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In Congress, a mounting push to bring Latin American countries under USMCA umbrella

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

WASHINGTON — A bipartisal duo of U.S. senators is leading a growing push to open up the continent’s “gold standard” trade agreement to include parts of Latin America in order to build a better bulwark against China’s geopolitical might. Earlier this year, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy enlisted Democratic counterpart and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet to co-sponsor the Americas Trade and Investment Act, which would expand the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “Just looking at it from the U.S. viewpoint, we get more return on our foreign expenditure if we invest it with our neighbours than if we invest it overseas,” Cassidy told a USMCA panel discussion. “As Mexico becomes more prosperous, it benefits the U.S., and as U.S. prosperity goes, that benefits Mexico and Canada. That is the beauty of capitalism: everybody wins. And that’s what I’m trying to do — everybody’s a winner.”The event marked the launch Thursday of a new Counc...

Explosion at world’s largest railyard in Nebraska prompts evacuations because of heavy toxic smoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An explosion inside a shipping container at the world’s largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire.Around noon, an explosion occurred inside an intermodal container on a railcar at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, though it wasn’t clear what caused the explosion, railroad spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said. No one was injured, and no cars derailed.Authorities evacuated everyone within a one-mile radius of the explosion in the western end of the railyard because of the smoke, and U.S. Highway 30 was closed between North Platte and Hershey. Interstate 80 wasn’t affected by the smoke. It wasn’t immediately clear how many homes were included in the mostly rural area that was evacuated on the edge of the city. North Platte, which is about 230 miles (370 kilometers) east of Denver and about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Oma...

Milwaukee suburb delaying start of Lake Michigan water withdrawals to early October

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Officials in a Milwaukee suburb have pushed plans to withdraw water from Lake Michigan back to early October, saying they need more time to clean out reservoirs and address problems with their pumps.City officials in Waukesha had planned to begin pulling millions of gallons per day from the laIke to serve as the city’s public water supply in mid-September, possibly as early as this week. But Dan Duchniak, general manager of the Waukesha Water Utility, said in a statement Thursday that withdrawals won’t begin until Oct. 9.He said that city officials have decided to empty and refill their reservoirs to minimize any taste or odor problems during the transition to lake water. They’ve also encountered programming issues with new pumps and the manufacturer needs time to get people to Waukesha to correct them.The city asked regulators in 2010 for permission to withdraw Lake Michigan water because its wells are contaminated with radium. The city is und...

GOP senators who boycotted Oregon Legislature file for reelection despite being disqualified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon state senators with at least 10 absences during a record-setting Republican walkout are supposed to be disqualified from running for reelection, but several on Thursday filed candidacy papers with election authorities.Following GOP walkouts in the Legislature in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Oregon voters last year overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment disqualifying legislators from reelection following the end of their term if they are absent from 10 or more legislative floor sessions without permission or excuse.Several statehouses around the nation have become ideological battlegrounds in recent years, including in Montana, Tennessee and Oregon, where the lawmakers’ walkout this year was the longest in state history and the second-longest in the United States. There were nine Oregon Republicans and an independent who clocked at least 10 absences during this year’s legislative session in order to block Democratic bills covering abortion, transge...

Britain, France and Germany say they will keep their nuclear and missiles sanctions on Iran

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — Britain, France and Germany announced Thursday they will keep their sanctions on Iran related to the Mideast country’s atomic program and development of ballistic missiles. The measures were to expire in October under a timetable spelled out in the now defunct nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.In a joint statement, the three European allies known as E3 and which had helped negotiate the nuclear deal, said they would retain their sanctions in a “direct response to Iran’s consistent and severe non-compliance” with the accord, also known by its official name as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The measures ban Iran from developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and bar anyone from buying, selling or transferring drones and missiles to and from Iran. They also include an asset freeze for several Iranian individuals and entities involved in the nuclear and ballistic missile program.Iran has violated the sanctions by dev...

