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Great Lakes are once again a hot destination for cruise ships

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

Tom Peterson | Stateline.org (TNS)DULUTH, Minn. — The Viking Polaris sliced through the dawn June fog, entering the harbor without fanfare. No horn blasts to this Midwestern port city’s landmark lift bridge. Onboard, all but a handful of cabins were dark as the 666-foot cruise ship ended its maiden Great Lakes voyage.Cruise ships, which once thrived on these lakes before all but disappearing in the 1970s, are making a remarkable comeback on this inland sea, wooed by competing states. Marketed as “expedition cruising,” the ships deliver tourists and their spending money to ports that for decades primarily served global markets with iron ore and wheat.“The [global] cruise industry is fairly mature,’ said Dave Gutheil, chief commercial officer of the Port of Cleveland. “There aren’t a lot of new places to go.”States and Canadian provinces worked together to change that. After drawing major industry players to the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem in recent years, states now must bal...

US to send up to $400 million in military aid to Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is sending up to $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of munitions for advanced air defense systems and a number of small, surveillance Hornet drones, the Pentagon announced Tuesday, as attacks in the war escalated to include strikes in Moscow and Crimea.The package includes an array of ammunition — ranging from missiles for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) to Stingers and Javelins. The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to quickly take items from its own stocks and deliver them to Ukraine, often within days.The U.S. is also sending howitzer artillery rounds and 32 Stryker armored vehicles, along with demolition equipment, mortars, Hydra-70 rockets and 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition. The Ho...

Orioles to celebrate 1983 World Series team Aug. 5; 2024 spring training schedule announced

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

As the first-place Orioles continue to build their case as World Series contenders, the franchise will honor its most recent championship season.The Orioles will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the club’s 1983 World Series title with a pregame ceremony Saturday, Aug. 5, before the 7:05 p.m. game against the New York Mets. Orioles legends and National Baseball Hall of Famers such as Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken Jr. will be among the former players in attendance, while the first 20,000 fans 15 and over will receive a Murray bobblehead.In addition to Murray, Palmer and Ripken, more than 20 members of the 1983 team have confirmed their attendance, according to the Orioles, including: Mike Boddicker, Al Bumbry, Storm Davis, Rick Dempsey, Dan Ford, Glenn Gulliver, Tito Landrum, Dennis Martinez, Tippy Martinez, Scott McGregor, Paul Mirabella, Dan Morogiello, Allan Ramirez, Gary Roenicke, Lenn Sakata, John Shelby, Ken Singleton, John Stefero and Bill Swaggerty.Murray and ...

A campaign to ask Ohio voters to legalize recreational marijuana falls short — for now

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

By JULIE CARR SMYTH (Associated Press)COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A proposal to legalize adult use of marijuana in Ohio narrowly fell short Tuesday of the signatures it needed to make the fall statewide ballot. Backers will have 10 days, or until Aug. 4, to gather more.Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose determined the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol was short by just 679 signatures of the 124,046 signatures required to put the question before voters on Nov. 7. Tom Haren, a coalition spokesperson, said he was confident the group could find the signatures by the Aug. 4 deadline.“It looks like we came up a little short in this first phase, but now we have 10 days to find just 679 voters to sign a supplemental petition — this is going to be easy, because a majority of Ohioans support our proposal to regulate and tax adult use marijuana,” Haren said in a statement.If the initiative makes the November ballot, a simple majority vote is required for it...

Ecuador suspends rights of assembly in some areas, deploys soldiers to prisons amid violence wave

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso is again making use of the executive’s power to suspend some people’s rights and to mobilize the military in an attempt to quell the most recent wave of violence that has left at least 18 people dead in the South American country.Lasso on Tuesday declared a state of emergency covering all of its prisons and ordered the deployment of 2,700 soldiers and police officers to regain control of the facilities. Less than 24 hours earlier, Lasso had announced an emergency measure suspending people’s rights to assembly and move freely in two provinces, one of which includes a city where a mayor was fatally shot over the weekend.The order covering the prisons came after clashes erupted Saturday at the country’s largest prison and escalated into the early hours of Sunday, with gunshots and explosions heard by people in nearby residential areas. The initial clashes at the Litoral Penitentiary, located in the port cit...

