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National Park Service delivers roadmap for protecting Georgia’s Ocmulgee River corridor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The National Park Service announced Thursday that it has delivered to Congress its long-awaited study on whether the Ocmulgee River corridor in central Georgia meets the criteria to be managed as a national park and preserve. The answer: Not quite, not yet.But supporters aren’t dismayed — they say the study was based on initial, since-abandoned plans that raised concerns that have already been addressed, and they now have what’s needed to show Congress that the Muscogee Creek Nation’s historic homeland in central Georgia deserves federal protection. The Special Resource Study says 120,000 acres (48,560 hectares) along more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) of river between Macon and Hawkinsville are nationally significant and suitable for a park, but it’s not feasible because the corridor includes too many private property owners and state-managed lands. Acquiring and managing all that land — which faces expanding threats from development, mining a...

A health official in Michigan is taking her county to court over $4 million resignation offer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The top health official in one of Michigan’s largest counties is asking a judge to uphold a $4 million settlement in exchange for her resignation, coming after months of conflict with local conservative leaders who were elected in response to COVID-19 restrictions.Ottawa County leaders had attempted to fire Adeline Hambley in January after they took majority control of the county’s board of commissioners. Finding themselves unable to, the board opted to offer her $4 million — equivalent to a quarter of the health department’s 2024 budget — in return for her resignation. She also would have had to drop her lawsuit against the county. The board backed off the offer, saying it was only a “tentative settlement agreement.” David Kallman, the county’s legal counsel, told The Associated Press that “there has never been an agreement by the board to accept the $4 million. There were discussions.”But Hambley’s lawyer filed a motion Thursday to enforce the set...

Northwestern president says Braun’s support for players prompted school to lift ‘interim’ label

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — The way coach David Braun supports his players prompted Northwestern to remove the “interim” label from his job title, school President Michael Schill said Thursday.“I have been very clear that at Northwestern the well-being of our students comes first,” Schill said. “It is only by prioritizing our students’ health, safety and well-being that we can enable excellence on the field, excellence in the classroom, that we can encourage the personal and intellectual growth that is fundamental to our mission as one of the greatest universities in the world. Anyone who has heard or talked with Coach Braun knows that he embodies these principles in just a short time since arriving at Northwestern.”Schill spoke at a news conference a day after the school announced it is sticking with Braun beyond this season. Braun, Northwestern’s 30th head football coach, was hired as defensive coordinator in January. He took over as interim coach on July 10, three days after longtime c...

‘My heart sunk’: Brampton mayor speaks out after man dies in tent outside former Peel shelter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

There is a growing wave of concern over the housing crisis in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in the wake of an asylum seeker’s death as a result of being forced to sleep at an encampment outside of a former shelter in Mississauga.Peel Regional Police responded to reports of a sudden death at an encampment outside of the shelter on Dundas Street East near Dixie Road on Wednesday morning. Investigators say a man in his 40s was found inside one of the tents without vital signs.Police said there is no evidence to indicate that the death was criminal, with investigators adding that a heating source in the tent could have caused the man’s death.Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown says one fatality is too many and is calling on government levels to act and support municipalities.“We’ve been warning senior levels of government since July that this was going to happen, and right now, we have anywhere from 46 to 100 asylum claimants sleeping outside every night,” Brown ...

Families of 5 Minnesota men killed by police sue agency to force release of investigation files

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The families of five Minnesota men who were killed by police officers announced a lawsuit Thursday to force the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to release its investigative files on their deaths, saying the state agency has failed to comply with Minnesota’s open records law.The lawsuit, filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul, says once the investigation into a deadly force incident is completed and a prosecutor decides not to charge the officers, the data legally should be turned over to the families of the deceased within 10 days of them requesting it. Prosecutors in all five cases cleared the officers of wrongdoing. But the lawsuit says the BCA still hasn’t met its legal obligations to the families. The agency did’t respond to emailed requests for comment.Not only would getting the files help provide some closure, but the long delays make it hard for families to file wrongful death lawsuits within the state’s three-year ...

