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Budget, Bears, Chicago school board and ethics: Illinois legislators face busy agenda in spring session’s final week

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

The Illinois General Assembly heads into the final scheduled week of its spring session facing unresolved issues from the budget to a proposal to help the Chicago Bears move to the suburbs, while also coming under pressure to toughen government ethics laws in the wake of the “ComEd Four” corruption case convictions.Also on the table is the possibility of additional funding to help Chicago address its growing influx of migrants and asylum-seekers, and the need to finalize a map for the city’s new elected school board.Finalizing a state budget has been complicated by the need to fill a nearly $900 million hole in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal due to ballooning costs of a state-funded health insurance program for adult immigrants in the country without legal permission.Ethics reform has proved over the years to be an issue that can be just as knotty as the budget. But there’s an added impetus to act this year given the bombshell bribery trial that led to g...

Southland high school officials differ on level of state guidance needed for defibrillator training, availability

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

School districts in the south and southwest suburbs have different numbers of automated external defibrillators available, but officials have different opinions on whether the state should provide more guidance on availability.Defibrillators are portable machines used to help someone experiencing cardiac arrest. In Illinois, state law requires schools and other public places to have defibrillators, but leave it up to school officials to determine how many should be in buildings.Lockport Township High School District 205 Superintendent Robert McBride said the state should give more guidance and funding to schools to make sure a consistent number of defibrillators are available.Tinley Park High School associate principal Randy Couwenhoven said the state requires defibrillators, it should be left up to each district to determine how many should be purchased.“I think what the state has done in that regard, making sure that all schools have them, is a good thing,” Couwenhoven...

Boston Schools employee asked contractor to ‘hide’ a $164K payment problem, report says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

After Boston Public Schools was found to be stiffing a plumbing contractor on a $164,000 bill, racked up since 2018, district employees sought to resolve the issue by directing another vendor to pick up the tab, according to a city watchdog report.Not only was this a breach of policy, the Boston Finance Commission contends, it left the school district with a substantially larger bill, as the second vendor tacked on a 15% fee, totaling $24,673, in the invoice it sent to BPS — which “falsely” labeled the charges as subcontractor work performed at Campbell Resource Center.What should have been a $164,448 payment to the initial vendor swelled to $189,162.The difference in cost benefited the contractor that BPS roped in for the favor, ENE Systems, Inc., a national HVAC company that has roughly $20 million worth of contracts with the Boston Public Schools, the report said.“This breach of policy, procedures and public trust by City of Boston employees unnecessarily wasted $24,673.33 of the...

Thousands of police officer disciplinary records could be released next month, POST official says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

Thousands of disciplinary records detailing misconduct among police officers all across Massachusetts could be released to the public as soon as next month, the head of the state’s law enforcement licensing agency told the Herald.In a wide-ranging interview this week, Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission Executive Director Enrique Zuniga said those records could be released shortly after the agency’s next meeting, which will likely be scheduled for the middle of June.Zuniga also addressed in the interview the POST Commission’s decertification of former Woburn Officer John Donnelly, who is accused of helping plan a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. It was the first time the agency decertified an officer, a move that bars them from serving as a cop in Massachusetts, and likely the rest of the country.Zuniga’s answers were edited for clarity and length.The POST Commission discussed this week the possible release of thousands of disciplinary records for off...

German prosecutors charge 4 men involved in far-right group with crimes of violence

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities have filed charges against four alleged members of a far-right group that aimed to kill left-wing extremists, following an investigation targeting several organizations, prosecutors announced MondayThe four men, identified only as Leon R., Maximilian A., Eric K. and Bastian A., in line with local privacy rules, were charged with crimes including serious bodily harm, resisting and attacking police officers, disturbing the peace and violating Germany’s weapons law.The men were detained in central Germany in April and federal prosecutors filed the charges earlier this month.Prosecutors said the four were leading members of a far-right combat sports group, “Knockout 51,” which held training sessions at the local headquarters of a small far-right party in the eastern city of Eisenach and aimed to indoctrinate young men and train them in street fighting.The group, which had about 10 active members and had links to far-right players in other parts of German...

