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Michigan man pleads guilty to making violent threats against Jews

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A 19-year-old Michigan man pleaded guilty Monday to using social media to make violent threats against Jewish people last summer.Seann Pietila, who has been in custody since June, was accused of using Instagram to spread neo-Nazi ideology, discuss plans to kill people and compliment mass shooters.In his plea agreement with prosecutors, Pietila admitted that he told someone he had a plan to kill or injure Jewish people and wanting to post the attack online. The FBI said Pietila had written the name of the Shaarey Zedek congregation in East Lansing, near Michigan State University, in a note on his phone along with a 2024 date. Investigators said Pietila told another Instagram user that he would “inspire others to take arms against the Jewish controlled state.”During a search of Pietila’s home in Pickford in the Upper Peninsula, investigators found a cache of weapons, knives, tactical equipment and a red-and-white Nazi flag, the FBI said.“Thank Go...

Exxon Mobil is drilling for lithium in Arkansas and expects to begin production by 2027

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Exxon Mobil on Monday announced it’s drilling for lithium in southern Arkansas, with the oil giant expected to begin production of the critical material for electric vehicles by 2027.Exxon in early 2023 acquired the rights to 120000 gross acres (48562 gross hectares) of the Smackover formation in southern Arkansas, considered one of the most prolific lithium resources of its type in North America. Exxon said that by 2030 it aims to produce enough lithium to supply the manufacturing needs more than 1 million electric vehicles. “Lithium is essential to the energy transition, and ExxonMobil has a leading role to play in paving the way for electrification,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said in a news release. Exxon didn’t disclose how much it’s spending on the project, which is expected to be a boost for a part of Arkansas that has a history as an oil and gas producer.“I’m not being dramatic when I say this has the ...

A timeline of retailer Bad Boy’s rise and fall

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

TORONTO — Famed Greater Toronto Area retailer Bad Boy Furniture Warehouse Ltd. has been around for 70 years, but the business begun by Mel Lastman, a flamboyant Toronto salesman who went on to become the city’s mayor, and revived by his son has hit hard times. Amid higher interest rates and slow home sales, it is attempting to restructure its business under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. This is how Bad Boy got to this point:1953: Marilyn Lastman gets her future husband Mel Lastman a job at an appliance store on College Street in Toronto. A video Bad Boy once shared detailing his history says Mel Lastman started on accounts receivable, but one night, when a salesman called in sick, he hit the floor, selling two stoves and a fridge, kick-starting his career in sales.1954: Mel Lastman runs Heather Hill appliances in 1954, the Bad Boy video says. Sales were difficult to come by so he would follow an ice truck around noting their delivery stops and would later visit to pitch t...

Toronto’s massive 55-foot tall Christmas tree arrives at Nathan Phillips Square

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

The area around Toronto City Hall is starting to look a little more festive with the city’s traditional giant Christmas tree arriving in Nathan Phillips Square. The 55-foot tree officially arrived around 7:30 a.m. Monday on the back of a flatbed truck — it now towers over the entrance to City Hall. The city says the complete installation of the massive tree will take around eight hours.The city will let the tree settle in for three days and then crews are expected to begin decorating it over the next couple of weeks.“There will be 500 decorations put on it, as well as 20,000 energy efficient lights,” says Kerri MacDonald with city’s Programming and Special Events. “It’s going to be quite spectacular.”The 57th annual Cavalcade of Lights kicks off on Nov. 25 and includes the official tree lighting ceremony.“Inspired by Christmas, winter solstice, lantern and light festivals from around the world, Cavalcade of Lights is a free event...

Hyundai joins Honda and Toyota in raising wages after auto union wins gains in deals with Detroit 3

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

South Korean automaker Hyundai has joined Honda and Toyota in raising factory worker wages after the United Auto Workers union reached new contract agreements with Detroit automakers.Hyundai said Monday it will raise factory worker pay 25% by 2028, matching the general wage increase won by the UAW during that period. Toyota raised factory pay 9% to 10% starting in January, while Honda said it will increase wages 11% during the same period.Experts say the increases at least in part are aimed at thwarting UAW President Shawn Fain’s strategy of trying to organize U.S. auto plants run by foreign automakers and Tesla in order to increase the union’s bargaining power. Fain said terrified auto executives at nonunion plants are raising wages, and he called Toyota’s pay increase the UAW bump.“UAW, that stands for ‘You Are Welcome,’” he said.About 146,000 UAW members are voting on new contracts with General Motors, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis that give them 25% general wa...

