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Grace Bumbry, 1st Black singer at Bayreuth, dies at 86

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Grace Bumbry, a pioneering mezzo-soprano who became the first Black singer to perform at Germany’s Bayreuth Festival during a career of more than three decades on the world’s top stages, has died. She was 86.Bumbry died Sunday at Evangelisches Krankenhaus, a hospital in Vienna, according to her publicist, David Lee Brewer. She had a stroke on Oct. 20 while on a flight from Vienna to New York to attend her induction into Opera America’s Opera Hall of Fame. She was stricken with the plane 15 minutes from landing, was treated at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and returned to Vienna on Dec. 8. She had been in and out of facilities since, Brewer said Monday.Bumbry was born Jan. 4, 1937, in St. Louis. Her father, Benjamin, was a railroad porter and her mother, the former Melzia Walker, a school teacher.She sang in the choir at Ville’s Sumner High School and won a talent contest sponsored by radio station KMOX that included a scholarship to the St. Louis In...

S&P/TSX composite edges higher on tech and battery metals, U.S. markets mixed

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index edged higher Monday led by gains in technology and battery metals, while U.S. markets were mixed.Markets were in “wait and see mode” Monday ahead of key economic data expected later in the week, said Craig Fehr, investment strategist at Edward Jones.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 43.12 points at 20,585.15.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 55.69 points at 33,618.69. The S&P 500 index was up 1.87 points at 4,138.12,while the Nasdaq composite was up 21.50 points at 12,256.92.The volatile market last week was driven by the latest Federal Reserve announcement as well as jobs reports in the U.S. and Canada, Fehr noted. The spotlight this week is the U.S. inflation data to be released Wednesday, he said.Between that and Canada’s next look at inflation data to be released on May 16, soon investors will have the “full inflation picture,” said Fehr.A lot is hinging on inflation data, as has been the case for many of in...

Oakland 2nd California diocese to seek bankruptcy over abuse

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy Monday due to hundreds of new child sex abuse claims, becoming the second diocese in California to do so. The San Francisco Bay Area diocese faces more than 330 lawsuits brought under a California law allowing claims that would have otherwise expired, Bishop Michael C. Barber said in a letter posted to the diocese’s website. Most of them allege abuse that dates back to the 1980s and earlier, according to Barber, and by priests who are no longer active in ministry or deceased. He said a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization would ensure “a fair and equitable outcome for survivors” and allow the church to continue its work. SNAP, a survivors’ network for clergy sex abuse victims, criticized the bankruptcy filing, calling it a ploy to keep information hidden. In a statement, it said the Oakland diocese could sell off property to compensate victims. “The Diocese of Oakland is morally bankrupt, but the...

Vermont bans owning, running paramilitary training camps

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

Vermont on Monday made it a crime to own or operate paramilitary training camps in the state after Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed legislation introduced in response to a firearms training facility built without permits that neighbors called a menace.Violators face up to five years in prison or a fine up to $50,000 or both, according to the law. It prohibits a person from teaching, training, or demonstrating to anyone else the use, application, or making of a firearm, explosive, or incendiary device capable of causing injury or death that will be used in or in furtherance of a civil disorder. It also bans a person from assembling with others for such training, instruction or practice. The gun violence prevention group led by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, of Arizona, who was forced to give up her political career when she was disabled in a 2011 assassination attempt, praised Vermont’s law. “Today, Vermont joins 25 other states that prohibit firearms training for anti-g...

Barbara Kingsolver, Hernan Diaz win fiction Pulitzer Prizes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to two class-conscious novels: “Demon Copperhead,” Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic “David Copperfield,” and Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York. Beverly Gage’s “G-Man,” her widely acclaimed book on longtime FBI leader J. Edgar Hoover, was given the Pulitzer for biography. “ His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, won for general nonfiction. Sanaz Toossi’s play “English” won for drama and Jefferson Cowie’s “Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power” was honored for history. The Pulitzer board hailed “English” as “a quietly powerful play about four Iranian adults preparing for an English language exam in a storefront school near Tehran, where family separations and travel restrictions drive them to learn a ne...

