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Jacksonville begins funerals for Black victims of racist gunman with calls to action, warm memories

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

Funerals got underway Friday for three Black people killed by a racist gunman at a Florida discount store, with friends and relatives sharing warm memories while ministers and activists called for action against rising hate crimes and gun violence.Mourners at the funeral service for Angela Michelle Carr applauded the Rev. Al Sharpton as he criticized laws that allowed the gunman to buy an assault-style rifle years after he was involuntarily committed for a mental health examination. He also denounced white supremacists who demonstrated outside Disney World a week after the Aug. 26 killings in Jacksonville. “How many people have to die before you get up — whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat — and say we’ve got to stop this and we’ve got to bring some sanity back in this country?” Sharpton said. “Have we gotten so out of bounds that we’ve normalized this stuff happening?”Carr, 52, worked as an Uber driver and was sitting in her idling car outside a Dollar General sto...

Georgia special grand jury report shows Graham and others spared from charges, and more new details

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is pursuing charges against roughly half of the people recommended to her by a special grand jury tasked with investigating efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.The decision to seek charges against 19 people, as opposed to the 39 suggested to her, was likely a combination of factors, from constitutional protections to streamlining her case against other defendants.Ultimately, Willis decided against indicting Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; two former senators from Georgia, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue; and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, even as she pursued charges against former President Donald Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.Here are some of the takeaways from the long-awaited report:Why the report was released 9 months after it was finishedThe special grand jury that spent seven months hearing evidence i...

Stock market today: Wall Street closes its worst week in the last 3 with a quiet finish

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged higher on Friday, but not by enough to keep Wall Street from closing out its first losing week in the last three.The S&P 500 ticked up 6.35 points, or 0.1%, to 4,457.49 after falling for three straight days. It lost 1.3% for the week, which was shortened by the Labor Day holiday.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75.86, or 0.2%, to 34,576.59, and the Nasdaq composite added 12.69, or 0.1%, to 13,761.53.Those indexes also fell for the week because of worries that a too-warm economy will push the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high for longer. Traders ratcheted back expectations for cuts to rates next year by the Fed, after reports showed the U.S. economy remains resilient despite much higher rates and struggles for other economies around the world.Such data have pushed yields higher in the bond market, which hurts stock prices. But yields held relatively steady on Friday, helping to keep Wall Street quiet.The yield on the 10-year Treasury in...

TSX moves lower Friday while U.S. markets eke out small gain amid rate worries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index posted a small loss Friday, with broad-based weakness led by metals and tech, while U.S. markets eked out slim gains amid ongoing concern about interest rates. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 57.43 points at 20,074.65.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 75.86 points at 34,576.59.The S&P 500 index was up 6.35 points at 4,457.49, while the Nasdaq composite was up 12.70 points at 13,761.53.After a weaker August following a tech-driven rally in the first half of the year, markets seem to be under pressure heading into September, said John Zechner, chairman and lead equity manager at J Zechner Associates. The issue weighing on markets is an ongoing realization that interest rates will likely have to stay higher for longer, he said.With oil prices continuing to climb, nearing US$88 per barrel Friday, inflation could tick up this fall, said Zechner, putting more pressure on central banks. The economic data trickling...

Teen’s death leads to outpouring of concern over spicy chip challenge as sales are halted

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The death of a Massachusetts teenager after his family said he ate an extremely spicy tortilla chip has led to an outpouring of concern about the social media challenge and to retailers pulling the product from their shelves at the manufacturer’s request.The family of Harris Wolobah planned a vigil for Friday, a week after his death, to remember the basketball-loving tenth grader while they await the results of an autopsy to determine what killed him. They blamed the teen’s Sept. 1 death on the One Chip Challenge, which calls on participants to eat an eponymously named chip and then see how long they can go without consuming other food and water. The family has declined interview requests, though a man driving away from their Worcester home hours before the vigil said the family is “grieving deeply right now.” He declined to give his name.Police said they were called to the home and found Wolobah “unresponsive and not breathing.” He was tran...

