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With strike looming, General Motors makes wage offer, which auto union leader calls ‘insulting’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

By TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writer)DETROIT (AP) — General Motors’ first wage-and-benefit offer to the United Auto Workers on Thursday fell far short of the union’s initial demands.The offer comes just a week before the UAW’s national contracts with GM, Stellantis and Ford expire, and even though both sides are far apart, it’s a sign of movement on economic issues. Still, union President Shawn Fain called the offer “insulting.” He is threatening to strike against any automaker that hasn’t reached a tentative agreement by the time contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14. A strike against one or more automakers by up to 146,000 auto workers is a real possibility.GM said in a letter to workers that it’s offering a 10% wage increase during a new four-year contract, plus two more 3% one-time payments. It’s also offering a $6,000 inflation payment, $5,000 more in lump sums to protect against inflation during the contract, and a $5,...

Mayor Michelle Wu’s Mass and Cass plan set for City Council hearing Sept. 28

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

Mayor Michelle Wu on Aug. 28 unveiled her latest plan to battle the opioid epidemic and homelessness crisis in the city’s Mass. and Cass area, but a hearing on her proposal won’t be held until late September, after the city holds its preliminary elections.Wu pushed her plan with urgency last month, describing finding new solutions to dissolve the tent city and “open air drug market” on the border of Roxbury and the South End as a matter of “life or death.”The mayor urged the city council to take “swift and urgent action” to approve her proposed ordinance which would grant Boston police the ability to take down tents and tarps that she says hide criminal activity such as drug trading and sex trafficking, “in order for City officials and provider partners to finalize preparations and begin implementation well before the colder temperatures of late fall and winter.”Separately, City Councilors Erin Murphy, Frank Baker, Ed Flynn...

Mayo Clinic Minute: What you should know about enteroviruses and babies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

Deb Balzer | (TNS) Mayo Clinic News NetworkEnteroviruses are a group of viruses that commonly circulate during summer and fall.These viruses primarily affect young children, who are more susceptible to complications due to their undeveloped immune systems. Many adults have some immunity from previous exposure.Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious diseases physician with the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center, says there is concern with newborns when it comes to enteroviruses.“Enteroviruses are spread through respiratory droplets; they can also be spread by something called the fecal-oral route so through stool or feces,” says Dr. Rajapakse.Most adults and older children may have mild symptoms, if any.Dr. Rajapakse’s concern regarding enteroviruses lies primarily with newborns, especially if the mother is infected around the time of birth.“Sometimes we see newborns developing very severe viral sepsis, where the virus can impact multiple parts of the b...

Patriots’ Mac Jones’ areas of improvement include attitude, lesson from Tom Brady

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

FOXBORO — Mac Jones wouldn’t reveal his specific goals days away from the Patriots’ season opener Sunday against the Eagles.But the Patriots quarterback would say that the team is striving for “really good things” this season. In order for the Patriots to accomplish that, Jones has to be better in 2023. Way better.After a promising rookie season, Jones took a significant step back as a second-year pro in 2022. His struggles last season were not entirely his fault, however. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was replaced by a combination of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, and as retired safety Devin McCourty put it Wednesday on WEEI, “That wasn’t a good thing.”Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots have concerning absence from practice ahead of Week 1 New England Patriots | Patriots S Kyle Dugger: No update on possible contract extension New England Patriots | Patriots know they need more tha...

Performing arts center finally opens at ground zero after 2 decades of setbacks and changed plans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — In a mammoth room behind translucent marble walls, workers are setting the stage for the World Trade Center’s newest addition.It isn’t another office tower, nor is it a monument, at least explicitly, to the memory of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It’s a theater complex.Envisioned two decades ago to add vibrancy and draw people to a place of devastation and mourning, the Perelman Performing Arts Center is finally arriving at a very different ground zero. The site is ringed by new skyscrapers and located in a neighborhood that has more residents than before the attacks. Annually, millions of visitors come to the memorial and museum.Still, organizers believe the arts space, also called “PAC NYC,” has an important role to play in one of the most sensitive, historic spaces in the United States.“The memorial is here for people to come and grieve and pay their respects. The museum is for people to learn, be aware and never forget,” says Khady Kamara, PAC NY...

