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Mexico takes mining company to court seeking new remediation effort for Sonora river pollution

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is pursuing a criminal complaint against the country’s biggest copper producer seeking to force a new remediation effort for a toxic mine spill in the northern state of Sonora nine years ago, an environmental official said Thursday.The complaint, which was filed in August but announced only on Thursday, centers on remediation funding for eight polluted townships in Sonora. Mining company Grupo Mexico closed its remediation fund in 2017, arguing that it had met legal requirements. The government contends that was premature and is asking the courts to order a new fund be established.“The people, the environment are still contaminated and there are sick people,” said María Luisa Albores González, who heads the government’s Environment Department. Albores described the August 2014 mine spill as “the most serious environmental disaster in the history of metal mining in Mexico.” Ten million gallons (40 million liters) of acidified copper sulfate flooded fro...

An Israeli team begins a tour against NBA teams, believing games provide hope during a war at home

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yehu Orland wore a shirt honoring a close friend who was killed two days earlier defending Israel, and he expected to have tears in his eyes Thursday night when his country’s national anthem played before a game in Brooklyn.But the coach of Maccabi Ra’anana believes continuing his team’s tour against NBA clubs while his country is at war was the right decision.“We are the first team that is playing since the war started and nobody will break Israel, because we are a strong nation,” Orland said before the game. The team from the Israeli National League was playing the first of three games during its tour. There was a police presence outside Barclays Center, with barricades set up in the plaza in front of the entrance. Some fans held up Israel’s flag and others had signs reading “New York stands with Israel” while Noa Kirel, an Israeli singer and actress, performed the national anthem. Before that, the Nets asked for a moment of silence for thos...

Colorado judge strikes down Trump’s attempt to toss a lawsuit seeking to bar him from the ballot

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge has rejected an attempt by former President Donald Trump to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to keep him off the state ballot, ruling that his objections on free-speech grounds did not apply.Trump’s attorneys argued that a Colorado law protecting people from being sued over exercising their free speech rights shielded him from the lawsuit, but Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace said that law doesn’t apply in this case.The law also conflicted with a state requirement to get the question about Trump’s eligibility resolved quickly — before a Jan. 5 deadline for presidential candidates’ names to certified for the Colorado primary, Wallace wrote.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington claims in its lawsuit that putting Trump on the ballot in Colorado would violate a provision of the 14th Amendment that bars people who have “engaged in insurrection” against the Constitution from holding office.The group’s chief counsel, Donald K. Sher...

Court hearing to discuss contested Titanic expedition is canceled after firm scales back dive plan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal admiralty court in Virginia has canceled a Friday hearing to discuss a contested expedition to the Titanic after the salvage firm scaled back its dive plans. But a looming court battle over the 2024 mission is not over yet. RMST Titanic Inc. owns the salvage rights to the world’s most famous shipwreck. It originally planned to possibly retrieve artifacts from inside the Titanic’s hull, informing the court of its intentions in June. In August, the U.S. government filed a motion to intervene, arguing that the court should stop the expedition. U.S. attorneys cited a 2017 federal law and an agreement with Great Britain to restrict entry into the Titanic’s hull because it’s considered a grave site. Lawyers on each side of the case were set to discuss the matter Friday before a U.S. District Judge in Norfolk who oversees Titanic salvage matters. But the company said this week that it no longer planned to retrieve artifacts or do anythi...

The approved multistate wind-power transmission line will increase energy capacity for Missouri

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Regulators on Thursday gave the go-ahead for a multistate wind-energy power line to provide the equivalent of four nuclear power plants’ worth of energy to Missouri consumers. At issue is the Grain Belt Express, a power line that will carry wind energy from Kansas across Missouri and Illinois before hooking into a power grid in Indiana that serves eastern states.Invenergy Transmission, the Chicago-based company attempting to build the Grain Belt Express, last year proposed expanding the high-voltage power line’s capacity after years of complaints from Missouri farmers and lawmakers worried that the line would trample property rights without providing much service to Missouri residents. Under the new plan, approved 4-1 by Missouri’s Public Service Commission, Grain Belt Express plans to bring as much as 2,500 megawatts of power to Missouri. Previously, state utility regulators approved a line that would have brought only 500 megawatts of energy ...

