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Ceremony marks start of journey home for Indigenous totem pole taken to Scotland a century ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Members of a Canadian First Nation held a spiritual ceremony on Monday at a Scottish museum to begin the homeward journey of a totem pole stolen almost a century ago.The 11-meter (36-foot) pole is being restored by the National Museum of Scotland to the Nisga’a Nation in northern British Columbia — one of the first times a British museum has returned artifacts to any of North America’s Indigenous peoples.The museum agreed last year to return the pole, which has been on display in the Edinburgh building since 1930. Nisga’a researchers say it was taken without consent in 1929 by an anthropologist who sold it to the museum.Chief Earl Stephens, who has the Nisga’a cultural name Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl, said that “in Nisga’a culture, we believe that this pole is alive with the spirit of our ancestors.”“After nearly 100 years, we are finally able to bring our dear relative home to rest on Nisga’a lands,” he said.Carved from red cedar in the 1860s, the pole includes family crest...

Cannabis company Atlantic Cultivation acquires insolvent Tantalus Labs brand

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Cannabis company Atlantic Cultivation has acquired the insolvent Tantalus Labs brand. Financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available.The deal includes Tantalus Labs’ brands and remaining inventory.Founded in 2012 by Dan Sutton, Tantalus entered bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings in late June.The company had to lay off more than 50 workers at its facility in Maple Ridge, B.C., owing millions to its main lender and millions more for unpaid excise taxes. Atlantic Cultivation is a vertically integrated cannabis company based in St. John’s, N.L.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2023.The Canadian Press

Danforth and Broadview construction enters new phase of traffic restrictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

New traffic restrictions are taking effect at the intersection of Broadview and Danforth as the work to replace ageing streetcar tracks enters its next phase.Construction at the busy east end intersection started in early July when the City of Toronto began replacing the tracks. The new phase of restrictions went into effect at 6 a.m. Monday and will last until September 4.The city says only one lane will be open in each direction on Danforth due to the work beginning on the south side of the intersection.Southbound traffic on Broadview will only be able to turn right onto Danforth to travel westbound and northbound traffic will only be able to turn right to travel eastbound. Large vehicles will not be able to make turns at the intersection due to limited space.Related:Business owners, commuters worry about traffic disruptions at Broadview and DanforthOne northbound lane will remain open on Broadview between Gerrard Street and Danforth. The city said drivers would be able to continu...

Spain urges Mauritania to allow 168 migrants rescued at sea to disembark

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

MADRID (AP) — About 170 migrants who were rescued in the Atlantic Ocean have been stuck aboard a Spanish Civil Guard boat for days near the northwest African nation of Mauritania after authorities there refused to let them disembark, according to Spanish media reports.Spain’s Interior Ministry on Monday declined to provide details of the incident but said in an email that it was “confident that the situation would be resolved in the following hours.” It said 168 people were rescued. A spokesperson for Mauritania’s interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment. Leading Spanish newspaper El País said the Civil Guard rescued the migrants Thursday about 80 nautical miles (150 kilometers) off the coast of Mauritania. It said the migrants are believed to be Senegalese.The Civil Guard is one of two national police forces in Spain. For years, it has worked with local authorities in Mauritania and Senegal to try to prevent migrants from attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Isl...

Poland, Baltic states warn they could seal border with Belarus if military, migrant tensions grow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO members Poland and the Baltic states will seal off their borders with Russia’s ally Belarus in the event of any military incidents or a massive migrant push by Minsk, the interior ministers warned Monday.The ministers said they were seeing growing tensions on NATO’s and the European Union’s borders with Belarus, which has taken in thousands of Russia’s military mercenaries and is pushing Middle East and African migrants into Europe, despite barriers having been put up.They warned of swift and concerted reaction in the case of a military incident or large migrant push.The ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia addressed the media following their talks. In a joint statement they demanded that the government of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko immediately remove from its territory the Wagner Group mercenaries. They also demanded the removal of migrants from border areas and their return to their home countries. The four cou...

