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Ontario court upholds mandatory math test for new teachers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

Ontario’s top court has upheld the validity of a mandatory math test for new teachers.The Appeal Court decision released Tuesday quashes a lower court ruling that found the test was unconstitutional because it had a disproportionate impact on racialized teachers, infringing on equality provisions in the charter.The Ontario government fought that ruling and the Appeal Court sided with the province, saying that decision was based on preliminary and incomplete data.Education Minister Stephen Lecce says he is pleased with the decision and wants to assure parents that the people educating students have fundamental math skills. Related: New Ontario teachers will have to score at least 70% on math tests Premier Doug Ford’s government introduced the test as part of an effort – including a new curriculum – to improve students’ scores on standardized math tests.Teachers’ unions objected to the test being applied broadly to all teachers, que...

Pope cancels trip to Dubai for UN climate conference on doctors’ orders after getting the flu

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis canceled his trip to Dubai for the U.N. climate conference on doctors’ orders Tuesday, even though he is recovering from the flu and lung inflammation, the Vatican said.The announcement marked the second time the pope’s frail health had forced the cancellation of a foreign trip: He had to postpone a planned trip to Congo and South Sudan in 2022 because of knee inflammation, though he was able to make the trip earlier this year.Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis was improving from the flu and inflammation of his respiratory tract that forced him to cancel his audiences Saturday. But “the doctors have asked the pope not to make the trip planned for the coming days to Dubai.“Pope Francis accepted the doctors’ request with great regret and the trip is therefore canceled,” he added. Francis, who turns 87 next month, had part of one lung removed as a young man.The Associated Press

Why it took 17 days for rescuers in India to get to 41 workers trapped in a mountain tunnel

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The rescue mission was expected to last only a few days. Instead, it took 17 days to reach 41 construction workers who were trapped when a landslide collapsed a mountain tunnel in northern India earlier this month. The excruciating wait finally ended at nightfall on Tuesday, as temperatures dropped near the accident site in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand. Everyone was pulled out alive. But beyond the jubilation and relief, questions remain as to why what became one of the most significant and complicated rescue operations in India’s recent history — aided by international tunneling experts and spearheaded by multiple rescue agencies — took so long. HOW THE RESCUE UNFOLDEDNews of the trapped workers spread fast after a Nov. 12 early morning landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) Silkyara Tunnel they were building near the town of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand state to collapse about 200 meters (650 feet) from the entrance. No one was serio...

Four miners die in Poland when pipeline filled with water ruptures deep below ground

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Four miners died after a pipeline filled with water burst in a coal mine deep below ground in southern Poland, Polish media reported on Tuesday.The all-news station TVN24 reported that the fatal accident occurred in the Sobieski mine in Jaworzno, a town in the coal-mining region of Silesia, not far from Poland’s borders with Slovakia and the Czech Republic.TVN24 quoted a spokesman for the mining authority, Piotr Strzoda, as saying the uncontrolled pipeline rupture happened at a depth of 600 meters (1,970 feet) underground. A brigade of six miners were working on flushing the pipeline at the time.He said that four people were killed, one was injured and one was not hurt. The Associated Press

Was the Vermont shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent a hate crime? Under state law it might be

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — As authorities in Vermont push forward with their investigation of the weekend shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent, they are weighing whether to treat the violence as a hate crime.The three young men were shot and seriously injured Saturday while walking near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington. The victims were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, police said. The suspect, a white man in his 40s, fired at them with a handgun, police said.Jason Eaton, 48, was arrested Sunday and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder.The shooting has rocked the local community and comes amid an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities across the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began.But whether it can be declared a hate crime is complicated.Vermont has a hate crimes statute that applies to someone whose crime is motivated “in...

