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GOP wants to impeach the Maine official who cut Trump from ballot. They face long odds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

By PATRICK WHITTLE (Associated Press)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Republicans who want to unseat Maine’s secretary of state for barring former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot will face long odds impeaching a stalwart and influential Democrat whose party holds firm control over both Legislative chambers.Shenna Bellows is the first secretary of state in history to block someone from running for president by using the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause. Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has appealed the decision to a Superior Court in Maine and he has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a similar ban in Colorado.As Maine lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to begin this year’s legislative session, retribution against Bellows was among the first orders of business for many Republicans. They filed an order of impeachment against her, called for her to resign and encouraged legislators to vote...

Justice Department sues Texas over law that would let police arrest migrants who enter US illegally

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Texas over a new law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the U.S. illegally, taking Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to court again over his escalating response to border crossers arriving from Mexico. The lawsuit draws Texas into another clash over immigration at a time when New York and Chicago are pushing back on buses and planes carrying migrants sent by Abbott to Democrat-led cities nationwide. Texas is also fighting separate court battles to keep razor wire on the border and a floating barrier in the Rio Grande.But a law Abbott signed last month poses a broader and bigger challenge to the U.S. government’s authority over immigration. In addition to allowing police anywhere in Texas to arrest migrants on charges of illegal entry, local judges could also order migrants to leave the country.The law is set to take effect in March. The lawsuit was filed in Austin. Civil rights organizations and official...

Trial or trail? City of Toronto apologizes for misspelled bike path signs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

Are you on a trail or on trial? That’s the question some Toronto residents were asking after noticing a typo on a bike path sign in the east end of Toronto.The word trail in “Lake Shore Trail” was misspelled as trial on the sign. John Oughton, a retired Centennial College English professor, was one of the people to notice the typo and call attention to it. “I noticed it two weeks ago. That’s when I posted the thing on Facebook, and it just sort of trickled into the media awareness in the last couple of days,” said Oughton.And it’s not the first one he’s seen.“I’m on a Facebook group called Weird Toronto and a few weeks ago, somebody posted another typo that occurred around the Danforth and these signs are for bike paths,” explained Oughton. “So that was the first one, but I wasn’t expecting to see this.”“We think of them as being so official … and checked by numerous people,” he add...

Flooding at Boston hospital disrupts IVF services for 200 patients, leaving some devastated

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — Flooding from a burst water main at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital has disrupted services for about 200 patients seeking to have children through in vitro fertilization, leaving some of them devastated.Alexis Goulette, who runs a private IVF support group on Facebook, said Wednesday that a lot of the women had been informed of cancellations by voicemail and hadn’t been offered emotional support or been given explanations for alternative timelines or cost reimbursements.Goulette also noted the enormous amount of intense preparation that is required for an embryo transfer.“All the medications, the internal ultrasounds, the bloodwork,” she said. “It can sometimes be every single day for an entire month.”The disruption has left some of the women burdened with extra costs such as canceled flights or new insurance deductibles as they move into the new year, Goulette added.The pipe burst about 1 a.m. on Christmas Eve on the eighth floor of Brigham and Wom...

Petition to limit size of Toronto running groups on sidewalks gaining traction

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

Toronto residents are speaking out on social media and a petition has been launched to regulate the size of running groups along public sidewalks.Among them is Leah Madley, who said her dog was nearly trampled when she passed a group of runners. “She’s five pounds and they kicked her.”Madley says she was downtown at King Street and Spadina Avenue one evening in November taking her dog for a bathroom break when she turned around and saw a big group of runners.“I would say about 30 people started running down the sidewalk towards us and I just kind of stood there with her thinking they’ll move out of the way because my dog is going to the bathroom but unfortunately one of the runners, I don’t think it was intentional, but they did end up kicking her.”She says the runners carried on without apologizing, leaving her dog shaken but ok. Madley posted her video to TikTok in response to several other Toronto residents who shared similar stories.“There’s nowhere for us to go, they’re running...

