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Big federal dollars for small state projects aim to get more cars off the roads

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

By Erika Bolstad, Stateline.orgA 60-mile pedestrian and cycling trail in Arkansas, an electric street sweeper in Oregon and truck parking facilities in Florida don’t appear to have much in common — let alone any similarity with a conversion of California highways to toll roads or a roundabout in Michigan.But all of the projects will be paid for by the Carbon Reduction Program, a five-year, $6.4 billion federal program to reduce the tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming. The program, known as the CRP, was authorized in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the $1.2 trillion federal investment in everything from roads and bridges to the electrical grid.The CRP is small in comparison to, say, the infrastructure law’s $40 billion pledge to fix the nation’s bridges. Yet it could be mighty for bringing to life what are known as transportation alternatives, or small-scale infrastructure designed to take cars off the road and therefore reduce emissions. They include sidewal...

How to protect yourself from student loan scams as bills resume

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

By Eliza Haverstock | NerdWalletAs borrowers gear up for federal student loan bills resuming this fall, they face a revamped landscape that includes a new repayment plan, servicer switches and long call wait times. Another imminent concern: scammers who want to take advantage of the moment.“Whenever there’s confusion in the marketplace, that’s when the criminal fraudsters get active,” says Clayton LiaBraaten, senior executive advisor at Truecaller, an app that blocks spam calls.Borrowers need to protect themselves, even as regulators crack down on scammers. In August, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) caught a group of scammers who brought in roughly $8.8 million with false promises of “Biden Loan Forgiveness” in exchange for hefty upfront fees. The group claimed to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education and primarily targeted borrowers via calls and texts, the FTC said.If you receive an unsolicited call or text about your student lo...

Medicare enrollees can switch coverage now. Here’s what’s new and what to consider

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

By Julie Appleby, KFF Health NewsConsumers know it’s fall when stores start offering Halloween candy and flu shots — and airwaves and mailboxes are filled with advertisements for Medicare options.It’s annual open enrollment time again for the 65 million Americans covered by Medicare, the federal health program for older people and some people with disabilities.From Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, enrollees in either the traditional program or Medicare Advantage plans, which are offered by private insurers, can change their coverage. (First-time enrollees generally sign up within a few months of their 65th birthday, whether that’s during open enrollment season or not.)There are a few new features for 2024, including a lower out-of-pocket cost limit for some patients taking expensive drugs.No matter what, experts say, it’s a good idea for beneficiaries to examine their current coverage because health and drug plans may have made changes — including to the pharmacies or medical providers in their n...

House fire prompts evacuations in Jamacha-Lomita neighborhood

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A house fire in the Jamacha-Lomita neighborhood prompted the evacuation of neighboring residences Thursday morning.According to the San Diego Police Department, a call came in around 7:03 a.m. reporting a a residential fire on the 740 block of 71st Street. Woman killed in Mission Bay crash Police said responding crews with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department found a one-story home on fire. The house appeared to be abandoned. Residents on the sides of the home were evacuated, FOX 5 confirmed at the scene. At this time, there are no reported injuries or road closures in the area. SDPD said SDG&E was also called to the scene. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Will Smith joins Jada Pinkett Smith at book talk, calls their relationship brutal and beautiful

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Will Smith joined Jada Pinkett Smith on stage as she promoted her new memoir in her Baltimore hometown Wednesday night, pledging lifelong support for her just a week after she revealed that the couple had been separated since 2016.“Jada is the best friend I have ever had on this planet, and I am going to show up for her and support her for the rest of my life,” he told the crowd at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, crediting Pinkett Smith’s sacrifices for his successes, news outlets reported. Smith’s appearance with their two children, Jaden and Willow, and his son Trey Smith, was apparently a surprise for Pinkett Smith. It came at the end of a talk about her book, “Worthy.” Pinkett Smith said the family, including her aunt and uncle and Will Smith’s mother and sister, was in town to celebrate the 70th birthday of her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on Wednesday.Smith called their relationship “brutiful,” explaining that it was both brutal and beautiful.“It is a...

