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Grand Canyon gets $27.5 million federal grant for greener shuttle buses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Grand Canyon National Park is getting $27.5 million in federal highway money to upgrade its aging fleet of shuttle buses, which help the more than 4 million annual visitors get around the huge park.The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced the grant at an event Thursday on the canyon’s south rim.The replacement project includes 30 new buses — 20 that run on compressed natural gas and 10 electric buses. Charging stations will be installed for the electric buses. The new buses are expected to reduce pollution and ease the overcrowding of vehicles at the park.The park has over 270 miles of paved and unpaved roads.The Grand Canyon project is one of seven to receive grants totaling $130.5 million under a Federal Highway Administration program that recognizes transportation projects of national significance that serve federal and tribal lands.Officials from the Department of Transportation, Interior Department...

Mi’kmaq lawyers from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland appointed to Senate seats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

OTTAWA — Two Mi’kmaq lawyers from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have been appointed to the Senate.Paul Prosper, the former chief of Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation and a former Assembly of First Nations regional chief, will represent Nova Scotia.Judy White, who was the assistant deputy minister of Indigenous affairs and reconciliation in Newfoundland and Labrador, will represent that province.Their appointments were formally made by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon today on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Senate appointment recommendations are made to the prime minister by an independent advisory board that reviews submissions.Dan Christmas, who retired earlier this year, became Canada’s first Mi’kmaw senator when he was appointed to the upper chamber in 2016.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2023.The Canadian Press

Airbnb wins Vancouver privacy ruling, as court quashes order to release host data

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

VANCOUVER — Airbnb has won a court ruling that quashes an order from British Columbia’s privacy commissioner that would have identified hosts and their home addresses in Vancouver. The B.C. Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday says the Information and Privacy Commissioner got it wrong when it ordered the City of Vancouver to release the information about hosts who hold short-term rental licences without notifying them.Justice Jasvinder Basran’s ruling says the privacy commissioner must reconsider its findings after notifying Airbnb hosts about the potential release of the information.The ruling says both the City of Vancouver and the company had opposed releasing the records to an unnamed “John Doe” party, claiming the information could be used to harm the property owners.The judge’s decision says the privacy commissioner incorrectly classified home addresses as business information rather than personal information since Airbnb hosts run home-based b...

Movie Review: ‘Joy Ride’ is a cheerfully gross-out comedy that soars, thanks to a terrific cast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

If you’re like me, there comes a moment of truth in raunchy film comedies when you decide whether to fully join in the fun — or ride it out on the fence.It often comes in a key early comic scene. Can they pull it off? If so you’ll be putty in their hands for two hours, ready to chuckle along no matter how gross it gets (think of that bridal dress fitting in “Bridesmaids.”) If not, you’ll shuffle uncomfortably on the sidelines, feeling rather like a prude.In first-time director Adele Lim’s ebullient, chaotic, nothing’s-too-gross-if-it’s funny road comedy “Joy Ride,” that moment came for me when watching Ashley Park swallow a disgusting concoction in a drinking contest, pretending all’s fine as her insides erupt. Expert comic chops cannot be faked. Park had me from that guzzle (and cemented it later with her Gollum impression.)Yet the impressive thing about “Joy Ride,” a comedy that more than earns its R rating — folks, it features a vaginal tattoo in full-frontal glory — is tha...

Sentencing for former Indiana congressman postponed as prosecutors seek $1.4 million in restitution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a former Indiana congressman should pay nearly $1.4 million to cover the legal bills of companies forced to incur expenses when he was prosecuted on insider trading charges. But his lawyer said Thursday it’s an exorbitant amount to demand from a man already suffering financially.U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman postponed Steve Buyer’s sentencing until July 31. He asked the Probation Department to analyze the $349,846 that prosecutors say Buyer should forfeit as crime proceeds and another $1.39 million he would owe for the legal costs of two companies. Sentencing had been set for next week.Buyer, 64, a Republican from Noblesville, Indiana, was convicted in March of making illegal stock trades while working as a consultant and lobbyist after a congressional career that stretched from 1993 to 2011.The lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and was a House prosecutor at ex-President Bill C...

