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World carbon dioxide emissions increase again, driven by China, India and aviation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

By SETH BORENSTEIN (AP Science Writer)DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The world this year pumped 1.1% more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air than last year because of increased pollution from China and India, a team of scientists reported.The increase was reported early Tuesday at international climate talks, where global officials are trying to cut emissions by 43% by 2030. Instead, carbon pollution keeps rising, with 36.8 billion metric tons poured into the air in 2023, twice the annual amount of 40 years ago, according to Global Carbon Project, a group of international scientists who produce the gold standard of emissions counting.“It now looks inevitable we will overshoot the 1.5 (degree Celsius, 2.7 degree Fahrenheit) target of the Paris Agreement, and leaders meeting at COP28 will have to agree rapid cuts in fossil fuel emissions even to keep the 2 (degree Celsius, 3.6 degree Fahrenheit) target alive,’’ study lead author Pierre Friedlingstein...

Alaska Airlines is buying Hawaiian Airlines. Will the Biden administration let the merger fly?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

Another proposed airline buyout is renewing debate over whether there has been too much consolidation in the industry — and whether consumers are paying the price.The Biden administration has taken a tough stance against mergers, and it is certain to take a close look at Alaska Air Group’s proposed acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines for $1 billion in cash.The deal is smaller than the mergers that reshaped the airline industry more than a decade ago. But the Justice Department is already fighting another smallish deal — JetBlue’s proposal to buy Spirit Airlines.Alaska Airlines parent Alaska Air Group announced Sunday that it will pay $18 per share for Hawaiian — a huge premium over Hawaiian’s closing stock price on Friday. Hawaiian has struggled to recover from the pandemic and new competition from Southwest on intra-islands flights. It has lost $159 million so far this year. Alaska says Hawaiian will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand, an unusual step. Here&#...

Clarification to Dec. 2 obituary about Chad Allan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

An obituary that originally moved Dec. 2 may have left the impression that musician Chad Allan was a co-founding member of Bachman-Turner Overdrive. In fact, he was a co-founding member of the band that later became Bachman-Turner Overdrive.The Canadian Press

Arkansas rules online news personality Cenk Uygur won’t qualify for Democratic presidential primary

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas election officials on Monday said online news personality Cenk Uygur, who was born in Turkey, can’t appear on the state’s Democratic presidential primary ballot next year.The determination comes weeks after Uygur proclaimed that he had become the first naturalized citizen on a presidential ballot after filing paperwork with the state and the Arkansas Democratic Party. Uygur’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey when he was 8.“My office has received your candidate filing paperwork,” Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said in a letter to Uygur. “However, based on your own proclamation, your are not qualified to hold the elected office for which you filed. Therefore, I cannot, in good faith, certify your name to the ballot.”The Constitution sets simple requirements for president: A candidate must be at least 35 years old and “a natural born citizen.”Several other states, including the early primary states of New Ha...

Regulators begin hearings on how much customers should pay for Georgia nuclear reactors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Power Co. is urging the state’s utility regulators to approve a deal to pay for the company’s new nuclear reactors as a few holdout opponents keep fighting to try to get the Public Service Commission to keep the utility from collecting any cost overruns for the two reactors at Plant Vogtle.Commissioners began hearings Monday on the proposed deal, which would add $8.95 a month to a typical residential customer’s monthly bill, atop the $5.42 that Georgia Power is already collecting. The five elected commissioners, all Republicans, are scheduled to vote on the $7.56 billion proposal on Dec. 19.The increase would raise the current typical monthly residential bill of nearly $157 by almost 6%. The increase would begin in the month after Unit 4 begins commercial operation. Georgia Power says that will happen next spring.The largest unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co., Georgia Power announced the deal in August, agreeing with commission staff and some...