Beluga, dolphin die at Marineland: Ontario government

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

The Ontario government says a beluga whale and a bottlenose dolphin at Marineland have died.The Ministry of the Solicitor General says the Niagara Falls, Ont., tourist attraction informed the province about the deaths.A ministry spokesman says necropsies have been conducted by professionals retained by Marineland as required under regulations.Marineland did not immediately return a request for comment but told the Niagara Falls Review that Sonar, a dolphin, and Kodiak, a beluga, died last week.The deaths come two months after Kiska, Canada’s last remaining captive killer whale, died at the park.“It raises many questions around the state of care and reinforces ongoing concerns around the well-being of the rest of the animals at the facility,” said Michèle Hamers, World Animal Protection’s Wildlife Campaign Manager.Ontario’s Animal Welfare Services team of anti-cruelty officers has been engaged in an active inspection of Marineland for the past three year...

Boy missing for 2 days is found safe in remote Michigan park

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

SILVER CITY, Mich. (AP) — An 8-year-old Wisconsin boy missing for two days in a remote, rugged northern Michigan park was discovered near a log Monday and appeared to be in good shape, authorities said.The park posted a photo of one of the searchers carrying Nante Niemi on his back. Another photo on Facebook shows the boy wearing a dirty sweatshirt and munching on a Clif bar.Nante had been gathering wood while camping with his family when he was last seen Saturday afternoon in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the western Upper Peninsula. He was found around 1:30 p.m. on Monday, approximately two miles from the campsite.Overnight temperatures had been in the 40s.“He had braved the elements by taking shelter under a log where he was ultimately found. He is in good health and reunited with his family,” state police said in a statement.More than 150 people from various law enforcement groups joined the search on foot, in the air and on water. The park has rivers and lakes an...

Man linked to 2022 assault in Nathan Phillips Square arrested

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

A Whitby, Ont. man linked to an assault in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square last year was arrested and charged, police said.Toronto police said the incident happened on Saturday, Oct. 22, shortly after 5 p.m. in the area of Nathan Phillips Square.It’s alleged that a man became involved in a verbal altercation and head-butted, spat on and pushed a victim to the ground.The suspect then fled in an unknown direction.On Friday, May 3, police arrested 36-year-old Mahdi Rezazadeh of Whitby, Ont. The accused is facing three counts of assault.Rezazadeh is expected to appear in court on Thursday, June 15, 2023.

Shell: Fire that reignited at Texas plant is extinguished

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Crews have finally extinguished a fire at a Houston-area petrochemical plant that had been burning on and off for days, according to Shell, which operates the plant.Fire fighters first responded to the blaze at the Deer Park facility on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning, Shell said the fire had been extinguished. But a few hours later, Shell announced the fire had reignited.The fire was finally extinguished on Sunday night, Shell spokeswoman Natasha Qamar said Monday. The reignited fire was contained in a controlled area.“Air monitoring is ongoing and has not detected any harmful levels of chemicals affecting neighboring communities. There is no danger to the nearby community,” Shell said.The city of Deer Park did not issue a shelter-in-place order for residents during the fire. The fire had started at plant’s olefins unit, which makes plastics and rubber. The unit was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire.Nine workers who were sent to a hospital ...

WATCH LIVE | Lori Lightfoot bids farewell as Chicago Mayoral tenure comes to a close

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:11:30 GMT

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to give a farewell speech to the city Monday as Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson prepares to officially take office on May 15.Lightfoot is set to deliver her remarks at 3 p.m. from the Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development, or BUILD, headquarters in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. The organization is a "nationally respected gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organization," according to their website.This will be one of the final public events of her time as mayor, which began in 2019 when she became the first openly gay, Black female mayor of the City of Chicago. Though Lightfoot ran for reelection, she lost her bid for a second term when she failed to get enough votes to make it into the city's April 2023 run-off election. Denied reelection, what’s ousted Lightfoot’s legacy? Johnson's inauguration will take place next Monday at Credit Union 1 Arena, making him Chicago's 57th mayor.WGN plans to livest...