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Bell cuts 1,300 positions, radio stations and foreign bureaus in restructuring

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

TORONTO — BCE Inc. is cutting 1,300 positions, shutting or selling nine radio stations and closing two foreign bureaus as the company plans to “significantly adapt” how it delivers the news in the face of rising financial pressure.The plan entails “moving to a single newsroom approach across brands, allowing for greater collaboration and efficiency,” said Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media, in an internal memo distributed to staff Wednesday morning and provided to The Canadian Press.The company’s media branch “can’t afford” to continue operating with its various brands — such as CTV National News, BNN, CP24, its local TV news stations and radio channels — independently of one another, said Bell chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson in an interview.“It’s a consolidation of news gathering, news delivery,” he said.The layoffs include a six per cent cut at Bell Media, but Malcolmson said cut...

Man convicted in shootout at Minnesota bar that killed 1, injured 15

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been found guilty in a shootout at a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, that left one person dead and more than a dozen people injured.Terry Lorenzo Brown was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder, four counts of attempted second-degree murder and illegally possessing a firearm, KARE-TV reported.Prosecutors said Brown and Devondre Phillips began shooting at each other at the Seventh Street Truck Park Bar near downtown St. Paul on Oct. 10, 2021.Marquisha Wiley, a 27-year-old bystander from St. Paul, was killed, and at least 15 others including Brown and Phillips were wounded, as bar patrons fled in panic. Phillips was found guilty of eight counts of attempted second-degree murder earlier this year. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23.Brown’s attorney, Stephen Grigsby, said during closing arguments that Brown fired in self-defense after Devondre Phillips shot at him, although it was only a fraction of a second before Brown returned fire.P...

US Army soldier pleads guilty to trying to contact terrorists to ambush Army soldiers in Middle East

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Army soldier duped into thinking he was communicating online with a terrorist when it was really an FBI employee pleaded guilty Wednesday to seeking to tell terrorists how to ambush U.S. soldiers in the Middle East.Cole Bridges, 22, entered pleas in Manhattan federal court to trying to provide material support to terrorists and trying to murder U.S. military service members. He could face up to 20 years in prison on each of the two charges at a Nov. 2 sentencing.Bridges, of Stow, Ohio, has been incarcerated since his January 2021 arrest, which occurred while he was based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, with the Third Infantry Division, where the private was a cavalry scout. He joined the Army in September 2019.According to court documents, Bridges was 19 when he began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists in 2019.Authorities said he expressed support on social media for the Islamic State militant group and for jihad before he began communic...

Penguins hire Jason Spezza as assistant GM, reunites with Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

A familiar face is joining Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh.The Penguins have hired Jason Spezza as an assistant general manager, the hockey team announced Wednesday.Spezza was special assistant to the general manager under Dubas this past season with the Toronto Maple Leafs after retiring as a player following the 2021-22 season with Toronto.Spezza resigned in Toronto the same day the Leafs fired Dubas last month.The Penguins say Spezza will report directly to Dubas and assist club management in all hockey operations departments.The Penguins currently do not have a general manager, and Dubas is expected to operate as the GM on an interim basis.“After a decorated playing career, Jason fully immersed himself on the management side of the game learning all facets of hockey operations this past season while with Toronto,” Dubas said in a statement.“He showed tremendous work ethic, curiosity, and ability to build relationships throughout all departments at the team facility. H...

Trump’s GOP rivals grapple with their response as his legal woes dominate the presidential contest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) — Just last week, former Vice President Mike Pence said he hoped federal prosecutors would not bring charges against former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, a day after Trump was arraigned on dozens of felony counts related to classified documents, Pence described the allegations as “a very serious matter.”“I cannot defend what is alleged,” Pence, who is now challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, said on CNBC. Later in the day, the former vice president faced pointed questions from a conservative radio host after refusing to say whether he would pardon Trump if given the chance.Pence’s evolving message highlights the high-stakes dilemma for Trump’s Republican rivals, who are struggling to find a clear and consistent strategy to take on the frontrunner as Trump’s unprecedented legal troubles threaten to dominate all other issues in the 2024 presidential contest.Some Republican leaders this week have demonstrated a ne...

