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Tax cuts in limbo as Senate leadership seeks ‘progressive’ reforms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

The House and governor’s plans to cut taxes may have met a wall in the Legislature’s upper chamber, after the Senate president reiterated her oft-made call for “progressive” reforms without endorsing either previously offered proposal.“I said last spring, I said again in the summer, I said again in the fall and in January that I believe we should have permanent progressive tax relief that is smart and sustainable, and the Senate is taking a look at doing that,” state Senate President Karen Spilka said.The Ashland Democrat, speaking alongside House Speaker Ron Mariano and Gov. Maura Healey, was the center of attention at a Monday press conference offered after the trio left one of their fairly regular leadership meetings.Their last meeting came just before the House passed its response to Healey’s fiscal 2024 spending proposal and her plan to provide relief to a broad spectrum of taxpayers.Progressive lawmakers and advocates were quick to sound the alarm after either tax cut pa...

Nexstar Media Group to acquire KUSI-TV

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The parent company of FOX 5, Nexstar Media Group, on Monday agreed to acquire the assets of KUSI-TV from McKinnon Broadcasting Company for $35 million.“KUSI-TV’s established local news operations serving viewers and advertisers across the San Diego community is a perfect fit with our station group and existing San Diego operations at KSWB-TV (Fox5),” Tom Carter, Nexstar’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. “Their mission of serving the community by delivering the most local news in the market is consistent with Nexstar’s commitment to providing consumers expansive local content on linear and digital platforms." San Diego grant program to give some families, seniors $4K; find out if you qualify Nexstar owns America’s largest local broadcasting group, with 200-owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 212 million people.The transaction, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals, is expected to close later this year.

Ukraine, Sudan conflicts fuel alarming surge in tuberculosis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Top U.N. officials, health industry leaders and activists demanded Monday that the world invest more to develop new vaccines and tackle a surge in tuberculosis fueled by the impact of COVID-19 and conflicts including Ukraine and Sudan.At a crowded meeting punctuated by activists chanting “End TB Now,” there were speeches from many TB sufferers and a keynote by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who spoke about how her father passed on tuberculosis to her two-year-old sister: TB claimed his life at the age of 60, but her sister, now 50, is a survivor. Tuberculosis is the biggest infectious disease killer in the world today, taking the lives of around 4,400 people every day around the world including 700 children, Dr. Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, said ahead of Monday’s hearing to prepare for a high-level meeting on Sept. 22 during the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.The U.N. deputy se...

Suncor Energy’s adjusted earnings decline 34 per cent year-over-year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

CALGARY — Suncor Energy Inc. says it earned $2.05 billion in the first quarter of 2023, down from $2.95 billion in the same quarter of 2022.The Calgary-based energy giant’s net earnings included a $302-million gain on the sale of the company’s wind and solar assets, which the company recently sold to Canadian Utilities Ltd. for $730 million.On an adjusted basis, Suncor says its operating earnings for the first quarter were $1.81 billion, or $1.36 per common share, a 34-per-cent decrease year-over-year.The company says the decrease in earnings was primarily due to decreased crude oil realizations, increased operating expenses, lower upstream production and refinery throughput and weakening crude oil prices.Suncor’s total upstream production was 742,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 766,100 boe/d in the prior year’s quarter.Refinery crude throughput was 367,700 barrels per day and refinery utilization was 79 per cen...

Goodyear plant in Mexico votes to throw out old-guard union

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Workers at a Goodyear tire plant in Mexico voted Monday to throw out an old-guard union that was accused of stealing a ballot box at a failed union election last month.The skullduggery at the plant in the north-central state of San Luis Potosi illustrated the uphill battle Mexican workers face in unseating old-guard unions that once kept wages low and enjoyed government protection. The Labor Department said employees voted 727 to 140 against renewing the labor contract held by a union affiliated with the Confederation of Mexican Workers. The vote opens the way for a new union organizing drive at the plant.The Confederation of Mexican Workers, or CTM, for decades functioned as a wing of the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI. By signing contracts behind workers’ backs, such unions long held Mexican industrial wages to about one-eighth or less of what workers earned doing similar jobs in the U.S..Mexico’s Labor Department said fraud occurred...

