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Liberal minister says turning federal assets into affordable housing part of fix

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

OTTAWA — Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the Liberals see turning federal assets into affordable housing as an integral part of fixing Canada’s shortage. Duclos said in a recent interview that there is a need to repurpose office space into housing, as the federal government lets go of some properties in the National Capital Region. He said his government has already started to convert other federal properties into modern housing projects, and it will continue to do more.The procurement minister cited a $200-million fund that the government launched through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in 2018 to develop or renovate federal assets into affordable, accessible and socially inclusive housing. One of the projects supported by that fund is the Mikinàk affordable housing development in Ottawa, a three-building rental complex slated to offer 271 affordable units to mixed-income tenants starting in 2024. The funding for the project went to Ottawa Community Housing, ...

Auto workers stop expanding strikes against Detroit Three after GM makes battery plant concession

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union has decided not to expand its strikes against Detroit’s three automakers after General Motors made a breakthrough concession on unionizing electric vehicle battery plants.Union President Shawn Fain told workers in a video appearance Friday that additional plants could be added later. The delay came shortly after GM agreed to bring electric vehicle battery plants into the UAW’s national contract, essentially assuring that they will be unionized.Fain said GM’s move will change the future of the union and the auto industry.He said GM made the change after the union threatened to strike at a GM plant in Arlington, Texas, which makes highly profitable large SUVs. “Today, under the threat of a major financial hit, they leapfrogged the pack in terms of a just transition” from combustion engines to electric vehicles, he said. “Our strike is working, but we’re not there yet.” Tom Krisher, The Associated Press

On ‘Carolyn’s Boy,’ Darius Rucker pays loving tribute to his greatest inspiration: his late mother

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In 1992, country star Darius Rucker ’s mom died of a heart attack. That was two years before his band, Hootie and the Blowfish, would release their debut record “Cracked Rear View.” It went No. 1 and eventually become diamond certified, twice.Carolyn Rucker didn’t get to experience her son’s incredible success — either in the rock band, or in the 2000s, as a Grammy award winning country music superstar. It’s been 10 years since he released his cover of “Wagon Wheel,” one of the most popular country songs of all time.But Darius Rucker never stopped thinking about her. On Friday, he released “Carolyn’s Boy,” his eighth solo full-length album in tribute to his mom.“I was writing the record, I was having a bad day, you know, bad mental day. And I just remember I sat there, and I said to myself, ‘At the end of the day, I’m just still my mama’s boy.’ And that was really the moment for me, you know, that’s what the record is,” he told The Associated Pre...

Families say faulty vehicle caused cargo ship fire that killed two New Jersey firefighters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The families of two New Jersey firefighters who were killed battling a July blaze inside a cargo ship said Friday a malfunctioning vehicle being used to load cargo onto the ship caused the fire.Relatives of Newark firefighters Captains Augusto “Augie” Acabou and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr. held a news conference outside the firehouse where the two had worked, saying litigation to be filed in the coming months will seek to hold accountable the Italian shipping company that owned the ship, as well as two stevedore companies involved in loading the vessel.The families already have filed notice of intent to sue the city of Newark, alleging the city did not adequately train firefighters to battle onboard ship fires.The two died battling a fire that broke out July 5 when the Grande Costa d’Avorio caught fire in Port Newark, one of the nation’s busiest seaports. The vessel was carrying automobiles.“Wayne was taken from us in a manner that was entirely preventable,” sa...

Police issue arrest warrant for 19-year-old acquaintance in death of Philadelphia journalist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police said Friday that they have issued an arrest warrant for a 19-year-old acquaintance in the death of a Philadelphia journalist who went from sleeping on the street to working for the mayor to writing urgent columns on the city’s most pressing social issues.Josh Kruger, 39, was shot and killed at his Philadelphia home early Monday. Police believe the acquaintance, Robert Edmond Davis, killed Kruger, who had been trying to help Davis “get through life,” Lt. Hamilton Marshmond told a news conference. Police have video of the suspect in the area of Kruger’s home before the shooting, but Marshmond would not say exactly where. Marshmond also said that police do not know why Davis would kill Kruger.Davis is believed to be armed and dangerous, authorities said. Requests for comment went unanswered Friday at phone numbers found in online and database searches for the suspect or someone who could speak on his behalf. Online court records do not list ...

