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Massachusetts House sets March 5 special election date for 6th Worcester seat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

House lawmakers set March 5 as the special election date for a Central Massachusetts House seat last held by Sen. Peter Durant, who won his own Senate special election last month against a Gardner Democrat.Dudley Selectman John Marsi and Southbridge Town Councilor Dave Adams, both Republicans, said they are running for Durant’s old post, which covers Dudley, Southbridge, and parts of Charlton and Spencer.Adams said Thursday he is “ready to go.”“I’m ready. I’m absolutely ready to go. I’m already pushing out my information on all the policies and things that I’ve accomplished as a town councilor, as a veteran,” he said in a brief call with the Herald. “That’s a perfect date.”Marsi did not immediately return a request for comment.The special election will occur the same day as the Massachusetts presidential primaries. A special election state primary will be held Feb. 6 and candidates will have until Dec. 26 to submit nomination papers to local election official...

Surge in newcomers putting pressure on inflation via housing demand: BoC deputy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

WINDSOR, Ont. — A senior Bank of Canada official warns the recent surge in newcomers has propped up rent and home prices, adding pressure to inflation.In a speech in Windsor, Ont., deputy governor Toni Gravelle says that while the rise in immigration is helping grow the economy and the country’s workforce, it’s also fuelling inflation through housing demand.Gravelle told the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce that rent price inflation continues to surge in Canada even as it declines in the U.S., partly because home construction south of the border has historically adapted more quickly to shifts in population.The deputy governor is warning all levels of government to need to work together to reduce barriers to building more homes, or else rent and home prices could continue to climb.Canada has experienced strong population growth in the last couple of years as the federal government pursues more ambitious immigration targets and allows more non-permanent residents into the co...

Weekend need-to-know: Curtain rises on the Nutcracker ballet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

The curtains will rise at the Four Seasons Centre for opening night of the Nutcracker by the National Ballet of Canada alongside more events to get you into the holiday season.If you are heading downtown this weekend, keep in mind there is a TTC closure and a GO Line closures.Nutcracker run beginsThe National Ballet of Canada officially opens the curtains for their three-week run of the Nutcracker Ballet. You can experience the magic of the Nutcracker and get into the holiday spirit with non-stop dancing and beautiful sets and costumes from the two-act ballet that was first performed in 1892 in Russia.Performances begin on Friday night and run until Dec. 31 at the Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts and tickets are still available for the multiple shows.Fleurs de Villes NOËL in YorkvilleCatch a glimpse of some gorgeous festive flowers at Fleurs de Villes NOËL holiday show in Yorkville. The self-guided trail with 30 floral installations made including a Holiday Sleigh and a skati...

California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst says state faces record $68 billion budget deficit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is facing a $68 billion budget deficit, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said Thursday.Most of the deficit comes from lower than expected tax revenues this year, the office said.California delayed its tax filing deadline to November this year because a series of damaging storms. That forced Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to come up with a spending plan without knowing how much money the state would have.The Legislative Analyst’s Office says revenues for the 2022-23 budget year ended up $26 billion below previous estimates. The office says the state could cut spending on education and take money from the state’s savings account to help balance the budget.The state’s budget topped $300 billion last year.The projected $68 billion deficit is a record in terms of a dollar figure. But the state has seen deficits that represent a larger share of the budget in the past.It’s the second year in a row tax collections in the nation’s most populous ...

HIV diagnoses hit 10-year high in Montreal, cases more than double between 2021-22

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

MONTREAL — Public health officials say they recorded in 2022 the highest number of new HIV diagnoses in 10 years in the city of Montreal and its on-island suburbs.Data shared last week shows the number of new reported HIV cases more than doubled between 2021 and 2022, to 310 from 141.Montreal public health says the increase is possibly due, in part, to a catch-up in testing after the pandemic, when the number of HIV diagnoses fell.The agency says the rise could also be tied to an increase in immigrants to the city from countries where the virus is endemic.The number of new reported cases in that population jumped 394 per cent — to 158 from 32 — between 2021 and 2022.Montreal public health says the city of Montreal and its on-island suburbs accounted for 74 per cent of Quebec’s HIV diagnoses in 2022, up from a usual proportion of around 60 per cent.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2023.The Canadian Press

