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Federal protection granted for imperiled freshwater mussels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal regulators designated two U.S. freshwater mussels as threatened on Wednesday, a further sign of trouble for native mollusks that help cleanse waters by filtering out pollutants as they feed.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was granting protection to longsolid and round hickorynut mussels, which have declined in many Eastern and Midwestern streams.The primary cause is habitat damage from urban sprawl, farming, oil and gas development, pipelines and mining. Other factors include competition from nonnative mussels and rising stream temperatures linked to climate change.“Both of these mussels have suffered proverbial deaths from a thousand cuts,” said Gary Peeples, deputy supervisor of the agency’s field office in Asheville, North Carolina. “A lot of little things have added up.”Flourishing mussel populations signal healthy streams, he said. North America is a historical showcase of mussel diversity, hosting about 300 of the world̵...

Women’s Day measures by Brazil’s Lula take aim at setbacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced measures Wednesday seeking to promote and protect women after years of setbacks in their causes blamed in part on a rise in far-right forces.At a ceremony in the capital, Brasilia, Lula presented a package of over 25 measures, the most significant of which is a bill that would guarantee equal pay for women and men who perform the same jobs. He also announced plans to spend 372 million reais ($72 million) to build domestic violence shelters and 100 million reais ($19 million ) for science projects led by women.The president has expressed his indebtedness for the votes of women who helped him beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 election. And on Wednesday he blamed his predecessor for policy decisions that harmed Brazilian women.“The previous government lacked respect when it opted for the destruction of public policies, cut essential budgetary resources and tacitly motivated violence against women,” said the...

First Nations chiefs criticize Alberta premier’s oilsands tailings spill comments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is minimizing the effect of two large releases of oilsands tailings water, two area First Nations leaders said Wednesday.Meanwhile, Environment Canada confirmed the Alberta government didn’t pass along news of the spill. The federal agency, which is investigating the spill, released a timeline saying the department first learned of the releases from First Nations. Earlier this week, Smith said the release of at least 5.3 million litres of toxic tailings from Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine had no effect on local waterways or wildlife. She also blamed Imperial for slow communications on the releases, which resulted in “misinformation” being spread.“I don’t really know why she would say that,” said Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, which is downstream of the releases. Its members also harvest on land adjacent to them.“I truly believe it’s too early to be definite. (Smith’s) com...

Panama reaches 20-year deal with Canadian copper mine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s government announced Wednesday that it reached an agreement with a local subsidiary of a Canadian mining company that will allow it to operate for 20 years more.The government had ordered the company to cease operations at its huge open pit copper mine in December, after it failed to sign a new contract outlining substantially higher payments.Minera Panama, a subsidiary of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Ltd., is the largest private investment in the history of Panama. It employs thousands and accounts directly and indirectly for some 3% of Panama’s gross domestic product. Panama expects to receive $375 million per year in royalty, tax or transfer payments under the new deal, President Laurentino Cortizo’s office said in a statement.That would be 10 times more than the payments under the old deal, which was signed in the late 1990s. The government said the new deal also includes more labor and environmental protection.The agreement can be extended for ano...

‘An emerging threat’: Rising concern about lithium-ion batteries safety amid increase in fires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

As the City of New York continues to deal with the aftermath of a five-alarm fire in the Bronx that officials said was caused by a lithium-ion battery, it’s part of a growing trend of fires caused by batteries that are being seen in Toronto too.On Sunday, New York City Fire Department (FDNY) crews were called to a plaza on after officials said a battery on an e-scooter exploded. They said it took less than five minutes for the building to be engulfed in flames. It’s not clear why exactly the battery exploded.Seven people were injured and several businesses were destroyed, prompting demands for action, additional regulation and education.“This is an emerging threat here in New York City. We have seen a quadrupling in e-bike fires just in the last few months alone. We are incredibly concerned about the damage they can cause, the loss of life that it can cause, and the danger it faces our first responders,” Laura Kavanagh, the FDNY’s fire commissioner, told repo...

