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Swiss billionaire’s fund helped push against ‘dark money’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

A fund controlled by a Swiss billionaire who has steered tens of millions of dollars to liberal causes also donated as much as $50,000 to the nonpartisan group Common Cause to advocate for a federal ban on donations like his.David Vance, a spokesman for Common Cause, which advocates for limiting big money in politics, confirmed that the group received a donation from the Berger Action Fund, founded by Hansjörg Wyss. The fund has enabled Wyss, who lives in Wyoming but remains a Swiss citizen, to donate enormous amounts of money to liberal causes without running afoul of the United States’ ban on foreign citizens contributing to political campaigns.Vance said the donation last year was between $25,000 and $50,000, adding that Common Cause normally reports the range of donations rather than precise dollar amounts. That’s a small fraction of the nearly $28 million in grants Common Cause reported receiving in 2022.The grant also pales in comparison to Berger’s overall c...

Mississippi OKs more state policing in mostly Black city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s Republican governor signed a bill on Friday to expand the territory of a state-run police department inside the majority-Black capital city of Jackson, and the new law is expected to face a court challenge from the NAACP. The legislation was passed by a majority-white and Republican-controlled state House and Senate. Jackson is governed by Democrats and about 83% of residents are Black, the largest percentage of any major U.S. city.NAACP national president Derrick Johnson, who lives in Jackson, said the law would treat Black people as “second-class citizens” by stomping on rights of local self-government. He said at a community meeting on April 6 in Jackson that the NAACP intends to sue the state.“They’re only imposing this on the city of Jackson,” Johnson said. “No other jurisdiction in the state of Mississippi will have this type of oversight and taking of local authority. That is a direct violation of equal protection.”Gov. Tate Ree...

Black bear attacks 74-year-old woman in Connecticut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

A 74-year-old Connecticut woman suffered bites to her arms and legs Friday when she was attacked by a black bear while out walking her dog on a leash in the Hartford suburb of Avon, state environmental officials said. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries that weren’t life-threatening, officials said.The 12-year-old female bear was located a short time later by authorities, who killed the animal, which will be tested for rabies. The bear had been tagged as part of the state’s bear tracking program.This was the first bear-on-human attack this year in the state. There were two last year, including one in October in which a 10-year-old boy in Morris was mauled in a backyard. Jenny Dickson, the director of the wildlife division of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the bear was in the area with three yearling cubs, but it is unclear why it attacked.“It could have been just the general reaction bears have to dogs, whether they’r...

Colorado says it won’t enforce ‘abortion reversal’ ban

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is promising not to enforce its new ban on unproven treatments to reverse medication abortions until state regulators go through a process to determine if they should be allowed.The move came in response to a lawsuit filed by a Catholic clinic challenging the ban when it was signed into law last week along with two other bills aimed at making Colorado a safe haven for abortion as well as gender-affirming procedures and medications. Hours after the bill signing, a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the ban against Bella Health and Wellness, which said it had a patient whose current treatment would be interrupted if the new law was enforced. It claims the ban violates their First Amendment right to free speech and religious exercise.In court filings Thursday responding to U.S. District Daniel Domenico’s temporary restraining order, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser revealed that the state’s medical and nursing boards had m...

Tech, industrial stocks help lift S&P/TSX composite, U.S. stock markets up slightly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

TORONTO — Strength in technology and industrial stocks helped Canada’s main stock index creep higher on Friday, while U.S. stock markets rose slightly on the final day of trading for the week.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 62.46 points at 20,693.15.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 22.34 points at 33,808.96. The S&P 500 index was up 3.73 points at 4,133.52, while the Nasdaq composite was up 12.90 points at 12,072.46.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.85 cents US, according to XE.com, compared with 74.24 cents US on Thursday.The June crude contract was up 50 cents at US$77.87 per barrel and the June natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.41 per mmBTU.The June gold contract was down US$28.60 at US$1,990.50 an ounce and the May copper contract was down five cents at US$3.98 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Coroner says Montreal police used unnecessary force, lacked training in man’s death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

