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Yes, France is part of the European Union’s heart and soul. Just don’t touch its Camembert cheese

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has long known that the way to France’s heart is through its stomach. So, don’t touch the Camembert — never, ever.On Wednesday, legislators at the European Parliament will vote to make sure it doesn’t happen.In one of the many legal proposals on streamlining and optimizing waste management throughout the 27-nation bloc, some French cheese producers sniffed out something and turned it into a culinary stink.They claimed that the proposal would make it illegal for Camembert to be cradled into the wooden packaging for its final weeks of ripening and, eventually, sale. The round box is as essentially Camembert as its onctuous texture and pungent smell.Suddenly, there was a frenzied flutter that something fundamentally French would fall foul of the Brussels bureaucrats — derisively known by many as Eurocrats — who are all too often blamed for flaws real and false.“It is a matter of common sense. Don’t touch our Camemberts!” said Jean-Pa...

Maui wildfire survivors camp on the beach to push mayor to convert vacation rentals into housing

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A group of Lahaina wildfire survivors is vowing to camp on a popular resort beach until the mayor uses his emergency powers to shut down unpermitted vacation rentals and make the properties available for residents in desperate need of housing. Organizers with the group Lahaina Strong are focusing on 2,500 vacation rental properties they’ve identified in West Maui that don’t have the usual county permits to be rented out for less than 30 days at a time. For years their owners have legally rented the units to travelers anyway because the county granted them an exemption from the standard rules. Lahaina Strong says the mayor should use his emergency powers to suspend this exemption. “I’m kind of at the point where I’m like ‘too bad, so sad,’” said organizer Jordan Ruidas. “We never knew our town was going to burn down and our people need housing,” The group says they are staying on Kaanapali Beach, exercising their Native Hawaiian rights t...

At Black Lives Matter house, families are welcomed into space of freedom and healing

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

STUDIO CITY, California (AP) — Some of the mystery and controversy shrouding a sprawling Los Angeles-area property owned by a national Black Lives Matter nonprofit have dissipated for dozens of families grieving a loved one killed by police.The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc., which was widely criticized last year for purchasing a $6 million compound with donations that followed racial justice protests in 2020, hosted the families for a dinner at the home this fall. The event coincided with an annual conference in southern California, where hundreds who are affected by police violence meet to find support in their journeys to healing, accountability and justice.More than 150 dinner guests, including some who previously accused the foundation of using their loved ones’ names to raise tens of millions of dollars over the last decade, were not just fed and sent on their way. They were given tours of the gated property that has six bedrooms and bathrooms, a swimming po...

Biden’s plan would raise salaries for Head Start teachers but could leave fewer spots for kids

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new plan from the Biden administration could significantly increase salaries for thousands of low-paid early childhood teachers caring for the country’s poorest children but might force some centers to reduce their enrollment.The Health and Human Services agency’s proposed federal rule would require Head Start programs, which are struggling nationwide with staffing shortages, to raise teachers’ salaries to put them on par with local public schoolteachers, and to beef up benefits. The requirement could raise wages by as much as $10,000 for Head Start teachers over the next seven years, the agency estimates. “Early educators make poverty wages in many places,” said Anna Markowitz, a University of California Los Angeles professor who has studied Head Start turnover and wages. “There are real consequences to these low wages.” She said “it’s unfortunate we had to wait for the turnover to become a major crisis.” Head Start teachers, ...

Nearly half of Americans think the US is spending too much on Ukraine aid, an AP-NORC poll says

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As lawmakers in Washington weigh sending billions more in federal support to Kyiv to help fight off Russian aggression, close to half of the U.S. public thinks the country is spending too much on aid to Ukraine, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.Those sentiments, driven primarily by Republicans, help explain the hardening opposition among conservative GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are rebuffing efforts from President Joe Biden to approve a new tranche of Ukraine aid, arguing that the money would be better spent for domestic priorities.Yet opposition to aid is down slightly from where it was a month ago in another AP-NORC poll. Now, 45% say the U.S. government is spending too much on aid to Ukraine in the war against Russia, compared with 52% in October. That shift appears to come mostly from Republicans: 59% now say too much is spent on Ukraine aid, but that’s down from 69% in October.Nonetheless, the Republi...

