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Why Hawaii became a hotbed of legal activism to protect the climate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

Jennifer Hijazi | Bloomberg News (TNS)When it comes to mitigating climate change, “yesterday’s good enough has become today’s unacceptable.” That was what judges on Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this year, in the first US decision to declare a stable climate as an affirmative right.The same court on Tuesday tossed an oil company appeal to quash a Honolulu lawsuit accusing industry giants of launching years-long deception campaigns about fossil fuel consumption. The decision fast-tracks the case towards what is likely to be the first US climate misinformation trial against the energy industry.And at the state’s special environmental court — one of only two designated environmental courts nationwide — a youth coalition is pursuing a first-of-its-kind constitutional lawsuit against the state’s transportation department for approving high-emission projects.The cases show how Hawaii has become uniquely fertile ground for environmental legal action, fueled by a long tradition of de...

GOP states embrace Uber, Lyft to take low-income patients to medical appointments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

Anna Claire Vollers | Stateline.org (TNS)This month, Mississippi becomes the latest state to partner with ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to ferry residents to their medical appointments.It’s a bid to improve overall health in a state where advocates and medical groups have called health care a crisis that’s getting worse.Ryan Kelly, executive director of the Mississippi Rural Health Association, said groups such as his have been working to promote more regular annual checkups, but added that transportation barriers have contributed to high rates of missed appointments. The no-show rate for some providers can be as high as 75%, he said.“We’re not airlines and can’t double-book appointments,” he said. “If your practice’s calendar is booked solid but 75% of people don’t show up? Many providers have gone away from doing a lot of wellness checkups because patients don’t show.”In recent years, Uber and Lyft have lobbied states to use Medicaid funding for transporting patient...

Bruins notebook: Charlie Coyle dominant in the faceoff circle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

When you’re hot, you’re hot. And, boy, was Charlie Coyle hot in the faceoff circle in the Bruins’ 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday at the Garden.The B’s centerman went 18-for-22 on draws and swept his faceoffs against Leafs’ star pivot Auston Matthews (8-for-8). It got so lopsided Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe elected to sit his best player, Matthews, to start overtime in the hopes of winning a faceoff. As it turned out, Coyle beat David Kampf on the draw and the B’s held possession for most of the OT before finally winning it in the shootout.Coyle relishes being relied upon in shutdown situations, whether it’s a tough assignment or on the league-leading penalty kill, which has now improved to 38-of-39.“I take a lot of pride in it,” said Coyle. “We want to be a guy who’s relied on in those tough situations, so if that’s what the team needs and that’s what they want from me then, yeah, I’m going to ma...

‘Worse than people can imagine’: Medicaid ‘unwinding’ breeds chaos in states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

Phil Galewitz, Katheryn Houghton, Brett Kelman, Samantha Liss | (TNS) KFF Health NewsMore than two dozen people lined up outside a state public assistance office in Montana before it opened to ensure they didn’t get cut off from Medicaid.Callers in Missouri and Florida reported waiting on hold for more than two hours on hotlines to renew their Medicaid coverage.The parents of a disabled man in Tennessee who had been on Medicaid for three decades fought with the state this summer to keep him enrolled as he lay dying from pneumonia in a hospital.Seven months into what was predicted to be the biggest upheaval in the 58-year history of the government health insurance program for people with low incomes and disabilities, states have reviewed the eligibility of more than 28 million people and terminated coverage for over 10 million of them. Millions more are expected to lose Medicaid in the coming months.The unprecedented enrollment drop comes after federal protections ended this spring t...

Japan’s Princess Kako arrives in Peru to mark 150 years of diplomatic relations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Japanese Princess Kako on Friday arrived in Peru on an official visit to commemorate 150 years of diplomatic relations between both countries.Kako, 28, will spend six days in the South American country, where she will lead a ceremony to celebrate the start of bilateral relations in 1873, when both countries signed a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation.She is expected to visit several landmark sites, including Cuzco, the Andean city that was the capital of the Inca Empire between the 15th and 16th centuries. From there the Princess will head to Qoricancha, or “The Golden Temple” in Quechua language, considered the most important — and most sacred — temple by the Incas.While in Lima, Princess Kako will visit a school for students suffering from hearing loss. According to the Japanese embassy in Peru, Kako has attended speech competitions among deaf students in Japan, where she has given speeches in sign language.Japan is Peru’s fourth trade partner, a...

