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Ticker: R.I bank to pay $9M settlement; UAW eyes strike expansion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

A community bank in Rhode Island agreed to pay $9 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in lending discrimination by redlining majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, a U.S. attorney announced Wednesday.A complaint accused Washington Trust Company of failing to provide mortgage lending services to majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Rhode Island from 2016 to 2021. The bank was founded in 1800, and according to the Justice Department is the oldest community bank in the nation.Washington Trust CEO Edward O. “Ned” Handy III said the bank vehemently denies the allegations. The bank entered into the agreement to avoid the expense and distraction of potential litigation, and to allow the bank to focus fully on serving the needs of its customers and communities.“We believe we have been fully compliant with the letter and spirit of fair lending laws, and the agreement will further strengthen our focus on an area that has always been important to us,...

Gun owners fire back at proposal to curtail carry rights, say they will not comply

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

Massachusetts gun owners are absolutely fed up with threats to their Second Amendment rights.Boston, MA - September 27:Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Terry Page joins gun rights advocates as they rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Gun rights advocates rally on the Boston Common. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Boston, MA - September 27:Cheryl Moreau and Laurie Tetreault join gun rights advocates a...

Orioles activate Ryan Mountcastle from 10-day injured list; team will wear No. 5 patch for Brooks Robinson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

The Orioles activated first baseman Ryan Mountcastle from the 10-day injured list and optioned outfielder Ryan McKenna to Triple-A Norfolk, the team announced before Wednesday night’s game against the visiting Washington Nationals.Mountcastle was placed on the injured list Sept. 20 with shoulder inflammation. He had missed the previous six games because of injury following an early exit against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 13. Manager Brandon Hyde said Mountcastle’s batting practice Tuesday went well, but the Orioles wanted him to get another day facing high-velocity pitches from the machine.Mountcastle is not in the lineup Wednesday night but will be available off the bench. Hyde said Mountcastle will start Thursday against Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale in hopes of getting “as many at-bats as possible” before the regular season ends Sunday.Before being sent to the injured list, Mountcastle was slashing .269/.327/.780 with 18 home runs and 67 ...

Late-night shows sketch quick return  

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

NEW YORK — TV’s late-night hosts planned to return to their evening sketches and monologues by next week, reinstating the flow of topical humor silenced for five months by the newly ended Hollywood’s writers strike.Bill Maher led the charge back to work by announcing early Wednesday that his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher” would be back on the air Friday.By mid-morning, the hosts of NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS had announced they’d also return, all by Monday. “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver was slated to return to the air Sunday.Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which had been using guest hosts when the strike hit, announced Wednesday that it would return Oct. 16 “with an all-star roster of guest hosts for the remainder of...

Kitten rescue attempt on Coronado Bridge causes three-car crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

CORONADO, Calif. -- A kitten running amok on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge caused quite a backup Tuesday morning.A driver headed eastbound on the bridge saw a young cat darting between traffic lanes and stopped to try to rescue it, Coronado police said in a Facebook post. That's when two other cars collided with the parked vehicle. At least two of the drivers involved had minor injuries, police said. Last supermoon of 2023: What to know about this week’s harvest moon Firefighters and a police officer found the feline hiding in the "Zipper," or the machine that moves the center divide, police said. The kitten was not hurt and was taken to PAWS of Coronado, an animal shelter.A kitten rescue attempt caused a three-car crash on the Coronado-San Diego Bridge on Sept. 26, 2023. (Coronado Police Department/Facebook)

Remains found of Colorado woman Suzanne Morphew, who went missing on Mother’s Day 2020

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Searchers have found the remains of a woman who was reported missing on Mother’s Day in 2020 after she did not return from a bike ride near her home in the Salida area in southern Colorado.Agents with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation found the remains of Suzanne Morphew, 49, during an unrelated search near the small southern Colorado town of Moffat on Friday, and her remains were positively identified Wednesday. Morphew’s husband, Barry Morphew, had been charged in her presumed death, but prosecutors dropped charges against him last year just as he was about to go on trial. Prosecutors had been barred by a judge from calling most of their key witnesses for repeatedly failing to follow rules for turning over evidence in his favor. That included DNA evidence linked to sexual assault cases in other states that raised the possibility of a different person being involved.At the time, prosecutors said they wanted more time to find Suzanne Morphew’s body. B...

Report says Alberta energy regulator followed rules in Kearl mine wastewater release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

EDMONTON — A third-party report into the release of millions of litres of oilsands wastewater at Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine has found Alberta’s energy regulator followed its rules in keeping the public and area First Nations informed — but concludes those rules are significantly lacking.“There were no areas of non-adherence to stated policies and procedures,” says the Deloitte report, prepared for the regulator’s board.But the report finds those procedures deeply lacking and recommends the regulator firm up and add details to many of its notification protocols. Essential terms such as “emergency” are left undefined, it says. Guidelines for handling water samples are not provided. Details were vague on how First Nations and other area communities were notified.“There are no documented procedures for internal communication and escalation to management or the board,” it said. “We have received feedback from both Indigenous Peop...

Hajdu says ‘co-developed’ First Nations water legislation to be tabled this fall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

OTTAWA — Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu says she hopes to table a piece of legislation this fall that she says is the closest the federal government has come to co-developing law with First Nations.“It’s really, to me, very important that it reflects the input of Indigenous Peoples,” she said.The proposed bill would aim to begin addressing the protection of fresh water within First Nation communities, as well as water that flows into them.“I’m pretty excited about it,” Hajdu said in a wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press. “It’s an opportunity to show the country that we can do things together — even in this very Westminster parliamentary setting.”The new bill is expected to come more than one year after Canada repealed the 2013 Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act in June 2022.The federal government that introduced the bill said it aimed to support the development of federal regulations to support First N...

Late-night TV shows plan their returns after Hollywood writers strike ends

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — TV’s late-night hosts planned to return to their evening sketches and monologues by next week, reinstating the flow of topical humor silenced for five months by the newly ended Hollywood’s writers strike.Bill Maher led the charge back to work by announcing early Wednesday that his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher” would be back on the air Friday. By mid-morning, the hosts of NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS had announced they’d also return, all by Monday. “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver was slated to return to the air Sunday.Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” which had been using guest hosts when the strike hit, announced Wednesday that it would return Oct. 16 “with an all-star roster of guest hosts for the remainder of 2023.” The plans for “Saturday Night Live” were not immediately clear.The strikes have had a “catastrophic”...

2 Central American migrants found dead in Mexico after trying to board a moving train

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:24 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two migrants from Honduras and El Salvador died Wednesday trying to board a moving train in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, authorities said.Coahuila’s department of public security said the bodies of two male migrants, aged 22 and 23, were found Wednesday morning along the railway tracks near the town of Escobedo, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the Texas border.The deaths are the latest in a string of accidents involving Central and South American migrants traveling north through Mexico on a network of trains known collectively as “The Beast” in a bid to reach the U.S. border.A sudden surge of migrants last week triggered the closure of one U.S. border crossing and forced Mexico’s largest railroad to suspend dozens of freight trains.Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday his office will invite about ten foreign ministers from countries where he suggested most migrants originate.López Obrador said the meeting, expected to take ...