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Opinion: Don’t let Congress overturn California’s animal welfare law

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

Allowing pigs to turn around. It may seem like a modest goal, but it’s taken decades of advocacy for this basic humane standard to become law in California. Yet now, some politicians are doing anything they can to undo this work—including overturning elections—to achieve their goals.Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, introduced the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in June. This proposed legislation claims to “prevent States and local jurisdictions from interfering with the production and distribution of agricultural products in interstate commerce.” But what it really aims to do is overturn the results of California’s 2018 and Massachusetts’ 2016 ballot measures where voters banned outdated and cruel practices in farm animal husbandry.The public is overwhelmingly in favor of humane treatment of livestock. The ballot measures EATS Act proponents are trying to overturn in California and Massachusetts garnered 63% and 78% support in the respecti...

Canadian security forum honors ‘the people of Israel’ following the deadly Hamas attack

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — A Canadian security forum on Saturday presented an award to the people of Israel for 75 years of democracy, following the Hamas incursion into the country that left some 1,200 people dead and 240 abducted.The Halifax International Security Forum presents the award annually in honor of U.S. Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, to “individuals from any country who have demonstrated uncommon leadership in the pursuit of human justice.” The forum attracts military officials, United States senators, diplomats and scholars. “On the 75th anniversary of Israel’s creation, and in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack that resulted in the greatest loss of life to the Jewish people since the Holocaust, it is fitting to present an award that bears Senator McCain’s name to: The People of Israel,” the statement read. McCain was a regular at the forum and his wife, Cindy, was present this year and sat in the front row. Peter Van Praagh, President of the Halifax Internation...

Kao Miura wins Grand Prix Espoo figure skating title to book a place at the finals

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

ESPOO, Finland (AP) — Japanese figure skater Kao Miura edged past his teammate Shun Sato to win his first figure skating Grand Prix title Sunday and book a place in next month’s finals. Miura and Sato each landed three quadruple jumps in the free skate Saturday at Grand Prix Espoo, with Sato scoring slightly higher. Miura’s three-point advantage from Friday’s short program helped him hold on to win with a total 274.56 points to Sato’s 273.34.It’s the first career Grand Prix series win for Miura, who won the world junior title and Four Continents Championship gold last season.Kévin Aymoz of France recovered from a poor short program to take the bronze Saturday, rising from fifth to third to finish on a total 250.03. Jimmy Ma of the United States had been in third place after the short program but a fall and other errors in his free skate dropped the 28-year-old from New York to 11th overall.In the other events later Saturday, world champion Kaori Sakamot...

Shooter kills security guard before being fatally shot at New Hampshire psychiatric hospital

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A shooter killed a security guard in the lobby of New Hampshire’s state psychiatric hospital on Friday before being fatally shot by a state trooper, officials said.The shooting happened around 3:30 p.m. at New Hampshire Hospital and was contained to the front lobby of the 185-bed facility, State Police Col. Mark Hall said at a news conference. He said CPR was performed on the victim, who later died at Concord Hospital.Authorities identified the victim Friday night as Bradley Haas, 63, a state Department of Safety security officer who was working at the front lobby entrance.All patients at the psychiatric hospital were safe, and the state trooper who killed the shooter was not wounded, according to authorities.“Investigators with the New Hampshire State Police have searched and cleared a suspicious box truck near the scene. They determined the truck poses no safety risk,” the statement from the attorney general’s office said.Haas lived in Franklin, a small city a...

Argentine presidential candidate Milei goes to the opera – and meets both cheers and jeers

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Both cheers and jeers for Argentina’s right-wing presidential candidate resounded with acoustic perfection inside the country’s legendary Colón Theater, laying bare the country’s polarization on the eve of Sunday’s runoff.The audience had gathered Friday evening in Latin America’s premiere opera house that is world-renowned for its acoustics to watch a performance of “Madama Butterfly” — but Javier Milei soon became the main event. A group began insulting him as he sat in the front row of a box alongside his girlfriend.“Milei, trash, you are the dictatorship!” some attendees chanted at the candidate. He has downplayed Argentina’s bloody 1976-1983 military rule, saying the number of its victims is far below what human rights organizations have long claimed, among other controversial positions.Some videos on social media also showed a few orchestra musicians playing the “Peronist March,” an anthem of the political party of Economy Minister Sergio M...

