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Beshear signs bipartisan bills, with campaign looming

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear joined with Republican lawmakers as he signed historic measures Friday that will legalize medical marijuana and sports wagering in Kentucky, calling it an example of divided government working to get the “tough things” done that voters want.Facing a reelection campaign that soon will intensify, the governor celebrated with GOP sponsors of the two bills that won final passage in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session Thursday. Beshear, a long-running advocate for both measures, wasted no time in signing them.Beshear and lawmakers touted the bipartisan support both measures garnered. Democratic support was crucial since Republicans — who hold legislative supermajorities — were divided on the issues. “It was said, can you — with a Democratic governor and a supermajority Republican legislature — get those tough things, important things, things that Kentuckians really want done,” Beshear said. “And the answ...

Probe of deadly Black Hawk crash underway in Kentucky

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A special military investigative team is on the scene of a deadly crash involving two Black Hawk helicopters that killed nine people in southwestern Kentucky, but weather conditions have slowed the early work, Army officials said.The team of about eight members from Fort Rucker, Alabama, arrived at the scene around 7 p.m. Thursday night but rain and wind have slowed their efforts, said Dawn Grimes, a public information officer at Fort Campbell.“The investigation is active but it has been hampered by weather,” Grimes said Friday.Two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell on Wednesday night during a medical evacuation training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircrafts. The crash occurred in Trigg County, Kentucky, about 30 mile (48 kilometers) northwest of the Army post that is home to the 101st Airborne Division. The helicopters crashed in a field near a residential area, but the Army has not said if the two Black Hawks colli...

Several injured as 2 Swiss regional trains derail in storm

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Two regional trains in Switzerland derailed in separate incidents, injuring more than a dozen people Friday after a storm brought high winds and strong rains to the small Alpine nation, police said.The incidents occurred at Lüscherz and Büren zum Hof, near the western city of Bern, police said.In Büren zum Hof, a police spokeswoman said that 12 people — 9 adults and 3 children — were injured. Of those, one person’s injuries were severe.Police also said several people were injured in the derailment at Lüscherz, but further information about the number of the injured and the severity of their condition was not immediately available.The transit agencies responsible for the trains, Aare Seeland Mobil and Regional Transit Bern-Solothurn, also confirmed the derailments on their respective websites. They noted that the affected rail routes were closed in response.The Associated Press

NY patient’s ambulance joyride ends when police spike tires

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — A patient stole the ambulance that had taken him to a New York City hospital and took it on a 25-mile (40-kilometer) joyride that ended when state police used a spike strip to stop him, authorities said.The incident unfolded early Thursday after a 47-year-old man was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in Manhattan for observation, police said.The ambulance he had ridden in was sitting outside the hospital unlocked, unoccupied and with the keys in the ignition when the man left the facility just before 5 a.m., a New York City police spokesperson said. The man got in and drove off, police said.The ambulance was tracked by GPS heading north through Westchester County on Interstate 87, police said.State troopers spotted the ambulance near Tarrytown and tried to stop it, the New York state police said in a news release. The driver failed to stop, and the troopers gave chase, police said.The runaway ambulance was finally stopped when troopers put a tire-spiki...

Biden: Feds ‘not leaving’ Miss. town hit by tornado

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — President Joe Biden during his visit to a Mississippi town ravaged by a deadly tornado vowed that the federal government is “not leaving” until the area is back on its feet.The president arrived in the Delta community as a new series of severe storms threatens to rip across the Midwest and the South.Last week’s twister destroyed roughly 300 homes and businesses in Rolling Fork, and the nearby town of Silver City, leaving mounds of lumber, bricks and twisted metal. Hundreds of additional structures were badly damaged. The death toll in Mississippi stands at 21, based on those confirmed by coroners. One person died in Alabama, as well.From Marine One, as they flew from Jackson to the area hardest hit by last week’s storm, the president and First Lady Jill Biden got a view of the devastation across acres of farmland — destroyed homes, toppled trees and piles of debris. Later, as the president’s motorcade drove down a long dirt road through miles of farm...

