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Bahamas introduces bills to legalize marijuana for medical and religious purposes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The government of the Bahamas has unveiled several bills aimed at legalizing marijuana for medical and religious purposes, joining other Caribbean nations that have taken similar steps.Officials said licenses for cultivation, retail, transport and religious use would only be granted to companies that are entirely Bahamian owned. Licenses for research, testing and manufacturing would be awarded to companies that are at least 30% Bahamian owned.Attorney General Ryan Pinder told reporters Thursday that marijuana for religious purposes could only be smoked on the premises of a licensed organization.The government envisions creating a Cannabis Authority to regulate the industry.Public hearings on the issue are scheduled for September, and legislation could be approved before next year.Other Caribbean nations have relaxed their marijuana laws. Antigua decriminalized marijuana use for the general public. Jamaica also decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, w...

Deaths of 5 people found inside an Ohio home being investigated as a domestic dispute turned bad

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

LAKE TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) — Police performing a welfare check at an Ohio home found five people dead inside the residence, including three children.The bodies were found around 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Lake Township, according to Uniontown police. The names of the victims have not been released, pending notification of relatives.Authorities said the deaths are being investigated as a domestic dispute that turned deadly, but they declined further comment Friday, citing the ongoing probe. They also declined comment on why the welfare check was requested and who made it.The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation was at the home Thursday night to help collect and document evidence. A BCI spokesman referred all questions to Uniontown police, who cover a portion of Lake Township.Edmond Gadzacko, who lives next door to where the deaths occurred, told The Canton Repository that he and his wife always enjoyed their neighbors and never had any issues with them. He said the three...

Stock market today: Wall Street holds steady after Fed’s Powell says job not done on inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are holding on to gains after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said more rate hikes could be on the way to continue the Fed’s fight against inflation. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% Friday morning, coming off its worst loss in three weeks. The Dow was up 101 points and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.7%. Powell said in a closely watched speech that the economy has been growing faster than expected this year, which keeps up pressure on inflation and could require still more interest rate increases to get inflation down to the Fed’s goal of 2%. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising in early trading Friday ahead of a speech by the head of the Federal Reserve.The S&P 500 was up 0.4%, coming off its worst loss in three weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 163 points, or 0.5%, at 34,362, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.The day’s headliner is Fed Chair Jero...

Kleenex tissues to disappear from store shelves in Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

Canadians soon won’t find Kleenex tissues on store shelves.U.S. manufacturer Kimberly-Clark says its Kleenex consumer facial tissue business is leaving Canada this month.The company’s Canadian vice-president and general manager says the decision to pull Kleenex from the country was a difficult one, prompted by a highly constrained supply environment and “unique complexities” faced by the brand.Goodbye note from Kimberly-Clark which says its Kleenex consumer facial tissue business is leaving Canada this month.Todd Fisher says the move will allow Kimberly-Clark to shift its resources to better focus on other products that will remain in Canada.The company will continue to sell Kleenex professional facial and consumer hand towel products in Canada.Its Cottonelle, Viva, U by Kotex, Poise, Depend, Huggies, Pull-Ups and Goodnites brands remain unaffected.

New York man sentenced to 3 months in prison for threats to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man will serve three months in prison for making threatening phone calls to Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.Joseph Morelli, 51, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Syracuse after pleading guilty in February to threatening Greene in several calls to her Washington, D.C., office in 2022.Prosecutors said Morelli left a voicemail at Greene’s office on March 3, 2022 stating, “I’m gonna have to take your life into my own hands … I’m gonna hurt you. Physically, I’m gonna harm you.”On the same day, Morelli left a second message threatening to “pay someone 500 bucks to take a baseball bat and crack your skull,” prosecutors said.Morelli, of Endicott, New York, was indicted a month after the calls on three counts of transmitting interstate threatening communications.He was sentenced to three months for each count, which will run concurrently.Greene argued in court papers that Morelli should pay her $66,632 in ...

