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Deadly Berlin house explosion caused by propane leak, investigators say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

A deadly house explosion in Berlin earlier this year was caused by a propane leak, state and local officials announced on Thursday.The explosion happened early on the morning of April 14 on Pleasant Street, killing a 79-year-old woman and sending one other person to a hospital. In addition to the home that exploded, officials in their announcement this week said the blast also damaged three neighboring homes and two vehicles in the area.The new joint statement released by the state Department of Fire Services said town and state investigators learned residents had smelled propane in the backyard of the home where two 100-pound liquid propane cylinders were located on the evening of April 13.“They notified the Knight Fuel Company of the apparent leak, and an employee removed that tank to a location about 20 feet from the home,” officials said. “Investigators collectively determined that the tank continued to leak propane gas, which is heavier than air and traveled into the home’s bas...

A gunman opened fire as a band played at a California biker bar, leaving 3 dead and 6 wounded

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

By EUGENE GARCIA, AMY TAXIN and JOHN ANTCZAK (Associated Press)TRABUCO CANYON, Calif. (AP) — The cover band at the historic Southern California biker bar had just launched into their next song when the gunman walked in and opened fire. Some froze, others ran as the bullets flew inside busy Cook’s Corner, which was holding its weekly spaghetti night on Wednesday. The gunman then went outside and kept firing, witnesses said. Within minutes, deputies arrived and killed the shooter, Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez said.Three people were dead at the scene; six others were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds, officials said Thursday. M Street band keyboardist Mark Johnson hid behind a speaker with his wife, singer Debbie Johnson.“Once he started shooting, it was very indiscriminate,” Mark Johnson said. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office identified the gunman as John Snowling, 59, a former police officer. His wife, who had filed...

Red Sox clobber Astros 17-1 to split series, gain ground in AL Wild Card hunt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

Just when you think you’re out, the Red Sox find a way to pull you back in.Fresh off Wednesday night’s dramatic extra-innings victory, the Red Sox clobbered the Houston Astros 17-1 on Thursday afternoon to split the crucial four-game series. Now after looking dead in the water following two depressing losses to start the week, the Red Sox return to Fenway Park with renewed momentum and have yet another opportunity to climb back into the playoff hunt.Thursday’s finale was over before it even got started. Alex Verdugo led off with a solo home run on the third pitch of the game and the Red Sox pounded Astros starter J.P. France from there. Boston added four more runs in the second and really blew things open with six more in the third, sending 11 men to the plate before the Astros could finally work their way out of the inning.France, who entered the game with a 2.75 ERA in 17 starts, was finally lifted after 2.1 innings and was ultimately charged with 10 runs on 11 h...

A Trump supporter indicted in Georgia is also charged with assaulting an FBI agent in Maryland

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

By RUSS BYNUM (Associated Press)A Donald Trump supporter who surrendered to Georgia authorities Thursday on charges he conspired with the former president and other allies to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss is also facing federal charges that he assaulted an FBI agent in Maryland.Harrison William Prescott Floyd turned himself in to the Fulton County jail in Atlanta a week after being indicted in the Georgia case alongside Trump and 17 others. Court records show Floyd, identified as a former U.S. Marine who’s active with the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago in Maryland on a federal warrant that accuses him of aggressively confronting two FBI agents sent to serve him with a grand jury subpoena. An agent’s affidavit filed in U.S. District Court says Floyd screamed, cursed and jabbed a finger in one FBI agent’s face and twice chest-bumped the agent in a stairwell. It says Floyd backed down only when the second agent opened his ...

TD Bank Group discloses U.S. regulatory inquiry into compliance practices

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

TORONTO — TD Bank Group revealed Thursday that it expects U.S. regulators to impose penalties related to its anti-money laundering compliance program. The bank made the disclosure in its third-quarter filing as it reported profit fell compared with a year ago and announced a significant expansion of a share buyback program.TD has been fielding formal and informal inquiries from regulatory authorities about its compliance program, it said in its report to shareholders. It has been responding generally and “in connection with specific clients, counterparties or incidents in the US, including in connection with an investigation by the United States Department of Justice,” the bank said.Chief executive Bharat Masrani said on an earnings call Thursday that the bank was working to boost its compliance efforts, while declining to provide any details on current discussions with regulators.“We are working hard to enhance our programs,” he said in response to analyst i...

