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Biden thanks Air Force Academy graduates for choosing ‘service over self’; he stumbles after speech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. Air Force Academy graduates for choosing “service over self” but said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come. His appearance was punctuated by a stumble onstage after handing out diplomas to graduates.“Graduates, you made a noble choice to lead a life of service,” Biden told more than 900 cadets in remarks on the sun-splashed field at Falcon Stadium in Colorado. “Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility. Leadership, yeah leadership.”“In the years ahead, your airmen and guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration because the world is going to get more confusing,” he added. “They’ll put their trust in you. You, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence.”Near the end of the ceremony, the 80-year-old president turned to walk across the stage and tripped. He was helped up by an Ai...

Patrick Queen on his future with Ravens: ‘This is where I want to play’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

Patrick Queen stood at the microphone adjacent to the Ravens’ practice field in Owings Mills on Thursday fielding questions about his future in Baltimore. Nearby, general manager Eric DeCosta jogged up a set of stairs leading into the offices of owner Steve Biscotti’s castle.For now, Queen remains a Raven. For how long remains to be seen.Last month, the Ravens declined Queen’s fifth-year option, making the 23-year-old a free agent after this season — if he isn’t traded or signed to an extension before then.“It’s a blessing in disguise,” Queen said during voluntary organized team activities Thursday. “You see guys go both sides of it and get paid either way.“I’m not focused on the future. I’m focused on right now. If I take care of my business, all of that will fall into place.”It just might not be in Baltimore.While the Ravens’ decision to decline Queen’s option was anything but a surprise, it ...

Compass Medical closure surprises attorney who won $16M judgement against Quincy-based company

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

Compass Medical’s decision to shutter all of its facilities in Massachusetts came as a surprise to the attorney who helped secure a $16 million-plus payment from the Quincy-based company, which was convicted on 10 counts of fraud last year.A Boston jury ordered Compass Medical to pay millions to Steward Medical Group following a 15-day trial inside Suffolk County Superior Court. Compass had originally sued Steward in 2017 over failure to pay bonuses to doctors and make rental payments, but jurors sided with Steward, instead finding Compass liable for fraud.Attorney Howard Cooper, a partner at Todd & Weld who was the lead lawyer for Steward during the fall 2022 trial, said attorneys on both sides were in the process of having settlement discussions to avoid a Compass Medical bankruptcy.“What had been happening over the last few months since the jury came back is the parties, I should say at least Steward, was attempting to engage in settlement discussion,” Cooper told the Herald....

Senate passes GOP bill overturning student loan cancellation, teeing it up for Biden veto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican measure overturning President Joe Biden’s student loan cancellation plan passed the Senate on Thursday and now awaits an expected veto.The vote was 52-46, with support from Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana as well as Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent. The resolution was approved last week by the GOP-controlled House by a 218-203 vote.Biden has pledged to keep in place his commitment to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million people. The legislation adds to Republican criticism of the plan, which was halted in November in response to lawsuits from conservative opponents.The Supreme Court heard arguments in February in a challenge to Biden’s move, with the conservative majority seemingly ready to sink the plan. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.“The president’s student loan schemes do not ‘forgive’ debt, they just shift the burden from those who chose to take out l...

Champions League final referee under UEFA scrutiny for alleged links to far-right leader in Poland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — An anti-racism group called on soccer’s top referee Thursday to distance himself from a far-right politician in Poland, and UEFA said it wanted “urgent clarification” just nine days before the Champions League final.“A further announcement will be made (Friday), after reviewing all the evidence,” UEFA said.Szymon Marciniak was picked last week by UEFA to referee the biggest game in club soccer between Manchester City and Inter Milan on June 10. He also handled the Argentina-France World Cup final for FIFA this season.The Never Again group in Warsaw said Marciniak “reportedly promoted and participated in a recent event organized by a Polish far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen.”’We are shocked and appalled by Marciniak’s public association with Mentzen and his brand of toxic far-right politics,” Never Again co-founder Rafal Pankowski said in a statement. “It is incompatible with the basic values of fair play such as equality and respect.”Mentzen is a leader of the populist...

Airbnb sues New York City over restrictions on short-term rentals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Airbnb sued New York City on Thursday over an ordinance that the company says imposes arbitrary restrictions that would greatly reduce the local supply of short-term rentals.The 2022 ordinance, which the city plans to begin enforcing next month, would require owners to register with the mayor’s office, disclose who else lives in the property, and promise to comply with zoning, construction and maintenance ordinances.Airbnb said called the restrictions “extreme and oppressive” and a de facto ban against short-term rentals that left the company no choice but to sue.“Taken together, these features of the registration scheme appear intended to drive the short-term rental trade out of New York City once and for all,” Airbnb said. The company said the mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement “failed to consider reasonable alternatives.”The mayor’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment.San Francisco-based Airbnb filed the lawsuit in state court in M...

Canadian Press NewsAlert: Suncor cutting 1,500 jobs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

Suncor Energy Inc. says it is cutting 1,500 jobs by the end of the year in an effort to reduce costs and improve the company’s lagging performance. The Calgary-based energy company says employees were informed in an email this afternoon.More coming.The Canadian Press

California lawmakers advance bill to cool down outside areas at schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As California grapples with how to deal with heat waves made more intense by climate change, schools in the state may soon have to come up with plans for cooling down outside play areas by planting more trees and replacing surfaces like asphalt that swelter on hot days.The state Senate passed the legislation that would require public and charter schools and districts to strategize on how to introduce more shade on campus, plant gardens and replace surfaces that hold on to a lot of heat with alternatives such as grass and wood chips. They have a 2027 deadline to start implementing their plans.“We needed this a long time ago,” said state Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a Democrat representing the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. “We are making up for the decades of delay that we’re in right now.”Only a handful of state senators voted against the bill. It would still need approval in the state Assembly.The bill is a starting point that will set schools...

Massive wildfire in southwestern Nova Scotia has coastal town of Shelburne on edge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

The largest wildfire ever recorded in Nova Scotia continued to grow Thursday as an adjacent fire in the province’s southwest corner kept the coastal town of Shelburne on edge.In all, there were four wildfires in the province burning out of control on Thursday, including the massive Barrington Lake fire in Shelburne County, which grew to more than 20 square kilometres despite a constant bombardment of water and fire retardant from a fleet of water bombers and air tankers.But a much smaller fire that started Wednesday received immediate attention after it prompted evacuations south of Shelburne, which is home to 1,300 people. Within hours, the local Roseway Hospital was evacuated and residents started preparing to leave.“It jumped up pretty quick with the high winds, low (humidity) and high temperatures,” Dave Rockwood, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources, told a briefing Thursday. “We are hitting it very hard and fast.”The two fires have ...

California bill requiring Big Tech to pay for news gains momentum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:24 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California bill that would force Big Tech companies to pay media outlets for posting and using their news content cleared another critical hurdle Thursday. The measure is among hundreds of bills that passed in the state Senate and Assembly this week before Friday — the last day a bill can pass out of its original chamber and get a chance to become law later this year.The bill, which passed the Assembly floor with bipartisan support, would require companies such as Google and Meta to share with California media companies their advertising revenue stemming from the news and other reported content. The amount would be determined through an arbitration process. The bill would also require at least 70% of the shared revenue go toward journalists’ salaries. Such payments would help local media organizations survive after many have seen their advertising revenues nosedive in the digital era, said the bill’s author, Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wic...