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Agricultural producers and food businesses throughout nation getting $320 million boost from USDA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeding agricultural producers and food businesses with millions of dollars in investment funds to improve markets, create and strengthen jobs, control food prices and improve nutrition, Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday.“We’re here to underscore the important role that local and regional food systems play for American agriculture and farmers, and to announce $320 million of variety of loans and grants which are designed to strengthen the supply chain, to make the food system more resilient and to create a number of opportunities for mid- and small-size operators,” he said.He spoke during a visit to the Fresh Start Market in Manchester, New Hampshire. The market sells fresh fruits, vegetables and other products grown by immigrant farmers, some of which are distributed via a community-supported agriculture program.“Thanks to our partnership with federal officials, including Secretary Vilsack’s Department of A...

Cleanup begins after tornadoes hit in Texas and Florida, killing 4 and destroying homes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

PERRYTON, Texas (AP) — Cleanup efforts were beginning Friday morning after severe storms spawned tornadoes that left at least four dead, three in the Texas Panhandle and one in the Florida Panhandle as another series of fierce storms carved its way through Southern states.In Perryton, Texas, Ochiltree County Sheriff Terry Bouchard said three people were killed when the tornado struck Thursday afternoon and rescue efforts continued.Another person died Thursday night in the Florida Panhandle when at least one confirmed tornado cut through Escambia County, toppling a tree onto a home, county spokesperson Andie Gibson told the Pensacola News Journal.Of the homes searched so far in Perryton, all but one of the occupants had been accounted for, so the main priority was going back over the area and the debris field to find that person, Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said on NBC’s “Today” show.Dutcher estimated that 150 to 200 homes in the community had been destroyed and said that in the...

Rural Utah abortion clinic closes amid staff shortages, plans to reopen in August

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — There is now one fewer place to access abortion in Utah after Planned Parenthood closed its only clinic outside the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah said on Thursday that the Logan clinic has long been staffed with one provider, who left to take another position in March. The northern Utah city of 52,000 is home to Utah State University and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Idaho, where abortions have been banned except for in cases of rape or incest since last year.Planned Parenthood said in a statement that it was training new staff and planned to reopen its clinic in August, in addition to a new facility in Ogden. In the meantime, it has attempted to help Logan patients schedule appointments at nearby health centers. In addition to abortion, the organization’s facilities provide sexual and reproductive health services including birth control and STI and pregnancy screenings.“We apologize for the challenges a...

Canada’s population expected to reach major milestone today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

Canada is set to hit a major milestone on Friday, with the country’s population expected to hit 40 million.According to Statistics Canada’s population clock, which follows trends in births, deaths, and migration in real time, the milestone should come around 3 p.m. ET.“This is an exciting milestone for Canada,” says Chief Statistician Anil Arora in a statement. “It is a strong signal that Canada remains a dynamic and welcoming country, full of potential.”The country added a million residents in one year for the first time ever, between January 2021 and 2022. In 2022, every single province and territory, with the exception of Northwest Territories, saw its population grow.Canada currently leads all G7 nations in population growth, at 2.7 per cent, the highest level since 1957. In that year, immigration and the baby boom pushed the country’s population growth to 3.3 per cent.Similar projections from Statistics Canada suggest the country will h...

Pastors find a role ministering to young men swept up in El Salvador’s crackdown on gangs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The smell of pineapple bread fills the kitchen of “Vida Libre,” or “free life,” a gang rehabilitation program founded in El Salvador by American pastor Kenton Moody in 2021. The trust that Moody puts in former gang members is not widely shared. Thousands of lives have been destroyed in this Central American country after decades of gang violence.Over the past year, President Nayib Bukele’s security forces have cracked down harshly on gangs, arresting more than 68,000 people suspected of criminal involvement, though human rights groups say innocent people are also being detained. Ministries like Moody’s are caught in the middle. Dozens of men who were part of evangelical rehabilitation ministries were also arrested and taken back to prison. Of the 38 members of Vida Libre, ten have been detained by the government.Inside the Vida Libre complex, in the impoverished city of Santa Ana, Moody frequently hugs the young men under his care and assigns them ch...