Ontario doctors preparing for students to return to school

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

Ontario doctors are preparing for another start to the school year and are hoping the province will be returning to an even greater sense of normalcy than last year.Experts from the Ontario Medical Association say this school year will be similar to pre-pandemic times but add there will still be a prevalence of Influenza, COVID-19 and RSV.They are touting the importance of vaccinations as a way to keep trending in the right direction.“We know that the Influenza strain that circulated were a good match with the vaccine [last year]. Parents can add to their list get their vaccine in the fall and get their children vaccine. COVID is still here, and it will be with us and we can expect new variants. Getting that fall booster will help boost out immunity,” said Associate Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Vinita Dubey.The OMA also highlighted Thursday that there has been a rise in mental health issues, among other issues, because of the unpredictability of the last few years with...

Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan chides Joly for ‘unacceptable’ comments to Armenians

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

OTTAWA — Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry argues Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is undermining peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by referring to the area with the name used by Armenian secessionists.Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but it is mostly populated by Armenians and neighbouring Armenia has fought for control of the region for decades.Tensions rose in the area last fall when the region’s main access road was blocked, leading to shortages of food and medicine that groups such as Human Rights Watch blame on Azerbaijan.Canada is planning to send two officials to support a European monitoring mission that is aiming to prevent another war in the region.Last Saturday, during a speech to at the Armenian Community Centre of Montreal, Joly referred to the region as Artsakh, a term used by ethnic Armenians who want the area to secede from Azerbaijan.In part of the speech posted on social media, Joly is seen saying...

What you need to know about rent control in Ontario

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

In Ontario, landlords are allowed to raise rent once a year and a question that comes up for many renters is whether their unit is subject to rent control — which is a mechanism to make renting stable for tenants.Rent control usually limits increases to the rate of inflation in an attempt to keep rates affordable for a majority of renters.“But there’s a cap — it was introduced by the Liberals a number of years ago. It says that even if inflation is five or six per cent, a landlord can’t increase rent above two and a half per cent,” explains Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (FMTA).The rent increase guideline in Ontario for 2023 is at that maximum of 2.5 per cent for rent-controlled units.Rent control only applies to units first occupied by anyone, not just the current renter, before Nov. 15, 2018. For any units that came to market after, there is no limit to how much rent can be raised annually.Other scenar...

Keith Spicer, Canada’s first official languages commissioner, dead at 89

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

OTTAWA — Keith Spicer, Canada’s first commissioner of official languages, died Thursday in Ottawa at 89.Canadians who closely followed the constitutional debates of the early 1990s might remember him as the man who starkly described the “fury in the land” against the prime minister who had named him to lead a commission on national unity.Those nearest to Spicer remember him as a hard-working family man who brought a sense of humour to his often high-ranking roles — and someone who preferred to drink his beer from a wine glass.“Because that’s how they drink it in Paris,” his son, Nick Spicer, said in an interview Monday after arriving in Ottawa to be with his father in hospital.“He had his way of having fun.”The son told The Canadian Press that his father died Thursday morning.“His tireless work over decades helped shape Canada’s linguistic landscape as we know it — a torch we continue to hold high as we work to achieve substantiv...

Woman abandoned her dog at Pennsylvania airport before flying to resort, officials say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:57 GMT

A woman accused of intentionally abandoning her dog at a Pennsylvania airport before she boarded a flight to a resort in Mexico earlier this month has been charged with animal cruelty and related charges, authorities announced Thursday.Allegheny County Police say Allison Lyn Gaiser, 44, tried to bring her brown-and-white male French bulldog with her on a flight departing from Pittsburgh International Airport on Aug. 4. But the dog was denied boarding by the airline because it did not meet the criteria for an emotional support animal and did not have a proper kennel as required.After leaving the ticket counter, Gaiser was seen on surveillance cameras pushing the dog in the stroller back toward a moving walkway enclosure next to glass exit doors in the airport’s short-term parking lot.She was later seen heading to an area where a county police officer found the dog unattended in the stroller about 40 minutes later, authorities said.This photo provided by the Allegheny County, Pa...