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Kari Lake’s 3rd trial begins after unsuccessful lawsuit challenging her loss in governor’s race

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, the Republican who unsuccessfully challenged her defeat in the 2022 Arizona governor’s race, went to another trial Thursday in a separate lawsuit, this time asking to review ballot envelopes signed by approximately 1.3 million early voters in the state’s most populous county.The former TV anchor has already lost two trials that challenged her loss to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes. In the second trial, a judge rejected a misconduct claim Lake made about ballot signature-verification efforts in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and where more than 60% of the state’s voters live.Lake’s latest case doesn’t challenge her defeat but instead is a public records lawsuit that asks to review all early ballot envelopes with voter signatures in Maricopa County, where officials had denied her request for those documents.Most of the morning’s proceedings were spent hearing testimony from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. His offi...

Most of Canada’s dangerous offenders housed in medium- and minimum-security prisons

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Most of the 700-plus offenders deemed as the most dangerous in Canada are housed in medium- and minimum-security prisons, federal statistics show. The data were tabled in Parliament in response to a written question from Frank Caputo, a Conservative member of Parliament from British Columbia. The numbers say that as of the 2022-23 fiscal year, 580 of the dangerous offenders the correctional service has in its custody are classified as needing medium-security lodgings, and only 99 are reported as having a maximum-security classification Another 57 offenders were reported as having a minimum-security level. The Conservative querycame after news broke that notorious serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo had been transferred to a medium-security prison in Quebec from his maximum-security lodgings at Ontario’s Millhaven Institution. The Correctional Service of Canada reviewed its decision following widespread public backlash and concluded that officials followed the prope...

Notes suggest city considered leaving trucks on Wellington indefinitely, court hears

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Notes taken during a meeting between city employees and “Freedom Convoy” protesters show the City of Ottawa entertained allowing big-rig trucks to remain on the street along Parliament Hill indefinitely, the court heard Thursday.The notes were produced by the defence during the criminal trial of two convoy organizers, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. They had struck a deal with then-mayor Jim Watson to move trucks out of residential neighbourhoods and onto Wellington Street during the protest last year.The city’s emergency services manager, Kim Ayotte, met with several convoy organizers and other city staff over pizza on Feb. 13 to go over the details and come up with a plan.Barber was among the protest organizers in attendance. “Kim Ayotte produced maps and outlined the area on Wellington that the city is agreeable to stage trucks indefinitely,” said minutes of that meeting, which were filed as evidence in court.Ayotte told the court Thursday tha...

Canadian, U.S. markets tumble Thursday after central bank comments on interest rates

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

TORONTO — Losses in base metal and technology stocks helped lead a broad-based decline Thursday as Canada’s main stock index fell more than two per cent.U.S. stock markets also tumbled the day after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision.The Fed held its key interest rate steady, but indicated another hike could be coming in 2023, and halved its projected cuts in 2024. It credited an economy that’s proven more resilient than expected and predicted inflation wouldn’t reach the central bank’s target until 2026.Chair Jerome Powell said a soft landing for the economy appears within reach, but the central bank needs more evidence that interest rates have done what they needed to do, especially as the labour market remains “very strong.” “We’re making progress on inflation. Growth is strong,” Powell said Wednesday. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 423.07 points at 19,791.62.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 370.46 points at 34,070.42.Th...

Ontario women accused of fraud after Inuit status with Nunavut groups questioned

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Nunavut RCMP have charged three women after receiving a complaint that they used Inuit status to defraud two organizations.RCMP say that between October 2016 and September 2022, the Ontario-based women applied for and obtained Inuit beneficiary status as adopted children through the land-claim body Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Mounties alleged Thursday that the women used the status to defraud the Kakivak Association and Qikiqtani Inuit Association of funds only available to Inuit beneficiaries. The associations offer grants and scholarships to Inuit. Karima Manji, 59, and her twin daughters, Amira and Nadya Gill, 25, face two counts of fraud over $5,000. They are scheduled to appear in Iqaluit court Oct. 30.In March, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. announced it was investigating alleged fraud, saying the sisters had received beneficiary status in 2016.It said their mother claimed she adopted the girls from an Inuk woman. That woman’s family disputed the claim, saying they...

Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher in Virginia to remain free on bond after failing drug tests

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Despite multiple failed drug tests, a judge rejected a request by prosecutors Thursday to revoke the bond of the mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Virginia as she awaits sentencing on a federal weapons charge that she used marijuana while possessing a firearm.U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller said during a hearing in U.S. District Court that Deja Taylor can remain free on bond despite the failed drug tests because she has made efforts to improve.Taylor’s son used her gun to shoot teacher Abby Zwerner in her Newport News classroom in January. The first-grade teacher was seriously wounded and has endured multiple surgeries.Taylor pleaded guilty in June to using marijuana while possessing a firearm. Authorities say she also lied about her drug use on a federal background check form when she bought the gun her son brought to school.A judge had set an Oct. 18 sentencing date and released Taylor on bond under the conditions that she submit to...

Marines say F-35 feature to protect pilot could explain why it flew 60 miles on its own

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A feature on fighter jets meant to protect pilots in an emergency could explain how an F-35 managed to fly 60 miles (100 kilometers) after its pilot bailed out before crashing in a rural area in South Carolina, the U.S. Marine Corps said Thursday.The advanced fighter jet crashed Sunday after a malfunction prompted the pilot to eject over Charleston and land in a residential backyard not far from Charleston International Airport. The plane, which was at an altitude of only about 1,000 feet (300 meters), kept flying until it crashed near Indiantown. It took more than a day to locate the wreckage. The Marines said it was unclear why the jet kept flying but that flight control software would have worked to keep it steady if there were no longer a pilot’s hands on the controls. “If the jet is stable in level flight, the jet will attempt to stay there. If it was in an established climb or descent, the jet will maintain a 1G state in that climb or descent until comm...

Alberta to debate Canada Pension Plan, says it deserves half of fund if it leaves

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

EDMONTON — Alberta’s premier fired the starter’s pistol Thursday for a provincewide consultation on whether to quit the Canada Pension Plan while releasing a report that estimates the province deserves more than half CPP’s assets.The third-party report says Alberta should get $334 billion, or 53 per cent of the CPP, if it leaves the program in 2027 following the required three-year notification period.Danielle Smith says the report found Albertans could save up to $5 billion in the first year of an Alberta Pension Plan.Such a withdrawal could lead to “quite modest” contribution hikes in other provinces, the premier said, but the goal is to help Albertans and to send a message to Ottawa to stop taking for granted Alberta’s outsized, disproportionate contribution to the national purse.“We want to have a better, constructive relationship with the rest of the country, and this begins the conversation,” Smith said in Calgary.“I would hope people would develop an understanding of ho...

Stock market today: Stocks drop in an ugly day as allure grows to buy a Treasury bill and chill

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street fell sharply Thursday in an ugly day for stocks worldwide on expectations that U.S. interest rates will stay high well into next year.The S&P 500 lost 1.6% for its worst day since March. That followed a drop of 0.9% from Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it may cut interest rates next year by just half of what it had earlier predicted. The Fed has already hiked its main interest rate to levels unseen since 2001, which helps slow inflation but at the cost of hurting investment prices. High-growth stocks are typically among the hardest hit by high rates, and Big Tech stocks took the brunt of the pain for a second straight day. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.8% as Amazon fell 4.4%, Nvidia dropped 2.9% and Telsa lost 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 370 points, or 1.1%.Stock prices tend to fall when rates rise because stocks are riskier investments. Why stomach the chance of their big swings when Treasurys are paying more in inte...

Officer’s threat to charge 11-year-old crime victim draws sharp critique of Columbus police

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:04:20 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — When an Ohio father learned that his 11-year-old daughter had been manipulated into sending explicit photos to an adult, he turned to the police for help.But instead of treating the girl as a crime victim, an officer seemingly threatened to charge her under a law most people view as designed to protect child victims.The shocking interaction was recorded last week on body camera audio and by the father’s doorbell camera in Columbus, Ohio. The footage drew criticism from the public and from experts who said law enforcement officials have long misused laws meant to protect children by threatening to charge them with being part of the same crime.Experts said the incident also showed that training for officers on how to respond to child exploitation cases is spotty and not standardized between police departments.“It was a complete fail on a legal level and on a human level,” said Scott Berkowitz, founder and president of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Net...