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Housing advocates warn GOP spending plan would be ‘disastrous’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

Housing advocates are raising the alarm about House Republicans’ plan to dramatically cut the federal deficit to raise the debt ceiling, warning rental aid would be stripped from hundreds of thousands of struggling families who could face eviction and possible homelessness at a time when rents remain high.House Republicans narrowly passed a sweeping measure last month that would roll back non-defense spending to 2022 levels — a proposal the National Low Income Housing Coalition said would slash housing and homelessness programs by 23%, a significant blow to the Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance program that around 2.3 million families rely on to cover rent.“House Republicans’ plan would have drastic negative impacts on communities’ abilities to address homelessness and the housing crisis,” Diane Yentel, the coalition’s CEO and president, told The Associated Press. “If these proposals were enacted, it would mean communities would have to take away housing assistance from peopl...

Scabby the Rat gives bite to union protests, but is he at the tail end of his relevancy?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, a giant, inflatable rat with beady eyes, sharp teeth and a pustule-covered belly has loomed over union protests, drawing attention to various labor disputes.As New York City deals with an influx of actual rats, Scabby the Rat has become that rare thing, like Pizza Rat or Buddy the Rat — a rodent New Yorkers can rally behind.But in the era of TikTok and influencer culture, middle-aged Scabby faces a new challenge: staying relevant.“It’s kind of unfortunate, changing times, older members of the public know exactly what the rat is for,” said James Smith, union activity administrator for the NYC District Council of Carpenters. “The newer generation sometimes doesn’t — one person thought that we were protesting a building that needed an exterminator.”Nevertheless, Scabby’s not collecting hard-won retirement benefits just yet. Most recently, Scabby has been making the rounds at various picket lines in New York for the Hollywood writers strike organized b...

Environment a background issue in Alberta election but may play role, say observers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

EDMONTON — Few governments have seen as many environmental dust-ups as Alberta’s United Conservatives in their four-year tenure.They tried delisting parks and opening the Rocky Mountains to coal mining. They charged fees for a beloved alpine playground. They started an inquiry into whether environmental groups were “anti-Alberta.” They proposed dunning taxpayers for the cleanup costs of abandoned oil and gas facilities. The list goes on. But how those issues play in the upcoming provincial election is not a simple question, observers say. Albertans have a complicated and even contradictory relationship with the landscape in which they both play and make their living. “Most Albertans want economic growth and environmental sustainability the same way they want low taxes and high-quality public services,” said University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley. “They don’t want to make that choice.”Recent polling suggests about two to...

‘Human compassion’: Albertans lend a helping hand to wildfire evacuees

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

Woodland Cree Elder Leonard Cardinal, his wife and their son prepared more than 100 bagged lunches earlier this week and delivered them to evacuees from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, a northwestern Alberta community hit hard by one of the dozens of wildfires burning across the province. They also travelled from Grande Prairie with a trailer full of clothing and other items to High Level, some 450 kilometres north, where some evacuees from Fox Lake and Rainbow Lake have been staying. “I think it’s just the human compassion that we have and empathy for other people to do things to help as much as we can,” said Cardinal, with Thunderbird Inc., a consultancy that offers land-based teachings and workshops. “When you have to leave your home, a lot of times you are not able to grab the things you need.”Cardinal’s family are among many Albertans pitching in to help the thousands of people who have been displaced by wildfires in recent weeks. Jena Clarke, dir...

Big bug benefits: Alberta scientist releases guide identifying cow dung insects

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

Alberta entomologist Kevin Floate is ready to start spreading the news that he has compiled a comprehensive guide into insects that live in cow dung in Canada.   Floate — a scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre in southern Alberta — said he started studying insects in cattle dung about 30 years ago.At the time, he realized he needed one source of information to help get him started.“It didn’t exist. So, here we are 30 years later, and I’ve written that guide and it’s intended for ranchers and farmers and students and naturalists,” said Floate, who has a doctorate in entomology and penned “Cow Patty Critters: A New Guide on Canada’s Faecal Friends.” “Anyone who’s ever asked the question ‘What’s in dung?’ This is the guide that I’ve written for you.”The humble cow turd, sometimes known as a cow patty, cow pie or cow chip, has a soft text...

