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As fuel taxes plummet, states weigh charging by the mile instead of the tank

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Evan Burroughs has spent eight years touting the virtues of an Oregon pilot program charging motorists by the distance their vehicle travels rather than the gas it guzzles, yet his own mother still hasn’t bought in.Margaret Burroughs, 85, said she has no intention of inserting a tracking device on her Nissan Murano to record the miles she drives to get groceries or attend needlepoint meetings. She figures it’s far less hassle to just pay at the pump, as Americans have done for more than a century.“It’s probably a good thing, but on top of everybody else’s stress today, it’s just one more thing,” she said of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation initiative, which is run by the state transportation department where her son serves as a survey analyst.Burroughs’ reluctance exemplifies the myriad hurdles U.S. states face as they experiment with road usage charging programs aimed at one day replacing motor fuel taxes, which are generating less each year, in ...

Greeks vote in second general election in 5 weeks, with conservative party favored to win majority

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Polls have opened in Greece in the second general election in less than two months, with the conservative party in power for the last four years a strong favorite to win with a wide majority.The 55-year-old conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is eyeing a second four-year term as prime minister after his New Democracy party won by a huge margin in May but fell short of gaining enough parliamentary seats to form a government. With a new electoral law now favoring the winning party with bonus seats, he is hoping to win enough seats to form a strong majority in the 300-member parliament.His main rival is Alexis Tsipras, the 48-year-old head of the left-wing Syriza party who served as prime minister from 2015-2019, during some of the most turbulent years of Greece’s nearly decade-long financial crisis. Tsipras fared dismally in the May elections, coming a distant second, 20% behind New Democracy. He has been trying to rally his voter base, a task complicated by ...

Sao Paulo’s downtown takes a turn for the worse, with wandering drug addicts harassing residents

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — The decline of the downtown area of Sao Paulo, Brazil has accelerated over the last year. Crack users seem to be everywhere, roaming the central streets of South America’s biggest city. Shop owners worry about robberies and residents fret about muggings. And with a haphazard effort by the city to turn things around, it’s no wonder that for the first time in years locals are moving out. Here are some of the people affected by the crisis:THE SHOP OWNERSBalduino Alvares has worked for about three decades in Sao Paulo’s city center. Recently, he has been forced to arrive at 6 a.m. — an hour earlier than before — so that he can clean the human waste from the curb outside his jewelry shop. It is the worst hour of the 62-year-old’s workday.Alvares sprays a pressure washer, scatters powdered soap and sweeps intensely for about 20 minutes. He steps away to rest his tired back as the sickening result marinates. Then he returns with full energy for another 10 minutes. Th...

Tired of what she says is oppression, woman in Zimbabwe challenges a law banning sex toys

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Sitabile Dewa was content with her sex life when she was married, but after her divorce, she found her prospects for erotic pleasure rather bleak.In socially conservative Zimbabwe, divorced women and single mothers are often cast as undesirable partners for men, and in her frustration Dewa decided she wanted to use sex toys.The problem is sex toys are against the law in Zimbabwe.“I should not be deprived of self-exploration and indulgence in self-gratification,” said Dewa, 35.Part of Zimbabwe’s “censorship and entertainments control” law makes the importation or possession of sex toys illegal as they are deemed “indecent” or “obscene” and harmful to public morals. Owning sex toys can put a woman in prison.Dewa said the law is “archaic” and is challenging part of it in court on the basis that it is repressive and infringes on her freedom. She filed court papers in March suing the Zimbabwe government and seeking to have parts of the law repeal...

Party and protest mix as LGBTQ+ pride parades kick off from New York to San Francisco

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Some of the world’s biggest celebrations of LGBTQ+ pride are set to kick off Sunday, with thousands expected to march in New York, San Francisco and other North American cities in parades that will be part party, part protest.Entertainers and activists, drag performers and transgender advocates are among the grand marshals in parades embracing a unity message this year, as new laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community take effect in several U.S. states.The parades and marches are among a range of events the roughly 400 Pride organizations across the U.S. are holding this year, with many offering programs focused specifically on the rights of transgender people. “The platform will be elevated, and we’ll see communities across the country show their unity and solidarity through these events,” said Ron deHarte, co-president for the U.S. Association of Prides.Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver and Seattle are scheduled to hold their annual pride parades on Sunday. At the parad...