Unpublished works, manuscript by legendary Argentine writer Cortázar sell for $36,000 at auction

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — A buyer from Argentina paid $36,000 for a manuscript of works, including seven unpublished stories, by legendary Argentine writer Julio Cortázar at an auction Thursday in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo.The bundle of 60-year-old sheets bound together with metal fasteners bearing the inscription “Julio Cortázar. Historias de Cronopios y de Famas. Paris. 1952” was the basis for the writer’s iconic “Cronopios and Famas” book, published in 1962.The typewritten manuscript contains 46 stories that make up the heart of what ended up becoming one of Cortázar’s most famous works.Of the total stories, 35 were published in “Cronopios and Famas.” Some were printed exactly as found in the manuscript that was once thought to be lost forever. It was discovered in Montevideo last year, while others underwent editorial changes. Three other stories were published in magazines before Cortázar’s death in 1984.The seven unpublished works are: “Inventory,” “Letter from ...

5 drug task force officers and a man have been hurt in a gunbattle at a home in rural Minnesota

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

FOLEY, Minn. (AP) — Five drug task force officers and a 64-year-old man were injured in an exchange of gunfire Thursday as the officers served a search warrant at a property in rural Minnesota, authorities said.Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck said at a news conference that the officers announced their arrival at a home in Glendorado Township around 7 a.m. and immediately came under fire. He said they returned fire and retreated. The officers’ injuries were not life-threatening, Heck said. Karl Thomas Holmberg was taken into custody around 10:45 a.m. after several hours of negotiations, the sheriff said. Aerial video from KARE-TV showed officers in tactical gear surrounding a shirtless male, then officers and EMTs escorting him on a stretcher to a hospital helicopter. Heck said he didn’t know the extent of Holmberg’s injuries.“This has been a difficult day for us in Benton County,” Heck said. “We are grateful that the incident did not result in loss of life or further inj...

Chicago to open new migrant shelters weekly

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

CHICAGO -- As the city grapples with the ongoing migrant crisis, there are now more than 3,000 asylum seekers waiting for shelter in Chicago police stations across and hundreds at O'Hare airport.Since May, the number of migrants arriving in Chicago has picked up drastically, prompting city and state leaders to continue demanding more money and resources from the federal government.City leaders say they are now opening up a new shelter for asylum seekers every six days.In spite of a funding gap in the hundreds of millions the number of new arrivals is picking up rapidly."Just in the last week alone we welcomed 63 buses and so even though we are working every single day to open up these shelters we just can’t get in front of it," Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Deputy Chief of Staff, said.As of Thursday, more than 10,800 new arrivals are living in 25 shelters in neighborhoods throughout the city. More than 3,700 people are living inside and outside of police stations and at O'Hare waiting for...

How a Chicago Latina is emphasizing diversity leading into the 2024 Democratic National Convention

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

CHICAGO — A well-known Chicago Latina shared her story Thursday, one where she will be a key figure in organizing the upcoming 2024 Democratic National Convention.This week, Lisa Hernandez — born and raised in the Petrowski Park area of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood — sat down with WGN News' Lourdes Duarte to talk diversity for what's expected to be one of the largest political events of next year.Hernandez took over as chair of the Illinois Democratic Party about a year ago, becoming the first Latina to do so, and her new role comes as Democrats around the country tackle a number of issues, including immigration — a problem Chicago has struggled mightily with on its own, as thousands of migrants have been forced to live at local airports and police stations as City leaders scramble for a solution.Already, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration has brought up the possibility of more migrants being bused to the City leading up to the 2024 DNC as a way for Republicans ...

'Our first home': Woodstock family speaks after explosion, fire destroys home

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

WOODSTOCK, Ill. — A family that has lost everything after a gas explosion earlier this week in Woodstock is speaking out.Their house was among the 20 structures destroyed. It leveled one home and has made two neighboring buildings inhabitable. Tom Skilling announces retirement "I'm heartbroken," Armani Peralta said. "That was our first home. Our established home and all my baby's things."Peralta, her three-month-old baby girl Alanie, and her partner who shares the same first name as Armaine, lived in the two-unit building that went up in flames Monday afternoon after the home next door exploded."I came home from work around 12ish, 1 o'clock," Armaine Bannister, said. "Everything was blocked off. I drove around the block to see if I could come from that way to pick them up, couldn't do it. There was an officer there so I talked to him. He said to just grab the baby, grab the wife and just get out. There's a gas leak." 20 buildings damaged, 22 displaced after home explosion in Woo...