Editorial Roundup: Indiana

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. November 22, 2023. Editorial: State Budget Committee keeps questions of Indiana Gaming Commission secretAs part of a new legislative effort to limit the rule-making authority of state agencies, departments critical to government operations justified their fee and penalty schedules before the State Budget Committee last week.Given an opportunity to add more transparency on how such departments raise revenue through fee collections, Republican members of the committee curiously threw a shroud of suspicion over the Indiana Gaming Commission.In the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1623, a measure requiring fee-imposing agencies to first win the State Budget Committee’s approval of fee schedules. Without the go-ahead, state agencies will be unable to impose fines and penalties in the next calendar year.Ten departments presented nearly 50 fees, ranging from penalties for animal-quarantine violations to licensure exam fees for teachers. The ...

Banker involved in big loans to Trump’s company testifies for his defense in civil fraud trial

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

When Deutsche Bank loaned Donald Trump’s company hundreds of millions of dollars, the bank always followed its own guidelines that include checking out information that would-be borrowers provide, an executive testified Tuesday at the former president’s civil fraud trial. The loans — for projects in Florida, Chicago and Washington, D.C. — are a focus of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit contending that Trump and his company deceived lenders and insurers by giving them financial statements that baldly overstated his asset values and overall net worth. The defendants deny the allegations.Deutsche Bank reviewed the financial statements before making the loans through its department that works with rich individuals — a pathway that allowed for more favorable interest rates than likely available from the commercial real estate division, according to the lawsuit. The deals came with conditions about Trump’s net worth and, sometimes, liquidity, and they oft...

Saskatchewan starts tribunal to review Ottawa’s clean electricity regulations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

REGINA — The Saskatchewan government is using its autonomy legislation for the first time to review the federal government’s proposed clean-electricity regulations.Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre says she’s implementing the Saskatchewan First Act to establish a tribunal to study the economic effects of the rules.The regulations would require provinces to work toward an emissions-free electricity grid by 2035. Eyre says the tribunal’s members are to submit a report outlining the costs. She adds the report could also be used as evidence in court, should the province file an injunction application in the future.On Monday, Alberta used its sovereignty act for the first time tabling a motion to empower Alberta officials and regulators to not co-operate with the federal rules.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2023.The Canadian Press

Storm closes schools in Cleveland, brings lake-effect snow into Pennsylvania and New York

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — An early blast of cold and snow shut down shut down schools in Cleveland and other areas Tuesday and the blanket of snow made driving on heavily traveled Interstate 90 in northern Ohio treacherous.A lake-effect snow warning was issued by the National Weather Service for areas from Cleveland eastward into Erie, Pennsylvania, and parts of western New York were bracing for the first significant snowfall of the year. Forecasters said they expected up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) of snow in the greater Cleveland area. Just before 11 a.m. Tuesday, the weather service said observers had reported 13 inches (33 centimeters) or more in Ashtabula County in Ohio and Erie County in Pennsylvania along with 11.6 inches (30 centimeters) in Lake County, Ohio.In Erie, forecasters said snow accumulation in some areas could amount to 8 inches (20 centimeters), blown by with winds up to 30 miles per hour (48 kmh) before the snow warning is set to expire Wednesday morning.The Cleveland ...

'Merry Swiftmas!' Naperville family goes viral with Taylor Swift-themed holiday lights

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:30:53 GMT

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Merry Swiftmas, Swifties! A family's house in Naperville has gone viral for their enchanted Taylor Swift holiday light display.Amy Scott and her daughters, Rebecca, 18, and Emily, 21, have been longtime fans of the pop icon. Unfortunately, like many of us, the family did not go to the 'Eras Tour.' But after seeing Swift's concert movie in theaters, the ladies were inspired.Amy told WGN News that her family has been doing huge light displays for years, but this is the first time they would pay tribute to T. Swift.She said the decorating began in early November and ended late last week after her daughters came home from college for Thanksgiving break."We made almost everything. My husband, Brian, is a printer. We thought of and then he created our vision. The girls and I did all the glittering, of course," Amy told WGN.And oh, what a vision! The two-story Naperville house, located near Atlas Lane and Tupelo Avenue, has completely transformed into a Taylor Swift...