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Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats will be removed from grounds surrounding historic fortress

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hundreds of stray cats that roam a historic seaside tourist area of Puerto Rico’s capital where they are considered both a delight and a nuisance will be removed over the coming year, under a plan unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. National Park Service.The agency said it will contract an animal welfare organization to remove the 200 cats estimated to live on 75 acres surrounding a fortress at the San Juan National Historic Site that the federal agency operates in Old San Juan. If the organization fails to remove the cats within six months, the park service said it would hire a removal agency.Cat lovers responded to the plan with dismay, but the agency noted that the felines can transmit illnesses to humans. “All visitors will benefit from the removal of a potential disease vector from the park,” the park service plan stated.The six-month timetable to remove the cats is unrealistic, said Ana María Salicrup, secretary of the board of directors for the nonprofit...

OpenText divesting AMC business to Rocket Software for US$2.3 billion

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

OpenText Corp. says it’s divesting its AMC business to Rocket Software, Inc. for US$2.275 billion in cash.The Waterloo, Ont.-based company says it has reached a definitive agreement with Rocket, a Bain Capital portfolio company.OpenText says its AMC business provides mainframe modernization and connectivity software to more than 100,000 customers. It says the transaction will reinforce and expand OpenText’s focus on cloud and artificial intelligence and will result in more predictable growth. The company says the net proceeds of the deal will be used to reduce its debt. OpenText expects the deal to close in its fourth fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2024. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:OTEX)The Canadian Press

Coastal GasLink pipeline mechanically complete before year-end deadline

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

VANCOUVER — The Coastal GasLink pipeline that stretches across northern B.C. is mechanically complete ahead of the company’s year-end deadline. A statement from TC Energy Corp. says history has been made by finishing Canada’s first pipeline to the West Coast in over 70 years. The company announced in October that the installation of the pipe was finished, while mechanical completion means the end of construction, successful hydrotesting of the full 670-kilometre line and engineering reviews. The statement says Coastal GasLink’s team is in the field getting ready to deliver gas to the LNG Canada processing and export facility in Kitimat, on B.C.’s northern coast. It says that while construction crews have been packing up, reclamation work still needs to be finished and some of the workforce will return next spring. Planning for the pipeline began a decade ago and the project has been delayed by protests, including train blockades by First Nations across the co...

City of Toronto to close its 4 vaccine clinics after provincial funding ends

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

It’s been more than two years since the City of Toronto widely opened its COVID-19 vaccine clinics for bookings, but the municipality’s four remaining facilities are set to close.Toronto Public Health officials announced its four clinics (Scarborough Town Centre, North York Civic Centre, Cloverdale Mall and Metro Hall) will be closing on Dec. 13. They said it’s being done because operational funding from the Ontario government as part of its COVID-19 response is expiring at the end of the year.The move comes amid a recent, increased push to get COVID-19 boosters and influenza vaccines.“The response has been tremendous and certainly our clinics have been fully booked for many, many weeks, and have had a steady flow of people,” Dr. Vinita Dubey, Toronto Public Health’s associate medical officer of health, told CityNews.She noted the clinics in more recent months have expanded to provide a number of other shots, including ones students need at school...

Texas city approves $3.5 million for child who witnessed aunt’s fatal shooting by officer

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas city on Tuesday approved a $3.5 million settlement for a child who witnessed his aunt being fatally shot through a window of her home by a police officer four years ago.The Fort Worth City Council approved the settlement for Zion Carr, who was 8 when Atatiana Jefferson was killed. Zion testified at the trial last December of Aaron Dean, the former officer who was convicted of manslaughter in Jefferson’s death and sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.Part of the settlement will help cover Zion’s current needs and living expenses, and a savings plan will be established to pay for his college education, according to the city.Zion’s mother, Amber Carr, died in January 2023 after battling congestive heart failure.Dean, who is white, shot Jefferson, a 28-year-old Black woman, on Oct. 12, 2019, after a neighbor called a nonemergency police line to report that the front door to Jefferson’s home was open. It emerged at trial that Zion and ...

