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A judge orders Texas to move a floating barrier that’s used to deter migrants between US and Mexico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas must move a large floating barrier that Gov. Greg Abbott placed on the river between the U.S. and Mexico this summer as part of the Republican’s escalating attempts to stop migrants from crossing America’s southern border, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.U.S. District Judge David Ezra stopped short of ordering Texas to dismantle the wrecking-ball sized buoys on the Rio Grande but called them a threat to safety and relationships between the neighboring countries. His preliminary injunction instructs Texas, for now, to move the barrier out of the water and onto the riverbank by Sept. 15. Ezra also cast doubt on Texas’ rationale for the barrier, writing that the state produced no “credible evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration.”The lawsuit was brought by the Justice Department in a rare instance of President Joe Biden’s administration going to court to challenge Texas’ border polici...

On emotional bus tours, residents return to West Kelowna, B.C., to view the ashes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

Annick deGooyer knew that her family’s home of more than 20 years had been destroyed by the McDougall Creek wildfire that consumed scores of properties in West Kelowna, B.C., about three weeks ago.But she expected more to remain than the pile of “ashy dust” atop the foundations that she and her firefighter husband Rob Baker viewed last Friday while on a bus tour of the devastated neighbourhood of Trader’s Cove, on the west side of Okanagan Lake.“You would think a whole house, when it burns, it would take up more space,” said deGooyer.The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre has been taking homeowners on the bus trips since last week, allowing residents to see the ruin of their homes firsthand. The tours have been shocking for some, and a counsellor has joined the trips. But homeowners say they have also given communities and neighbours a chance to reconnect and discuss what comes next.Pilot Stephen Fuhr, who is also the former MP for Kelow...

Deb Haaland, first Indigenous member of U.S. cabinet, meets counterparts in Ottawa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

WASHINGTON — Canada and the United States are working together through “a period of healing” from the open wounds of residential schools and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says. Haaland, from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and the first-ever Native American member of the U.S. cabinet, made the comments Wednesday during a multi-day visit to Ottawa, her first since taking on the job in 2021. She has championed efforts south of the border to investigate the tragic heritage of residential schools, known as boarding schools in the U.S., and to confront the issue of persistent and unsolved violence against Indigenous people. Canada has been wrestling with these issues for years, but they got little attention in the U.S. before 2018, when Haaland and Sharice Davids from Kansas became the first Native American women to be elected to the House of Representatives.“I think this is a period of healing,” said Haaland, who...

Mexico’s Supreme Court throws out all federal criminal penalties against abortion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court threw out all federal criminal penalties for abortion Wednesday, ruling that national laws prohibiting the procedure are unconstitutional and violate women’s rights in a sweeping decision that extended Latin American’s trend of widening abortion access.The high court ordered that abortion be removed from the federal penal code, and a reproduction rights group said the decision would require the federal public health service and all federal health institutions to offer abortion to anyone who requests it.“No woman or pregnant person, nor any health worker, will be able to be punished for abortion,” the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction, known by its Spanish initials GIRE, said in a statement.Celebration soon spilled out on social media.“Today is a day of victory and justice for Mexican women!” Mexico’s National Institute for Women wrote in a message on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The government organization ...

Health agency probing Air Canada vomit incident that echoes broader customer woes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

MONTREAL — The outrage sparked by a passenger incident involving a vomit-smeared airplane seat reflects a broader frustration with flight operations in Canada, travel specialists say.Meanwhile, the country’s public health agency says it’s investigating the recent episode.On Tuesday, Air Canada said it apologized to two passengers who were escorted off the plane by security after protesting that their seats were soiled — and still damp — ahead of an Aug. 26 flight from Las Vegas to Montreal.“They clearly did not receive the standard of care to which they were entitled,” the airline said in a statement emailed to The Canadian Press. “Our operating procedures were not followed correctly in this instance.”The Public Health Agency of Canada said it is in contact with Air Canada. It cited its mandate to ensure that anything brought into the country on conveyances ranging from planes to trains does not risk transmission of illnesses that can be spread vi...

