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Australia’s government posts $14.2 billion budget surplus after 15 years in the red

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s government reported Friday that it had a budget surplus of 22.1 billion Australian dollars ($14.2 billion) in the last fiscal year, the first time the nation’s books have been balanced in 15 years.The government cited low unemployment and high prices for the country’s commodities, including iron ore, coal and gas. The surplus was equivalent to 0.9% of Australia’s GDP, The positive showing for the year that ended June 30 was larger than the AU$4.3 billion ($2.8 billion) surplus forecast in May. And it was a vast improvement from the AU$77.9 billion ($49.9 billion) deficit forecast ahead of elections in May 2022.But Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he did not expect another budget surplus in the current fiscal year, citing China’s economic problems and recent Australian interest rate rises continuing to weigh on growth.“We’re not currently anticipating a second surplus for the time being,” Chalmers told reporters.In announcing the surplus,...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy set to arrive in Ottawa for first visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

OTTAWA — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to arrive in the national capital for his first official visit to Canada since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. He is planning to meet with top Canadian officials and members of the Ukrainian Canadian community. Zelenskyy is also set to address Parliament on Friday — his first in-person address since the war began.He and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to sign an agreement to continue strengthening economic ties between the two countries.The Ukrainian leader spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York City this week, where Trudeau appealed to other nations to support Ukraine’s war effort and called on Russia to withdraw its troops.Canada has provided more than $4.95 billion in financial support and $1.8 billion in military aid for Ukraine. That includes ammunition, weapons, protective equipment, armoured vehicles and tanks — along with providing training for Ukrainian soldiers in the U.K...

Timeline of key events following Ontario’s decision to develop Greenbelt lands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that he is reversing his decision to open protected Greenbelt lands for housing development.Here is a timeline of events in the Greenbelt controversy:Nov. 4, 2022: Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark announces via news release that Ontario would remove 7,400 acres in 15 different areas of the Greenbelt while adding 9,400 acres elsewhere in order to build 50,000 homes. It contradicted a pledge he made in 2021 not to open up the Greenbelt “to any kind of development.”Nov. 11, 2022: CBC reports that the landowners who stand to benefit from the Greenbelt land removals include prominent developers and that one purchase happened as recently as September.Nov. 30, 2022: Clark says he did not tip off developers ahead of announcing changes to the Greenbelt. Premier Doug Ford says the same a day later.Jan. 6: Ontario Provincial Police say they’re working to determine whether they should investigate the matter.Jan. 18...

Man charged with 1st degree murder in South Side strangling investigation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

CHICAGO — A 63-year-old man has been charged with first degree murder in connection to the homicide investigation where a South Side woman was strangled to death in her garage.Lawrence Curtis Boyle, 63.Lawrence Curtis Boyle, 63, was charged with one felony count of first degree murder Thursday, according to the Chicago Police Department.Police said Boyle was arrested in the Pullman neighborhood Wednesday after he was identified as the man who strangled 30-year-old Sierra Jamison to death in a Grand Crossing garage on Monday. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Woman found dead in South Side garage was strangled; death ruled a homicide: autopsy A family member told WGN News that her mother became concerned when Jamison, who recently moved into the property, stopped answering her phone. When she went over to her daughter's home, she walked through the backyard and into the garage to find Jamison, lifeless, on the ground.An autopsy conducted on Jamison's body by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Off...

'Just shocking': Armed robbery spree rattles residents from downtown to the North Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

CHICAGO — Police believe at least 10 armed robberies were committed within an hour from the Loop to the North Side overnight.Latest police records show robberies for the area were up 54% from 2021 and city-wide robberies are up more than 25% from last year."That’s just shocking and it was unbelievable," said North Side resident Samantha Gada.In the first incident reported by police around 12:50 a.m., a 78-year-old man was walking near the 1900 block of West Wolfram Street when he was approached by six male offenders. The individuals demanded the man to hand over his belongings and he complied. One of the individuals struck the man before fleeing in a dark-colored sedan."I couldn’t believe that people would do something so inhumane, especially, not that it should be done to anyone, but such an elderly man who’s defenseless," Gada said.The man was transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital and has since been released.The 78-year-old man told WGN News he's thankful to be alive, but is sh...

