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18 Belgian students guilty for their role in deadly hazing ritual

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Eighteen Belgian students were found guilty on Friday for their role in the 2018 death of a freshman university student during a brutal and degrading initiation ritual and were sentenced to community service and fines. Sanda Dia was 20 when he died in a hospital in December 2018 after he, and two other first-year students, endured two days of vicious hazing to enter an elite student fraternity, Reuzegom. Dia was forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and fish oil, and made to sit in freezing water before he collapsed. The students were found guilty for their role in the involuntary death of Dia and degrading treatment, but were acquitted of intentionally administering harmful substances resulting in death and wilful neglect, court spokesperson judge Els De Brauwer said. The students were given sentences of up to 300 hours of community service and a 400-euro fine each. The prosecution had sought sentences of up to 50 months in prison for some of them. The high s...

CWB reports Q2 profit down from year ago, raises quarterly dividend

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

EDMONTON — CWB Financial Group raised its quarterly dividend as it reported its second-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago and said it was targeting lower annual loan growth than previously expected.The Edmonton-based bank says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 33 cents per share, up a penny from 32 cents per share.The increased payment came as CWB says its common shareholders’ net income totalled $70.0 million or 73 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30, down from $74.2 million or 82 cents per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.Revenue totalled $264.4 million, up from $258.8 million a year earlier, while its provisions for credit losses totalled $10.3 million, down from $11.2 million in the same quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, CWB says it earned 74 cents per share, down from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share a year ago.The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of 77 cents per share, according to e...

Safe supply and the overdose crisis: An FAQ

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, harm reduction programs tend to be divisive, but Safer Supply — an initiative that provides drug users with prescribed narcotics as an alternative to the tainted substances they might find on the street — might be the most controversial of them all. The program has been criticized by politicians, “exposed” in long newspaper features, and it’s been targeted by those focused on “getting users off drugs.”Dr. Lindsey Richardson, Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity and Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of British Columbia, says the conversation surrounding harm reduction has become overly politicized.“We need to recognize that there are political dimensions here, but a lot of the conversation doesn’t address the broader context of what safer supply is for, which is to separate people from the toxic street drug supply.”So, does safe supply work, or are the claims made by its opponents true? Or b...

Bear who killed runner in Italy’s Alps is spared death for now by court

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

ROME (AP) — A ruling by an administrative court in Italy’s Alpine region on Friday spared, for now, the life of the bear who fatally attacked a runner last month. The brown bear, identified as Jj4, was captured on April 18 following an intensive, two-week, hunt launched after a 26-year-old local man was killed while running on a mountain trail. The court panel in the city of Trento requested more details about the dynamics of the attack by the 17-year-old female bear and thus suspended an order by local authorities to have the animal euthanized. The suspension lasts until June 27. But the bear’s fate might not even be decided then, since a hearing was set for Dec. 14 to decide the merits of animal rights advocates’ proposals to transfer the bear to a refuge — just where is unclear — where the animal wouldn’t be a danger to humans. The Italian agency ANSA also said the court concluded that more details from the autopsy of the runner were needed before any decision c...

Chicago woman beaten while struggling with gunman who stole her French bulldog

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago woman says she was beaten and her French bulldog was stolen at gunpoint as she was taking it for a walk in her northwest side neighborhood.Alicja Pierzchala, 64, told reporters that the attack occurred Wednesday evening in Portage Park.“I just walk with my Peppa,” Pierzchala said. “She was sniffing, walking, all of a sudden behind of me I felt pressure.” Pierzchala said she struggled with the gunman and was later treated at a hospital for cuts to her wrists, forehead and a concussion.She adopted Peppa nearly two months ago.No arrests have been made, police said.In 2021, a dog walker for pop star Lady Gaga was shot and wounded and two of the singer’s French bulldogs were taken during an armed robbery in Hollywood.The man was walking three of Lady Gaga’s dogs at the time but one escaped.Authorities have said it was a coincidence that the dogs belonged to the singer and that the motive for the theft was the value of the French bulldogs, a bree...

