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Virginia expects to wipe out pandemic unemployment backlog next summer

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia agency that processes unemployment benefits has made progress clearing pandemic-related backlogs, but it isn’t expected to finish until next summer, a top official told lawmakers this week.Jeff Ryan, chief deputy commissioner of the Virginia Employment Commission, told lawmakers at an oversight committee meeting Wednesday that so-called first-level appeals are the largest backlog pressure point, with an estimated 45,000 cases the agency doesn’t expect to clear until July 2024.Ryan also said the agency has sped up first-time payments, though he acknowledged continued struggles to provide some core services. Ensuring all customers can log in to an online claims portal while blocking fraudsters remains a hurdle, he said.“We’re remarkably well on our way to completing the backlog,” he told members of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin campaigned on a pledge to improve performance at the ag...

Seychelles declares an emergency after deadly flooding and a huge blast at an explosives depot

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

VICTORIA, Seychelles (AP) — The tiny Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles declared a state of emergency Thursday after flooding killed three people and a huge blast at an explosives depot near the capital injured scores of others.The explosion caused mostly minor injuries to 178 people, the health ministry said. It took place around 2 a.m. Thursday and came after hours of heavy rain and flooding starting Wednesday evening, mostly in the north of the main island of Mahe, though authorities did not link the blast to the weather.Waters from the rains flooded houses, washed away parts of roads and caused landslides in some areas. Two of the people who died in the flooding were trapped in their home, authorities said.The explosion took place in the industrial area of Providence, around 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) southeast of the capital, Victoria, the country’s president said. The blast destroyed buildings, flattened trees and left a large crater. National TV showed people at hos...

US touts new era of collaboration with Native American tribes to manage public lands and water

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government is entering a new era of collaboration with Native American and Alaska Native leaders in managing public lands and other resources, with top federal officials saying that incorporating more Indigenous knowledge into decision-making can help spur conservation and combat climate change.Federal emergency managers on Thursday also announced updates to recovery policies to aid tribal communities in the repair or rebuilding of traditional homes or ceremonial buildings after a series of wildfires, floods and other disasters around the country.Wth hundreds of tribal leaders gathering in Washington this week for an annual summit, the Biden administration is celebrating nearly 200 new agreements that are designed to boost federal cooperation with tribes nationwide.The agreements cover everything from fishery restoration projects in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to management of new national monuments in the Southwestern U.S., seed collection wor...

Photos: Bighorn sheep stuck on roof in Boulder

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A bighorn sheep was stuck on top of a house in Boulder before it finally made its way to the ground a day and a half later.The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region shared the event on X, formerly known as Twitter, and said "This is not the type of clatter you want to hear on your roof during December." Colorado’s favorite dog breed, according to Forbes Advisor According to CPW, the sheep got stuck on the roof on Tuesday.A bighorn sheep was stuck on top of a house in Boulder before it finally made its way to the ground a day and a half later. (Photo courtesy: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)A bighorn sheep was stuck on top of a house in Boulder before it finally made its way to the ground a day and a half later. (Photo courtesy: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)A bighorn sheep was stuck on top of a house in Boulder before it finally made its way to the ground a day and a half later. (Photo courtesy: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)A bighorn sheep was stuck on top of a h...

Colorado joins lawsuit accusing NCAA of antitrust violation in athlete transfer rule

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal lawsuit filed by a group of states including Colorado alleges the NCAA’s transfer rule for college athletes violates antitrust law.The lawsuit, filed in West Virginia’s northern district, challenges the NCAA’s authority to impose a one-year delay in the eligibility of certain athletes who transfer between schools. The suit said the rule “unjustifiably restrains the ability of these college athletes to engage in the market for their labor as NCAA Division I college athletes.”The lawsuit filed by West Virginia and six other states alleges violations of the Sherman Act."The spirit of athletic competition at the heart of college sports is undermined by this rule, which is another in a long line of NCAA policies that courts have overturned for harming the rights of athletes to develop freely and fairly,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in an emailed release. “By restricting mobility of athletes, the NCAA is adversely hindering student athlete...

