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Battenfeld: You can’t fight Michelle Wu’s City Hall

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

You can’t fight Michelle Wu’s City Hall – and if you do try, expect some old school hardball tactics to send you packing.That’s the message Wu’s sending out to employees and critics who dare challenge her, with the release of a summary of an “internal” affairs police report against a fired anti-vaccine police sargent.Wu’s police department – or Wu herself – put out the summary report about terminated Sgt. Shana Cottone to disgrace her and rally public sentiment against her.This handoff to media outlets is the worst kind of heavy-handed politics, the equivalent of shooting a mosquito with a cannon.Now Wu or her new supposedly progressive police commissioner is going after one of the mayor’s most public critics. Firing her wasn’t enough, they had to shame her, too, with a Machiavellian smear job.The shocking details of the report include things like Cottone wouldn’t leave a pizza restaurant when she was supposed to, and allegedly followed Wu with her car.These acts may not be appropri...

From video games to trash-talking, competitive bonds among Orioles’ top young stars fuel return to contention

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

Gunnar Henderson knows how dangerous Adley Rutschman can be with the game on the line.“You can just tell by his face: He gets locked in,” Henderson said. “You want to keep it away from him or get him on his heels. It’s tough to do, but you’ve got to be more strategic.”Henderson wasn’t talking about the approach to attacking a key at-bat against his predecessor as baseball’s top prospect. He was referring to the only way to beat Rutschman in Spikeball.The net-and-ball game is one of the several ways in which the Orioles’ many young stars go head-to-head, forming the competitive bonds they hope will usher in Baltimore’s return to prominence. That group — helmed by Rutschman and Henderson, their first two draft picks in 2019, and pitchers DL Hall and Grayson Rodriguez, their top selections in 2017 and 2018 — will arrive in force in 2023 after several of them made their first major league contributions in last seaso...

Near-Earth asteroid 2023 DZ2, Dizzy, will ‘get very close’ but won’t crash into Earth this weekend

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

A newly discovered asteroid will safely whiz by Earth this weekend, as the 115-foot space rock approaches us at a staggering 17,000 mph.The large near-Earth asteroid titled 2023 DZ2, nicknamed Dizzy, will “get very close” but it won’t crash into Earth, according to astronomy experts.While close approaches are a regular occurrence, one by an asteroid of this size happens only about once per decade.“This is the kind of encounter that happens about once a decade, so it’s not once in a lifetime but it doesn’t happen every day,” Davide Farnocchia, navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the Herald on Wednesday.The exceptionally close and rare approach to Earth will happen on Saturday, but the best time to try to get a look at Dizzy will be Friday night.“You would need to have a pretty good telescope to see it because it won’t be bright enough to see with the naked eye,” said John Boisvert, curriculum ...

Toxic lead paint chips falling from Tobin Bridge onto Chelsea homes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

Lab testing has shown toxic amounts of lead contained in paint chips apparently stripped from the Tobin Bridge by weather and time which are raining down onto the homes and streets of Chelsea.“With all of the work that has been done on the Tobin Bridge over the last number of years, we all believed that the bridge was deleaded,” Roseann Bongiovanni, executive director of GreenRoots, told the Herald. “To learn that the lead is still falling off the bridge 45 years after lead was banned from paint, it’s unbelievable to us all that this is a major problem now in 2023.”Residents in Chelsea’s Ward Eight grew concerned recently when they started finding paint chips in their yards and on the sidewalks surrounding the Tobin Bridge.“I see it every time I walk out my door. I’ve lived here for four plus years and the ‘allergy’ I have only hits when I’m at home. I thought it was the trees. Never thought about the bridge,” Garron DeRamus, the owner of Wildcat ...

Library association reports record book ban attempts in 2022

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries continue to surge, setting a record in 2022, according to a new report from the American Library Association being released Thursday.More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage inducing.”Thursday’s report not only documents the growing number of challenges, but also their changing nature. A few years ago, complaints usually arose with parents and other community members and referred to an individual book. Now, the requests are often for multiple removals, and organized by national groups such as the conservative Moms for Liberty, which has a mission of “unifying, ed...

