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LAUSD superintendent: strike talks stalled, schools to close Tuesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

Los Angeles Unified School District campuses will be closed tomorrow after labor talks came to a standstill and no additional negotiations were scheduled with service workers who are striking to demand higher wages and improved working conditions. Service Employees International Union, Local 99, which represents about 30,000 teachers’ aides, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and other support staff will be participating in the strike, which is set to begin early tomorrow morning.  United Teachers of Los Angeles, the union representing 34,000 LAUSD educators, plan to honor the picket lines. At a press conference Monday, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he had hoped to avoid the planned three-day strike by coming to an agreement with union officials, but that it never happened. “We were never in the same room, or even in the same building,” he said at the press conference, and added that he still hopes a deal can be reached to prevent the strike from ...

LAUSD Classes Canceled Tuesday As Workers Begin Strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

All LAUSD classes will be canceled Tuesday as thousands of workers plan a 3-day strike.The announcement was made by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho Monday, a day after the district said it would “prepare for the unfortunate reality of school closures.”“Let’s continue to negotiate for as long as it takes for our students,” Carvalho said Monday. “We must avoid lost instructional and social and emotional development time.”Carvalho reiterated that its students “lost a lot of ground” in 2020 after pandemic restrictions led to forced school closures and eventually distance learning.The Service Employees International Union Local 99 (SEIU) represents roughly 30,000 district employees that range from school bus drivers, to cafeteria works and aides.SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias accused the district of breaking the confidentiality of a planned meeting between the two sides.“This afternoon, SEIU Local 99 had agreed to en...

Catalytic converter thieves busted in American Canyon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

AMERICAN CANYON, Calif. (KRON) -- Two people were arrested in American Canyon on Sunday night in connection with catalytic converter thefts, the American Canyon Police Department said. Just before 11 p.m., police responded to American Canyon Mini Storage, located at 3700 Broadway Street after the business' alarm was activated. It was also reported to police that a suspicious man was walking around inside with a skill saw, which police said is used to steal catalytic converters. Gas station robbery suspect arrested in front of Hercules High School ACPD and the Napa County Sheriff's Office set a perimeter around the area. They found several stolen catalytic converters lying near a hole in the fence at the storage business.With the help of a California Highway Patrol helicopter, police found two suspects running from the scene and hiding in the bushes nearby. The suspects were detained and identified as Casey Franklin, 22, and Joseph Franklin, 33. Both are residents of Stanislaus Co...

March Madness: Van Lith and Louisville pummel Texas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Hailey Van Lith scored 21 points and No. 5 Louisville rolled over No. 4 Texas 73-51 on the Longhorns’ home court Monday night to send the the Cardinals to the Sweet 16 for the sixth NCAA Tournament in row.In a matchup of two teams that began the season in the Top 10 only to all out of the rankings before regrouping late, the Cardinals smothered the Longhorns and standout point guard Rori Harmon all night, stretching a 14-point halftime lead to 21 by end of the third quarter. Louisville (25-11) led by as much as 27 early in the fourth. The win sends the Cardinals to the Seattle 4 Region to play No. 8-seed Mississippi, which upset No. 1 Stanford on Sunday.DeYona Gaston scored 12 points to lead Texas (26-10).The Cardinals simply pushed around the Big 12 regular season champions and seemed to relish the chance to do it on the road. Louisville didn’t host the first two rounds of the tournament for the first time since 2015, excluding the 2021 pandemic tou...

Last call: Dodge unveils last super-fast gasoline muscle car

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The last gas-powered muscle car from Dodge isn’t leaving the road without some squeals, thunder and crazy-fast speed.The 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 will deliver 1,025 horsepower from its 6.2-liter supercharged V-8, and the automaker says it will be the quickest production car made. Stellantis says it can go from zero to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in a scary 1.66 seconds, making it faster than even electric supercars from Tesla and Lucid.It’s what the performance brand from Stellantis is calling the last of the rumbling cars that for decades were a fixture of American culture on Saturday night cruises all over the country. Stellantis will stop making gas versions of the Dodge Challenger and Charger and the Chrylser 300 big sedan by the end of this year, squeezed out by stricter government fuel-economy regulations and an accelerating shift to electric vehicles to fight climate change.The Canadian factory that makes all three cars will be r...

