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Report: 2020 US census helped guide distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government spending

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

By MIKE SCHNEIDER (Associated Press)The head count of every U.S. resident in 2020 helped guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal spending, underscoring the importance of participating in the once-a-decade census, according to a new report released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.There were 353 federal assistance programs that used the Census Bureau data in 2021 to steer the allocation of the federal funding, up from 316 programs accounting for $1.5 trillion in 2017, the time frame for the last update of a similar study.The federal funding is distributed to state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses and households. In 2021, it helped pay for health care, education, school lunch programs, COVID-19 relief, child care, food assistance programs and highway construction, among other things.“It almost doubled and makes it even more clear the importance of census data in evidence-based policy making and having a healthy economy,” said George Washin...

Boston City Council approves $4.2B budget with $31M in police cuts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

The Boston City Council narrowly passed a $4.2 billion operating budget that cuts roughly $31 million from the police department.The spending plan was approved Wednesday via a 7-5 vote, and will now be submitted to Mayor Michelle Wu, who can choose to veto or accept the amendments the Council made to her initial budget.The Council approved roughly $52.9 million in amendments, but the two that drew the most opposition were those that would reduce the Boston Police Department and Veterans office budgets by $30.91 million and $900,000, respectively.“We’ve got the best police department in the country,” said City Councilor Michael Flaherty. “And we’ve got the best community policing model in the country. We are the envy of cities our size and bigger across this country and we’re all seeing it daily as to what’s happening to cities that are defunding the police.“This cut of $30 million would be decimating to our Boston Police Department.”Flaherty also spoke against plans to cut and redir...

Ticker: Bud Light drops from top spot; Fed keeps rates unchanged  

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

After more than two decades as America’s best-selling beer, Bud Light has slipped into second place.Modelo Especial, a Mexican lager, overtook Bud Light in U.S. retail dollar sales in the month ending June 3, according to Nielsen data analyzed by Bump Williams Consulting. Modelo controlled 8.4% of U.S. grocery, convenience and liquor store sales; Bud Light fell to 7.3%.It’s a milestone in the months-long sales decline Bud Light has experienced since early April, when critics vowed to boycott the brand after it sent a commemorative can to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer. Bud Light has also faced backlash from Mulvaney’s fans, who think the brand didn’t do enough to support her.Dave William, Bump Williams’ vice president of analytics and insights, said Bud Light has been the top-selling U.S. beer since 2001, and it could still retain that crown this year.He noted that Bud Light’s year-to-date market share of 9% is still outpacing ModeloR...

Camp Pendleton Marine arrested on charges alleging use of Molotov cocktail at clinic operated by Planned Parenthood: DOJ

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton was arrested Wednesday on federal charges alleging he and another individual used a Molotov cocktail to firebomb a Costa Mesa Planned Parenthood clinic.That's according to a press release from the US Department of Justice, which states Chance Brannon, 23, an active duty Marine from San Juan Capistrano, and Tibet Ergul, a 21-year-old Irvine resident, were both taken into custody with out incident. Sailor on life support after Coronado car-jacking incident This comes as both Ergul and Brannon are named in a criminal complaint alleging they attacked the clinic during the early morning hours of March 13, 2022. (A criminal complaint contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.)According to the DOJ, security videos described in the affidavit allegedly show two men wearing hooded sweatshirts and face masks approaching the clinic around ...

Philippine volcano eruption that displaced thousands may last for months, officials warn

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) — A gentle eruption of the Philippines’ most active volcano that has forced nearly 18,000 people to flee to emergency shelters could last for months and create a protracted crisis, officials said Wednesday.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew to northeastern Albay province to reassure villagers who were forced to evacuate from mostly poor farming communities within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of the Mayon volcano’s crater since volcanic activity spiked last week.Marcos distributed food packs and other aid to displaced villagers, and met Albay town mayors later Wednesday to discuss the unfolding crisis.The eruption is the latest natural calamity to test the administration of Marcos, who took office in June 2022 in a Southeast Asian nation regarded as one of the most disaster-prone in the world. About 20 typhoons and storms a year lash the Philippines, and the poor archipelago with 23 active volcanoes wrestles with frequent earthquakes.Marcos told displace...