Back in the Arab League after 12 years, Syria urges group to invest in war-torn country

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria on Monday called on Arab countries to invest in the war-torn nation, now again a member of the Arab League. The appeal from Syria’s economy and trade minister came during an economic conference in Saudi Arabia, ahead of a league summit in the kingdom.The 22-member Arab League agreed earlier this month to reinstate Syria, ending a 12-year suspension and taking another step toward bringing Syrian President Bashar Assad, a long-time regional pariah, back into the fold.However, crippling Western sanctions against Assad’s government remain in place and could prevent oil-rich Arab countries from rushing to invest in Syria — or lead to a quick release of reconstruction funds in the war-battered country.“We invite you to participate in investing in Syria, where there are important opportunities and promising horizons,” said the Syrian minister, Mohammed Samer al-Khalil, as he addressed the opening session of the conference Monday in Jeddah. Saudi Finance Minister M...

Turkey appears headed for runoff in presidential race as Erdogan performs better than expected

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s presidential elections appeared headed for a runoff Monday, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pulling ahead of his chief challenger, but falling short of an outright victory that would extend his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade.The vote was being closely watched to see if the strategically located NATO country — which has a coast on the Black Sea to the north, and neighbors Iran, Iraq and Syria to the south — remains under the president’s firm grip or can embark on a more democratic course envisioned by his main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.While Erdogan has governed for 20 years, opinion polls had suggested that run could be coming to end amid economic turmoil, a cost-of-living crisis and criticism over the government’s response to a February earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people. Western nations and foreign investors were particularly interested in the outcome because of Erdogan’s unorthodox leadership of the e...

Slovakia gets technocratic caretaker government until September’s early election

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s President Zuzana Caputova swore in on Monday a government of technocrats to lead the country to snap elections in September amid a political crisis.Ludovit Odor, the the former deputy governor of the central bank and a respected economist, will head the 15-member Cabinet. Career diplomat Miroslav Wlachovsky becomes the foreign minister, with Martin Sklenar, a former senior defense ministry official, as the defense minister. Odor, who comes from Slovakia’s Hungarian minority, is not affiliated with any political party. No member of his government will run in the forthcoming election.“We won’t work miracles but you can expect us to ensure the proper functioning of the state,” Odor said.Slovakia has been without a proper government since Dec. 15, when the coalition government led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger lost a vote of no confidence in parliament called by the opposition, following months of political crisis.Caputova initially as...

Trudeau to make first official visit to South Korea

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to leave Monday for a weeklong trip to Asia, where he will make his first official visit to South Korea and attend the G-7 leaders’ summit in Japan.The trip comes at a time when the world is collectively facing security threats and economic uncertainty magnified by climate change.One of Canada’s top priorities will be strengthening ties between the allied countries to address the converging challenges.The prime minister is scheduled to be in Seoul between May 16 and 18, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Ottawa last fall. Since then, both countries have released their Indo-Pacific strategies, which aim to counterbalance Chinese influence by increasing economic and military ties in the region.Canada is expected to seek the G-7 members’ co-operationon providing ongoing support to Ukraine, as well as addressing climate change.

Europe’s economic outlook brightens a little after avoiding recession. But inflation still squeezes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:29 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Union’s executive body raised its economic growth forecast, saying Europe had dodged a winter recession that was feared amid an energy crisis but warning that stubbornly high inflation is likely to keep hurting the economy by sapping people’s ability to spend. The outlook for the 20 countries using the euro currency improved to growth of 1.1% this year from 0.9% in February’s predictions, the European Commission said in its spring forecast Monday.Europe had faced expectations of a winter energy catastrophe after Russia cut off most of its supply of natural gas to the continent amid the war in Ukraine. Prices surged to record highs for gas needed to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories — fueling painful spikes in consumer prices.A mad scramble to line up new sources of natural gas — through more expensive supplies of liquefied gas coming by ship — along with mild weather and reduced use helped Europe get through...