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How recent ‘swatting’ calls targeting officials may prompt heavier penalties for hoax police calls

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A spate of false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials in recent days could be setting the stage for stricter penalties against so-called swatting in more states.U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost have been among the victims.Several Georgia lawmakers targeted say they want increased penalties for swatting, like laws enacted this year in Ohio and Virginia. Similar bills are pending in other states and Congress.Here’s a look at the issue and what could be done about it:WHAT IS ‘SWATTING’?Swatting is the act of making a prank call to emergency services to prompt a response at a particular address. The goal is to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to show up.Calls in multiple states in recent days featured the voice of a man calling himself “Jamal,” claiming he had shot his wife because she was sleeping with another man and saying he was holdi...

Quebec police say man, 77, allegedly defied driving ban for eighth time since 1998

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

GATINEAU, Que. — Police in Western Quebec say they have arrested a 77-year-old man for allegedly flouting a driving ban for an eighth time in the last 25 years.Gatineau, Que., police say Roger Murray has been convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol more than 20 times. Police say they arrested Murray, of Gatineau, on Thursday while he was behind the wheel of a vehicle without a licence plate in the parking lot of a business in the city, located across the river from Ottawa.Murray showed no signs of intoxication, but officers discovered his licence had been revoked because of previous convictions for impaired driving.Police say Thursday’s arrest was the eighth time Murray has been detained for allegedly breaking the driving ban since 1998.Murray will remain detained until a bail hearing, and he will face a citation for allegedly violating the Highway Safety Code . The car he was in will be seized for 30 days.This report by The Canadian Press was first published...

Civil rights leader removed from movie theater for using his own chair

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

A civil rights leader was escorted by police out of a North Carolina movie theater after he insisted on using his own chair for medical reasons, prompting an apology from the nation’s largest movie theater chain. The incident occurred Tuesday in Greenville during a showing of “The Color Purple.” The Rev. William Barber II said he needs the chair because he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a disabling bone disease. Barber, 60, is co-chair of the national Poor People’s Campaign, which is modeled after an initiative launched in 1968 by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Barber previously served as president of the North Carolina NAACP, leading protests over voter access at the Statehouse that got him and more than 1,000 people arrested for civil disobedience. Barber said in a news release that management at the AMC theater asked an armed security guard and local police officers to remove him after he stood firm on using the chair. Barber said he agreed to be escorted out af...

Loblaw, George Weston enter automatic share buyback plans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

BRAMPTON, Ont. — Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have both entered into automatic share purchase plans with brokers.The plans will allow the grocer’s broker to buy back shares at times when Loblaw and George Weston would not be active because of insider trading rules and internal trading blackout periods.The automatic buybacks will form part of the companies’ existing repurchase programs.Loblaw has a program running until May 4 to buy up to 16 million shares or about five per cent of its issued and outstanding shares.George Weston’s normal course issuer bid runs to May 24, under which it could buy up to almost seven million shares, also about five per cent of issued and outstanding shares. Companies routinely conduct share buyback programs as a way to return capital to shareholders and to try to boost share price.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:WN; TSX:L)The Canadian P...

Boeing asks airlines to inspect 737 Max jets for potential loose bolt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

Boeing is asking airlines to inspect its 737 Max jets for a potential loose bolt in the rudder control system, the airplane maker and Federal Aviation Administration confirmed this week.The FAA said it would be “closely monitoring” the targeted inspections. The agency said Thursday that Boeing issued its inspection guidance to airlines after an international operator found a bolt with a missing nut during routine maintenance. In a separate case, Boeing also discovered an undelivered aircraft that had a nut that was not properly tightened.“The issue identified on the particular airplane has been remedied,” the Arlington, Virginia, company told The Associated Press on Friday. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are recommending operators inspect their 737 MAX airplanes and inform us of any findings.”Boeing added that it will continue to update both customers and federal regulators on the progress. The FAA said it will remain in contact with Boeing and impacted airlines as the in...