FAA says technology will help avoid some dangerous landings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials said Wednesday they have completed outfitting 43 major U.S. airports with technology to warn when incoming planes are aimed at a taxiway instead of a runway.The Federal Aviation Administration said the system’s software predicts when a plane is lined up to land on a taxiway and sends an alert to air-traffic controllers.None of the recent close calls between planes have involved aircraft lined up incorrectly to land on a taxiway, but that type of error nearly resulted in disaster at San Francisco International Airport in 2017.The National Transportation Safety Board recommended the technology change after the San Francisco incident in which an Air Canada jet nearly crashed into four other planes on a taxiway at night. The safety board also recommended that the FAA require planes landing at major airports have systems to alert pilots if they are not lined up with a runway. The FAA said it is still considering that recommendation. Commercial pl...

New Mexico lawmakers seek assurances amid prescribed burns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are looking for assurances from the U.S. Forest Service that the agency is taking preventative measures to ensure that future prescribed fires don’t turn into disasters. They sent a letter this week to Forest Chief Randy Moore, pointing to the largest wildfire in state history that was sparked last year by the federal government. It charred more than 530 square miles (1,373 square kilometers) of the Rocky Mountain foothills, destroying homes and livelihoods. “A disaster of this proportion cannot happen again,” U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Gabe Vasquez wrote.The letter comes as the agency moves ahead with a $1 billion investment to reduce the risk of wildfire across 45 million acres (182,109 kilometers) in the Western U.S. It’s a massive undertaking that involves more than 20 landscapes that are considered at highest risk. They stretch from arid New Mexico and Arizona to Idaho and Montana.T...

Jury mulls death penalty or life for man in bike path attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York jury began deliberating Wednesday whether to impose the death penalty or grant life in prison to a man convicted of killing eight individuals on a Manhattan bike path five years ago in a terrorist attack.The same jury of 12 that convicted Sayfullo Saipov in late January in the Halloween 2017 rampage began considering his fate after U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick read them the legal rules they must follow to reach a decision. After about 2 1/2 hours of deliberations, jurors were sent home and told to return Thursday.They had deliberated only 10 minutes Wednesday when the jury foreperson sent a note to the judge asking whether the panel can discuss that lethal injection is the current U.S. death penalty method and that there’s currently a moratorium on federal executions.Broderick told jurors that neither subject was proper for discussion during deliberations and told them not to consider either issue.Jurors will have to agree unanimously that...

Judge orders halt to fast releases at US border with Mexico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge Wednesday ordered the Biden administration to end the expedited releases of migrants who enter the United States illegally from Mexico, potentially straining already stretched holding facilities.The order won’t take effect for a week to give the government time to appeal. The Homeland Security and Justice departments had no immediate comment.In declaring a key administration tool illegal, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II offered a scathing review of President Joe Biden’s border policies in a 109-page opinion, which followed a January trial in Pensacola, Florida. The administration has “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country,” he wrote.Wetherell, an appointee of President Donald Trump, criticized a decision to stop building a border wall, end a policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigrati...

Lawsuit against Fox shows the news behind the Trump news

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh revelations flowing from a major defamation lawsuit are shedding light on what was happening inside Fox News following the 2020 presidential election. Here are some things to know about the case.THE CASEDominion Voting Systems is suing Fox for $1.6 billion, claiming the news outlet repeatedly aired allegations that the company engaged in fraud that doomed President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign while knowing they were untrue. Fox contends that it was reporting newsworthy charges made by supporters of the president and is supported legally by libel standards. The case is scheduled for trial next month.ELECTION DISCONNECTDominion has produced evidence that prominent people at Fox knew the fraud allegations were untrue, even as they and the president’s allies were given airtime to repeat them. Fox’s Sean Hannity said in a deposition that he did not believe the fraud claims “for one second,” but he wanted to give accusers the chance to produ...