MONTREAL — A coroner’s report into the 2017 death of a man killed by Montreal police says arresting officers used unnecessary force and lacked proper training in de-escalation tactics.Coroner Luc Malouin says in his report released today on the death of Koray Kevin Celik that police were unprepared when they arrived at his home on March 6, 2017, in the Montreal neighbourhood of Île-Bizard.His parents called police because they wanted to prevent Celik, 28, from driving a car while intoxicated.Responding officers tried to subdue Celik with force, and his parents said they witnessed police repeatedly beat their son with their feet and knees before the unarmed man stopped breathing.Malouin says the force used by police was unnecessary and that none of them had received training in de-escalation tactics or in strategies to deal with people in crisis.The coroner says the City of Montreal since 2019 requires its officers to receive de-escalation training.This report by The Canadian P...

Vancouver officer testifies about efforts to resuscitate Myles Gray after beating

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

BURNABY, B.C. — A Vancouver police constable told a coroner’s inquest that “time was standing still” as he waited for advanced life support paramedics to arrive and help revive 33-year-old Myles Gray after he was beaten by officers trying to arrest him.Const. Derek Cain described to the jury Friday of their efforts to resuscitate Gray, who stopped breathing twice in the moments after police handcuffed him. Cain said he arrived in the yard where police were struggling to subdue Gray in response to a call for backup on the day the man died in August 2015.Gray had been in Vancouver making a delivery to a florists’ supply shop for the business he operated on the Sunshine Coast, and the inquest has heard the initial 911 call was about an agitated man who sprayed a woman with a garden hose.The beating left Gray with injuries including a fractured eye socket, nose and rib, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles.Cain testified that Gray was sweating profusely, he...

Wicker Park bar named one of the nation's best by Food & Wine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Cheers are in order for one Chicago bar's national recognition. The Violet Hour in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood is ranked among the best in the United States, as voted by readers of Food & Wine. Located at 1520 N Damen Ave., the James Beard Award-winning bar cracked the 2023 top-10 list for its “artisanal cocktails in the heart of Wicker Park" and "attentive staff.""Whatever direction [staff] point you to (drinks are broken down by Shaken or Stirred), you’ll come away with something as distinctive as it is delicious," the online magazine wrote. The list includes the following entries:SEE ALSO: A new cocktail book from The Violet Hour’s Beverage Director1.) The Fox: Nashville, Tennessee2.) Chez Zou: New York, New York3.) Chandelier Bar: New Orleans, Louisiana4.) Pebble Bar: New York, New York5.) Overstory: New York, New York6.) Bar Marilou: New Orleans, Louisiana7.) The Bar at The Spectator Hotel: Charleston, South Carolina8.) Bemelman’s Bar: New York, New York9.)...

Erykah Badu coming to Chicago this summer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

CHICAGO -- Considered to be one of the queens of R&B, Erykah Badu will be stopping in the "Windy City" this summer. Erykah Badu will be performing at the United Center in Chicago as part of her "Unfollow Me Tour" on Saturday, July 1. Chicago & House Music: A relationship over four decades in the making Badu won four Grammy's for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the 1996 hit "On & On," and Best R&B Album for her 1997 debut album "Baduizm." She also won Best Rap Performance by a duo or group for her 1999 feature on The Roots' "You Got Me," and Best R&B Song in 2002 for "Love Of My Life (An Ode To Hip Hop)."The 19-time Grammy Award nominated artist was last in Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2021.Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly known as Mos Def, will also be apart of the "Unfollow Me Tour."The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 1.For ticket information, click here.

Best high schools for sports in Illinois

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

More than 7.6 million high school students played sports across the U.S. during the 2021-22 academic year, according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations. Those athletes participated in a slew of sports: from football—the most popular sport for high school boys with 1 million players nationwide—to track and field, which is the most popular sport amongst high school girls in the U.S. with more than 488,000 athletes.The dynamic landscape of high school sports has created competition not only between athletes but the institutions they represent. With more than 23,500 public and private secondary and high schools across the country, determining the best options for athletes is an arduous process.High schools across the country are vying to be crowned the best institution for athletes in America and not only has the battle become personal but regional as well. States like California and Florida, which have high-profile high-school athletic prog...