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Williams: Postal Service should steer clear of electric trucks

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

The Postal Service is sputtering out of control. On Nov. 14, the Board of Governors announced that America’s mail carrier lost $6.5 billion in fiscal year 2023. That’s just a drop compared to more than $100 billion in net losses over the past 15 years.Yet, the agency has not learned its lesson, pushing profligacy to ever-higher gears.The service is mulling replacing more than 60% of its fleet with electric vehicles, up from the originally proposed 10%. This foolish move will result in higher taxpayer expenses, less reliable vehicles, and even slower mail delivery times. The agency must reverse course and reject wasteful fleet procurement policies.The fleet of more than 200,000 has seen better days. The average mail truck is more than 20 years old, and spontaneous combustion poses a real safety issue for thousands of agency employees. America’s mail carrier finally decided in the past decade to buy 160,000 replacement vehicles.The challenge has been to purchase these trucks in a cost...

The REAL DEAL

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

Skiing is expensive. This season, Ski Wednesday will share some great ways to save as the season goes on, bringing you more affordable ways to get out on the snow.If you are the parent of a fifth grader, amazing news: Your child can ski free (yes – we said free) for the entire season (up to 90 ski days) at any of Ski Vermont’s 20 alpine and 24 nordic ski spots..The program is open to any current fifth grade student, regardless of state or country of residence. Some holiday restrictions apply, and students must be accompanied by an adult with a valid lift ticket, trail pass or season pass. There is a $30 administration fee. You can apply at https://skivermont.com/fifth-grade-passport.

Dear Abby: Wife wants young lover to satisfy needs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

Dear Abby: I’ve been married to the most amazing woman for 30 years. She became a personal trainer and is in incredible shape. I’m not in her kind of shape, and I can’t perform too well sexually, even with ED meds. She recently asked if she could have her (sexual) needs taken care of by a young client she trains. I’m OK with it, since I’m sympathetic to her desires, as long as she doesn’t fall in love. Your thoughts? — Wants What’s Best for HerDear Wants: The three of you are adults and capable of making your own decisions, but I am hesitant to bless this because it is so risky. Make sure to iron out all of the variables that may occur. She might fall in love with her client; he may fall in love with her. (Or not.) If he decides to move on, what will the effect be on her and you? Before you agree to this arrangement, think long and hard.Dear Abby: My stepdaughter, “Lily,” who lives in Canada, is married to an American, R...

Suspect arrested after Ramona SWAT standoff

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

RAMONA, Calif. — A suspect was arrested Tuesday after a pursuit through San Diego led to an hours-long SWAT standoff in Ramona, authorities said.Christopher Payne, 29, of Ramona, was arrested on suspicion of pistol whipping a man in the Mid-City area of San Diego and leading police on a chase to Ramona, the San Diego Police Department told FOX 5. A SWAT officer took the man into custody after several rounds of tear gas.The incident started around 11:30 a.m. when SDPD received a call of two men fighting on Monroe Avenue in San Diego's Kensington neighborhood, the department told FOX 5. The caller reported that one of the two appeared to have a gun at the time of the altercation.Officers then spotted one of the men fleeing the scene on a motorcycle and attempted to pull him over, but authorities say he did not yield. According to SDPD, a pursuit ensued and the suspect led officers all the way to a large building in Ramona. Arrest made after Mater Dei Catholic High School receives sh...

Rosalynn Carter set for funeral and burial in the town where she and her husband were born

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Rosalynn Carter will receive her final farewells Wednesday in the same tiny town where she was born and that served as a home base as she and her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, climbed to the White House and spent four decades thereafter as global humanitarians.The former first lady, who died Nov. 19 at the age of 96, will have her hometown funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where she and her husband spent decades welcoming guests when they were not traveling. The service comes on the last of a three-day public tribute that began Monday in nearby Americus and continued in Atlanta. Rosalynn Carter will be buried in a plot she will one day share with her husband, the 99-year-old former president who first met his wife of 77 years when she was a newborn, a few days after his mother delivered her. “She was born just a few years after women got the right to vote in this small town in the South where people were still plowing their fields behind mul...

Winning the presidential nomination is all about delegates. But how does the process work?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — By now, Americans should be well aware that the process of electing a president isn’t like electing a senator or governor. That’s especially true during the presidential primaries, when the major political parties use a complex and decentralized system to pick their nominees to compete in November. That complicated process was highlighted in the nomination plans released Tuesday evening by the Republican National Committee, which lays out numerous ways in which states will assign the delegates that a candidate must accumulate to win the party’s nod to become its presidential candidate in 2024. Although voters across the country cast ballots for their preferred presidential candidate during the presidential primary season, it’s actually the delegates to the national party conventions who select the presidential nominees for each major party. Much like in the general election, where a candidate needs a majority of votes in the Electoral College to win the White...

Michigan to join state-level effort to regulate AI political ads as federal legislation pends

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is joining an effort to curb deceptive uses of artificial intelligence and manipulated media through state-level policies as Congress and the Federal Elections Commission continue to debate more sweeping regulations ahead of the 2024 elections. Campaigns on the state and federal level will be required to clearly say which political advertisements airing in Michigan were created using artificial intelligence under legislation expected to be signed in the coming days by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. It also would prohibit use of AI-generated deepfakes within 90 days of an election without a separate disclosure identifying the media as manipulated.Deepfakes are fake media that misrepresent someone as doing or saying something they didn’t. They’re created using generative artificial intelligence, a type of AI that can create convincing images, videos or audio clips in seconds. There are increasing concerns that generative AI will be used i...

Opening statements to begin in the final trial in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — Opening statements are scheduled Wednesday in the third and final trial over the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died after he was stopped by police in suburban Denver.Jurors will have to decide if two paramedics committed a crime when they gave the 23-year-old Black man an overdose of the sedative ketamine after he was forcibly restrained by officers in Aurora. Three officers already have gone to trial and two were acquitted, including one who is back at work for the police department. The third officer was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.The last trial is expected to explore largely uncharted legal territory since it is rare for medical first responders to face criminal charges.Aurora Fire Department paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and several counts each of assault — all felonies. Shortly after the ketamine injection, McClain, a mass...

A mom chose an off-the-grid school for safety from COVID. No one protected her kid from the teacher

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — When Raynesha Cummings enrolled her three teenagers in a private school, she hoped to keep them safe from COVID-19. It was small, with no frills — there was just one teacher and the school didn’t serve lunch — but it worked for her family, at least initially.Her son graduated in May at the top of his class, with hopes of attending a trade school. But when he started applying, schools said they would not recognize his diploma.Then, a couple weeks later, Cummings says she discovered the teacher had been texting her 16-year-old daughter to offer money for sexually explicit photos. The teacher was arrested, and Cummings learned he previously had been accused of raping a child.Cummings didn’t know it when her kids started at Second Chance Academy, but the school had no accreditation, no approval from the state and no one supervising the teacher she left her kids with every day.“If I had known that, I would never pay my money for them to go there,” Cummings said. “...

Conservative attack on government regulation reaches the Supreme Court

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:46:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to fight fraud, part of a broad attack on regulatory agencies led by conservative and business interests.The case before the justices Wednesday involves the Biden administration’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that threw out stiff financial penalties imposed on hedge fund manager George R. Jarkesy by the SEC.The high court’s decision could have far-reaching effects on the SEC and other regulatory agencies, and it’s just one of several cases this term that could constrict federal regulators. The court’s conservative majority has already reined them in, including in last May’s decision sharply limiting its ability to police water pollution in wetlands.Last year, a divided panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Jarkesy and his Patriot28 investment adviser group on three separate issues.It f...