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Amid Drink-Spiking Crisis, Senate Moves to Fund Test Kits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

With reports of drink-spiking on the rise, the Senate voted Wednesday to fund drug testing kits to be distributed to bars, restaurants and other nightlife venues. Lawmakers unanimously approved adding the redrafted Sen. Paul Feeney amendment (568) to their fiscal 2024 budget. The measure would direct $300,000 to the Department of Public Health to bulk purchase the testing kits and distribute them to nightlife establishments, study and recommend strategies to address the rising incidence of drink-spiking, and launch a public awareness campaign about the issue. During a speech on the Senate floor, Feeney told the story of a constituent who was turned away from a Boston hospital after she was drugged at a house party. Hospital staff told her they would not test her for drugs unless she was reporting a rape or sexual assault. While some hospitals will do this testing, the senator said, others won’t, preventing many victims from getting the care they need. “They shouldn’...

Gabby Petito’s parents get copy of ‘burn after reading’ letter that Brian Laundrie’s mom wrote him

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

(CNN) — Gabby Petito’s parents now have a copy of a letter Brian Laundrie’s mother wrote to her son, which included references to getting a shovel and burying a body.Attorneys for both sides argued in a Sarasota County, Florida, courtroom Wednesday over whether the letter is relevant to the lawsuit brought by Gabby Petito’s parents against Laundrie’s parents and the Laundries’ former attorney.The envelope containing the letter – which is undated – said “burn after reading” and was recovered from Brian Laundrie’s backpack when his remains were found in October 2021.“As we all know the letter references burying a body bringing a shovel and burying a body,” Petito family attorney Patrick Reilly said in court Wednesday. “Those are criminal acts, by the way, that Roberta Laundrie has said she would commit.”The Petitos sued the Laundries for emotional distress in connection with Gabby Petito’s death while traveling the Western United States with Brian Laundrie, her fia...

Toronto man arrested for assault following Maple Leafs playoff game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

Toronto police have arrested and charged a 25-year-old man after he allegedly assaulted someone following a Maple Leafs playoff game earlier in the month.Investigators responded to an assault call in the Queen Street East and Kenilworth Avenue area in The Beaches just after midnight on Friday, May 5.Officers said the alleged victim was with the suspect and a group of other people when an argument ensued.The male suspect assaulted the victim, causing significant injury to their eye, police allege.On Wednesday, police arrested 25-year-old Jake Rogers of Toronto. He’s been charged with assault causing bodily harm.He’s expected to appear in court virtually on July 6, 2023.

Tennessee judge: Parents at school can try to keep shooter’s writings secret

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge has ruled that a group of parents can have their say in a lawsuit over the writings of a shooter who killed six people at their children’s school. The judge ruled Wednesday night that the Covenant School parents have a right to intervene against other groups that want the shooter’s writings — along with some other documents in the police investigation — released according to the Tennessee Public Records Act.Journalists, a state senator, a law enforcement nonprofit and a gun-rights organization have been rebuffed by Nashville police, who say the records are part of an active investigation. However, police have indicated that they do plan to release the shooter’s writings eventually. A declaration filed recently in the court case by police Lt. Brent Gibson estimated that it could be 12 months before the case is closed.At a Monday hearing on the consolidated requests, an attorney for a group of Covenant School parents argued t...

Supreme Court limits federal power over wetlands, boosts property rights over clean water

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for the federal government to police water pollution in a decision that strips protections from wetlands that are isolated from larger bodies of water.It’s the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority of the court narrowed the reach of environmental regulations. The justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near Priest Lake in the state’s panhandle. They objected when federal officials identified a soggy portion of the property as a wetlands that required them to get a permit before building.By a 5-4 vote, the court said that wetlands can only be regulated if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.The court jettisoned the 17-year-old opinion by their former colleague, Anthony Kennedy, that allowed regulation of wetlands that have a “significant nexus” to the l...

