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US greenlights major transmission line for renewable energy in Western states

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government is greenlighting a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send primarily wind-generated electricity from the rural plains of New Mexico to big cities in the West. The Interior Department announced its record of decision for the SunZia project Thursday. It comes about a year after an environmental review was completed as part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to clear the way for major transmission projects as it looks to meet climate goals and shore up the nation’s power grid. The SunZia transmission project in New Mexico has been more than a decade in the making. The U.S. Defense Department and others initially raised concerns about the path of the high-voltage lines, prompting the developer to submit a new application in 2021 to modify the route.New Mexico’s renewable energy authority is among those invested in the SunZia project, which would include roughly 520 miles (836 kilometers) of transmissi...

Bank of Canada highlights risk of bank sector stresses, high household debt

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says he has no plans to cut interest rates any time soon, even as higher rates intensify risks associated with household debt and vulnerabilities in the Canadian financial system.“Nobody should expect that interest rates are going to go back down to the very low levels that we’ve seen over the last decade or so,” Macklem told a news conference discussing the central bank’s latest financial system review Thursday.“We’re in a transition period to a world where interest rates are going to be higher than what many people have gotten used to and that transition is going to take a while. And through that transition that creates some risks.”In its annual financial system review, which highlighted the central bank’s concerns around the ability of Canadian households to manage their debt amid that transition, the central bank said it is more concerned than it was a year ago about the risks posed by that debt...

Convoy attack in eastern Congo leaves 4 dead, including 3 park rangers

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Four people were killed in an ambush Thursday in Congo’s Virunga National Park when their convoy of vehicles was attacked by gunmen, according to a statement by local conservation authorities. A further six people were injured, including villagers from the Lubero Territory where the attack took place.The convoy included technical staff for rural development projects working in the park area, according to the North Kivu branch of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN). Three of the dead were “ecoguards” working for the conservation group. The ICCN statement said the attack was carried out by “a group of armed men belonging to the Mai Mai,” a network of local militia groups.Eastern Congo has been wracked by violence from a myriad of armed groups for more than a quarter-century. While much of it has been linked to the struggle for control of the region’s vast mineral wealth, other tensions have stemmed from long-standing inter-communal di...

Trial over Kari Lake’s last challenge to loss in Arizona governor’s race enters 2nd day

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Attorneys for Kari Lake entered a second day Thursday of trying to build a case for the only remaining legal claim in her challenge to the Arizona governor’s race.A judge in suburban Phoenix is allowing Lake a three-day trial to prove county election officials failed to perform higher level signature verifications on mail-in ballots that had been flagged. Maricopa County has a failed process for verifying thousands of ballot signatures that even some of its own workers question, her attorneys argued in court Wednesday.Lake’s lawyers spent most of the trial’s first day showing video and taking testimony from two previous signature screeners who alleged election workers were overwhelmed. Only one of her claims has yet to be dismissed in her case challenging her loss six months ago to Democrat Katie Hobbs.“There’s simply no way to review signatures with respect to procedures,” said Kurt Olsen, one of Lake’s attorneys.The former TV anchor was...

Michigan boy who used slingshot to save sister says he ‘was just lucky’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

ALPENA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 13-year-old Michigan boy who used a slingshot to save his 8-year-old sister from an attempted kidnapping said he was “freaking out” and simply reached for something that could stop the attack. “So I grab my slingshot and open the window and I grab two things — a marble and a gravel rock or something,” Owen Burns told WWTV/WWUP-TV in Cadillac in northern Michigan.Police said Owen struck the 17-year-old assailant in the head and chest, and his sister was able to get away.“I was just lucky. He’s just a big target because he’s not like one Pepsi can,” Owen said.The attempted kidnapping occurred on May 10 outside the family’s home in Alpena Township. Owen’s sister was outside looking for mushrooms.“I say, ‘OK, be careful.’ … And then, boom, something happens,” he recalled.Owen heard a scream while playing video games but figured his sister was just “messing around” with friends. A second scream alarmed him. “So I l...