Lawmaker helping lead impeachment of Philadelphia’s prosecutor will run for state attorney general

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A state lawmaker who is helping lead the effort to impeach Philadelphia’s elected prosecutor on Tuesday became the newest candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, an office that played a critical role in court defending Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the presidential battleground.Rep. Craig Williams, a Republican who represents part of suburban Philadelphia, has said for months that he planned to run for the state’s top law enforcement office in 2024.Williams, a former federal prosecutor and former U.S. Marine Corps pilot and prosecutor, is the third Republican to declare his candidacy. In an announcement video, Williams says, “I’m running for attorney general because I know how to deal with violence. … I fought the bad guys on the battlefield and I beat them in the courtroom.”Democrats are facing a five-way primary for an office that will be open after next year.Williams is a second-term member of the state House who ran unsucce...

Larry Fink, photographer who contrasted social classes, dead at 82

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Larry Fink, an acclaimed and adventurous photographer whose subjects ranged from family portraits and political satire to working class lives and the elite of show business and Manhattan society, has died at 82.Robert Mann, owner of the Robert Mann Gallery, told The Associated Press that Fink died Saturday at his home in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania. Mann did not cite a specific cause of death, but said that Fink had been in failing health. “He was a dear friend and a real free spirit,” Mann said. “I’ve known people like Robert Frank and Ansel Adams and Larry stood out. He was an exceptional and unique individual, a very unconventional man, not only in his personality, but in his photography.”A “self-described Marxist from Long Island,” Fink was best known for “Social Graces,” a 1979 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in which black and white photos of wealthy New Yorkers were juxtaposed against shots of everyday life of families in Martins Creek, Fink...

Encampment fire reported near Toronto’s Fort York National Historic Site

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

Toronto police and fire crews are responding to an encampment fire near the city’s Fort York National Historic Site.Authorities received multiple reports of a fire in the Fort York Boulevard and Lake Shore Boulevard West area just after 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.A police spokesperson said there are reports that the fire had spread to surrounding trees. A video shared on X shows a fire near the Fort York National Historic Site. The City of Toronto currently has the incident listed as an encampment fire, with crews dispatched to the Fleet Street and Angelique Street area at around 5:40 p.m.It’s unclear if there are any injuries.Big fire in Fort York? pic.twitter.com/aH4VxNCY0P— Jeffrey Hall (@hallofjeff) November 28, 2023

Alimentation Couche-Tard reports net earnings of US$819.2 million in second quarter

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

LAVAL, Que. — Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. says its net earnings for the second quarter were US$819.2 million, up from US$810.4 million a year earlier.The Laval, Que.-based company says total merchandise and service revenues were US$4.1 billion, up one per cent from last year. Alimentation Couche-Tard says same-store merchandise revenues decreased by 0.1 per cent in the U.S. and 0.2 per cent in Europe but rose 1.6 per cent in Canada. President and CEO Brian Hannasch says the company saw softening in U.S. same-store sales driven by weakness in the cigarette category and compared with a strong second quarter a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were 85 cents US, up from 79 cents US during the same quarter last year. The company says same-store road transportation fuel volumes decreased by 1.5 per cent in the U.S. and 0.9 per cent in Europe but increased three per cent in Canada. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:AT...

Liberals say pharmacare bill unlikely to pass this year, despite promise to NDP

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:16:06 GMT

OTTAWA — Government House leader Karina Gould warned Tuesday the Liberals are unlikely to get a pharmacare bill passed by the end of the year, despite their promise to do so in an agreement with the NDP.“I don’t think we’re going to get it passed by the end of this year, but we’ll definitely keep working,” Gould said on Parliament Hill. The two parties are still hammering out the details of a bill and it’s a “productive” conversation, she added.  In the end, she said, “I’m quite confident that we’ll land it.”The supply-and-confidence deal, in which the New Democrats are supporting the Liberals in key House of Commons votes, included a commitment to pass a Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of 2023.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on his way into question period today that the government is “ready to go” on putting forward legislation. But he said the government wants to make it happen in concert with the NDP. “W...