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Man stopped near Michigan governor’s home worked on research against Democrats, report says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A man dressed in black who works for a group specializing in opposition research about Democrats was stopped while climbing a bluff near Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s summer residence in August, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.The man, whose name was redacted in the document, said he worked as a “political tracker” for America Rising. The police report links to two websites as potential employers, one at an America Rising corporation and one for an America Rising political action committee.The man said he was “climbing the hill to get a ‘view up here’ when he was stopped Aug. 26. When members of the Executive Protection Section advised there was no view to see where he was at, (the man) stated, ‘I guess I’m leaving now,’” state police said.The mansion on Mackinac Island is a summer residence for a Michigan governor in office. It’s on a bluff overlooking the Straits of Mackinac, according to the island’s tourism offic...

Florida officials ask US Supreme Court to block rulings limiting anti-drag show law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The state of Florida is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block lower court rulings that prohibit the enforcement of a new law targeting drag shows.Florida officials filed an application with the nation’s highest court on Friday asking that the prohibition against enforcing the anti-drag show law only be limited to the Orlando, Florida, restaurant which challenged its constitutionality. The law should be enforced at other Florida businesses since to do otherwise will “erase from Florida’s statute books” a law meant to protect children, the application said.Earlier this month, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s granting of a preliminary injunction stopping the law from being enforced. The district court found that the law likely restricted free speech and the injunction should be extended to all Floridians.The appeals court panel ruled against a request from Florida officials to limit the injunction to the Hamburger Mary...

Western Energy: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Western Energy Services Corp. (WEEEF) on Tuesday reported a loss of $1 million in its third quarter.On a per-share basis, the Calgary, Alberta-based company said it had a loss of 3 cents.The drilling services company posted revenue of $41 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WEEEF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WEEEFSource

Ronaldo scores twice in Al-Nassr’s victory in Asian Champions League

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo scored two second-half goals as Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr beat Al-Duhail of Qatar 4-3 in the Asian Champions League on Tuesday.Al-Nassr has nine points from three games in Group E, three clear of Persepolis after the Iranian team defeated Tajikistan’s Istiklol 2-0.Ronaldo’s backheel set up Anderson Talisca for the opening goal and Sadio Mane doubled the lead before halftime. The Portugal star’s left-footed curler from outside the area made it 3-0 before the hour mark.Al-Duhail pulled two goals back thanks to Ismaeel Mohammed and Almoez Ali.Ronaldo intervened once more with nine minutes remaining as he volleyed a deep cross into the net, and Al-Nassr hung on after Michael Olunga’s strike made it 4-3.On Monday Al-Hilal routed Mumbai City 6-0. Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a hat trick for the four-time champion to put Al-Hilal atop Group D with seven points from three games.In the absence of the injured Karim Benzema, a last-mi...

Paul Giamatti stars in Christmas dramedy ‘The Holdovers’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

Not everybody gets to go home for Christmas. In a new drama, starring Paul Giamatti, the kids at one prep school with nowhere to go during break are called holdovers.So what happens when the school’s crankiest teacher, trouble-making student and cook spend two intimate weeks together?I don’t know, watch the movie.Ahh, winter break.Well, in “The Holdovers,” those two weeks aren’t so heavenly, at least not at first.At a New England prep school in the 1970s, a curmudgeonly instructor sticks around for Christmas break to keep an eye on a handful of students with nowhere to go.Dominic Sessa: “It’s these three people who you know come from very different worlds, very different experiences and create a special bond, a familial bond, and it brings them together in ways that I don’t think many would expect.”Paul Giamatti plays the killjoy. But soon forms an unlikely bond with brainy student Angus.Dominic: “Being at a boarding school...