RCMP confirm two children died in Nova Scotia flooding; one youth still missing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

WINDSOR, N.S. — Nova Scotia RCMP say they have found the bodies of two children missing since Saturday when torrential floodwaters washed the vehicle they were in off a road.In a news conference Tuesday, police said a child’s body was found in the morning, and they confirmed that human remains found Monday on a shoreline in a nearby county were those of the second missing child.The children were travelling with three other people who managed to escape when the vehicle they were in was submerged in rushing waters deeper than a tractor-trailer.Premier Tim Houston said the province’s grief is growing as the toll from the flooding mounts. On Monday, the RCMP had announced that the body of a 52-year-old man from Windsor, N.S. — who was in another, nearby vehicle — had been found.“It’s another incredibly sad day in what’s now been a series of sad days in this province. The entire province is sick with mourning … The tragedy that’s happened here is...

Ottawa buying nine Airbus planes to replace Polaris fleet, including PM’s plane

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government has signed a $3.6-billion contract with European aviation company Airbus to replace its aging Polaris transport planes, one of which is used by high-ranking government officials including the prime minister and Governor General.In addition to the VIP service, the Royal Canadian Air Force uses the Polaris planes for air-to-air refuelling and personnel transport.The fleet of five planes has been flown by the RCAF 437 transport squadron since 1992, and its lifespan is set to end in 2027. Government officials say extending that further would be extremely difficult due to the age of the technology. The new fleet of planes, which will be named the CC-330 Husky, includes four new and five used aircraft that are being outfitted to feature the same capabilities. The government bought the used planes from a company in Kuwait, and two of them are set to begin flying out of Ottawa International Airport this fall. One of those will be painted in a way that is simi...

Alberta groups decry Calgary family medical clinic fee for faster physician access

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

Alberta-based advocacy organization Friends of Medicare and the Opposition NDP say the province needs to put a stop to a Calgary clinic planning to charge annual fees for faster access to a physician.“It’s a concerning precedent,” Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said in an interview Tuesday.“If this is allowed and they go ahead with it, other clinics will look at doing the same thing. That undermines our public health-care system, and it undermines access to primary care.”Starting Aug. 1, the Marda Loop Medical Clinic has informed patients by email that it will still see patients for free one day a week, but the other four days will be dedicated to patients who pay annual membership fees such as $2,200 for an individual and $4,800 for a family.For that money, the clinic promises faster access to the clinic physician, along with other perks and services, including extended sessions, at-home blood tests and discounts on related ...

Court says OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy and protections for Sackler family members can move ahead

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma can start executing a settlement that protects members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids, a court ruled Tuesday.The ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York allows the company’s transformation to start.Under a deal reached last year with thousands of state and local government entities, the company is to become a new entity with its profits being used to fight the opioid epidemic. And Sackler family members are to pay up to $6 billion over time.The Purdue deal is one of the bigger ones in a series of corporate opioid settlements worth a total of more than $50 billion so far. Unlike most of them, it includes funds for people who were victims of the crisis and their families.In exchange, the members of the wealthy Sackler family, who are not themselves seeking bankruptcy protections, are to be shielded from lawsuits.A 2nd Circuit panel approved the deal in May. By then, the ma...

Toronto and GTA under heat warning through Friday, temperatures reaching 40 C

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:37 GMT

A heat warning has been issued for Toronto and much of southern Ontario that’s expected to remain in place throughout the week, with humidex values reaching 40 C for many areas.Environment Canada issued the alert on Tuesday afternoon.Canada’s weather agency says Toronto’s daytime temperatures on Wednesday are expected to reach 30 C. While Thursday will be slightly cooler, it will stay humid, with humidex values in the upper 30s.Friday is expected to be “extremely hot,” Environment Canada cautioned.Heat Warning issued for City of #Toronto and parts of cottage country and southwestern Ontario Wed-Fri. Fitting as this is the hottest week of the year climatologically speaking. pic.twitter.com/NEErNg6gld— Natasha Ramsahai (@CityNatasha) July 25, 2023“Minimum temperatures in the low twenties will provide little relief from the heat. Cooler temperatures are expected Saturday,” Canada’s weather agency noted.“Hot and humid air can a...