Artillery fire has killed 11 people and wounded 90 in a major Sudanese city, aid group says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Heavy artillery fire killed at least 11 people and wounded 90 in a major city in conflict-torn Sudan, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said. The attack took place on Thursday in the Karari neighborhood in the city of Omdurman, just next to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, the group said, without saying which of the country’s warring parties was responsible. The group, also known by its French acronym MSF, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that children were among those killed and that the wounded are being treated at Al Nao hospital in Omdurman. The hospital is one of several facilities where the medical group operates. Sudan has been rocked by violence since mid-April, when fighting erupted between the country’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamden Dagalo. The clashes then spread to several parts of the country, reducing Khartoum and Omdurman to an urban battlefield, and fueling...

Health care strike over pay and staff shortages enters final day with no deal in sight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A massive health care strike over wages and staffing shortages enters its final day on Friday without a deal between industry giant Kaiser Permanente and the unions representing the 75,000 workers who picketed this week.The three-day strike carried out in multiple states is set to officially end Saturday at 6 a.m., and workers were expected to return to their jobs in Kaiser’s hospitals and clinics that serve nearly 13 million Americans. The two sides did not have any bargaining sessions scheduled after concluding their talks midday Wednesday.The decision to walk off an important job was very difficult, said Josephine Rios, 55, a nurse attendant who takes in patients for surgery at a hospital in Irvine, California.“Unfortunately, it’s a financial burden for us that live paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “We can’t afford to strike a long time, but it’s a double-edged sword. We can’t afford not to strike.”A fall heat wave did not deter picketing at Los Ang...

A nurse is named as the prime suspect in the mysterious death of the Nigerian Afrobeat star Mohbad

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A nurse was identified on Friday as the “principal suspect” in the mysterious death of a Nigerian Afrobeat star, which triggered dayslong protests by thousands demanding justice.Investigations into the death of Ilerioluwa Aloba, better known as MohBad, in the commercial hub of Lagos have pointed to the nurse who treated the late singer before his death, Lagos police chief Idowu Owohunwa told reporters on Friday.The nurse was invited to treat Aloba for an unknown illness at his Lagos residence where she “administered three different injections which are believed to have occasioned the chain of reactions that directly resulted in the death of the singer,” Owohunwa said. The nurse is in custody, but there has been no arraignment and no formal charges have been brought.The police statement came after a closely-watched investigation that prompted Aloba’s body to be exhumed for an autopsy as authorities searched for answers to what killed the 27-year-old on Sep...

Lawyers say election denier and ‘MyPillow Guy’ Mike Lindell is out of money, can’t pay legal bills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys who’ve been defending MyPillow chief executive and election denier Mike Lindell against defamation lawsuits by voting machine companies are seeking court permission to quit, saying he owes them unspecified millions of dollars and can’t pay the millions more that he’ll owe in legal expenses going forward.Attorney Andrew Parker wrote in documents filed in federal court on Thursday that his firm and a second firm representing MyPillow in lawsuits by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems can’t afford what it would cost to represent Lindell and MyPillow through the rest of the litigation. Continuing to defend him would put the firms “in serious financial risk,” he wrote. It’s the latest in a string of legal and financial setbacks for Lindell, who propagates former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, in part by rigged voting machine systems.The Associated Press left phone messages with Lindell on F...

Emergency resolution on pharmacare expected at NDP convention

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:21 GMT

OTTAWA — A group of grassroots NDP activists is planning to push for pharmacare to be a make-or-break element of the federal party’s supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals at a policy convention next week.The agreement has the NDP supporting the minority Liberals on key votes in exchange for progress on shared priorities, including pharmacare.The activists are submitting an emergency resolution to declare that the future of the deal is contingent on legislation that commits to a universal and entirely public pharmacare program.The resolution comes after NDP health critic Don Davies revealed that the party rejected the Liberal government’s first draft of a pharmacare bill that is expected to be tabled this fall.Health Minister Mark Holland says conversations with the NDP continue, and the situation is still fluid. The resolution will likely be discussed on the last day of the NDP convention, if it makes to the debate floor. This report by The Canadian Press was firs...