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Maine formally requests waiver to let asylum seekers join the workforce

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The Maine Department of Labor on Wednesday asked the federal government for a waiver to allow asylum seekers to take jobs while waiting on their cases to be heard.Labor Secretary Laura Fortman said the elimination of a 180-day waiting period for work permits would be good for asylum seekers who want to support themselves and for the state which is struggling with a workforce shortage. Maine’s unemployment rate was 2.7% in September. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a bipartisan bill in May directing the labor commissioner to seek the waiver as resources and housing are strained by the newcomers. Portland, Maine’s largest city, has received more than 1,600 asylum seekers this year.“By allowing asylum seekers to work earlier, the state believes that we can begin to address – and mitigate – the financial and other resource-based issues the state and municipalities face while tackling our workforce shortage and fulfilling the d...

Mike Johnson, a staunch conservative from Louisiana, is elected House speaker with broad GOP support

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

By Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri and Kevin Freking, Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans eagerly elected Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the seat of U.S. power and ending for now the political chaos in their majority.Johnson, of Louisiana, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put the past weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. He was expected to quickly be sworn into office.A lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, Johnson emerged as the fourth Republican nominee in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as GOP factions jockey for power. While not the party’s top choice for the gavel, the deeply religious and even-keeled Johnson has few foes and an important GOP backer: Donald Trump.“I think he’s gonna be a fantastic speaker,” Trump said ...

Police warn pet owners after medium-sized wildcat escapes Ontario sanctuary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police are warning that a medium-sized wildcat has escaped from an animal sanctuary in Bonnechere Valley, Ont., about 130 kilometres west of Ottawa. Police say the African serval cat could attack livestock and pets.Officers and members of Provincial Animal Welfare Services responded to a report that the cat had escaped at about 8:45 a.m. this morning. The cat is described as having pointed ears and a spotted coat, and it weighs about 25 to 30 pounds. Police are advising members of the public in the area to be cautious and report any sightings.Bonnechere Valley Township is a small rural municipality in Renfrew County that had a population of just under 3,900 people as of the 2021 federal census.

Billions for life-saving AIDS program need to continue, George W. Bush Institute tells Congress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As billions of dollars for a global HIV/AIDS program credited with saving millions of lives remains in limbo, the George W. Bush Institute is urging the U.S. Congress to keep money flowing for it.In a letter sent to Congress on Wednesday, the former Republican president’s institute pleaded with Congress to keep funding the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. The program works with nonprofit groups to provide HIV/AIDS medication to millions around the world, fund orphanages and support health systems around the world. “It is one of the most successful international development programs since World War II,” the institute, along with global leaders and humanitarian groups, wrote in their letter. “Abandoning it abruptly now would send a bleak message, suggesting we are no longer able to set aside our politics for the betterment of democracies and the world.”The program, created 20 years ago, has long enjoyed bipartisan support but re...

Hunter Biden prosecutor wasn’t blocked from bringing California charges, US attorney tells Congress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A second U.S. Attorney has testified to Congress that the prosecutor overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation had full authority over filing charges, rebutting whistleblower claims that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss didn’t have the final say on the case against the president’s son. The allegation that Weiss was blocked from filing tax charges in California and Washington D.C., is one of the more explosive from Internal Revenue Service Agents who testified as part of a GOP probe that the case had been “slow-walked” and mishandled by the Justice Department. Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, said he told the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors Tuesday that he understood that Weiss had full authority to bring charges and offered him logistical support. “I did not and could not ‘block’ Mr. Weiss since he did not need my approval to bring charges in my district,” he said in a statement. That echoes testimony from Matthew Graves, the ...

