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7 Republican presidential candidates meet polling criteria for first RNC debate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

(CNN) — Seven Republican presidential candidates have, as of Sunday, met the polling requirements to appear on the August debate stage following new polling from Fox Business in Iowa and South Carolina.Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have each reached 1% or higher in at least two qualifying national polls and two qualifying state polls from separate states, which is a requirement set by the Republican National Committee.Candidates must also meet fundraising criteria and sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee in order to qualify for the August 23 debate in Milwaukee. Several candidates and their aides say they have already met that donor threshold, including Trump, DeSantis, Scott, Ha...

DEP Says No to Effort to Dump Nuclear Plant Waste Into Cape Cod Bay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

State regulators have denied a permit modification sought by the company in charge of decommissioning the nuclear power plant in Plymouth to discharge 1.1 million gallons of industrial wastewater into Cape Cod Bay.After years of local opposition to the company’s discharge plan, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued the draft determination Monday, stating that Cape Cod Bay is a protected ocean sanctuary under the state’s Ocean Sanctuaries Act, which prohibits dumping industrial waste into protected state waters.In April, Holtec International filed an application to modify its existing decommissioning permit to allow the company to discharge wastewater from the plant’s spent nuclear-fuel pool — which contains some radioactive material — into the bay.The draft determination denying the permit modification requires a 30-day public comment period before MassDEP can finalize the decision, the agency said, noting a...

Subway Series is these Mets’ last stand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

BOSTON — Hours before the Mets concluded their disappointing series with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday night, the ball club still had hope for the 2023 season. Another series win would have provided some reasons for optimism.Any reasons for hope were quickly forgotten when Jarren Duran absolutely smoked a 105.6 MPH single off right-hander Carlos Carrasco to lead off the game. If it felt like a bad omen, that’s because it was. The Mets lost to 6-1 to drop to 7.5 games back from a Wild Card playoff spot. They’re 46-53 on the season and haven’t even sniffed .500 in nearly two months.This week, the Mets will play the second half of the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium. It could be their last stand and their last chance to convince Steve Cohen, Billy Eppler and every other decision-maker in Queens to give the current group a shot at getting back into playoff contention.“I think everybody knows what’s going on,” manager Buck Showalter...

Massachusetts federal prison employee accused of accepting payments from inmate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

A federal prison employee in Massachusetts is accused of accepting more than $90,000 in benefit payments and a $50,000 property loan from an ultra-high net worth inmate.William Tidwell, 49, of Keene, N.H., a correctional counselor for the Bureau of Prisons assigned to Federal Medical Center Devens, has been charged with accepting payments from an inmate under his care, in violation of his duties as a public official.Tidwell has also been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with lying to a bank about a loan he received from the inmate’s business associate, and forging the associate’s signature to support this false claim.He has been employed by the Bureau of Prisons since 2000, and working at FMC Devens since 2008. Then in 2014, Tidwell began working as a correctional counselor at FMC Devens, so he was responsible for monitoring inmate work assignments, assigning inmate housing assignments, arranging inmate legal calls and coordinating prison visits for inmates.On...

25 killed in wildfires sweeping across Algeria, including soldiers fighting flames

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Wildfires raging across Algeria have killed 25 people, including 10 soldiers trying to get the flames under control in the face of high winds and scorching summer temperatures, government ministries said Monday.At least 1,500 people were evacuated, the Interior Ministry said, without providing details.The Interior Ministry announced 15 deaths and 24 injuries. In addition, the Defense Ministry later announced 10 soldiers were killed and 25 injured as they fought fires in the resort area of Beni Ksila east of the capital Algiers.It wasn’t immediately clear over what period of time the casualties happened but the fires have been burning for several days. Wildfires, some spread by strong winds, moved across forests and agricultural areas in 16 regions causing 97 blazes in the north African country. The largest and deadliest fires ravaged parts of Bejaia and Jijel — in the Kabyle region east of Algiers — and Bouira, about 100 kilometers (60...

