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It may have just gotten harder to protect minority communities from pollution

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

By Alex Brown, Stateline.orgIn recent years, some states have invested in air quality monitoring, applied extra scrutiny to permitting decisions and steered cleanup funding to minority communities that have borne the brunt of pollution for decades.Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down race-conscious college admissions policies, state lawmakers are facing a new conundrum: Can they remedy environmental racism without mentioning race?“The [Supreme Court] majority really reinforced the idea that a generalized government policy of rectifying past discrimination would not pass constitutional muster,” said Emily Hammond, an environmental law expert and professor at the George Washington University Law School.Lawmakers are scrambling to figure out what the ruling will mean for their environmental justice efforts. In some states, legislators expect lawsuits to threaten their policies. The question is whether they can defend those measures in court, or if ...

The best time to book holiday travel is very soon

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

By Meghan Coyle | NerdWalletIf your swimsuit is still drying from your last trip or you’re packing for a Labor Day getaway, traveling for Thanksgiving or the winter holidays probably isn’t top of mind. After all, it’s not even September.And remember last year when people were procrastinating and finding last-minute holiday travel deals? Well, the surge in air travel this year has changed all that.The most recent data from Google Flights shows the lowest average price for flights starting in mid-December (around Christmas) are usually available around 71 days before departure. That’s a whopping six weeks earlier than Google’s findings last year when holiday prices were lowest about 22 days before departure.So now, the best time to book your end-of-December flights is by mid-October. And if you apply the same thinking to Thanksgiving flights, you’ve got just a few weeks until you should book.Thanksgiving flights will probably be cheapest around mid-September. Wait too long, and you mi...

Dairy Queen to sell Blizzards for 85¢ for 2 weeks in September

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

By Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily NewsFor two weeks in September, Dairy Queen customers will get the chance to buy its signature dessert at a deep discount.The fast food chain, known for its twisty soft-serve and mixed ice cream treats, announced this week it will sell its Blizzards for just 85 cents.From Sept. 11-24, customers who use the DQ mobile app at participating Dairy Queen restaurants across the U.S. can get in on the sweet deal.The special promotion is to celebrate the 1985 introduction of the Blizzard and the launch of new fall menu — including flavors such as pumpkin pie, snickerdoodle cookie dough, caramel fudge cheesecake, choco-dipped strawberry, Oreo hot cocoa, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup pie, and royal Reese’s fluffernutter — which arrived in stores on Monday.

Somerville’s Dragon Pizza owner and Barstool’s Dave Portnoy trade ‘F’ bombs, flip each other off in Davis Square

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

People all over the internet have been introduced to Somerville’s Dragon Pizza after its owner ripped into Barstool’s Dave Portnoy, and the pair exchanged “F” bombs and flipped each other off in a viral video.The fiery interaction between the owner of Dragon Pizza in Davis Square and Portnoy has led to a spike of Yelp comments for Dragon Pizza — and an “Unusual Activity Alert” notice on the eatery’s Yelp page.During one of Portnoy’s recent pizza reviews in Davis Square, Dragon Pizza owner Charlie Redd stepped outside his establishment and approached Portnoy on the Elm Street sidewalk.“Dave, enjoy your pizza as any customer, but I don’t appreciate what you do, coming in and judging a business with one bite,” Redd told Portnoy.“Well, we do more,” Portnoy responded.“I hope you enjoy your pizza, but I don’t appreciate what you do to small businesses,” Redd said before walking back into ...

More than 150 migrants in small boats rescued off Greece’s Aegean Sea islands

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities on Friday rescued more than 150 people, including several children, who were heading in small boats from Turkey to the nearby eastern Aegean Sea islands, the coast guard said.The rescues came amid a rise in crossings to European Union member Greece by people from the Middle East and Africa seeking a better life in the wealthy 27-country bloc.The coast guard said 101 people were picked up from boats off the island of Lesbos in three separate instances Friday, and another 53 were found on two vessels off Samos.All were taken to reception centers for asylum-seekers.The coast guard also said another 35 people were picked up from two small boats off Lesbos late Thursday.That raises the total number of rescues on Wednesday and Thursday to almost 500.Despite the increase in migration to Greece, Italy is the main entry point in the EU for migrants with about 113,000 arrivals so far this year and Spain follows with more than 21,000, according to United...

Traffickers plead guilty to smuggling over $10,000 in endangered sea cucumbers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wildlife traffickers pleaded guilty this week in federal court in California to illegally importing endangered sea cucumbers — which are prized in China for food and medicine and as a reputed aphrodisiac — from Mexico.Zunyu Zhao and Xionwei Xiao were charged with conspiracy and illegal importation of brown sea cucumbers worth over $10,000 from 2017 to 2019 and are scheduled to be sentenced in September and November, respectively. Prosecutors haven’t said where in the ocean the sea cucumbers were obtained. But the defendants were allegedly found with the smuggled bottom-feeders as they crossed from Mexico into the U.S. at Calexico. Zhao and Xiao agreed to pay restitution to the Mexican government’s environmental protection agency. They could get up to 25 years in prison.Attorneys for Zhao and Xiao did not respond to requests for comment.After seizing the sea cucumbers at the border, investigators found text messages and images sent between Zhao and Xiao...

Insurgents in Syria’s northwest kill at least 9 soldiers as fighting surges in other areas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked militants attacked an army position in northwest Syria on Friday, killing at least nine government soldiers and wounding others, opposition activists said. There was no immediate word from the government.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said nine soldiers died as well as one of the attackers, who belong to the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the strongest insurgent group in northwest Syria. It said 12 soldiers and one HTS member were wounded in the attack.Taher al-Omar, an opposition activist who closely follows HTS, said the attack in the northwestern province of Latakia killed 18 soldiers and several others.The attack came less than a week after insurgents in northwest Syria attacked an army position, killing and wounding more than 30 troops.A truce reached between Russia and Turkey in March 2020 that ended a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib province has been repeatedly violate...

‘It’s putrid’: Something stinks in one neighbourhood. Residents are demanding answers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

In the bedroom community of Stoney Creek, in Hamilton, the sidewalks and playgrounds have been fairly quiet this summer.“On good days you’d see people jogging and kids playing,” said resident Tony DiMaria.But an ongoing stench is keeping people indoors.“A lot of people have been staying inside,” he said. “It’s putrid, it smells like rotten eggs, we’ve been dealing with this all summer.”Residents don’t have to look far for the source. It’s coming from a large landfill, which was here before a lot of the homes in this sprawling community were built around it.“We’ve had smells before but never this bad.” DiMaria said.While most complaints from residents hit a fever pitch this summer, the stench has been ongoing since April.“The odours started early on when they were constructing a new cell for the landfill,” said Hamilton City Councillor Brad Clark.“It seemed to be coming from a leachate pond and the company was quick to react to fix the problem but it hasn’t worked.”The landfill...

Russian students are returning to school, where they face new lessons to boost their patriotism

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Clad in white shirts and carrying bouquets, children across Russia flocked back to school Friday, where the Kremlin’s narratives about the war in Ukraine and its confrontation with the West were taking an even more prominent spot than before. Students are expected each week to listen to Russia’s national anthem and watch the country’s tricolor flag being raised. There’s a weekly subject loosely translated as “Conversations about Important Things,” which was introduced last year with the goal of boosting patriotism.A new high school history textbook has a chapter on the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for the war, and some basic military training is included in a course on self-defense and first aid.President Vladimir Putin even got involved, personally meeting Friday with 30 school students from different regions and describing Russians as “an invincible nation.” The Kr...

Canadian government offering exemption to Google, Meta in draft Online News Act regulations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:58 GMT

The federal government has released draft regulations for its Online News Act and revealed a new exemption that would allow Meta and Google to pay a certain amount to a group of news outlets.For Google, the figure is $172 million a year. For Facebook’s parent company, it’s $62 million.Instead of reaching deals with all major news outlets, the tech giants now have the option to reach a deal with a collective group that would include independent and minority language outlets. The minimum threshold could also include non-monetary contributions to Canadian journalism.The act, also known as Bill C-18, received Royal Assent in June of this year. It’s aimed at getting large tech corporations like Google and Meta to pay Canadian news outlets to share their content online.In a Friday news release, the feds say the proposed regulations will be published Saturday in the Canada Gazette. The government says the regulations, along with the accompanying Regulatory Impact Analysis...