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US automakers’ sales rose sharply over the summer, despite high prices and interest rates

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Automakers posted big increases in new vehicle sales during the summer, despite high prices, rising interest rates and even a limited strike against Detroit companies.Industry sales rose 16.3% from July through September as consumer demand stayed strong, even given an average new vehicle loan rate of 7.4% and an average vehicle price of more than $45,500.Vehicle supplies also continued to recover from shortages of computer chips and other parts that began during the pandemic and are finally abating. With increased selection, more people bought vehicles, despite an average monthly payment of $736.“I think this is 100% replacement purchases and needs-based,” said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds.com. Pent-up demand has been building since the pandemic started in 2020, with many people delaying purchases while waiting for prices to come down and supplies to increase. But then the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. “Unfortunately some of the people i...

B.C. man takes one-tonne pumpkin on road trip to win California weigh-off

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

VANCOUVER — An enormous pumpkin nicknamed “Mama” grown in a Richmond, B.C., backyard has won first place in one of North America’s most prestigious pumpkin weigh-offs, tipping the scales at more than a tonne.Grower Dave Chan, 78, says “a lot of good science” went into his victory on Saturday in the National Pumpkin Weigh Off in Wheatland, Calif., where Mama weighed in at 1,003 kilograms, or 2,212 pounds.The retired dentist says he and his wife Janet Love analyzed soil samples throughout summer to ensure the pumpkin was receiving the right nutrients.They loaded Mama and another giant pumpkin onto a trailer and drove more than 1,300 kilometres to attend the weigh-in, which organizers say has been held since 1921.Chan, who’s been growing giant pumpkins for more than 40 years, won $28,000 – that’s US$9 per pound – as well as a flashy championship belt, worthy of a heavyweight champion.He says he and his wife will use the money for a trip to Ital...

Detroit-area mayor indicted on bribery charge alleging he took $50,000 to facilitate property sale

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — A suburban Detroit mayor was indicted Tuesday on a federal bribery charge for allegedly demanding $50,000 in bribes to facilitate the sale of a city property to an outside party.Inkster Mayor Patrick Wimberly allegedly accepted the bribes from September 2022 through this past April, the indictment said. The bribes began at $5,000 monthly until Wimberly demanded more and they rose to $10,000 monthly, prosecutors said in a news release.Wimberly, 49, could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted.“Elected public officials owe a duty to their community to act in the citizens’ best interest,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a news release. “Our office is committed to prosecuting those public officials who betray the public trust by accepting bribes.”A telephone message seeking comment was left Tuesday at Wimberly’s office. Online court records did not list an attorney who might comment on his behalf.Wimberly, a former city council member and mariju...

Quebec man shot by police now charged with threats against Trudeau, Legault

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

SHERBROOKE, Que. — A Quebec man shot by police during an investigation into threats against Premier François Legault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now charged with uttering death threats against the two politicians.Germain Lemay, 30, faces a total of six new charges, including making death threats against police officers and an agent with the province’s workplace health and safety board.He is also charged with pointing a firearm at a police officer as well as improper storage of a firearm.Quebec’s police watchdog is investigating the Sept. 27 police shooting that occurred during an operation in Scotstown, Que., about 180 kilometres east of Montreal.The watchdog says an officer shot Lemay because the accused was allegedly pointing a gun from inside a home toward officers.The Crown says Lemay faces a total of seven charges, having initially been charged with possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 20...

US announces sweeping action against Chinese fentanyl supply chain producers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration took aim Tuesday at the fentanyl trafficking threat, announcing a series of indictments and sanctions against Chinese companies and executives blamed for importing the chemicals used to make the deadly drug.Officials described the actions, which include charges against eight Chinese companies accused of advertising, manufacturing and distributing precursor chemicals for synthetic opioids like fentanyl, as the latest effort in their fight against the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history. The moves come one day before senior administration officials are set to visit Mexico, whose cartels are part of the global trafficking network, for meetings expected to involve discussion of the drug threat.“We know that this network includes the cartels’ leaders, their drug traffickers, their money launderers, their clandestine lab operators, their security forces, their weapons suppliers, and their chemical suppliers,” Attorney General Merrick Garlan...

