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Owner of funeral homes accused of spraying insecticide at cops, assaulting media at Jan. 6 riot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

An owner of several funeral homes in Long Island was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sprayed wasp killer at police officers and attacked journalists — including an Associated Press photographer — during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, authorities said. Peter G. Moloney, 58, of Bayport, New York, faces numerous charges, including civil disorder and assaulting police officers, according to court documents. He was expected to make an initial court appearance in New York later Wednesday. There was no lawyer listed for him yet in the court docket. A woman who answered the phone at Moloney Family Funeral Homes, where he is listed as co-owner, said they had no comment. An FBI agent wrote in court papers that Moloney appears to have come to the Capitol “prepared for violence,” with protective eyewear, a helmet and a can of insecticide — wasp, hornet & yellow jacket killer. Monoley was seen at the Capitol with a colleague, who authorities did not identify publicly. Vide...

Harvard women’s hockey coach retires amid allegations she verbally abused, hazed players

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — One of the most decorated coaches in women’s hockey history has stepped down after nearly 30 years leading Harvard’s women’s hockey program in the shadow of allegations by players that she engaged in abuses and other misconduct during her tenure. The school said Tuesday that Katey Stone had made the decision to retire from coaching. The six-paragraph announcement came after The Boston Globe published a report in January detailing the accounts of multiple players who alleged Stone ran a program rife with verbal abuse, hazing and pressure to return prematurely from injuries.Harvard initiated a review after one alleged incident last season, the Globe reported, but ultimately decided to keep her as coach.Stone, 57, has not publicly addressed allegations raised in the Globe report.In her retirement announcement, Stone listed her relationships with players as one of the things she was most proud of during her time at Harvard.“The relationships fostered with my play...

Feds looking at options for a national disaster response agency as wildfires rage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is studying options for creating a new national disaster response agency.The discussions come as Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season in history and after governments once again had to call on the military to step in and help.With several hundred fires still burning, dozens of them in western and northern Quebec, wildfire smoke is blanketing large swaths of that province and eastern and southern Ontario.Environment Canada has issued special air quality advisories in both provinces.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to update Canadians on the fire situation Wednesday afternoon.Earlier this week, he said the government is heavily focused on getting through this difficult fire season but that “absolutely” discussions need to be had about how to be better prepared as climate change makes fire seasons like this one more likely.“We have since 1982 had CIFFC, the Canadian Interagency Fire Fighting Centre, that has over th...

Bank of Canada raises interest rates as it tries to get ahead of hot economy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

OTTAWA — As the economy continues to outperform expectations, the Bank of Canada has chosen to act sooner rather than later to clamp down on inflation, raising interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday.Its key interest rate now sits at 4.75 per cent, the highest it’s been since 2001.“Based on the accumulation of evidence, governing council decided to increase the policy interest rate, reflecting our view that monetary policy was not sufficiently restrictive to bring supply and demand into balance and return inflation sustainably to the two per cent target,” the Bank of Canada said in a news release.It says excess demand in the economy appears to be more persistent than it had anticipated, citing a tight labour market, better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter as well as “surprisingly strong” consumption growth.Inflation also came in hotter than expected in April, the central bank said, noting prices for a “broad range” of good and services rose m...

Shopify launches fight against ‘patent trolls’ and their funders, files Texas lawsuit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

Shopify Inc. says it wants to push back against the trend of companies filing hundreds of patent infringement lawsuits against businesses every year, and is waging a court battle to make its point.So-called patent trolls are often shell companies who own vast portfolios of patents, which they profit from by demanding license payments from businesses within the scope of the patents or pursuing court cases against firms they allege are patent infringers.Ottawa-based e-commerce software company Shopify said Wednesday that patent trolls often target small businesses and startups that can’t afford to fight or lose a legal battle, thus stifling innovation. “Shopify and our entrepreneurs are builders and innovators. They spend years, sometimes their entire lives, creating products designed to improve the world,” said Shopify general counsel Jess Hertz in a LinkedIn post.“Patent trolls? They lazily sit back, burying hard-working entrepreneurs in piles of legal paperwork &#...