Man dies when transport vehicle crashes through ice on Minnesota lake

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

BAUDETTE, Minn. (AP) — A passenger died after a commercial transport vehicle crashed through the ice on a Minnesota lake. Meanwhile, state officials are warning people to be wary of ice that is unusually thin for this time of the winter.The transport vehicle, commonly known as a “bomber,” crashed through the ice Thursday morning on Lake of the Woods, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The body of a male passenger was recovered about seven hours later by a dive team, the sheriff’s office said.The victim’s name has not been released.Paul Colson, owner of Jake’s Northwest Angle Resort, told the Star Tribune that a neighboring resort was operating a snow bus when it broke through the ice. Colson said around five or six passengers were able to escape with the help of the driver.Bombers are equipped with caterpillar tracks. They are used on the American side of the lake to haul customers to and from ice fishing locations away from shore.The Minnesota Department of Natural ...

S&P/TSX composite lower ahead of new year, U.S. markets also fall

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

TORONTO — Losses in the battery metal and base metal sectors helped lead Canada’s main stock index lower in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also lower.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 56.94 points at 20,872.44.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 72.54 points at 37,637.56. The S&P 500 index was down 18.44 points at 4,764.91, while the Nasdaq composite was down 117.09 points at 14,978.05.The Canadian dollar traded for 75.79 cents US compared with 75.69 cents US on Thursday.The February crude oil contract was up 40 cents at US$72.17 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was down three cents at US$2.53 per mmBTU.The February gold contract was down US$8.80 at US$2,074.70 an ounce and the March copper contract was down four cents at US$3.89 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)The Canadian Press

Maine’s deadliest shooting propels homicides to new high in the state

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The deadliest mass shooting in Maine history propelled homicides to a new high in the state in 2023, hitting at least 50 to shatter the previous record as the end of the year approaches, officials said.Eighteen people were killed and 13 injured in the Oct. 25 shootings in Lewiston, a shocking crime in a state that prides itself on low crime rates, and those deaths helped push the number of killings beyond the previous record of 40 killings in 1989, said state police spokesperson Shannon Moss. As of Friday, the tally stood at 50 homicides, with several active death investigations still underway, she said. That stands in stark contrast to 2000, when there were only 11 homicides, the lowest since the state began compiling numbers.The homicides didn’t end with the shootings in Lewiston by an Army reservist, Robert Card II, who died by suicide. November was also a deadly month, with at least 10 homicides, and overworked investigators needed reinforcements from stat...

GOP lawmakers ask Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider redistricting ruling, schedule for new maps

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican lawmakers have asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to stay and reconsider its finding that the state’s legislative district boundaries are unconstitutional.Attorneys representing a host of Republican state Senators filed a motion with the court Thursday saying they can’t meet the court’s Jan. 12 deadline for new maps. They also argue the court didn’t listen to their arguments in the case and didn’t give them a chance to respond to the deadline for new boundaries. They asked the court to stay all proceedings until it decides on the motion. The legislative electoral maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011 cemented the party’s majorities, which now stand at 64-35 in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate. Democrats filed a lawsuit in August arguing the maps are unconstitutional and give the GOP an unfair advantage. They filed the action a day after liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn ...

Body found in suburbs concludes search for missing St. Louis mother; ex-boyfriend charged with murder

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

DES PLAINES, Ill. — The family of Marquisha Williams is heartbroken, but they say the discovery of her body in the Chicago area brings them some closure after Williams had been missing for over a week.The search ended Thursday in Des Plaines when Williams' body was found in the 2100 block of E. Algonquin Road at the Cook County Forest Preserve. Williams, a 29-year-old mother of four from St. Louis, went missing a week before Christmas.Prosecutors have charged Trenton Ivy, her ex-boyfriend, with murder. Ivy was arrested in Racine, Wisconsin, last week Friday on unrelated charges. Investigators say after his arrest, Ivy confessed to killing Williams in St. Louis. He also admitted to having a physical altercation and then dumping Williams' body at an undisclosed location.Williams' mother, Norvette Chavis Williams, said she last saw her daughter last Wednesday morning, Dec. 20, when she dropped off one of her kids. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines "I'm just glad that we found...