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Mexican president still vows to give National Guard to Army

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president vowed Wednesday to try again to give control of the National Guard to the Army, despite a Supreme Court ruling against such a move. The Supreme Court had ruled Tuesday that the Constitution mandates that the Guard, which is now Mexico’s main federal law enforcement agency, must be kept under civilian control within the Public Safety Department. But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he hopes his party can win a two-thirds majority in Congress in the June 2024 elections, and change the Constitution. For now, López Obrador said he would instruct the Public Safety Department — a civilian agency — to appoint a retired general to lead the quasi-military guard.López Obrador says Army control of the National Guard is needed to prevent the force from becoming corrupt, as he claimed the now-dissolved Federal Police had become.About 80% of the National Guard’s 130,000 members are active-duty soldiers on loan from the Army and Navy, whe...

Allies must balance ‘friendshoring’ with opening trade: U.S. Chamber of Commerce head

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

OTTAWA — United States chambers of commerce are pushing Washington and Ottawa to strike the right balance between protecting supply chains and maintaining free trade across the continent.The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, said in a speech this morning in Ottawa that Washington will only make life more expensive and business more challenging if it doubles down on protectionist policies.Clark also argues that the American policy of “friendshoring,” which holds that allies should rely on each other to make supply chains more resilient, could have the opposite effect if it’s applied to more than just goods and services that pose considerations for national security. The chamber also wants Ottawa to open up Canada’s protected dairy sector, and to halt taxes and regulations on American digital companies such as Netflix and Google.Clark praised Canada for signing onto new trade deals with Europe and countries along the Pacific Rim, saying Washi...

Toronto warming centres would open at -5 C under proposed changes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

Warming centres for those who need shelter should open in Toronto when temperatures drop to -5 C, city staff recommend in a new report, a proposal that would lower a threshold advocates have long criticized as cruel and arbitrary.The city currently opens warming centres when temperatures dip to -15 C, or -20 C. The proposed policy update to be presented at a council committee next week could see that change this year and is supported by Toronto Public Health.Coun. Shelley Carroll called the proposed change “an important first step”.“Staff will continue to work to secure additional warming centre sites, expand access to our existing sites, and advance our housing goals so homelessness in our city becomes a rare and brief experience,” Carroll, who chairs the Economic and Community Development Committee, wrote in a statement.Warming centres are billed as a surge response for the city’s shelter system during periods of cold weather, offering at minimum a pl...

Texas cheerleaders shot after one says she got in wrong car

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

ELGIN, Texas (AP) — A man shot and wounded two cheerleaders in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one of them said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own — the latest in a string of recent U.S. shootings apparently sparked by someone showing up at the wrong place.The shooting in Elgin, east of Austin, happened early Tuesday in a parking lot that serves as a carpool pickup spot for members of the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company, team owner Lynne Shearer said.Heather Roth, one of four team members transferring rides in the lot after practice, said she got out of her friend’s car and into a car she thought was hers, but there was a stranger in the passenger seat, KTRK-TV reported. She said she panicked and got back into her friend’s car, but the man got out of his vehicle and approached. She said she tried to apologize through her friend's car window, but the man threw up his hands, pulled out a gun and opened fire.Roth was grazed by a bullet and was treated at t...

WATCH LIVE | Brandon Johnson makes first trip to state Capitol as Chicago's mayor-elect

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is traveling to Springfield Wednesday where he'll meet with legislative leaders and speak to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly.Johnson has a day filled with spending time with lawmakers and addressing the needs of Chicago.This trip will be his first as mayor-elect, but it's not an unfamiliar territory. After addressing the Illinois General Assembly, Johnson will hold a press conference with Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch. He will also hold meetings with Welch and Senate President Don Harmon, as well as with the Black, Asian, Latino and moderate caucuses. Johnson said his time at the statehouse is about building a better, stronger and safer Chicago by establishing a strong foundation for collaboration.Now, Johnson has already built relationships with lawmakers. He has spent time working with Don Harmon as his constituent service director.He was also the chief of staff for...