Vancouver cop charged after pedestrian struck in city’s Downtown Eastside last year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

VANCOUVER — Prosecutors in British Columbia have approved multiple charges against a Vancouver police officer a year after a pedestrian was hit by a police car in the city’s Downtown Eastside.Const. Jack Zhao has been charged with driving without due care and attention, failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, and speeding.The province’s prosecution service says the charges were approved by an experienced Crown counsel who has no connection with the officer.Alleged video of the incident on Sept. 20, 2022, that was shared by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, shows a person standing motionless in the middle of East Hastings Street. A black police cruiser appears to hit the man without swerving and he is thrown about 10 metres as the car skids to a halt.At the time the provincial Independent Investigations Office said the man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.Zhao’s first appearance is scheduled for Sept. 28 in Vancouver pro...

No charges against Maine authorities for death of handcuffed man who was hit in head with flashlight

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s attorney general concluded there was no criminal conduct when four law enforcement officers used a stun gun and beat a handcuffed man in the head with a flashlight while facedown on a porch in a death determined to be a homicide.Jeremy Lau, 46, was erratic, violent and making unintelligible sounds while on drugs early March 1, 2022, when police responded to a report that he was trashing the home in which he’d been staying, state police said. Arresting officers used a stun gun on Lau twice and pummeled him while he was facedown, with one deputy striking him with a flashlight, including once on the head. Police said Lau continued to resist them until he was placed in an ambulance, but witness statements showed a difference in perception of the threat with people inside the house saying he appeared to be motionless by that point, documents indicated.The state’s chief medical examiner determined Lau’s death was a homicide but three troopers were exonerated...

Fourth man charged in connection with threats and vandalism targeting two New Hampshire journalists

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A fourth man has been charged in connection with threats and vandalism targeting public radio journalists in New Hampshire.Eric Labarge, 46, of Nashua, was arrested Friday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts. He and three others who were previously arrested have been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to commit stalking through interstate travel.Prosecutors allege the men were involved in a plot to vandalize homes associated with New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Lauren Chooljian and news director Daniel Barrick in retaliation for a report detailing sexual misconduct allegations against a prominent businessman.In six incidents in April and May 2022, the journalists’ homes and the home of the reporter’s parents were hit with bricks, rocks and red spray paint. In one incident, a brick was thrown through a window at Chooljian’s home, and the phrase “JUST THE BEGINNING!” was spray-painted on the front of her home.The vandal...

Infrequent inspection of fan blades led to a United jet engine breaking up in 2021, report says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An engine on a United Airlines jet broke up over Denver in 2021 because of wear and tear on a fan blade that was not adequately inspected for signs of cracking, federal investigators said Friday.The National Transportation Safety Board said manufacturer Pratt & Whitney did not call for inspections to be done frequently enough, which allowed tiny cracks to grow undetected, until the fan blade broke.The NTSB said the design and testing of the engine inlet contributed to the severity of the situation, and other factors made the engine fire worse than it should have been.The right-side engine of the Boeing 777 broke apart shortly after takeoff from Denver International Airport, raining parts over suburban neighborhoods. The pilots declared an emergency and landed the plane safely 24 minutes after takeoff.The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all U.S.-registered planes with the same PW4000 engines shortly after the February 2021 incident. The Associated Press

Correctional Service reports death of inmate at Victoria-area prison

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:35 GMT

VICTORIA — The Correctional Service of Canada says an inmate serving a sentence for second-degree murder has died at the Victoria-area William Head Institution.A statement Friday says inmate Richard Paul Preston died on Saturday while in custody at the minimum-security federal institution.The Correctional Service statement does not provide details on the cause of death, but says Preston’s next of kin have been notified as have the police and coroner.The statement says Preston was serving a sentence for second-degree murder, which commenced on April 28, 1994.The Correctional Service statement says it will review the circumstances surrounding Preston’s death.It says William Head is a minimum-security institution that consists of about 35 hectares of federal land located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island about 30 kilometres northwest of Victoria.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2023.The Canadian Press