13-year-old boy shot on NW Side

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

CHICAGO — A 13-year-old was injured when he was shot in the city's Avondale neighborhood Thursday afternoon. According to police, the boy was in an alley around 4:14 p.m. near the 3800 block of West Belmont when he was shot in the right foot by an unknown individual. 2 teens critical after shooting on Near West Side Police say he was transported to Community First Hospital in good condition. Police are investigating the incident.

Historic Lake Geneva estate goes up for sale - most expensive listing currently in Wisconsin

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — The 20,000 square foot Aloha Lodge is one of Lake Geneva's most recognized mansions, and could be yours for $35 million.The estate was originally built in 1900 for Tracy Drake, founder of the Drake and Blackstone hotels in Chicago. The 8 bedroom, 11 full-bathroom, 5-half bathroom home was the first of several lakeside mansions designed by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. Home 300 feet from Wrigley Field up for sale According to brokerage @properties Christie's International Real Estate, "Aloha Lodge sits on more than 360 feet of shoreline, with genteel colonnades, curved façade and ornamental railings that are a beautiful throwback to the days when guests arrived via steamboat or paddlewheel. A full interior and exterior renovation in 2011 tripled the home’s original size, extending its footprint to add two wings off the original structure, built with period details to look as if they were always part of the home."Photo credit: ©@properties Ch...

Court spares life of bear that killed runner in the Alps

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

ROME (AP) — A ruling by an administrative court in Italy’s Alpine region on Friday spared, for now, the life of the bear who fatally attacked a runner last month.The brown bear, identified as Jj4, was captured on April 18 following an intensive, two-week, hunt launched after a 26-year-old local man was killed while running on a mountain trail.The court panel in the city of Trento requested more details about the dynamics of the attack by the 17-year-old female bear and thus suspended an order by local authorities to have the animal euthanized. The suspension lasts until June 27. But the bear's fate might not even be decided then, since a hearing was set for Dec. 14 to decide the merits of animal rights advocates' proposals to transfer the bear to a refuge — just where is unclear — where the animal wouldn't be a danger to humans.The Italian agency ANSA also said the court concluded that more details from the autopsy of the runner were needed before any decision comes on the bear’s fa...

Like the idea of owning a lighthouse? US is giving some away

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Ten lighthouses that for generations have stood like sentinels along America's shorelines protecting mariners from peril and guiding them to safety are being given away at no cost or sold at auction by the federal government.The aim of the program run by the General Services Administration is to preserve the properties, most of which are more than a century old.The development of modern technology, including GPS, means lighthouses are no longer essential for navigation, said John Kelly of the GSA's office of real property disposition. And while the Coast Guard often maintains aids to navigation at or near lighthouses, the structures themselves are often no longer mission critical. Boomers and millennials fight for homes as housing market cools Yet the public remains fascinated by the beacons, which are popular tourist attractions and the subject of countless photographers and artists.“People really appreciate the heroic role of the solitary lighthouse keeper,” he s...

At least 10 people remain missing in Lake Travis, including this widow's husband

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:17:37 GMT

A photo of the new boat Manuel Salas purchased after his wife encouraged him to, "do something for you." (Courtesy Rose Ann Salas)AUSTIN (KXAN) — It was Cinco de Mayo, and newlyweds Rose Ann and Manuel Salas planned to take their new boat out on Lake Travis for the first time, before heading to a family party in Elgin later that day. The couple got married just three months earlier after a courtship Rose Ann described as a "whirlwind" romance where Manuel "swept me off my feet."During the time they were dating and engaged, Rose Ann, 48 at the time, said Manuel, 54, would often look at and talk about boats. After seeing and hearing him do this for years, she encouraged him to go through with getting his own."'You always take care of everybody else,'" she recalls telling him. "'If you want the boat, you should get the boat. You should do something for you once in a while.'" Diver uncovers lost watches, a sunken plane & missing people in the depths of Lake Travis Rose Ann said th...