Australia forecasts first annual budget surplus in 15 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government on Tuesday forecast the nation’s first balanced annual budget in 15 years but warned that economic pressures such as inflation would push the country into deeper debt in future years.Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a surplus was forecast for the fiscal year ending June 30 ahead of releasing the government’s economic blueprint for next year that aims to ease financial hardships of the most needy without stoking stubbornly high inflation.High prices for commodities including iron ore, coal and gas plus income tax revenue buoyed by an extraordinarily low jobless rate of 3.5% are expected to deliver the first surplus since the global financial crisis tipped the Australian economy into the red in 2008.“We are now forecasting a surplus this year, smaller deficits after that, and less debt throughout the budget,” Chalmers told reporters. Australian annual budgets typically contain forecasts for the next four years.Chalmers did not say h...

Toronto police identify suspect in separate stabbings of 2 women downtown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

Toronto police have identified a suspect after two women were stabbed in separate incidents while walking in downtown Toronto on Saturday. Both incidents took place on Saturday, May 6, between 12:00 and 1 p.m. in the Spadina Avenue and Cecil Street and Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West areas.In the first incident a 75-year-old woman was walking southbound on Spadina when a man approached her from behind and stabbed her on the side of the neck with a sharp object before fleeing southbound. The woman was treated at hospital for non life-threatening injuries. A short time later another woman was walking northbound on Spadina while the suspect walked in the opposite direction. Police say as their paths crossed the suspect reached over and stabbed her in the right arm with a sharp object. She was also treated for a non life-threatening injury. Police have now identified the suspect as Tyrel Lindo-Mascoe, 30, of Toronto. He’s wanted for assault with a weapon and aggravated assau...

Chile: Conservatives will now control Constitution rewrite

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile seemed on the cusp of a progressive revolution last year when a committee dominated by leftists drafted a bold new constitution to replace the country’s dictatorship-era charter. But voters have put the brakes on the effort, first rejecting the proposed constitution and now giving conservatives the leading role in writing its replacement.The far-right in Chile was the big winner of Sunday’s vote to select the members of the commission that will be tasked with writing a new constitution to replace the one imposed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.The Republican Party, which has long said it opposes a new charter, obtained 23 of the 50 seats in the commission, meaning its representatives will not only have the most seats but will also enjoy veto power over any proposals they dislike. “It’s ironic that the sector that said it was the least enthusiastic about the process now controls it,” said Robert Funk, a political scientist at Chile University. A coalition of lef...

Utah author of book on grieving death charged with murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — After her husband died last year, she wrote a children’s book on grief. Now she’s charged with his murder.Kouri Richins was arrested on Monday in Utah and is accused in charging documents of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City.Prosecutors allege that Richins called authorities in the middle of the night in March 2022 to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was “cold to the touch.” The mother of three told officers that she had made her husband a mixed vodka drink to celebrate him selling a home and then went to soothe one of their children to sleep in their bedroom. She later returned and upon finding her husband unresponsive, called 911.A medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces charges involving the alleged possession of GHB — a narcolepsy drug frequently used in recreational settings, ...

Amazon films, series to get wider distribution via licensing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said Monday it will distribute its original films and TV shows, like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” to media outlets outside its Prime Video service for the first time. The works will be licensed via a new unit called Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, which expands the number of titles currently offered by Hollywood studio MGM. Last year, the e-commerce-behemoth-turned-media-giant closed its acquisition of MGM — which houses more than 4,000 film titles and 17,000 TV episodes — for $8.5 billion. At launch, the new division will offer several series and films including “Coming 2 America” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Amazon said. The unit will be led by Chris Ottinger, the head of distribution at MGM, who will continue to oversee distribution of MGM’s new releases and film franchises, such as the James Bond and Rocky series. “With the integration of MGM, we wanted to take advantage of the existing team to expand our business in ways that will greatl...