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California pledges to build channel for threatened fish to bypass Gold Rush-era dam

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

MARYSVILLE, Calif. (AP) — California officials on Tuesday said they will spend about $60 million to build a channel along the Yuba River so that salmon and other threatened fish species can get around a Gold Rush-era dam that for more than a century has cut off their migration along the chilly waters of Sierra Nevada streams.The project is the latest example of state and federal officials trying to reverse the environmental harms caused by the century-old infrastructure along California’s major rivers and streams. Those dams and canals allowed the state to grow into the economic powerhouse it is today. But they have devastated natural ecosystems that have pushed salmon — a species once so abundant it sustained Native American populations — to the edge of extinction. Last year, federal regulators approved the largest river restoration project in U.S. history that will remove four dams along the Klamath River near the Oregon-California border. State and federal officials have pl...

Democratic primary for mayor in Philadelphia crowded with 5 front-runners

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

Voters in Philadelphia are determining who will likely lead the nation’s sixth-largest city from a crowded field of Democratic candidates on Tuesday, as the city faces upticks in gun violence and quality-of-life issues that make people feel unsafe.Five front-runner candidates — including former city council members, former city officials and a grocery store franchiser — have sought to differentiate themselves in a tight contest. The Philadelphia race serves as the latest barometer of how residents of some of the nation’s largest cities hope to emerge from the pandemic, which heightened concerns about crime, poverty and inequality. The results have sometimes been tumultuous in other parts of the country, leading to the defeat of the incumbent mayor of Chicago in February and the ouster of San Francisco’s district attorney last year.Philadelphia voters will choose between front-runner candidates including former council members Allan Domb, Helen Gym and Cherelle Parker; former c...

Biden speaks out against ‘antisemitic bile’ during Jewish American Heritage Month celebration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden marked Jewish American Heritage Month on Tuesday by highlighting his administration’s efforts to combat rising antisemitism, at a White House reception that featured performances from the stars of the Broadway revival of “Parade.”Biden told the crowd it was important to him personally to guard against the rise of “antisemitic bile” in the world, and in particular the U.S. “Jewish Americans are shattered by a long and painful history of the oldest, the most sinister forces hate and anti-semitism,” he said, talking about how he learned of the horrors of the Holocaust from his father and how it has motivated him to speak out against hate.He also reiterated how his decision to run for the White House in 2020 was shaped by a 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia. The president, who just weeks ago announced he would run for reelection, spoke frequently during the 2020 campaign about the “Unite the Right” rally led by white nationalis...

New Liberal law would make it harder for some repeat violent offenders to get bail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberals’ new bail-reform legislation includes new measures that would make it more difficult for some repeat violent offenders to get released on bail.Justice Minister David Lametti introduced the bill Tuesday morning amid an ongoing plea from premiers, police associations and victims’ rights groups to strengthen the law. He said the bill responds “directly” to their concerns.The legislation introduces reverse-onus bail conditions for people charged with serious violent offences involving a weapon, in cases where the person was convicted of a similar violent offence within the past five years.It will also add some firearms offences to existing reverse-onus provisions, and expand the provision of that measure in cases where the alleged crimes involve intimate partner violence.While the burden of proof usually rests on prosecutors to convince judges why offenders should stay behind bars, this means that in some cases, the offender will now be the ...

Minnesota man accused of building arsenal to fight police pleads guilty to possessing machine gun

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man who told an FBI informant that he was building an arsenal of automatic weapons to use against police and admired mass shooters pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally possessing a machine gun.River Smith, 21, of the Minneapolis suburb of Savage, entered his plea on the single count before U.S. District Judge David Doty. His sentencing will be scheduled later. The maximum sentence is 10 years.Smith was initially charged in December with possession of a machine gun — specifically devices to convert guns to fully automatic fire — and attempting to possess unregistered hand grenades. He paid an FBI informant $690 for four “auto sear” devices and three dummy grenades, prosecutors alleged at the time.“Law enforcement took him down before he could execute his plan,” federal prosecutor Manda Sertich said at a hearing in December, when a magistrate judge denied bail.FBI Special Agent Mark Etheridge testified at that hearing that when Smith was arrested he had a...

