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In El Paso, pastors offer waiting migrants shelter and counsel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO (Associated Press)EL PASO, Texas (AP) — As changing policies, rampant misinformation and exasperated, fearful crowds converge in this desert city, faith leaders are striving to provide shelter and uplift.Along with prayers, they are counseling migrants about the daunting challenges that await them on U.S. soil, with enormous backlogs in asylum hearings and the Biden administration’s newly announced measures that many consider stricter than the existing ones known as Title 42.During Thursday morning Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, a few blocks from the border with Mexico, the Rev. Daniel Mora prayed for goodwill in welcoming the crowds of migrants expected to arrive in the city and at the church’s gym-turned-shelter when pandemic-era restrictions on asylum-seeking lifted overnight.“May the asylum promises of this country be renewed,” Mora noted in the Mass intentions. In an office next to the historic sanctuary, one of h...

Atlantic City casino can’t live without a beach, so it’s rebuilding one

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — What’s an ocean without a beach?One Atlantic City casino that takes its name from the sea doesn’t want to find out, and so it’s spending up to $700,000 of its own money to rebuild a badly eroded beach in front of it.The Ocean Casino Resort began the work Wednesday, and plans to have a new 110-foot-wide beach open for Memorial Day weekend. Chronic erosion near the casino has reduced the beach to just 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.4 meters) wide in places.Bill Callahan, the casino’s general manager, said Ocean can’t wait for the next government-funded beach replenishment project, which could take another year or two.Callahan and several casino officials were on their daily coffee walk one day last fall when they looked out the window — and saw very little sand between the Boardwalk and the ocean.Callahan feared there soon would be no beach.“That would be a horrible guest experience. It’s like, ‘Come to an unbelievable $2.5 billion...

Texas woman killed by boyfriend after having an abortion, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — A 26-year-old woman from Texas was shot and killed by her boyfriend after getting an abortion in another state, Dallas police said. He was jailed on a murder charge as of Friday.Texas banned abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy in September 2021. But nearly all abortions have been halted in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, except in cases of medical emergency.Gabriella Gonzalez was with her boyfriend, 22-year-old Harold Thompson, in a Dallas parking lot Wednesday when he tried to put her in a chokehold, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. She had returned from Colorado the night before.“It is believed that the suspect was the father of the child,” the affidavit said. “The suspect did not want (Gonzalez) to get an abortion.”Surveillance video from the parking lot shows Gonzalez “shrugs him off,” police said, and the two continue walking. Thompson then pulls out a gun and shoots Gonzalez in the head. She falls to the ground and Thompson...

Oregon GOP walkout threatens bills on abortion, trans care – and senators’ careers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A boycott by Republican state senators in Oregon threatens to derail hundreds of bills, including on gun control, gender-affirming care and abortion rights, as a deadline looms that could also upend the protesters’ political futures. Democrats control the Statehouse in Oregon. But the GOP is leveraging rules that require two-thirds of lawmakers be present to pass legislation, which means Democrats need a certain number of Republicans to be there too.Republican and Democratic legislative leaders met behind closed doors for a third day Friday to try to bridge the divide, as the boycott entered its ninth straight day. Lawmakers with 10 unexcused absences are barred from reelection under a constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly last November by voters weary of repeated walkouts. To give time for negotiations — and keep boycotters with nine unexcused absences from hitting that 10-day tripwire — Senate President Rob Wagner agreed to cancel Senate sessions ...

Two northern spotted owls found dead in B.C. forest, in blow to release program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

SPUZZUM, B.C. — Two northern spotted owls that had been released into a British Columbia forest last year have been found dead, potentially reducing the known wild population in the province to a single female.Spuzzum First Nation Chief James Hobart says in a joint statement issued with the government and Jasmine McCulligh, facility co-ordinator for the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program, that the two male birds’ remains were found with their GPS trackers in early May.Nathan Cullen, minister of water, land and resource stewardship, says the cause of the released birds’ death is unknown, but could include physical injury, predation, disease or starvation.Hobart calls the deaths “devastating,” and says efforts will be made to retrace the birds’ final days to work out what could have been done differently.A third male owl that had been released with the others last August was found injured near train tracks in October after potentially colliding with a ...