Poverty, climate, regional stability on agenda as Saudi crown prince visits France

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris as part of an official visit, during which he will also participate in a global financing summit aimed at fighting poverty and climate change.Macron and the prince sat down for a one-to-one working lunch at the Elysee presidential palace.The French presidency said the talks would focus on bilateral relations between the two countries and on regional stability issues, especially after long-time rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic ties earlier this year.France is a major weapons and defense supplier to Gulf nations.The leaders also are preparing for a global summit next week “aimed at bringing together private and public funding” to fight poverty, support climate transition and protect biodiversity, the French presidency said. The event is expected to gather over 50 heads of states and governments as well as many NGOs and prominent climate activists. During his st...

Czech lawmakers vote to tighten conflict of interest legislation in snub to former populist PM Babis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Lawmakers in the lower house of the Czech Parliament agreed on Friday to tighten the country’s conflict of interest legislation to ban politicians from owning media, in a direct snub to former populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis.In the 200-seat house, lawmakers voted 85-79 to amend the current law and prohibit media ownership for members of Parliament, the government and the president.Babis’ centrist opposition ANO (YES) movement vehemently protested the move and threatened to challenge it at the Constitutional Court. Babis was not present for the vote but later said he was not planning to leave politics for now.The amendment still requires the approval of the upper house, the Senate, where the governing coalition has a comfortable majority, and then presidential approval.Babis, one of the country’s richest people, was required by law to transfer ownership of his businesses to two trust funds in February 2017. That included two nationwide newspapers and a popula...

Film composer Hans Zimmer proposes to his partner on London stage, prompts raucous audience response

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Hans Zimmer, the two-time Academy Award-winning composer, proposed to his partner on stage in London, prompting raucous applause from the audience.As his performance at the O2 arena was drawing to a close Thursday evening, the 65-year-old German asked his partner to join him on stage — and then proceeded to declare his love. Addressing her directly he said: “Why did I bring you up here? I was going to ask you something really important. Did you lock the back door? Is the milk in the fridge? Do we have any sorbet in the freezer?”And then, he got to the point: “Will you marry me?”The couple embraced and the audience erupted into applause after she appeared to accept.A spokesperson for Zimmer confirmed that he had proposed to his partner, whose name and age were not provided.Zimmer’s fans were treated to an array of music he has composed for hit films over the past few decades, including “Gladiator,” “The Dark Knight” and “Inception.”He was joined onstage with...

We live with lots of noise. What’s that doing to us?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, if you live in even a small city, you probably find yourself constantly surrounded by noise. Most of us learn to filter it out as we go about our daily lives, but that doesn’t make us immune to its effects.Bojan Furst, who wrote about noise for The Walrus, says that new research indicates that noise in our environment can have negative long-term impacts on human health. “People who are already experiencing health impacts because of their social determinants of health, their income, their employment, on top of that, also experience additional health risks because they live in neighbourhoods that are noisier than better off neighbourhoods,” says Furst.When the pandemic put a temporary pause on human activity, it gave researchers an opportunity to observe the extent to which the sounds we generate affect not just our own health and wellbeing, but the environment around us. So whether it’s the rumble of cars and trucks, the hum of modern applian...

Man, woman shot in Austin by man standing behind car: Police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:18 GMT

CHICAGO -- A man and a woman are in serious condition after they were shot in Austin Thursday night.According to police, a 22-year-old man and woman were sitting in a car near the 4700 block of West Jackson Boulevard around 11:52 p.m. when an unidentified man shot in their direction while standing behind the car. Police said the woman was struck multiple times on the back and the man was also struck on the back. Des Plaines police release bodycam video of officer-involved shooting The two were transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition. There is no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.