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Vote on tentative contract with General Motors too close to call as more tallies are reported

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

By TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writer)DETROIT (AP) — Voting on a tentative contract agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers union that ended a six-week strike against the company appears too close to call after the latest tallies at several GM factories were announced Wednesday.The union hasn’t posted final vote totals yet, but workers at several large factories who finished voting in the past few days have turned down the four year and eight month deal by fairly large margins. However a factory in Arlington, Texas, with about 5,000 workers voted more than 60% to approve the deal in tallies announced Wednesday.The vote tracker on the UAW’s website Wednesday shows the deal by 958 ahead by votes. But those totals do not include votes from GM assembly plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Lansing Delta Township, Michigan, and a powertrain plant in Toledo, Ohio, which all voted against the agreement, according to local union officials.In most cases the vote tall...

San Diego remembers Padres owner Peter Seidler

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres community on Tuesday felt the impact of team chairman and owner Peter Seidler's death.Multiple events were put together in honor of the 63-year-old who died Tuesday. The news came following an announcement from the team in September claiming the two-time cancer survivor underwent an unidentified medical procedure and was on the road to recovery.Outside of Petco Park, fans laid out flowers in front of a portrait of Seidler. Padres pitcher Yu Darvish also stopped by to pay his respects at the makeshift memorial and expressed his grief on social media. Smart Streetlights, license plate readers coming to San Diego "My heart hurts with the unfortunate news of Peter Seidler’s passing. I’m sure everyone that knew him would agree with me when I say Peter was a truly wonderful human being, and being in his presence was always a blessing. He was a teacher of life, and taught me countless lessons form the all the interactions we had. May his beautiful soul rest in pea...

Suspect arrested in July City Heights killing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man suspected in the July shooting death of a 35-year-old San Diego resident in the Chollas Creek neighborhood was arrested Monday evening, authorities said.Kevin Castaneda, 20, of San Diego, was identified as the suspect and arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry while trying to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico, Lt. Adam Sharki with the San Diego Police Department said in a news release Tuesday. He was booked into County Jail on suspicion of murder.The shooting occurred on July 30 around 7:23 p.m. in the 3700 block of Altadena Avenue, according to SDPD. One found with critical gunshot wound to face in El Cajon: SDSO When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man, identified as Marcelo Barajas, lying in the street with at least one gunshot to his upper body. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died, police said.Detectives found out that the Barajas was confronted by a group of males while walking when one of the suspects pulled out a gun and shot h...

Father of July 4th parade shooting suspect turns himself in to begin jail sentence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The father of the suspect in a deadly Fourth of July parade shooting in suburban Chicago turned himself in Wednesday to begin a 60-day jail sentence, after pleading guilty to charges arising from his sponsorship of his son’s application for a gun license.Robert Crimo Jr. entered a guilty plea to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct last week in Lake County court, in Waukegan, Illinois. Crimo sponsored his underage son’s firearm application three years before the July 2022 attack in Highland Park, even though the teenager had recently threatened violence.Judge George Strickland sentenced Crimo Jr. to 60 days in jail, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service on Nov. 6, but agreed to wait until Wednesday to take him into custody. Illinois offers most misdemeanor offenders the opportunity to reduce their sentence by half for good behavior, meaning Crimo Jr. may only serve 30 days. Although jail time will be brief, the case is significa...

Crown delivers closing arguments at trial of man accused in London attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

The Crown has finished delivering its closing arguments at the trial of a man accused of killing four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont.In addressing jurors in a Windsor, Ont., courtroom, the Crown argued 22-year-old Nathaniel Veltman carried out a terrorist act on June 6, 2021, and should be convicted of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.The defence has argued Veltman is not guilty of first-degree murder, nor did he commit an act of terrorism, because he didn’t have criminal intent to kill the victims and didn’t deliberately plan the attack.Veltman has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.The trial has heard that Veltman hit the Afzaal family with his truck while they were out for a walk.Forty-six-year-old Salman Afzaal; his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the attack, while the ...

