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US-Canada migration deal aims to end walk-around crossings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vermont (AP) — The immigration deal expected to be announced Friday by U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aims to shut down a process that has enabled tens of thousands of immigrants from across the world to move between the two countries along a back road between New York state and Quebec.Since early 2017, so many migrants entered Canada via Roxham Road outside Champlain, New York that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police staffed a reception center to process them, less than five miles (8 kilometers) from the official border crossing where they’d be returned to the United States. Mounties warned they’d be arrested, but once on Canadian soil, they were allowed to stay and pursue asylum cases that can take years to resolve.The new policy says that any asylum seekers who lack U.S. or Canadian citizenship and are caught within 14 days of crossing will be sent back across the border. It was set to take effect a minute after midnig...

Macron’s office: Algeria envoy returning to Paris, spat ends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Algeria’s ambassador to France, recalled home in February, will be returning to his post in the coming days, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Friday in a sign that the latest diplomatic spat between the two countries has been resolved.Ambassador Said Moussi was recalled after a well-known Algerian militant was whisked to France from Tunisia on Feb. 6 with the help of French diplomats, a move that defied an official demand for her to be returned home. Amira Bouraoui also holds French nationality. She was not supposed to leave Algerian territory and authorities in Algiers said her flight to France amounted to an “illegal exfiltration.”President Abdelmadjid Tebboune informed Macron in a phone call that the ambassador would be returning to Paris shortly.“This exchange allowed for the lifting of misunderstandings,” Macron’s office said, adding that the two leaders agreed to strengthen communication channels between services concerned to ensure “that this regrettable t...

LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr issues warning to users in Egypt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A popular gay social networking application said Friday that it is issuing a warning to its users in Egypt, as police impersonate community members to target LGBTQ+ individuals. Users in Egypt will see the following warning appear in Arabic and English when they open the app:“We have been alerted that Egyptian police is actively making arrests of gay, bi, and trans people on digital platforms. They are using fake accounts and have also taken over accounts from real community members who have already been arrested and had their phones taken. Please take extra caution online and offline, including with accounts that may have seemed legitimate in the past.”Egypt, though it technically does not outlaw homosexuality, frequently prosecutes members of the LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of ‘debauchery,’ or ‘violating public decency.’ In 2017, it arrested seven for raising a rainbow flag at a rock concert. And arrests of homosexuals and non-gender conforming individuals r...

New Archbishop of Toronto to be installed Saturday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

The Archbishop of Toronto will officially be installed in a ceremony at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica on March 25 that will kick off his assignment as the “shepherd” of Canada’s largest Catholic diocese.Pope Francis appointed Francis Leo as the 14th Archbishop of Toronto last year at age 50, replacing Cardinal Thomas Collins. Toronto’s diocese consists of almost two million Catholics and 225 parishes..Leo comes to Toronto after serving several months as Montreal’s auxiliary bishop. He said his Toronto appointment came as a surprise, but a welcome one.“I look forward to giving the rest of my life as, as the spiritual leader here from a symbolic and spiritual perspective. When you become a bishop, you get a ring and it’s a spousal marital relationship,” said Leo to Omni NewsOrdained a priest in 1996, he entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service where he was general secretary of the Canadian episcopal conference for six years in ...

Ontario Power Generation executives top annual Sunshine List

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

Ontario’s so-called sunshine list is out and the three top paid public employees in the province are all at Ontario Power Generation.The disclosure of public sector workers who were paid more than $100,000 in 2022 had nearly 267,000 names and Kenneth Hartwick, CEO of the electricity Crown corporation, is again in the top spot with a salary of a little more than $1.7 million.Two other executives at the organization made nearly $1.7 million and nearly $1 million.Phil Verster, the CEO of Metrolinx, Kevin Smith, the president and CEO of University Health Network, Mark Fuller, the president and CEO of the Ontario Public Service Pension Board, and Matt Anderson, CEO of Ontario Health, all made more than $800,000.Treasury Board President Prabmeet Sarkaria says in a statement that the largest year-over-year increase was in hospitals and boards of public health, primarily driven by an increase in the number of nurses on the list.Sarkaria also uses his statement to highlight the salarie...

