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Witness of B.C. Sikh leader’s shooting says the gunshots sounded like fireworks

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

VANCOUVER — The B.C. gurdwara where a Sikh separatist leader was gunned down has launched an investigation into how an American newspaper was able to view security camera footage of the June killing. Gurkeerat Singh, who said he is a spokesman for the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, said it’s unclear how The Washington Post was able to see the video of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death. “We’ve been told by the temple that the video is not for the media, the public, because it’s an ongoing investigation. That video won’t be released to anyone.”It’s an “ongoing investigation,” he said in an interview on Wednesday. While Singh said The Canadian Press could not review video captured at the temple of the shooting, he confirmed the reporting of The Washington Post. He has seen the 90-second video several times, he said. Singh said the video shows Nijjar leaving the temple’s parking lot in his grey pickup truck. A white car d...

University of Nevada basketball could have a new home in 3 years under a major casino expansion plan

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The University of Nevada’s basketball team could have a new off-campus home by 2026 under an ambitious 10-year expansion plan that Reno’s largest hotel-casino announced Wednesday. The estimated $1 billion private capital investment will be the biggest in the city’s history, according to officials of the Grand Sierra Resort and Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve.In addition to the new 10,000-seat sports, concert and special events arena, the expansion plans for the 140-acre (57-hectare) property include a new 800-room hotel tower, 300 riverfront residential units to help address workforce housing shortages and Las Vegas-like water shows, the company said. “The vision is to transform GSR into a destination where community, sports and entertainment come together,” resort owner Alex Mereulo said during a news conference at the property on Wednesday. Mereulo and University of Nevada President Brian Sandoval confirmed they’ve entered into “the exploration of a partne...

10-year-old girl struck and killed in Vaughan

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

A 10-year-old girl is dead after being struck by a vehicle in Vaughan.Police say the incident occurred on Mullen Drive in the area of Clark Avenue and Bathurst Street just after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Photos from the scene show a delivery van on the residential street surrounded by police tape. Police say the driver remained on the scene for the investigation.Police are expected to provide an update later this evening. More to come

Mayor Chow looking to extend deadline for new housing waitlist system

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

With the City facing backlash, Toronto’s mayor is making last-minute moves to ensure people already waiting years for subsidized housing aren’t booted off the waitlist.They were required to move their applications online by this coming Saturday — a deadline that is fast approaching and had advocates sounding the alarm about the possibility of thousands losing their spot in the queue.Although two years have passed since the launch of the new online system, outreach worker Lorraine Lam said this weekend’s cut-off date was announced out of the blue.“This is a community that has no access to phones or emails,” said Lam, who has been trying to help notify applicants and transfer them. “My sense is that this is [the City’s] attempt to try and remove inactive applications but this was a very ablest and classicist way of going about it.”There are still about 33,600 households on the rent-geared-to-income housing waiting list who have not registered online...

After sending busloads of migrants to NYC, Texas governor visits city to fault Biden for crisis

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For more than a year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been busing migrants from the southern U.S. border to places like New York, Washington and Chicago, prompting angry complaints from Democratic officials in those cities.The local authorities have said the influx of homeless, jobless newcomers is unsustainable.Speaking in New York Wednesday, the Republican Abbott agreed it was “unsustainable,” but said he’s not the person most to blame.“The lead importer of migrants to New York is not Texas, it’s Joe Biden,” he said at a breakfast event held by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. Abbot said he began the busing program in response to the plight of the small border towns in his state who do not have the resources to deal with border crossers.“It’s a crisis. It’s chaotic and it must stop,” he said, urging the president to enforce laws he said gives the White House authority to “repel” migrants at the border.“Until that time comes,” Abbott said, “Texas...