Barbara Kingsolver wins Women’s Prize for fiction with ‘Demon Copperhead’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

LONDON (AP) — American novelist Barbara Kingsolver won the prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction Wednesday with “Demon Copperhead,” the Dickens-inspired tale of a boy’s struggle against the odds in a corner of America scarred by opioid addiction. Kingsolver’s Appalachian coming-of-age tale was announced as winner of the 30,000 pounds ($38,000) award at a ceremony in London.Kingsolver, 68, also won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for the novel, which transplants Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” to modern-day southwest Virginia, where the author lives.It was a second victory for Kingsolver, who previously won the Women’s Prize in 2010 for “The Lacuna.”“Lightning strikes twice,” she said as she accepted the award.Kingsolver said she wrote the book to tell stories from a part of the United States — the mountainous Appalachia region — that is often overlooked or regarded as “just a joke.”“We’re the last demographic in the U.S. that progressive people are allowed...

B.C. mom slams ‘transphobic hate train’, hails outpouring of love for girl athlete, 9

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

KELOWNA, B.C. — The mother of a nine-year-old girl says her daughter has received an outpouring of love and support after a man wrongly suggested the girl was transgender and demanded proof she was born biologically female at a Kelowna, B.C., track meet.The confrontation, which has received international news coverage, has resulted in the man being banned from school premises and events, was condemned by B.C. Premier David Eby, and is being investigated by police.Heidi Starr said the man pointed to two girls, including her daughter, who were competing in the girl’s Grade 4 shot put event last Thursday. He questioned their right to compete, she said. “They did not fit his picture of what a little girl should look like, and he completely jumped to conclusions and then rode his transphobic hate train,” she said in an interview Wednesday.Her daughter, who she asked not to be identified, was born female, uses she/her pronouns and has a pixie cut hairstyle, Starr said.St...

Stove wars: Republican-controlled House approves bills to protect gas stoves

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venturing back into the nation’s culture wars, the Republican-controlled House has approved legislation that GOP lawmakers say would protect gas stoves from overzealous government regulators.A bill passed Tuesday would prohibit use of federal money to regulate gas stoves as a hazardous product, while a separate measure endorsed on Wednesday would block an Energy Department rule setting stricter energy efficiency standards for stovetops and ovens.The White House said the administration “has been clear that it does not support any attempt to ban the use of gas stoves,″ but GOP lawmakers say rules on gas stoves represent classic government overreach. “It’s not a petty concern to the hard-working Americans who will be impacted,″ said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “The last thing they need is to have the Biden administration’s Green New Deal regulatory assault reach their kitchen appliances.”Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey called the bills a political stunt. ...

Bell cuts 1,300 positions, radio stations and foreign bureaus in restructuring

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

TORONTO — BCE Inc. is cutting 1,300 positions, shutting or selling nine radio stations and closing two foreign bureaus as the company plans to “significantly adapt” how it delivers the news in the face of rising financial pressure.The plan entails “moving to a single newsroom approach across brands, allowing for greater collaboration and efficiency,” said Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media, in an internal memo distributed to staff Wednesday morning and provided to The Canadian Press.The company’s media branch “can’t afford” to continue operating with its various brands — such as CTV National News, BNN, CP24, its local TV news stations and radio channels — independently of one another, said Bell chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson in an interview.“It’s a consolidation of news gathering, news delivery,” he said.The layoffs include a six per cent cut at Bell Media, but Malcolmson said cut...

Man convicted in shootout at Minnesota bar that killed 1, injured 15

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:25 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been found guilty in a shootout at a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, that left one person dead and more than a dozen people injured.Terry Lorenzo Brown was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder, four counts of attempted second-degree murder and illegally possessing a firearm, KARE-TV reported.Prosecutors said Brown and Devondre Phillips began shooting at each other at the Seventh Street Truck Park Bar near downtown St. Paul on Oct. 10, 2021.Marquisha Wiley, a 27-year-old bystander from St. Paul, was killed, and at least 15 others including Brown and Phillips were wounded, as bar patrons fled in panic. Phillips was found guilty of eight counts of attempted second-degree murder earlier this year. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23.Brown’s attorney, Stephen Grigsby, said during closing arguments that Brown fired in self-defense after Devondre Phillips shot at him, although it was only a fraction of a second before Brown returned fire.P...