Residents of Iceland town evacuated over volcano told it will be months before they can go home

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — People in southwest Iceland remained on edge Saturday, waiting to see whether a volcano rumbling under the Reykjanes Peninsula will erupt. Civil protection authorities said that even if it doesn’t, it’s likely to be months before it is safe for residents evacuated from the danger zone to go home.The fishing town of Grindavik was evacuated a week ago as magma – semi-molten rock – rumbled and snaked under the earth amid thousands of tremors. It has left a jagged crack running through the community, thrusting the ground upward by 1 meter (3 feet) or more in places.The Icelandic Meteorological Office said there is a “significant likelihood” that an eruption will occur somewhere along the 15-kilometer (9-mile) magma tunnel, with the “prime location” an area north of Grindavik near the Hagafell mountain.Grindavik, a town of 3,400, sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik and not far from Kefla...

‘Please regulate AI:’ Artists push for U.S. copyright reforms but tech industry says not so fast

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

Country singers, romance novelists, video game artists and voice actors are appealing to the U.S. government for relief — as soon as possible — from the threat that artificial intelligence poses to their livelihoods.“Please regulate AI. I’m scared,” wrote a podcaster concerned about his voice being replicated by AI in one of thousands of letters recently submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office. Technology companies, by contrast, are largely happy with the status quo that has enabled them to gobble up published works to make their AI systems better at mimicking what humans do. The nation’s top copyright official hasn’t yet taken sides. She told The Associated Press she’s listening to everyone as her office weighs whether copyright reforms are needed for a new era of generative AI tools that can spit out compelling imagery, music, video and passages of text.“We’ve received close to 10,000 comments,” said Shira Perlmutter, the U.S. register of copyrights, i...

Climate change is hurting coral worldwide. But these reefs off the Texas coast are thriving

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

OFF THE COAST OF GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Divers descending into azure waters far off the Texas coast dip below a horizon dotted with oil and gas platforms into an otherworldly landscape of undersea mountains crusted with yellow, orange and pink coral as far as the eye can see.Some of the world’s healthiest coral reefs can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the Texas coast. Sheltered in a deep, cool habitat far from shore, the reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary boast a stunning amount of coral coverage. But scientists say that like all reefs, they are fragile, and their location will only offer protection for so long in the face of a warming climate.“To see that much coral in one place is really magnificent — an experience that most people don’t get on reefs in this day and age,” said Michelle Johnston, the acting superintendent and research coordinator for the federally protected area.The sanctuary had some moderate ble...

New hardiness zone map will help US gardeners keep pace with climate change

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Southern staples like magnolia trees and camellias may now be able to grow without frost damage in once-frigid Boston. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ” plant hardiness zone map ” was updated Wednesday for the first time in a decade, and it shows the impact that climate change will have on gardens and yards across the country. Climate shifts aren’t even — the Midwest warmed more than the Southeast, for example. But the map will give new guidance to growers about which flowers, vegetables and shrubs are most likely to thrive in a particular region. One key figure on the map is the lowest likely winter temperature in a given region, which is important for determining which plants may survive the season. It’s calculated by averaging the lowest winter temperatures of the past 30 years.Across the lower 48 states, the lowest likely winter temperature overall is 2.5 degrees (1.4 degrees Celsius) warmer than when the last map was published in 2012, according to ...

Saturday Forecast: Sunny, warmer, mid 50s

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:13:08 GMT

Saturday: Sunny & a bit warmer. WSW 5-15 G20 mph. Air quality is Good to Moderate for Chicagoland. High: 55Saturday Night: Mostly clear & seasonally chilly. WNW  0-5 mph. Low: 35Sunday: Mostly sunny & not as breezy. NE 5-10 mph. High: 56Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Extended outlook calls for some rain late in the day on Monday with highs a bit cooler near 50. Cold Tuesday morning with a slight chance of rain/snow showers. Afternoon temps in the mid 40s. Wednesday high temps only near 40 with mostly cloudy skies. Thanksgiving looks cold with high temps only in the mid 30s.