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South Carolina’s top education official wants online digital maps as part of $38M school safety ask

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

GILBERT, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s top education official plans to ask lawmakers for $5 million to put a digital map of every school in the state online and make those maps immediately available on police officers’ mobile devices as they respond to a shooting or other emergency at a given school.Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver announced those plans Wednesday as she joined Gov. Henry McMaster and law enforcement officials at the state’s newest project to protect students — a closed school now dedicated to training officers, firefighters, paramedics and others to respond to school safety.Weaver and McMaster joined South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel at the Center for School Safety and Targeted Violence, which the division has used for training since 2017 with permission of the local school board, but has since purchased and turned into a training facility.“If our students and teachers aren’t safe, nothing else matters,” said Weaver, who was elected s...

2 snowmachine riders found dead after search in western Alaska

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

NOME, Alaska (AP) — Two snowmachine riders in western Alaska were found dead a day after they were reported overdue and a storm hampered search efforts, authorities said.Alaska State Troopers identified the riders as Charlene Habros, 34, and Dustin Gologergen, 55, both of Nome. Troopers, the Alaska National Guard and Nome search and rescue were working to recover the bodies Wednesday, troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel said by email.Troopers received a report around 7 a.m. Monday that the two were traveling from Teller to Nome — about 70 miles (112.7 kilometers) away — and were overdue. Initial ground search efforts from Nome were hampered by a storm. The wind chill in Nome earlier Monday morning was as cold as 20 below 0 Fahrenheit (-29 Celsius) and stayed well below 0 F throughout the day.A search plane located the snowmachine but there were no signs of the two, and a Teller-based search-and-rescue team was unable to reach the site because of poor weather. Road-clearing crews f...

BP denies ex-CEO Looney a $41 million payout, saying he misled the firm over work relationships

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The former chief executive of BP has been denied a 32.4 million pound ($41 million) payout after he was found to have misled the company over his past relationships with colleagues, the energy giant said Wednesday.Bernard Looney resigned in September after acknowledging he had not been “fully transparent” in his disclosures about his work relationships.BP said the company sought assurances from Looney in 2022 about the relationships but has concluded that his statements were “inaccurate and incomplete.”“Mr. Looney knowingly misled the board,” BP said. “The board has determined that this amounts to serious misconduct.”The firm said the 32.4 million pounds’ worth of salary, pension, bonus payments and shares have been forfeited as a result. Some payments already given to Looney, including 50% of the cash bonus paid for the 2022 financial year, will be “clawed back,” it added.The move reflects “the decision by the board that Mr. Looney should not retain ...

Albania’s Constitutional Court blocks Parliament’s ratification of deal with Italy on migrants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday blocked, at least temporarily, the ratification by lawmakers of a contentious deal that Tirana signed with Rome to process asylum applications of some migrants arriving in Italy by sea in Albania instead. The court’s chief judge, Olta Zacaj, said the court would hold a public hearing on Jan. 18 to determine whether the agreement violates Albania’s constitution. The decision means the Parliament will not vote on whether to ratify the deal, a session that had been planned for Thursday. It was not immediately clear when — presumably after the January debate — the lawmakers could vote. The court’s decision followed a petition from the opposition, which has argued that the agreement runs counter to Albania’s constitution and international law. Under the five-year deal announced in November, Albania was to shelter up to 36,000 migrants for a year, or about 3,000 a month, trying to reach Italy withou...

Judge questions whether legal cases cited by Michael Cohen’s lawyer actually exist

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

A lawyer for Michael Cohen, the fixer-turned-foe of former President Donald Trump, appears to have cited court rulings that do not exist in a legal filing seeking to have Cohen’s post-prison supervision end early, according to a federal judge in New York who is threatening penalties.U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman issued an order Tuesday telling attorney David M. Schwartz to provide by Dec. 19 copies of three rulings Schwartz cited in the motion he filed last month. If the copies cannot be produced, the judge said Schwartz should explain in writing why he should not be sanctioned.“As far as the Court can tell, none of these cases exist,” Furman wrote. He added that if copies of the rulings aren’t submitted, he wanted “a thorough explanation of how the motion came to cite cases that do not exist and what role, if any, Mr. Cohen played in drafting or reviewing the motion before it was filed.”Schwartz did not immediately respond to phone and email messages Wednesday.A new ...

