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Puerto Rico declares flu epidemic as cases spike. 42 dead and more than 900 hospitalized since July

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico health officials on Thursday declared an influenza epidemic in the U.S. territory.At least 25,900 cases have been reported since July, with 42 deaths and more than 900 hospitalizations on the island of 3.2 million people, Health Secretary Carlos Mellado said.Epidemiologist Melissa Marzán noted that officials have seen nearly six times more cases so far this year compared with the same period last year.Those who are 0 to 19 years old have been most affected, with more than 13,600 cases reported in that population, Mellado said.Health officials said there were plenty of vaccines, tests and treatments available on the island.A record 53,708 influenza cases were reported in 2015 in Puerto Rico.The Associated Press

NDP MP calls on Commons to support her bill seeking to criminalize coercive control

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

OTTAWA — New Democrat MP Laurel Collins says she began paying close attention to the issue of coercive control when her sister showed up to her door in tears.The member of Parliament from Victoria says her sister’s partner had taken away her keys and bank cards, and tried preventing her from leaving.Collins shared her sister’s story during a press conference in Parliament Hill today, as she called on MPs to support her private member’s bill seeking to criminalize a pattern of behaviour known as coercive control.She says advocates who support women dealing with domestic violence have called it a “crucial” step to criminalize behaviour in which abusers seek to limit their partners’ independence and keep them in potentially violent situations.Justice Minister Arif Virani expressed an openness to criminalizing such actions in a letter he penned to Ontario’s chief coroner this summer following an inquest into the 2015 slaying of three women in th...

Pastor’s suicide brings grief, warnings of the dangers of outing amid erosion of LGBTQ+ rights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

SMITHS STATION, Ala. (AP) — After the 2019 suicide of a local teenager, small-town mayor and pastor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland helped students place roadside signs in his Alabama community to try to reach others who might be hurting. “You are worthy of love.” “Don’t give up.” “You matter.”Those were the same messages friends said they tried get through to Copeland before he took his own life along one of those county roads two days after a conservative news site exposed social media posts where he appeared in women’s clothing, a wig and makeup.The disclosure bombarded Copeland, 49, with online ridicule and his death, experts said, underscores the dangers of outing people in an era that has seen the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights as states across the country introduce legislation based on sexual orientation and gender identity.Copeland’s friends said they hope it prompts a wave of self-examination about how we treat others.“I just want to ask you people who thought it humorous to publicly...

Crabby business: N.L. fisheries worker charged with accepting ‘pans of crab’ as bribe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

STEPHENVILLE, N.L. — A federal Fisheries Department employee in Newfoundland and Labrador is accused of accepting bribes of seafood.Scott Fortune, 32, has been charged with forgery, falsifying documents, accepting bribes and two counts of fraud.Documents from the provincial court in Stephenville, N.L., alleged that Fortune was bribed with “pans of crab” to help fishers hide the true amount of crab they had harvested.He is accused of falsifying the actual weight of the harvested seafood and forging a document.The charge sheet says the alleged offences took place between January 2021 and June of this year.None of the allegations have been proven in court, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023.The Canadian Press

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak hospitalized in Mexico

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak remained hospitalized Thursday in Mexico City following a “health problem” while he was in the city to speak at a business conference, according to a source close to the conference who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the incident.Wozniak, 73, had been scheduled to speak at the World Business Forum in Mexico City, a two-day gathering billed as the world’s most important management event. Other advertised speakers were Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer in microfinance who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.The convivial Wozniak, who teamed up with the late Steve Jobs to found Apple in 1976, had been scheduled as the conference’s closing speaker Wednesday afternoon.Wozniak suffered the “health problem” shortly before he was scheduled to arrive at the event, the source said, declining to detail what the health problem was.“At this moment I understand that he ...

Two candidates urge voters to rank the other as second choice for Ontario Liberal leader

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

Two contenders for the Ontario Liberal leadership are banding together to urge their supporters to put the other as a second choice.Party members are set to cast their votes through ranked ballots on the weekend of Nov. 25 and 26 for a leader to replace Steven Del Duca, with a winner to be revealed on Dec. 2.Liberal MP and former provincial cabinet minister Yasir Naqvi and Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith are announcing today that they have an agreement to ask supporters to select each other as their number two choice and also to coordinate election weekend get-out-the-vote efforts.Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie is currently seen as the race’s front-runner, and former Liberal MP and current provincial caucus member Ted Hsu is also running. Related: Bonnie Crombie to step away from mayoral duties in October to focus on Liberal leadership bid Naqvi and Erskine-Smith say they don’t want their party to be vulnerable to the same criticisms around political bag...

Iceland’s Blue Lagoon spa closes temporarily as earthquakes put area on alert for volcanic eruption

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

HUSAVIK, Iceland (AP) — The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa — one of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions — closed temporarily as a swarm of earthquakes put the island nation’s most populated region on alert for a possible volcanic eruption.Guests rushed to leave the spa’s hotels in the early hours of Thursday, after they were rattled awake shortly before 1 a.m. by a magnitude 4.8 quake, the strongest to hit the region since the recent wave of seismic activity began on Oct. 25.Bjarni Stefansson, a local taxi driver, described a scene of confusion when he arrived at the Retreat Hotel, where lava rocks had fallen on the roadway and the parking lot was jammed with 20 to 30 cabs.“There was a panic situation,” Stefansson told The Associated Press. “People thought a volcanic eruption was about to happen.”The area around Mount Thorbjorn on the Reykjanes Peninsula has been shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks due to a buildup of volcanic magma some 5 kilomet...

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says DeSantis, not Trump, is the best Republican to win the 2024 election

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After seven months of hosting Republican presidential candidates in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds said it “feels good to get in the game” with her endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.But the popular Iowa governor declined to say whether other candidates should concede and throw their support behind him as well, even as she acknowledged that a wider field could advantage former President Donald Trump.“At some point, if we don’t narrow the field, it’s going to be hard to … maybe, you know, that helps Trump,” Reynolds said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But I think that is for them to decide.”In making the endorsement earlier this week, Reynolds broke with a longstanding tradition of Iowa governors staying neutral in their party’s presidential contests, the first in the GOP nomination calendar. With the Jan. 15 caucuses fast approaching, the DeSantis campaign hopes the endorsement will fuel momentum for the candidate, once seen as the mos...

Police searching for man who allegedly broke into Toronto home, sexually assaulted woman at knifepoint

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a suspect who allegedly broke into a home and sexually assaulted a woman at knifepoint.Investigators say the incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.It is alleged that a man broke into a home and then sexually assaulted a woman while armed with a knife.Police have identified the suspect as 34-year-old Daryl Boyd-Finch of no fixed address. He is wanted for sexual assault with a weapon.The suspect is described as six feet tall and 160 lbs. Police say he rides a black bicycle and often wears a traffic vest.A photo of the suspect has been released. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

FBI head cites a ‘potential conflict of interest’ in the selection process for a new headquarters

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI director told staff in an internal message Thursday that he was concerned about a “potential conflict of interest” in the process used by the Biden administration to select a Maryland site for the bureau’s new headquarters. Christopher Wray said in an email obtained by The Associated Press that Congress may review the matter, the latest twist in a contentious competition among jurisdictions in the national capital region to land America’s premier law enforcement agency.That General Services Administration confirmed Wednesday that it had selected Greenbelt, Maryland, a Washington suburb, as the home for a new facility to replace the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building, which is blocks away from the White House. Wray said his objections were about the process rather than the site itself. The GSA, which manages the government’s real estate portfolio, said that site about 13 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of Washington was the cheapest one with the best a...