Niger’s junta OKs support of troops from two neighbors, intensifying standoff with West African bloc

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Niger’s junta has authorized troops from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso to come to its defense, raising the stakes in a standoff with other West African nations who are threatening force to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president.The junta leader, Brig. Gen. Abdrahmane Tchiani, signed two executive orders authorizing the “security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene on Niger territory in the event of aggression,” senior junta official Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi said late Thursday, after hosting a delegation from the two countries in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.Sidi did not provide further details about the military support from the two countries whose military regimes have said any use of force by the West African bloc ECOWAS against Niger’s junta would be treated as an act of war against their own nations. The agreement was the latest of several actions taken by Niger’s mutinous soldiers to defy sanctions and consolidate a j...

Paris booksellers won’t let their street stands along the Seine be removed for the 2024 Olympics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The 2024 Paris Olympics ’ opening ceremony will be held on the famed River Seine, taking place outside of a sports venue for the first time in the Games’ history. But for the booksellers who have found a centuries-old sanctuary on the river banks, that day is all but ceremonious.The city of Paris vowed to deliver an extraordinary grand opening on July 26 next year which is expected to draw about 600,000 spectators. As a result, the Paris police prefecture has ordered the removal a day before the ceremony of 570 “stationary boxes” — street stands out of which booksellers have operated for decades on the quays of the Seine.Citing security concerns, the prefecture fears that the boxes could be used to conceal explosive devices during the opening ceremony, which will see the parade of over 10,500 athletes from 206 delegations along the river as hundreds of thousands of spectators watch on.A number of the traditionally dark-green boxes have not been moved for decades, some f...

Jason Mraz is feeling free and curious – in music and in love

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Mraz is freer than ever, and that liberation has allowed his curiosity to get the best of him — in the most optimistic ways.Musically, the two-time Grammy winner released his latest album, “Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride,” in June, a pop record that’s a turn from his balladeering, acoustic persona. Like many other current dance projects, it was conceived during the pandemic, and the 46-year-old says his fans helped shape its direction.“I’d been noticing this for years — on the setlist (when performing), we were missing the songs that kept the audience on their feet,” explained the “I’m Yours” artist. “Something I long for is more experiences of that, where I could keep an audience elevated … it was a little bit (of) the audience asking for it, more than anything.”Led by up-tempo tracks like “Feel Good Too” and “I Feel Like Dancing,” the guitarist wrote his 10-track, eighth studio album with close collaborators Raining Jane, whom he worked with for 201...

More than 66,000 Illinoisans can expect a check from the state's Unclaimed Property program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) -- Thousands of Illinois residents can expect some cash back from Illinois' Unclaimed Property program.According to Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, about 66,700 Illinoisans can expect a letter to receive up to $5,000. The money is part of the Money Match program, which is part of the Unclaimed Property program.The estimated $47 million being sent out is from the contents of overlooked safe deposit boxes, unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards.The State Treasurer legally must return the unclaimed property to its owners or heirs. Frerichs worked with the General Assembly to enhance the Money Match program to make it easier to return money to individuals, and to raise the cap on automatic payments to $5,000 from $2,000.“How can we make life a little bit better and a little bit easier for our residents is the driving force behind all of our programs,” Frerichs said. “Putting money in people’s pockets, so they c...

Powell at Jackson Hole: Economy's solid growth could require additional Fed hikes to fight inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:16 GMT

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — The continued strength of the U.S. economy could require further interest rate increases, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday in a closely watched speech that also highlighted the uncertain nature of the economic outlook. Powell noted that the economy has been growing faster than expected and that consumers have kept spending briskly — trends that could keep inflation pressures high. He also reiterated the Fed's determination to keep its key rate elevated until price increases are reduced to the central bank's 2% target. “We are attentive to signs that the economy may not be cooling as expected," the Fed chair said. “We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective.” His speech — at an annual conference of central bankers — highlighted the uncertainties surrounding the economy and the complexity of the Fe...