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Council approves wage increases for San Jose city workers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- The San Jose City Council signed off on a pay hike for 4,500 city workers Tuesday night. These newly ratified contracts will give 14.5% in raises over the next three years.This comes after the city and its two largest unions came to an agreement last month over wages and working conditions just before a strike was set to go move forward.San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan did not favor the new contracts. He says this change is not sustainable and would cause cuts to things like crossing guards, IT staff and traffic safety funding.The plan to cover the raises cuts $10,000 from each district, $100,000 from the mayor's budget as well as community event funding. Deputies clear out heated Sunol Glen school board meeting City council members, however, say the ratification was needed. "Employees are thinly staffed, they're overworked. Coming to this contract is an opportunity for us to show those folks who are operating the airport, feeding our seniors within our communi...

AP source: Searchers used thermal imaging to direct police on ground to find and arrest fugitive Danelo Cavalcante

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — AP source: Searchers used thermal imaging to direct police on ground to find and arrest fugitive Danelo Cavalcante.Source

4-H teams with Netflix’s ‘Spy Kids: Armageddon’ to launch new learning platform Clover

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The National 4-H Council is growing in a new direction – online – by launching its e-learning platform Clover with a collaboration with Netflix and its new movie “Spy Kids: Armageddon,” the organization announced Wednesday.Jill Bramble, who took over as president and CEO of the National 4-H Council in July, said she wants the new platform to be the digital equivalent of the in-person experience that 4-H has provided to young people for more than 120 years.“It allows us to keep kids where they are — whether they are in Manhattan, New York or Manhattan, Kansas — and still offer highly relevant and engaging content for young people to prepare for careers of the future,” Bramble told The Associated Press in an interview. “The skills that they will need to be successful look very different than they were for us.”Clover features more than 220 online educational activities for students, ages 5 to 18, developed by 4-H’s partners in the Cooperative Extension Syste...

Sri Lanka deploys troops as the railway workers’ strike worsens

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s government deployed army troops at railroad stations as railway employees continued with their strike that paralyzed train services across the country for a second day Wednesday, a day after two passengers were killed while attempting to travel on a packed train.Tens of thousands of passengers have been greatly inconvenienced because of the strike. Hundreds of scheduled train journeys were canceled on both days and only a few trains operated.Passengers were seen risking their lives to get to school and work on the few trains that were operating, Some people were seen traveling on the roof of train compartments, and many were seen barely hanging on to the footboards while braving rain. Two passengers were killed while traveling on packed trains on Tuesday. One was killed when his head hit an overhead railway bridge when he was traveling on the roof of a compartment while the other succumbed to injuries after he fell down from the train̵...

Bielle-Biarrey setting aside university exams to become France’s youngest Rugby World Cup player

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

LILLE, France (AP) — Louis Bielle-Biarrey is supposed to be studying at the moment for university mid-term exams in business management and administration.Studying skills such as collaboration, communication, analytical thinking and problem-solving.But he kind of is — for France at the Rugby World Cup.Bielle-Biarrey will become France’s youngest World Cup player on Thursday when he starts on the wing against Uruguay in Lille. He’ll be 20 years, 87 days, younger by two months than was record-holder Romain Ntamack at the 2019 World Cup.“That’s not going to help us become world champions,” Bielle-Biarrey joked. “Everything’s going so fast, I don’t necessarily realize it.”He’s in the team because he is fast and smart.Damian Penaud and Gabin Villiere are France’s main wings, and Yoram Moefana can cover for them, but Bielle-Biarrey has impressed the coaches since before he joined the extended squad before the Six Nations this year.He got on their radar ...

Coal mine collapses in northern Turkey, trapping miners. At least one miner is taken to hospital

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A coal mine collapsed in northern Turkey on Wednesday, and at least one miner was injured and taken to hospital, Turkish media reported. It was unclear how many miners remain trapped. NTV television reported that rescue teams were dispatched to the mine near the town of Eregli, in northern Zonguldak province. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Turkey’s worst mine disaster was in 2014, when 301 miners died after a fire erupted inside a coal mine in the town of Soma, in the west of the country. Last year, an explosion in another coal mine in northern Turkey killed 41 people. Source

Armed teenagers wanted in string of metro robberies

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — Police in Aurora and throughout the Denver metro are searching for several armed robbery suspects.Investigators believe they have hit stores in Aurora, Longmont and Thornton. Police said officers are looking for at least three suspects and they are all believed to be teenagers.Armed teens involved in string of robberies at different storesThe Dicks Sporting Goods store at Southlands Mall in Aurora was hit on Aug. 23. Store employees told police that four teenage Latino boys entered the store and left with several items.  Three teenage suspects are wanted in a string of armed robberies around the metro area. (Aurora Police Department)Three teenage suspects are wanted in a string of armed robberies around the metro area. (Aurora Police Department)Three teenage suspects are wanted in a string of armed robberies around the metro area. (Aurora Police Department)Three teenage suspects are wanted in a string of armed robberies around the metro area. (Aurora Police De...

Attorney general warns of student loan scams as payments resume

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Student loan interest has already started accruing, and by Oct. 1, 40 million Americans will have to start paying their loans once again.  The U.S. Department of Education began a COVID-19 relief program on student loans three years ago. President Joe Biden planned to cancel roughly $400 billion in student loans until the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in late June.A lot of Americans have not had this payment in their budget for years, and with the promise of forgiveness floating around, this repayment deadline might come as a shock.  5 things to know for student loans starting back up According to a new study by the Chamber of Commerce, Coloradoans carry $27.3 billion in total federal student loan debt, which is an average of $36,169 per borrower - the 15th highest in the nation.    With many people facing these struggles, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a warning to consumers to be vigilant against potential student loan-related scams and fraud. W...

Surfers speak out after South Carolina man bitten on face by shark in New Smyrna Beach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A 38-year-old man from South Carolina had an encounter with a shark in New Smyrna Beach that left him with a face bite. On Wednesday, the waters were teeming with surfers was they rode the waves that had been amplified by Hurricane Lee’s presence in the Atlantic. Daniel Hanson, an experienced surfer, reflected on the risks of sharing the ocean with sharks. “They’re just critters looking for food, you know? Like me and you. And when you go in the water, you enter the food chain,” he said. The incident occurred around 8 a.m. in the New Smyrna Beach Inlet Jetty region when aerial footage revealed the presence of several sharks in the vicinity. Despite the known risks, surfers like Hanson are undeterred. “I’ve had them swim right by me,” he said. “Bull sharks swim right by me. They’re really oblivious to you.”Shark bites in the area are typically injuries to hands or feet, often a result of...

Von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech in 5 charts

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:11:37 GMT

The European Union has survived — and thrived — in the past five years and is ready for the next challenge: artificial intelligence.That’s one of the prominent messages Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivered in her annual State of the Union address — the last such speech ahead of the looming European election in 2024, and thus possibly in her career as leader of the EU executive.Since her 2019 speech as president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen has stewarded the EU through a pandemic, economic crisis and a war on European soil. With EU elections now only eight months away, this year’s speech focused on the Commission’s work over the course of its mandate, with von der Leyen claiming a 90 percent success rate in delivering on political guidelines she presented in 2019 (although this figure has been contested.)Looking to the future, the speech paid more attention than previous years to the impact of artificial intelligence and technology on the European Unio...