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Smoke from Canada wildfires increasing health risks in Black, poorer US communities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Smoky air from Canada’s wildfires shrouded broad swaths of the U.S. from Minnesota to Pennsylvania and Kentucky on Wednesday, prompting warnings to stay inside and exacerbating health risks for people already suffering from industrial pollution.The impacts are particularly hard on poor and minority communities that are more likely to live near polluting plants and have higher rates of asthma. Detroit, a mostly Black city with a poverty rate of about 30%, had the worst air quality in the U.S. on Wednesday, leading the Environmental Protection Agency to warn that “everyone should stay indoors.”“The more breaths you’re taking, you’re inhaling, literally, a fire, camp smoke, into your lungs,” said Darren Riley, who was diagnosed with asthma in 2018, a few years after arriving in Detroit.“Many communities face this way too often,” said Riley, who is Black. “And while this wildfire smoke allows, unfortunately, many people to feel this burden, this is a burden that far too l...

Amtrak train with 190 passengers derails after colliding with vehicle in Southern California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

MOORPARK, Calif. (AP) — An Amtrak train carrying 190 passengers derailed Wednesday after striking a truck on tracks in Southern California, and only minor injuries were reported, authorities said. Three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. The number of people hurt wasn’t immediately known, but all the injuries were characterized as minor, McGrath said.Parts of the demolished truck were still on the tracks, while other sections lay near the derailed train cars. The truck’s driver had only minor injuries and it appears he got out before the collision, McGrath said. The derailed train cars remained upright on a section of track adjacent to an orchard and bare sections of land.Most of the passengers were able to exit the train on their own or with the help of first responders, who were called around 11:20 a.m., McGrath said. A few people were transported to hospita...

Suspect wanted after trying to light victim on fire in Oshawa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

Police in Durham are searching for a suspect wanted in an assault after he tried to light the victim on fire in Oshawa.Investigators said the man was hiding outside of a local business in the Simcoe Street South and John Street West area around 10 a.m. on June 7.When the victim arrived, police said the man sprayed them with an unknown substance and attempted to light them on fire. The suspect fled the area westbound on John Street West on a bicycle.Police said the victim was treated for injuries by paramedics at the scene. It’s unclear how serious this injuries were.The suspect is described as a white male with a medium build and approximately 25 to 30 years old.He was last seen wearing a blue hoodie, black pants, a blue baseball cap and red and white running shoes.

The number of Kansas residents changing their gender jumped 300% before a new law began

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The number of people officially changing their gender in Kansas jumped more than 300% this year ahead of a new state law that legally erases their ability to identify with a gender other than the sex assigned to them at birth.The legislation is part of a raft of measures lawmakers across the U.S. have passed to roll back transgender rights. It has provisions meant to restrict transgender people’s use of restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities and applies to a person’s identity listed on state documents such as birth certificates and driver’s licenses.The Kansas law takes effect Saturday, but it’s not yet clear how it will play out in the daily lives of transgender people. The new legislation conflicts with a 2019 federal court order directing the state to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates.Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who vetoed the law but was overridden by the Republican-controlled Legislature, hasn’t said whether she w...

Warming causes more extreme rain, not snow, over mountains. Scientists say that’s a problem

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

A warming world is transforming some major snowfalls into extreme rain over mountains instead, somehow worsening both dangerous flooding like the type that devastated Pakistan last year as well as long-term water shortages, a new study found.Using rain and snow measurements since 1950 and computer simulations for future climate, scientists calculated that for every degree Fahrenheit the world warms, extreme rainfall at higher elevation increases by 8.3% (15% for every degree Celsius), according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature. Heavy rain in mountains causes a lot more problems than big snow, including flooding, landslides and erosion, scientists said. And the rain isn’t conveniently stored away like snowpack that can recharge reservoirs in spring and summer.“It is not just a far-off problem that is projected to occur in the future, but the data is actually telling us that it’s already happening and we see that in the data over the past few decades,” said lead author M...