CBC head Catherine Tait summoned to committee over job cuts, executive bonuses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

MPs are calling CBC head Catherine Tait to testify about her announcement the public broadcaster would cut 10 per cent of its workforce while not ruling out bonuses for executives.The House of Commons Heritage Committee unanimously agreed today to have the president of the public broadcaster address the cuts and potential bonuses. The committee summoned Tait to appear at its first meeting in the new year following the holiday recess, but a date has yet to be set. Members also agreed to report to the House that given the job cuts it would be inappropriate of the CBC to grant bonuses to executive members. Because the public broadcaster is independent, members of Parliament cannot decide how CBC and its French-language service spend their money. CBC and Radio-Canada said Monday they plan to cut 600 jobs and not fill 200 vacancies over the next year as the public broadcaster grapples with a $125-million shortfall. A spokesperson for Tait didn’t immediately...

Spain complained that agents linked to US embassy had allegedly bribed Spanish agents for secrets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Thursday that the Spanish government recently filed a complaint to the United States after discovering that Spanish intelligence agents had allegedly leaked secret information to the U.S.“Complaints from Spain were conveyed at the time,” said Robles, but she insisted that the case did not “affect the fundamental core of the relations between two countries that are allies and friends.”Earlier this week, Robles confirmed that a Madrid judge had opened an investigation into agents of Spain’s National Intelligence Center for an alleged leak of secret information to the United States.She said the intelligence center itself had filed a complaint with a provincial court in Madrid.Robles declined Thursday to provide any further information saying the case was under judicial gag order.She was speaking after Spain’s leading newspaper El País reported that the U.S. ambassador to Spain was summoned earlier this year for a ...

Trump appeals judge’s ruling rejecting his claim of immunity in federal election subversion case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is appealing a ruling that found he is not immune from criminal prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to court papers filed Thursday.Lawyers for the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner filed a notice of appeal indicating that they will challenge U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision rejecting Trump’s bid to derail the case headed to trial in Washington, D.C., in March.Trump’s lawyers have asserted that he cannot face criminal charges because the actions spelled out in the indictment fell within his duties as president. But Chutkan said that nothing in the Constitution nor American history justifies cloaking former presidents with immunity from prosecution for actions they took while in office. “Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens...

Ontario considering enhanced road test for drivers over 80: AG report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

Ontario is considering introducing an enhanced road test for drivers over 80 years old, and is looking at how to better deter stunt driving.That’s according to the auditor general’s annual report published this week, which reveals some rules the Ministry of Transportation is reviewing.Ontario drivers have to renew their licence every two years after they turn 80, and that renewal process involves attending a senior driver education session at which their vision is tested and they have to draw a clock, which measures cognitive abilities.The auditor’s report says the ministry did research in 2020 that showed more than a third of drivers over 80 who passed the clock-drawing test could not pass a road test.The report says the research recommended an enhanced road test for drivers over 80, and the auditor says the ministry is considering introducing that in 2026.As well, the auditor found that people who received licence suspensions for dangerous driving have a fatal co...

Amanda Todd’s mom urges more jail time for tormentor, as Dutch court mulls sentence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:47 GMT

WASHINGTON — The mother of B.C. teenager Amanda Todd, who was bullied into suicide by a Dutch national, says she’ll be “so angry” if a court in Amsterdam doesn’t give him significant extra jail time on the basis of his Canadian conviction last year.Judges at the Amsterdam District Court said earlier today they would rule in two weeks on the conversion of the 13-year sentence for Aydin Coban, who was convicted of the extortion and harassment of Amanda.Mother Carol Todd, who’s in Washington, D.C., to speak to a group campaigning against child exploitation, says the Dutch process is part of a “never-ending story,” a remark echoing a message held up by Amanda in a YouTube video describing her ordeal before she died in 2012.She says the timing of the latest hearing, a week after Amanda’s birthday, has been difficult, but she will continue to raise awareness of online predators driven by “a mother’s love and a mother’s pass...