Nebraska lawmakers reconvene for new session that could shape up to be as contentious as the last

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Legislature returned to the Capitol in Lincoln on Wednesday for the start of the short 2024 session that could end up as contentious as last year’s historically combative session, with a key lawmaker reviving her efforts to target LGBTQ+ youth.As one of her first acts in the new 60-day session that ends in April, conservative Omaha state Sen. Kathleen Kauth followed through on her promise to prioritize a bill that would restrict transgender student participation in high school sports and limit trans students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms. On the other end of the political spectrum, progressive Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, of Omaha, introduced a bill to repeal a hybrid measure passed last year that included Kauth’s restriction on gender-confirming care for transgender minors as well as a 12-week abortion ban.It was conservatives’ push for those measures that led Cavanaugh and a handful of other progressive lawmakers to filibuster near...

The Supreme Court is expected to determine whether Trump can keep running for president. Here’s why

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to determine whether former President Donald Trump can keep running for the White House.Trump on Wednesday appealed a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that he’s ineligible for the presidency because he violated a rarely used constitutional prohibition on those who hold office having “engaged in insurrection.” On Tuesday, he appealed a similar ruling from Maine’s Democratic secretary of state, but it’s the Colorado appeal that’s most significant.That’s because the nation’s highest court has never before ruled on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, adopted in 1868 to prevent Confederates from regaining their former government posts. Whatever the Supreme Court decides applies to Colorado will apply to all other 49 states, including Maine.Trump remains on the ballot in both states until the appeals are done.WHAT IS SECTION 3?The provision is only two sentences and seems relatively straightforward.Sec...

Teck closes sale of minority stakes in coal business to Nippon, Posco

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

VANCOUVER — Teck Resources Ltd. says it has closed its previously announced deal to sell minority interests in its steelmaking coal business to Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. and South Korean steelmaker Posco.The deal sees Nippon Steel acquire a 20 per cent stake in Teck’s coal business, known as Elk Valley Resources, in exchange for its prior 2.5 per cent interest in one of Teck’s coal operations and US$1.7 billion in cash.Posco swapped its interest in a pair of Teck’s coal operations for a three per cent stake in the overall steelmaking coal operation.The transactions are part of a broader deal announced by the Vancouver-based miner in November that will also see international giant Glencore pay US$6.9 billion for a 77 per cent stake in the company’s coal business.Teck says the Glencore transaction remains subject to regulatory review and is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2024.Following the closure of that deal, Teck will no longer have any exp...

Montreal soup kitchen to stay open after securing emergency funding from province

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

MONTREAL — An Old Montreal soup kitchen operating since 1877 says it has secured funding from the Quebec government to keep offering hundreds of daily hot meals through at least March.Fiona Crossling, general director of Accueil Bonneau, says her group was promised emergency funding during a meeting today with Quebec’s minister responsible for social services, Lionel Carmant.Accueil Bonneau had said financial pressures would force it to stop serving meals on weekends and that it would have to shut down its soup kitchen — which feeds about 400 people every day — next month.Carmant says the government recognizes Accueil Bonneau’s food services as “essential” and that he will help the regional health authority find long-term solutions to the non-profit’s financial challenges.He says he wants Accueil Bonneau to develop services that are open 24 hours a day.Accueil Bonneau says it likely won’t serve meals this weekend because of staffing issues but wil...

Alimentation Couche-Tard completes acquisition of European assets from TotalEnergies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:44:05 GMT

LAVAL, Que. — Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. says it has completed its acquisition of certain European retail assets from French oil giant TotalEnergies SE. The deal announced in March 2023 includes all of the company’s retail assets in Germany and the Netherlands, plus a 60 per cent controlling interest in its Belgium and Luxembourg entities.The acquisition by the Laval-based convenience store and gas station operator was valued at 3.1 billion euros.It involves more than 2,000 service stations, with just over half of them in Germany. Couche-Tard president and CEO Brian Hannasch says the deal brings his company into four new countries.He says it significantly expands Couche-Tard’s reach in Europe. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2024.Companies in this story: (TSX:ATD)The Canadian Press