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No word on whether Massachusetts will have to pay back $2.5 billion error to feds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

The terms of payback remain unclear nearly two months after the state learned the former Baker administration erroneously used $2.5 billion in federal pandemic-era relief funds to cover unemployment benefits.Whether or not Massachusetts is even on the hook for the money remains an open question.The U.S. Department of Labor is in the middle of conducting “independent compliance and oversight work” with state officials, a department spokesperson said. A timeline for when that work will be completed was not available on Tuesday, with the spokesperson saying they had “no other information” in response to follow-up questions.“The department appreciates the full cooperation of the state in understanding the scope of the problem, its causes, and any necessary corrective action required,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald.The June revelation that the Baker administration used $2.5 billion in federal dollars to pay off pandemic-era unemployment benefits, which should have be...

Tijuana airport to get nonstop flight to Phoenix on American Airlines

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A nonstop flight between Tijuana and Phoenix is coming to American Airlines.Starting Feb. 15, the airline will launch the direct flight between Tijuana International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.The flight will be the only direct option from Tijuana to any U.S. city, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Sesame Place San Diego’s free admission for kids begins Tijuana will be the 13th international city to which the airline will offer direct service.The mayor of Phoenix says the addition will boost business for Arizona's capital city.“The addition of a direct, non-stop flight to Tijuana, Mexico builds on Phoenix’s status as a majorhub and one of Mexico’s largest air travel markets. This new connection will ultimatelystrengthen our tourism industry, support business, and create more job opportunities forPhoenicians,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a news release.On the same date, the airline will also start operating two daily flights between ...

Police search Senate office buildings after report of active shooter; later declare it a false alarm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order and searched Senate office buildings near the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon after a 911 call warned of a possible active shooter. But a floor-by-floor search of the three buildings found nothing, and Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the cause of the security scramble “may have been a bogus call.” “We found nothing concerning,” he said. “We got nobody who actually heard shots and certainly no victims.”The incident comes amid heightened security concerns created by former President Donald Trump’s indictment on charges relating to his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump is due in federal court Thursday just a few blocks from the Capitol.Manger said Washington’s multiple law enforcement agencies had been planning “for a couple weeks now” for a possible indictment and had “a security plan in place” in case Trump supporters attempt to disrupt the legal proceedings. The lockdown...

‘Deeply upsetting’: AIDS Memorial at Barbara Hall Park vandalized

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

The AIDS Memorial at Barbara Hall Park near Church and Wellesley streets has been vandalized with black paint.It’s not clear exactly when the act of vandalism took place and Toronto police tell CityNews they have not received a report about it.In a statement, Toronto Centre Councillor Chris Moise called the vandalism “deeply upsetting and personally heartbreaking.”“The monument was constructed to honour those whose lives have been lost to AIDS, as well as to celebrate those who live courageously with the virus. The fact that someone would desecrate this sacred space is inconceivable, and I condemn it in the strongest terms.”Moise added that “plans are already underway at the City to begin removing the graffiti.”“I look forward to seeing the memorial promptly restored to its former state.”The 519, a nearby community centre, is the trustee of the memorial. It declined to comment on the vandalism, but says the City has placed a work...

Museum in New York state returns remains of 19 Native Americans to Oneida Indian Nation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A museum in Rochester, New York, returned ancestral remains of 19 Native Americans and funerary artifacts to the Oneida Indian Nation on Wednesday, striving for a “small step in the service of justice.”The remains of Oneida ancestors include those of five men, three women and two adolescent girls who lived sometime between 200 to 3,000 years ago. A mix of pottery and other items traditionally buried with the dead were also returned, as required by federal law.Hillary Olson, the president of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, apologized for the museum’s acquisition of the remains.“We have perpetuated harmful practices including the excavation, collection, study, and display of Native American ancestors and their belongings,” she said during a repatriation ceremony in Rochester. “This repatriation does not change the past. But we hope that it is a small step in the service of justice.” In 2000, the museum returned the ancestral remains of 25 Native Americans ...

