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Georgia county seeking to dismiss lawsuit by slave descendants over rezoning of their island homes

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — County commissioners in Georgia are asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit by Black residents descended from slaves who fear new zoning changes will force them to sell their island homes in one of the South’s last surviving Gullah-Geechee communities.Residents and landowners of the tiny Hogg Hummock community sued in October after McIntosh County commissioners voted to weaken zoning restrictions that for decades helped protect the enclave of modest homes along dirt roads on largely unspoiled Sapelo Island. The zoning changes doubled the size of houses allowed in Hogg Hummock. Black residents say larger homes in the community will lead to property tax increases that they won’t be able to afford. Their lawsuit asks a judge to declare the new law discriminates “on the basis of race, and that it is therefore unconstitutional, null, and void.”Attorneys for the county filed a legal motion Nov. 20 asking a Superior Court judge to dismiss the lawsuit, noting that G...

SEC extends agreement to keep football championship in Atlanta at least through 2031

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The Southeastern Conference championship game will remain at Mercedes-Benz Stadium through at least 2031 under a contract extension announced Thursday.The SEC joined stadium operator AMB Sports and Entertainment and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority in announcing the agreement ahead of the 32nd annual title game Saturday, matching No. 1 Georgia — the two-time defending national champion — against No. 8 Alabama.The previous deal was set to expire after the 2026 game. Under the new agreement, the SEC also can exercise a five-year option that would keep the game at the 71,000-seat retractable roof stadium near downtown Atlanta through 2036.Atlanta began hosting the SEC championship in 1994 after the first two games were held at Birmingham’s Legion Field. The Georgia Dome was the site through 2016, when that stadium was replaced by the current facility built next door. “The SEC football championship game is one of the premier events in college sports and M...

B.C. files application for Canada’s first unexplained wealth order, minister says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s solicitor general says the government has filed the first-ever application to secure an unexplained wealth order in Canada.Mike Farnworth says the notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court is the start of a series of similar applications, which are powerful tools that “put those engaging in illegal activity on notice.”A statement from Farnworth says the province “will not tolerate criminals prospering in our communities” and it will pursue illegally acquired properties, luxury vehicles, money laundering schemes and businesses operating as fronts.The minister says amendments to the Civil Forfeiture Act earlier this year allow the province to pursue “ill-gotten gains more efficiently” and compel people to explain how they acquired their wealth when there are suspicions about criminal activity.Farnworth says B.C. will take forfeited assets obtained through unexplained wealth orders and redirect them to comm...

Buttonville airport in Markham officially closes as property will be redeveloped

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

After decades of operations in Markham, the Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport has officially closed ahead of an eventual redevelopment.News of the airport’s closure surfaced in June after a letter was issued to tenants and staff saying the lease with Cadillac Fairview, the owners of the property since 2010, was set to end on Nov. 30. Derek Sifton, the president of Torontair Ltd. and whose family previously owned the airport, said on Thursday there were mixed emotions with the closure. He said the facility was a community asset that was unable to keep operating without government assistance. “It’s sad to see everything that took place here come to an end. It’s hard to believe. When you wind down an operation, you see what goes into keep(ing) this place going with 330,000 square feet of hanger and ops space,”“Now it’s completely empty and we’re busy running around trying to empty each nook and cranny of the operation.” Related:...

Six West Virginia jail employees indicted in connection with death of incarcerated man

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Five former correctional officers in West Virginia were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday in connection with the 2022 death of an incarcerated man who was beaten while handcuffed and restrained in an interview room and later a jail cell. All five officers, as well as a former lieutenant, are also charged with trying to cover up their actions, the U.S. Justice Department said. The indictments in West Virginia’s southern U.S. District Court come weeks after two different West Virginia corrections officers pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge stemming from the fatal beating of the same inmate, 37-year-old Quantez Burks. Burks was a pretrial detainee at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver who died less than a day after he was booked into the jail on a wanton endangerment charge in March 2022.The case has drawn scrutiny to conditions and deaths at the Southern Regional Jail. Earlier this month, West Virginia agreed to pay $4 million to sett...