North Miami Beach Police chief placed on administrative leave, city manager says

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

North Miami Beach Police Chief Harvette Smith has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, city officials said.A statement from City Manager Mario A. Diaz issued Thursday added that the investigation is not at all related to any North Miami Beach Police Department matter.Details on the investigation, or reasons why the chief is being investigated, have not yet been made public.

Suspect facing DUI, trafficking charges after police vehicle collision in Miami Gardens leads to drug bust

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

A man is facing a slew of charges after he crashed into a police vehicle on Tuesday. Now, officials are providing further details about the crime. On Thursday morning, police officials held a news conference to release the traffic camera footage of the collision and to warn against driving under the influence. “My officer, who is a 4-year veteran and a field training officer, managed to get on the audio radio and stated he was trapped inside his vehicle,” said Miami Gardens Police Chief Delma Noel-Pratt. “As units began to arrive, they also observed the black Charger ignited while the driver and two passengers were still inside.” At 2:41 a.m. on Tuesday, Miami Gardens Police units responded to an emergency call at Northwest 167th Street and 27th Avenue from an officer trapped in a crashed vehicle. The officer involved in the crash is reported to be in stable condition, although he suffered injuries to his shoulder and knee. Surgery may be required in the futu...

Family members of victims killed in Waltham crash speak out, describe devastation and pain of loss

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

Family members of a police officer and utility worker killed in a fatal hit-and-run in Waltham described the lives of the two men lost and the important roles they played in their families.Waltham Police Officer Paul Tracey, 58, and National Grid worker Roderick Jackson, 36, were both killed when Peter Simon of Woodsville, New Hampshire allegedly crashed a pickup truck into a work crew on Totten Pond Road on Wednesday.Two other National Grid workers were injured when the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said the 54-year-old crashed his truck and then fled on foot. He later led police on a pursuit when he stole an officer’s cruiser after allegedly pulling a knife on them.Simon was later arrested and arraigned in Waltham District Court on Thursday, where numerous police officers as well as the family members of Jackson were in the courtroom, along with several National Grid employees.During a news conference outside of court, relatives of both victims spoke out, with the fam...

Neighbors describe scene in Waltham as new details emerge about deadly crash, police pursuit

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

People living in Waltham described a chaotic scene Wednesday night as authorities rushed to respond to a multi-vehicle crash that left a police officer and a utility worker dead while injuring two other utility workers. As a 54-year-old New Hampshire man accused in connection with the crash appeared in court, documents on Thursday also revealed new details about the crash and a subsequent chase involving a stolen police cruiser.“It was traumatizing,” area resident Johanna Rodriguez told 7NEWS. “I can’t get that scene out of my head.” Wednesday’s events happened around 4 p.m. beginning on Totten Pond Road in Waltham. There, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said, Peter Simon of Woodsville, New Hampshire allegedly first collided with another vehicle while trying to complete a U-turn. Ryan said Simon next drove further down Totten Pond Road, hitting a Waltham police officer and a National Grid worker at a roadside worksite. Ryan said Simon allegedly continued ...

Centenarian survivors of Pearl Harbor attack return to honor those who perished 82 years ago

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:51:43 GMT

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Ira “Ike” Schab had just showered, put on a clean sailor’s uniform and closed his locker aboard the USS Dobbin when he heard a call for a fire rescue party.He went topside to see the USS Utah capsizing and Japanese planes in the air. He scurried back below deck to grab boxes of ammunition and joined a daisy chain of sailors feeding shells to an anti-aircraft gun up above. He remembers being only 140 pounds (63.50 kilograms) as a 21-year-old, but somehow finding the strength to lift boxes weighing almost twice that.“We were pretty startled. Startled and scared to death,” Schab, now 103, said. “We didn’t know what to expect and we knew that if anything happened to us, that would be it.”Eighty-two years later, Schab returned to Pearl Harbor Thursday on the anniversary of the attack to remember the more than 2,300 servicemen killed. He was one of five survivors at a ceremony commemorating the assault that propelled the United States into World War II. S...