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Budget 2023: Projected cost of federal dental program set to more than double

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

OTTAWA — The new federal budget shows the government’s dental-care insurance program is projected to cost more than double what the Liberals originally thought, adding another $7.3 billion over five years.Last year, the government set up a temporary dental benefit for uninsured children under the age of 12 in families with a household income of less than $90,000.That benefit will be scrapped by June 2024. In its place, Tuesday’s budget shows the Liberals are planning a government-administered insurance program, at a cost of $13 billion over five years beginning in fiscal year 2023-24.“By the end of 2023, we will begin rolling out a dental-care plan for what will eventually be up to nine million uninsured Canadians,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in her speech to the House of Commons after tabling the budget Tuesday, according to a prepared version of her remarks.The Liberals will open eligibility this year to people who are under the age of 18, seni...

What is the filibuster, and why does it matter in Nebraska?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A group of lawmakers is continuing this week to filibuster all bills that come before the Nebraska Legislature — even the ones they support — in protest over a bill that would ban gender-affirming treatments for minors. Supporters of that bill say they’re trying to protect children from making body-altering decisions they may later regret. Opponents say it’s an unconstitutional overreach meant to marginalize LGBTQ+ people.Filibusters are rare in most U.S. state legislatures, but common in Nebraska. Lawmakers use the tactic in each session of the unique one-chamber Nebraska Legislature to try to force compromise on contested bills. This streak of filibusters is the longest in the state’s history and lawmakers behind them vow to block every bill through the end of the 90-day session. Here’s a look at how it could play out:WHAT’S A FILIBUSTER?It’s a political maneuver that extends debate on a bill in an effort to delay or block its pas...

40 killed in fire at immigration detention center in Mexico

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Migrants fearing deportation set mattresses ablaze at an immigration detention center in northern Mexico, starting a fire that killed at least 40 people, the president said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest events ever at a Mexican immigration lockup.Hours after the fire broke out late Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under shimmery silver sheets outside the facility in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, and a major crossing point for migrants.Twenty-nine people were injured and were in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.At the time of the blaze, 68 men from Central and South America were being held at the facility, the agency said.Immigration authorities identified the dead and injured as being from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, according to a statement from the Mexican attorney general’s office. Guatemala Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Bú...

Federal budget 2022: Highest-earning Canadians face minimum tax rate increase

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is moving to raise the minimum tax rate paid by wealthy Canadians in the budget and narrowing its focus on the highest earners.In its budget Tuesday, Ottawa is raising the alternative minimum tax rate and imposing new limits on many of the exemptions, deductions and credits that apply under the system starting in 2024.“We’re making sure the very wealthy and our biggest corporations pay their fair share of taxes, so we can afford to keep taxes low for middle class families,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the prepared text of her remarks.The alternative minimum tax (AMT) introduced in 1986 is a parallel income tax calculation that allows fewer deductions, exemptions and tax credits than the ordinary tax rules for the country’s highest earners. Wealthy Canadians pay the alternative minimum or regular tax, whichever is higher.The government announced in the budget that it is increasing the alternative minimum rate to 20.5 per cent from 15 per...

N.C. board removes election officials who refused to certify

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s state elections board on Tuesday removed two local election officials who had refused to certify their county’s 2022 results after officials determined they violated state law.The state board voted unanimously to dismiss Surry County elections secretary Jerry Forestieri and board member Timothy DeHaan in one of the strongest disciplinary actions taken against local officials across the U.S. who have delayed or refused to certify election results. Controversies over election certification have roiled mostly rural counties across the country as conspiracy theories about voting machines have spread widely among conservatives.Forestieri and DeHaan had questioned the legitimacy of state election law and court decisions disallowing photo ID checks and voter residency challenges. They falsely claimed in a letter that the vote was “illegal” and “very uncertain.”“These rulings have stripped the election process of the trustworthiness they were desi...

