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Chile’s plan for state control in lithium dismays business

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The Chilean government’s newly announced plan to have the state take a majority stake in the lithium industry disconcerted business leaders, though analysts cautioned that the proposal appears to try to strike a middle ground between competing interests.President Gabriel Boric announced in a national broadcast Thursday night that private companies will have to partner with the government in exploiting Chile’s lithium, a metal used to make rechargeable batteries. Boric said the state would take a controlling interest in each partnership, leading some to call it a nationalization of the industry, while others disagreed.“Phrasing it as nationalization is too strong … it’s a quasi-nationalization in that the playing field will now be leveled in favor of the state,” said Nicolás Saldías, senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean. “There is no level playing field for the private sector in Chile.”Chile is the second l...

Minnesota officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright to be freed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A white former police officer convicted of manslaughter after mistaking her handgun for a Taser and fatally shooting Black motorist Daunte Wright in suburban Minneapolis in 2021 is set to be released from prison Monday.Minnesota Department of Corrections spokesman Andy Skoogman announced Friday that former officer Kim Potter was to be released after serving about 16 months of her two-year sentence. He said the exact timing of her departure Monday from Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee won’t be disclosed for security reasons.“Our criminal investigative analysts are working closely with law enforcement to monitor the situation to ensure Kim Potter, like all incarcerated persons, is safe as she leaves our facility,” Skoogman said in a statement.The shooting happened April 2021 as Derek Chauvin was on trial in Minneapolis on murder charges in George Floyd’s killing. Wright’s death sparked several days of protests.Judge Regina Chu had said at Potter’...

Acting head of Federal Aviation Administration is leaving

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

The acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration will leave the agency this summer, putting pressure on the White House to quickly find a replacement after President Joe Biden’s first choice withdrew last month.Billy Nolen, who has been acting administrator for the past year, said in a memo to staff that it has been a dream job.“But now it is time for a new captain to guide the FAA,” Nolen said in the memo. “I told (Transportation Secretary Pete) Buttigieg and notified the White House that I will depart as a new nominee is named this summer.”Biden’s first pick, Denver International Airport CEO Phillip Washington, withdrew in March after it became clear his nomination was dead in the Senate Commerce Committee, where Democrats hold just a one-vote majority. Washington faced stiff opposition from Republicans, who said he lacked enough aviation experience, and failed to win public support from an independent and a moderate Democrat on the committee.Some Republican senators s...

Vancouver officers testify about efforts to resuscitate Myles Gray after beating

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

BURNABY, B.C. — A Vancouver police constable told a coroner’s inquest that “time was standing still” as he waited for advanced life support paramedics to arrive and help revive 33-year-old Myles Gray after he was beaten by officers trying to arrest him.Const. Derek Cain described to the jury on Friday their efforts to resuscitate Gray, who stopped breathing twice in the minutes after police handcuffed him. Cain said he arrived in the yard where police were struggling to subdue Gray in response to a call for backup on the day the man died in August 2015.Gray had been in Vancouver making a delivery to a florists’ supply shop for the business he operated on the Sunshine Coast, and the inquest has heard the initial 911 call was about an agitated man who sprayed a woman with a garden hose.The beating left Gray with injuries including a fractured eye socket, nose and rib, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles.Cain testified that Gray was sweating profusely, he...

COPA: Chicago police officer under investigation since 2017 should be fired

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Civilian Office of Police Accountability has recommended that one of the officers involved in the 2017 shooting death of 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez should be fired.COPA released documents showing Chicago police officer Sammy Encarnacion has been under investigation for years, even before the 2017 shooting.Encarnacion started the foot pursuit that ended in when his partner, Evan Solano, shot and killed Alvarez on March 31, 2020 in the Portage Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. Nine days after the incident, Encarnacion has been accused of firing his weapon in a different case. Chase warns Chicago employees about potential for more downtown disturbances Both Encarnacion and Solano were suspended for 20 days in 2022.The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) started investigating Encarnacion in 2017 when his former girlfriend accused him of domestic violence and off-duty misconduct. She claims Encarnacion was drunk when he pointed a gun at her and fired ...