Will back-to-school season make the summer COVID surge worse?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – As more students head back to classrooms, public health officials are keeping a close eye on the rising COVID-19 numbers around the country. The number of people being admitted to the hospital with the virus has been rising week after week, most recently jumping by 21% nationwide. Will the back-to-school season worsen the summer spike we're seeing? Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, expects the trend to look pretty similar to last year."Overall, I would expect cases and hospitalizations to increase – then decrease again before they rise in the late fall and early winter," Chin-Hong said. "This has been the pattern for the past three years and may be where COVID may settle to: a smaller swell in the summer and a larger increase in cases in the late fall and winter." What to know about new COVID-19 shots, RSV treatments It isn't anything about school environments in particular that would increase the spread ...

Bog snorkeling championships: Competitors race through slime in British contest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Intrepid athletes donned snorkels and slithered through slime on Sunday during one of Britain’s quirkiest sporting events: the World Bog Snorkeling Championships.The annual competition in the tiny town of Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, sees competitors race to complete two lengths of a 60-yard (55 meter) water-filled trench cut through a peat bog. They can use flippers on their feet, but conventional swimming strokes are banned.Competitors take part in the Rude Health World Bog Snorkelling Championships at Waen Rhydd peat bog in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, Sunday, Aug, 27, 2023. Bog snorkelling is a sporting event where competitors aim to complete two consecutive lengths of a 60 yards water-filled trench cut through a peat bog in the shortest time possible, wearing traditional snorkel, diving mask and flippers. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)Competitors take part in the Rude Health World Bog Snorkelling Championships at Waen Rhydd peat bog in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, Sunday, Aug, 27, 202...

Airbnb data reveals top destination for family bookings in each state

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

(KDVR/NEXSTAR) – Summer is soon coming to an end. The kids are heading back to school, your job is getting crazy, and — let's face it — the windows aren't going to weatherize themselves.In other words, there's little time for another fun family vacation before the season's over.But there's always next year. And if you start planning early, you just might be able to book a few nights at some of the most popular (and unexpected) U.S. travel destinations for families.After all, family vacations have come a long way since your last trip to Colonial Williamsburg.To illustrate this point, Airbnb has recently revealed the top-booked travel destinations for families in every state. Using data obtained from the first half of 2023, Airbnb focused only on "family night" bookings (i.e., guests traveling with kids) to find out where folks planned to go in June, July and August. Is unlimited vacation time really unlimited? So where, exactly, were they headed?In some cases, the results weren't t...

Drippings Springs ISD to consider 'alternative standard' to HB 3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) – The Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees is expected Monday night to take up an "alternative standard" under a new state law. Schools struggle to find money, hire more officers after lawmakers gut safety bill House Bill 3, which goes into effect Friday, would require armed security officers at every campus. In May 2023, KXAN reported the district had four School Resource Officers (SROs) and the board voted to add three. Dripping Springs ISD to increase school resource officers According to the August agenda item, Hays County is "unable to fully staff the district’s request of additional SROs."The board will consider placing School Marshals at elementary schools where there are no School Resource Officers.

Minnesota, Wisconsin dairy farmers forced to pivot after closing of Hastings Creamery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:19:20 GMT

After 110 years, the Hastings Creamery closed its doors last week, putting stress on local dairy farmers to find a new way to process and sell their products.Minnesota and Wisconsin farmers who worked with the dairy now are forced to sell their products on the spot market, hoping to find someone purchasing large quantities of milk, said Thom Peterson, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.“They are either selling on the spot market, which is a problem because they may not get strong dollars, or they call creameries all over to find out who needs milk,” Peterson said, noting that in some cases they might have to dump the milk if they can’t find a buyer.Of the 40 affected dairy farms, 14 are in Minnesota and 26 in Wisconsin, Peterson said. Minnesota has fewer than 2,000 dairy farms in total.Before closing its doors, the Hastings Creamery had been working with the city and state agencies to remedy a number of issues, including a milk leak in June that led to the cream...