'Gloriously gluttonous body': Fat cat up for adoption weighs 40 pounds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The fattest cat you've ever seen was recently put up for adoption by Richmond Animal Care and Control in Virginia.Patches weighs 40.3 pounds, Animal Care and Control said. He's on a diet and exercise plan to get that number down, and he has been neutered, tested and chipped. The enormous cat is "very sweet," they say. Richmond Animal Care and Control put up a post on social media asking people interested in adopting Patches to reach out. They were looking for a new owner who would be committed to helping the cat reach a "safe and healthy weight." A domestic cat's ideal weight depends on its breed and sex, but you should usually be able to feel its ribs and see its waist from above, Purina says. Your veterinarian can help you determine if your cat is in a healthy weight range. The Facebook post about Patches quickly racked up hundreds of comments and shares. In an update Wednesday, the group said an adoption is pending. (Photo courtesy of Richmond Animal Care ...

Sheriff reflects on Waco siege's anniversary: Won't 'ever totally get over it'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

McLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KWKT) - April 19, 2023 marks 30 years since the end of a 51-day standoff between Branch Davidians and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation outside Waco, Texas. David Koresh, also known as Vernon Howell, and his followers imprisoned themselves in the Mount Carmel complex on Feb. 28, 1993 after a deadly ATF raid. Four federal agents were killed, and 14 other agents were wounded. Federal law enforcement agencies camped outside, attempting to lure them out as people around the world watched. Branch Davidian Raid: 30 Years Later The complex was the headquarters for the Davidians, who had split off from the Seventh-day Adventists decades earlier. During the 25th anniversary of the events, in 2018, former Waco cult member Marc Breault was interviewed by FOX News about his experiences with David Koresh - and how he was able to escape from the events.“Koresh and I were at odds,” Breault told FOX N...

Why Jake Burger's homer Tuesday was a memorable one for the White Sox

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

CHICAGO — It's certainly been an uneven start to the 2023 season for the White Sox, with one of their most consistent players not even playing at the major league level the entire season.But when Jake Burger has been with the big league club, he's made the most of it with his power. On Tuesday, he made his latest homer even more unique than the rest. In the first inning of Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Phillies, the infielder smashed a pitch from Bailey Falter deep into the left field seats for a three-run homer. It was the only runs that the White Sox would need in a 3-0 triumph over Philadelphia that was boosted by an impressive one-hit pitching performance by the club. Yet Burger's 417-foot shot was very notable for the White Sox since statistically it was the hardest hit ball by a player for the club in eight years. Per Statcast, the home run had an exit velocity of 118.2 miles per hour, which is the highest for the White Sox since that service made its debut in the MLB b...

Meta to begin newest round of mass layoffs

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

(The Hill) -- Meta is set to start cutting jobs on Wednesday as part of its round of layoffs it announced in March, as the company seeks to eliminate up to 10,000 jobs in a move to cut costs.The round of cuts on Wednesday affected employees across a number of the company’s products, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, according to Bloomberg, which cites a memo the outlet reviewed. The cuts will also affect parts of the company’s virtual reality team.The layoffs stem from an announcement last month that Meta was looking to cut 10,000 jobs, with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling employees the company was trying to become more efficient by also not filling 5,000 open roles.  Almost 120M Americans exposed to air pollution that can shorten lives: research Meta told The Hill that it did not have a comment on the reported layoffs on Wednesday, but pointed to the announcement from Zuckerberg in March that said the company expected “restructurings and layoffs in our tech group...

Almost 120M Americans exposed to air pollution that can shorten lives: research

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:38:26 GMT

(The Hill) -- More than a third of Americans are exposed to potentially life-shortening air pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s (ALA) 2023 State of the Air report.About 119.6 million Americans, or 36 percent of the population, live in areas the association assigned a failing grade to for particle or ozone pollution. This is a reduction of about 17.6 million people that were exposed to air pollution in 2022, with the ALA attributing the improvement primarily to success in reducing ozone pollution.Despite this, the report found a record-high number of people living in counties with failing particle-pollution ratings, at just under 64 million. There are major gaps in the data, predominantly for rural counties, as the majority of areas in the U.S. do not monitor data for the pollutants in question. About 264 million people, or around 79 percent of the U.S. population, live in the 922 counties covered by the data.As in previous reports, the 2023 edition found already-...