Cashier charged in scheme to steal $3M lottery jackpot from unsuspecting customer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

LAKEVILLE, Mass. (WPRI) — A woman and her boyfriend are facing charges after the couple stole a winning $3 million lottery ticket and attempted to cash it in earlier this year, according to officials in Massachusetts.Carly Nunes, 23, of Lakeville, is accused of holding onto a customer's lottery tickets back in January, while working as a cashier at a liquor store. U.S. District Attorney Timothy Cruz said the man who purchased the tickets had accidentally left the store without them, forgetting them in the lottery terminal tray.Surveillance footage from inside the store captured the moment when another customer alerted Nunes to the tickets, which she took and placed behind the counter, according to Cruz.Cruz said the man searched for his ticket to confirm, but gave up when he couldn't find it. That night, the numbers on one of the man's Mass Millions tickets were selected for the $3 million prize. The lottery: Which states’ residents spend the most on tickets and scratch-offs? The ...

All birds are shrinking — but small birds are shrinking fastest

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

(The Hill) - The forest of Amazonia and the urban canyons of Chicago are dramatically different environments.But in both, bird life has displayed the same mysterious pattern: While all birds are shrinking, small birds are getting smaller, faster, than larger ones, a new study has found.At the same time, in a surprising twist, their wings are getting longer — as though all birds were becoming a bit more every year like tree swallows — and scientists have no idea why.The findings published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) begin with a large and macabre body of evidence.  These US bird species face a ‘tipping point’ as populations decline sharply, new report finds Since 1978, scientists at Chicago’s Field Museum have collected the corpses of unlucky birds.These are a diverse bunch, owing to Chicago’s lethal — if scientifically fortunate — position as a giant city, full of deadly glass windows on a major migratory route for...

DPS temporarily halts partnership in Austin

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will temporarily cease its partnership with the Austin Police Department (APD) so that troopers can focus their attention on border cities in the wake of the expiration of Title 42, according to law enforcement sources. The initiative, called the Austin Violent Crimes Task Force (AVCTF), began on March 30 as a way to assist APD as the department faces a staffing shortage. APD currently has about 300 vacancies. According to law enforcement sources, DPS' last day will be Saturday, and troopers will likely not return to their Austin patrols for several weeks. Where DPS is patrolling in Austin and why Since the program began, there have been “significant decreases in violent crime, response times, and calls for service,” according to the APD. The department used a data-driven approach to identify crime "hot-spots" as well as high-travel roads most common for crashes - and deployed troopers to those locations.In the crime hot ...

Soucheray: St. Paul has broken under the weight of lenient policies on crime

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

Two days after Michael Brasel, 44, was killed in front of his own house in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood, taking three shots to the chest, the police sirens wailed, again, in St. Paul, this time in the Mac-Groveland and Highland Park neighborhoods.Officers were called to an address on the 1200 block of Juliet Avenue about 3:15 p.m. Monday. Multiple suspects in a stolen Audi tried to break into a vehicle. They were wearing masks. The owner of the car yelled and they scampered back to the Audi and took off.Maybe the car’s owner hadn’t heard about Brasel, for that owner was taking his life in his hands by daring to shout. He could have been killed as remorselessly as Brasel.That’s all Brasel presumably did, give out a shout as somebody was trying to take his wife’s car. He died. Executed is more like it, executed. The shooter has been caught. He is 17. The Pioneer Press learned that the alleged killer was charged in April 2022 with robbing a student in a bathroom at Harding High Sc...

Working Strategies: To work or not to work? For the disabled, that’s the nuanced question

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:20:32 GMT

Amy LindgrenSecond Sunday Series – Editor’s Note: This is the ninth of 12 columns on work and disability that are appearing over 12 months — one on each second Sunday of the month, from September through August. Previous columns discussed the subminimum wage, promotions for workers with disabilities, higher education decisions, self-advocating, career tips for family caretakers, testing limits as a worker with disabilities, the dilemma of revealing disabilities during job search, and overall concepts of disability in the workplace.We’re often told, “work isn’t everything,” or, “No one ever died regretting what they didn’t do at work.”Those are the messages, but do we believe them? As a culture, America is work-crazy. We have high rates of labor force participation and low empathy for those who aren’t “productive.” We call ourselves lazy for leaving work on time and, until the recent lessons of the pandemic, we prided ourselves on going to work sick.What...