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Judge reinstates murder charge against Philadelphia police officer in fatal shooting of motorist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge on Wednesday reinstated all charges, including a murder count, against a former police officer who shot and killed a driver through a rolled-up car window — a confrontation police initially described as the officer shooting the driver after he lunged at him with a knife outside the car.Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian Ransom ruled after a hearing that the facts of the case should be established at a trial.Former officer Mark Dial was charged with murder, manslaughter, official oppression and four other counts in the Aug. 14 shooting death of 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry during a traffic stop. Defense lawyers argued the officer could have feared for his life because he thought Irizarry had a gun, and a municipal court judge dismissed the case last month for lack of evidence.Prosecutors quickly appealed, asking for the charges to be reinstated. Irizarry’s family has said Dial took an innocent life and should spend the rest of his life behind bars.Dial, who bo...

Man charged with failing to yield in Oshawa crash that killed 20-year-old e-scooter rider

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

The driver of a pick-up truck is facing a failing to yield charge following a collision in Oshawa that killed a young woman riding an electric scooter earlier this year.Emergency crews were called to the area of Harmony and Taunton roads on the afternoon of May 17, 2023 for reports of a crash between a pickup truck and an electric scooter.Durham Regional Police say a black 2018 GMC Sierra truck was exiting a gas station near the intersection when it struck an e-scooter that was riding on the sidewalk.The 20-year-old woman who was riding the scooter was rushed to hospital with injuries where she was pronounced dead. The driver of the pickup remained at the scene and was not injured.The scooter the woman was riding is part of Oshawa’s ride-sharing e-scooter pilot program that was launched in April. At the time, police said the incident was the first crash they were called to involving the scooters since the program began.On Tuesday, police charged the driver of the pickup with failing...

Movie Review: Teen dreams and adult nightmares in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

Dreamily gazing at the album covers of Elvis Presley was not, statistically speaking, a rare habit among American teen girls in the late 1950s and early ’60s.But for Priscilla Beaulieu, teenage fantasy became a strange and surreal reality. Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” starring Cailee Spaeny, captures all the dreaminess, the absurdity and, finally, the nightmare of falling in love with Elvis. Priscilla was just 14 years-old — a 9th grader — when she first met him. It was 1959. She was living in West Germany, where her Air Force officer stepfather was stationed. The swoony early scenes of Coppola’s film find a solitary Priscilla sipping soda in a Navy base diner while Frankie Avalon’s “Venus” (“Venus, make her fair / A lovely girl with sunlight in her hair”) plays around her, as covered by the band Phoenix.A man approaches and asks if she likes Elvis. Of course she does. Would she like to meet him? Um, what? After some negotiations with her parents, Priscilla is sitting there on the s...

Deal that ensured Black representation on Louisiana’s highest court upheld by federal appeals panel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 1992 federal court agreement that led to a Black justice being elected to Louisiana’s once all-white Supreme Court will remain in effect under a ruling Wednesday from a divided federal appeals court panel.The 2-1 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court ruling. It’s a defeat for state Attorney General Jeff Landry, now Louisiana’s governor-elect.Landry and state Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, a fellow Republican who is in a runoff election campaign to succeed him as attorney general, had argued that the 1992 agreement is no longer needed and should be dissolved.Attorneys for the original plaintiffs in the voting rights case and the U.S. Justice Department said the state presented no evidence to show it would not revert to old patterns that denied Black voters representation on the state’s highest court.U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan last year refused to dissolve the agreement, referred to as a consent judgment or...

Montreal to ban most natural gas heating, cooking in new buildings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

Montreal will ban gas-powered systems in new construction starting next fall, with some notable exceptions.The new regulation, adopted by the city’s executive committee this morning, will apply to new, small buildings — up to three storeys and 600 square metres in area — as of Oct. 1, 2024, and larger buildings starting six months later.Examples of soon-to-be prohibited systems include residential gas-powered stoves, indoor gas fireplaces, hot water heaters and furnaces that emit greenhouse gases and barbecues and pool or spa heaters that draw from gas lines.The city says exceptions include emergency generators, commercial stoves in restaurants, gas-powered barbecues with removable tanks and temporary heating devices used during construction work.Industrial buildings are also exempt, as are combustion heaters in larger buildings that draw only from renewable sources of gas.Montreal says the measure will help it reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, noting building...

