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Strike to begin Wednesday if no deal reached: federal public service union

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

The country’s largest federal public service union says if a deal isn’t reached with the federal government by 9 p.m. eastern time on Tuesday, it will strike this Wednesday.The Public Service Alliance of Canada says some 155,000 employees are prepared to walk off the job, including 35,000 workers from the Canada Revenue Agency.Mediated contract negotiations between the union and the Treasury Board continued over the weekend in what the union described as the government’s final chance to reach a deal.The biggest sticking point in the talks appears to be pay increases, as the union is calling for raises to keep up with the rising cost of living and historic inflation.The government offered a roughly two per cent average wage increase each year over a five-year period, while the union has pushed for annual raises of 4.5 per cent.The union also wants to put greater limits on contract work, more anti-racism training and provisions for remote work on the table.

Taliban close education centers in southern Afghanistan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan authorities are closing education centers and institutes supported by non-governmental groups in the south until further notice, officials said Monday. The centers are mostly for girls, who are banned from going to school beyond sixth grade.The Education Ministry ordered the Taliban heartland provinces of Helmand and Kandahar to close education centers and institutes while a committee reviews their activities. It did not provide an explanation for the closures and a ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment.Mutawakil Ahmad, a spokesman for the Kandahar education department, confirmed that education centers’ activities are suspended until further notice. “The decision was made after people’s complaints,” said Ahmad, without providing further details.Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during their previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking over the country in 2021 as U.S. and ...

Why are teen girls in crisis? It’s not just social media

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

Anxiety over academics. Post-lockdown malaise. Social media angst.Study after study says American youth are in crisis, facing unprecedented mental health challenges that are burdening teen girls in particular. Among the most glaring data: A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed almost 60% of U.S. girls reported persistent sadness and hopelessness. Rates are up in boys, too, but about half as many are affected. Adults offer theories about what is going on, but what do teens themselves say? Is social media the root of their woes? Are their male peers somehow immune, or part of the problem? The Associated Press interviewed five girls in four states and agreed to publish only their first names because of the sensitive nature of the topics they discussed. The teens offered sobering — and sometimes surprising — insight.“We are so strong and we go through so, so much,” said Amelia, a 16-year-old Illinois girl who loves to sing and wants to be a surgeon. She ...

Statistics Canada says wholesale sales down 1.7% at $85.6B in February

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says wholesale sales fell 1.7 per cent to $85.6 billion in February after hitting a record high in January. The agency says wholesale sales were down in five of the seven subsectors it tracks as a drop in motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories and the food, beverage and tobacco subsectors helped lead the way lower.Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories fell 5.5 per cent to $12.4 billion in February as motor vehicles sales dropped 6.2 per cent.Meanwhile, the food, beverage and tobacco products subsector fell 3.9 per cent to $15.1 billion.The machinery, equipment and supplies subsector rose 1.5 per cent to $18.2 billion in February. In constant dollar terms, overall wholesale sales fell 1.8 per cent in February.This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2023.The Canadian Press

Opposition figure’s sentence underlines Russian intolerance

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

The 25-year treason sentence imposed on prominent Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday was a particularly severe show of Russian authorities’ intensifying intolerance for criticism of the war in Ukraine and other dissenting opinions.Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia for years has been closing in on those who challenge the Kremlin, arresting countless protesters, cracking down on independent news media and adding inconvenient organizations to its register of “foreign agents.”The hostility to opposition increased within days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when it adopted a law criminalizing the spreading of “false information” about its military. The charges against Kara-Murza, who has been behind bars since his arrest a year ago, stem from his March 2022 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives in which he denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Here is a look at other notable cases of imprisoned opposition figures:ALEXEI NAVALNYThe most p...

Skip traffic and take a ferry to work? Waterfront Toronto looking into new commuting option

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

What if you could hop on a water taxi and skip Toronto highway traffic?Waterfront Toronto, an organization that oversees revitalization projects along the city’s lakefront, is looking into alternatives when it comes to the daily commute.Specifically they want to analyze the feasibility of a ferry service that could move people between waterfront neighbourhoods. The agency has issued a request for proposals for a water taxi and sea bus study.“The revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront has had an impact on the marine uses in this area, resulting in a growing demand and interest in Lake Ontario by water-based recreation and transportation,” reads the request for proposals.“Waterfront neighbourhoods are being transformed with new and improved transportation networks that prioritize walkability and cycling, as well as provide access to the existing and planned local and regional transit infrastructure.”Waterfront Toronto is looking at a three-tiered expansio...

GOP states targeting diversity, equity efforts in higher ed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

Frustrated by college diversity initiatives he says are “fomenting radical and toxic divisions,” Texas state Rep. Carl Tepper set out to put an end to diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education. The freshman Republican lawmaker filed a bill to ban such offices. Three months later, he filed a new version of the legislation doing the same thing. The difference? Tepper switched the wording to align with a new model bill developed by the Manhattan Institute and Goldwater Institute, a pair of conservative think tanks based in New York and Arizona, respectively.Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30 bills this year targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, an Associated Press analysis found using the bill-tracking software Plural. The measures have become the latest flashpoint in a cultural battle involving race, ethnicity and gender that has been amplified by prominent Republicans, including former Presiden...

Officials respond after Missouri teen at wrong home is shot, prompting protests

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — Officials in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday addressed the shooting of a teenager allegedly by a homeowner after the 16-year-old visited the wrong home Thursday night.The city's chief of police and mayor as well as the Clay County prosecuting attorney gathered for a news conference that coincided with a protest organized by The People’s Coalition called “We Take Care of Our Own," held near the scene of the incident.Nearly 1,000 people marched to the home where 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot. Man dead in overnight shooting in Westport KCPD Chief Stacey Graves on Sunday promised a complete and thorough review.“I want everyone to know that I’m listening, and I understand the concern that we are receiving from the community,” Graves said. “The information that we have now, it does not say that it’s racially motivated," Graves said. "That’s still an active investigation, but as a chief of police, I do recognize the racial components of this case. I do r...

Backstory: An ode to wiffle ball

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

In this piece from Backstory, Larry Potash gives us an ode to that sport of backyards and schoolyards — wiffle ball — seen through the eyes of a Chicago family that’s been playing each other for 30 years.Backstory airs Saturday nights at 7 p.m. and Sunday nights at 11 p.m. on WGN-TV and on the WGN+ app, available on Amazon, Roku, Apple TV, and any smart TV. Check out the Backstory podcast at WGNtv.com/Backstory via Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's what it takes to be middle class

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:36:52 GMT

(The Hill) – What does it take to be middle class? Roughly $82,000 a year in household income in San Francisco, $74,000 in Seattle and $60,000 in Washington, D.C., a new study says, but only $24,000 in Cleveland. Researchers at SmartAsset, the consumer finance site, tabulated the low and high end of middle-class salaries in 100 large cities and every state.  The analysis adopts a Pew Research Center definition of middle class: Americans whose incomes range from two-thirds to two times the median household income. (Pew also offers a nifty “Are you in the American middle class?” income calculator.) By applying Pew’s multiplier to city and state medians, the SmartAsset report reveals an income spread that defines what it means to be middle class in different parts of the United States.  These airlines have lost, damaged the most luggage: data “America’s middle class has many different faces,” said Jaclyn DeJohn, managing editor of economic analysis at SmartAsset. ...