Self-defence or deliberate killing: Final arguments in trial of Saskatchewan Mountie

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Crown prosecutors say a Saskatchewan Mountie deliberately lured his lover to an isolated area to kill him, but the officer’s lawyer argues the shooting was in self-defence.Bernie Herman, who is 55, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Braden Herman.The two men are not related.Braden Herman’s naked body was found in 2021 in a park on the outskirts of Prince Albert.Prosecutor Jennifer Schmidt says in the trial’s closing arguments that Bernie Herman’s testimony about not being able to remember what happened cannot be believed. Defence lawyer Darren Kraushaar told court the men’s relationship was violent and toxic and the shooting was not planned or deliberate. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2023.The Canadian Press

Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange POWs in line with agreement announced last week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday exchanged prisoners of war, in line with an agreement announced last week that also promised the two countries would work towards a peace treaty and was hailed by the European Union as a major step toward peace in the tumultuous region.Azerbaijan brought back two servicemen, while 32 soldiers returned to Armenia, officials in both countries reported.Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The offensive ended three decades of rule there by ethnic Armenians and resulted in the vast majority of the 120,000 residents fleeing the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.In their joint statement last week, the two countries said they “share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace.” They said they intend “to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sove...

Body of missing Carpentersville teen pulled from retention pond in Vernon Hills

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

VERNON HILLS, Ill. — The body of missing Carpentersville teen Brissa Romero has been recovered from a retention pond in Vernon Hills.The body was located Tuesday morning near the area where emergency crews resumed their search for the missing teen. The Lake County Coroner's Office officially identified her on Wednesday afternoon and said her cause of death was consistent with drowning.Romero, 17, was on her way to a work holiday party last week when police said she lost control of her Nissan Rogue at an intersection and drove into a pond.She had been missing for one week.“The car was accidentally driven into the pond after the driver failed to navigate the intersection. Video from a nearby fast food restaurant taken shortly before the phone's last communication with area cell towers suggests Brissa was driving at the time.” Vernon Hills police said in a release.Authorities said a review of Romero’s cellphone data brought investigators to the retention pond Monday and while on the s...

Santa’s home is on Zillow, and you can take an AI-powered tour

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

BestReviews is reader-supported and may earn an affiliate commission. Details.Don’t worry, it’s off the marketEver wondered where Santa lives when he isn’t circumnavigating the globe delivering presents to all the world’s boys and girls? Well, thanks to Zillow, you can take an AI-powered tour of Santa’s home and explore every nook and cranny via photos, a detailed floor plan and fun, family-friendly interactive activities.  Santa’s home has been featured on Zillow since 2016 — but don’t worry; it’s not for sale. Still, during the holiday season, you can explore the listing to see where Santa lives by viewing the photos and floor plan.Best gifts for people who are always coldExplore Santa’s North Pole home on ZillowThis year, Santa has added fun features like a virtual treasure hunt. You can search for mistletoe, fruitcake and 15 other holiday items hidden around his North Pole cabin. The Clauses have also made so...

Oprah Winfrey's portrait on display at Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Oprah Winfrey’s portrait is now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The full-length portrait was painted by Chicago-based artist Shawn Michael Warren.Winfrey is pictured wearing a floor-length purple gown holding an olive branch on her Montecito, California estate.Winfrey attended the invitation-only unveiling ceremony in the museum’s Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard on Wednesday morning.The National Portrait Gallery says the portrait was commissioned for the museum’s permanent collection and will be open to the public on the museum’s first floor starting Wednesday, Dec. 13.