Ex-sergeant pleads guilty to failing to stop fatal standoff with man in mental health crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

DENVER (AP) — One of two Colorado law enforcement officers accused of needlessly escalating a standoff that led to the death of a 22-year-old man suffering a mental health crisis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor on Thursday and was sentenced to two years of probation.Kyle Gould pleaded guilty to failing to intervene to stop the the unlawful use of force against Christian Glass, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy, Andrew Buen, under Gould’s command in 2022 after Glass called for help when his SUV got stuck. Gould was not at the scene but was the shift supervisor and watched what was happening using live body camera footage, according to his indictment. Prosecutors alleged Gould gave permission for Buen to remove Glass from his vehicle even though he was not suspected of having committed any crimes.Gould, who worked as a sergeant for the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office, was indicted last year on charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangermen...

B.C. replaces Surrey Police Board with administrator over troubled transition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government has appointed an administrator to act in place of the Surrey Police Board and assist the city’s troubled transition from the RCMP to a municipal force.Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general, says all members of the Surrey Police Board have been suspended and he’s appointed former Abbotsford chief constable Mike Serr to take over all their duties.Farnworth says he acted because of a “lack of progress” from the City of Surrey in the transition to the Surrey Police Service. Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, who chairs the board, has opposed the transition and has previously accused Farnworth of bullying and misogyny against her.Farnworth says the decision is not a reflection on the board members who would eventually resume their duties, and he thanked them for their “incredible” work.The minister says he informed Locke of his decision and they had a “good, cordial conversation.”“I think thi...

Toronto private school teacher facing sexual assault charge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

A Toronto private school teacher has been arrested and charged with the alleged sexual assault of one of his 18-year-old students.On October 31, 2023, authorities were called to TAIE International Institute, an international private school located in the area of Church Street and Carlton Street. Police said the accused was a teacher at the school where he taught the 18-year-old female victim and that in July 2023, the teacher sexually assaulted the young woman.On November 2, 2023, investigators charged 48-year-old Hossein Alizadeh with sexual assault. He’s scheduled to appear in court on January 4, 2024.Police said Alizadeh was employed at TAIE International Institute as a teacher between 2018 and 2023.Investigators are concerned there may be more victims.

Second arrest made in Halloween weekend shooting in Tampa that killed 2, injured 16 others

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A second person was arrested Thursday in a Tampa, Florida, mass shooting that erupted during Halloween festivities, leaving two dead and 16 injured, police said.A 14-year-old boy was arrested in Palm Beach County and was waiting to be transported back to Tampa, police said in a news release. He faces felony charges of being a minor in possession of a firearm while wearing a mask and carrying a concealed firearm. “There is no reasonable explanation for a 14-year-old to be in possession of a firearm,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement.An argument between two groups led to the shooting in the early morning hours of Oct. 29 in Tampa’s Ybor City area, police said. Later that day, detectives arrested Tyrell Stephen Phillips, 22, in connection with the shooting. He was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm. The early morning fight occurred in an area with several bars and clubs that was once the center of Tampa’s cigar industry. In more r...

2 environmentalists who were targeted by a hacking network say the public is the real victim

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Two environmentalists told a federal judge Thursday that the public was the real victim of a global computer hacking campaign that targeted those fighting big oil companies to get the truth out about global warming.A climate scientist and the director of a fund that creates initiatives to address climate change spoke at the sentencing of an Israeli man who prosecutors said enabled the hacking of thousands of individuals and entities worldwide.Aviram Azari, 52, of Kiryat Yam, Israel, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for his role in a global computer-hacking network that authorities say targeted environmentalists, companies and individuals.“I was the target, but the public at large was the intended victim,” said Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy and chief scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts.“It is our job to tell the world the truth about a world on fire” and who “lit the flame,” said Lee Wasserma...