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As China struggles with heat, flooding and drought, employers are ordered to limit outdoor work

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Employers across much of China were ordered Monday to limit outdoor work due to scorching temperatures, while the east and southwest were warned to prepare for torrential rain as the country struggled with heat, flooding and drought.Temperatures as high as 40 C (104 F) were reported in cities including Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, the capital. Highs of 35 C (95 F) to 38 C (100 F) were reported in Beijing, Guangzhou in the south, Chongqing in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast.The weather agency issued an orange alert, its second-highest warning, for heat across southern China and much of the north and northeast. That requires employers to limit outdoor work, though delivery workers for restaurants and online retailers were still working.The agriculture ministry warned Sunday that persistent hot weather could damage rice harvests and told local authorities to ensure adequate water supplies to prevent the crop from ripening prematurely. Meanwhile, the Mi...

Giant Tiger founder dies at 89

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

The founder of Giant Tiger has died.Gordon Reid passed away in his home after a brief illness, a release from the company stated. He was 89.He opened the first Giant Tiger store in 1961 in Ottawa’s ByWard Market which remains in operation today.Giant Tiger now has 265 locations across Canada and employs more than 10,000 people.“Gordon was a giant within Canada’s retail sector, an innovator who reshaped the industry,” said Gino DiGioacchino, interim president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Giant Tiger. “To us, he was also a friend and mentor. He will be greatly missed.”Reid received the prestigious Retail Council of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 and Ottawa’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.He previously held board positions with the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the International Mass Retail Association, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, and the Ottawa Heart Institute.A commemoration of his legacy w...

Detroit-area officer charged with federal civil rights crime after punching Black man

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit police officer who punched a young Black man in the face and slammed his head to the ground was charged Monday with a federal civil rights crime.A criminal complaint against Matthew Rodriguez was unsealed in federal court ahead of an afternoon news conference by U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison.Jaquwan Smith, 19, was being processed at the Warren police station on June 13 after he was arrested on a warrant for multiple felonies.Video shows Rodriguez exchanging words with Smith before the officer punched him, knocked him to the floor and slammed his head on the ground.Other Warren officers immediately intervened and reported the incident to managers. Smith had previously been searched for weapons, indicating there was no threat to the officer’s security, a court filing said.“The victim was not in an aggressive stance and his hands were by his side with his thumbs in his pants,” FBI agent Brent Nida said in a court filing.Rodriguez was fired on Jun...

Kansas must stop changing trans people’s sex listing on driver’s licenses, judge says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas must stop allowing transgender people to change the sex listed on their driver’s licenses, a state-court judge ordered Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the state’s Republican attorney general.District Judge Teresa Watson’s order will remain in effect for up to two weeks, although she can extend it. But it’s significant because transgender people have been able to change their driver’s licenses in Kansas for at least four years, and almost 400 people have done it. For now, Kansas will be among only a few states that don’t allow any such changes. The judge issued the order three days after Attorney General Kris Kobach sued two officials in Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration. Kelly announced last month that the state’s motor vehicles division would continue changing driver’s licenses for transgender people so that their sex listing matches their gender identities. Kobach contends that a law, which took e...

Europe signs off on a new privacy pact that allows people’s data to keep flowing to US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The European Union signed off Monday on a new agreement over the privacy of people’s personal information that gets pinged across the Atlantic, aiming to ease European concerns about electronic spying by American intelligence agencies. The EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework has an adequate level of protection for personal data, the EU’s executive commission said. That means it’s comparable to the 27-nation’s own stringent data protection standards, so companies can use it to move information from Europe to the United States without adding extra security. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October to implement the deal after reaching a preliminary agreement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Washington and Brussels made an effort to resolve their yearslong battle over the safety of EU citizens’ data that tech companies store in the U.S. after two earlier data transfer agreements were thrown out. “Personal data can n...

Book Review: John McPhee delivers a lovely ‘reminiscence montage’ in ’Tabula Rasa’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

“Tabula Rasa, Volume 1” by John McPhee (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)What do you do when your writing career lasts seven decades but you haven’t said everything you once thought about saying? If you’re John McPhee, you crack open your notebooks and give fans a taste of the stories you never wrote.That’s the premise behind “Tabula Rasa,” which the 92-year-old McPhee wryly indicates is “Volume 1” because “the purpose of (the project) is to keep the old writer alive by never coming to an end.”There are plenty of snippets here that will make readers wish McPhee had indeed delved deeper into particular topics. A longer profile of fellow writer Edward Abbey would have been nice after hearing him recount the stoning of a rabbit at a Princeton colloquium. Or more color from a 1979 Independence Day fireworks party aboard Malcolm Forbes’ yacht in New York’s East River. Some of the best writing in this collection could be considered memoir — from McPhee’s high school job as a billy club- and flas...

Monitor urges contempt proceedings begin against New York City over Rikers jail conditions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Contempt proceedings should be initiated against New York City over its failure to meet court-ordered reforms meant to stabilize the troubled Rikers Island jail complex, a federal monitor recommended on Monday.The court-appointed monitor made the recommendation in a filing in Manhattan federal court, where a judge is currently considering a federal takeover of the city-run jail system.The report was issued just days after another monitor found the jail complex forced detainees to live in damp, fetid quarters infested with mold, vermin and other “generally unsanitary” conditions.According to the latest report, the city has failed to address key problems at the complex, including the risk of violence to those in custody, despite eight years of monitoring since a consent judgment went into effect and following the first year of an “Action Plan” that was supposed to speed improvements.“Many of the initiatives required by the Action Plan remain incomplete or have not been...

WATCH LIVE | Illinois hits 'tourism milestone'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

ILLINOIS — Governor JB Pritzker is set to announce a "tourism milestone" for the state.Pritzker has scheduled a press conference for Monday afternoon from Chicago's River North neighborhood. During the event he is expected "to announce record Illinois tourism milestone," according to a press release. Northern Lights could be visible in Wisconsin, Indiana, 15 other states Thursday No additional information was provided.WGN plans to livestream the announcement within this story beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. 

The Amazing Race: Stomach the Challenge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

Put your mental, creative and physical skills to the test, all while supporting genetic cancer research. Register a team today for The Amazing Race: Stomach the Challenge, fundraiser August 5th. For additional details, and to register, visit: https://my.onecause.com/event/organizations/16b96f2e-fc58-4749-81df-4239012d9c16/events/vevt:1ac14e1b-a6dc-4b71-ac28-92b216dadf02/home/story

White Sox scout who signed Luis Robert Jr. discusses outfielder’s trajectory into All-Star performer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:12 GMT

CHICAGO —When the White Sox signed Luis Robert Jr. in 2017 for $26 million dollars, the young outfielder was Major League Baseball’s top-ranked international prospect. Marco Paddy helped the Sox ink Robert, just as he did for the team when they signed Jose Abreu, Oscar Colas, and Yoelqui Cespedes.Paddy is now the Sox Special Assistant to the General Manager in charge of international operations and last year was named international scout of the year.He was in Chicago Saturday to receive the Roland Hemond Award from the Society of American Baseball Research where WGN’s Josh Frydman sat down to discuss Robert's rise to All-Star level and when Paddy remembers first watching him play.