Dominican Republic to close all borders with Haiti in a dispute over a canal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

DAJABON, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic’s president announced Thursday he would close all borders with neighboring Haiti starting Friday in a dispute over a canal on the Haitian side that would use water from a river along their frontier.President Luis Abinader said air, sea and land borders would close at 6 a.m. local time Friday and would remain shuttered “until necessary,” signaling that last-minute talks between the countries had failed to head off the closure. It is a rare move for the Dominican Republic, and could hit economies in both countries, though it will be most acutely felt in Haiti.The closure is a response to the excavation of a canal by a farming group on the Haitian side that targets waters from the Massacre River, which runs along the border shared by the two countries on the island of Hispaniola.The International Crisis Group said work on the canal had been suspended since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and that it res...

Shelter in place lifted after fire at Michigan paper mill produces plumes of heavy smoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

CHEBOYGAN, Mich. (AP) — People living near a northern Michigan paper mill that caught fire, filling the air with thick grey smoke, emerged from their homes Thursday after sheltering in place for more than a day, as environmental officials found the local air quality had improved to safe levels.Plumes of smoke could be seen for miles around on Wednesday morning after the fire broke out at the Tissue Depot property in downtown Cheboygan, about 290 miles (466 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.Fire crews contained the blaze to a storage building at the mill on Wednesday afternoon and they remained on the scene Thursday “putting out hot spots,” officials said.Cheboygan residents living with a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) radius of the Tissue Depot were told to shelter in place until 1:30 p.m. Thursday, when officials lifted that order following air testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.The Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post that the EPA found that level ...

How hard will Hurricane Lee hit New England? The cold North Atlantic may decide that

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

New England is known for its fickle weather, powerful nor’easters and blizzards. Destructive hurricanes, however, are relatively rare and typically don’t pack the same punch as tropical cyclones that hit the Southeast.Hurricanes usually lose some steam, becoming tropical storms, or extratropical storms, in northern waters.GEOGRAPHY MATTERSNew England, in the crosshairs of Hurricane Lee, is usually protected from the worst of a hurricane’s wrath by the cold waters of the North Atlantic, and that’s expected to help reduce Lee to a tropical storm by the time it arrives Saturday. A number of factors determine the path and strength of a hurricane. But the warm waters that can strengthen a hurricane are typically south of Cape Cod. North of there, the Atlantic waters are much colder.That doesn’t mean storms aren’t dangerous in New England. The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 brought gusts as high as 186 mph (300 kph) and sustained winds of 121 mph (195 kph) at Massachusett...

Thursday Forecast: Mostly clear, temps drop to 50s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

Thursday: Mostly sunny, coolest near the lake, E 5-10. High: 72, Low: 68Thursday Night: Mostly clear, calm, E 0-5. Low: 54Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Friday: Mainly sunny, coolest near the lake, SW 5-10. High: 77, Low: 74Saturday:  Mostly cloudy, 40% chance of showers    High;  74Sat. Night:  30% chance of showers – mainly in the evening, Decreasing clouds   Low:  55Sunday: AM 20% chance of showers – mainly lakeside, Partly cloudy   High:  72   Lakeside:  68Sun. Night:  Partly cloudy   Low:  53Monday:  Mostly sunny   High:  72   Lakeside:  69Mon. Night:  Mostly clear   Low:  53Tuesday:  Mostly sunny   High:  79   Lakeside:  74Tue. Night:  Partly cloudy    Low:  61Wednesday:  Partly cloudy   High:  83 ...

Trial day 4 of two former DCFS workers in connection with the 2019 death of 5-year-old AJ Freund

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:57:42 GMT

MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. — The trial for two former Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) workers accused of child endangerment enters its fourth day Thursday.The multiple felony charges filed in Sept. 2020 against Andrew Polovin and Carlos Acosta stem from the April 2019 death of five-year-old Andrew “AJ” Freund of Crystal Lake. They are accused of having known Freund’s life was in danger four months earlier yet not taking action.WGN plans to livestream the trial within this story beginning at approximately 9:30 a.m. The livestream will pause when the court takes its lunch break, but will resume within this story following that break. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Cross-examination continues on Day 3 of AJ Freund’s death, DCFS workers’ trial The bench trial began on Monday with the McHenry County State’s Attorney providing an opening statement for the prosecution, and separate attorneys providing statements for each of the defendants. Defense attorneys spent most of W...