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Costco executive tells MPs it has not sought to increase profits amid inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Costco has not sought to increase its profits amid rapidly rising grocery prices in Canada, said Pierre Riel, the executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Costco Wholesale International and Canada, in front of a parliamentary committee studying food inflation. Riel, who spoke before the committee Monday evening, is the fifth executive of a major grocer to appear before the committee, after calls from federal politicians for the grocery industry to be more transparent about rising prices and profits. Early in March, the heads of Loblaw, Metro and Empire, the largest Canadian grocers, told MPs that food inflation has not been caused by profit-mongering. Later the same month, Walmart Canada’s CEO echoed the others, saying the American giant is not trying to profit from food inflation. At the meeting, Riel touted Costco’s employee benefits and pay as well as the retailer’s unique model, where customers pay for memberships in order to access the company’s wa...

Massive landslide buries trucks in northwest Pakistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A massive landslide struck a key highway near the Torkham border town in northwestern Pakistan before dawn Tuesday, burying several trucks and injuring some people, police and rescue officials said.Police official Ishrat Khan said dozens of firefighters and rescuers were trying to save the lives of the truck drivers and other people hit by the landslide near Afghanistan. Officials said the landslide was triggered by lightning amid rain. He said the injured are being transported to a nearby hospital. Volunteers have also joined the search for survivors. Authorities are dispatching heavy machinery to Torkham so that the massive mudslide could be removed, Khan said.Torkham border crossing is a trade route between Pakistan and Afghanistan where landslides often block highways, especially in the mountainous areas. Last summer, floods caused by monsoon rains killed 1,739 people in Pakistan.The Associated Press

‘I feel manipulated,’ daughter says at mother’s murder trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The daughter of a woman accused of killing her stepson in Colorado, putting his body in a suitcase and dumping it off a bridge in Florida said Monday that she never suspected his body was in the van they drove in together across the country.Testifying at Letecia Stauch’s murder trial in Colorado Springs, Harley Hunt said it never crossed her mind that her mother was transporting the body of 11-year-old Gannon Stauch in a suitcase in their rented van after killing him, as prosecutors allege.“I’m still in shock. I defended her for years. I just feel manipulated and lied to,” Hunt said.When pressed by the defense, Hunt said she never looked in the back of the van where their luggage was as they traveled through Texas and Louisiana on their way to Florida and then South Carolina in February 2020. She said she never smelled anything unusual. But Hunt also said her mother insisted on keeping the air conditioning on even when she complained of being too cold. Prosecutor...

Mexico searches for 3 missing US sailors with plane, ships

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican Navy said Monday it is using ships and a plane to search for three Americans who went missing along with their sailboat off Mexico’s northern Pacific coast. The Navy said it is using four patrol boats and a twin-engine prop airplane to search the area, but apparently no sign of the missing people has turned up yet. The three Americans were aboard the 44-foot (13.5 meter) sailing vessel “Ocean Bound.” The U.S. Coast Guard gave their names as Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien, and William Gross. They have not been heard from since April 4, when they were near the Pacific coast port of Mazatlán, Mexico. The three had planned to stop for supplies in the Baja resort town of Cabo San Lucas, before proceeding to San Diego.However, the Coast Guard said marinas in Baja California have not reported seeing the vessel.The Associated Press

Victims identified in Alabama birthday party shooting that killed 4, injured 32

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

DADEVILLE, Ala. (NEXSTAR) — The people killed in a weekend shooting at a teenager's birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, were identified Monday. The four victims identified by the Tallapoosa County Coroner to Nexstar's WRBL were 23-year-old Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 18-year-old Philstavious "Phil" Dowdell, 19-year-old Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, and 17-year-old Shaunkivia Nicole “Keke” Smith. All of the victims were from Dadeville or the surrounding area. Authorities initially reported that 28 people had been injured. In a Monday evening update, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency increased that number to 32. It wasn't clear if all of those injured were shot or suffered other injuries. Their names and ages have not been released.The Saturday night shooting happened at a 16th birthday party at a downtown Dadeville dance studio, and witnesses said many of those injured were teenagers.The Associated Press reported Monday that the birthday party was for Philstavious Dowdell's sist...

