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Rep. George Santos’ former campaign treasurer will plead guilty to a federal felony, prosecutors say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — The ex-campaign treasurer for U.S. Rep. George Santos will plead guilty on Thursday to an unspecified felony in connection with the sprawling federal investigation of financial irregularities surrounding the indicted New York Republican, prosecutors said.Nancy Marks, a veteran Long Island political operative, served as the campaign treasurer and close aide to Santos during his two congressional bids. Marks resigned amid growing questions about Santos’ campaign finances and revelations Santos had fabricated much of his life story.Marks’ plea is scheduled to take place in a Central Islip courtroom on Thursday afternoon. It comes as Santos faces a 13-count federal indictment centered on charges of money laundering and lying to Congress in an earlier financial disclosure.Marks and Santos haven’t returned messages seeking comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn declined to say...

Russian strike on village kills 51, Ukrainian officials say, as Zelenskyy seeks more Western support

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

By SUSIE BLANN (Associated Press)KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian rocket struck a village cafe and store in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 51 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top officials in Kyiv.Zelenskyy, attending a summit of about 50 European leaders in Spain to drum up support from Ukraine’s allies, denounced the strike in the village of Hroza as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism.”About 60 people were in the cafe, attending a wake after a funeral, said Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko, who provided the death toll.Among the dead was a 6-year-old boy, and seven other people were wounded, said presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak and Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. According to preliminary information from Kyiv, the village was hit by an Iskander missile. Emergency crews searched the s...

FedEx plane without landing gear skids off runway, but lands safely at Tennessee airport

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A FedEx plane skidded off the runway during a crash landing at a Tennessee airport when its landing gear did not descend, but no one was injured, officials said.Public safety agencies rushed to the Chattanooga Regional Airport late Wednesday after reports that the FedEx Boeing 757 had experienced a landing gear failure shortly after takeoff, the Chattanooga Fire Department said in a tweet. The aircraft, which had three crew members aboard, circled and then made its final descent and came to rest beyond the runway in a safety area, fire officials said.Video posted by Hamilton County EMS shows sparks flying when the plane touches down, but officials said there was no fire, only smoke from the engines. “Great work by the pilot and airport personnel, as well as all responding agencies for their coordinated efforts,” the fire department tweeted.A FedEx spokesperson told news outlets that the flight from Chattanooga to Memphis experienced an issue right after tak...

Maryland Supreme Court weighs victims’ rights in Adnan Syed case

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Maryland Supreme Court on Thursday scrutinized a hearing that overturned Adnan Syed’s murder conviction after he spent 23 years behind bars, as the victim’s family says they weren’t given adequate opportunity to take part in the proceedings.Chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” the case has been fraught with legal twists and divided court rulings for decades. The oral arguments that took place Thursday before Maryland’s highest court were no exception.Among the issues discussed were whether Syed’s 2000 murder conviction should remain reinstated and the extent to which Maryland crime victims have a right to participate in such hearings where a conviction will be overturned. Ultimately, Syed’s freedom hangs in the balance. The panel of seven justices will release their ruling in the coming weeks or months. Syed, 42, was released from prison in September 2022, when a Baltimore judge overturned his conviction. City prosecutors had dropped all charges af...

Ottawa not pressing Ukraine for wartime election, urges allies to keep unity for Kyiv

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada does not plan to press Ukraine to hold a wartime election, focusing instead on broader democratic efforts.A senior bureaucrat overseeing Europe for Global Affairs Canada told a Senate committee that Ottawa is supporting efforts to weed out corruption and engage civil society.Alexandre Lévêque said Ottawa would not raise the issue if Kyiv opts against holding a vote, noting that “democracy is about a lot more than just going to vote.”Canadians have had an outsized role in monitoring Ukraine’s elections since its independence in 1991.The country’s constitution calls for a vote next spring, but also says one can’t be held during martial law.During his visit to Ottawa last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it’s logistically complicated to hold a vote when Russia is occupying entire regions and could bomb people gathering in polling centres.Lévêque added that Canadian officials “are watching and are concerned” ab...