House Republicans at odds over Ukraine could stall government spending

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – The U.S. may be headed toward a government shutdown if Congress does not come up with a compromise to fund the government within the next nine days.Negotiations are ongoing, but House Republicans have yet to reach an agreement on a funding plan within their own party.“I think we are very close to coming up with something among our conference that will reduce spending, will secure our border,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said.Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said some GOP representatives are demanding major cuts to government spending.“Twenty percent to a government that is bloated, that is overspent, that is highly inflationary,” Donalds said.The fight over slashing government spending comes as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the U.S. to ask for continued funding to fight Russia's invasion, adding that the countries should remain “united to defeat the aggressor.”Zelensky spoke at the UN General Assembly earlier in the week and he'll be meeting with ...

Bumbling bear wreaks havoc, destruction in attempt to enter Virginia home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

AMELIA COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A Virginia woman who kept hearing loud banging noises outside of her Amelia County home in the middle of the night checked her security camera the next morning and was shocked to see a large black bear had paid her a visit.Destiny Layman says she had seen deer and rabbits on her front lawn in rural central Virginia before, but never a bear — let alone one beating down the side of her home. Former Mouseketeer in Memphis gets help from community At around 2 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 17, the bear scratched on windows, banged on doors and ripped lights, shingles and siding off of her house. Layman said the beast even left dents on her car and ripped the windshield wipers off."The bear went to my front and my back doors and did the same thing and was beating on the doors," Layman said. "And I also have a camera, so when I had pulled up the camera footage when I first woke up, my camera was facing downward. So the bear had taken the camera and had turned it."Phot...

Austin ISD school board postpones vote on Texas Education Agency's state intervention plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – On Thursday, Austin Independent School District board members decided not to vote on the Texas Education Agency’s plan for how the state will intervene in the district's special education services.Board President Arati Singh said the board will instead vote next Tuesday, Sept. 26. The board has to make a decision before the end of the month. Since March, the Texas Education Agency has said it intends to appoint a conservator to tell the district how to operate matters related to special education.The recommendation was announced alongside the release of a TEA investigative report finding the district had violated more than 40 special education requirements since 2020.The proposed plan would be a less severe type of state intervention than TEA’s original recommendation. Austin ISD decreases special education evaluation backlog, still more than 400 overdue Over the last several weeks, parents have asked the board not to approve the TEA plan, expressing concern about...

Overdoses continue in Hays CISD, but new program could help

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Hays Consolidated School District has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic.Already this year the district has had two students who overdosed."We had two kids that overdosed and thankfully we were able to revive them with Narcan," said Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright.Last year, the district had four students die after taking pills that were laced with fentanyl."Never heard about it in my life before these past two years," said Collin Richardson, a student at Lehman High School.Richardson said now he hears about it more and more, and he even knows people who have lost friends to fentanyl."I feel scared, very scared about it," Richardson said.Timothy Boyd goes to Johnson High School. He said he lost a close friend to the drug."It hurts to say it, but he is not the only life that has been lost from it," Boyd said.Lance Moffett is the athletic director for Hays CISD. He helped put together a program called "Coaches vs Overdoses."The program helps educ...

School resource officers could be returning to schools after AG’s legal opinion, meeting with governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:06:51 GMT

School resource officers removed by some Minnesota law enforcement agencies could be returning to schools soon, legislative leaders and the largest public safety association in the state said Thursday.Minnesota House and Senate Democratic leaders said Thursday they’re committed to holding public hearings about school resource officers in the first two weeks of next year’s legislative session, which begins in February.But Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said Thursday that “hearings don’t change the law. … We need clear, legislative solutions that are passed by the House and Senate and signed by the Governor.”A change in state law this year says school resource officers can’t restrain students face-down or put a student in a hold that restricts their ability to breathe or communicate distress, except when necessary “to restrain a student to prevent bodily harm or death to the student or to another.”MPPOA sent a letter to its...