Poland bank governor says large interest rate cut justified by falling inflation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The governor of Poland’s central bank said Thursday that its large interest rate cut was justified despite high inflation because prices are stabilizing and the era of high inflation is ending. Adam Glapinski spoke a day after the bank’s monetary council announced that it was cutting interest rates by 75 basis points, a much larger reduction than had been expected.Critics of Poland’s populist authorities accused Glapinski and members of the bank’s monetary policy council of acting to help the governing party ahead of parliamentary elections next month with a large cut seen by economists as premature. Glapinski is an ally of the party, which is fighting for an unprecedented third term.The bank cut its reference rate from 6.75% to 6%, and other interest rates by the same amount.Poles have been suffering from sharply rising prices of food, rents and other goods. Inflation hit over 18% earlier this year and registered 10.1% in August.Glapinski declared ...

Kosovo’s president says investigators are dragging their feet over attacks on NATO peacekeepers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Kosovo’s president on Thursday accused investigators of dragging their feet over an inquiry into attacks on NATO peacekeepers earlier this year in which dozens of troops and police officers were injured, some of them seriously.President Vjosa Osmani also called on European Union officials to refrain from showing any favoritism in talks next week aimed at improving Kosovo’s tense relations with Serbia.“Those who attacked NATO on the 29th of May are clearly known to law enforcement agencies,” she told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels after talks with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Video footage, Osmani said, shows that some “are police officers who came all the way from Serbia.”“They have not been suspended from their jobs,” she said. “They’re not facing any consequences whatsoever.”The clashes happened after Serbs living in the north of Kosovo boycotted local elections there. When newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors began to move into their new offices...

Directors must navigate TIFF without their lead actors amid Hollywood strike

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

TORONTO — Promoting a film at the Toronto International Film Festival is inherently challenging, and even more difficult in the absence of lead actors for support during press engagements and on the red carpet.Many directors are grappling with this amid the ongoing strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which prevents actors from publicizing their studio projects. Filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who will premiere his opera-inspired feature “Seven Veils” at TIFF, said in a recent interview that he has complicated feelings about promoting the movie without its lead, Amanda Seyfried.  “She has put so much of herself in this film and it’s inconceivable that Amanda would not be here,” he said. The American actress has said that she is proud of the film but would not attend the TIFF premiere even though “Seven Veils,” an independent Canadian movie, received a “waiver” from SAG-AFTRA.“It doesn’t feel right to head t...

New questions for wind, solar in Alberta create more confusion for industry: advocate

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

EDMONTON — A renewable energy group says new requirements for wind and solar projects create further problems for a booming industry that government policy has already slowed.On Wednesday, the Alberta Utilities Commission released a series of information requests those proposing new projects will be required to answer.Jorden Dye of the Business Renewables Centre says some of those questions are reasonable and are already part of the approval process. But he says others seem arbitrary. He asks how regulators will judge whether a project imposes on a pristine viewscape.He says it’s not clear how much weight the new requirements will be given.Dye says the renewables industry is being singled out and that the six-month approval pause on new renewable projects imposed by the United Conservative government has already increased costs for developers. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2023. The Canadian Press

Via Rail ramps up service, returning it to pre-pandemic levels

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:32 GMT

MONTREAL — Via Rail is increasing service in Ontario, returning the passenger railway to levels not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic.The Crown corporation says it is reintroducing two round trips between Toronto and Ottawa and one round trip between London and Toronto, starting in late October.The ramp-up comes three-and-a-half years after the pandemic brought some operations to a screeching halt, when Via Rail suspended its cross-Canada routes and temporarily laid off more than 1,000 workers.Chief executive Mario Péloquin says the railway aims to strike a balance between meeting passengers’ travel needs and deploying its limited resources.Last quarter, operating losses before government funding hit $120 million, and the organization has not turned a full-year profit since 2017.Greg Gormick, who heads On Track Consulting, says the expanded service announced Thursday will resemble Via’s timetable prior to COVID-19, enabled by crew training and new train deliveries from S...