‘Learn to live with this:’ Humboldt focuses on future five years after bus crash

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

HUMBOLDT, SASK. — Kevin Garinger says it feels like the passage of time is inexplicable. The five years since a deadly bus crash changed his city, his hockey team and his life sometimes feel like a lifetime. Other times it feels like yesterday. “I don’t know if anyone ever heals from significant loss or tragedy,” Garinger says after a moment of deep thought in his Humboldt, Sask., office. “You eventually just learn to live with this.”Garinger was the president of the Humboldt Broncos when 16 people died and 13 were injured after a transport truck went through a stop sign and into the path of a bus carrying the Saskatchewan junior hockey team on April 6, 2018. The CEO of the Horizon School Division, whose term at the helm of the hockey team has ended, was unexpectedly thrust into an international spotlight after the crash. So was his community and team.Now, Garinger says, the intense focus has faded but the small Saskatchewan city east of Saskatoon is still figuring...

Child missing after six migrants found dead in river in Akwesasne, near U.S. border

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

QUEBEC — Authorities in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne say an infant is missing after the bodies of six migrants of Indian and Romanian descent were pulled from the St. Lawrence River Thursday.The bodies, including that of a child under three, were found in the water in the part of Akwesasne located in Quebec, said Lee-Ann O’Brien, deputy chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service. Akwesasne straddles the Canada-U.S. border and parts of the territory are in Ontario, Quebec and New York state.The victims, she said, were trying to enter the United States illegally from Canada. The migrants were from two families, one of Romanian descent and the other composed of Indian citizens, she told reporters Friday. The dead child was a member of the Romanian family, O’Brien said.“The deceased included five adults and one child under the age of three who was a Canadian citizen,” she said, adding that searchers found the child’s Canadian passport. O’Brien ...

Ottawa gives final approval, with conditions, for Rogers’ $26B purchase of Shaw

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

TORONTO — The largest telecommunications deal in Canadian history will go forward after Rogers Communications Inc.’s $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. received approval from Ottawa on Friday.The green light means the deal has cleared its final regulatory hurdle just over two years after it was first announced. But Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne took a stern tone on Friday, vowing to “be like a hawk on behalf of Canadians” to ensure compliance with the conditions he outlined, aimed at bolstering competition and lowering phone and internet costs.Champagne approved the transfer of Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile’s wireless licences to Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, which operates in Quebec and some border regions of Ontario. Rogers and Shaw agreed in June 2022 to sell Freedom Mobile to Videotron for $2.85 billion in an attempt to ease competition concerns raised by the original proposal.Rogers announced its deal to buy Shaw in March 202...

WestJet pilots to launch strike authorization vote as negotiations fizzle

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

The union representing WestJet pilots says it will launch a strike authorization vote Monday as contract talks with management drag on.Bernard Lewall, who heads the Air Line Pilots Association’s WestJet contingent, says its 1,600-person membership is “frustrated” after six months of bargaining with a company he claims has failed to seriously engage with it.Lewall says the issues revolve around wages, scheduling and work conditions at WestJet and its discount subsidiary Swoop, with 39 pilots opting to leave for other airlines in the past month alone.If successful, the 15-day authorization vote would set the stage for the bargaining team to call a strike following a three-week “cooling-off period,” which in turn would begin after the ongoing federal conciliation process wraps up April 24.That means the union could go on strike or lockout by the May long weekend, which traditionally kicks off the summer travel season.The strike mandate vote, announced toda...

Powerful, fast-moving storms to bring strong winds, severe weather to Chicago area

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:42 GMT

The Chicago area is under a moderate risk for severe weather for Friday.Two rounds of storms are forecasted between the hours of 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. The first round set to move into the Chicago area around 4 p.m. as super cell thunderstorms. These storms pose a tornado threat and a golf-ball sized hail threat. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here A cold front then moves through around 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. bring another round of very quickly moving severe weather. These storms also pose the threat of tornadoes. The storms are likely to move through at a rate of 50-60 mph so any tornado warnings will be quick and offer not much time. It's advised that residents be prepared in advanced and stay tuned to WGNTV and the weather app for alerts and updates.Tom Skilling also suggests anyone with any porch furniture or outdoor items susceptible to strong wings should bring them inside. These storms are set to bring potentially dangerous and destructive winds with gusts up to and possib...