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Children lost in shooting were ‘feisty,’ a ‘shining light’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

NASHVILLE (AP) — Details from the rich, full lives of the three adults killed Monday at a Nashville elementary school have emerged quickly in the aftermath, but information on the three 9-year-old children — whose lives ended tragically young — has been slower to publicly surface from a community buried in grief. The children slain at The Covenant School were Hallie Scruggs, described by an aunt as “always on the go”; Evelyn Dieckhaus, her family’s “shining light”; and William Kinney, whose family has said little publicly so far.A woman who identified herself as Hallie’s aunt, Kara Scruggs Arnold, wrote on Facebook that Hallie was “incredibly smart, feisty enough to keep up with her 3 brothers and my 4 boys.” Hallie had a “love for life that kept her smiling and running and jumping and playing and always on the go,” Arnold added in her post.Hallie’s father Chad Scruggs is the lead pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, which is associated with The Covenant S...

Man charged after following girls home, committing indecent act east of Toronto

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

A Toronto man is facing charges after he allegedly followed two young girls home and committed an indecent act while peering through a window.Investigators were called to a home in the Dundas Street East and Woodfield Road area in Leslieville on March 22 for reports of an indecent act.It’s alleged that around 11 a.m., two girls, aged 13 and 14, were walking home for lunch when a man began to follow them.Police said the man approached the home and began to look through the window while committing an indecent act.On Wednesday, police arrested 45-year-old Charles Silliker of Toronto. He faces three counts of criminal harassment and one count of committing an indecent act.He appeared in court earlier this morning.

S&P/TSX composite rises almost one per cent, U.S. markets also post gains

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index rose almost one per cent Wednesday amid broad-based strength while U.S. markets also posted strong gains. “It’s a rather benign day,” said Craig Fehr, investment strategist at Edward Jones.“We’re seeing markets get a boost from the ongoing deep sigh of relief that the banking crisis, while not over, has seemed to simmer down a little bit,” he said.“I think that that worst-case scenario has not yet been realized and markets are finding some short-term comfort in that.”The S&P/TSX composite index was up 180.12 points at 19,837.65In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 323.35 points at 32,717.60. The S&P 500 index was up 56.54 points at 4,027.81, while the Nasdaq composite was up 210.16 points at 11,926.24.The Nasdaq has been outperforming the other indexes in recent weeks amid hopes that interest rate hikes are almost over, or could even be cut in 2023, said Fehr. “Those markets that were most penalized by the rise i...

GOP lawmakers accuse Fed of being lax before bank failure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers accused top bank regulators Wednesday of dawdling as Silicon Valley Bank hurtled toward the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history and questioned whether tougher regulations would have made a difference.Regulators closed the bank March 10, shaking the U.S. financial system and triggering fears of a broader banking crisis. But Federal Reserve supervisors had first raised questions about Silicon Valley’s risky practices far earlier — in 2021 — and had warned the bank’s management about them in the fall of that year.“That doesn’t sound like a very urgent supervisory process,” Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, said at Wednesday’s hearing of the House Financial Services Committee into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and of New York-based Signature Bank on March 12. Signature Bank’s collapse was the third-biggest in the nation’s history.In response to the crisis, some Democrats are calling for stri...

Fight against toxic mining runoff from Canada persists, say U.S. Indigenous leaders

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

WASHINGTON — U.S. Indigenous leaders from the Pacific Northwest say they won’t give up trying to convince Canada’s federal government to agree to a bilateral investigation of toxic mining runoff from the B.C. Interior. Representatives from several U.S. tribes were in D.C. Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with officials from the White House, the State Department and the Department of the Interior, as well as with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Their cause is the same as it was 11 years ago: a bilateral investigation under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty into mining pollution from B.C. that they say is poisoning the waters of a vital cross-border watershed. Communities in B.C., Washington state, Idaho and Montana have been contending for more than a decade with selenium and other toxins leaching into their watershed from coal mining operations in the province’s Elk Valley.“I’m just afraid of studying this to death. Our river is dying,” said Gary Aitken Jr....

