#news-release

#news-release

A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for storing files with classified information at his Florida home, the Department of Justice announced.Robert Birchum pleaded guilty earlier this year to unlawfully possessing and retaining classified documents relating to national defense, the department said in a news release.

A winter storm slammed the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul with torrential rain on Friday, killing four people, leaving nine missing and prompting a helicopter search and rescue for victims wading in flooded neighborhoods, the authorities said.The storm system that struck the country was an extra-tropical cyclone.

A Naperville woman who worked at Neaqua Valley High School has been charged with using a credit card issued to her by Indian Prairie School District 204 to make personal purchases, officials said.Tracie Mondell, 39, of the 400 block of Gartner Road, turned herself in at the Naperville Police Department Wednesday after an arrest warrant for felony theft of governmental property was issued, a news release from the police department and the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office said.

After 40 days in the Colombian rainforest, all four children who had been missing since the plane they were traveling in crashed on May 1 have been found alive, according to Colombia's president.They achieved an example of total survival that will go down in history, President Gustavo Petro said in a news conference on Friday night.

(Jack Rice / Associated Press)

The Los Feliz home Walt Disney dreamed up for his wife and two daughters can be yours to rent - for $40,000 per month, that is.The 6,388-square-foot home, which was built in 1932, has nods to some of the castles featured in a few of Disney's fairy tales.During the period Disney lived in the home, Walt Disney Studios released some of his most popular films, including Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, according to the Walt Disney Family Museum.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Torrential rainfall and massive dumps of snow wreaked havoc across California last winter.But the wild weather brought an upside: Water-storage reservoirs now have abundant supplies of H₂Oto fire up the state's hydropower electricity generators this summer.That fact, combined with record expansion of utility-scale solar power and battery storage, has energy forecasters confident that the state can avoid the potentially dangerous electricity shortfalls of the sort that came with last September's 10-day heat wave, according to state officials at a press briefing Wednesday.

The U.S. Coast Guard has ended its antiterrorism patrols of the waters around Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, shutting down a special security operation that was rushed to the remote outpost after the Sept. 11 attacks.Crews in special fast boats equipped with M2 heavy machine guns patrolled the coast near the prison complex for 21 years as part of the detention operations on the base.

The number of daily encounters along the US-Mexico border has remained low nearly a month after a pandemic-era restriction used by authorities to swiftly turn away migrants was lifted, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.Authorities had been bracing for a surge in illegal crossings following the expiration of Title 42 last month, and while officials caution that migration flows can change, the average 3,400 daily encounters reported by US Border Patrol is a marked shift from the around 10,000 daily encounters days before Title 42 was lifted.

In this 2020 photo, survivors walk below a gate with the inscription "Work sets you free" after a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial site of the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz during ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation in Oswiecim, Poland.Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images The German government will pay more than $1.4 billion next year to Holocaust survivors, in the latest compensation for atrocities and persecution inflicted by the Nazis.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

West Coast dockworkers have reached a tentative deal with employers, the two sides announced Wednesday, potentially ending months of port labor strife that could have threatened the nation's economic outlook.In a joint statement, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, said the new six-year deal covers workers at all 29 West Coast ports but did not release further details.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A Ventura County man pleaded guilty to making death threats against two Southern California Planned Parenthood clinics, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade last summer, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.Nishith Tharaka Vandebona, 34, was convicted Monday in federal court of illegal intimidation after pleading guilty to making at least three different threats, including one at an unrelated advocacy group months before the Supreme Court decision.

I initially had no plans to see "Flamin' Hot," the film directed by Eva Longoria that tells the story of real-life-janitor-turned-Frito-Lay-executive Richard Montañez.For at least 20 years, the Mexican American has told anyone within hearing distance that he invented the wildly popular Cheetos variety of the same name.

(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times)

A 29-year-old man was arrested Saturday in Northern California after allegedly making a series of shooting, death and bomb threats over the last six months against Laguna Hills High School, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said.Eugene Thomas Jenkins of San Rafael was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of multiple felony offenses including making criminal threats, the false report of a bomb, the false report of an emergency, and threatening a public officer.

