the nation’s powerful congress.The charges pressed against Boluarte deepen a political crisis that broke out last year foll...

One year after protests shook China, participants ponder the meaning of the brief flare of defiance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A year ago, Li Houchen was on the streets of Shanghai, hollering “Freedom!” to protest China’s harsh “zero COVID” policy and growing authoritarianism.He was one of thousands of people demonstrating across China in what came to be called the White Paper movement, after the blank sheets of paper protesters used to represent the country’s strict censorship controls.Yet one year later, China has all but forgotten the protests. The state reacted quickly, breaking up the marches with arrests and threats and abruptly lifting COVID-19 controls.The protests were a brief flare of defiance, the most direct challenge to the Communist Party’s authority in decades. For the young people who took part, it was their first protest. Now, many of them are pondering what’s next.Today, Li lives in Tokyo, fulfilling a vow to himself to leave his homeland and go into exile to document the tumultuous events in China last year. He’s written a 448-page book, “Records of the Plague Year: From Th...

Minnesota Wild replace coach Dean Evason with John Hynes after losing 14 of first 19 games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild fired coach Dean Evason and replaced him with John Hynes on Monday after losing seven straight games and 14 of their first 19 to start to the NHL season.General manager Bill Guerin announced the moves, including the firing of assistant Bob Woods. Hynes, the former New Jersey and Nashville coach, will take over. The Wild planned a news conference with Guerin and Hynes for Tuesday, prior to their game against St. Louis.Evason, 59, had three full seasons in charge of the Wild, who gave him his first head coaching job in the NHL on Feb. 14, 2020, when Bruce Boudreau was fired and he was promoted from his assistant role. He went 147-77-27 in 251 regular season games and 8-15 in the postseason without winning any series.Hynes, 48, is 284-255-63 in eight NHL seasons. The Predators fired him on May 30, six weeks after missing the playoffs. They lost in the opening round in each of three previous years, starting in 2020 when he was hired midseason to repl...

Charges filed against man accused of armed robbery in Loop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

CHICAGO — Charges have been filed against a Chicago man accused of robbing a person at gunpoint in the Loop on Sunday morning.Chicago police say 21-year-old Michael Odulaja, a South Shore resident, is facing three felony charges, including robbery with a firearm, attempted robbery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. CPD: 14 people robbed at gunpoint in 3 hours According to police, Odulaja allegedly entered a business in the 200 block of North LaSalle Stree just before 9 a.m. and robbed a man at gunpoint. Officers say only minutes later he allegedly attempted to rob a man in the 200 block of North Dearborn Street.Police say they eventually caught Odulaja in the 100 block of West Wacker Drive just after 9:15 a.m. and recovered a weapon during his arrest.Odulaja appeared in court on Monday for a detention hearing.

What happened to Austin's $515M homelessness fundraising initiative?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A major fundraising initiative aimed at helping end homelessness, which was championed by former City of Austin leaders, has flown under the radar for the last year as the City now has new leadership. Finding Home ATX was a project created out of the Spring 2021 Summit to Address Unsheltered Homelessness, according to its website. The goals that came out of that summit were as follows: house 3,000 additional unsheltered people, add 1,300 new affordable housing units for people experiencing homelessness and "build a better, more effective Homelessness Response System." To get there, the City -- under former Mayor Steve Adler -- and its partners in combatting homelessness, created an overall fundraising goal of $515 million. That included money from private donors, the City, Travis County, the state and service providers. City officials have previously given updates on the fundraising effort, but this time directed us to the chair of Finding Home ATX. Travis County po...

Central Texas man's family among hostages released by Hamas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) --- Israel and Hamas agreed to extend their cease-fire agreement for two more days, according to the Qatari government. Israel and Hamas agree to extend truce for two more days, and to free more hostages and prisoners So far, 58 hostages have been released during the current deal, including 39 Israelis. Among those freed are relatives of a Central Texas man. 'Roller coaster of emotions'Dori Roberts said it was the news he was desperately hoping for. "Text messages saying like, they're free, they're out," Roberts said. "They're back home." PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Central Texas man says family members seized by Hamas militants in Israel His cousin and her two daughters were among the Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas for nearly two months. Dori Roberts said his three relatives were among the Israeli hostages freed from Hamas. (Photo: Ashe Family)Dori Roberts said his three relatives were among the Israeli hostages freed from Hamas. (Photo: Ashe Family)Dori Roberts s...

New allegations about former St. Louis-area police officer charged with assaulting arrestees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:12 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Authorities allege that a former suburban St. Louis police officer who is charged with sexually assaulting several arrestees also covertly took photos of people in public bathrooms.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 34-year-old Marcellis Blackwell, of St. Louis, is not charged with the latest allegation. But federal prosecutors discussed the covert photographing allegation Monday in seeking to have him remain jailed until his trial.Blackwell had worked for the North County Police Cooperative, which polices eight small municipalities, for just over a year when he was charged with taking some people he arrested to isolated areas before he turned off his body camera and abused them.He faces 16 counts of deprivation of rights and five counts of altering records in a federal investigation. He was also charged in St. Louis County with arresting and sexually assaulting a handcuffed man near Normandy High School. Bi-State may run Loop Trolley one year longer than pl...