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New Brunswick’s $12.2B budget tackles challenges that come with growth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

FREDERICTON — The New Brunswick government has tabled a $12.2-billion budget that forecasts a small surplus and promises a funding boost to help stabilize the ailing health-care sector.Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said today the province is operating in a volatile economic environment where rapidly rising prices are putting pressure on household budgets and increasing costs for businesses.The budget provides $3.6 billion for the health-care sector, an increase of 10.6 per cent from last year.Steeves says the province has moved from a struggling economy to one dealing with challenges that come with growth.The province’s population topped 800,000 last year, adding more than 40,000 people over the previous five years, but despite a lowering of the average age, it remains one of the oldest provinces.The 2023-24 budget provides for a $40.3-million surplus on total revenues of $12.19 billion and expenditures of $12.15 billion.This report by The Canadian Press was first published M...

Illinois AG urges Hyundai, Kia to take 'comprehensive action' over car thefts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

CHICAGO — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined several of his colleagues Tuesday urging Kia and Hyundai to take "comprehensive action" over car thefts in the Chicago area.Kia and Hyundai recently announced a customer service campaign to upgrade the software of affected vehicles. However, Raoul and the coalition said in a letter that the plan is insufficient, incomplete and long overdue.The AG's office said Hyundai and Kia failed to equip vehicle models with anti-theft immobilizers, which prevent the vehicle from operating without a key or key fob.“I urge Kia and Hyundai to accelerate a software upgrade to ensure consumers’ vehicles are properly equipped to guard against theft. Additionally, these companies need to provide free alternate protective measures to owners with vehicles that cannot support the software upgrade,” Raoul said. “I stand committed to protecting consumers and our communities, and I urge these car companies to do their part to prevent these thefts.” Sto...

Evergreen Park pastor reinstated following child sex abuse claim

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

CHICAGO — A pastor in Evergreen Park has been reinstated following a child sex abuse allegation.On March 11, Cardinal Blase Cupich asked Father Paul Guzman, who is an associate pastor at Moly Holy Redeemer, to step away from ministry due to the allegation.It stemmed from approximately 40 years ago when Guzman was a layman. "The Review Board has concluded that there is insufficient reason to suspect Father Guzman is guilty of this allegation. Having given careful consideration to their recommendation, which I accept, I now inform you that I am reinstating Father Guzman’s faculties and his position of Associate Pastor at Most Holy Redeemer Parish, effective immediately," Cupich stated. Stove left on determined cause of deadly fire in Ottawa Guzman was overseas on military duty when the archdiocese received the allegation, Cupich said.

Police looking for mother of newborn boy abandoned outside Massachusetts home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) -- Police in Springfield, Massachusetts, are asking for the public's help in locating the birth mother of a baby found abandoned in front of a home.The newborn baby boy was found wrapped in blankets in a car seat outside a home on Entrybrook Drive. He was likely abandoned between 9 p.m. Friday and 12:40 a.m. Saturday morning, according to Springfield Police Department spokesperson Ryan Walsh,“You only see this on Lifetime movies, like this is a movie. I’m living a movie right now,” said Juliannys Aviles, of Springfield.Aviles and her husband came home Sunday evening to a car seat placed on their front porch. Inside was an infant, cold and crying.Photo of the scene (Credit: Juliannys Aviles)“When I took the blanket off the baby, his feet were super red and swollen and his skin was all cracked. And then I touched him, he was like super cold, so I re-wrapped him until the ambulance got here,” said Aviles.The newborn was taken to Baystate Medical Center and has...

Ringling Bros. circus to tour again, minus animals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus has been reimagined and reborn without animals as a high-octane family event with highwire tricks, soaring trapeze artists and bicycles leaping on trampolines.Feld Entertainment, which owns the “Greatest Show on Earth,” revealed to The Associated Press what audiences can expect during the show's upcoming 2023 North American tour kicking off this fall.The 75 performers from 18 countries will include performers on a triangular high wire 25 feet off the ground, crisscrossing flying trapeze artists, a spinning double wheel powered by acrobats and BMX trail bikes, unicycle riders and skateboarders doing flips and tricks.The tour kicks off in Bossier City, Louisiana, from Sept 29-Oct. 1 and then goes to Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, Michigan, Indiana and ends the year in Oklahoma. It restarts in 2024 in Florida, home to Feld Entertainment.The show is a complete rethink of a modern c...

Is it legal to spit on someone in Illinois?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

ILLINOIS (NEXSTAR) – Most people know assault is a serious crime in Illinois, but what they might not know is whether spitting on someone is considered assault.Illinois law states an assault is “knowingly engaging in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.”By that definition, spitting would not necessarily count as assault in the state. So would spitting on someone be considered battery? Illinois bill would allow residents to carry digital driver’s license Looking at the law again, battery is “knowingly and without legal justification, making physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature.”Spitting on someone would count as making physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature, so the act would qualify as a battery in Illinois.Additionally, the act is a Class A misdemeanor. Anyone convicted of the crime could face up to a year in jail and fines of up to $2,500.People who are spit on by another person can take legal action.

Burkina Faso Home to Almost Half of Closed Schools in Central and West Africa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

Austin police officer indicted, accused of excessive force

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin police officer was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday, charged with one felony and two misdemeanors following an alleged assault in March 2021, the Travis County District Attorney's Office said in a release. Officer Alejandro Gaitan was charged with aggravated assault by a public servant, a first-degree felony, and two counts of official oppression, Class A misdemeanors, according to the release. Court orders Travis County DA to record grand jury in law enforcement use of force case Gaitan is accused of using excessive force while trying to arrest a person who had an outstanding warrant on March 12, 2021, the release states.The Austin Police Department released a statement Tuesday, stating the incident was sent to APD's Special Investigations Unit for review."This use of force incident, like all use of force incidents at APD, immediately underwent an internal review process to determine if it was within policy and law," the statement reads. "As a ...

Round Rock man says home still damaged one year after tornado

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — Some are still waiting to repair home damage caused by an EF-2 tornado last March.Preliminary reports said 80 residential structures were damaged by the storm at an estimated cost of $32 million. 1 year later: March tornado outbreak in Central Texas One week after the tornado, Round Rock city leaders said 13 structures were destroyed and 93 sustained major damage. Round Rock tornado causes estimated $32 million in damages to homes Sam Baker in the Forest Bluff neighborhood said contractors never came back to finish repairing tornado damage on his home.KXAN previously spoke to Baker just two days after the tornado touched down. ‘Round Rock strong’: Neighbors start cleanup, rebuild One year later, he said there is an ongoing dispute with the contractors he hired, and that he's had to leave that work unfinished as proof.Baker said there's even a kiddie pool in his attic to catch rainwater as his roof was left unfinished.He said he's waiting to see what ...

Travis County mental health diversion center moving forward with unanimous commissioners vote

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:57 GMT

Travis County, TEXAS (KXAN) -- Travis County Commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with recommendations from a forensic mental health project conducted by Dell Medical School Tuesday. The project report identified five “high priority” recommendations made at the end of the 10-month project, which looked at people in Travis County’s jail with mental health and substance use disorders. The recommendations were the following:Make data sharing easier and update the county’s “technology platform”Create a mental health diversion centerPilot housing programs and establish permanent housing solutionsIncrease the number of peer specialists where people would intersect with the mental health and criminal legal systemReinstate the counsel at first appearance program Report: 5 ways to keep people with mental health disorders out of Travis County’s jail According to the report, there are roughly 900 people with a “mental health identifier” in the Travis County jail at any given ...