Vancouver Chinatown may be lit in neon again, with $2.2-million revitalization grant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

Vancouver Chinatown’s once-iconic array of storefront neon lights may soon return, after B.C.’s government announced a one-time grant towards such revitalization projects.British Columbia Premier David Eby says the $2.2-million funding package will support renewal efforts in historic Chinatown, like the restoration of the neon that once dominated the neighbourhood.The funding will also support storefront renewals and upgrades to the Chinese Cultural Centre, but no further details have been released on what changes will be made.Eby says the new funding will help Chinatown “realize the clear plan that this community has to revitalize the neighbourhood for residents, for visitors and for businesses.”Vancouver Chinatown Foundation chair Carol Lee says the announcement is a “turning point” for the neighbourhood because it creates a catalyst for sustainable economic revitalization, signalling to visitors that Chinatown is once again “the place to ...

BC Hydro predicting record-breaking power usage as heat descends on the province

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

BC Hydro is expecting potentially record-breaking demand on the power system as British Columbia and Alberta enter what’s forecast to be a blistering heat wave.The company said if Monday’s forecast holds, peak hourly demand could go as high as 7,800 megawatt hours, about 1,300 more than is typical for May.In a statement Friday, it said historically the province hasn’t recorded anything above 7,500 megawatts in May.Environment Canada is forecasting daytime temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal in parts of both provinces over the next several days, with heat peaking Sunday through Tuesday in the high 20s to low 30s.The power company said its system can meet the additional demand which is only about two-thirds of what’s typically recorded on the coldest days of the year.During a cold snap last December, the highest ever peak hourly demand hit 10,900 megawatt hours between 5 and 6 p.m. one day.The highest demand recorded in the warmer months was during the s...

Another stop-work order issued for Coastal GasLink pipeline over erosion concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

HOUSTON, B.C. — British Columbia environment enforcement officers have issued another stop-work order for the Coastal GasLink pipeline project over erosion and sediment control, something the company promised it would stay on top of last year.The latest order covers an 11-kilometre section in the Morice River watershed southwest of Houston, B.C., and comes after the company paused construction on a 20-kilometre stretch near the Little Anzac River over similar concerns.The enforcement office says a May 4 inspection of the Morice River site found problems related to erosion and sediment control causing impacts to sensitive wetlands. In both cases, TC Energy says it’s stopping so it can implement measures to respond to rapid spring melt due to rising temperatures and high snow pack.The environmental assessment office and Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. signed an agreement last year that required the company to develop comprehensive, detailed erosion and sediment management plans fo...

WATCH: Gov. DeSantis speaks at Peoria Civic Center

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD)-- Watch a live stream on Gov. Ron DeSantis' remarks at the Peoria Civic Center during the Peoria and Tazewell County's Lincoln Day Dinner. Protesters gather ahead of DeSantis Lincoln Day Dinner speech

Former classmates, teachers honor CPD officer Aréanah Preston with vigil

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:18:59 GMT

CHICAGO -- Former classmates and teacher's gathered for fallen Chicago Police Officer Aréanah Preston at UIC College Prep Friday.The memory of 24-year-old Aréanah Preston was honored on Chicago's near Southwest side Friday. Balloon's released to the heavens as friends and loved ones console one another.   Those who knew Preston filled with sorrow and loss.Preston was set to graduate with a master’s degree in Law from Loyola University Chicago on Saturday, May 13 — with dreams one day of joining the FBI to further a career investigating sex crimes, according to Loyola Law Professor Sara Block. Loyola University Chicago will posthumously confer Preston’s Master’s degree with her mother, Dionne Mhoon, accepting the degree on her behalf.Hundreds also joined Preston's family and friends at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood Thursday evening.Visitation set for Tuesday, May 16 at the Blake Lamb Funeral Home. Public view...