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B.C. sets housing targets for 10 municipalities, urges immediate federal support

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

SAANICH, B.C. — British Columbia has announced its first set of targets for new homes to be built in 10 municipalities in a provincial strategy to tackle the ongoing housing crisis.Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says the 10 communities, located mostly within the Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria regions, will have five years to deliver on the new housing-unit goals set out in the plan.Kahlon says the province will assess the progress in six months and that an “independent person” may be put in place in municipalities where actions toward increasing housing aren’t being taken. The announcement comes as Premier David Eby says “it’s pretty clear” the federal government is not yet ready to share its renewed housing strategy or how it will work with British Columbia’s plans to take on the provincial housing crisis. Kahlon says the housing crisis is so dire in B.C. that the province is going ahead with its plans without guarantees of federal fund...

Guns used in 2022 random killing spree in Montreal were homemade, coroner hears

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

MONTREAL — The weapons used to murder three people in the Montreal area at random in August 2022 were homemade by the killer, an expert witness told a coroner’s inquiry on Tuesday.The two guns found on suspect Abdulla Shaikh were “ghost guns” — firearms without serial numbers that are assembled piece by piece, said Marc-André Dubé, a Montreal police firearms expert assigned to the RCMP-led National Weapons Enforcement Support Team.“Without a serial number on the frame, it’s very difficult to identify,” Dubé said of the guns, which are designed to be untraceable. But screenshots on Shaikh’s various electronic devices suggest he likely built the weapons himself, he said.Dubé testified on Day 2 of the coroner’s inquest into the murders of André Lemieux, Mohamed Belhaj and Alex Lévis-Crevier. All three were seemingly chosen at random by Shaikh over a 24-hour shooting spree.The coroner’s inquest heard Monday that within a one-hour per...

Alberta NDP asks minister to quash application for Rocky Mountain coal mine

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

Alberta’s New Democrat Opposition is asking the provincial government to step in and quash applications for coal mining exploration in the Rocky Mountains. In a letter to Energy Minister Brian Jean, environment critic Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse says he should tell the Alberta Energy Regulator to reject applications from Northback Holdings for drilling and water use.Last week, Northback applied to the regulator to revive the Grassy Mountain project, which was denied by a joint federal-provincial review panel in 2021. The regulator has said it is considering whether documents submitted under that version of the proposal apply to the current application, which would make it an “advanced project.” It would then be exempt from the government’s current moratorium on coal development, which was issued after a slew of mine proposals caused a public outcry. But Calahoo Stonehouse says Albertans have made their views clear over open-pit mines in the Rockies. She points to...

Tech CEO honored by Forbes was fatally attacked at a Baltimore apartment complex, police say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — The founder of a Baltimore tech startup, whose professional accomplishments earned her a spot on a Forbes 30 under 30 list earlier this year, was found dead after being reported missing late Monday morning, according to city police. Pava LaPere, 26, had suffered from blunt force trauma, police said. Officials released her name in a news release Tuesday morning. Public records suggest LaPere was living at the apartment complex where her body was found. Officials announced a suspect in the case at a news conference Tuesday evening: Jason Billingsley, 32, was paroled last October in an earlier sex assault case. Court records show he pleaded guilty to first-degree sex assault in 2015. Officials said they have no reason to believe LaPere knew Billingsley. The public defender’s office, which represented Billingsley in the past, told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening that it is too early for them to comment on this case.Baltimore Acting Police Commissioner Richard Wo...

UN summit of world leaders, by the numbers: The longest speech, the language that dominated and more

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly all the world’s on stage, and all the men and but 20 women merely players. That’s what a less-inspired Shakespeare might have written about this year’s U.N. General Assembly meeting of leaders, which concluded Tuesday.Over six days, a cavalcade of world leaders addressed the U.N. General Assembly against a literal backdrop of marbled green and a more figurative one of diplomatic rows, reignited tensions and a litany of world crises.Now, the speeches have been spoken, the right of reply has been duly exercised, and the world’s stage — or at least its spotlight — has been effectively dismantled until next year, although the work of the United Nations continues year-round. There were too many things happening to count at the United Nations this past week. Nevertheless, we tried.UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSIONS: 78September marks the opening of the 78th session, presided over by Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago. Each session runs for...

Commander Biden bites another Secret Service employee at the White House

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ’s dog Commander has bitten another U.S. Secret Service employee. A uniformed division officer was bitten by the dog around 8 p.m. Monday at the White House, and was treated on-site by medical personnel, said USSS chief of communications Anthony Guglielmi. The officer is doing just fine, he said. Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for first lady Jill Biden, said “the White House can be a stressful environment for family pets, and the first family continues to work on ways to help Commander handle the often unpredictable nature of the White House grounds.”She said the Bidens are “incredibly grateful to the Secret Service and Executive Residence staff for all they do to keep them, their family, and the country safe.”The German Shepherd purebred has bit or otherwise attacked Secret Service personnel at least 10 other times between October 2022 and January, including one incident that required a hospital visit by the injured law enforcemen...

Connecticut lawmakers OK election monitor for Bridgeport after mayor race tainted by possible fraud

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve $150,000 in funding for a special election monitor for Bridgeport, as the state’s largest city is enveloped in controversy after surveillance cameras recorded a woman stuffing pieces of paper into an absentee ballot drop box a week before the mayoral primary. Under the new legislation, the monitor will conduct inspections and investigations for the 2023 municipal election and the 2024 state election in Bridgeport. The possible electoral fraud incident is already the subject of a state elections investigation and a civil lawsuit filed by the candidate who lost the primary.The measure overwhelmingly cleared the House of Representatives and Senate during a special legislative session. Republicans in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly insisted Connecticut must take more steps to tighten its electoral laws and ensure confidence in elections across the state. “It’s necessary to show the people of Con...

India and Canada steer clear, in UN speeches, of their dispute over Sikh separatist leader’s killing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Indian and Canadian diplomats didn’t directly address their countries’ row over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, but they obliquely underscored some key talking points as they addressed world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that the world must not “countenance that political convenience determines responses to terrorism, extremism and violence.” Canadian U.N. Ambassador Robert Rae, by turn, insisted that “we cannot bend the rules of state-to-state relations for political expediency.”Relations between the two countries frayed after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that India may have been involved in the June killing of a Canadian citizen in a Vancouver suburb.Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45. Killed by masked gunmen, Nijjar was a leader in what remains of a once-strong moveme...

Baby found abandoned in West Town

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

CHICAGO — An investigation is underway on Tuesday afternoon after authorities say a baby girl was found abandoned in West Town on Tuesday afternoon. Chicago police say the baby girl was found in the 1800 block of West Ohio Street around 3:48 p.m. Bucktown residents voice concerns after man beaten, robbed in broad daylight Police have not provided details on the child's age and say responding officers took the baby to Lurie Children's Hospital.Police have not yet said how the child was found or whether they had suffered any injuries.

Would a government shutdown impact SNAP, WIC food assistance?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:58:16 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — As Congress continues to try to avoid a government shutdown by the end of the week, it’s hard for many Americans to not worry about the impact it could have on their federal benefits. In many cases, those benefits will not be impacted if the government does, in fact, shut down. That includes Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and many benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. But what about food stamps and other food assistance programs? Unfortunately, they won’t all be as lucky. On Monday, the White House warned a government shutdown would “jeopardize” federal food assistance for nearly 7 million mothers and young children who rely on WIC — the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.  Would a government shutdown impact Social Security, VA benefits? The program, overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, serves low-income pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, postpartum women, infants, and ...