Good morning.It's Thursday.We'll revisit what surveys say about New York and how they shape perceptions of the city.We'll also see why the spotted lanternfly is not your friend.Image Credit...Amanda Perobelli/Reuters We know these things well, everything above except the song lyric because of surveys.

New Yorkers have grown accustomed to being inundated with well-intentioned warnings from city and state leaders, for everything from incoming snowstorms to virus outbreaks.But as the skies darkened dramatically over New York City on Tuesday evening, the air suddenly rich with acrid smoke, Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul made no public appearances about the worsening conditions, limiting their communications to news releases and posts on Twitter.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday on social media that migrants had been transported from Texas to Los Angeles."The first bus of migrants from Texas has arrived in Los Angeles," the Republican governor posted on Twitter."Texas' small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden's refusal to secure the border," Abbott said in an accompanying news release.

(Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images)

Former Bay Area news anchor Frank Somerville, who has spoken publicly about his struggles with mental health and substance abuse issues, was arrested twice in one night after domestic disturbances at his family's home in Berkeley, according to authorities.

(San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department)

An Inland Empire high school teacher has been arrested on suspicion of unlawful sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old female student, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.Noah Padilla, 24, of Victorville, was taken into custody Wednesday on suspicion of having engaged in sexual misconduct with the student at Victor Valley High School in Victorvillle, the Sheriff's Department said in a news release.

A well-known supervised injection site will be relocated due to the sale of a city property, and experts say they are concerned about the impact of the move on people who rely on it.The Works, which provides supervised consumption and harm reduction services at 277 Victoria St., is facing relocation after Toronto Metropolitan University purchased the city-owned property along with 28 Dundas St. E., the city said in a news release on Tuesday.

The company that makes kitchen staples like CorningWare, Pyrex and the Instant Pot has entered bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. and Canada.Illinois-based Instant Brands said Monday that it has "initiated a voluntary court-supervised Chapter 11 process," due to an unmanageable debt load."Tightening of credit terms and higher interest rates impacted our liquidity levels and made our capital structure unsustainable," CEO Ben Gadbois said in a news release.

More than three years after The United Methodist Church announced it would split over long-standing disagreements regarding LGBTQ inclusion, three Chicago-area churches are preparing to finalize their disaffiliation by the end of this month.Faith Evangelical United Methodist Church in Elmhurst, First United Methodist Church Plano and La Luz de Cristo United Methodist Church in Elgin will join thousands of congregations nationwide splitting from the denomination following decades of rising tensions between progressive congregations that flouted church bylaws banning same-sex marriage and clergy and their traditionalist counterparts.

The Manhattan district attorney's office on Tuesday sought the dismissal of 316 convictions tied to a group of New York Police Department officers, sergeants and detectives who have been convicted of crimes related to their work.Hundreds of misdemeanors were thrown out in court on Tuesday, and eight felonies are expected to be tossed Wednesday.

A Washington State woman who for over a year refused a court order to receive treatment for tuberculosis was taken into custody on Thursday, more than three months after a civil warrant was issued for her arrest, the authorities said.The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said in a statement that the woman, who has been identified in court documents only by the initials V.N., had been taken to the Pierce County Jail, where she would be housed in a room that is specially equipped for isolation, testing and treatment.

(Stephen Lam / San Francisco Chronicle)

In 2020, over the course of numerous investigations, the Los Angeles Police Department recovered more than 700 "ghost guns" - weapons often having no serial number and available without the need of a background check thanks to Nevada-based company Polymer80, according to the Los Angeles city attorney's office.

A Florida fireworks display company violated several workplace safety regulations that could have prevented a warehouse fire and explosion last year that left four employees dead and one severely burned, federal regulators said on Monday.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered the company, Magic in the Sky, to pay $109,375 in fines after an investigation into the fire, on Dec. 1 in Orlando, found that it had failed to protect its employees by following established safety protocols, the agency said in a statement.