Montana abortion clinics ask judge to block law that bans second-trimester abortion method

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Planned Parenthood of Montana on Tuesday asked a state judge to temporarily block a law that bans the abortion method most commonly used after 15 weeks of gestation, arguing it is unconstitutional.The organization filed the complaint over the law to ban dilation and evacuation abortions just hours after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office announced he had signed the bill.The law “is the latest salvo in the Legislature’s ongoing assault on Montanans’ right to seek safe and lawful pre-viability abortions — a right guaranteed by the Montana Constitution,” the complaint states.Montana’s Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that the state constitutional right to privacy includes the right to a pre-viability abortion from a provider of the patient’s choice, the lawsuit states.Under the new ban, which took effect immediately, anyone who performs a dilation and evacuation abortion can be charged with a felony that can be punished by 5 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up t...

Former tribal leader sentenced for taking bribes in North Dakota

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A former government official of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation has been sentenced to five years in prison for accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor at Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Randall Phelan, 58, of Mandaree, was an elected representative of the governing body of the Three Affiliated Tribes from 2013 to 2020. Investigators said Phelan solicited and accepted bribes totaling more than $645,000 and helped the contractor’s business by awarding contracts, fabricating bids and managing fraudulent invoices.He was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in October to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. He had faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.Co-conspirator Delvin Reeves, who was a project manager, was sentenced in November to about five years in prison after pleading guilty in 2021 to one ...

More money from Ontario needed to end ‘stalemate’ over Stellantis battery plant: feds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada offered Stellantis and LG Energy Solution a deal similar to the one Volkswagen accepted in March to build an electric-vehicle battery plant, but Ottawa wants Ontario to pony up a bigger share of the cash to make this deal happen, a federal minister said Tuesday.Speaking from Seoul, South Korea, where he was participating in an economic security summit, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the Stellantis battery plant is a good investment for Canada.But it’s also a good investment for Ontario, he said, and the province needs to step up.“I would say now what we need and the message to our colleagues in Ontario is, ‘Pay your fair share and we will bring this stalemate, if you want, to a conclusion,'” he said.Stellantis and LG announced in March 2022 that they were investing $5 billion to build a joint lithium-ion battery production factory in Windsor, Ont. It was to open next year, but Stellantis said Monday it had halted constructi...

Senate votes to block 2nd DC crime law; Biden veto expected

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to overturn a District of Columbia law enacted last year to improve police accountability, the second time this year that Democrats have joined with Republicans to try and block the district’s crime regulations. President Joe Biden is expected to veto the resolution, which the House passed last month. The White House said in a statement of policy that the president doesn’t support every provision of the D.C. law, which was passed in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. But Biden supports “commonsense police reforms” that are part of it, such as banning chokeholds, limiting use of deadly force, improving access to body cameras and requiring increased de-escalation training.“Congress should respect the District of Columbia’s right to pass measures that improve public safety and public trust,” the White House said.Still, eight Senate Democrats supported the GOP-led effort to overturn the law, as members of both parties have expr...

Consultants: Design issues, operations lapses led to big Kansas oil spill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Pipeline design issues, lapses by its operators and problems caused during its construction led to a massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas, according to a report for U.S. government regulators.An engineering consulting firm said in the report that the bend in the Keystone system where the December 2022 spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in December 2010 — likely because construction activity itself altered the land around the pipe. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration posted a redacted copy of the report online Monday, about three weeks after it was completed by RSI Pipeline Solutions, based in the Columbus, Ohio, area.The report raised questions about Canada-based TC Energy’s oversight of the manufacturing of its pipeline, saying the report’s authors could find no record of a pre-installation inspection of the welds on the Wa...