Head of China’s state-backed Catholic church to visit Hong Kong amid strained Sino-Vatican relations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — The leader of China’s Communist Party-sponsored version of the Catholic church will visit Hong Kong this month at the invitation of the city’s pope-appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, fostering dialogue as China-Vatican relations remain strained.Joseph Li, the state-appointed archbishop of Beijing, will take a five-day trip to Hong Kong starting Nov. 14 at the invitation of the city’s newly appointed cardinal Stephen Chow, according to a statement from the Hong Kong diocese. Chow made the invitation during his landmark trip to Beijing in April — the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city’s bishop in nearly three decades — in a symbolic gesture that experts said could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.During Li’s visit, he will meet with Chow and “different diocesan offices to promote exchanges and interactions between the two dioceses,” the statement said, without elaborating. Beijing and the Vatican severed d...

German club Mainz terminates Anwar El Ghazi’s contract over social media posts on Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

MAINZ, Germany (AP) — German soccer club Mainz terminated the contract of Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi on Friday following his social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.The announcement by Mainz came two days after El Ghazi disputed the club’s version of events when it lifted an earlier suspension. German news agency dpa reported Friday that prosecutors in the city of Koblenz were also investigating. Mainz originally suspended El Ghazi on Oct. 17, saying he had posted and then deleted a message about the war that the club deemed “unacceptable.” On Monday, the club said his suspension was lifted and that he would receive a reprimand. Mainz said that followed talks with the management and that El Ghazi “regrets publishing the post and also was remorseful about its negative impact.” The club added that the player “also stated that he does not question Israel’s right to exist.”However, in a further social media post on Wednesday, El Ghazi indicated that the club had issued its...

Tensions spike in Rio de Janeiro ahead of Copa Libertadores soccer final and after Copacabana brawl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Tensions remained high Friday in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the Copa Libertadores soccer final, following a brawl between fan clubs and a fierce police response on the Copacabana beach the previous day.The incident marred the excitement ahead of the game between Brazil’s Fluminense and Argentina’s Boca Juniors, due on Saturday at Rio de Janeiro’s famed Maracana stadium. A mob swept across Copacabana beach, sending hundreds of others stampeding away from the commotion, some clutching caipirinhas and hastily-gathered clothes.Conmebol, the continental governing body of soccer in South America, met Friday with directors of the Brazilian Football Confederation, the Argentine Football Association, Fluminense and Boca Juniors to discuss security.The meeting was called after Thursday’s bawl on Copacabana that saw nine arrested across the city’s affluent southern zone, police said.Brazil’s police have drawn criticism for their response as images posted on ...

Chicago-area police entered wrong home, held disabled woman and grandkids for hours, lawsuit alleges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

Chicago-area police serving an arrest warrant entered the wrong home in 2021 and held a disabled woman, her four young grandchildren and others for hours, violating their civil rights, a federal lawsuit alleges.Adela Carrasco, 63, her grandchildren and other plaintiffs contend in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that officers went to wrong address and demanded entry, even after Carrasco told them the person they were seeking didn’t live at her residence in a multi-unit home in Joliet, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.The suit alleges that after Carrasco opened the door, officers pointed loaded firearms directly at her and her grandchildren, who were ages 10, 12, 13 and 14 at the time, and detained them, relatives and others for six hours without legal cause on Nov. 2, 2021.Police also allegedly refused requests by Carrasco, who has COPD and asthma and walks with a cane, to get her asthma inhaler and use the bathroom.“This is unacceptable behavior towards young chil...

Man struck and killed in Brampton mall parking lot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:55 GMT

A man is dead after being struck by a vehicle in the parking lot of a Brampton plaza.Peel police say they were called to the Brampton Mall on Main Street South around 1:30 p.m. Friday following reports a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle. The man, believed to be middle-aged, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say the driver of the vehicle remained on scene.