Fireworks workshop explosion leaves at least 4 dead in Mexico’s central state of Puebla

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The explosion of a fireworks workshop near Mexico’s Gulf coast left at least four men killed, authorities in the central state of Puebla said Wednesday.The blast occurred Tuesday in the township of Xiutetelco, Puebla, near the border with the neighboring state of Veracruz.Three of the men, including the owner of the workshop, died at the scene, according to the Puebla State Interior Department.Another man died of his injuries at a local hospital, and a fifth victim was severely injured. Four of the five victims were in their 20s. Fireworks explosions occur with depressing regularity in Mexico, often at unlicensed workshops with few safety precautions. However, officials said the most recent blast occurred at a shop that was licensed and inspected by Mexico’s Defense Department, which is responsible for regulating the industry.Fireworks feature prominently in local festivals, which use everything from firecrackers and roman candles to powerful rockets.I...

New ‘Spider-Man’ video game features more heroes and a bigger New York sandbox

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

Expect more of pretty much everything in “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”The new video game features two playable Spider-Men in Peter Parker and Miles Morales, as well an expanded New York sandbox to play in. “Double the protagonists, double the city and a whole lot more sand in the sand box,” said Doug Sheahan, senior programming director at Insomniac Games.The boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are featured in the game for the first time. Villains include Venom, Kraven the Hunter and Lizard, among others.Showcasing the game on PlayStation 5 allowed developers to “let our creativity run a little bit wider,” according to Sheahan.That’s shown in the game’s opening, a movie-like showdown with a supersized villain high above New York City streets, “a level of ambition I don’t think we would have done on a previous (console) generation.”The sequence also serves as the game tutorial, although gamers may not realize it.“Wh...

S&P/TSX composite up nearly 100 points, U.S. stock markets also higher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

TORONTO — Strength in the technology and base metal stocks helped Canada’s main stock index gain nearly 100 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 92.23 points at 20,115.96 after gaining more than 300 points on Tuesday.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 144.67 points at 34,972.37. The S&P 500 index was up 22.01 points at 4,517.71, while the Nasdaq composite was up 85.72 points at 14,180.10.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.20 cents US compared with 72.86 cents US on Tuesday.The December crude oil contract was down US$1.28 at US$76.98 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was up 11 cents at US$3.21 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was down 20 cents at US$1,966.30 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$3.72 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)The Canadi...

Bangladesh sets Jan. 7 date for elections that the opposition has vowed to boycott

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

DHAKA,Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s expected parliamentary elections will be held on Jan. 7, electoral authorities announced Wednesday, but the opposition reiterated its vow to boycott the polls unless the government hands power to a caretaker administration.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pledged free and fair elections, but the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Hasina’s archrival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, says they don’t trust the government.The opposition party has held demonstrations across the country in recent weeks to demand a nonpartisan caretaker government be appointed for the election, leading to deadly clashes that have heightened fears of instability in the South Asian nation.Bangladesh’s Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced Wednesday that the voting would be held on a single day on Jan. 7 in 300 parliamentary constituencies to elect members of parliament through direct vote. “Consensus and solutions are needed,” Awal said in a tel...

Emboldened by success in other red states, effort launched to protect abortion rights in Nebraska

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:12 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An effort to enshrine abortion rights in the Nebraska Constitution is being launched, following on the heels of successful efforts in other reds states where Republicans had enacted or sought abortion restrictions.Protect Our Rights, the coalition behind the effort, submitted proposed petition language to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office late last month.That language was kept under wraps until Wednesday, when the state’s top elections office released it. Organizers plan to hold a news conference Thursday to kick off the effort, in which they will need to collect around 125,000 valid signatures by next summer to get the measure on the ballot in 2024.“We’re confident in this effort, and we’re energized,” said Ashlei Spivey, founder and executive director of I Be Black Girl, an Omaha-based reproductive rights group that makes up part of the coalition. Other members include Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebra...