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A look at the bargaining demands ahead of potential strike by federal civil servants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

OTTAWA — More than 120,000 federal public servants voted in favour of a countrywide strike mandate this week — and their union has made clear that wages are top of mind as it mulls whether to launch the potential job action. Another 35,000 from the Canada Revenue Agency voted for a strike mandate last week.The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the federal government have been at the bargaining table since June 2021. After a protracted impasse, during which both parties filed labour complaints against each other, the two began mediated negotiations early this month. The union’s demands have shifted over time, and neither party says it is willing to discuss the details of the ongoing negotiations publicly. It is also a standard bargaining tactic for parties to ask for more, or offer less, than they are expecting in the completed agreement.But a brief to the Public Interest Commission last November sheds light on what the union was asking for at that time. Here are some of th...

Papal official rejects new claims in ‘Vatican Girl’ mystery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

ROME (AP) — The Vatican pushed back hard Friday at “slanderous” insinuations against St. John Paul II that were aired following the reopening of an investigation into the 1983 disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee.The kerfuffle erupted after Emanuela Orlandi’s brother, Pietro, spent eight hours meeting Tuesday with Vatican prosecutors, who earlier this year reopened the dormant investigation into Emanuela’s disappearance. The Vatican probe has coincided with the recent decision by Italy’s parliament to open a parliamentary commission of inquest into the case, giving the Orlandi family hope that the truth might finally emerge.Emanuela Orlandi, 15, vanished June 22, 1983, after leaving her family’s Vatican City apartment to go to a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay employee of the Holy See.Her disappearance has been one of the Vatican’s enduring mysteries, and over the years has been linked to everything from the plot to kill John Paul, a financial scand...

Former B.C. paramedic gives advice on the 7th anniversary of the overdose crisis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

VANCOUVER — A former Vancouver paramedic with decades of experience says he has watched as illicit drugs have become more toxic, requiring more effort and more overdose-reversing medication to save people’s lives.Brian Twaites’ comments come on the seventh anniversary of British Columbia’s declaration of the public health emergency for the overdose crisis. Twaites worked for 36 years, mostly in the city’s Downtown Eastside, and says drug users need to stop using alone and should also ensure they’re not all using the same drug at the same time so someone can call for help. B.C. was the first jurisdiction in Canada to declare a public health emergency over increasing overdoses on April 14, 2016, after overdose deaths reached 474 in 2015.Last year, the toxic drug supply claimed nearly 2,300 lives in the province.Premier David Eby, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whtiteside and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry say in a joint stat...

Financial system has to adjust to higher interest rates, Macklem says.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

OTTAWA — Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the financial system has to adjust to higher interest rates, just like the rest of the economy. Macklem addressed the recent banking stress that was set off in the U.S. last month while speaking to reporters today from the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, D.C. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, followed by other financial institutions, has raised concerns about the implications of rapid interest rate hiking on financial stability.Macklem says the financial system will have to adjust to higher interest rates, noting central banks are “resolved in getting inflation back to their inflation targets.”The governor says adjusting to higher interest rates can be hard for the financial system, just as it can be difficult for Canadians and businesses.Macklem says he disagrees with the idea that price stability and financial stability are at odds with each other and says achieving both is criti...

Funeral services held for Chicago firefighter Jermaine Pelt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago firefighter Jermaine Pelt was laid to rest Friday following funeral services on the city's Far South Side.Pelt's funeral came nearly 24 hours after the department, along with family and friends, said goodbye to Lieutenant Jan Tchoryk, another firefighter who died in the line-of-duty.Words used to describe Pelt included selflessness, bravery and heroism.Pelt died April 4 while battling a fire in the city's West Pullman neighborhood. He was on a hose line inside a burning home, when he went down. His cause of death was smoke inhalation. Pelt joined the department in 2005 and had just recently walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.The 49-year-old also had a 6-year-old son. Funeral services held Thursday for fallen CFD Lt. Jan Tchoryk Pelt's visitation Thursday night at the Blake-Lamb Funeral Home came just hours after the funeral for Lt. Tchoryk, who collapsed and died in a high-rise fire in the city's Gold Coast.Pelt not only fought fires, but taught th...

Driver dies after falling out of Jeep, being struck by 2 vehicles on Dan Ryan Expressway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A person died after falling out of a Jeep and being struck by two vehicles on the Dan Ryan Expressway, according to Illinois State Police.State troopers responded to southbound I-94 at 28th Street around 5 a.m. Friday for a report of a person laying on the roadway.ISP police say for unknown reasons, the driver of a Jeep Wrangler fell out of the vehicle and onto the expressway. Two vehicles then struck the person, one vehicle fled the scene. 1 dead in Northwest Indiana house fire The driverless Jeep then ran off the roadway and struck a concrete median barrier, according to ISP.The person was pronounced dead on the scene. Their identity has not yet been released.No further information has been provided at this time.

Chicago couple accused of strangling man to death after luring him out of restaurant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago couple has been charged after allegedly luring a man out of a restaurant nearly two years ago and then strangling him to death.At around 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 2021, the Cook County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the area of Central Avenue and 177th Street, located in unincorporated Bremen Township, on the report of an unresponsive man.The man, later identified as Agustin Guinac Chaj, 31, of Chicago, was unclothed from the waist down and pronounced dead at the scene.Following an investigation, detectives learned Chaj was at the same Chicago restaurant as Alberto Luces, 45, and Yessenia Bradford, 50, both of Chicago. Police said Chaj did not know the couple. Northwestern criticizes its own response to deadly shooting steps from campus At some point, police allege Luces and Bradford lured Chaj to their van where he was beaten and strangled to death. They then allegedly dumped his body near Central Avenue and 177th Street and returned home.The couple was arrest...

Viral dad: Male bald eagle adopts rock, then eaglet 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

VALLEY PARK, Mo. (KTVI) – A 31-year-old bald eagle named Murphy at the World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri is going viral for his paternal instincts. Murphy began incubating a rock a few weeks ago, which is not uncommon, according to Roger Holloway, the sanctuary's executive director.“It’s not out of the complete ordinary for an eagle if they don’t have an egg and they’re going through nesting behavior to try and incubate something," Holloway said, adding that spring is when eagles usually breed and show natural reproductive behavior. But just a week or so later, the rock Murphy was protecting was replaced with a real eaglet. “This spring, it coincided with us having a lone chick," Holloway said.A couple of weeks ago, that eaglet was blown out of its nest in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Its sibling did not survive, but the eaglet, now known as "Eaglet 23-126," was moved to the sanctuary. Murphy has been watching over the eaglet with minimal human interaction ever since. "It's just a singl...

Here's where Americans are pulling back their spending as inflation takes a toll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

(The Hill) -- Retail sales in the U.S. fell 1 percent from February to March, according to Census Bureau data released Friday, a sharp drop signaling that the economy is slowing faster than expected.  Analysts had predicted retail sales to fall 0.4 percent. Sales figures were down despite consumer prices rising 5 percent annually in March, indicating that sales volumes are seeing even steeper declines. Inflation breakdown: Five takeaways from the March inflation slowdownSpending is up just 2.9 percent compared to last year. But adjusted for inflation, retail sales are down 2 percent annually, according to EY Parthenon senior economist Lydia Boussour.“In other words, consumers are spending more dollars but are getting less goods or dining out less than in March last year,” Boussour said in an analysis. Consumers are increasingly pulling back their spending following years of consistent price hikes and elevated borrowing costs brought on by the Federal Reserve’s interest rat...

Dozens of school districts in Indiana sent threat: 'One of your schools has a bomb inside'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:12:52 GMT

(WXIN) – Indiana State Police said no suspicious items were found after dozens of school districts in Indiana were sent an anonymous bomb threat overnight, prompting many of those schools to call for an online-learning day or cancel classes altogether Friday.Noblesville Schools officials were the first to confirm to Nexstar's WXIN that their district had received an anonymous bomb threat via email.The list then grew to include the Lebanon Community School Corporation, Marion Community Schools and Southwestern Consolidated Schools, all three of which confirmed they were on e-learning due to the threat. According to a representative with Noblesville Schools, the bomb threat "was sent to approximately 40 school districts throughout Indiana."Speedway Schools and Center Grove Schools were among the schools to forgo virtual classes and instead close for the day. Families with children in Center Grove were told "Homeland Security is investigating this situation" in an emaile...