Man charged with arson after allegedly lighting North Side Halloween decorations on fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

CHICAGO — A man accused of lighting a Halloween display on fire in Roscoe Village has been charged.Mario Munoz, 34, has been charged with arson and criminal damage to property.It's in connection to two incidents, one in North Center and one in Roscoe Village earlier this month.Authorities responded to a home in the 2200 block of West Roscoe on Oct. 11 at around 3:45 a.m.Footage provided to WGN News shows the man allegedly light a decoration set involving two pumpkins on fire. The homeowner quickly came out to extinguish the blaze.Munoz is also charged in connection to a property damage incident on Oct. 12 in the 4100 block of North Maplewood.On Oct. 17, Chicago police released a community alert involving several other Halloween decoration arsons throughout Lincoln Square, North Center and Roscoe Village. Previous: Suspected arsonist targeting North Side Halloween decorations It's unknown if Munoz will face more charges in connection to the community alert.Anyone with information c...

Attorney Ben Crump retained by mother of 6-year-old boy fatally stabbed in Plainfield Township

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

CHICAGO — The mother of a 6-year-old boy who was murdered in unincorporated Plainfield Township has retained nationally known Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump.Wadea Al-Fayoume was fatally stabbed 26 times on Oct. 14 by Joseph Czuba, the family's 71-year-old landlord. The boy's mother, Hanan Shaheen, was stabbed 12 times in the attack and is still recovering.Czuba has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. ‘He was my best friend’: Mother recuperates after 6-year-old boy killed in attack police call a hate crime Authorities said Czuba singled them out because of their Muslim faith and as a response to the escalating Israel-Hamas war.In a statement released Tuesday, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump announced he had been retained by Hanan.Crump has released the following statement:"There is no tolerance for hate crimes...

A Chicago native will play in the 2023 World Series for Diamondbacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

CHICAGO — A native of Chicago is going to get his chance to take part in the "Fall Classic" for the first time in his career. It comes as Alek Thomas is concluding his second season in Major League Baseball, and has had a few moments during the National League Playoffs. The Chicago native and former Mount Carmel High School Star helped the Diamondbacks to the National League pennant as they defeated the Phillies in seven games in the league championship series. Thomas has taken part in all 12 games for the Diamondbacks this postseason, getting an at-bat as a pinch hitter in the 4-2 win over Philadelphia in the deciding Game 7 at Citizen's Bank Park. It helped Arizona clinch their first National League pennant since 2001. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)Many will remember the outfielder playing a big part in making that happen thanks to his effort in Game 4 at Chase Field in Phoenix. With two outs in the eighth inning and the Diamondbacks trailing the Phillies 5-3, Thomas hit a game...

Mother of wounded Marine fought for her son, now she's fighting to keep family home after his death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) - For nearly two decades, Christine Cooley took care of her wounded veteran son, but now she's at risk of losing their specially built home following his passing.Josh Cooley first served as a Pasco County Sheriff's Deputy, earning his way onto the department SWAT team as a sniper.His brother, Chris Cooley, said Josh wanted to be a cop since he was a kid. "Josh ... he just wanted to protect and serve, and that's just who he was," Cooley said.Then, 9/11 happened, and Josh joined the U.S. Marine Corps."He was a strapping man, and he just had a command presence about him," Cooley recalled of his brother. But on July 5, 2005, tragedy struck. As Josh was on patrol in Iraq, an explosion happened next to his vehicle. His body was severely burned, and a piece of shrapnel tore through his brain."The doctors told my mother that, that was it. He wasn't going to make it," Cooley said. His mother flew to a U.S. Military hospital in Germany to be by her son's side. The do...

Hurricane Tammy strengthens in the Atlantic; Otis slams Mexico as Category 5

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:59 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Hurricane Tammy continued to strengthen over the open Atlantic on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.As of the latest forecast, Tammy's winds have increased to 105 mph, making it a Category 2 hurricane. Florida middle school students to send experiment to International Space Station The NHC said Tammy is located about 515 miles south-southeast of Bermuda. The storm is expected to make a northward turn on Wednesday, followed by a slower northwestward motion on Thursday and Friday.Tammy is forecast to begin weakening as it nears Bermuda and will become a powerful post-tropical cyclone by Thursday, according to the NHC.Hurricane Otis slams Mexico as a Category 5 stormThis satellite image provided by NOAA on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, shows Hurricane Otis approaching Mexico's Pacific coast near Acapulco. Otis is forecast to make landfall early Wednesday and there is a hurricane warning in effect from Punta Maldonado to Zihuatanejo. (NOAA via AP)To...