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Sexual abuse victims’ chance to file lawsuits in old cases remains in question after court ruling

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday sidestepped a ruling on the constitutionality of legislation that gives victims of childhood sexual abuse a renewed chance to file lawsuits after the usual time limits for such suits have expired. The ruling had been highly anticipated by advocates for abuse victims, who had hoped the state’s highest court would uphold the constitutionality of legislation passed in 2021 and revised in 2022. The legislation was passed by lawmakers under the theory that fear and stigma might have kept victims from revealing the abuse as children and into adulthood. Lawmakers debated it against the backdrop of ongoing global revelations of sex abuse of children by clergy. The Louisiana legislation gives victims until mid-2024 to file such lawsuits if they missed deadlines to file in existing law. Kathryn Robb, executive director of Child USAdvocacy, a national nonprofit agency that advocates for better child protection laws, decried the ruling as a missed op...

Couple arrested in fatal fentanyl overdoses at Hawaii hotel room

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man and woman they say supplied the fentanyl in a mass overdose at an oceanfront Hawaii hotel that left two people dead. Avery Garrard and Keina Drageset were taken into custody Friday and are charged with conspiring with each other and others to distribute fentanyl that resulted in death, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday. Honolulu police and paramedics found five people who were either unresponsive or needed medical help at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort on June 4. One man was pronounced dead at the scene, and another later died at a hospital. As of Tuesday, the Honolulu medical examiner’s office hadn’t determined a cause of death for either man.The three who survived told Drug Enforcement Administration investigators they had believed the drugs, which were acquired by one of the dead men, were cocaine or MDMA. “All three did not know the substance possibly contained fentanyl,” a DEA agent wrote in the c...

B.C. to provide up to 8,000 free air conditioners to low-income and vulnerable people

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

British Columbia will provide up to 8,000 free portable air-conditioning units to keep vulnerable people cool and protected during extreme hot weather events, Health Minister Adrian Dix said.The minister announced the giveaway on Tuesday as the province marked the two-year anniversary of the heat-dome phenomenon that covered much of the province in 2021 and resulted in more than 600 deaths.Dix said the province will give its Crown power utility, BC Hydro, $10 million over three years to provide and install the air-conditioning units in the homes of people who are vulnerable and have low incomes, adding that the number of units could exceed 8,000 depending on demand.“This means more vulnerable people will have access to cooling devices when we experience high temperatures and can keep themselves and their loved ones safer from extreme heat,” he said at a news conference.A death review panel by the BC Coroners Service found that most of the 619 people who died as a result ...

Woman loses bid to sue prosecutor over sexual abuser’s light sentence

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana woman who watched a man who coerced her into a sex act when she was 16 walk free in a plea deal has lost a legal battle to sue the prosecutor in the case. Louisiana’s Supreme Court had ruled earlier this year that the assistant district attorney in the case was immune from civil suits under state court doctrine for actions he took in the course of his job. The high court refused to reconsider the case Tuesday, ending the legal battle by victim Gabrielle Jameson, now 20, and her family. Jameson was 16 in 2019 when she says she was coerced by her then-boss, Jeremy Schake, then 23. Schake eventually pleaded guilty to the crime of “carnal knowledge of a juvenile.” He was given a 10-year suspended sentence and allowed to go free on probation.Jameson has long insisted that she and her parents made clear to Assistant District Attorney Iain Dover in St. Tammany Parish that she wanted Schake to spend a full year in prison. Her attorney, Anthony Le Mon, has an e...

Extortion trial delayed until fall for suspect in Natalee Holloway’s disappearance

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A U.S. judge on Tuesday agreed to push back Joran Van der Sloot’s extortion trial until the fall to give him more time to prepare a defense or decide if he wants to enter a guilty plea.Van der Sloot’s attorney Kevin Butler had asked for the continuance from the July 31 trial docket to give more time to “review the discovery, investigate this case, and prepare for trial.” Prosecutors agreed to the change. Van der Sloot, often considered the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance in Aruba, faces federal charges that he tried to extort money from the missing teen’s mother in exchange for revealing where to find her daughter’s remains. He was extradited from Peru this month to face trial in Alabama, Holloway’s home state. “Given the defendant’s need to adequately prepare his defense and to make an informed decision on whether to enter a guilty plea or proceed to trial, the court finds that the ends of justice served by extending ...