Wisconsin governor vows to veto state budget if GOP cuts diversity dollars from university system

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Wednesday in a newspaper report that he won’t sign the state budget if Republican lawmakers follow through on their plan to cut funding for the state university system’s diversity officers, escalating a bitter fight over dollars for the state campuses.Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wants to cut $32 million from the UW System in the state’s 2023-25 budget, an amount he said is equal to what the system spends on diversity officers. He said during a news conference Wednesday that diversity efforts have become liberals’ “new religion” and tax dollars shouldn’t be used to help them.“For people on the left, (efforts to promote diversity have) become their new religion,” Vos said. “They no longer go to church on Sunday, but boy, are they trying to make sure everybody is evangelized on campus, that’s there only one acceptable viewpoint. That’s not what I thi...

Deportations for international students caught in fraud scheme put on hold

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

OTTAWA — Deportation orders for international students caught up in a fraud scheme have been put on hold while a task force investigates each case, the immigration minister announced Wednesday.Hundreds of students might have been affected by the scheme, which sawimmigration agentsissue fake acceptance letters to get international students into Canada.Some students had no idea their documents were forged until it came time for them apply for permanent residency, Fraser said, adding that those who were complicit in fraud will bear the consequences under Canadian law. Fraser said the department is aware of only few dozen people who have been ordered to leave the country, and that process will be paused.A task force of senior immigration and border control officials, likely at the associate deputy minister level, will go through each case to determine whether the student was in the know about the scam or not, he said.“The task force will consider particular factors, including whet...

Chicago Park District votes unanimously to approve Riot Fest permit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

CHICAGO — Riot Fest will once again take over Chicago’s Douglass Park in September. While the event is expected to draw in huge crowds, people in the neighborhoods surrounding the park say they don’t want it to happen there anymore.On Wednesday, the Chicago Park District voted unanimously to pass the $705,000 provisional permit for the festival.Close to 50,000 people are expected in the North Lawndale community when the festival takes place September 15- 17. Acts this year will include The Cure, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age. See the 2023 Riot Fest lineup Riot Fest has been held at the park for the last eight years but people have complained and say the millions made on the event doesn’t get reinvested into the community.Community members have also complained about the conditions Douglass Park facilities are left in after the fest is over.Some also have issues with the noise a large festival like Riot Fest can bring to the neighborhood. Some people say this type of fest...

Police foil alleged mass shooting threat hours before Stanley Cup final

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- Las Vegas Metro police arrested a man who threatened a mass shooting at the Stanley Cup Final hours before the Vegas Golden Knights clinched the championship, sources told Nexstar's KLAS.Just before noon on Tuesday, police responded to a Las Vegas business for a report of a person, later identified as Matthew DeSavio, 33, who was threatening a mass shooting at the Stanley Cup Final, documents said.The person who called police told officers that DeSavio had stalked them for about a decade, officers said. DeSavio later showed up to the business where officers arrested him, according to documents obtained by KLAS Wednesday.DeSavio also posted threatening messages about the game on Facebook, police said.Matthew DeSavio, 33, seen here in a prior booking photo, faces a charge of making threats of conveying false information concerning acts of terrorism, among others. (LVMPD/KLAS)“I’m coming for you guys tonight and I hope you get every [expletive] police officer in Veg...

Grocery, gas taxes set to rise in Illinois next month

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:21 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KTVI) -- Two weekly tasks - going to the grocery store and filling up your gas tanks - are about to get more expensive in Illinois. By July 1, Illinois will reinstate a 1% tax on grocery purchases and bump up the state's gas tax another 3.1 cents per gallon. Last year, Illinois suspended its grocery tax as part of a $46.5 billion state budget plan to combat inflation. The state also paused a plan to raise gas taxes for six months, though that came with a 3.1-cent increase per gallon on New Year's Day and another 3.1-cent per gallon in July. State officials estimated last year the suspended grocery store sales tax would save taxpayers up to $400 million. The freeze came at a time when the consumer price index for groceries rose around 7%. That could rise another 4-8% by the end of 2023. Illinois hospital links closing to ransomware attack SuperMarketNews.com says Illinois is one of 13 states with a grocery sales tax, though it has the lowest one among states tha...