NFI Group signs contract with Houston for up to 210 clean-diesel transit buses

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

WINNIPEG — NFI Group Inc. says it has signed a deal with the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority for up to 210 buses.Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available.NFI says the agreement includes 160 Xcelsior clean-diesel transit buses with options to purchase up to 50 additional buses. The company says the purchase will be added to its backlog in the third quarter for firm and option orders.The Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority provides transportation services to Houston, most of Harris County and 14 smaller, surrounding cities.The new buses will replace end-of-life vehicles in its fleet.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:NFI)The Canadian Press

Fired Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald to sue school for $130M for wrongful termination

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Former Northwestern University football coach Pat Fitzgerald is suing the school for $130 million, saying his alma mater wrongfully fired him in the wake of a hazing and abuse scandal that has engulfed the athletic department.The announcement by Chicago-based attorneys Dan K. Webb and Matthew R. Carter on Thursday comes nearly three months after Fitzgerald was suspended and then fired after 17 years. Attorney Webb said that Fitzgerald would also be seeking additional money for “infliction of emotional distress,” future lost income and punitive damages.“If there was ever a coach at Northwestern University who should have not been terminated, it’s Coach Fitzgerald,” Webb said. The 48-year-old Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks on July 7 following an investigation by attorney Maggie Hickey of law firm ArentFox Schiff. That probe did not find “sufficient” evidence that the coaching staff knew about ongoing hazing, but concluded there were “significant opportunit...

Army identifies soldiers killed when their transport vehicle flipped on way to Alaska training site

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Army officials have identified two soldiers killed when their large transport vehicle crashed while heading to a training area in interior Alaska.There were among 17 soldiers on board the vehicle that flipped when the driver lost control on a dirt road leading to the Yukon Training Area near the community of Salcha, or about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Fairbanks, officials said earlier. Twelve other soldiers were injured.The two soldiers killed were Spcs. Jeremy Daniel Evans and Brian Joshua Snowden, the Army said in a statement late Wednesday.Both were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Combat Team with the 11th Airborne Division.Evans, 23, arrived in Alaska in January 2021 after completing training at Fort Moore in Georgia. The Knoxville, Tennessee, native joined the Army in July 2020.Snowden, 22, also joined the Army in July 2020 and trained at Fort Moore. Snowden, a Lonedell, Missouri, ...

Federal judges select new congressional districts in Alabama to boost Black voting power

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal judges selected new congressional lines for Alabama to give the Deep South state a second district where Black voters comprise a substantial portion of the electorate. The judges ordered on Thursday the state to use the new lines in the 2024 elections. The three-judge panel stepped in to oversee the drawing of a new map after ruling that Alabama lawmakers flouted their instruction to fix a Voting Rights Act violation and create a second majority-Black district or something “quite close to it.”The three-judge panel selected one of three plans proposed by a court-appointed expert that alters the bounds of Congressional District 2, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, in southeast Alabama, who is white. The district will now stretch westward across the state. Black voters will go from comprising less than one-third of the voting-age population to nearly 50%.The Supreme Court in June upheld a three-judge panel’s finding that Alabama’s pri...

Statistics Canada says country posts $718M merchandise trade surplus for August

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:48:14 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s merchandise trade balance shifted to a surplus in August, helped by strong growth in exports of unwrought gold and crude oil, Statistics Canada said.The agency said Thursday that Canada posted a trade surplus of $718 million in August compared with a revised deficit of $437 million in July.BMO economist Shelly Kaushik said it was the first surplus since April.“Energy prices propelled a modest surplus in Canada’s merchandise trade account,” Kaushik wrote in a report.“But, stronger-than-expected volumes suggest merchandise trade could add to third quarter growth. Even so, the economy is expected to slow meaningfully in the second half of the year.”The merchandise trade surplus came as total exports rose 5.7 per cent to $64.6 billion. Exports of metal and non-metallic mineral products rose 29.1 per cent in August to a record $8.5 billion, boosted by exports of gold to the United States. Meanwhile, higher prices helped lift energy product ...