Plane crashes in eastern Sudan killing 9 people as the war reaches the 100-day mark

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A civilian plane crashed after taking off from an airport in eastern Sudan, killing nine people including four military personnel on board, the military said, as the conflict in the northeastern African country reached the 100-day mark on Monday with no signs of abating.The military said in a statement that a child survived the late Sunday crash in Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea that so far has been spared from the devastating war between the military and rival powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.The Antonov plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, the military said. It blamed a technical failure for the crash without elaborating. The statement provided no further details.Al-Taher Abdel-Rahman, the secretary of Finance Minister Gebreil Ibrahim, was among the dead, according to the minister, who took to social media to mourn his employee.Sudan has plunged into chaos since mid-April when monthslong tensions between the military and the RSF...

Toronto Humane Society, shelters struggling as owners surrender pets welcomed during pandemic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

While welcoming a pet into your home can certainly be an amazing experience, one many people took part in through the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, some pet owners are starting to surrender their animals as they realize they don’t have the means to take care of them.Animal shelters and foster organizations have noticed a sharp uptick in owner surrenders and now, they are struggling to keep up with the demand.Melissa Shupak, the Division Manager of Shelter Programs at Toronto Humane Society, tells CityNews rising costs have a lot to do with it.“The rising cost of care, access to care, unstable housing, job insecurities and all those factors where people are ending up, where they have animals that they love and are devoted to and committed to, but then they’re stuck in this position of how do I continue to provide care for them, or can I do that while also maintaining that with myself.”Shupak said some people have come to them trying to make a decision betwe...

MUST-WATCH: Some days, you can’t get rid of a bomb

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

Christopher Nolan’s latest film hasn’t just done insanely well at the box office, it’s also entered the MUST-WATCH Top 10! But will the father of the atomic bomb reign supreme, or could it go to the return of Futurama? Perhaps a cloning effort gone wrong? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!They Cloned TyroneWhere to watch: NetflixFirst up, let’s start with some blaxploitation throwback!John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jaime Foxx in They Cloned Tyrone, courtesy of Netflix.They Cloned Tyrone is a new film starring John Boyega (from the Star Wars sequel trilogy), Teyonah Parris (from WandaVision), and Jaime Foxx (from Django Unchained). The three are respectively a hustler, a ‘pro’, and a pimp. One day, the three of them encounter what appears to be a secret lab holding a clone of Boyega’s character. The three continue to investigate, learning that there is a great conspiracy at risk. They’ve got to get the whole community toge...

Police were told a Mississippi man killed himself, but his widow faces a murder charge 5 years later

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Police were told a Mississippi man had killed himself in 2018, but five years later, his 75-year-old widow has been arrested and charged with murder in the death.The Forrest County Sheriff’s Office arrested Harriet Howe on Thursday. She remained jailed Monday in Hattiesburg, with bail set at $1 million. It’s unclear whether she has a lawyer representing her.George Howe of Dixie died from a single gunshot, and investigators were told he had killed himself. But Forrest County Sheriff Charlie Sims told WDAM-TV that investigators never entirely believed that.“John Tryner, who is now captain over investigations, was actually the investigator on that case,” Sims said. “He had some doubts about that story, was working that case, ran into some dead ends.Investigators were unable to unlock an electronic device that they believed would show “conclusively” what had happened, Sims said. But in recent months, the sheriff’s office joined a task force wi...

Champagne launches consultation to ensure wireless coverage for all TTC riders

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:22 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s federal industry minister says he’s taking action to ensure riders on Toronto’s transit system have wireless coverage as soon as possible.Minister François-Philippe Champagne says in a press release that he is directing his department to launch an expedited consultation process to revise the licences of the four major carriers to ensure all TTC riders have coverage as soon as technically feasible.He says the action comes after what he says is limited progress between Canada’s major telecoms carriers on reaching an agreement to provide wireless service on the TTC subway system. Such an agreement has been a point of contention ever since Rogers bought the company that had been providing wireless on the subway, which only had a deal with Freedom Mobile for wireless coverage. Rogers has pledged to work with its rivals and make the upgraded system accessible for other mobile carriers to use. However, Bell and Telus have been pushing back against ...