CO2 pipeline project denied key permit in South Dakota; another seeks second chance in North Dakota

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

South Dakota regulators on Wednesday denied a construction permit for a carbon dioxide pipeline project, one month after a North Dakota panel did the same to a similar project by another company.Navigator CO2 Ventures wants to build a 1,300-mile (2,092 kilometers) pipeline network across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, to carry planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from more than 20 industrial plants to be buried over a mile underground in Illinois.The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to deny Navigator’s application for its Heartland Greenway pipeline. Chair Kristie Fiegen cited myriad reasons in her motion to deny, including the company’s lack of promptness and several objections to commission staff questions as well as struggles to notify landowners of routes and meetings. She detailed concerns related to safety, community growth, landowners and emergency responders, among other issues.The proposed South Dakota route en...

What is CPD's response time? Experts can't say with certainty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

CHICAGO —  A new report from the City of Chicago’s Inspector General finds it's currently impossible to say with certainty how quickly police respond to 9-1-1 calls in many cases.When Evelyn O’Connor was randomly attacked along the Mag Mile last winter, she called 9-1-1 but gave up on waiting for cops to come. “We waited quite a while, maybe 20 minutes and at that time I was just like I want to get home,” she said. Previous Story: Woman sucker-punched in River North, warns of another random attack Faced with an exodus of officers in recent years, WGN Investigates has reported similar stories about slow – or no – police response.The city’s inspector general set out to evaluate police response times; but ran into a wall. The IG found nearly half of the calls to 9-1-1 for police response did not include a response back with an officer’s arrival time at the scene.“Without this basic information, we can’t assess whether City services are provided equitably...

Woman running Chicago Marathon to inspire and say thanks to organization

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

With the Chicago Marathon just weeks away, runners have been ramping up their mileage. Among them, a woman, running with a special purpose. The last few weeks of training to run 26 miles is rough with long runs and recently, in some pretty hot weather. For Linda Crump, this final stretch is personal as a young woman who once wanted nothing more than to run away.“I was a young mom,” Crump said. "Everyone's looking down on you because you're a teenager with a baby. You're being shunned. And you feel like you're not good enough. How are you going to reach your goals with a baby being a single and a minority too?"Christa march founded the non-profit, Teen Mother Choices 35 years ago and Crump was one of the young moms they took under their wing. More from Erin: Suburban organization’s equine therapy making a difference to many "Linda is one of these people that a soon as you meet her, you know there's something really special about her,” March said.Those first few years...

Stress tests may have value beyond the heart — and more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

Medical Watch for Sept 6.Stress tests may have value beyond the heart.The treadmill exercises combined with an electrocardiogram, called a stress test, is used to diagnose cardiac problems.But a new Mayo Clinic study reveals stress test abnormalities reveal more than just heart risks.In research involving more than 13,000 patients, doctors found abnormal exercise tests can be the key to diagnosing cancer. Low functional aerobic capacity on the stress test was a powerful predictor of cancer death.Cancer was the leading cause of death in 38% of people compared to just 19% who performed abnormally on the stress test who died of heart problems.Experts say based on their results, when heart problems are ruled out but patients have low performance on the stress test, their caregivers should look at other possible health issues like cancer.Beating Brain CancerA little device the size of a grain of rice may be the key to beating brain cancer.Microdevices implanted into tumors can alert doct...

Here's where sweeping heat is closing US schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:41:12 GMT

(The Hill) – Record-breaking late-summer heat is forcing multiple school districts to shut down their buildings early in the academic year.The National Weather Service said Tuesday a heat wave would "persist in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast through Thursday and linger all week in Texas and neighboring states."More than 61 million people are now living under heat advisories, causing mass disruption in school systems across the country. Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey and Missouri have all had K-12 classes disrupted this week over the heat. Three public school systems in Western Massachusetts closed early on Wednesday and canceled classes for Thursday afternoon due to the heat. “These temperatures make teaching and learning especially difficult in the majority of our buildings that are not air conditioned. For that reason, Westfield Public Schools staff and students will be dismissed early the next two da...