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‘Spread cheer:’ Wu announces toy drive partnership with Marine Corps, urges residents to donate

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

Boston is now collecting toy donations and searching for volunteers for the annual toy drive in partnership Toys for Tots program, Mayor Michelle Wu announced Tuesday.“Every child deserves to feel the joy of opening a gift and finding fun in a new toy or book, and the holiday season is the perfect time to give back to our communities,” said Wu in a release. “I encourage Boston residents to donate to the City’s annual toy drive and spread cheer to our neighbors in need.”Toys for Tots, led by the U.S. Marine Corps, collects new, unwrapped toys and books to distribute to children in need around the holidays. Donations will be accepted at various locations around Boston through Dec. 11.Additionally, residents can volunteer at the toy drive warehouse in the Boston Convention Center. Volunteer opportunities are available via sign-up online at the boston-ma.toysfortots.org site though Dec. 20.“The holiday season is a great time to come together as a community ...

OpenAI’s unusual nonprofit structure led to dramatic ouster of sought-after CEO

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Unlike Google, Facebook and other tech giants, the company behind ChatGPT was not created to be a business. It was set up as a nonprofit by founders who hoped that it wouldn’t be beholden to commercial interests.But the arrangement got complicated.While OpenAI later transitioned to a for-profit model, its controlling shareholder remains the nonprofit OpenAI Inc. and its board of directors. This unique structure made it possible for four OpenAI board members — the company’s chief scientist, two outside tech entrepreneurs and an academic — to oust CEO Sam Altman on Friday.The abrupt removal of one of the world’s most sought-after AI experts led to an employee revolt that has put the entire organization’s future in jeopardy and underscored the unusual arrangement that sets OpenAI apart from other tech enterprises.It’s exceedingly rare for major tech companies to have such a structure.Facebook parent Meta, as well as Google and others, are essentia...

UK police recover the bodies of 4 teenage boys who went missing during a camping trip

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British police said Tuesday the bodies of four teenage boys who had been missing since they left for a weekend camping trip have been found inside their overturned car.Police in Wales said the bodies of the boys, who were reportedly 16 to 18 years old, were recovered from the car that appeared to have left a highway near Tremadog in Gwynedd, northwest Wales. The vehicle was upside-down and partially submerged in water, police said.A search was launched for Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris after they failed to return home to Shropshire, England from an overnight camping trip to the Snowdonia area.“At present, this appears to have been a tragic accident, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the four young men at this very difficult time,” said police superintendent Owain Llewellyn.Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, said the boys’ deaths were “devastating news.”The Associated Press

Federal judge says Pennsylvania mail-in ballots should still count if dated incorrectly

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania without accurate handwritten dates on their exterior envelopes must still be counted if they are received in time, a judge ruled Tuesday, concluding that rejecting such ballots violates federal civil rights law.The decision has implications for the 2024 presidential election in a key battleground state where Democrats have been far more likely to vote by mail than Republicans. In the latest lawsuit filed over a 2019 state voting law, U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter ruled that county boards of election may no longer reject mail ballots that lack accurate, handwritten dates on their return envelopes. Baxter said the date — which is required by state law — is irrelevant in helping elections officials decide whether the ballot was received in time or whether the voter is qualified to cast a ballot.The GOP has repeatedly fought in court to get such ballots thrown out, part of a campaign to invalidate mail-in ballots and mail-in voting in Pennsylv...

Federal government posts $8.2 billion deficit between April and September this year

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government recorded a budgetary deficit of $8.2 billion between April and September, $3.9 billion of which was in September. The finance department says in its monthly fiscal monitor that the deficit between April and September compared to a surplus of $1.7 billion during the same period last year. Government revenues increased by $3.5 billion, or 1.7 per cent, a reflection of higher higher interest revenues and other non-tax revenues.Program expenses excluding net actuarial losses were up $8.9 billion, or 4.8 per cent, from the same period a year earlier.Public debt charges were up $5.7 billion, or 33.1 per cent, largely due to higher interest rates but partly offset by lower Consumer Price Index adjustments on Real Return Bonds.Net actuarial losses decreased by $1.1 billion, or 23.2 per cent, compared with the same period last year.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023.The Canadian Press

