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Wagner’s mercenary leader issues a defiant statement as Moscow tries to project stability

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

By The Associated PressThe leader of the Wagner mercenary group defended his short-lived insurrection in a boastful audio statement Monday as the Kremlin tried to project stability, with authorities releasing a video of Russia’s defense minister reviewing troops in Ukraine.Yevgeny Prigozhin said he wasn’t seeking to stage a coup but was acting to prevent the destruction of Wagner, his private military company. “We started our march because of an injustice,” he said in an 11-minute statement, giving no details about where he was or what his plans were.The feud between the Wagner Group leader and Russia’s military brass has festered throughout the war, erupting into a mutiny over the weekend when mercenaries left Ukraine to seize a military headquarters in a southern Russian city. They rolled seemingly unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow before turning around after less than 24 hours on Saturday.The Kremlin said it had made a deal for Prigozhin ...

Club Q shooter pleads guilty, receives 5 life sentences plus 2,208 years in prison

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS — The attacker who killed five people in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub last year was sentenced to five consecutive lifetimes in prison Monday.Anderson Aldrich, 23, pleaded guilty Monday to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted first-degree murder in the Nov. 19 attack at Club Q in Colorado Springs.Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crime, acknowledging that prosecutors likely could prove the attack was motivated at least in part because Club Q was an LGBTQ bar and was patronized by people who identify as LGBTQ.Immediately after the guilty plea, El Paso County District Court Judge Michael McHenry sentenced Aldrich to five life sentences plus another 2,208 years in prison.“For taking these five lives, and attempting to take 46 more, you will now spend the rest of your life in prison,” he said. “We grieve this loss of life. And we affirm the value of all members of our ...

Work-from-campsite: The latest camping trend in the US

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Camping as a pastime has skyrocketed in popularity across the United States in the last few years, with millions of people each year heading out for an overnight getaway in the great outdoors. Recently, however, instead of leaving their everyday behind, more campers have started taking their work with them.During the pandemic, flexibility with remote work gave outdoor enthusiasts a way to travel and explore parks across the country, without taking time off work. California campsite reservation bill passes State Assembly That mobility, on top of technological advances, gave way to a new camping trend: work-from-campsite, where outdoor enthusiasts could simultaneously escape to the wilderness while bringing their job with them wherever they go.Despite a recent push to return to in-person work, work-from-campsite has grown in popularity, accounting for nearly a quarter of campers in the last two years according to the 2023 Camping Report from the camping website, The Dy...

AAA predicts record-setting travel for 4th of July

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO — As the Fourth of July approaches, the Auto Club of Southern California is anticipating a historic amount of holiday travelers for 2023.According to AAA, nearly 51 million people are expected to travel for Independence Day nationwide, surpassing the record set in 2019. For 2023, the Fourth of July holiday travel period is defined as the five-day period from Friday, June 30 to Tuesday, July 4, AAA said.For Southern California, nearly 3.4 million residents are expected to travel over the holiday weekend, which is 4.4% higher than 2022 and down just 1% from 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Caught on camera: Meteor lights up San Diego sky According to a recent survey of Auto Club travel advisors, these are the top five most popular destinations Southern California travelers are planning to head to for Fourth of July:Las VegasSan DiegoCalifornia's Central CoastMexicoThe Grand CanyonWhile travel demand has been steadily increasing every year since 2020, this year has seen a particul...

What is a heat dome? Scorching temperatures in Texas are expected to spread to the north and east

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

Scorching temperatures brought on by a “heat dome” have taxed the Texas power grid and threaten to bring record highs to the state before they are expected to expand during the coming week, putting even more people at risk. “Going forward, that heat is going to expand … north to Kansas City and the entire state of Oklahoma, into the Mississippi Valley … to the far western Florida Panhandle and parts of western Alabama,” while remaining over Texas, said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service.Record high temperatures around 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) are forecast in parts of western Texas on Monday and relief is not expected before the Fourth of July holiday, Oravec said.WHAT IS A HEAT DOME?A heat dome occurs when stationary high pressure with warm air combines with warmer than usual air in the Gulf of Mexico and heat from the sun that is nearly directly overhead, Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.“By the time ...

