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Medway family desperately awaiting Gaza escape route after Biden announces aid deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

A lawyer for a family of American citizens from Medway trapped in Gaza near a crossing with Egypt said they are still desperately awaiting word on whether they can escape the gruesome warzone even as airstrikes pounded buildings Thursday morning near where they were staying.Attorney Sammy Nabulsi, who represents Abood Okal, Wafaa Abuzayda, and their 1-year-old son, Yousef, said the family is stranded near the Rafah Crossing, a border checkpoint in Southern Gaza with Egypt, and is running out of food and water. The family traveled to Gaza for a two-week trip to visit Abuzayda’s parents, Nabulsi said.Airstrikes have hit the area in recent days, Nabulsi said, including one Thursday that struck buildings just over 100 yards from where the family is sheltering. In a message sent on WhatsApp, Okal told Nabulsi that “windows shattered and walls cracked.”“My son was sleeping under a window. (Wafaa) had to snatch him out in fear of glass falling on him,” Okal said in a message sent to Nabuls...

Haunted Ghost Town offers immersive experience in North County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

ENCINITAS, Calif. -- For a ghost story rooted in local history, head to the Heritage Ranch in North County for an immersive experience filled with fun and spookiness.Guests will be taken on a tour of an imaginative lost Gold Rush settlement, known as the Haunted Ghost Town, which has risen from the midst for a second year this fall. As far as the setting goes, the grounds are filled with restored historical buildings to recreate the doomed mining town of Bitter Gulch. There’s a dog-friendly speakeasy hidden in this Carlsbad corn maze "This is the San Dieguito Heritage Museum. It's a collection of historic buildings that they have gathered from Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas and brought here to be able to be preserved for people to see what that history is and was," said Scott Gregory, who leads the Ovation Theatre which has joined forces with the museum to host this event. Guests can expected to come face-to-face with "souls who remain trapped" in the old mining town as they s...

Trial of a man accused of killing a New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail nears conclusion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Prosecutors in the case of a man charged with fatally shooting a retired New Hampshire couple on a hiking trail argued Thursday that his repeated lies, bid to flee and a gun in his backpack offered a trail of evidence to show he was guilty.Defense attorneys for Logan Clegg, 27, who is charged with second-degree murder counts of knowingly and recklessly causing the deaths of Stephen and Djeswende “Wendy” Reid, argued that authorities charged the wrong man.The newly retired couple, who did international development work, were shot multiple times after going for a walk on the trail near their Concord apartment April 18, 2022. Their bodies, found several days later, had been dragged into the woods and covered with leaves, sticks and debris, police said. Clegg also is charged with several counts of falsifying physical evidence and being a convicted felon in possession of a gun. “The state has proven to you over the past three weeks now that the defendant, and the def...

Maryland police officer suspended after arrest on Capitol riot charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A Maryland police officer who fatally shot a stabbing suspect earlier this year was arrested Thursday on charges that he assaulted police during a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.The Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release that it has suspended Officer Justin Lee without pay and is “taking steps to terminate his employment” after his indictment on felony charges.The police department said it hired Lee roughly one year after the Jan. 6 riot and didn’t know about his alleged involvement in the attack until July 2023, when it learned he was under FBI investigation.“The actions of one individual do not define the entire department,” the department said.Lee, 25, of Rockville, Maryland, had been on administrative leave since he shot and killed a man suspected of stabbing four people on July 22, 2023, according to the police department.Officers had responded to calls for a stabbing at a thrift store in Silv...

Problem plagued luxury Yorkville condo The One put into receivership

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

A luxury condo and retail development at Yonge and Bloor streets that was billed to be the tallest of its kind in Canada has been placed in receivership after it was plagued by construction delays and costs overruns that left it $1.6 billion in debt.Lenders forced the project into receivership after claiming the developers failed to make payments on those growing debts. The One — an 85 storey hotel, condo and retail development by Sam Mizahi and Jenny Coco — was supposed to be finished by December 2022 at a cost of $1.4 billion.So far, concrete columns and walls have only been poured up to the 40th floor with a projected completion date of March, 2025, according to court documents filed by lender KEB Hana Bank, a South Korea-based financial institutionThe project is also expected to run $600 million over budget, according to the documents.Apple Inc., was reportedly slated to open its flagship store in the main floor of The One’s retail space. But the court documents stat...