Books on science, state secrets and religion shortlisted for Cundill History Prize

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

NEW YORK — Eight urgent books about the past have been shortlisted for the US$75,000 Cundill History Prize. The short list includes books about countries’ forgotten — or buried — histories, such as “The Madman in the White House” by Patrick Weil, which resurrects a psychobiography Sigmund Freud helped create about Woodrow Wilson, and “The Declassification Engine” by Matthew Connelly, about America’s secrecy industrial complex. In a similar vein, “Red Memory” by Tania Branigan explores the Cultural Revolution and cultural amnesia in China. Several science books also made the short list, including Alison Bashford’s “The Huxleys,” a history of evolution; “The Perfection of Nature” by Mackenzie Cooley, which explores how theories of race developed through man’s attempts to control nature; and “Charged” by James Morton Turner, which examines “the battery problem” by looking to the ...

New Mexico trial begins over allegations that Democrats tried to dilute votes with redistricting map

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Accusations that New Mexico’s Democratic-led Legislature unfairly diluted the vote of a politically conservative oil-producing region with its redistricting map went to trial on Wednesday.The trial’s outcome is likely to have a big influence on which party represents a congressional swing district along the U.S. border with Mexico where partisan control has flipped back and forth three times in three elections. New Mexico’s 2nd District is one of about a dozen that are in the spotlight nationally as Republicans campaign to hold onto their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024.In its court challenge, the Republican Party alleges that the new congressional map flouts traditional standards of redistricting that held sway over the past three decades by dividing communities of common interest for political gain by Democrats.Democratic lawmakers say the boundaries were vetted appropriately to ensure more competitive districts that reflect p...

Englewood restaurant to reopen, hope to continue tradition of teaching Kennedy King students

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

CHICAGO -- A favorite neighborhood eatery offering fine dining, while teaching students all aspects of operating a restaurant is coming back to Englewood.After being closed in 2020, plans are now in place to re-open Sikia restaurant located at Kennedy King College.Besides fast food, Sikia was the only sit-down restaurant in Englewood. Thanks to a generous grant, Sikia restaurant will make a comeback.Culinary students training under chefs at Washburn Culinary and Hospitality Institute at Kennedy King College are learning to perfect baking bread and pastries."Our students are excited to serve the community we don’t have a lot of opportunities at fine dining here but this is the start and it’s a great start," Chef Instructor Cara Benski-McPhee said.Quality fine dining is returning to Englewood, a community where leaders at Kennedy King said doesn’t have any sit-down restaurants other than fast food spots."It sounds cliché but to be the only sit-down restaurant on this side of town is r...

'You don't see a lot of players doing that': Ian Happ showed his appreciation to a Cubs fan at home finale

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

CHICAGO — One of the longest-tenured members of the Cubs made sure one of his biggest fans at Wrigley Field knew he was appreciated at the final regular season home game of 2023.In fact, it's becoming a bit of a tradition for Ian Happ at the end of an 81-game campaign at the Friendly Confines.On Sunday, before the Cubs' victory over the Rockies, the outfielder presented bleachers season ticket holder Jeff Gorski with a $100 bill along with a signed ball that had a message of thanks for his support during the last six months. (Courtesy: Jeff Gorski)"Thanks for the support! You guys are the best in all of baseball," is what Happ wrote on the baseball that was left for Gorski, who goes by the nickname "Bleacher Jeff" on social media, writing to have a good time on him Sunday. "It means a lot," said Gorski to WGN News Now on Tuesday. "It's a nice gesture. You don't see a lot of players doing that in any sport, anywhere, where they just say 'Hey, man, I see you coming out here, I recogni...

IDNR reminding hunters not to use drones

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:55:18 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) -- The Illinois Department of Natural Resources(IDNR) is reminding Illinois Residents Wednesday not to use drones while hunting.According to an Illinois news release, INDR and the Illinois Conservation Police have received several inquiries about the use of drones for scouting and tracking animals. 3 Illinois sheriff’s deputies suffer burns in dynamite disposal operation “Not only is drone use for hunting unlawful in Illinois, it goes against the spirit of fair chase and widely accepted hunting ethics,” said Jed Whitchurch, director of the IDNR Office of Law Enforcement. “Illinois Conservation Police officers will be monitoring for drone use during the fall and winter hunting seasons. We encourage all hunters to familiarize themselves with the Wildlife Code, abide by the law, and have a safe and successful hunting season.”The unlawful use of drones while hunting could lead to enforcement action, including the seizure of unlawfully used equipment.The fall h...