A state trooper was charged by the New York attorney general's office on Monday with killing an unarmed man in downtown Buffalo by fatally shooting him after a high-speed highway chase.The trooper, Anthony Nigro IV, a 15-year State Police veteran, was charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in the death of James Huber, 38, on Feb. 12, 2022, the attorney general, Letitia James, said in a news release.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) says recent initiatives aimed at improving safety on public transit are working, following the release of data showing violent incidents against customers and employees are decreasing.The agency launched a new online dashboard Monday that tracks and displays metrics such as the rate of criminal offences against TTC customers and employees, the number of calls for service people with complex needs or who are underhoused and major crimes on all transit systems across Toronto.

Three men from Michigan are crossing Lake Ontario on stand up paddle boards to raise money for a non-profit organization that aims to preserve and protect the Great Lakes.Jeff Guy, 37, Joe Lorenz, 37, and Kwin Morris, 36, headed out onto the water from Humber Bay Park in Etobicoke at about 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

Thursday, June 8, 2023 by Chad Swiatecki
The political action committee co-founded by a former member of the Downtown Commission wants the mayor and City Council to answer questions about the planned expansion of the Austin Convention Center, it announced in a news release last week.Laura Cantu-Templeton, co-founder of the City Accountability Project PAC, has submitted 10 questions to all 11 members of Council.

An 18-year-old Toronto man has been arrested and charged in a Scarborough crash that left one man dead and two other people seriously injured in May, Toronto police say.The man, who was also seriously injured, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Ontario's Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) has revoked a developer's licence to build or sell homes in the province after it says the company tried to charge a buyer significantly more for a home than was contractually agreed upon.It's the first time a home builder has received the regulator's most serious punishment for increasing a price since CBC Toronto reported last March that the Doug Ford government planned to crack down on the practice.

(Eric Gay / Associated Press)

Leaders of the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf spent two years locked in a fight over the future of golf, trading barbs during media interviews that gave way to lawsuits.On Tuesday, the rival groups announced a shocking merger.The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund, which operates LIV Golf, reached an agreement that combines PIF's golf-related commercial businesses and rights with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity.

(Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)

In an unprecedented move, Churchill Downs will move its current spring/summer meeting to Ellis Park in the wake of 12 horse deaths since April 27.The legendary track made the announcement Friday afternoon after agreeing with a recommendation from the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) that conducting a top-to-bottom review of all safety protocols should be the first priority.

The 7-Eleven convenience store chain sidestepped a formal review by Ontario's alcohol regulator to win approval for liquor licences at nearly every one of its locations in the province.It means 7-Eleven Canada has the green light to sell beer, wine and coolers for on-site consumption at more than 50 stores once each location passes a routine inspection by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).

Police are seeking the public's help in identifying a suspect in an aggravated assault investigation in Scarborough.The alleged assault occurred near Kennedy Road and Sheppard Avenue at about 7:40 a.m.Friday.Toronto police said the victim was standing by the front doors of an eastbound TTC bus while the suspect was sitting by the back exit doors.

The federal government will provide $1.5 million in emergency funding to ensure Pride festivals across the country remain safe, a cabinet minister said on Monday.Marci Ien, minister for women and gender equality and youth, said in Ottawa that the money will be provided to Fierte Canada Pride, a national association that represents Pride organizations in Canada.

Fans will be able to play a hole at North York's Oakdale Golf and Country Club when it hosts the PGA Tour June 6 to 12.The unique spectator experience is possible because the club, nestled south of Jane and Sheppard, has 27 holes on its property, but the PGA's RBC Canadian Open event needs just 18 of them.

If Friday's heat has you longing for a day on the beach, you're in luck.Starting Saturday, lifeguards will be stationed at nine of Toronto's 10 beaches.Lifeguarding stations will be staffed from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., seven days a week, all the way up until Labour Day.Gibraltar Point Beach will have lifeguards starting July 1, according to a city website.

