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‘Almost no notice at all’: GO Transit changes frustrate commuters

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

It took one GO Transit scheduling change to turn Siddhartha Batra from a regular commuter to a full-time remote worker.A direct bus operated by the regional transit provider used to provide an easy way for the 31-year-old civil engineer to travel from his home in downtown Toronto to his job roughly 35 kilometres away in Mississauga, Ont.But some changes GO operator Metrolinx recently implemented on some of its most popular train and bus routes effectively doubled Batra’s travel time, based on estimates from GO Transit’s own trip tracker. The prospect of the longer commute prompted him to obtain permission to abandon the journey altogether and work from home permanently.“There is no way on Earth I’m travelling two hours on public transit, one-way,” Batra said in an interview. “I won’t be using it at all because it just doesn’t work anymore.”Batra is not alone in his frustration with the scheduling changes, which Metrolinx announce...

France: Marseille building collapses, fire stymies rescues

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Up to 10 people may be buried under the debris of a building that collapsed following an explosion in France’s port city of Marseille, but a fire deep within the rubble hindered rescue efforts Sunday, the French interior minister said.Officials determined that at least four people lived in the building, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. It was not known if anyone was killed in the collapse or explosion, or what triggered the blast, he said. Darmanin, who visited the site, provided the update nearly 11 hours after the five-story building collapsed before 1 a.m. More than 100 firefighters, aided by specialists, worked through the night to access and extinguish the fire, which the minister said was burning a few meters (feet) under the debris.The delicate operation proceeded with the aim of keeping firefighters safe, preventing further harm to people potentially trapped in the rubble and not compromising vulnerable buildings nearby. Some 30 building...

‘A hell of a choice’: Patients left frustrated amid delays to access assisted dying

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

John Scully has been living with a major depressive disorder diagnosis for four decades, and despite trying nearly every treatment known to medicine, from shock therapy to trans-magnetic stimulation, his condition has not improved.The 82-year-old says he wants that suffering to end. He wants to do it legally, painlessly, in a way that respects his loved ones. He wants medical assistance in dying.But like many Canadians who suffer from mental illnesses that their doctors have been unable to successfully treat, Scully has had to wait.The Liberal government passed legislation in 2021 that would expand eligibility to patients whose only condition is a mental disorder, which included a two-year delay so that practice guidelines could be developed. Last month, it hastily legislated another year of delay.Scully said in an interview that the wait is beyond agonizing.“I have utter contempt for the panels, and the government that has delayed the application of (assisted dying),” S...

Girl, 15, fatally shot in head on South Side ID'd

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old girl was fatally shot in the back of the head while sitting in a vehicle on the city's South Side early Sunday morning. Police have identified the girl as 15-year-old, Demea Morris of Chicago, IL. Morris was sitting in the back of a vehicle near the 10600 block of South Sangamon Cul De Sac around 12:51 a.m. when she was shot in the back of the head. 2 men critical after drive-up shooting in Grand Crossing Police say she was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition and was later pronounced dead. There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.

Literary pick for week of April 9

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

Special guest birds from the Raptor Center are sure to liven Priyanka Kumar’s discussion about her book “Conversations with Birds” with Daniel Slager, publisher and chief executive of Minneapolis-based Milkweed Editions, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, at Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Mpls. It is free and open to the public.Priyanka Kumar will discuss her book, “Conversations with Birds” April 12, 2023 at Open Book in Minneapolis, in dialogue with Milkweed Editions CEO/publisher Daniel Slager. Kumar is a novelist, non-fiction writer and filmmaker. They will be joined by live birds from the Raptor Center. (Courtesy of Milkweed Editions)“Birds are my almanac. They tune me into the seasons, and into myself,” Kumar writes in her collection of essays. A filmmaker and novelist, she grew up at the feet of the Himalayas in northern India where she took for granted the lush natural world around her. After moving to North America as a teenager, s...