CFPB sues auto dealer for illegally locking cars, re-possessing vehicles, other shady activities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday sued USASF Servicing, the financial arm of a chain of auto dealerships found mostly in the South, alleging the company committed a laundry list of illegal practices, like disabling borrowers’ cars, double-billing customers, and illegally repossessing cars.The bureau is seeking to get millions of dollars in refunds for thousands of USASF customers, as well as impose fines and penalties against the Georgia-based company. USASF is affiliated with U.S. Auto Sales, a dealership chain that sold used cars mostly to customers with low incomes or bad credit that operated a “buy here, pay here” business model at its 31 dealerships. U.S. Auto Sales mostly shut down its dealership operations in April, but USASF is still operating as the loan servicer for the company. The CFPB said that, since 2016, USASF illegally disabled borrowers’ cars using what are known as “kill switches,” which remotely disable a vehicle wh...

Pope Francis blasts ‘scandal’ of clergy sex abuse in Portugal and meets with survivors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Portugal on Wednesday and blasted members of the country’s Catholic hierarchy for their response to the long-ignored scandal, which he said had marred the Catholic Church and helped drive the faithful away.Francis dove head-on into the crisis roiling the Portuguese church on the first day of a five-day visit to Lisbon for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day festival. His trip comes at a delicate moment for the Portuguese church; a panel of experts hired by Portugal’s bishops reported in February that priests and other church personnel may have abuse at least 4,815 boys and girls since 1950.The Vatican said Francis met with 13 abuse victims for more than an hour at the Vatican Embassy and characterized the pope’s role in the meeting as one of “intense listening.” The victims were accompanied by church personnel in charge of child protection programs.The encounter, which had been expe...

Police ‘engaged’ as Ottawa says video contains threat against Indian diplomats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

Ottawa says law enforcement is “engaged” after a video circulating online appeared to threaten Indian diplomats in Canada.Public Safety Canada said in a Tuesday tweet that Ottawa will ensure the safety of all diplomats in Canada, but the department would not provide details.It referred queries to the RCMP, which refused to confirm whether it had opened a criminal probe or say which particular video was involved.Some Canadian Sikhs who advocate for the secession of a region in India have claimed that New Delhi was involved in the June death of a preacher near Vancouver, though police say they have no evidence of such a link.A month ago, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly denounced posters accusing senior Indian diplomats of being “killers,” saying they were “unacceptable.”The issue has strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India as the two negotiate a possible trade agreement ahead of an expected visit by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...

Stock market today: Wall Street tumbles to its worst loss in months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street tumbled to its worst drop in months on Wednesday as its torrid rally that critics called overdone lost more momentum. The S&P 500 sank 1.4% for its sharpest tumble since April. It was the second straight loss for the index after it hit a 16-month high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 348 points, or 1%, while the Nasdaq composite fell 2.2%.Prices were mixed in the bond market after Fitch Ratings cut the credit rating of the U.S. government. The repeated standoffs in Congress about whether to allow a default on the U.S. debt were just some of the reasons for Fitch’s cut. The downgrade strikes at the core of the global financial system because U.S. Treasurys are considered some of the safest possible investments.Fitch’s move follows a similar one by Standard & Poor’s in 2011, one that coincided with a European debt crisis to help cause stocks and bonds around the world to swing violently. So far, this most recent downgrade ha...

Adidas is donating Yeezy sales to anti-hate groups. US Jews say it’s making best of bad situation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:13 GMT

When Adidas cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, due to his antisemitic comments, it was left with more than a billion dollars worth of high-end Yeezy sneakers. Now, Jewish Americans are evaluating the German company’s plan to give some of the proceeds from the sneakers’ sale to groups engaged in fighting antisemitism.Like other Jewish civic leaders contacted by The Associated Press, Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson said he wasn’t planning to buy a pair of Yeezys himself, but he also doesn’t see the value of wasting the labor and material that went into making them.“Antisemitism, like all forms of bigotry and hate, must be actively resisted by us all,” said Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of American Jewish University in Los Angeles. “This move will raise funds for that fight, without minimizing his vile words.” Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the CEO of T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization based in the U.S., said it was better than at least one al...