JFK assassination remembered 60 years later by surviving witnesses to history, including AP reporter

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Just minutes after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot as his motorcade rolled through downtown Dallas, Associated Press reporter Peggy Simpson rushed to the scene and immediately attached herself to the police officers who had converged on the building from which a sniper’s bullets had been fired.“I was sort of under their armpit,” Simpson said, noting that every time she was able to get any information from them, she would rush to a pay phone to call her editors, and then “go back to the cops.” Simpson, now 84, is among the last surviving witnesses who are sharing their stories as the nation marks the 60th anniversary of the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination on Wednesday. “A tangible link to the past is going to be lost when the last voices from that time period are gone,” said Stephen Fagin, curator at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald’s snip...

Meet the influential women behind Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — When right-wing populist Javier Milei became Argentina’s president-elect, he dedicated his victory to “The boss,” the nickname he uses for his enigmatic sister, Karina Milei. She is the most important of a trio of influential women surrounding the fiery outsider who shot to the presidency of South America’s second-largest economy.Karina Milei, who barely speaks in public, was tasked with introducing her brother Sunday night after he won a presidential runoff election with 55.7% of the vote, the highest percentage in a general election since the return of democracy in 1983.“Without her, none of this would have been possible,” Milei told the crowd that chanted “Olé, olé, boss, boss.”Milei enjoyed a meteoric rise to the presidency, making the leap from television commentator to lawmaker two years ago. Lacking a group of well-known political advisers, he has surrounded himself with a group of women who are set to be key players in his administration....

Lake Elmo city administrator fired at end of council meeting; a member resigns in protest

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

A Lake Elmo City Council member resigned in protest after Lake Elmo City Administrator Kristina Handt was terminated at the end of Tuesday night’s council meeting.Kristina Handt is the city administrator of Lake Elmo. (Courtesy photo)Handt had been city administrator in Lake Elmo since March 2016. Prior to that, she was city administrator in Scandia and village administrator in Luck, Wis.A motion by Council Member Jeff Holtz not to renew Handt’s contract, which is set to expire on Nov. 30, was seconded by Council Member Matt Hirn. Mayor Charles Cadenhead also voted for the measure.Council Member Lisa McGinn, who resigned in protest, was the lone “no” vote; Council Member Katrina Beckstrom was absent.Handt had recently expressed concerns about the site of a new Lake Elmo Elementary School because of issues regarding access to city water. Lake Elmo, the fastest-growing city in Minnesota, is dealing with a multitude of water issues, including PFAS contamination and restrictions on pump...

Driver narrowly escapes death after car submerged in water off PCH

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

A person narrowly escaped death Monday night after a crash into wetlands off Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach that left them and their vehicle submerged underwater, authorities announced Tuesday.  First responders with Huntington Beach Police and Fire departments responded to PCH, north of Warner Avenue and located the vehicle, officials said in a post to social media.  Authorities were able to quickly mobilize, get into dive gear and make entry into the water.  First responders with the Huntington Beach Police and Fire departments on the scene of a crash with a victim trapped underwater in their vehicle on Nov. 20, 2023. (HBPD)First responders with the Huntington Beach Police and Fire departments on the scene of a crash with a victim trapped underwater in their vehicle on Nov. 20, 2023. (HBPD)First responders with the Huntington Beach Police and Fire departments on the scene of a crash with a victim trapped underwater in their vehicle on Nov. 20, 2023. (HBPD)It i...

Loved ones search for missing L.A. County girl 

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:41:16 GMT

Authorities are searching for a missing girl who disappeared in Lancaster earlier this week.The missing teen was identified as Iyauna Turner, 14, by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.Turner went missing on Nov.17 and was last spotted on the 43300 block of Gadsen Avenue around 3 p.m.She may possibly be headed to Los Angeles, authorities said.Turner is described as a Black female standing 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She may be wearing her hair in a ponytail, officials said.She was last seen wearing a black tank top and gray sweats.Iyauna Turner, 14, in a photo from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Video captures $100,000 dog heist at L.A. County pet shop The missing girl’s family has not heard from her since and is concerned for her well-being, LASD said.Anyone who may know Turner’s whereabouts or has additional information is asked to call the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station at 661-948-8466.  Anonymous tips c...