Chicago Migrant Crisis: 17K asylum seekers transported since August 2022

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

CHICAGO -- The recent surge of migrants continuing an upward trend in Chicago as 10 more buses arrived on Tuesday.According to city records, 17,000 new arrivals since the city started receiving busloads of asylum seekers in August 2022. With 224 of the 332 buses delivering migrants to Chicago just in the last five months.2,300 asylum seeker still remain at Chicago Police Department district headquarters waiting for shelter placement. Another 678 migrants are reportedly camped out at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Residents discuss plans for migrant shelter at Amundsen Park during community meeting Transported with little advance warning from Texas, the Chicago Office of Emergency Management with the support from the fire department and social service specialists have their focus on those arriving at what's become known as the "landing zone" at Jefferson Street near Vernon Park. Tuesday's arrivals came from El Paso, Texas, after a 23 hour journey to Chicago.Mayor Brandon J...

Opinion: The Lions are the template, and the Bears should follow suit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

It was glorious, and then it wasn’t. But hey, that’s better than what it has been so far this year for the Chicago Bears, right?For most of Chicago’s Sunday matchup against the Denver Broncos, Justin Fields flipped the script many loud mouths have written about him so far this season, accounting for more touchdown passes than incompletions for almost the entire game, and proving he has never been the central liability when it comes to this team's sporadic offense.The defense played complimentary football too!Chicago’s defense forced four straight punts as the Bears built a 28-7 lead, giving up just 45 yards across 15 plays spanning the entire second quarter into the second half.Then suddenly, the rug was pulled out from under Chicago fandom, and Bears faithful were sent crashing back to the painful reality of what their team has been to watch all year.Painful. Awful. Stinky.Russell Wilson led back-to-back touchdown drives to make it a one possession game before Fields promptly cough...

'Tectonic shifting' possible in SCOTUS consumer case

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) -- After the 2008 financial crisis, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consumers from things like excessive and predatory fees. But a new case before the US Supreme Court could gut the CFPB.The agency regulates things like the fees payday lenders can charge borrowers. Now the payday lenders are pushing back by claiming the CFPB's funding is unconstitutional."In practice, it could be rendered inoperable," said Aram Gavoor with George Washington Law. "It's actually drawn from a discretionary amount that the CFPB selects."During arguments before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the lawyer representing the payday lenders argued the CFPB budget doesn't have enough congressional oversight."At a bare minimum the appropriations clause requires Congress to determine how much the government should be spending," a lawyer for the payday lenders said.Without that appropriations oversight, the payday lenders say other agencies and even the White...

Millions in grants obtained by Joliet Township draws criticism from some city officials

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

WILL COUNTY, Ill. — Millions of dollars in grants obtained by Joliet Township is drawing criticism from some city officials.Last week, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s administration announced Joliet Township would receive $8.6 million in grants to provide housing and services to asylum seekers from Central and South America.Since late August, over 15,000 migrants have been bussed from Texas to Illinois. Many of them have been sleeping at Chicago police stations and shelters. Chicago Migrant Crisis: 17K asylum seekers transported since August 2022 A spokesperson for Joliet Mayor Terry D'Arcy said the mayor and other decision-makers in the city did not approve or have knowledge of the grant request, which was made by Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras.The township operates independently from the City of Joliet."If the township accepts this grant and individuals arrive in our city, it will be a tremendous strain and overtaxing our existing infrastructure impacting our Jolie...

Pritzker warns against book censorship as Illinois libraries deal with threats

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

CHICAGO — Illinois leaders warn that the effort to pull more books off library shelves across the United States is growing. The warning comes as the nation celebrates Banned Book Week, which runs from Oct. 1-7.Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton spoke about the dangers of book bans at the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library. Gov. Pritzker signs Illinois anti-book banning bill into law "There's a mob mentality that's taking hold, based on the misguided notion that everyone's personal taste in books ought to be codified so that no one else may access the books that each person may find distasteful," Pritzker said. “Illinois continues to stand on the right side of history, refusing to censor educational and social reading material that celebrates our diversity and the richness of the human experience," Lt. Gov. Stratton added. “As we celebrate Banned Books Week, our administration is committed to protecting the voices and stories ...