Heisman finalists: LSU QB Daniels, Oregon QB Nix, Washington QB Penix Jr., Ohio St WR Harrison Jr.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

LSU’s Jayden Daniels, Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., transfer quarterbacks who have all played at least five college seasons, and Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. were announced as the Heisman Trophy finalists on Monday night.The Heisman has been given to the nation’s most outstanding college football player since 1935. This year’s winner will be announced Saturday in New York. The top four vote-getters determined by more than 870 voters, which include members of the media and former Heisman winners, are selected as finalists.With Nix and Penix, the Pac-12 has two Heisman finalists for the first time since 2010 when Stanford’s Andrew Luck was the runner-up to Auburn’s Cam Newton, and Oregon running back LaMichael James finished third in the balloting.The Pac-12 is in its final season with its current membership before 10 schools depart, including Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten. A look at each finalist’...

Reported cancellation of Virginia menorah lighting draws rebuke from governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Virginia political leaders, including Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, on Monday condemned the reported cancellation of a menorah lighting at a community event in Williamsburg over apparent concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war.The criticism from Youngkin and members of the General Assembly from both parties came after the Virginia Gazette reported over the weekend that the ceremony, which had been scheduled for a monthly art and musical festival happening Dec. 10, had been canceled. Shirley Vermillion, the festival’s founder, told the newspaper that the menorah lighting “seemed very inappropriate” in light of the conflict.“The concern is of folks feeling like we are siding with a group over the other … not a direction we ever decide to head,” Vermillion told the newspaper for Sunday’s story. Youngkin — who has been outspoken in his support of Israel since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage — said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Singling out the Jewish c...

David Yee wins $75K Siminovitch Prize for uplifting Asian Canadian theatre community

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

Trailblazing playwright David Yee has been awarded this year’s $75,000 Siminovitch Prize for his body of work dedicated to uplifting Asian Canadian voices in theatre.It’s Canada’s biggest theatre purse, celebrating an artist whose work helps transform the country’s theatre scene.The 2023 jury praised Yee’s artistic range spanning forms and genres, and the way he’s opened doors for talent in the Asian Canadian community as both an artist and advocate.The Toronto playwright is also an actor and co-founding artistic director of fu-GEN Theatre Company, which produces the works of Asian North American playwrights. His distinctive voice has earned him a Governor General’s Award for his play “carried away on the crest of a wave,” as well as residences at theatres in Toronto and beyond.He says his playwriting, which “has been informed and cultivated by an overwhelming and essential need for community,” is inherently linked to...

GM’s Cruise robotaxi service faces potential fine in alleged cover-up of San Francisco accident

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

California regulators are alleging a San Francisco robotaxi service owned by General Motors covered up an accident involving one of its driverless cars, raising the specter they may add a fine to the recent suspension of its California license.The potential penalty facing GM’s Cruise service could be around $1.5 million, based on documents filed late last week by the California Public Utilities Commission.The notice orders Cruise to appear at a Feb. 6 evidentiary hearing to determine whether the robotaxi service misled regulators about what happened after one of its driverless cars ran into a pedestrian who had already been struck by another vehicle driven by a human on the evening of Oct. 2 in San Francisco.The February hearing comes just six months after the commission authorized Cruise’s robotaxi service to begin charging passengers for around-the-clock rides throughout San Francisco despite strident objections from city officials who warned the driverless cars malfun...

9 businesses targeted in crash-and-grab burglaries in under 2 months 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:49 GMT

CHICAGO — A string of crash-and-grab burglaries across the city has prompted Chicago police to offer a warning to businesses.According to police, nine businesses across the city were targeted in crash-and-grab burglaries in the last month and a half. Police say during each burglary, the group responsible drove a vehicle through the front of a store before ransacking the business and stealing from inside. The individuals involved then fled the scene in a vehicle that was waiting nearby.  Employee shot inside store in Gary According to police, the burglaries unfolded in the morning hours between Oct. 24 and Dec. 4. Chicago police provided the following timeline of the burglaries:700 block of North Franklin Street in River North on Tuesday, Oct. 24.2200 block of West Taylor Street on the Near West Side on Wednesday, Oct. 25.900 block of North Michigan Avenue along the Magnificent Mile on Wednesday, Oct. 25.1800 block of South State Street on the Near South Side on Thursday, Oct....