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Man who identified as Iranian pastor charged in ‘historical sexual assaults’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

Police have laid several charges against a man that allegedly posed as an Iranian pastor and sexually assaulted multiple women in York Region dating back to 2019.York Regional Police said an investigation commenced in January 2023 when a 42-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted.Authorities determined that the accused met the victim on social media and identified himself as an Iranian pastor, convincing her to move from Iran to Canada by offering her assistance and housing.It’s alleged that the woman was sexually assaulted multiple times while living in his residence between September and November 2022.During the course of the investigation, police learned that a second woman, a 40-year-old from Richmond Hill, reported being sexually assaulted by the same man between September 2019 and August 2020. Police said the accused often identified himself as a pastor after being involved with a church in Richmond Hill.On Thursday, police charged 42-year-old Saeid Rezaei of Ne...

Oklahoma AG: Glossip murder conviction should be vacated

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The conviction and death sentence for Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip should be thrown out and a new trial ordered, the state’s new attorney general said Thursday, as support has grown even among death penalty supporters who say Glossip is innocent.In a filing with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said that although the state is not suggesting Glossip is innocent, the key witness against Glossip lied to the jury about his psychiatric treatment and reasons for taking the mood-stabilizing drug lithium.That information was only recently disclosed to Glossip’s defense team after Drummond turned over a box of evidence, consisting largely of prosecutors’ notes in the case, that Drummond’s predecessor, John O’Connor, had previously designated as “work product.”“After thorough and serious deliberation, I have concluded that I cannot stand behind the murder conviction and death sentenc...

Ranchers can rejig to avoid U.K. trade spat, bilateral deal gives edge over EU: envoy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

OTTAWA — Britain’s envoy to Ottawa suggests that an uproar in the Prairies over expanded trade agreements could be overcome if ranchers rejig their use of hormones — and she says an additional bilateral deal between Canada and London would give both countries an edge over Europe.“We have quite similar approaches to trade,” said British High Commissioner Susannah Goshko.“Any negotiation — even when you’re negotiating with friends — requires you to think quite hard. Nobody signs up to something that isn’t in their national interest, as well as in the collective interest.”She was speaking just days after the announcement of the United Kingdom’s ascension to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.The 11 countries that helped craft the deal have approved the U.K.’s membership in principle, though member states will still have to individually ratify Britain’s membership.Ottawa pushed to get the pact&#...

Doctor says health wait times now permanent after high court rejects challenge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

OTTAWA — The doctor who led a legal challenge over a patient’s right to pay for private medical care says a decision by Canada’s top court not to hear an appeal means long wait times have been “forcibly embedded” into the medicare system.Dr. Brian Day is CEO of the Cambie Surgery Centre, which, along with a handful of patients, has spent more than a decade in court challenging the British Columbia Medicare Protection Act, which bans extra-billing and private insurance for medically necessary procedures.They argued long wait times in B.C.’s publicly funded system amounted to a breach of the patients’ rights to life, liberty and security of the person under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.The Supreme Court of B.C. dismissed the constitutional challenge three years ago and the provincial Court of Appeal upheld the ruling last year. On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada said it would not hear an appeal.Day said in a statement that Canada needs to brin...

Maine Mom: School wrong to help, hide gender transition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman is suing a school district whose counselor encouraged her teen’s social gender transition, providing a chest binder and using a new name and pronouns, without consulting parents.It’s the latest lawsuit to pit a parent’s right to supervise their children’s health and education against a minor’s right to privacy when confiding in a mental health professional. A similar lawsuit filed in California was working its way through the courts earlier this year. In Massachusetts, parents are suing a middle school for not telling them their two pre-teens were using different names and pronouns.The federal lawsuit in Maine argues the mother of the 13-year-old student has a “right to control and direct the care, custody, education, upbringing and healthcare decisions of her children,” and that Great Salt Bay Community School violated her constitutional right by keeping gender-affirming treatments from parents.Civil rights advocates have argued in other c...