Indiana man confessed to murders of teenage girls in phone call with his wife, documents say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana man charged with killing two teenage girls confessed multiple times to the murders in a phone call to his wife while in prison, according to court documents released Wednesday.Richard Matthew Allen allegedly told his wife, Kathy Allen, in an April 3 phone call that he killed Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14. The two teenagers’ bodies were found Feb. 14, 2017, just outside of their hometown of Delphi, Indiana — about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis, in Carroll County.Allen County Judge Fran Gull, assigned to the case after the original judge recused himself, unsealed the motion describing the confessions alongside more than 100 filings in the case on Wednesday. “Investigators had the phone call transcribed and the transcription confirms that Richard Allen admits that he committed the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German,” reads the document filed by Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland. “He admits se...

Trudeau announces child-care infrastructure funding to create more spaces

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans Wednesday to spend $625 million to help provinces and territories build child-care infrastructure. Trudeau said the money will be rolled out over four years to help providers renovate, retrofit and build new not-for-profit and public child-care facilities. “We need more child-care spaces so more families can benefit from affordable, high-quality child care,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Mississauga, Ont. The announcement follows through on the early learning and child-care infrastructure fund promised by the Liberal government in the 2022 budget.It’s meant to complement the national child-care program, which aims to deliver child care for $10 a day, on average, by 2026. Parents have already seen fees reduced by an average of at least 50 per cent across the country.Advocates and experts have raised concerns however, about a lack of spaces to accommodate the growing demand for subsidized child...

US public debt is projected to reach 181% of American economic activity in 30 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office is giving the world a concerning look at the U.S. government’s ledgers: ever higher deficits, greater government spending and tax revenues that only begin to increase when existing tax cuts expire.The nonpartisan agency estimates in its latest 30-year outlook, released Wednesday, that publicly held debt will be equal to a record 181% of American economic activity by 2053. That compares with a projected 98% at the end of this budget year, a sign the government is getting more dependent on debt to pay for Social Security, Medicare, the military, infrastructure and an array of programs that benefit millions of households.The higher debt load is not all that shocking given the deficit spending of the past two decades. But the CBO figures do offer a bit of comfort in that annual deficits after 2042 are lower than forecasted in the agency’s report from last year. This is because the primary borrowing and interest rate costs are...

'Very unhealthy' air still blankets Chicago area; alert in effect through Thursday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

CHICAGO — Wildfire smoke from Canada is lingering around the Chicago area longer than expected. An Air Quality Alert has been extended for the entire area through Thursday. It was originally supposed to end Wednesday at midnight.The extension was made by the National Weather Service just before 2 p.m.People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep outdoor activities short. Others should choose less strenuous activities limit active time outdoors.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog As of 8 a.m. most of the area was still in the "very unhealthy" zone and numbers have not improved.⚠️8AM Wednesday: Air quality continues to be "very unhealthy" across Chicagoland though numbers are slowly coming down. By this afternoon, our numbers should move us down below 200 into the unhealthy category. #Chicago #smoke #WildfireSmoke 😤😤 pic.twitter.com/JgcsXeE1iM— Bill Snyder (@billyweather) Ju...

Delphi documents: Richard Allen told wife he killed girls; investigators believe knife used in murders

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:16:47 GMT

DELPHI, Ind. – Documents unsealed Wednesday in the 2017 Delphi murders provide new insight into the case against Richard Allen.They also reveal for the first time publicly how investigators believe Abby Williams and Libby German were killed. Allen County Judge Frances Gull, assigned to oversee the high-profile case, unsealed nearly 120 documents Wednesday.You can find the documents here.The documents reveal, among other things, that Allen admitted to his wife during a phone call that he was responsible for killing the teens. Read the redacted Richard Allen court documents tying him to the Delphi murders The state’s response to a defense motion to suppress evidence revealed for the first time publicly that investigators believed a knife was used to kill the girls. The document also includes the search warrant and search warrant return.“Autopsies of the girls ruled their deaths as homicides and their wounds were caused by sharp object,” according to the documents.Investigators also ...