6 missing after Montreal building fire that included Airbnb

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal’s mayor vowed Monday to tighten regulation of Airbnb as a search continued for six people missing after a fire swept through a building that included Airbnb units in a historic city section where they are banned. Firefighters initially thought there was one person missing in the blaze Thursday in the eastern Canadian city. However, reports emerged later of illegal Airbnb units in the more than 130-year-old building, and authorities updated the missing over the weekend to seven, including some from the United States. Montreal police reported pulling the body of a woman from the rubble Sunday evening.Montreal police Inspector David Shane said the six who are still missing are from Quebec, Ontario and the U.S., adding that investigators have contacted their families. The fire also injured nine people, including two who were hospitalized.The cause of the fire is being investigated.Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the building included illegal Airbnb units as w...

Alabama suspends freshman defensive back after drug arrest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama freshman defensive back Tony Mitchell has been suspended from the team following his arrest on a drug charge.Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said Monday after the first practice of spring that Mitchell was suspended from the team “and all team activities until we gather more information about the situation and what his legal circumstance is.”The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office arrested Mitchell and another man, Christophere Lewis, last week on a charge of possession of marijuana with the intent to sell or deliver, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page. Lewis also was charged with carrying a concealed gun without a permit.“Everybody’s got an opportunity to make choices and decisions,” Saban said. “There’s no such thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You’ve gotta be responsible for who you’re with, who you’re around and what you do, who you associate yourself with and the situations that you put yourself in. It i...

Opinion: Sex workers are left out in the cold by Ottawa’s unjust conviction amendments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

By: Steven Maynard, Queen’s University, Ontario; Gary Kinsman, Laurentian University; Patrizia Gentile, Carleton University, and Tom Hooper, York University, CanadaThe federal government recently announced its intention to amend the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act to expand the list of offences Canadians can apply to have struck from their criminal records. The list now includes abortion-related offences and indecent acts in a bawdy house.We are a group of gay and lesbian historians who study the criminalization of queer communities in Canada. While we applaud changes that allow women and abortion providers to apply to have their records expunged, we question the partial and historically faulty way the government has added bawdy-house offences to the act.Sex workers charged with bawdy-house offences, for example, remain excluded from accessing the expungement process.In other words, if a bawdy-house conviction was only about indecency, people can now apply t...

Investigation into bus shelter assault results in nine individuals being arrested and charged

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

Kingston Police say that nine individuals have been arrested and charged following a serious west end bus shelter attack on March 10th. Eight of the nine individuals that were arrested were between the ages of 13 and 17 and thus have their identities protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.Some of the youth were charged with assault with a weapon, and wearing a disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence. Another youth was charged with failing to comply with a Youth Probation Order condition that prohibited him from being on the property at 945 Gardiners Road.Kingston Police say that this youth was remanded into custody and the seven other youths were released on undertakings with conditions and a future court date.The sole individual not protected by a publication ban was 18 year old Seth Snyder-Stokes, who was charged with assault with a weapon, wearing a disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence, assault, and failing to comply with a previous release or...

A Trump indictment would be unprecedented in US. What's known so far

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:57 GMT

(AP) – The decision whether to indict former President Donald Trump over hush-money payments made on his behalf during his 2016 presidential campaign lies in the hands of a Manhattan grand jury that has been hearing evidence in secret for weeks.An indictment of Trump, who is seeking the White House again in 2024, would be an unprecedented moment in American history, the first criminal case against a former U.S. president.Law enforcement officials are bracing for protests and the possibility of violence after Trump called on his supporters to protest ahead of a possible indictment.An indictment could also test a Republican Party already divided over whether to support Trump next year, in part due to his efforts to undermine his 2020 election loss.Trump denies any wrongdoing and has slammed the Manhattan district attorney's office probe as politically motivated.Here's a look at the hush-money probe, grand jury process and possible ramifications for his presidential...