Israel-Hamas war cannot become another 9/11 moment, says anti-Islamophobia envoy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special representative for combating Islamophobia is warning against allowing the Israel-Hamas war to become a catalyst for the stereotyping of Muslim Canadians. Amira Elghawaby, who was appointed to the new role in January, released a statement on the impact the war is having on members of Canada’s Muslim communities. She says people are expressing fear about a “resurgence” in Islamophobia that “has troubling echoes of the past.”She refers to the years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when Muslims and Arabs “felt collectively blamed, stereotyped and racially profiled.” Elghawaby says that locally, Muslims and Arabs “felt pressured to condemn actions unrelated to our communities” and experienced what she calls “a silencing effect” when it came to community members voicing their views about human rights. Her statement says the legacy of 9/11 is “being rekindled&...

Drones attack a US military base in southern Syria and there are minor injuries, US officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A military base in southern Syria where U.S. troops have maintained a presence to train forces as part of a broad campaign against the Islamic State group was attacked by drones on Thursday, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press. One drone was shot down, but another caused in minor injuries, said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before an official announcement about the incident.The attacks follow similar drone strikes over the past few days against U.S. and coalition bases in Iraq amid simmering anger in the region after an explosion at a Gaza hospital killed hundreds of people. The al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria is located at a sensitive juncture often used by Iranian-backed militants to ferry weapons to Hezbollah. Syrian opposition activists also said Thursday a drone attack was conducted on an oil facility in eastern Syria that houses American troops.Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads ...

NDP MPP Sarah Jama threatens Doug Ford with libel lawsuit over Israel-Hamas statement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

An Ontario NDP MPP is threatening to sue Premier Doug Ford after he made a public statement that she claims has tarnished her reputation.Sarah Jama, the MPP for Hamilton Centre, has given Ford seven days to “formally retract the posts and publicly apologize” or risk facing a libel lawsuit.The cease and desist from Jama’s lawyer references Ford’s Oct. 11 statement in response to Jama’s post where he wrote she “has a long and well documented history of antisemitism.”“We demand that you formally retract the posts and publicly apologize within the next seven calendar days,” reads the letter from her lawyer. “Failing which Ms. Jama has instructed us to escalate matters further, which may include, without limitation, issuing a statement of claim against you personally.” Demand Jama by CityNewsToronto on ScribdThe Ford government introduced a motion this week that could lead to the rookie MPP being censured in the legislature if she d...

An alleged Darfur militia leader was merely ‘a pharmacist,’ defense lawyers tell a war crimes court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Defense lawyers told the International Criminal Court on Thursday that their client was not a Sudanese militia leader who had participated in war crimes, but rather “a no one” who had no involvement in the ongoing conflict in the nation. Prosecutors say Ali Mohammed Ali Abdul Rahman Ali is better known as Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Janjaweed militia. He has denied 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in what the defense claims is a case of mistaken identity. “The man sitting behind me was utterly a no-one,” defense attorney Cyril Laucci told The Hague-based court in his opening presentation. Laucci says his client was working as a pharmacist at a market in a remote part of the Darfur region of Sudan during the conflict, which began in 2003, leaving some 300,000 people dead and driving 2.7 million from their homes. Violence erupted when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency, c...

Feds OK natural gas pipeline expansion in Pacific Northwest over environmentalist protests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:24 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal regulators have approved the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in the Pacific Northwest over the protest of environmental groups and top officials in West Coast states.The project, known as GTN Xpress, aims to expand the capacity of the Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline, which runs through Idaho, Washington and Oregon, by about 150 million cubic feet (4.2 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave it the green light in a vote on Thursday.The pipeline belongs to TC Energy of Calgary, Canada — the same company behind the now-abandoned Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. TC Energy plans to modify three compressor stations along the pipeline — in Kootenai County, Idaho; Walla Walla County, Washington; and Sherman County, Oregon. Compressor stations help maintain the pressure and flow of gas over long distances in a pipeline.The company says the project is necessary to meet consumer demand. The 1,377-mile (2,2...