Wisconsin Republicans float changes to win approval for funding Milwaukee Brewers stadium repairs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans floated changes Wednesday to a funding proposal for Milwaukee Brewers stadium repairs including a new tax on non-Brewers events, seeking to win over skeptics of the current plan intended to keep the team at American Family Field until at least 2050.While the measure cleared the Assembly with bipartisan support last week, it does not have a majority of Republican support yet in the Senate. It must pass both houses in identical form before it can be sent to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who has voiced support for the current plan.More changes may yet be needed to win over wary Senate Republicans, like increasing payments from the Brewers to decrease the state’s contribution, said Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu. “We’re working to try and get to 17,” LeMahieu told reporters, referring to the number of Senate votes needed to pass the bill. “I believe we can get there.”Republicans hold a 22-11 majority and LeMahieu said he hoped t...

Hyundai is rapidly building its first US electric vehicle plant, with production on track for 2025

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

ELLABELL, Ga. (AP) — The steel skeletons of buildings where Hyundai will stamp, weld, paint and assemble electric vehicles in Georgia span more than a half mile on a sprawling site dotted with so many cranes, bulldozers and construction workers that it almost looks like they’re building a small city.A year has passed since Hyundai Motor Group broke ground on the $7.6 billion vehicle and battery plant, the South Korean automaker’s first U.S. factory dedicated to producing EVs. Hyundai officials said more than 2,000 people are working each week on the rapidly progressing project west of Savannah, which the company calls its American “metaplant.” “The site is advancing every day as we work diligently to complete this amazing project,” Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America CEO Oscar Kwon told reporters visiting the site Wednesday. “We are on track to start production in early 2025 — or, as my boss Jose Munoz likes to say, if not sooner.”Munoz, Hyundai’s pre...

A warmer than usual summer blamed for hungry, hungry javelinas ripping through Arizona golf course

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

SEDONA, Ariz. (AP) — Operators of a northern Arizona golf course think they have finally found the right repellent for javelinas ripping apart their turf — chili oil.“Even though they’re Southwest animals, they don’t like Southwest seasoning,” Dave Bisbee, general manager at Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona, said Tuesday. This is not the first autumn the golf course has been targeted by foraging javelinas. Bisbee said it’s occurred several times over the years, but the amount of damage he saw is rare. The hotter than normal summer felt in various regions of Arizona is likely what has driven the pig-like peccary to take big bites out of the golf course. The Sedona area saw less than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain this whole summer. Last year, the golf course was drenched with 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain over the course of the summer storm season, also known as monsoon season, Bisbee recalled.“We had zero damage,” he said. The tearing of turf started happening six week...

Jean Charest’s son reacts after Legault says comparison to ex-premier is ‘insulting’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

QUEBEC — Jean Charest’s son is sticking up for his father after Quebec Premier François Legault suggested it’s an insult to be compared to the former premier.Antoine Dionne Charest wrote on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, that Legault’s decision to insult a former premier was disrespectful, ungenerous and unworthy of the office he holds.The dispute comes after Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suggested in the legislature that Legault’s discourse on Quebec independence is identical to that of Charest and former prime minister Jean Chrétien.Referring to the recent exchanges with the PQ leader, Legault can be heard in a video published by the Journal de Québec asking if there could be “anything more insulting” than being compared to Charest, who led the province from 2003 to 2012. The sovereignty debate has been resurrected in the legislature in recent days as the Parti Québécois presented its theoretical budget for the firs...

Accused RCMP leaker never spoke of doing undercover operations: former colleague

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:02 GMT

OTTAWA — A former colleague of Cameron Jay Ortis, who is accused of disclosing secrets to people of interest to police, has testified in court that Ortis never mentioned taking part in undercover operations.Dan Morris told the Ontario Superior Court that Ortis did not speak to him about contacting the targets of RCMP investigations.  The Crown alleges Ortis, a former RCMP intelligence official, anonymously sent classified information in 2015 to people who were of investigative interest to the national police force.Ortis, 51, has pleaded not guilty to violating the Security of Information Act by allegedly revealing secrets to three individuals and trying to do so in a fourth instance.Ortis’s lawyers have said they will argue their client had the authority to take the actions he did.Reporters and the general public were excluded from the courtroom for Morris’s appearance Monday, but an edited transcript of his testimony was released today.This report by The Canadian Press ...