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Portuguese police arrest the prime minister’s chief of staff in a corruption probe

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portuguese police have arrested the chief of staff of Prime Minister António Costa while making multiple raids of public buildings and other properties as part of a widespread corruption probe, the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.An investigative judge issued arrest warrants for Vítor Escária, Costa’s chief of staff, the mayor of Sines, and three other people because they represented a flight risk and to protect evidence, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.It said that the Minister of Infrastructure João Galamba and head of the country’s environmental agency were among those named as suspects.The judge is investigating alleged malfeasance, corruption of elected officials, and influence peddling related to lithium mines concessions near Portugal’s northern border with Spain, and plans for a green hydrogen plant and data center in the southern coastal town of Sines.The raids included the premises of the Ministry of the Environment, the Min...

Power producer TransAlta reports Q3 profit up from year ago

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

CALGARY — TransAlta Corp. reported its third-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as its power production and revenue also came in higher.TransAlta chief executive John Kousinioris says the third-quarter results demonstrate the value of the company’s strategically diversified fleet, which benefited from its asset optimization and hedging activities. The power utility says its profit attributable to common shareholders totalled $372 million or $1.41 per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $61 million or 23 cents per share a year earlier.Revenue for the quarter totalled $1.02 billion, up from $929 million in the same quarter last year.Production amounted to 5,678 gigawatt hours for the quarter, up from 5,432 gigawatt hours in the third quarter of 2022.Last week, TransAlta announced a deal to buy Heartland Generation Ltd. and its power generation business in Alberta and B.C., in a deal valued at $658 million, including assumed debt.This report by The Can...

Shimmering galaxies revealed in new photos by European space telescope

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

Scientists on Tuesday unveiled the first pictures taken by the European space telescope Euclid, a shimmering and stunning collection of galaxies too numerous to count.The photos were revealed by the European Space Agency, four months after the telescope launched from Cape Canaveral.Although these celestial landscapes have been observed before by the Hubble Space Telescope and others, Euclid’s snapshots provide “razor-sharp astronomical images across such a large patch of the sky, and looking so far into the distant universe,” the agency said.In one picture, Euclid captured a group shot of 1,000 galaxies in a cluster 240 million light-years away, against a backdrop of more than 100,000 galaxies billions of light-years away. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.Many of these galaxies were too faint to see until now, according to the team.The telescope snapped pictures of a relatively close spiral galaxy that is a ringer for our own Milky Way. Although the Hubble Space ...

The Air Force asks Congress to protect its nuclear launch sites from encroaching wind turbines

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force’s vast fields of underground nuclear missile silos are rarely disturbed by more than the occasional wandering cow or floating spy balloon. But the service is now asking Congress to help with another unexpected danger: towering wind turbines, which are growing in number and size and are edging closer to the sites each year. The silos share space on vast private farmlands with the turbines. Whereas the nuclear launch sites are almost undetectable — just small, rectangular plots of land marked only by antennae, a chain-link fence and a flat 110,000-ton (100,000-metric tonne) concrete silo blast door — the turbines are hundreds of feet high, with long, sweeping blades that have parts so large and long they dwarf the 18-wheeler flatbed trucks that transport them to new sites. As nearby populations have grown, so have energy needs, and so have the number and size of the turbines. It’s a boon for farmers and landowners, who can lease space on the...

Crews believe lightning strike sparked house fire in Milton, leaving large hole in roof

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

A family in Milton is facing a major repair job after a rare November lightning strike is believed to have set their home ablaze, leaving a sizeable hole in the roof.Emergency crews were called to the fire at a townhome on Speyer Circle, in the area of Derry Road and Bronte Street, around 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon after a thunderstorm rolled through the area.The small fire that began on the roof spread through the attic of the home. Fire crews reported a large hole in the roof they believe was caused by the lightning strike.Crews were able to extinguish the fire. Three were occupants inside the home at the time of the fire but no injuries were reported.A lightning strike believed to be cause of fire at a townhouse on Speyer Circle in Milton. Neighbours say their homes shook. The bang was heard blocks away. No one hurt but it’s left a large hole in the roof. It’s the only unit in complex with metal tv antenna mounted on the roof pic.twitter.com/r9YvyWqXxB— carl hanstke (@carlC...

Jewish man dies after incident at pro-Palestine rally in California, group says

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) - A 69-year-old Jewish man died Monday after suffering a severe head injury during an altercation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator in California, authorities said.Deputies with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office received multiple calls at around 3:20 p.m. about a “battery” at an intersection in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles, during demonstrations involving pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups.When deputies arrived, they found the victim, identified as Paul Kessler, with a head injury, the Sheriff's Office said. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries Monday.  “Witness accounts indicated that Kessler was involved in a physical altercation with counter-protester(s),” the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “During the altercation, Kessler fell backwards and struck his head on the ground.”   California cities ditching online comments due to surging hate speech According to ...

Jay Leno talks about his approach to comedy ahead of his tour stop in Indiana

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

For 22 years, Jay Leno put America to bed with his monologue, interviews and musical guests.He recently spoke to WGN’s Dean Richards about his stand up and approach to comedy.  This coming weekend, he's doing stand up at the Hard Rock Live in Gary. He will be there Saturday November 11.   Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Proposition 7 aims to make Texas electric grid more reliable

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texans will vote on a proposition that would create funding to increase “reliability” for Texas’ electric grid in the Nov. 7 constitutional amendment election.Texas Proposition 7, originating from S.J.R. 93, would create the Texas Energy Fund, which would support and finance the “construction, maintenance, and modernization of electric generating facilities.” Turnout tracker: How many people have voted in the November 2023 election? BackgroundProposition 7 comes after power grid challenges experienced most notably during winter storms in the past years.Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of ERCOT, emphasized the grid has become more “volatile” given the current resources.“The complexities of managing a growing demand, and a very dynamic load environment with those types of resources becomes more and more challenging,” Vegas said Tuesday during a meeting of the ERCOT board of directors.Vegas said one solution to overcome the challeng...

$500 million for Travis County roads and parks on ballot

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) -- Travis County residents will be casting their vote on bonds worth $509 million this Election Day. The two bonds will benefit road projects and park projects. County Commissioner Ann Howard said the bond is significant due to the growth, safety and capacity of Travis County.Prop A, which costs $233 million, will go toward roads, bike paths and sidewalks. There will be center and right turn lanes added to roads to keep traffic flowing and increase safety. Howard spoke with a veteran who voiced their concern over the roads in Austin. "She said that the road that she lives on has worse infrastructure than in third-world countries where she has served the USA, you know, she has been deployed to three countries that had better infrastructure than Travis County," Howard said.Prop B costs $276 million, which will go towards parkland acquisition and park amenities. The goal would be to put the bond to ball fields and acquire parkland around water sources, which...

Texas property owners set to benefit from property tax relief with Prop 4

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:24:06 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texans will vote on increasing property tax relief in the Nov. 7 constitutional amendment election.Proposition 4, stemming from H.J.R 2 from the 2nd special session this year, would:Raise the general school district homestead exemption to $100,000Allow legislature to set a cap on annual appraised-value increase for non-homestead real propertyEnsure appropriations for property tax relief does not count towards the constitutional spending limitAllow legislature to set four-year terms for members of an appraisal entity’s governing body in counties with 75,000+ residents Why Texas’ constitutional amendment elections historically have low voter turnout BackgroundEfforts to make this property tax relief exemption possible took months to formulate in the legislature earlier this year.Three hours after the end of the 88th regular session, Abbott immediately called a special session to address property tax and border security.However, no bills made it to Gov. Abbott’s de...