WATCH LIVE | Mayor-elect Johnson meets Mayor Lightfoot ahead of inauguration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

CHICAGO — Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson has been busy since election day with local and national leaders reaching out to him amid the win. Johnson is expected to meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot Thursday ahead of his inauguration next month. The 47-year-old teacher and former Cook County commissioner will inherit a city that seven in ten voters say is on the wrong track. Johnson will now have to build relationships with City Council and implement his public safety plans -- the top concern for voters across the city. Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson details plan heading into inauguration "The people of Chicago, no one disagrees with youth employment, no one disagrees with mental health support, no one disagrees with training and promoting 200 more detectives, no one disagrees with addressing the housing crisis," Johnson said.Johnson said his first plan of action was to meet with the newly created police district council. He is set to meet with Mayor Lightfoo...

Bears add another defensive lineman to the mix for 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

LAKE FOREST — As the Bears continue to look for ways to improve their pass rush, they've added another defensive lineman to the mix for 2023.On Thursday, the team announced the signing of end Rasheem Green to a one-year deal as he comes to Chicago with five years of NFL experience. He's the 12th free agent signed by the Bears this offseason by general manager Ryan Poles and the third on the defensive line. In March, the Bears reached deals with defensive end DeMarcus Walker (3-year, $21 million) and defensive tackle Andrew Billings (1-year, $3.5 million). A third round pick of the Seahawks in the 2018 draft, Green has proved an effective rusher during his four years in Seattle and then his 2022 season with the Texans. He has 17 sacks in 69 career games, with 29 of those starts, including 35 quarterback hits, 17 tackles for loss, eight passes defended, and three forced fumbles to go with 136 tackles.Green had his most productive season in 2021 with the Seahawks, registering 6 1/2 sac...

Supreme Court rules West Virginia transgender athletes can compete on female sports teams

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

(The Hill) -- The Supreme Court has ruled that transgender athletes in West Virginia can compete on female school sports teams in response to a challenge by the state to allow it to enforce a law that prohibits such athletes from doing so.In a brief, unsigned order, the justices denied the state’s emergency request to lift an appeals court’s injunction, which enabled a transgender girl to compete on her middle school’s female teams until the three-judge panel reaches a final decision.The appeals panel is now set to hear the student athlete’s appeal in full, and the case could ultimately return to the high court.Justice Samuel Alito in a statement joined by Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting from the decision said the case “concerns an important issue that this Court is likely to be required to address in the near future.”West Virginia in 2021 became the seventh state in the nation – and the sixth that year – to enact a law prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing on fe...

Here's how the IRS will spend its $80 billion funding boost

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

A large-scale refurbishment of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is underway following an allotment of $80 billion to the agency in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act passed last year.The Treasury Department released an operating plan Thursday for its new budget, which will be spent over the course of the next decade and involve hiring tens of thousands of new employees, upgrading technology, and expanding its data and analytics capabilities.Restoring a depleted IRS staffMost of those new hires will be taxpayer service workers to help answer the phone and auditors to collect money from taxpayers and businesses that underreport their income. The IRS expects to hire more than 7,000 service reps and 1,500 auditors this year with the new money, according to the plan. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said Thursday on a call with reporters that the agency had already hired 5,000 service representatives who had answered 1 million more calls than last filing season and reduced avera...

FIRST LOOK: 2 new tiny homes unveiled at Community First! Village

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:34 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) –  Two new tiny homes were unveiled Thursday at the Community First! Village --   a large community that provides affordable, permanent housing to people coming out of chronic homelessness. Brohn Homes, a Central Texas home builder company, teamed up with Austin nonprofit Mobile Loaves & Fishes to create the two new homes -- one with a large, roof-covered patio and the other built to be wheelchair-accessible.  MORE: Mobile Loaves and Fishes breaks ground on village expansion; 1,400 more homes to come for homeless “Building more homes just helps to get more people off the streets. Brohn has committed to continuing that partnership by building more homes for [Community First! Village] throughout each year,”  said Lea Davis, Director of Human Resources at Brohn Homes.”It’s such an amazing commitment and community to be a part of.” The Community First! Village is the largest master-planned development aimed at helping people out of homel...