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Biden administration is resuming deportation flights for Venezuelan migrants as arrivals grow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Biden administration will resume deporting Venezuelan migrants, the largest single group encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border last month, back to their economically troubled country as their arrivals continue to grow. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, speaking in Mexico City Thursday, cited the new measure as one of the “strict consequences” the Biden administration is pairing with the expansion of legal pathways for asylum seekers.“Our two countries are being challenged by an unprecedented level of migration throughout our hemisphere,” Mayorkas said, referring to Mexico. The repatriation flights are expected to begin shortly, said two U.S. officials, though they did not provide specific details on when the flights would begin taking off. The officials were not authorized to disclose details of the government’s plan and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.The resumption of deportation flights comes not long after the administration in...

B.C. sets out law to restrict use of illicit drugs in many public places

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government says it will tighten rules around the use of illicit drugs in public places following criticism that consuming fentanyl in community parks could face fewer restrictions than smoking a cigarette.Premier David Eby acknowledged the government’s decriminalization initiatives, particularly around the public use of drugs, were the subject of concern from municipal governments, law enforcement officials and some citizens.People in B.C. should feel safe in their public parks and other areas, he said on Thursday. Possession of small amounts of many illicit drugs was decriminalized in B.C. in January after the federal government issued an exemption to the province in a multipronged effort to try to stem the overdose death toll. But last month, local politicians passed three resolutions on the decriminalization issue at their annual convention, including asking the government to further regulate the possession and use of illicit drugs in places ...

5 arrested as police recover over $49,000 of drugs in Oshawa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

Durham Regional Police announced that five people were arrested in separate investigations after over $49,000 worth of drugs were seized in one case.Authorities said they were patrolling downtown Oshawa on Wednesday when officers noticed a man and woman acting suspiciously in the area of Bloor Street East and Merritt Street.Following a search, police discovered numerous drugs and drug paraphernalia, and as a result, over $49,000 worth of narcotics were seized.The man and woman were arrested and identified as 35-year-old Luke Martell and 44-year-old Raechel Lawrenson, both of Oshawa. The man and woman face numerous drug-related charges.Both were held on a bail hearing.That same day, officers executed a separate search warrant at a residence in the area of Vancouver Crescent and Gibb Street in Oshawa. Police said drugs were located and seized, along with cash and drug paraphernalia.Two men and a woman were arrested. They were identified as 55-year-old Christopher Cameron, 54-year-old ...

US government agrees to help restore sacred Native American site destroyed for Oregon road project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. government has agreed to help restore a sacred Native American site on the slopes of Oregon’s Mount Hood that was destroyed by highway construction, court documents show, capping more than 15 years of legal battles that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.In a settlement filed with the high court Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation and other federal agencies agreed to replant trees and aid in efforts to rebuild an altar at a site along U.S. Highway 26 that tribes said had been used for religious purposes since time immemorial.Members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde said a 2008 project to add a turn lane on the highway destroyed an area known as the Place of Big Big Trees, which was home to a burial ground, a historic campground, medicinal plants, old-growth Douglas Firs and a stone altar.Carol Logan, an elder and member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Rond...

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger gives $40 million in stock to California museum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Charlie Munger, who’s been Warren Buffett’s right-hand man for more than five decades, has made a $40 million gift to a California museum that he’s supported in the past.Munger gave 77 Class A Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Museum in San Marino, California, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At Thursday’s closing price of $523,545.06 a share, that made the gift worth more than $40.3 million.A decade ago, he gave the Huntington museum nearly $33 million worth of Berkshire stock to help pay for a new education and visitors center. Huntington spokeswoman Susan Turner-Lowe said this latest donation will be used to build more than 30 residences for visiting scholars to use while they spend time at the museum doing research.Turner-Lowe said scholars often spend a school year studying at the Huntington and the expensive rental market in Los Angeles has made that difficu...