Big Winds are back

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

Remember last week? There was barely a breeze in south Florida. It’s a much different setup this week. Strong high pressure continues to expand across the eastern United States. For Florida, the clockwise flow (around the high) is bringing healthy onshore winds. On Tuesday, gusts clocked to over 30 mph, at times. The windy pattern has a lot of life left in it. Since the high isn’t going to budge for several more days, the “windy and warm” conditions will prevail. Ocean-bred clouds with patchy showers are also possible through the middle of the week. Recently, some areas (like southern and eastern Miami-Dade) saw some fast-moving bands of rain off of the ocean. The chance will continue as winds pick up a bit of moisture and send it westward. If you’re in the mood for some cooler weather, you’ll have to be patient. There are currently no cold fronts making their way southward. In fact, the overall storm track has even shifted farther nor...

GLX track fix may require two weeks of overnight repairs, MBTA general manager says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

Miles of tracks that are too narrow across the Green Line Extension could be fixed by mid-November following up to two weeks of evening closures, MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said Tuesday.Days after he revealed that most of the nearly brand-new rails on the extension need to be widened, Eng told agency overseers the contractors responsible for the project have proposed tackling the problems in 10 to 14 nights of work starting around Nov. 1.Green Line Extension Constructors, the joint venture that built the 4.4-mile expansion, suggested shutting down service on the rails from 9 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the following morning during that span, Eng said. Regular service would resume each day following the overnight work.Eng said his team is still reviewing the proposal and has not yet committed to it.“This is not going to be something that continues on for months and months, or even longer. It is something that can be addressed in a matter of weeks,” Eng told the M...

Organ builder marks 100th tuning of historic pipe organ at Old North Church in Boston

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

A historic moment played out at Boston’s oldest church Tuesday as one man marked what he believes is his 100th tuning of the church’s historic pipe organ. The pipe organ at Old North Church has been making music at services for nearly three centuries. Organ builder Stefan Maier has been keeping the instrument in tune for the past 25 years. “Every organ is a custom instrument,” Maier told 7NEWS. “So, they’re always special.” The Old North Church pipe organ was built in 1759 and has gone through many renditions over the decades, according to Maier. While it has been rebuilt “a number of times,” Maier said the organ still has some original parts. The process of re-tuning the organ takes three to four hours, requiring Maier to climb inside the organ to search for pipes that need to be adjusted. “You have to fast for three days to be able to get in,” Maier said. “And then, basically, there are between probably around 1500 hundred pipes in there.” “We ...

Green Line track fix could begin next month, take 2 weeks, GM says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

It will take perhaps two weeks to fix a track concern causing trains to crawl at pedestrian speeds along the Green Line Extension.MBTA General Manager Phil Eng, during a meeting of the transportation agency’s board of directors Tuesday morning, said a discrepancy in the width of Green Line tracks could be fixed as soon as mid-November.“It’s not months, it’s not years to address this,” Eng told the Board.Last week, Eng revealed that previous MBTA officials discovered but did not publicly disclose a problem with the line’s prefabricated railroad ties, leading to tracks that were out of design specifications and not to national rail standards.“We did a deeper dive into the project to understand why a project that was recently opened, new construction, resulted in conditions that were unacceptable,” he said. “What we identified was that we had tight gauges across significant portions of the GLX project.”According to Eng, about half of the track along the Union branch of the Green ...

UAW strikes at General Motors plant in Texas as union goes after automakers’ cash cows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:45:51 GMT

By TOM KRISHER (AP Auto Writer)DETROIT (AP) — First it was Ford, then Stellantis, and now a General Motors factory has been added to the growing list of highly profitable plants where the United Auto Workers union is on strike.On Tuesday, about 5,000 workers walked out at GM’s factory in Arlington, Texas, that makes big, high margin SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade.The strikes in Texas, as well as at the largest Ford factory in the world in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Stellantis plant that makes lucrative Ram pickups in Michigan, are aimed at getting the companies to capitulate to union demands for richer wages and benefits than the automakers so far have offered.But judging from statements out of Detroit, the companies are at or near the limit on how much they’re willing to budge to end a series of targeted strikes now involving 46,000 workers that began on Sept. 15. About 32% of the union’s 146,000 members at the companies are on strike, and the automakers ar...