Cenovus hit with clean-up order after diesel spills into Alta. lake

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

CALGARY — Cenovus Energy Inc. has been issued a clean-up order by the Alberta Energy Regulator after more than 1,000 litres of diesel spilled into a northern Alberta lake.The non-compliance order issued by the regulator last week says Cenovus was operating a temporary diesel generator earlier this month near Rainbow Lake as a result of the loss of electricity infrastructure due to wildfire.It says between 1,000 and 1,500 litres of diesel leaked from that generator into the lake on June 17.Rainbow Lake, located west of High Level in northwest Alberta, is known to be abundant with fish and is popular with both recreational users and Indigenous fishers.The regulator says Cenovus has activated an emergency response plan and is working to retain and recover the leaked diesel.The regulator says Cenovus must also begin a program of regular sampling for the presence of hydrocarbons in the area’s soil, vegetation and water and must also conduct an assessment of impacted fish and wildli...

Richard Ravitch, public servant who shepherded New York through fiscal crisis, dies at 89

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Ravitch, a former lieutenant governor and longtime civic leader known for his role in steering New York City through the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and stabilizing its mass transit system in the 1980s, has died at the age of 89.His death Sunday at a Manhattan hospital was confirmed by his wife, Kathleen Doyle.Ravitch, a lifelong New Yorker, was called upon frequently over six decades to untangle some of the region’s knottiest problems, earning a reputation as a public sector fixer who brought colorful language and strong opinions to budget wrangling and deal-making.While working as a real estate developer for his family’s company, he was first enlisted by Gov. Hugh Carey in 1975 to help rescue New York’s failing Urban Development Corporation, crafting a bailout package that helped the state entity stave off bankruptcy.Later that year, Ravitch organized a last-minute rescue package with the city teachers’ union that allowed New York City itself to avoid ...

Montreal’s Yannick Nézet-Séguin is remaking the Metropolitan Opera from the bottom up

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yannick Nézet-Séguin is remaking the Metropolitan Opera from the bottom up.When the 48-year-old conductor leans forward to extend his arms and emphasize vibrato or stretches high for a fortissimo during an orchestra concert, the red soles of his patent leather Christian Louboutins become visible. He nearly leaves the ground, a visual contrast to the final years of predecessor James Levine, who conducted while seated from 2001 on and from a motorized wheelchair during his final five seasons because of Parkinson’s disease. “I still feel that we are at the beginning of our journey together,” Nézet-Séguin said during a rehearsal break last week. “I can appreciate maybe the growth in our understanding of music, common understanding and the trust, so it feels much more like — I hate to say Yannick’s orchestra, because it’s not what it’s about — I’m there to just curate.”Finishing his fifth season as music director, he takes the Met on its first tour since 2011 and th...

‘We will navigate this together:’ Funerals begin for seniors killed in bus crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

After months of recovery from an accident, Donna Showdra was excited to venture on her first small trip doing something she loved — spending a day at the casino. Showdra, 79, was among the seniors on a minibus from western Manitoba travelling to the Sand Hills Casino on June 15 when it went into the path of a semi-trailer truck on the Trans-Canada Highway near the town of Carberry. Sixteen of the seniors, who were from Dauphin and the surrounding area, died in the crash, while nine others on the bus remain in hospital, including four in critical care. Showdra’s family gathered for a private service in Dauphin on Monday morning, which was also livestreamed for the public, as funerals start for those who were killed in the fiery crash. Cortney Prytula stood next to an enlarged photo of Showdra as she shared stories about her “compassionate but tough” baba, or grandmother, during the reading of a eulogy. A light brown closed casket sat in the centre of the room. It wa...

Civil rights icon James Meredith turns 90, urges people to fight crime by obeying Ten Commandments

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:33:18 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — James Meredith knew he was putting his life in danger in the 1960s by pursuing what he believes was his divine mission: conquering white supremacy in the deeply, and often violently, segregated state of Mississippi.A half-century later, the civil rights leader is still talking about his mission from God. In recent weeks, he made several appearances around his home state, urging people to obey the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule in order to reduce crime. On his 90th birthday on Sunday, Meredith said older generations should lead the way.“Old folks not only can control it — it’s their job to control it,” Meredith told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday after an event honoring him at the Mississippi Capitol. Meredith is a civil rights icon who has long resisted that label because he believes it sets issues such as voting rights and equal access to education apart from other human rights.During the event, Meredith fell while trying to stand and ...