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DeSantis signs record Florida budget, a campaign-ready spending plan boosted by federal dollars

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

(CNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed his state’s budget, a $117 billion spending plan filled with priorities that have already become fodder for the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign.There’s $12 million in there to continue the flights carrying migrants from border states to blue jurisdictions for a second year. Another $25 million was set aside to remake New College, a small liberal arts college on Florida’s west coast, into a new model for a conservative public university. And it factors in tax breaks on babycare products like diapers and a multi-billion dollar expansion of school choice that will allow virtually any Florida K-12 student to attend private schools with taxpayer dollars – both early features of his pitch to Republican families.Over the past two years, DeSantis has spared little expense while molding Florida to his liking. The budget he signed is the largest in state history, with a price tag 30% above the one his predecessor, then-Gov. Rick Sco...

Hungary refuses to join EU startup group over diversity and inclusion aim

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

PARIS — Hungary won’t become a member of an EU startup alliance anytime soon since Viktor Orbán’s right-wing government in Budapest disagrees with the group’s inclusion and diversity efforts. Up until now, 15 EU countries have joined the European Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA), which was created in 2021 aiming to improve and harmonize startup policy across the bloc. But as the only EU country yet to sign a declaration of intent to join, Hungary is holding out on the club, which wants members to sign up to a set of eight policy best practices for startups.“[Hungary] had disagreements on the seventh standard, which was inclusion and diversity,” ESNA’s manager Arthur Jordão told POLITICO at VivaTech, a tech and startup fair in Paris. “From what I know, they didn’t sign for that reason. But whenever they do, we’re ready to embrace them.” The Hungarian government did not respond to POLITICO’s repeated requests for comment...

Nathan Carman, charged with killing mom at sea and accused of shooting grandfather, dies ahead of trial

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

Authorities say Nathan Carman, a 29-year-old man facing charges for killing his mother during a 2016 fishing trip off the coast of New England, has died ahead of his upcoming trial.In a Notice of Dismissal filed with the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, law officials said “the United States received information from the U.S. Marshal that Carman died on or about June 15, 2023.”The notice was submitted by the office of United States Attorney for the District of Vermont Nikolas Kerest on Thursday morning. According to the office, Carman was in the custody of the U.S. Marshall as a federal inmate at the time of his death.Carman, a resident of Vernon, VT, previously pleaded not guilty in 2022 to fraud and first-degree murder charges in the death of his mother, Linda Carman.His indictment came six years after he was found on a raft by authorities, days after he had departed Rhode Island with his mother for a fishing trip. Their boat reportedly sank and...

Nathan Carman dies awaiting trial for his mother’s death in 2016 fishing trip off New England

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The man charged with killing his mother at sea during a 2016 fishing trip off the coast of New England in what prosecutors say was a scheme to inherit millions of dollars has died, federal authorities said Thursday.Nathan Carman, 29, of Vernon, Vermont, was scheduled to face trial in October. He had pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman of Middletown, Connecticut.The eight-count indictment also says Carman shot and killed his wealthy grandfather John Chakalos at his home in Windsor, Connecticut, in 2013 but does not charge him with murder in his death.In September 2016, Carman arranged a fishing trip with his mother, during which prosecutors say he planned to kill her and report that his boat sank and his mother disappeared in the accident.He was found floating in an inflatable raft eight days after leaving a Rhode Island marina with his mother, who was never found. Prosecutors allege he altered ...

Former Bosnian prison camp guard charged with lying to get refugee status, citizenship in US

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

By MARK PRATT (Associated Press)BOSTON (AP) — A former guard at a notoriously harsh and violent prison camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina where Serbian prisoners were killed, sexually assaulted, tortured and starved has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied to get refugee status and, ultimately, his U.S. citizenship, prosecutors said.Kemal Mrndzic, 51, who now lives in the Boston area, is charged with using a fraudulently obtained U.S. passport; possessing and using a fraudulently obtained naturalization certificate and fraudulently obtained Social Security card; making a false statement to federal law enforcement officers; and engaging in a scheme to conceal his involvement in persecution during the Bosnian War, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston said in a statement Wednesday.An email and voicemail seeking comment was left with Mrndzic’s attorney on Thursday. A listed telephone number for Mrndzic, who lives in Swampscott north of Boston, was no longer in service.H...