On ‘Enlisted,’ country star Craig Morgan gets a little help from his friends like Blake Shelton

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In July, country music star Craig Morgan reenlisted in the Army Reserves on the historic Grand Ole Opry stage. At age 59, the process required a waiver and an extensive physical test. It also inspired the title for the new EP he had been working on: “Enlisted,” out Friday. The six-song collection includes two new tracks and a few reimaginations of his hits, alongside A-list and up-and-coming collaborators like Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, and Jelly Roll.The Opry holds particular meaning to Morgan — it’s not only a stage he’s frequented, but it is also where he spent his last evening with his 19-year-old son Jerry, who drowned in 2016. “After what happened, happened, everything takes on a new meaning,” he says. “Us not having his physical presence, (he) was missed.”Previously, Morgan served 17 years in the Army and Army Reserve with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions as an E-6 Staff Sergeant and Fire Support Specialist. He ...

Brothers charged in home renovation scam spanning Etobicoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

Toronto police have charged two brothers in an alleged home renovation scam across Etobicoke. Police said that between June and October, two men went door to door to speak to homeowners about exterior home renovations. The two men used the company name “Town and Country Paving” and would falsely advise homeowners of issues with their property. Related: Toronto seeing surge in home reno scams, likely due to warm weather, police say It’s alleged that the men would request a deposit for the renovations and would refuse to complete the job unless additional payments were made. The pair would leave jobs unfinished, and police said some properties were damaged.Investigators arrested 30-year-old Dominic Ward and 23-year-old John Ward, both of Milton. The two men face similar offences, including two counts of fraud over $5,000, mischief/damage to property not exceeding $5,000, mischief over $5,000 and the possession of property obtained by crime over $5,00...

One-on-one with Olivia Chow as she marks 100 days as Toronto Mayor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

Friday will mark 100 days since Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow took office. CityNews has reviewed what she has managed to tackle in the first few months of her tenure, but how does Chow believe she has done and what will she be focused on next? Mark McAllister: We’re marking 100 days. Many would say it’s a bit of a honeymoon period those first few months. Have you had a chance to make an impact to this point, in your opinion?Olivia Chow: Honeymoon? That’s very sweet. I hope so. I’m focused on what I can do beyond 100 days, but looking back, public transit. We sorted services so that you don’t have to wait so long for buses and subways. And a lot of housing, whether it is funds to buy some of the buildings to prevent people from being renovicted, creating affordable housing in the meantime.McAllister: There’s also been things that haven’t quite gone your way necessarily, when it comes to refugees, for instance, being able to try and find...

Garcelle Beauvais teams with Kellogg Foundation for a $90M plan to expand ‘Pockets of Hope’ in Haiti

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Humanitarian donations to conflict-ravaged Haiti have dramatically declined since the assassination of its President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, but the W.K. Kellogg Foundation wants to reverse that with a new $90 million campaign it calls “Pockets of Hope.”The initiative, which the foundation launched in September with a commitment of $30 million over three years, will focus on community-level efforts to provide education, health care and economic development, said La June Montgomery Tabron, the foundation’s president and CEO. She hopes the foundation’s success in providing support to communities in Haiti even while gang violence escalates in the country will convince other nonprofits to help as well.“Part of this campaign is to help other funders understand that there is an ecosystem in Haiti that is functioning,” Montgomery Tabron said. “It’s about the local organizations. We’re trying to explain to partners that we can help connect them to those plac...

Former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston on Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:10 GMT

Former Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston is one of eight names on the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Baseball Era managers/executives/umpires ballot for the class of 2024.A candidate needs 75 per cent of votes to be elected.The results will be announced Dec. 3, with the ceremony next year in Cooperstown, N.Y.Managers Davey Johnson, Jim Leyland and Lou Piniella, umpires Ed Montague and Joe West, and baseball executives Hank Peters and Bill White also are on the ballot.Promoted to manager in 1989 after serving as hitting coach, Gaston led the Blue Jays to their first and only World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. He was let go late in the 1997 season.The Blue Jays rehired Gaston as manager midway through 2008 and he stayed in that role through the 2010 season.The 79-year-old compiled an 894-837 record as a major-league manager across 12 seasons.