A boat owner was sentenced to one year in federal prison for illegally chartering a boat through Chicago waterways, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced in a news release.Christopher Mike Garbowski, 36, conducted his illegal chartering operation on a 40-foot powerboat referred to as the "Sea Hawk" and "Anchorman," and several of the vessel's outings took place in "the Playpen" - a heavily populated boating hot spot in downtown Chicago, the statement said.

Toronto will start referring eligible asylum-seekers to federal programs as of June 1 amid an increasing demand for shelter by residents and refugees, Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie said Wednesday.The city will also be returning to pre-pandemic spacing of beds inside shelters as a way to increase their capacity.

For the first time, Spain will host the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) - two years from now.One of mountain running and trail running's biggest events will take place in Aragón, Spain, in September 2025, bringing together 1,700 athletes from 70 countries.With organizers anticipating an economic return of about 30 million Euros, it represents a big win for this mountainous community in northeastern Spain.

A Winnipeg woman was exploited and controlled by two people who brought her to southern Ontario to work as an escort, Peel Regional Police say.In August 2022, a woman came forward to Winnipeg police and said a man and woman convinced her to go to the Peel area, which includes Mississauga and Brampton, Ont., to work as an escort, Peel police said in a news release last Friday.

The Illinois House has approved legislation that would sell the shuttered Tinley Park Mental Health Center property to the Tinley Park-Park District for $1, according to the district and state Sen. Mike Hastings, D-Frankfort.The 280-acre property, northwest of the intersection of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street, has been eyed for redevelopment by the Park District and the village.

BottleRock Napa Valley announced the star-studded 2023 lineup for its incredibly popular Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage, where chefs join forces with rock stars and other celebs to have fun and make food.The bill includes Wu-Tang Clan, Sammy Hagar, Lil Nas X, John Taylor & Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, Bastille, Keanu Reeves and his Dogstar pals Bret Domrose and Robert Mailhouse, José Andrés, Giada De Laurentiis, David Chang & Chris Ying, Roy Choi, Andrew Zimmern, Aarón Sánchez and the Voltaggio Brothers.

The folks who declare food holidays have designated May as National Hamburger Month and May 28 as both National Hamburger Day and International Burger Day.That gives restaurants several excuses to do promotions.Here are chains that have announced current burger deals.Del Taco: The chain is running a buy-one-get-one-free deal on Double Del Cheeseburgers for members of its Del Yeah! Rewards program on Saturday and Sunday, May 27-28, according to a news release.

NASCAR continues to ring up major sponsors for the inaugural Chicago Street Race, with Xfinity added to the lineup in advance of the July Fourth weekend event.Announced as a founding partner Thursday, Xfinity will have official presenting, marketing and promotional rights for the first street course in NASCAR's 75-year history.

A roadway in Toronto's west end continues to top the list of the most speeding tickets garnered in the city, nearly one year after a speeding camera was put in to deter dangerous driving.Since Toronto started its speeding camera program, which now consists of 75 cameras, drivers on Parkside Drive south of Algonquin Avenue racked up a whopping 24,556 speeding tickets from April 2022 to March of this year.

The top six candidates running for mayor of Toronto are squaring off for the first time Wednesday in a debate focused on housing affordability.Olivia Chow, Brad Bradford, Mark Saunders, Josh Matlow, Mitzie Hunter and Ana Bailao will all be in attendance, according to event organizers.Those six candidates have emerged as frontrunners a designation CBC Toronto is basing on a combination of factors including polling data, policy releases and past leadership experience in a crowded campaign that features a record 102 candidates (you can find the full list here).

Chicago area couple Kathy and John Schreiber are donating $15 million to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to help fund care and research related to brain conditions.The area of the rehabilitation hospital where overnight patients receive care for brain conditions - such as stroke and traumatic brain injuries - will be renamed the John and Kathy Schreiber Brain Innovation Center.

Hundreds more Catholic clerics abused children in Illinois than were previously reported by church leaders, according to a scathing 700-page report released Tuesday by the Illinois Attorney General's office following a roughly four-year investigation.State investigators revealed the names and details of 451 Catholic priests and religious brothers who abused at least 1,997 children across all dioceses in Illinois.