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Roof of a church collapses in northern Mexico, and Catholic officials say some people are dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The roof of a church collapsed in northern Mexico during a Mass on Sunday, killing an undetermined number of people among approximately 30 parishioners believed trapped in the rubble, authorities said.The Tamaulipas state police said that about 100 people were in the church at the time of the collapse and that about 30 were still inside. Officials did not immediately say whether there were any casualties. But the Mexican Council of Bishops issued a statement saying that “we join in prayer at the tragic loss of life and those injured,” but did not say how many had died.Bishop José Armando Alvarez of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tampico said the roof caved in while parishioners were receiving communion at the Santa Cruz church in the Gulf coast city of Ciudad Madero, next to the port city of Tampico. “From underneath the rubble, thanks to Divine Providence and the work of the rescue teams, people have been pulled out alive!” Alvarez wrote in the diocese’s soc...

Attorney General Garland says in interview he’d resign if Biden asked him to take action on Trump

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. But he doesn’t think he’ll be put in that position. “I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard,” he said on CBS “60 Minutes.” “And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen.”The Justice Department is at the center of not only indictments against Trump that include an effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping classified documents, but also cases involving Biden’s son Hunter, the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol and investigations into classified documents found in the president’s home and office. Garland has appointed three separate special counsels. Garland has spoken only sparingly about the cases and reiterated Sunday he would not get into...

Trump campaigns before thousands in friendly blue-collar, eastern Iowa, touting trade, farm policy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump campaigned in southeast Iowa Sunday in the middle of a fall campaign push aimed at locking in supporters with large organizing events.As he has with his other recent travels to the leadoff caucus state, Trump stumped in an area that formerly supported Democrats but has embraced him, as the influence trade unions once held has shrunk and lost voters to Republicans. Trump headlined an afternoon event in Ottumwa, where 2,500 packed the inside of an event hall at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa. The small city is a hub in eastern Iowa and the seat of Wapello County, one of 31 counties Trump carried in 2016 that Democrat Barack Obama had won four years earlier.It was Trump’s second trip in two weeks to eastern Iowa, where he was drawing large crowds, as his campaign has sought to step up their press to urge voters to commit to support him in the Jan. 15 caucuses, where more than a half-dozen other Republicans are vying to rise as...

ChatGPT in the classroom: what teachers, students need to know about AI

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

Artificial intelligence and chatbots like ChatGPT are here to stay and it’s up to educators to prepare students appropriately.That’s according to a teacher of computer science and robotics in Sherwood Park, Alta., who maintains AI will be a big part of the world moving forward.The arrival of ChatGPT and other generative AI has already led to conundrums for teachers: are students handing in plagiarized work? Will chatbots hurt a student’s ability to think critically?David Hay, a teacher at Elk Island Public Schools, believes it’s up to educators to keep up with the fast-growing technology.“Critical thinking is always something we’ve tried to stress,” said Hay. “And as we use more and more powerful digital tools, it becomes more important that students are not preparing for the real world, they are part of the world as soon as they have access to the internet. And AI tools are just one extension of that.“We can’t uninvent any of the tools. They will be part of ...

TVO employees reject ‘final’ contract offer as strike heads into 7th week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

Workers at Ontario’s public broadcaster have voted to reject what the company’s management says is its “final” offer after nearly six weeks of labour action.TVO CEO Jeffrey Orridge issued a statement saying he’s disappointed Canadian Media Guild employees voted against the offer, prolonging the strike he says “now enters a new and uncharted phase.”Dozens of TVO employees walked off the job in August after CMG, the union representing around 70 journalists, producers and education workers at the Ontario organization, said it wasn’t able to reach a fair agreement with the employer.The latest offer included a wage increase of 7.5 per cent over three years — 3 per cent retroactive to 2022, 2.75 per cent in 2023 and 1.75 per cent in 2024 — as well as protections preventing the use of contracts to replace permanent and temporary workers.CMG did not immediately respond to a request for comment and has not released the percentage of...

