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Smoke prevents Yellowknife from holding welcome home celebration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

YELLOWKNIFE — Smoke has forced Yellowknife to cancel a celebration marking the return of residents to the city after a wildfires-prompted evacuation that lasted for weeks.The Northwest Territories capital had planned a “Welcome Home” gathering on Saturday at Somba K’e Civic Plaza, featuring live music, bouncy castles and a shop-local contest.But the city posted a notice on its website that due to poor air quality, the celebration has been cancelled due to safety concerns, although the shop-local promotion was still on.Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a special air-quality statement on Saturday for Yellowknife, saying “smoke is causing or expected to cause poor air quality and reduced visibility.”Everyone in the city of approximately 20,000 was ordered to leave in mid-August due to a nearby wildfire, and they were only allowed to return on Sept. 6 when the evacuation order was downgraded to an alert.Yellowknife says on its website there is free acc...

Birthplace of the atomic bomb braces for its biggest mission since the top-secret Manhattan Project

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — Los Alamos was the perfect spot for the U.S. government’s top-secret Manhattan Project.Almost overnight, the ranching enclave on a remote plateau in northern New Mexico was transformed into a makeshift home for scientists, engineers and young soldiers racing to develop the world’s first atomic bomb. Dirt roads were hastily built and temporary housing came in the form of huts and tents as the outpost’s population ballooned.The community is facing growing pains again, 80 years later, as Los Alamos National Laboratory takes part in the nation’s most ambitious nuclear weapons effort since World War II. The mission calls for modernizing the arsenal with droves of new workers producing plutonium cores — key components for nuclear weapons.Some 3,300 workers have been hired in the last two years, with the workforce now topping more than 17,270. Close to half of them commute to work from elsewhere in northern New Mexico and from as far away as Albuquerque,...

Moneris confirms credit and debit card processing outage, but offers few details

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

TORONTO — The Canadian payment processing firm Moneris says credit and debit card transactions were interrupted by a network outage reported earlier in the day.Complaints about outages started rolling in to the Downdetector.ca website before noon eastern time on Saturday, but Moneris did not say when the outage started.About three hours later, Moneris posted a message on X — the  social media site formerly known as Twitter — saying it had resolved the network problem.The Toronto-based technology company, a joint venture between  Royal Bank and BMO Bank of Montreal, said transaction processing could be slow as its systems catch up with the backlog.It remains unclear how many businesses and transactions were affected.Moneris says it supports more than 325,000 merchant locations across Canada.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.The Canadian Press

Lots of dignitaries but no real fireworks – only electronic flash – as the Asian Games open

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

HANGZHOU, China (AP) — The opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Saturday in China offered all the staples of a major international sports event.Dignitaries greeted General Secretary Xi Jinping, fans packed the 80,000-seat Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou to capacity, and many of the 12,417 participants from 45 nations and territories paraded to officially open the two-week show.By comparison, next year’s Paris Olympics will field about 10,500 competitors.One big thing, however, was missing: real fireworks, the exploding kind that smell of power and burnt fuses. Instead, the high-tech games — billed of course as “green games” — offered electronic flash, 3D animations and a virtual torchbearer.Xi was greeted by wild cheers when he appeared, and fans were handed LED star lights, adding sparkle to the stands when the lights dimmed and eight well-polished soldiers arrived carrying the national flag above their heads.The loudest cheers were for the Chinese delegation, but...

Aid shipments and evacuations as Azerbaijan reasserts control over breakaway province

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

LONDON (AP) — More badly needed humanitarian aid was on its way to the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh via both Azerbaijan and Armenia on Saturday. The development comes days after Baku reclaimed control of the province and began talks with representatives of its ethnic Armenian population on reintegrating the area, prompting some residents to flee their homes for fear of reprisals. The aid shipments and evacuations followed Azerbaijan’s monthslong road blockade of the region that led to food and fuel shortages, and Baku’s subsequent lightning military offensive this week. Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. Armenian forces also took control of substantial territory around the Azerbaijani region.Azerbaijan regained control of the surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. A Russia-brokered armistice ended the war, and a contingent of 2,000 Rus...