Former Austin ISD PE teacher faces felony drug charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man who had worked as a PE teacher in Austin ISD for five years was arrested in December and accused of having drugs he intended to distribute, according to Travis County court records.Drugs found in the man's car during a traffic stop in December included Adderall as well as smaller amounts of cocaine, alprazolam and MDMA, according to an arrest affidavit.Abraham Allen Ligon faces a Possession of a Controlled Substance in group 1/1-B of between 1-4 grams and a Manufacturing or Delivering a Controlled Substance in group 2 of between 4-400 grams. He also faces a misdemeanor unlawful carrying of a weapon charge. A spokesperson for AISD said Ligon is no longer employed with the district and "resigned a couple months ago." The district did not immediately provide any further information. KXAN will update this story when we get additional insight. KXAN has also reached out to Ligon's attorney, and will update this story when we receive a response.On the night of Dec. 20...

No exceptions coming for Texas abortion ban, both parties say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- With just 21 days left to pass House bills out of committee, there is no sign in the Texas legislature that any changes are coming to the state's strict abortion ban.On Monday morning, lawmakers who authored the legislation that made providing abortion a felony stood with activists to denounce any possible changes to the law."The origin of the conception is not what determines the value of life," State Sen. Angela Paxton said. "I am the result of an unplanned pregnancy."Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, (R-Southlake), said his goal this session is to prevent any exceptions that would weaken the restrictions."There is no such thing as an unplanned pregnancy. There's a plan for everyone," he said.The activists included men and women who said they were conceived or impregnated as a result of rape. They drew upon their own experiences to present themselves as living arguments against an exception for rape in the abortion ban law."Even though my birth mom was the victim of t...

Pirates’ Connor Joe says thanks to Rockies as he returns to Coors Field

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

Connor Joe returned to Coors Field Monday, not with a chip on his shoulder, but with a heart full of gratitude for the Rockies organization.“The opportunities that they gave me here allowed me to establish myself as a big-leaguer,” Joe said before the Pirates took on the Rockies.Joe started in right field and hit fifth for the Bucs on Monday night. He’s off to a solid start, slashing .333/.421/.576 with one homer, three doubles, and a triple in 11 games entering play Monday. He hit 11-for-29 (.379) in the first eight games he started.The versatile Joe seemed to have found a home in Colorado when he made the team in 2021 during spring training and started out last season strong. But after a bad second half the Rockies, figuring they had a crowded outfield and plenty of backups for C.J. Cron at first base, traded Joe to Pittsburgh in December in exchange for minor league right-hander Nick Garcia. The deal brought Joe back to the organization that drafted him eight ye...

L.A. County teen missing for months found alive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

A Los Angeles County teenager missing since Jan. 1, who may have been held captive, has been found alive, authorities with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday.  Alinka Castaneda, 16, left her family’s home in Carson, California, and was seen “entering an unknown vehicle” in the 23000 block of South Carodale Avenue at 5 a.m. that day, officials with the sheriff’s department said.  Footage from a Ring doorbell camera captured an unidentified man walking toward Castaneda moments before she disappeared. While the teen’s family initially believed her disappearance may have been an attempt to run away, they later received several distressing calls from the 16-year-old.  “In this phone call, she actually shared with her sister and her mom that she didn’t know where she was then and wouldn’t be allowed to leave. She sounded like she was under duress and stressing out,” Moses Castillo, a retired LAPD detective and a private investigator working on her ca...

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass delivers her first State of the City address

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:20 GMT

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will deliver her first State of the City address Monday night, with plans to discuss efforts to tackle homelessness, crime, and what some describe as an urgent staffing crisis within the L.A. Police Department.  While the mayor intends to highlight key accomplishments made in her first 127 days in office, officials with the Los Angeles Police Protective League are eagerly awaiting her plans on hiring more officers.  “It’s a crisis,” Sgt. Jerretta Sandoz, Vice President of LAPPL, said. “We definitely need to change. Something needs to change.” Sandoz and LAPPL say they will support the mayor’s plans to hire more LAPD officers but say more needs to be done to retain officers who are already on the force.  “This needs to happen ASAP,” Sandoz said. “We cannot recruit our way out of this problem. We are losing officers too fast.”  Critics of the mayor’s plan to hire more officers believe L.A. needs fewer police on the street and more ...