Etobicoke house fire leaves woman in life-threatening condition

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

A woman is fighting for her life in hospital after an early morning house fire in Etobicoke.The one-alarm fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. Thursday on Brussels Street in the area of The Queensway and Park Lawn Road.Fire crews say a woman was rescued from the second floor of the home and given lifesaving treatment on scene before being rushed to hospital.She remains in hospital in life-threatening condition.The fire has since been put out. There is no word on the cause.Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg says police and the Ontario Fire Marshal are on scene investigating.Our fire investigations team will work in collaboration with @TorontoPolice and @ONFireMarshal to complete the origin, cause and circumstances investigation. The fire has been extinguished. Our crews will remain on scene as operations continue. @TPFFA— Matthew Pegg (@ChiefPeggTFS) March 23, 2023

Australia sets wording of Indigenous Voice referendum

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government on Thursday released the wording of a referendum question that promises the nation’s Indigenous population a greater say on policies that effect their lives.Australians are expected to vote sometime between October and December on a constitutional amendment that would enshrine a new body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. The Voice would be an elected group charged with advocating Indigenous interests, but would not have a vote on laws.An emotional Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the body was needed to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. “We urgently need better outcomes because it’s not good enough where we’re at in 2023,” Albanese told reporters.The Voice was originally proposed by a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocates in 2017.Megan Davies, an Indigenous lawyer who consulted with grassroots communities over years to develop the Voice proposal, described the decision on the referendum ...

Taiwan recalls ambassador as Honduras switches ties to China

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan says it has recalled its ambassador to Honduras amid moves by the Central American country to establish formal diplomatic ties with China.Taiwan and China have been locked in a battle for diplomatic recognition since the sides split amid civil war in 1949. Honduras President Xiomara Castro announced last week that her government will seek to establish diplomatic relations with China, which would imply severing relations with Taiwan. The switch would leave Taiwan recognized by only 13 countries, as China spends billions to win recognition for its “One China” policy.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed reports that Honduras switched relations after Taiwan declined requests to buy $2.5 billion in the country’s sovereign debt. “We welcome the Honduran government’s positive statement to develop relations with China. We are ready to establish and develop bilateral relations on the basis of equality and mutual respect,” Wang said at...

Prince William honors Poles who fell in past wars in Warsaw

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prince William placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on Thursday, paying his respects to the Poles who have lost their lives in past wars during a visit aimed at honoring Poland’s efforts to help Ukraine today.The heir to the throne’s visit to Poland underscores Britain’s support for an ally on the front line of efforts to help refugees displaced by Russia’s war in Ukraine and to assist the Ukrainian military in fighting off the invasion.William laid a wreath in Poland’s national colors, white and red, and bowed his head solemnly at the memorial to the fallen Poles. He is expected to meet next with President Andrzej Duda, one of several meetings on a two day trip to Poland.William began his surprise visit Wednesday by meeting with British and Polish troops in Rzeszow, a city of 200,000 people in southeastern Poland that has become a hub for shipments of military and humanitarian aid bound for Ukraine.“I just wanted to co...

Equatorial Guinea confirms 8 new cases of Marburg virus

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:39:37 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Equatorial Guinea has confirmed another eight cases of the “highly virulent” Marburg virus, a deadly hemorrhagic fever with no authorized vaccine or treatment.The World Health Organization on Thursday said that brings the country’s total number of cases to nine in the outbreak declared in mid-February.There are two known current outbreaks of Marburg on the African continent. Tanzania this week announced eight cases of Marburg, including five deaths. One of the people killed was a health worker.“Our pathogen genomics team will sequence samples from both places … and see if there is a relationship between the current two outbreaks,” the acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ahmed Ogwell, told journalists on Thursday. He said results should be known within the week.The WHO said the new cases in Equatorial Guinea were found in the provinces of Kie Ntem, Litoral and Centro Sur, all with borders with Cameroon and Gabon.“The a...