Cook County deputy wants justice nearly 2 years after son shot, killed while fixing car

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

CHICAGO — Coming up on two years since his murder, a Cook County Sheriff's deputy wants justice for her son.On the night of June 21, 2021, Dorothy Riles' son, Lamar Drakes, 28, was trying to figure out why his car was overheating. At the time, he was staying at his grandparent's house in the 10400 block of South Eggleston because his grandfather was ill.Drakes was outside working on his car when a Chevy Malibu drove up. Someone inside fired shots at Drakes and he was transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn — where he was pronounced dead."I heard guys came down the street and started shooting at my son," Riles said. "He didn't know them." Man shot, killed during Rogers Park home invasion Drakes wanted to follow his mother’s career path and join the Cook County Sheriff's Office. A week prior to the shooting, he was due to continue his application by taking a written test to become a correctional officer.For four years prior to his murder, he worked in the commissary at the ...

Winter Storm Warning issued for Lake, McHenry

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

We may have had the first day of Spring but winter weather isn't over yet.A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for Lake and McHenry counties starting at 4 a.m. Saturday and lasting through 1 p.m. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Strong winds and Heavy snow is expected with accumulations of 5 to 8 inches.Latest warnings and watches from the National Weather Service.A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for Kane and Cook counties from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Accumulations of 2 to 4 inches is possible. Full forecast details at the WGN Weather Center

Taxpayers in these states see the largest refunds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

(SmartAsset) - As we progress through the 2023 tax season, many Americans have their eyes on a potential tax refund. But getting money back from the government can actually be a double-edged sword.Earning a large tax refund may mean that you gave Uncle Sam an interest-free loan throughout the course of the year instead of putting that money to work for you in other ways.Still, the majority of people who file a U.S. tax return every year end up getting a refund. For the 2021 tax year, which involved tax returns filed in 2022, U.S. individual taxpayers logged an average federal refund of $1,798.To determine where taxpayers receive the largest refunds, SmartAsset analyzed the average dollar amount of 2021 federal tax refunds for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though it did not play a role in our rankings, the analysis also examined state and local income tax refunds for tax year 2020.For details on our data sources and how we put all the information together to create our ...

Northwest Indiana man accused of beating woman to death, sexually violating her body

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

WINFIELD, Ind. — A 65-year-old man from Merrillville is accused of beating a Winfield woman to death with a rubber mallet and performing sexual acts on her after her death. Raju Rawal was taken into custody on Monday by the Winfield Police Department and is charged with murder. Man charged after Northwest Indiana woman found beaten to death According to court documents, Rawal worked at a Marathon gas station in Winfield and had a known relationship with the deceased — identified as 36-year-old Haley Losinski. Police said Losinski's body was found by her mother on Feb. 27 at her home on Pike Place in Winfield. Court documents reveal Losinkski was found kneeling over a bed with her pants pulled down to her ankles. Blood stained the bed and a rubber mallet was later found hidden beneath a pillow under the bed near where Losinski had been kneeling. An autopsy determined that Losinski had been beaten to death, with doctors suspecting the mallet as the murder weapon along with the poss...

$20 million security grant benefiting Illinois non-profits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:57 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) -- Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency announced that millions in grant funding will be benefiting Illinois non-profits.According to a press release, the 2023 Nonprofit Security grant program will award $20 million to help 116 organizations strengthen efforts to protect against public safety and security threats.Many of the organizations that are receiving funds are places of worship, reproductive health providers, cultural institutions, and education centers that were deemed to be at high risk of a terrorist attack. Highest-rated Mexican restaurants in Chicago, according to Tripadvisor “As Governor, my top priority has always been—and will continue to be—keeping Illinoisans safe,” Governor JB Pritzker said. “This $20 million investment will provide grantees—from mosques and synagogues to education centers and cultural institutions—the resources they need to enhance safety measures amidst the rising tide of extremism. From Skokie ...