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Toronto to launch pilot program allowing alcohol consumption in city parks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

Toronto is launching a pilot program to determine the future of alcohol consumption in city parks. City council on Friday approved a plan which will see alcohol permitted in parks in designated wards across the city from August 5 to October 9. City staff will work with councillors interested in hosting the pilot in their ward, providing a list of parks most suited for the pilot by July 6. A recommendation, along with necessary bylaw changes, will then go before council at its July meeting. The report will also include advice from the Medical Officer of Health on any harm reduction, treatment or education programs to be in place prior to the approval and implementation of the pilot.“It’s a well-known fact that people already drink in parks. This pilot will provide the City with an opportunity to explore responsible implementation of public alcohol consumption, and evaluate any impacts on public health and public safety through a harm reduction approach,” said councillor Chris Moise (...

Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan’s investigation of former President Donald Trump declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting. The prosecutor and his boss said he was merely abiding by grand jury rules.Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a “political persecution” and launched an oversight probe.Pomerantz in a written opening statement called the committee’s inquiry itself “an act of political theater.” He al...

Pakistani court frees former Prime Minister Imran Khan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan left a high court in Islamabad on Friday after being granted broad protection from arrest in multiple legal cases against him. The ruling struck a blow to the government in a stand-off that has sparked days of rioting by Khan’s followers and raised the specter of widespread unrest in the country.After the court granted him bail, Khan spent hours more in the building, as he and his legal team were locked in apparent negotiations over his exit from the site. As he headed to his home in the eastern city of Lahore, Khan put out a video statement from his vehicle saying the Islamabad police tried to keep him within the courthouse through different tactics, and authorities allowed him to travel only when he threatened to tell the public he was being held there against his will.Security was extremely tight around the court ahead of Khan’s departure as authorities expressed concerns for the former leader’s safety. In the eve...

Biden commends Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for collaboration on migration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for his country’s collaboration with the United States and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can apply for protection.The two leaders sat down at the White House on Friday for wide-ranging talks on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, climate change and other issues. But efforts by the U.S. and Spain to cooperate on asylum processing loomed large over the discussion as the Biden administration rolls out new immigration measures now that COVID-19 immigration restrictions have ended. The new efforts are designed to crack down on illegal border crossings while opening legal pathways to give migrants incentives to apply for asylum online where they are, instead of making the dangerous journey to the border.Migrants caught illegally crossing the southern U.S. border cannot return for five years, and they face crimi...

Group of Montreal workers want union investigated after VP resigns over racist posts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

MONTREAL — Some Montreal blue collar workers called on Friday for their union to be investigated for alleged racial bias, telling a news conference they need to be reassured the leadership is up to the task of representing them.The workers said they sent a letter to the provincial branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees asking it to investigate its Montreal local, after one of the local’s vice-presidents recently resigned over racist social media posts.“Those revelations … created among my colleagues who are Haitian, Arab, African and other nationalities, a deep worry about how our complaints about racism and a toxic work environment are dealt with,” Hakilm Tali Mamar, a city worker for 21 years, told reporters.Tali Mamar said he wonders if the former executive’s social media posts are indicative of deeper problems with union leadership.“Who will defend us? The employer will never take our complaints seriously,” Tali Mamar said.On May 9 u...

Commanders’ record sale agreed to by Snyder family, Harris group that includes Magic Johnson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — A group led by Josh Harris that includes Magic Johnson has agreed to buy the NFL’s Washington Commanders from longtime owner Dan Snyder and his family.The sides announced the deal in a joint statement Friday, roughly a month after they reached an agreement in principle on the sale for a record $6.05 billion.The deal is the largest for a North American professional sports franchise, surpassing the $4.55 billion Walmart heir Robert Walton paid for the Denver Broncos last year. It is still pending approval of three-quarters of owners and other customary closing conditions.“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement for the sale of the Commanders franchise with Josh Harris, an area native, and his impressive group of partners,” Snyder and his wife, Tanya, said in the statement. “We look forward to the prompt completion of this transaction and to rooting for Josh and the team in the coming years.”NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said league staff and its finan...

Order temporarily blocks appointed judges in mostly Black city and county in Mississippi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the appointment of four state court judges in the majority-Black county that is home to Mississippi’s capital city — appointments that drew protests from local residents who said white state officials were stomping on civil rights.U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate issued the temporary restraining order at the request of the NAACP, and he set a May 22 hearing to consider extending the order.The national civil rights organization, its Mississippi chapter and its local chapter in Jackson filed a federal lawsuit April 21, hours after Gov. Tate Reeves signed laws to expand state policing in the capital city of Jackson, establish a court with an appointed judge and authorize four appointed judges to work alongside the four elected circuit court judges in Hinds County.Members of the majority-white and Republican-led Legislature who pushed for the changes said they were trying to curb crime in Jackson. Local residents pr...

Man charged with spitting ‘mass of phlegm’ in face of parking enforcement officer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

It’s one thing to be spitting mad after getting a parking ticket, but police allege one man took things a step too far and actually spat right in the face of a Toronto parking enforcement officer (PEO) when he was handed a citation earlier this week.Police say it happened on Tuesday, May 9, in the Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue West area, while the officer was conducting rush hour enforcement.The PEO issued a ticket and then returned to her service vehicle. But the recipient of the fine allegedly approached her vehicle with the ticket in hand. When the PEO rolled down the window to speak to the driver, police allege he “forcefully spat a mass of saliva and phlegm at the PEO, making contact with the officer’s face, personal belongings, and the service vehicle.”The next day, police arrested Robert Olah, 43, of Toronto. He’s facing a charge of assaulting a peace officer and is scheduled to appear in court on June, 23, 2023.

Youth climate lawsuit will go to trial despite Montana effort to derail case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge on Friday said a climate change lawsuit from young people challenging the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies will proceed to trial despite efforts by the state to derail the case.The upcoming trial in Helena would be the first of its kind in the United States, according to experts in climate law who said the nation is lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of climate litigation. However, because of prior rulings that limited the scope of the Montana case, a victory for the plaintiffs would not automatically alter the state’s regulation of fossil fuels.Attorneys for the 16 young plaintiffs alleged state officials were trying to avoid the upcoming trial when Republican lawmakers in March repealed the state’s energy policy — one of two laws that the case challenges. The plaintiffs and their backers are hoping to use the two-week trial that’s set to start on June 12 to highlight the dangers of fossil fuel emissions that scientists sa...

TFC permanently bans four supporters after soccer fight at BMO Field

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:42 GMT

Toronto FC has handed four supporters a permanent ban in the wake of ugly scenes in the stands at Tuesday’s Canadian Championship loss to CF Montreal.All four have been “immediately and permanently banned” from all MLSE facilities and cannot apply for reinstatement in the future.It marks the first time the Major League Soccer club has resorted to permanent bans. In the past, offenders have been able to apply for reinstatement after a year.TFC said more people could face sanctions, given the investigation is ongoing and preliminary findings showed “multiple fans” had violated the stadium’s code of conduct.All four fans banned had Toronto FC ticket accounts with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.“It’s disappointing,” Toronto president Bill Manning said in an interview. “We take this seriously. We hold keeping a safe environment in our stadium as our highest priority. The visiting Montreal fans should be able to come to our ...