Congo and the UN sign a deal for peacekeepers to withdraw after more than 2 decades and frustration

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s foreign minister and the head of the United Nations stabilization mission in Congo signed agreements Tuesday to end the presence of U.N. peacekeepers after more than two decades in the Central African nation.Congolese Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula told national television that the ceremony marked the end of a collaboration “which has proved its limits in a context of permanent war, without the longed for peace being restored to eastern Congo.”In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi called for an accelerated withdrawal of the 15,000 peacekeepers. Earlier this month, he told Congress that “the phased withdrawal of the U.N. mission must be responsible and sustainable.”While no firm timeline was announced Tuesday, observers say it’s unlikely to accelerate the withdrawal before the current election cycle is completed.Tshisekedi seeks another term in the Dec. 20 presidential election. Already ...

House Republicans issue a subpoena to deputy prosecutor in Hunter Biden’s case

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans issued a subpoena Tuesday to a senior federal prosecutor involved in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, demanding answers for what they allege is Justice Department interference in the yearslong case into the president’s son. Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, called on Lesley Wolf, the assistant U.S. attorney for Delaware, to appear before the committee by Dec. 7, according to a copy of the congressional subpoena obtained by The Associated Press. “Based on the Committee’s investigation to date, it is clear that you possess specialized and unique information that is unavailable to the Committee through other sources and without which the Committee’s inquiry would be incomplete,” Jordan wrote in an accompanying letter to Wolf. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The subpoena to Wolf is the latest in a series of demands Jordan and fellow Republican chairmen have made as ...

Video shows Hwy. 427 blocked off for apparent street racing, suspects fled: OPP

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say they were called about suspected street racing taking place on a blocked-off section of Highway 427 early last Saturday morning.OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt tells CityNews that officers were called at around 12:37 a.m.By the time they arrived on the scene, all the vehicles fled the area.One person was cited for speeding, Sgt. Schmidt said.A video of the apparent incident posted to social media shows the highway appearing to be totally blocked off to accommodate racers and dozens of spectators, with cars parked along the side of the highway.Street Racing On????Hwy427. Via: ( @areacode416ix ) #Hwy427 #Toronto #ONHwys #RoadSafety #streetrace #racing #OPP #onpoli #traffic pic.twitter.com/1lsXX16yBK— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) November 20, 2023In the brief video clip, two cars appear to be racing while someone lights fireworks in the background.

Migrant camp construction begins at former Jewel-Osco lot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

CHICAGO -- A former Jewel-Osco on the city's South Side may soon turn from a vacant lot into a migrant camp.At 115th Street and Halsted Street, a construction fence now stands where a Jewel-Osco once stood as plans are underway to covert the vacant lot into a migrant encampment.On Tuesday, Alderman Ronnie Mosley informed residents that the city is conducting environmental analysis and testing before winterized tents are installed.  Gov. Pritzker announces $160M in funding for migrant emergency response "We’re expecting in the next, I would say, two weeks or so to get those assessments back to let us know if that site will actually be viable to move forward," Alderman Mosley said.For weeks, residents of Morgan Park and elsewhere have been speaking out against the Johnson administration moving migrants into their community."This is absolutely a disgrace," South Side resident Annette Cain said. "Why would you put our taxpayer dollars on migrants and not on the people who’ve been livi...

Judge overseeing Delphi murders case against Richard Allen suffers 'urgent medical condition'

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:58:08 GMT

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. — Fran Gull, the Allen County Judge specially assigned to oversee the 2017 Delphi double murders case against Richard Allen, has not been handling her recent caseload amidst health issues and hospitalizations.According to a statement sent to FOX59/CBS4 by an Allen Superior Court official, Judge Gull has been working from home recently following a hospital stay where she received treatment for an urgent medical condition.The statement, which was sent Tuesday by Allen Court administrator John McGauley, said that Judge Gull consulted with a doctor on Nov. 2, 2023, after feeling sick for several days. The judge had met with attorneys in the Delphi case just two days prior on Oct. 31. Judge Gull says Richard Allen had access to Delphi documents all along and wasn’t hindered "Her doctor concluded that she required treatment for an urgent medical condition," McGauley's statement read. "Judge Gull was subsequently admitted to a Fort Wayne hospital for inpatient treatmen...