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Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for 2020 ricin letter sent to Trump in White House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in Washington Thursday in the mailing of a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House. Pascale Ferrier, 56, had pleaded guilty to violating biological weapons prohibitions in letters sent to Trump and to police officials in Texas, where she had been jailed in 2019 after refusing to leave a park area as it closed. Her defense attorney Eugene Ohm said Ferrier has no criminal record prior that and is an “inordinately intelligent” French immigrant who had earned a master’s degree in engineering and raised two children as a single parent.But in September 2020, prosecutors said Ferrier made the ricin, a potentially deadly poison derived from processing castor beans, then mailed it to Trump with a letter that referred to him as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” and read in part: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when ...

UN says it will block road construction that would encroach on a buffer zone in divided Cyprus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The U.N. mission in ethnically divided Cyprus said Thursday it will block construction by breakaway Turkish Cypriots of a road that would encroach on a U.N.-controlled buffer zone and likely raise tensions on the Mediterranean island nation. The world body plans to “block or frustrate construction of the road by non-violent means,” said Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNFICYP. The road would violate the forces’ mandate of maintaining the status quo inside the buffer zone, he added. Work began earlier in the day on the road to connect the village of Arsos in the Turkish Cypriot north with the mixed Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot village of Pyla, just south of the buffer zone and inside the Greek Cypriot south, where the island’s internationally recognized government is seated.The road would give Turkish Cypriots direct access to Pyla by circumventing a checkpoint on the fringes of a British military base, one of two bases that...

US sanctions Russian operatives accused in the poisoning of Putin critic Alexei Navalny

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on four Russian intelligence operatives accused of direct involvement in the 2020 poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a Russian politician and corruption investigator who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Alexei Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, Ivan Osipov and Vladimir Panyaev. All are operatives of the Federal Security Services, known as the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB. Panyaev is reported to have tailed Navalny prior to his poisoning; the others are operatives of the FSB’s Criminalistics Institute, a secret laboratory which is reported to work with poisons. Navalny fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from the Siberian city of Tomsk in August 2020 and was taken to a hospital after the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. He was transferred to Berlin, where he spent weeks hospitalized in a coma and re...

Metro wants Ontario government to appoint mediator to help end workers strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

Metro wants the Ministry of Labour to bring a government mediator to the table to help bring the nearly three-week-long workers’ strike to an end.Twenty-seven Metro locations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have been closed since late July, when 3,700 grocery workers voted to reject a deal.This follows a failed attempt over the weekend to restart negotiations, with the union saying it won’t budge until the grocer puts forward an acceptable offer.“The Metro bargaining committee reached out to the union, Unifor, over the weekend to request a meeting with the employees’ bargaining committee, offering to meet as quickly as Sunday or Monday. The union has unfortunately refused,” said Marie-Claude Bacon, Metro’s Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications.A Metro grocery store is seen in Toronto, Tuesday, July 18, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston“It’s the joint responsibility of Metro and the union to keep trying to negotiate a...

Funeral services held for 9-year-old girl fatally shot by neighbor in Portage Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

CHICAGO — A wake will be held Thursday for the 9-year-old girl who was fatally shot by her neighbor in the city's Portage Park neighborhood earlier his month.Serabi Medina was intentionally shot in the head while outside with her father in the 3500 block of North Long Avenue on August 5. Michael Goodman, 43, is facing a first-degree murder charge and is being held without bail in Medina's death. Docs: 9-year-old Portage Park girl intentionally shot in head after buying ice cream; father tackles gunman Goodman was shot in the face during a struggle with the girl's father following the deadly shooting.Medina's wake will be held Thursday at Rago Brothers Funeral Home, located at 7751 West Irving Park Road. Her funeral will be held Friday morning.A GoFundMe Fundraiser has raised over $53,000 to help cover all funeral expenses.