Former USPS worker charged, accused of stealing nearly $1.7M in checks from mail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WDCW) – A former United States Postal Service (USPS) worker has been charged with stealing checks from the mail — a scheme that netted him nearly $1.7 million over the course of 18 months.In a news release issued Friday, the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office said Hachikosela Muchimba, 43, of Washington, D.C., was charged with mail theft and bank fraud.Muchimba was accused of depositing checks from the mail into his own bank account between October 2021 and March 2023. Michimba had been working at a D.C. branch of the United States Postal Service since 2020. He was placed on off-duty status in March, following the launch of a federal investigation. What the USPS does with lost mail — and how you might get it back Muchimba's scheme involved the removal of the payee's name from the checks, after which he would instead write his own name. Many of the checks were U.S. Treasury checks, and the complaint said that Muchimba was spotted on bank surveillance cameras taking the ...

TDCJ: Man serving life sentence for capital murder killed by cellmate in East Texas prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

TENNESSEE COLONY, Texas (KETK) - A man serving two life sentences for capital murder in an East Texas prison was murdered by his cellmate, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said.50-year-old Billy Chemirmir was found dead in his cell at the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony early Tuesday morning.Chemirmir was serving two life sentences without parole for two counts of capital murder out of Dallas County. His cellmate, who TDCJ said is serving a sentence for a Dallas County murder, was identified as the suspect in the crime.Chemirmir was accused of seeking out victims in independent living communities for older people in the Dallas area and was charged with killing 22 elderly women over a two-year span and stealing their valuables.“This is a conscious, dedicated effort to stalk, surveil, kill, steal, strip and sell,” Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said in closing arguments at Chemirmir's last trial.Creuzot decided against seeking the death penalty, saying th...

Best towns in Texas to see the 'Ring of Fire' eclipse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — Imagine walking outside to see a "ring of fire" in the sky as the world around you falls into a deep twilight, but how? It isn't even noon yet! That will be the case for several towns in Texas on Saturday, Oct. 14, as the annular solar eclipse casts a shadow across portions of the U.S. for almost five minutes. The partial eclipse will begin in Texas between 10:15 a.m. and 10:25 a.m., depending on the location. Those in the pathway of the annular eclipse will get the chance to watch as the moon covers the sun, creating a "ring of fire" effect in the sky. The annular eclipse is expected to last between two minutes and four minutes in various locations. Following the annular eclipse, the partial solar eclipse will last until approximately 1:33 p.m., when the skies will return to normal.October 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse that is set to cross portions of the United States including Texas. This image is courtesy of NASA's Scientific Visual...

New York small businesses thrive in these counties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

(Stacker) -- In 2021, the IRS received a whopping 5.4 million business applications—an all-time high since the U.S. government began tracking this data in 2004. The year with the second-highest number of new business applications? 2020. Today, small businesses employ nearly half of the nation's workers, according to a Chamber of Commerce report. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! It's fair to say that the past few years have been banner years for small businesses, but what about regional differences? The business climate in a small town in Texas is likely not the same as a small town in Connecticut. The Chamber of Commerce report found that the Midwest was the most business-friendly region, thanks to the relatively low cost of living, well-educated workforce, and regulations lowering taxes and easing zoning restrictions for businesses.Of course, the East and West coasts also have plenty to offer, from California's S...

Colorado brewers collect a whopping 40 medals at Great American Beer Festival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:59 GMT

The 2023 Great American Beer Festival may not have garnered as much hype as previous years, but Colorado breweries made their most impressive showing in recent memory at the awards, which took place Saturday morning.Judges evaluated 9,300 beers from more than 2,033 breweries in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, competition director Chris Williams said. Colorado beer makers collected a total of 40 medals, including 15 gold, a significant increase from the 27 awards breweries brought home from the 2022 competition.Speaking to The Denver Post, Shawnee Adelson, executive director of the Colorado Brewers Guild, expressed the pride she had in representing the winners. While the number of beers entered into this year’s competition was down, Adelson said brewers are more carefully submitting those recipes they feel are exemplary, and the awards reflect that.Westbound IPA of Westdown & Down Mill in Lafayette, Colorado on Friday, January 20.“Colorado did a great job this year not only in the numb...