White House expected to withdraw federal appeals court nomination, in judicial defeat for Biden

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare judicial defeat for President Joe Biden, the White House is expected to soon withdraw the nomination of Michael Delaney for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a person familiar with his confirmation process.Delaney’s nomination lacks the needed votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been made public. The White House declined to comment. Democrats’ inability to secure the necessary votes both in the committee and on the floor is partly due to concerns over a legal brief on abortion that Delaney signed as deputy attorney general in New Hampshire. The brief defended a parental notification law in the state.Delaney also faced scrutiny of his representation of St. Paul’s School, a private boarding school in New Hampshire that was sued in connection with a sexual assault.Delaney said in written testimony to senators that he did not write t...

World War II soldier’s remains identified, will be buried in Tennessee hometown

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The remains of a U.S. Army corporal who was killed in Germany during World War II have been identified and will be buried in his Tennessee hometown, officials said Thursday.Joe A. Vinyard, 23, was assigned to Company A, 774th Tank Battallion as a crew member on a tank in December 1944, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a news release.Vinyard was engaged in battle with German forces near Gey, Germany, when his tank was destroyed by shelling. When his crew regrouped, Vinyard was missing. The U.S. War Department issued a presumptive finding of death in April 1946. A set of unidentified remains recovered from a burned-out tank in Gey that had been buried in Belgium were disinterred in 2021 and sent to a U.S. laboratory for anthropological and DNA analysis. The statement said Vinyard was accounted for on Sept. 9, 2022.Vinyard’s burial will be held on a date to be determined in Maryville, Tennessee, according to the statement.The Associated Press

10K bridges similar to Pittsburgh one that collapsed should be checked for corrosion, report says

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

Investigators looking into the collapse of a Pittsburgh bridge want transportation officials nationwide to examine more than 10,000 other bridges with similar construction to ensure they don’t have the same kind of corrosion that was found on the bridge that collapsed.The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report Thursday that drainage problems on the weathered steel bridge that failed allowed the metal legs to deteriorate over time. It determined Pennsylvania neglected for years to perform the maintenance needed to clear the debris, dirt and leaves that was causing the problem even though inspectors noted the issue.Rust that caused the deterioration of the Pittsburgh bridge’s steel legs and allowed holes to form in the structure was noted on every inspection done since 2005 including one completed just four months before the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed on Jan. 28, 2022. Work was done in 2009 to clear the debris clogging the bridge’s drainage system, b...

Death toll tops 80 after attack in north Nigeria; 7 suspects arrested

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The death toll from an attack by dozens of gunmen in north central Nigeria’s Plateau state has reached 80, local authorities said Thursday, with survivors still searching for bodies days after the incident.The gunmen targeted several villages in the remote Mangu district of Plateau during the attack that started Monday and lasted till Tuesday, according to residents. Burials continued on Thursday in parts of Mangu located 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Jos, the state capital.The police told The Associated Press seven suspects had been arrested. It was a “situation of sporadic shooting across a vast area of different villages,” said Alabo Alfred, the command spokesman.The security crisis in the north-west and central regions of the country has stifled Nigeria’s development, despite its status as Africa’s largest economy and one of its top oil producers. After decades of conflict, current and former pastoralists from the Fulani tribe took up arms against far...

Will dashboard AM radio be saved? Bipartisan bill would require automakers to keep it in new cars

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:15:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pushing to keep AM radio in the nation’s cars.A bipartisan group in Congress on Wednesday introduced the “AM for Every Vehicle Act.” The bill calls on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require automakers to keep AM radio in new cars at no additional cost.The legislation would also require automakers selling cars manufactured before the proposed regulation takes effect to let buyers know if the vehicles don’t come with AM radios.Supporters of preserving AM radio in cars cite public safety concerns. The bill’s sponsors note AM radio’s historic role in transmitting vital information during emergencies, such as communication during natural disasters, especially to people in rural areas.“Carmakers shouldn’t tune out AM radio in new vehicles or put it behind a costly digital paywall,” Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement. He added that the bill aims...