With record heat and drought-stricken woods, Spain’s Catalonia faces perfect wildfire conditions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

SOLSONA, Spain (AP) — Surveying the hills covered with near bone-dry pines stretching to the Pyrenees in the distance, Asier Larrañaga has reason to be on guard.This part of northeast Spain is, like large swaths of the Mediterranean country, braced for wildfires due to the lethal combination of a prolonged drought, record-high temperatures and increasingly dense woods unable to adapt to a fast-changing climate.Larrañaga is one of the top fire analysts for the firefighters of Catalonia charged with safeguarding the region’s homes and landscapes. While grateful that some desperately needed rain has finally fallen in recent weeks, he is ready for the worst — unless July and August buck Spain’s historic trend of being the hottest and driest months of the year.“If we have a normal summer … and conditions of low humidity combined with high temperatures, then we will see fires that quickly expand beyond our extinction capacity. And for areas where it has not rained in May and this mo...

Guatemalans to elect a new president after a tumultuous electoral season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalans will elect a new president and vice president Sunday as well as fill all congress seats and hundreds of local posts after one of the most tumultuous electoral seasons in the Central American nation’s recent history.A little more than 9 million people were registered to vote, but many Guatemalans expressed disappointment with their presidential choices after three opposition candidates were excluded by authorities. A large number of null ballots were expected, and experts said a low turnout was likely.With none of the 22 presidential candidates polling near the required 50% threshold for winning outright, a second round of voting on Aug. 20 between the top two finishers was almost certain. President Alejandro Giammattei, who could not seek re-election, made a push Friday to ease doubts about the electoral process and the widespread complaints, saying the elections are “one more sign that we live in a stable democracy, something that is consolid...

Rockies trade Mike Moustakas to Angels in exchange for right-handed prospect Connor Van Scoyoc

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

The Moose Experiment was short-lived in LoDo.Colorado traded infielder Mike Moustakas to the Angels in exchange for right-handed prospect Connor Van Scoyoc on Saturday night. The trade was announced minutes after Los Angeles blasted the Rockies 25-1 in Colorado’s worst defeat in franchise history.In 47 games this season, Moustakas hit .270 with four homers, 17 RBIs and a .795 OPS. He appeared at first, third and DH for the Rockies, who signed the veteran to a minor-league deal in spring training.In the deal for Van Scoyoc, the Rockies add another starting pitching prospect to a farm system that has a dearth of them. The 23-year-old, an 11th-round pick by the Angels in 2018 out of Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has a 4.40 ERA over four minor-league seasons.After getting bombed in the Arizona Fall League to the tune of a 7.62 ERA in seven starts, Van Scoyoc’s faring well in High-A this season, with a 2.76 ERA in 11 starts. He’s like to start his Rockies...

Rockies suffer worst loss in franchise history in 25-1 obliteration by Angels, give up club-record 13 runs in one inning

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

So ugly you can’t look away, the Rockies have reached the absolute nadir.The Angels obliterated Colorado on Saturday at Coors Field, 25-1, in the Rockies’ worst loss in franchise history.Los Angeles rapped out 28 hits in the baseball bloodbath and set a franchise record for runs. The Rockies, meanwhile, were ripped into infamy by the visiting lineup as Chase Anderson and Matt Carasiti combined to give up a club-record 13 runs in the third inning.“I don’t think about (negative) records,” Rockies manager Bud Black insisted. “It’s one game.”But it didn’t feel like that. It felt like another omen in a season full of them as the Rockies are steering straight toward the cliff ahead of midseason.A red-dotted crowd of 45,274 was on hand for the infamous performance, and they gave a raucous standing ovation to mock the home club when Carasiti finally recorded the third out of that nightmare third.After the Angels tacked on eight more runs...

Angels have a 13-run inning and set franchise records for runs and hits in 25-1 rout of Rockies

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:52:00 GMT

Mike Trout, Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss hit homers on consecutive pitches to open a 13-run third inning and Mickey Moniak capped it win a two-run homer in the Los Angeles Angels’ record-setting 25-1 rout of the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.The Angels set franchise marks for runs and hits (28) in a game and tied team records for runs and homers with their huge third inning.David Fletcher hit a three-run homer to cap an eight-run fourth as the Angels scored 21 runs on 17 hits in the third and fourth innings combined, sending 27 batters to the plate. Fletcher had three hits and five RBIs in his first game since being recalled from Salt Lake City. Hunter Renfroe and Mickey Moniak each had five hits and four RBIs for the Angels, who ended a three-game skid in a big way. Drury had three hits and four RBIs and Trout had three hits and an RBI. Both were replaced in the fifth with the game well in hand. Every Angels starter had one hit, RBI and run scored. Surprisingly absent from th...