High-ranking Mormon leader M. Russell Ballard dies at age 95. He was second-in-line to lead faith

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — One of the highest ranking leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, M. Russell Ballard, has died. He was 95.He died Sunday surrounded by family at his home, according to a church statement Monday morning. Ballard was second-in-line to become church president based on being the second-longest tenured member of a top governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which he said he was called to join in 1985. The leadership body sits below the first presidency, and helps set church policy and oversees the faith’s business interests. The longest-tenured member of the Quorum becomes the new president in a church tradition established in 1889 to prevent lobbying and ensure a smooth transition in the faith known widely as the Mormon church. Ballard was a great-great grandson of church co-founder Hyrum Smith. Beginning as a young missionary in England, he rose through church leadership ranks, becoming a bishop, president of the Toronto missi...

Liberal MPs among Canadians in D.C. Tuesday to battle rising antisemitism

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — Two Liberal MPs are part of a Canadian delegation in the U.S. capital today to join a multilateral effort to combat the rise in antisemitism. Mental Health Minister Ya’ara Saks and Montreal MP Anthony Housefather are taking part in two days of meetings as part of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians. Housefather says this is the council’s first in-person meeting in eight years and comes during what he describes as the worst worldwide upsurge in antisemitism since the 1930s.He says recent incidents in Montreal — including attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools and a protest at Concordia University last week that turned violent — have been his most emotional time as an elected official. The Canadian delegation will also take part in what police expect will be a large pro-Israel rally scheduled to take place Tuesday in the shadow of Capitol Hill. Housefather says a number of Canadian protesters will also be in D.C. for the rally, part of an in...

Math teacher who became powerful Haitian gang leader has been killed, former mayor says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A powerful and feared gang leader in Haiti who was once a math and physics teacher was killed in a neighborhood within a sprawling seaside slum that he controlled for years, local media reported on Monday.The death of Iskar Andrice, who also has been identified as Iscar Andris, raised concerns that already rampant gang violence could spike further in the vacuum his death created.Andrice ruled the Belekou community within the Cite Soleil slum where he died, former mayor Esaïe Beauchard told Radio Galaxie FM.“It’s regrettable that this guy had to be involved in gang activity, because he’s a very intelligent man,” Beauchard said.It wasn’t immediately clear what day Andrice died.Jean-Frédérique Islain, the current mayor of Cite Soleil, declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.The gang that Andrice led was involved in murder, robbery, extortion, rape and the hijacking of goods and trucks, according to a recent U.N. report. He later joined fo...

Book Review: Rock ‘n’ roller and Rush pioneer Geddy Lee goes deep in his memoir, ‘My Effin’ Life’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Geddy Lee is a rock star, that’s undeniable. But he’s also a polite Canadian to the core. So it’s fitting that the Rush icon picked a not-too-bawdy title for his memoir.“My Effin’ Life” is an engrossing tale of a “classic underachiever” who became a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame vocalist, bassist, and keyboard player. It’s a great read for anyone interested in the brilliant prog-rock trio or the music scene from the 1970s onward. Lee’s writing is a lot like his band’s songs — deep, gloriously nerdy, sometimes wandering and wonderfully thoughtful. It’s a 400-page narrative from a perfectionist who calls himself “Mr. Bossypants.”“It’s a compulsion to exhaust every possibility to make the perfect record,” he writes. “I don’t want to have to live with errors. Impossible, I know, but what’s the effin’ point of not shooting for the moon?”The book is enlivened by photos of scrawled lyric sheets, studio doodles and private emails as Lee t...

Chicago firefighter dies after falling through light shaft while battling blaze

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago firefighter died Monday from injuries he suffered when he fell through a light shaft at a burning building, officials said.Andrew “Drew” Price, 39, was helping battle a fire at a four-story building in the Lincoln Park neighborhood that began about 6 a.m., Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said.Price was on the roof opening up holes for ventilation when he fell through a light shaft while putting out hot spots, Nance-Holt said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.She said a “mayday” was called and Price was located right away, but fellow firefighters needed to breach a wall to reach him. He was taken to the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died of his injuries, the commissioner said.Price had been a Chicago firefighter since 2009, Nance-Holt said. “We all knew Drew,” she said. “Drew worked out. He was a health nut. Loved by so many and will be missed by all.”Fire department spokesman Larry Langford said it was too early to know what started the bl...