Ex-Californian sentenced for child mutilation-sex scheme

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Southern California man who convinced troubled girls as young as 12 to perform masochistic acts and urged one to become his sex slave was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in federal prison.Matthew Christian Locher was “a parent’s worst nightmare,” U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee said during his sentencing in Los Angeles, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.Locher pleaded guilty last August to one count of sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction.In his plea agreement, prosecutors said Locher, 32, acknowledged that while living in Redondo Beach in 2020 and 2021, Locher got into online conversations targeting girls suffering from mental health issues such as depression, schizophrenia, anorexia and suicidal thoughts.“Locher groomed his victims to engage in self-mutilation and instructed a victim struggling with an eating disorder to starve herself, ordering her to film h...

Chicago-area native being hailed a hero after Nashville school shooting

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

CHICAGO — Two police officers are being hailed as heroes after taking down the Nashville private school shooting suspect Monday, one of which is from the Chicago area.Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officer Rex Engelbert grew up in Forest Glen before moving to Ohio to study criminal justice at the University of Dayton, after which, he moved to Tennessee to become a police officer.Engelbert, who's now 27, is a four-year veteran of the MNPD who was one of two officers credited with firing at the suspect and ending their shooting spree.“They heard gunfire and immediately ran to that,” said MNPD Chief John Drake.Metro police said that Engelbert and fellow officer Michael Collazo rushed into the building, meeting the suspect on the second floor, where they opened fire and stopped the shooter."I’m just extremely proud of him and thankful that he’s okay," said Kevin Engelbert, Rex's older brother. "It’s a tragedy beyond my words for everyone involved, but I’m glad that his trainin...

Sunny Tuesday with a cloudy Wednesday to follow

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

CHICAGO -- The sun emerged Tuesday afternoon and the clearing increases prospects sky watchers will get a view of the 5 planet line-up in the night sky Tuesday night. Predicted clouds coverage over Chicago should come in around 12% of the sky at 7pm CDT; 12% AT 1am CDT Wed morning then increase to 80% by 7am CDT Wed morning.Just 2 days to go in March 2023—a month which has been wet and chilly. While the month's average temp will close within fractions of a degree of normal Friday night, the month is noteworthy in its lack of warm days. By this time last year, March had produced six days at or above 60-deg----three of them in the 70s. WE'VE HAD NO SUCH WARMTH THIS YEAR.And checking on Chicago temps since 1871, the city has recorded a temp of 60-deg or higher by this date. 70-deg and higher temps have occurred by now 62% of years since 1942—the year Midway Airport became the city's official observation site (O'Hare followed in 1980). Planet Palooza! When 5 planets will be visible in...

ComEd bribery trial: Key witness told to not 'put anything in writing' by Madigan associate

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

CHICAGO -- It's day nine of the ComEd bribery trial at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago.The four defendants on trial are accused of bribing associates of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.Juror were shown secretly recorded videos and phone conversations, as well as heard testimony from the government's key witness. Final week as Vallas, Johnson close in on Election Day Former Senior Vice President of ComEd Fidel Marquez took the stand for the second day Tuesday. In 2019, Marquez was approached by the FBI to cooperate in an ongoing bribery investigation and become the government's key witness.On Tuesday, he spoke about his role in the alleged bribery scheme to payout contracts of associates of former Illinois speaker Michael Madigan in the hopes of gaining influence of the speaker.The four defendants, ex-City Club President Jay Doherty, onetime ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, and Madigan associated Michael McClain, are being tried for bribery and falsifying ...

Cook County property tax due date nears

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:39 GMT

COOK COUNTY, Ill. — The due date is near for Cook County property owners who were given an extra month to pay their first installment of taxes this year.Property taxes must be paid by Monday, April 3 to avoid late charges.RELATED NEWS | Cook County property tax hike riles homeowners: ‘What would constitute such a big increase?’The extension was due to many Cook County tax bills arriving late last year. Payments must be made before 11:59 p.m. on April 3 to be recorded on time.Payments can be made online at cookcountytreasurer.com.