2 killed, 2 injured in shooting on West Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

CHICAGO — Two men are dead and two others, including a child, are injured after a shooting on the city's West Side, according to Chicago Police.Officers say the shooting happened near West Madison Street and South Sacramento Boulevard in Garfield Park just after 2:30 p.m.Police say the three men and a 7-year-old boy were standing in a vacant lot in the area when a car, which was traveling southbound, pulled up and a person inside opened fire on the group.Officers say a 33-year-old man and a 31-year-old man were both shot in the head and taken to the hospital where they later died from their injuries. According to police, the 7-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to the head and was taken to the hospital in fair condition. The other person involved, a 38-year-old man who was shot in the lower back, was taken to the hospital in critical condition.Currently, it is unclear what led to the shooting and police have not said if any arrests have been made.Police say Area Four Detectives&nbs...

Runners gather for 5K benefiting nonprofit that delivers care packages to help cancer patients

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

COOK COUNTY, Ill. — A cancer diagnosis is life-changing for many people and their families, but a local nonprofit works to bring a little sweetness to those battling the disease.Lemons of Love, a non-profit that delivers care packages filled with products that help patients manage the side effects of chemo, hosted a 5K race over the weekend. Andersonville Arts Festival weekend returns with diverse work 500 people geared up for the 5K, which took place in Lions Park in Mount Prospect. Every runner and walker at Saturday's race honored someone who fought or is still fighting cancer.The race benefitted the nonprofit, which was founded in 2014 by Jill Swanson, a cancer survivor who started Lemons of Love as a way to "make lemonade" out of a bad situation."I was diagnosed with colon cancer in February of 2014," Swanson said. "And as I embarked on all of the Chemo I was about to go through, I sat in the waiting room and looked at everybody else's story of what they were going through, a...

Biden says 'not much time' to keep aid flowing to Ukraine and Congress must 'stop the games'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the president said in a warning to Congress.“We cannot under any circumstances allow American for Ukraine to be interrupted," Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding package late Saturday that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the battle against Russia."We have time, not much time, and there’s an overwhelming sense of urgency,” he said, noting that the funding bill lasts only until mid-November. Biden urged Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible. Student loan payments are back after three years: What to know “The vast majority of both parties — Democrats and Republicans, Senate and House — support helping Ukraine and the brutal aggression that is being thrus...

Vikings pass rusher D.J. Wonnum was ‘going to get to the end zone one way or another’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Vikings pass rusher D.J. Wonnum felt like he should have had an interception earlier in Sunday’s game against the Panthers that he could have returned for a touchdown. He got his hands on a quick pass from rookie quarterback Bryce Young near the line of scrimmage, and had he been able to haul it in, Wonnum likely would have raced the other way with nobody in front of him.That’s why when Wonnum saw the ball on the ground later in the game after a strip sack from veteran safety Harrison Smith, rather than fall on it and ensure the Vikings forced a turnover, he went the extra mile, picking the ball up and racing 51 yards to pay dirt.“I said, ‘I’m going to get in the end zone one way or another,’ ” Wonnum said. “I was running and I looked at the jumbotron and it looked like someone was catching up to me. I hoped I wasn’t getting caught. I had to curve a little bit and I got in the end zone.”That proved to be a...

Harrison Smith puts in vintage performance to secure Vikings’ first victory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:50:42 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The first time head coach Kevin O’Connell chatted with defensive coordinator Brian Flores last winter, veteran safety Harrison Smith came up in conversation. If the Vikings were going to turn things around on defense, O’Connell and Flores agreed it was going to be with Smith leading the charge.“We started talking about the possibilities of that safety group as a whole,” O’Connell said. “It was an exciting conversation that all centered around No. 22 and getting him around the line of scrimmage and getting him involved in the rush and getting his hands on balls in coverage.”That discussion between O’Connell and Flores regarding everything Smith could do for the defense was brought to life on Sunday afternoon as the veteran safety led the Vikings to a 21-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Smith was a terror on defense for the whole game, lining up all over the field, and spooking rookie Panthers quarterback Bryce Yo...