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Travel: Key West’s Conch Republic is a state of mind

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

Forty-one years ago, on April 23, 1982, a Border Patrol blockade of the Florida Keys in search of drugs and undocumented immigrants led to the birth of the Conch Republic. Infuriated Keys residents seceded from the union to protest being treated like a foreign country and the massive traffic jam that temporarily cut them off from the rest of America.Today, the city of Key West has turned this event into an annual weeklong party that celebrates the birth of the Conch Republic. While the Conch Republic never materialized as an actual country, it still exists as a state of mind, symbolizing Key West’s, offbeat, nonconformist nature where the locals enjoy an anything-goes lifestyle supported by a healthy tourist industry. Tourists enjoy this laidback vibe too. You can walk down the streets of Key West carrying an alcoholic beverage and no one cares as long as it’s in a can or a plastic cup (no glass, please).A mock sea battle between the Conch Republic and the Coast Guard takes place du...

Brampton promises to sue Mississauga if it splits from Peel Region and doesn’t pay up

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

Mississauga has long been asking to break off from Peel Region and go out on their own and Premier Doug Ford has strongly hinted he will allow it.The decisions would set the stage for Mississauga and Brampton to undergo a nasty “divorce.”“I’ve always been for an independent Mississauga, you can’t have a city size of 800,000 people continuing to grow being tied to other jurisdiction,” Ford commented on Monday.That statement was music to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie’s ears.“I’m delighted the premier has publicly stated he is on the way to separate Peel, gives me great pleasure,” shared Crombie. “I know he is fulfilling a promise to former Mayor Hazel McCallion and myself, [it] makes great sense we go our separate ways.”The provincial government has not made the official announcement to separate Mississauga from Brampton and Caledon yet.However, once that happens, finances will have to be sorted out.Meanwhile, ...

One in life-threatening condition after stabbing in Charles and Yonge area

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

One person has been transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a stabbing in the Charles and Yonge streets area on Monday afternoon.STABBING:Charles St + Yonge St4:16 p.m.– A man has been stabbed in a laneway– Police are on scene– Victim is being transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries– Suspect: male, black, 6'0", blue jeans, grey windbreaker, red backpack, dark shoes#GO1090728^lb— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) May 15, 2023Police responded to reports at approximately 4:16 p.m. that a man has been stabbed in a laneway and arrived on scene as the victim was transported to hospital.The suspect in the stabbing has been described as male, Black, 6’0″, wearing blue jeans, a grey windbreaker, a red backpack and dark shoes.

K’atl’odeeche First Nation, Hay River, N.W.T., order evacuations as wildfire spreads

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

HAY RIVER, N.W.T. — A First Nation reserve and nearby town in the southern Northwest Territories have been evacuated after a wildfire began spreading in the area. K’atl’odeeche First Nation ordered an evacuation Sunday afternoon, advising residents to register at the evacuation centre in nearby Hay River.The Town of Hay River then ordered an evacuation Sunday night.Residents of both communities have been advised to register at the Hay River Community Centre if they need help leaving.“I thought it was a dream,” Bryan Fabian said Monday from K’atl’odeeche First Nation, who drove all night and reached Yellowknife, which is about 490 kilometres away.“I was just wondering about everything that we left behind,” he said, noting he only took the clothes on his back.Gladys Seaward said she, her husband and their two grandchildren, ages five and 15, also drove all night from Hay River to reach Yellowknife.“My heart is breaking for them,...

What Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Dubas said about their Leafs future

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

The summer of (possibly large, or possibly none at all) change is upon us in Toronto after another disappointing playoff exit. At least this year’s dismissal came in the second round, but a five-game elimination to the paws of the second-wild-card Panthers left the same feeling of disbelief.As we’ve outlined over the weekend in a long list of 42 thoughts from Luke Fox on what all this means and what could be next, and then a closer look at the seven most important contract situations on the team, this is a massively important summer for the Leafs. Whether meaningful changes come to the core or not, the team has several pending UFAs, and then all of the Core Four will have expiring deals within the next two years. The team would have been facing critical roster decisions even without the latest failure factored in.On Monday the Maple Leafs players and the GM who assembled them spoke to the media for the final time before they set off on their summer and, who knows, perhap...

