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Judge temporarily blocks Tennessee city from enforcing ban on drag performances on public property

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked city officials in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, from enforcing an ordinance designed to ban drag performances from taking place on public property.An order issued Friday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. bars the city from enforcing the ordinance during the BoroPride Festival scheduled for next weekend. The judge’s order came in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee on behalf of the Tennessee Equality Project, a nonfprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and has hosted the BoroPride Festival since 2016. The order said the city of Murfreesboro — located about 34 miles (55 kilometers) south of Nashville — and the equality project reached an agreement that the city will not enforce the ordinance during the Oct. 28 festival.The lawsuit alleges the ordinance discriminates against the LGBTQ+ community and violates the First Amendment by chilling free s...

A reward is being offered for a suspect wanted in the fatal shooting of a Maryland judge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — The U.S. Marshals Service is asking for the public’s help and offering a reward of up to $10,000 in the search for a man suspected of fatally shooting a Maryland judge who ruled against him in a divorce case.Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson, 52, was shot in his driveway in Hagerstown, Maryland, on Thursday night, just hours after he awarded custody of the suspect’s children to his wife. Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert said authorities are searching for Pedro Argote, 49, for the “targeted attack” of Wilkinson.In a news release issued late Friday, the Marshal’s Service said authorities believe Argote may be driving a silver 2009 Mercedes GL 450 with Maryland license plates. The Marshal’s Service said Argote has ties to multiple areas outside of Maryland, including Brooklyn and Long Island, New York; Tampa and Clearwater, Florida; Columbus, Indiana; and unknown cities in North Carolina. The reward is being offered for information that...

Over 3,000 migrants have hit NYC shelter time limit, but about half have asked to stay, report says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — About 3,000 asylum-seekers have been told their time was up in New York City shelters, but about half have reapplied to stay, according to a newspaper report.The United States’ most populous city has struggled to contend with the arrival of over 120,000 asylum-seekers in the past year. About 60,000 are currently in shelters run by the city, which is legally required to provide emergency housing to homeless people. The obligation is unmatched in any other major U.S. city.Mayor Eric Adams announced in July that New York would start giving adult migrants 60 days’ notice to move out of city shelters. The policy has since been extended to families with children, and tightened to 30 days for adults not accompanied by youngsters.Migrants, many of whom don’t have legal authorization to work, can reapply for shelter if they can’t find find anywhere else to live.Some 3,025 notices have come due since the initial 60-day policy took effect, the Daily News...

Much of southern Quebec under rainfall warning, up to 60 millimetres expected

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

Much of southern Quebec is under a rainfall warning today as Environment Canada forecasts between 40 and 60 millimetres of rain could drench the province by Sunday evening.The federal weather agency’s rainfall warning covers a wide area from the Ontario border west of Montreal to the Maine border in the east, and from the Vermont border in the south to the region just west of Quebec City to the north.Environment Canada says rainfall will be heavy at times, noting downpours have the potential to cause flash floods and water accumulation on roads.The agency’s 24-hour forecast for Montreal shows persistent precipitation through Sunday morning.Montreal has already seen several significant rainfall events this year.The city earlier this month announced it would accelerate the development of water-resilient public infrastructure in hopes of mitigating the effects of what it says are increasingly frequent heavy rainfalls.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct...

At Cairo summit, even Arab leaders at peace with Israel expressed growing anger over the Gaza war

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt and Jordan harshly criticized Israel over its actions in Gaza at a summit on Saturday, a sign that the two Western allies that made peace with Israel decades ago are losing patience with its two-week-old war against Hamas.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who hosted the summit, again rejected any talk of driving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and warned against the “liquidation of the Palestinian cause.” Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Israel’s siege and bombardment of Gaza “a war crime.”The speeches reflected growing anger in the region, even among those with close ties to Israel who have often worked as mediators, as the war sparked by a massive Hamas attack enters a third week with casualties mounting and no end in sight.Egypt is especially concerned about a massive influx of Palestinians crossing into its territory, something that it fears would, among other things, severely undermine hopes for a Pales...

1 suspect in custody after man stabbed at Etobicoke hotel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

A male is in custody following a stabbing at an Etobicoke hotel Saturday morning.Police were called to the Four Points by Sheraton hotel on Islington Avenue just south of Rexdale Boulevard around 10 a.m. for reports someone had been stabbed.A man suffering from a serious stab wound was taken to a trauma centre in non-life threatening condition.Witnesses chased the suspect who fled the scene and police arrested them a short time later.

Montreal one step closer to getting park to mark Irish mass grave site

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

Montreal is one step closer to getting a commemorative park for the 6,000 Irish immigrants buried in unmarked graves in an industrial pocket of the city southeast of the downtown core.This week, the Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation became the new owner of the solitary monument known as the Black Rock, a three-metre-tall boulder that marks the location of the largest mass grave in Canada. The site, previously the property of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, consists of a small patch of greenery in the median of a busy street near the base of the Victoria Bridge, which links Montreal to the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.The foundation says the land donation by the diocese was key to its goal to transform the area — passed by around 23,000 drivers every day — into a park honouring the thousands of Irish people who died of typhus in 1847 while fleeing Ireland’s Great Famine.Though the story is a significant chapter in the history of the city, it’s unfamiliar ...

One person dead after 2-alarm Brampton fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

One person is dead and three others hospitalized following a two-alarm blaze in Brampton.Firefighters were called to a home on Hollybush Street in the area of Dixie Road and Sandalwood Parkway East just after 9:30 a.m. Saturday and were met with heavy smoke and flames. Peel police say one person has been pronounced dead. Paramedics transported a woman and two children to local hospitals. The ages were not immediately available.The Office of the Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate.

Bobby Charlton, the Manchester United and England soccer great, dies at 86

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Bobby Charlton, an English soccer icon who survived a plane crash that decimated a Manchester United team destined for greatness to become the heartbeat of his country’s 1966 World Cup-winning team, has died. He was 86.A statement from Charlton’s family, released by United, said he died Saturday surrounded by his family.An extravagantly gifted midfielder with a ferocious shot, Charlton was the leading scorer for both United (249 goals) and England (49 goals) for more than 40 years until being overtaken by Wayne Rooney.“Sir Bobby was a hero to millions, not just in Manchester, or the United Kingdom, but wherever football is played around the world,” United said.“He was admired as much for his sportsmanship and integrity as he was for his outstanding qualities as a footballer; Sir Bobby will always be remembered as a giant of the game.”Alex Ferguson, who managed United from 1986-2013, said before Charlton’s death that he “is the greatest Ma...

Israel opens Gaza-Egypt border to allow trucks with aid

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:45:59 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened Saturday to let in 20 of the over 200 trucks of aid waiting to provide assistance to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Aid workers said 20 trucks were insufficient. More than 200 trucks carrying roughly 3,000 tons of aid have been positioned near the crossing for days. Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have fled their homes, are rationing food and drinking dirty water. Hospitals say they are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators amid a territory-wide power blackout. Israel is still launching waves of airstrikes across Gaza that have destroyed entire neighborhoods.The opening came after more than a week of high-level diplomacy by various mediators, including visits to the region by U.S. President Joe Biden and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel had insisted that nothing would enter Gaza until Hamas released all of the captives from its Oct. 7 attack on t...