A new study says about half of Nicaragua’s population wants to emigrate

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Lawyer Isabel Lazo’s jobs are being systematically canceled by Nicaragua’s increasingly repressive government. Lazo worked at a university before the government of President Daniel Ortega closed it. She now is employed at a nongovernmental organization that she fears will soon be shuttered too. Nicaragua’s poisonous mix of economic decline and repression has led to about half of the country’s population of 6.2 million saying they want to leave their homeland, according to a new study, and 23% saying they had contemplated the possibility deeply enough to consider themselves “very prepared” to emigrate. “A large proportion of them have already taken concrete steps to try to get out,” said Elizabeth Zechmeister, the director of the AmericasBarometer study “The Pulse of Democracy in the Americas.” The study, which was released on Wednesday, shows that the number of Nicaraguans wanting to leave rose from 35% five years ago to almost half today, and that about 32%...

Work resumes on $10B renewable energy transmission project despite tribal objections

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The tractors are back at work clearing land and building access roads for a $10 billion transmission line that the Biden administration describes as an important part of the nation’s transition to renewable energy. But Native American leaders have vowed to keep pushing the federal government to heed their concerns about the project cutting through a culturally significant valley in southern Arizona.Billed by California-based developer Pattern Energy as an infrastructure undertaking bigger than the Hoover Dam, the SunZia transmission line will stretch about 550 miles (885 kilometers). It will funnel electricity from massive wind farms in central New Mexico to more populated areas as far away as California.Executives and federal officials gathered in New Mexico in September to break ground on the project, touting negotiations that spanned years and resulted in the necessary approvals from the Bureau of Land Management.In Arizona, federal land managers briefly halted work this month al...

Two NDP MPs vote against Liberal budget motion over Indigenous, gender issues

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Two New Democrat MPs voted against a government motion to introduce legislation on the fall economic statement today.That’s despite the NDP pledging their support on key votes as part of a supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals.MPs Leah Gazan and Lori Idlout say they are sending a message to the Liberal government that it is failing on Indigenous and gender issues.The MPs say they voted against the motion because it failed to address challenges facing Indigenous communities, including a sizeable infrastructure gap.They also called out Ottawa’s decision to end pandemic-era funding to women’s shelters that support those fleeing from domestic violence.The rest of the NDP MPs voted in favour of the motion, but Gazan and Idlout say they have the support of their caucus members and leader.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2023.The Canadian Press

‘It’s an expensive event’: GreekTown BIA pursuing other options to save Taste of the Danforth

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

The head of the GreekTown on the Danforth BIA is hopeful there will be a 2024 edition of Taste of the Danforth but cautions it will not take place with local businesses footing the entire bill.Mary Fragedakis says at the annual general meeting of the BIA on Tuesday business owners were presented with two options in their annual budget, a 2 per cent levy increase which did not include a program for Taste of the Danforth or a much larger increase of 19 per cent which did include Taste.She says small businesses in this section of the Danforth can’t afford a substantial increase to their property tax levy in order to fund a party for the City of Toronto.“In light of all of the difficulties that many small businesses are facing, like the repayment of CEBA loans by the third week of January, and the rising cost of labour and the rising cost of just doing business in this city, our members told us that they did not support significant increases to the levy,” Fragedakis te...

Ferry operators around the country to receive $200M in federal grants to modernize fleets

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 19:00:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Biden administration will issue $200 million in grants to modernize the country’s ferry systems, officials announced Thursday. The grant program will focus on expanding ferry service in rural communities, helping them acquire modern ferries, including electric boats, and upgrading shore infrastructure to support low-emission ferry service, officials said. Twelve ferry operators in the territory of American Somoa and the states of California, Washington, Alaska, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina will receive grants, said Nuria Fernandez, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.“The grants help transit agencies make investments to increase reliability, improve connections to other modes of transportation, and bring older ferry systems into a state of good repair,” she said during a news conference at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority will rece...