Dick Butkus, fearsome Hall of Fame Chicago Bears linebacker, dies at 80

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A photo of Dick Butkus sneering behind his facemask filled the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL preview, topped by the headline, “The Most Feared Man in the Game.” Opponents who wound up on the business end of his bone-rattling hits could testify that wasn’t an exaggeration.Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears whose speed and ferocity set the standards for the position in the modern era, has died, the team announced Thursday. He was 80.According to a statement released by the team, Butkus’ family confirmed that he died in his sleep overnight at his home in Malibu, California.Butkus was a first-team All-Pro five times and made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at 31. He was the quintessential Monster of the Midway and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. He is still considered one of the greatest defensive players in league history.Trading on his i...

4 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in fresh West Bank violence. Clashes erupt in flashpoint town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops killed three Palestinian gunmen in West Bank violence on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in the latest deaths in a monthslong surge of violence in the occupied territory.In video circulated on social media, a lone gunman opened fire at an Israeli car in broad daylight on a busy street in Hawara, a flashpoint town in the northern West Bank. The gunman fired at least 10 shots, pursuing the car as it tried to escape by driving over a barrier in the middle of the street.No one in the car was injured, the army said. It said troops hunted him after the attack and shot him. The identity of the gunman, whose death was confirmed by Palestinian officials, wasn’t immediately known. Hawara has seen repeated attacks, including a deadly shooting early this year that triggered a rampage by Jewish West Bank settlers who torched Palestinian property.Early Friday, dozens of Israeli settlers entered Hawara, and clashes erupted with Palestinian residen...

Voter rolls are becoming the new battleground over secure elections as amateur sleuths hunt fraud

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A group has been impersonating government officials, harassing New York residents at their homes and falsely accusing them of breaking the law, state officials have warned.But what sounds like a scam aimed at people’s pocketbooks is actually part of a shakedown with a much different target: voters.State prosecutors have sent a cease-and-desist order to a group called New York Citizens Audit demanding that it halt any “unlawful voter deception” and “intimidation efforts.”It’s the type of tactic that concerns many state election officials across the country as conservative groups, some with ties to allies of former President Donald Trump and motivated by false claims of widespread fraud in 2020, push to access and sometimes publish state voter registration rolls, which list names, home addresses and in some cases party registration. One goal is to create free online databases for groups and individuals who want to take it upon themselves to try to fin...

Nearly 4 million people in Lebanon need humanitarian help but less than half receive aid, UN says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Lebanon faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly 4 million people in need of food and other assistance, but less than half getting aid because of a lack of funding, a U.N. official said Thursday.Imran Riza, the U.N. humanitarian chief for Lebanon, adds that the amount of assistance the world body is giving out is “much less than the minimum survival level” that it normally distributes.Over the past four years, he said, Lebanon has faced a “compounding set of multiple crises ” that the World Bank describes as one of the 10 worst financial and economic crises since the mid-19th century. This has led to the humanitarian needs of people across all population sectors increasing dramatically, he said.Since the financial meltdown began in October 2019, the country’s political class — blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement — has been resisting economic and financial reforms requested by the international community.Lebanon started talk...

Family of Myrtle Simmons-Brown look for answers in homicide investigation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

MAYWOOD, Ill. — The family of Myrtle Simmons-Brown is seeking answers in the investigation of the 73-year-old's homicide outside of her Maywood home in mid-September.According to the Maywood Police Department, Simmons-Brown's body was discovered in a creek behind her residence on Sept. 16. In the nearly three weeks since, family said a person of interest has been identified, but no one is in police custody.A letter shared with WGN News on behalf of the family Thursday demands an update on the case and justice for Simmons-Brown, who family described as being a beautiful, loving and inspirational soul who made everyone around her feel like they mattered.The full letter can be read at the bottom of this article. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Search for former NFL player continues as police scour home of slain mother A few days after Simmons-Brown's body was found, videos of her son — former NFL player Sergio Brown — surfaced on social media, where he appeared to be outside of the United States....