Dragons’ Den regular, movie theatre mogul Vincenzo Guzzo charged with criminal harassment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

Vincenzo Guzzo, CEO of a large independent movie theatre chain in Quebec and an investor on CBC Television’s “Dragon’s Den,” has been charged with criminal harassment.The Quebec prosecutor’s office says Guzzo is accused of criminally harassing someone between November 2022 and June 2023. He was also charged for allegedly failing to comply with a condition not to communicate, directly or indirectly, with that person.In a statement issued Tuesday, Guzzo suggested that the matter involved himself, “my wife and our lawyers.”He said the charges “are contested and vigorously denied.”“I would like to stress that my arrest has been highly unsettling, not only for me but, more importantly, for our three children who have been living with me since November 2022 and who were present, in my home, at the time of my arrest.”A spokesperson for police in the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne, Que., says Guzzo was arrested over the weeken...

Apparent new orca calf spotted in endangered pod near British Columbia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — A baby orca has apparently been born to an endangered killer whale population in the Pacific Northwest, scientists reported. The Center for Whale Research announced the baby orca Friday on Facebook, saying the organization received photos showing what appears to be a new calf in L pod, part of the population known as the southern resident orcas, near Tofino, British Columbia. The baby looks to be more than three weeks old and would be the first new calf in the pod since L125 was born in 2021. Researchers with the center will need to conduct on-the-water encounters with the group to determine the calf’s mother, assess the baby’s health and assign it an alphanumeric designation. “We hope to see this calf in our study area very soon!” the group said. “We’re always kind of cautiously optimistic with these new babies, because the mortality rate in the first year is quite high,” Michael Weiss, research director for the Center for Whale Research, told The Seattle Times. “But...

From ‘unmitigated disaster’ to ‘common ground,’ Chow and Ford will work together

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

Toronto’s next mayor and Ontario’s premier vowed Tuesday to set aside their political differences to get much-needed housing built in the city, although there were early indications Olivia Chow and Doug Ford could clash on other issues in the future.The two traded barbs earlier this month before Chow won Toronto’s mayoral byelection on Monday night — Ford previously said her mayoralty would be an “unmitigated disaster,” while Chow cast Ontario’s “strong mayor” policies as undemocratic interference in city politics.A day after the election, both politicians had softened their stances.“I can absolutely work with Premier Doug Ford. We love this city,” Chow said as she arrived for meetings at city hall Tuesday afternoon.“There will be common ground.”Ford, who had supported former police chief Mark Saunders in the race, had the same message.“She’s been in politics long enough, and during the electio...

Postmedia in merger talks with Toronto Star owner Nordstar

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

TORONTO — Postmedia Network Canada Corp. said Tuesday that it’s in talks to merge with Nordstar Capital LP, the owner of Metroland Media Group and the Toronto Star.The two publishers say the proposed deal, which is yet to be finalized, is a bid to create greater scale so they can respond to the “existential threat” facing the media industry.“The viability of the newspaper industry in Canada is at an extreme risk,” said Jordan Bitove, publisher of the Toronto Star, in the news release.Postmedia said discussions to consider a combination are so far non-binding, but that the proposed merger would see an even division of voting rights. Postmedia shareholders would hold a 56 per cent economic interest and Nordstar would hold a 44 per cent interest. Nordstar would retain a 65 per cent interest in Toronto Star Inc.Bitove, owner of Nordstar, would be chairman of the merged entity and Andrew MacLeod, chief executive of Postmedia, would be CEO.Postmedia, which owns pub...

New Mexico negotiates settlement over permit renewal for US nuclear waste repository

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy over the renewal of a permit for the federal government’s only underground repository for nuclear waste. Officials with the New Mexico Environment Department announced Tuesday that an agreement was reached last week after four days of negotiations. The state first outlined its terms in December, seeking to ensure that high-level waste such as diluted plutonium wouldn’t find its way to the state.The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico plays a key role in the nation’s multibillion-dollar effort to clean up radioactive waste left behind by decades nuclear research and bomb-making. Currently, it’s licensed to take what is known as transuranic waste, or waste generated by the nation’s nuclear weapons program that is contaminated with radioactive elements heavier than uranium.The new draft permit would provide greater regulatory oversight and safeguards at the rep...