Irving Oil reviewing strategic options including possible sale

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Irving Oil says a strategic review of the company is underway and that it is looking at a series of options about its future, including a possible sale of the business.In a statement on its website, the company says consideration will be given to a new ownership structure, a full or partial sale, or a change in its portfolio of assets and how it operates them.The company says it will evaluate its options in the coming month.The statement is signed by chairman Arthur Irving, president Ian Whitcomb and executive vice-president Sarah Irving.Irving Oil operates the largest oil refinery in Canada and Ireland’s only refinery.The company also has more than 900 gas stations and a network of distribution terminals.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2023.The Canadian Press

K’atl’odeeche First Nation residents in N.W.T. allowed to return to reserve

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

HAY RIVER, N.W.T. — The K’at’lodeeche First Nation says residents can return to the reserve in the Northwest Territories more than three weeks after they were forced to leave their homes due to a wildfire.Residents of the reserve, home to about 300 people, along with the nearby town of Hay River, where more than 3,000 people live, were ordered to evacuate on May 14. Community members were allowed to return to Hay River, which did not sustain damage from the fire, on May 25, while the wildfire continued to burn on the reserve. The wildfire, which is now classified as being under control and was last mapped at about 32 square kilometres, damaged more than a dozen buildings on the reserve, including the First Nation’s band office. The First Nation says it is still in a state of emergency and there is no public access to the reserve.It says power, water and sewer services have yet to resume. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2023. The Canadi...

The Iron Sheik, WWE Hall of Famer, dead at 81

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

Correction: A previous version of this article contained inaccurate information concerning the surviving family members of the deceased.(KTLA) – Former professional wrestler the Iron Sheik has died, according to an announcement posted to his Twitter page Wednesday morning. He was 81 years old.The Sheik — real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri — was born in Iran but came to prominence in the United States in 1979 with World Wrestling Entertainment, which was then known as the World Wrestling Federation.During the 1980s, he was a mainstay of professional wrestling, developing a fierce rivalry with Hulk Hogan and later Sgt. Slaughter. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.Iron Sheik poses backstage at Power 96.1's Jingle Ball 2013 at Philips Arena on Dec. 11, 2013, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Ben Rose/Getty Images for Clear Channel)More recently, his Twitter account, @the_ironsheik, drew hundreds of thousands of followers to read his often profane reactions, usually in capital let...

Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, begins erupting after 3-month pause

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Kilauea, the second largest volcano in Hawaii, began erupting on Wednesday after a three-month pause, U.S. Geological Survey officials said.The survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement that a glow was detected in webcam images from Kilauea’s summit early in the morning, indicating that an eruption was occurring within the Halema’uma’u crater in the summit caldera.The images show fissures at the base of the crater generating lava flows on the crater floor's surface, the observatory said.Before issuing the eruption notice, the observatory said increased earthquake activity and changes in the patterns of ground deformation at the summit started Tuesday night, indicating the movement of magma in the subsurface.All activity is within a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on Hawaii's Big Island.The volcano’s alert level was raised to warning status and the aviation color code went to red as scientists evaluate the eruption and associated hazards...

Batman foils Italian retailer in EU trademark fight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:51 GMT

(The Hill) - Batman foiled an Italian retailer on Wednesday as DC Comics successfully defended its trademark in the European Union. Reuters reported that the Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe's second top court, ruled in favor of Warner Bros Discovery's DC Comics more than two decades after it registered its Batman logo with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. Commerciale Italiana Srl had filed a challenge to the logo in 2019, arguing that the logo lacked a distinctive character and that it should be allowed for usage on clothing and carnival items. "The evidence submitted to the General Court is not sufficient to show that the EU trade mark representing a bat in an oval surround was devoid of distinctive character on the date of filing of the application for registration," the court ruled, according to the report. "For the relevant public, that distinctiveness makes it possible to associate, according to EUIPO, the goods covered by the trade mark with DC Comi...