White Sox legend Minnie Minoso has Chicago school named in his honor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

CHICAGO — One of the greatest players in the history of the White Sox now received another posthumous honor on Thursday in a neighborhood where he made memories for a generation of baseball fans. Minnie Minoso, a Baseball Hall of Famer who played a majority of his career in Chicago, is having an elementary school named in his honor in Bridgeport on Thursday. The former McClelland Elementary School, located at 3527 S. Wallace Street, will be named the "Minnie Minoso Academy," with the official dedication taking place on Thursday afternoon. This honor comes to the late White Sox legend, who died in 2015, after a two-year process at the school in which the students led the effort to find a new namesake. The community, students, and staff narrowed the list to a group of three finalists, who each had a presentation on their behalf. In the final vote, Minoso was the clear winner, and the name change was approved earlier in the summer of 2023. Known often as "The Cuban Comet" or "Mr. White...

Child at Pennsylvania theme park injured by box cutter that fell from roller coaster rider's pocket, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

EAST LAMPETER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WHTM) – A child was injured after being struck in the head by a falling object at a theme park in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, earlier this month.The victim, a pre-teen girl, was visiting the Dutch Wonderland amusement park in East Lampeter Township with her family on Aug. 12 when the incident occurred, according to police. Responding officers were told by park employees that the girl was standing in a common area underneath a roller coaster when she was struck with a falling box cutter.Police determined that the box cutter likely fell out of a guest's pocket while riding the roller coaster. Child found under Florida roller coaster track with traumatic injuries, officials say Before police had arrived, the girl and her family left the park to seek treatment for her injury at a local urgent care facility.Her injury was described as minor, according to the police.Palace Entertainment, which operates Dutch Wonderland, released the following statement t...

Blue Alert issued after Harris County deputy shooting; 1 arrested, 1 still at large

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

HOUSTON (KXAN) – One suspect has been arrested in connection to the shooting of a Harris County Sheriff's deputy Wednesday night, and another suspect is still on the run. The governor's office is now offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the other suspect.According to Gov. Greg Abbott's office, James Green was apprehended. The other suspect is Terran Green, a black man, 34, who is described as 5-feet-4-inches-tall, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a gray shirt and black shorts. The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a Blue Alert late Wednesday night after a Harris County sheriff's deputy was shot and wounded.Police were looking for a Blue 2016 Ford Escape with a Texas License Plate SVJ6590 but said in an update at 5:30 a.m. that the car had been located. Anyone with information should call the Harris County Sheriff's office at 346-286-2192. Blue Alert issued after shooting of Harris County sheriff's deputy. (Courtesy: T...

ERCOT issues voluntary conservation notice for Thursday afternoon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, issued a Voluntary Conservation Notice for Thursday afternoon. ERCOT is asking Texans to voluntarily reduce electric use, if it's safe to do so, from 3-8 p.m. due to "extreme temperatures, forecasted high demand, & lower reserves due to low wind generation. Understanding ERCOT’s emergency alert levels The council said on social media it is not currently in emergency operations. For more information, you can sign up for TXANS, which is ERCOT's grid conditions notification system.ERCOT's tips for saving energyTo help save energy, people can raise their thermostats by "a degree or two if safe to do so," ERCOT said. But they can also avoid using large appliances like washers and dryers or dishwashers, or turn off and unplug any lights and appliances that aren't being used. Those with pools can shut off their pumps during peak times and instead have them run early in the morning or at night.Businesses can turn of...

Dramatic video footage shows shooting ambush in Fargo that killed an officer last month

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:58 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Dramatic video footage of a shooting ambush last month in Fargo that left one police officer dead and two others and a bystander wounded was shown Thursday, highlighting the surprise nature of the attack on police responding to a routine traffic crash.North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski presented the video footage taken from officer Zach Robinson’s body camera, scenes that showed the gunman shooting rapid fire from a .223-caliber rifle that took three officers down before he was stopped.Editor’s note: The following footage is graphicThe gunman, 37-year-old Mohamad Barakat, shot and killed Fargo Police Officer Jake Wallin and wounded officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes as they responded to a routine traffic crash on July 14, authorities said. Barakat also wounded a bystander, Karlee Koswick, as she tried to flee. Robinson, shot and killed Barakat, preventing what authorities said could have been a much bigger ...