S&P/TSX composite adds 120 points on strength in energy, metals, U.S. markets also up

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

TORONTO — Strength in the base metal and energy sectors helped lead Canada’s main stock index higher Monday ahead of Tuesday’s inflation data release, while U.S. markets also ticked upwards. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 120.35 points at 20,539.97.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 47.98 points at 33,348.60.The S&P 500 index was up 12.20 points at 4,136.28, while the Nasdaq composite was up 80.47 points at 12,365.21.Monday on the markets was “a quiet day, but on the whole tilted a little bit more optimistic,” said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist with Edward Jones.“I think there’s a bit of wait-and-see ahead of tomorrow’s meeting around the debt ceiling talks,” she said.President Joe Biden is set to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders Tuesday. McCarthy said Monday there’s been “no progress” on the standoff over the debt limit. But Mahajan noted that the U.S. government has raised the ...

Autopsy showed 13-year-old B.C. teen was strangled, pathologist tells murder trial

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

VANCOUVER — A forensic pathologist testifying in the trial of a man accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl in Burnaby, B.C., says she died by strangulation.Dr. Jason Morin, who conducted the autopsy, says the four-hour procedure showed there had been a lack of blood supply to the girl’s brain.He says he also identified a number of other injuries to her body, including bruising, scraping and tearing on the back of her head, as well as to her arms and legs.The body of the girl, who cannot be identified under the terms of a publication ban, was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017, just hours after her mother had reported her missing.Ibrahim Ali last month pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the B.C. Supreme Court trial.Crown attorney Isobel Keeley said in an opening statement that the court would hear evidence showing the murder was random, but DNA results would prove Ali sexually assaulted her.She said the evidence would show the girl was passing through...

Minnesota Democrats set emergency meeting in response to melee at Minneapolis political convention

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Democratic leaders will convene an emergency meeting Thursday evening to respond to the chaos that broke out during a convention to endorse a candidate for a Minneapolis City Council race.Video circulating on social media shows the disturbance Saturday after supporters of incumbent Aisha Chughtai took the stage to seek the delegates’ backing for the Ward 10 council seat. That sparked an uproar among backers of her challenger, Nasri Warsame. Some jumped on stage, shouting, banging on tables and waving signs. At least two people were injured, and the convention broke up with no endorsement.Ken Martin, chair of the state Democratic Party organization, tweeted that he would use the upcoming meeting to propose a bylaw change “to ban individuals engaged in violent assaults” from the party and “take immediate action to remove the folks involved in Ward 10.”Martin also said in a separate statement late Saturday that it was “clear that the conflict was inst...

Bear in a tree holds Michigan city in suspense for hours on Mother’s Day

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A city in northern Michigan has a new Mother’s Day memory: A 350-pound bear was in a tree for hours, watched by dozens of people, before it fell asleep and dropped onto mattresses below.“It’s like the best block party ever,” Annette Andersen said. The drama in Traverse City began when wildlife experts responded to a morning call about a bear in a leafy tree. They fired at least four tranquilizer darts into his butt. The bear snoozed on a thick limb before finally dropping to the ground by early afternoon Sunday.Ashlea Walter hauled mattresses from her house to soften the fall, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported.Spectators sitting on lawns or in chairs held their phones up to take pictures and video. “They’re a tough animal,” said Steve Griffith, a state wildlife biologist. “Obviously they are in trees all the time, and they do have accidents in the wild. … They can take a pretty good fall.”The bear was transferred on a tarp to a cyl...

UK pledges attack drones, more missiles as Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meets prime minister on European tour

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:33 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed the British government at the end of a whirlwind European tour Monday to join a “fighter jet coalition” that would help strengthen his country’s aerial capabilities, but instead secured a commitment for attack drones and hundreds more missiles.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak greeted Zelenskyy with a handshake and hug after the president’s helicopter landed at Chequers, the British leader’s official country retreat. It was Zelenskyy’s second trip to the U.K. since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but the fifth European country he visited in three days..He is seeking more military aid as Ukraine prepares a long-anticipated spring offensive to retake Russian-occupied territory. The Ukrainian leader also visited Italy, the Vatican, Germany and France.Russia reacted to the U.K.’s new pledge “extremely negatively,” but also doubts the missiles and drones would drastically change the course of the war,...