Hope dims in search for survivors of migrant boat sinking that killed at least 78

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — Kassem Abu Zeed caught the first flight from Germany to Greece after hearing that his wife and brother-in-law were aboard a trawler crammed with migrants that went down in the Mediterranean Sea.As rescue ships fanned out Thursday in search of hundreds of people missing in the tragedy, relatives of the migrants gathered in the southern port city of Kalamata to look for their loved ones.“The last time we spoke was eight days ago, and she told me that she was getting ready to get on the boat,” Abu Zeed told The Associated Press Thursday. “She had paid $5,000” to smugglers. “And then we all know what happened.”Abu Zeed, a 34-year-old Syrian refugee living in Hamburg, said Esra Aoun, 21, and her 19-year-old brother, Abdullah, risked the dangerous crossing from Libya to Italy in a battered trawler in an effort to join him legally in Germany.The chances that she survived the sinking, which killed at least 78, were low. A huge search-and-rescue operation involving a ...

May home sales, prices rise year-over-year as real estate market heats up

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

Canada’s real estate market continued to heat up in May with home sales posting their first year-over-year increase since June 2021 and the average price seeing its first year-over-year gain in a year.The findings released by the Canadian Real Estate Association on Thursday suggested a marked shift away from the sluggish sales and slumping prices the country has seen since last year. “The rebound has been evident for a number of months at this point, but May really drove the point home,” CREA chair Larry Cerqua said in a news release.The association said the number of home sales in May totalled 54,241, a 1.4 per cent gain compared with the same month last year.Seasonally adjusted sales for May were 40,220, up 5.1 per cent compared with April.The increase came after months of buyers sitting on the sidelines awaiting a bottom for home prices. But as they waited, the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates, helping push up mortgage rates. After pausing earlier this year, ...

Peacock strikes naming rights deal with home of Emmy Awards in downtown Los Angeles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles is changing its name to Peacock Theater, and the open-air plaza next to it will be known as Peacock Place.The changes take effect July 11 as part of a multi-year naming rights deal between Peacock, NBCUniversal’s premium streaming service, and sports and live entertainment giant AEG.The deal announced Thursday is Peacock’s first naming rights agreement.The 7,100-seat theater hosts concerts and special events, including the Emmy Awards. The 40,000-square-foot plaza will change its name from XBOX Plaza. The deal includes adding a LED marquee at the corner of Figueroa Street and Olympic Boulevard featuring two video boards that will promote Peacock’s series and special events at adjacent L.A. Live, the sports and entertainment district. Also part of the plans are a branded content studio.“We are looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with Peacock to create new content and programming to complement our e...

US sanctions North Korean couple accused of helping to procure equipment for ballistic missiles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on a North Korean husband and wife living in Beijing accused of helping to procure equipment for ballistic missiles that ended up in the hands of North Korean and Iranian customers. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Choe Chol Min and his wife Choe Un Jong work through North Korea’s Second Academy of Natural Sciences, a state organization that conducts research for the nation’s ballistics missiles program, to help procure equipment for buyers. Treasury says Choe Chol Min worked with North Korean weapons trading officials to buy equipment for Iranian customers. His wife is accused of coordinating at least one order for dual-use bearings that are used in North Korean ballistic missile production.The isolated Asian nation uses a network of representatives in foreign countries, including China and Iran, to illegally import restricted materials used to create ballistic missiles and other weapons in violati...

Canadians opting for shorter mortgage terms as they hope for declining interest rates

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:47:24 GMT

OTTAWA — With mortgage rates at their highest level in more than a decade, home owners and prospective buyers tend to focus on getting the best rate. While shopping around, however, experts say borrowers shouldn’t forget about term length.Samantha Brookes, founder and CEO of Mortgages of Canada, says that before the Bank of Canada started raising interest rates last year, a five-year term was the norm for most homebuyers, but that’s changed. People are now going shorter in hopes that interest rates will come back down in the coming years.“It makes sense because if the Bank of Canada starts decreasing rates, let’s say next year, and you’re in a three-year (term), you only have two years left,” she says.“You break your mortgage, you have a two-year penalty, but your interest rates are much lower and your payments are more affordable. So that’s why people are going for the shorter term mortgage right now.”The “term” of a...