Police: Wizards’ Bradley Beal faces possible battery charge

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal is facing a possible misdemeanor charge in central Florida after a fan accused the NBA All-Star of hitting him during an argument after a game against the Orlando Magic.Probable cause exists to charge Beal with simple battery for the March 21 confrontation, an Orlando police case report said. Beal has not been arrested or charged as of Wednesday. The report said the case would be filed with the local State Attorney’s Office, but prosecutors said they didn’t have a record of the case late Tuesday.The Wizards acknowledged they knew about the situation with Beal in Orlando but declined to comment.According to the police report, Beal was walking down a tunnel at the Amway Center to the Wizards’ locker room following the team’s 122-112 loss to the Magic. A fan swore at Beal and accused him of causing the fan to lose $1,300 from a bet.Beal walked back toward the fan and his friends, and began to exchange words, investigat...

City council declares Toronto mayor’s seat vacant, kick-starting byelection campaign

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

Toronto City Council passed a motion Wednesday declaring the mayor’s seat vacant, officially kicking off the process of a by-election in June.Nominations for candidates will open on April 3, and anyone interested will have until Friday, May 12, to register.Torontonians will head to the polls on June 26 to elect the next mayor.Between April 3 and June 23, individuals, corporations and trade unions who plan to spend money to promote, support or oppose a candidate in the mayoral by-election must register as a third-party advertiser.The City Clerk must certify the registration before a third-party advertiser can spend money on their campaign, accept contributions or begin advertising.The by-election for a new mayor was triggered after John Tory officially stepped down back on Feb. 17 after announcing he had an “inappropriate relationship” with someone who used to work on his staff.Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie has assumed his duties on an interim basis and has said sh...

Top Venezuela oil official pleads guilty to taking bribes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — The former general counsel for Venezuela’s state-owned oil company pleaded guilty in Miami federal court on money laundering charges Wednesday in connection to a conspiracy to siphon hundreds of millions from state coffers through corrupt currency deals. As part of his plea agreement, Alvaro Ledo Nass acknowledged taking $11.5 million in bribes while serving in several senior roles at Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, until 2015.“I knew what I did,” Nass said in proceedings before Judge Patricia Seitz, expressing remorse for his actions. “I came here to own up to my mistakes and to take responsibility before the U.S. courts.”Nass, 43, in February became the latest among several dozen former Venezuelan officials to be charged or convicted in the U.S. as part of Operation Money Flight, a sprawling, multi-year investigation that seeks to untangle how Venezuelan insiders stole billions in oil wealth from their country. Many of the individuals involved in the massive graf...

Biden declines to veto GOP-led measure to end COVID-19 emergency

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

President Biden will not veto a GOP-led effort to end the COVID-19 national emergency, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Democratic senators on Wednesday.A Senate Democratic source confirmed that Schumer informed senators of the decision. The move comes ahead of a planned vote in the upper chamber on the measure later in the day.The bill would terminate the COVID-19 national emergency effective immediately. The Biden administration has said it would let it expire in mid-May.The move marks the second time in recent weeks where Biden sided with Republicans on legislation, having declined to veto a GOP-led measure to nix updates to Washington, D.C.'s, criminal code in early March.The announcement also likely opens the door to a bigger tally among Democrats for the upcoming vote. Thirty-three Senate Democrats voted alongside every Republican in the D.C. crime bill vote, with almost every one of those decisions being made after Biden indicated his plans.The move c...

Remains found in central Illinois storage unit identified as former police chief

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:40 GMT

GALESBURG, Ill. (AP) — Human remains found in a west central Illinois storage unit have been identified as those of a former police chief.The remains discovered last fall are those of Richard R. Young, 71, the former Maquon village police chief, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.The sheriff’s office received confirmation of the identity Tuesday after taking DNA from the decomposed remains and comparing it to samples from Young's relatives. Several 7-Elevens robbed across Chicago in last 3 days The remains were found Oct. 7, 2022, at Roberts Self Storage in Maquon after Knox County deputies responded to a complaint about an odor coming from the storage unit.It's not clear how Young died.Marcy Oglesby, 50, of Maquon has been charged with first-degree murder and concealing the death of a person in the case. She has pleaded not guilty. Oglesby remains in custody at the Knox County Jail.Maquon is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.