QEW Niagara-bound lanes of Burlington Skyway to close every Friday night in July

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

Niagara-bound drivers on the QEW will be forced to find another route into the region for the next four Fridays due to repairs on the Burlington Skyway Bridge.The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) says starting July 7 the Niagara-bound lanes will be closed for more than 12 hours each Friday night at 8 p.m. so that “critical repairs” can be made to the bridge.“The work involves the removal and replacement of an expansion joint system,” the MTO said in a statement. “Expansion joints for road bridges are critical to ensure the continuity of the road surface as well as load bearing capacity and the movement of the bridge.”The roadway is expected to reopen at 9:30 a.m. the next morning, according to the ministry.In the case of bad weather, the Friday night closure will be rescheduled for Saturday and lanes will reopen by 9:30 a.m. Sunday.The work on the westbound lanes is expected to continue for the next three Fridays as well.

In Lula’s first six months, Brazil Amazon deforestation dropped 34%, reversing trend under Bolsonaro

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — After four years of rising destruction in Brazil’s Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6% during the first six months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s term, according to government satellite data released Thursday.From January to June the rainforest had alerts for possible deforestation covering 2,650 square kilometers (1,023 square miles), down from 4,000 square kilometers — an area the size of Rhode Island — during the same period last year under former President Jair Bolsonaro. This year’s data includes a 41% plunge in alerts for June, which marks the start of the dry season when deforestation tends to jump. “The effort of reversing the curve of growth has been reached. That is a fact: we reversed the curve; deforestation isn’t increasing,” João Paulo Capobianco, the Environment Ministry’s executive secretary, said during a presentation in Brasilia. Capobianco noted that full-year results will depend on a few challenging...

Russian jets harass U.S. drone aircraft over Syria for the 2nd time in 24 hours

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers, the Air Force said.It was the second time in 24 hours that Russia has harassed U.S. drones there. “We urge Russian forces in Syria to cease this reckless behavior and adhere to the standards of behavior expected of a professional air force so we can resume our focus on the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, head of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said in a statement. U.S. Air Forces Central released videos of the two separate incidents that took place Wednesday and Thursday. In the first incident, which took place about 10:40 a.m. local time Wednesday in Northwest Syria, Russian SU-35 fighters closed in on a Reaper, and one of the Russian pilots moved their aircraft in front of a drone and engaged the SU-35’s afterburner, which greatly increases its speed and air pressure.T...

Suburban warehouse behind latest shipment of medical supplies earmarked for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

WOODRIDGE, Ill. — Tucked away in a Woodridge warehouse, it may surprise locals that the world's largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies resides, aiding under-resourced people from 135 countries, including Ukraine.On Thursday, an army of volunteers with Project C.U.R.E. Chicago carefully packed shipping container No. 114 to assist the courageous doctors and nurses working in Ukraine. "It can take up to five months to get where it's going," said Project C.U.R.E. Chicago's operation chief Jessamyn Moore. Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of planning to attack Europe’s biggest nuclear plant The 50,000-square-foot Project C.U.R.E Chicago warehouse in west suburban Woodridge is one of seven warehouses across the United States."Nationwide, we have over 35,000 volunteers," Moore said. "We couldn't do it without them."Among the many volunteers was Stevenson High School junior Vinod Kanna, who works at the warehouse on Tuesday and Thursday for about six hours a day. K...

Skilling: Cooler Thursday night before possible showers Friday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:28 GMT

The sun finally emerged Thursday in the wake of the latest round of drenching rains in Wednesday storms. As is typical rainfall varied----AND WIDELY based on COCORAHS volunteer observer 24 hour rainfall observations through Thursday morning at 7am CDT. Totals on the "high end" ranged from 3.12" at Manhattan in Will County, 3.04" at Oak Lawn and 2.86" at Marionette Park—to as little s 0.03" at Dwight, IL and both DeMotte and Rensselaer, IN.The spread across Chicago proper was wide---from 0.45" at O'Hare to 1.92" at Midway Airport—where when Sunday's record 4.05" is added, 5.97" of rain—NEARLY HALF A FOOT OF RAIN---has fallen in just the past 3 days.At O'Hare, July 2023's rainfall ALL OF 6 DAYS into the month, stands at an eye-catching 4.28" which is 6.6 times normal and 115% the normal full July rainfall of 3.71".With all the recent rain----albeit more in city locations than in some surrounding area (MUCH MORE in some cases!!!)----LITTLE SURPRISE the new DROUGHT MONITOR issued today ...