Sentence thrown out for owner of kennel that burned down in 2019

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

CHICAGO -- The probation sentence for the owner of a suburban dog kennel that went up in flames in 2019 has been thrown out.Garrett Mercado, 32, of Woodridge, was found guilty of three counts of animal cruelty and six counts of violation of owner’s duties in 2021. 29 dogs died were killed in the 2019 fire.Mercado, who owned Bully Life Animal Services, formally called D&D Kennels, lived above the kennel in the 2N100 block of North County Farm Road. He was not home at the time of the fire on Jan. 14, 2019, police said. Woman killed after falling out of Jeep onto Dan Ryan was not wearing seat belt: ISP The state’s attorney said investigators found stacked in cages without adequate water or food at the kennel and some dogs were tethered in a manner restricting their movement.The state’s attorney said the investigation also found the dogs died as a result of Mercado’ leaving the kennel for approximately five hours, at which time a fire broke out.Investigators also determined numero...

Chicago police officer suspended for excessive force in 2017 arrest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

CHICAGO -- A Chicago police officer involved in a violent arrest from 2017 has been suspended without pay for using excessive force.The Chicago Police Board voted to suspend officer Chavez Siler for six months after he reportedly pistol whipped a suspect in the head in 2017. Cicero man arrested after crashing into Indiana trooper’s car at crash scene Former Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown recommended that Siler be fired.The Chicago Police Board also voted to reinstate two officers that were at the scene in 2017 and had been placed on no-paid status.

Man wanted after abducting, raping Florida DoorDash driver, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Police Department is looking for a man accused of kidnapping and raping a DoorDash driver.Police said a woman in her early 20s was making a DoorDash delivery to the Residence Inn on West Boy Scout Boulevard around 11 p.m. Tuesday when she was approached by a man armed with a gun. Investigators said the man then forced her back into her car. Police identify woman killed in Plant City road rage shooting Officers said the woman had AirPods in her ears and was talking on the phone with her girlfriend, who quickly realized that a robbery was occurring. The victim's family called the police and officers were dispatched to the hotel.Investigators said the man forced the woman at gunpoint to drive to the Belara Lakes Apartments on North Waterford Avenue, where he then raped her.A composite sketch of the attacker (Tampa Police Department)Police said the victim's family had been tracking the woman's phone and arrived at the apartment complex. They were able to...

8 arrested at Moody Center accused of selling balloons with laughing gas, APD says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Eight people were arrested at Moody Center Thursday after reports of them selling balloons filled with Nitrous Oxide, also known as laughing gas, according to a news release from the Austin Police Department.At approximately 11:40 p.m., APD officers responded to reports of illegal activity near the ACL Live Moody Theater, 310 W. Second St., the release said. Officers found a group of suspects who arrived in two separate vehicles, who were parked at the intersection of Third Street and Lavaca Street and the 300 block of Second St., police said.According to the release, the suspects waited for the venue's customers to exit the show and then approached them to sell balloons with the laughing gas.Although the release said a total of seven people were arrested, there are a total of eight people listed, with only seven mugshots available.KXAN reached out to APD for clarification via email, and we will update this story when we hear back.According to police, officers confi...

Texas schools explore safety solutions as lawmakers iron out bills and funding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:10 GMT

SAN MARCOS (Nexstar) — The Texas House is poised for a Monday vote on its omnibus school safety bill after the Senate passed another sweeping package, in an effort to harden school campuses and create more accountability in the aftermath of the nation's second worst school shooting in Uvalde.Meanwhile, school districts with the ability have been exploring safety systems from the private sector — whether it's silent panic alert systems or bullet-resistance glass windows. On Friday, a group of Texas school administrators attended a demonstration at the ALERRT Center in San Marcos. The demo was put on by a C-Bond Systems, a company that makes entry and bullet-resistant products. Mike Lanky, a representative for C-Bond's "Patriot Glass" product, said he believes this type of window would have saved lives in the private Nashville school shooting, where the suspect was able to break into the school after shooting through the glass entry door to let herself in."We're going to shoot through...