Plane calls for an emergency landing at Springfield airport after engine failure

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A plane flying near Springfield had to conduct an emergency landing due to engine failure.According to Kent Boyd, the public information and marketing manager for the Springfield-Branson National Airport, a distress call came in around 10:00 a.m. this morning from a plane that was flying with only one of its two engines. Clydesdales canceled: local Budweiser distributor cancels upcoming showings At 10:30 a.m., the plane was able to safely land at the Springfield-Branson National Airport with no reported injuries.Reportedly, it was an American Airlines airplane.Springfield first responders were called to the scene.Boyd said they are still investigating where the plane was flying from, the destination, and the cause of engine failure.OzarksFirst will update this article as new information comes in.

Thanks to Nuggets, Avs, Rockies, CU Buffs, Denver could be ground zero for future of sports on TV. And that future looks bleak.

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

Want a glimpse into the future of sports on television, America? Take a good, long, hard look at Denver. Then shield your eyes before they start to bleed.“There is no simple answer,” Bob Thompson, a media consultant and the former president of Fox Sports Networks and general manager of Denver’s old Prime Sports Network, told The Denver Post.“You’re going to have to have multiple platforms (to watch games), where it’s a satellite dish or a cable box and a Roku or an Apple TV box or a Fire stick (from Amazon). You’re going to have multiple options to watch your team, as opposed to how it used to be, where there was this cable bundle that was all things to all people. And then it got to be too expensive for a lot of (providers). It’s not going to be one-size-fits-all ordinarily anymore.”Translation: If you want to watch every major sports team in the Denver area by legal means, you’re going to have to jump through more hoops than a trained circus lion.The two best teams in town, the de...

Saunders: Why Rockies GM Bill Schmidt won’t rush prospects to majors

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

Eight games into the season, the 3-5 Rockies look like the team we thought they’d be. In other words, it’s a club likely to finish last in the National League West and post a losing record for the 22nd time in 31 years of its existence.But there might be some hope on the horizon. Various baseball pundits rate the Rockies’ farm system as one of the most improved. MLB Pipeline, for example, ranks the Rockies 14th, a significant jump from their 24th spot in 2022 and 27th ranking in 2021.The Rockies firmly believe that their “children” are their future, but when will players such as outfielders Zac Veen, Brenton Doyle, and Benny Montgomery, catcher Drew Romo, and, farther down the line, pitchers Gabriel Hughes and Jaden Hill, be ready for prime-time?Here’s a peek at general manager Bill Schmidt’s philosophy:Q: What are the main things that tell you that a player is ready?Schmidt: “You look for consistency. For hitters, on-base percentage i...

DU star gymnast Lynnzee Brown overcame loss, two Achilles tears to lead Pioneers back to NCAA national championships

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

With a pair of surgically repaired Achilles and a scarred heart, Lynnzee Brown redefined comeback while leading the University of Denver back to the NCAA national gymnastics championships.Brown, the Pioneers’ catalyst, is a sixth-year graduate student who stars in the all-around. She won a national title in floor exercise in 2019. Shortly after that, Brown’s mom passed away unexpectedly. And adding physical pain to the emotional trauma she’s suffered, Brown tore an Achilles in 2020, then her other a year ago.Now, she’s healthy and has returned to the all-around down the stretch of this season, ready for her last act as a DU great.“During her career she’s had some of the highest of highs and some of the lowest of lows,” DU coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart said. “Her legacy is significant — national champion, Final Four team, making program history here at Denver in so many ways — then the tragedy of losing her mom, the difficu...

Walters: Truancy in public schools is reaching crisis levels in California

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:47:12 GMT

Gadflies – people obsessed with righting some perceived wrong and pester politicians and journalists to take up their causes – are a constant feature of politics.One of the state’s more persistent gadflies these days is Thomas Carter, an accountant in Sherman Oaks who sends out almost daily barrages of emails about truancy in public schools, demanding that authorities recognize and address what he regards as a crisis.“From what school will come the next ignored student to commit crimes, including a mass gun shooting, or be an ignored child abused at a school or in a home, or to become homeless, if a dropout?” is a typical heading on one of Carter’s lengthy emails.Carter, in an interview, said he became concerned about the issue more than 30 years ago when, as a single parent, he discovered that his son had been missing school and he was not informed of the absences.“Since then, I’ve been asking the questions,” Carter said. His complaints include sections of the education code that p...