Steve Bannon’s trial in ‘We Build the Wall’ scheme set for May 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Bannon, the conservative strategist and longtime all of Donald Trump, will stand trial next May on charges that he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the U.S. southern border, a judge said Thursday.Bannon’s trial in the “We Build the Wall” case will start May 27, 2024, right after the former president is scheduled to stand trial in the same Manhattan courtroom in an unrelated criminal case.Bannon, 69, pleaded not guilty last September following his indictment on state money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took up the case after Bannon’s federal prosecution was cut short by a Trump pardon.Bannon is accused of falsely promising donors that all money given to the We Build the Wall campaign would go toward building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, prosecutors allege that the money was used to enrich Bannon and others involved in the project.Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato pleaded...

Housing crisis remains in Kentucky’s poor Appalachia region after flood waters recede

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

JACKSON, Ky. (AP) — Shirley Howard’s feet splashed into nearly a foot of water when she stepped out of bed on a summer morning last July amid a torrential rainfall. A devastating flood swallowing up Kentucky’s Appalachian region had reached her bedroom in the night. The family grabbed their dogs and fled their brick bungalow in Jackson as the water eventually rose to the ceiling.Ten months later, they still haven’t returned home. Howard, her husband, son and their three dogs, Maisey, Charlie and Lilly, have been living in a cramped trailer provided by the state. At least 100 other families are living in trailers and hundreds more remain displaced, living with relatives or in damaged homes while they rebuild. “I am so dying to go home every day,” the 65-year-old Howard said. Howard’s house and nearly 9,000 others in 13 counties were severely damaged or destroyed by the intense four-day storm that dumped up to 16 inches of rain in eastern Kentucky. The fast-rising waters s...

Struggling to return to the office? You’re not alone, new study shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

A new study is highlighting the dynamic of Canadians returning to the office and the struggles of getting back to what was once the norm for workers.A global study by Unispace found that employers are having difficulty convincing their people to work from the office but are overlooking a willingness from employees to return in a four-day working week.According to the data, aptly named Returning for Good, a Unispace Global Workplace Insights report, half of Canadian workers are in the office four or more days a week, but only 31 per cent like being in the workplace regularly.The research was conducted between April 3, 2023, and April 14, 2023. The survey included 9,500 employees and 6,650 business leaders from across 17 countries.Employers and workers appear to be at odds, study showsIn a traditional office setting, the report found that 41 per cent of employees currently “hot-desk” or share a workstation with other employees. Of those surveyed, 79 per cent indicated they...

One of Rwanda’s most wanted genocide suspects arrested in South Africa after 22 years on run

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — One of the most wanted suspects in Rwanda’s genocide, a police officer suspected of orchestrating the killing of more than 2,000 people at a church nearly three decades ago, has been arrested in South Africa after 22 years on the run, a special tribunal set up by the United Nations to find the perpetrators said Thursday.The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) said Fulgence Kayishema was arrested Wednesday at a vineyard in Paarl, a small town in a wine-making region about 30 miles east of Cape Town.Kayishema, who is believed to be in his early 60s, had assumed a false identity and gone by the name Donatien Nibashumba, South African police said. He was captured in a joint operation by the tribunal’s fugitive tracking team and South African authorities, the tribunal said, following an investigation that had tracked him across several African countries, including Mozambique and Eswatini, since his indictment in 2001....

Roma striker Tammy Abraham on racism in soccer: ‘These things hurt people’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:16 GMT

ROME (AP) — Before it was Vinícius Júnior in Spain, it was Romelu Lukaku in Italy. And Mario Balotelli. And Kevin-Prince Boateng. And countless others.Whoever it is, the damages from fan racism go far beyond the soccer field, Roma striker Tammy Abraham said Thursday.“It’s only a small minority of people but a small minority of people can affect somebody’s life,” said Abraham, who grew up in England as the son of Nigerian parents. “We are more than just footballers; we’re humans as well. We do have feelings, so these things hurt people.“We might not show it — or we cannot show it on the pitch — but these things do affect us,” Abraham added at Roma’s media day ahead of the Europa League final. “These things need to stop. … It’s a small minority of silly people that need to change.”Repeated insults against Vinícius, a Brazilian forward who plays for Real Madrid, have unleashed a heated debate about racism in Spain.Lukaku has also been subjected to discriminatory chants on numerou...