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Md. Gov. Moore headlines Black business expo, will appoint a minority business enterprise ombudsman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) made a promise Tuesday to small, women and minority-owned businesses: the state’s got your back.The governor gave a keynote speech at Bowie State University during a Black business expo hosted by the Maryland Minority Business Counts initiative, which consists of business, community and civic leaders who advocate for diverse small companies to receive state contracts.The state has historically struggled to reach a goal of signing 29% of state contracts with “minority business enterprises,” defined generally as businesses that have majority owners that are women, disabled people or who are Black, Latino, Asian or Native American. Currently, minority business contracts remain below 15%.“Every year for the last 10 years, we’ve broken that promise and there have been no consequences,” Moore said to the more th...

Minneapolis budget plan includes millions for new employees as part of police reform effort

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Complying with court orders to end racist and unconstitutional policing in Minneapolis will require hiring nearly three dozen new workers at a cost of millions of dollars each year for years to come, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday.The Minneapolis City Council on Monday formally took up Mayor Jacob Frey’s proposed 2024 budget. It is the first spending plan directly connecting taxpayer costs to the specific jobs required by the court orders that followed the examination of the police department after the killing of George Floyd in May 2020.The spending plan adds $7.6 million in costs for new jobs related to the compliance in 2024. That includes adding 34 full-time positions across four city departments for jobs such as lawyers, IT people, workers to examine body-worn camera footage, counselors and trainers for police officers, and overtime.After 2024, the new positions will continue at an expected cost of nearly $6 million annually for years t...

NFL Players Association calls on NFL to switch all fields to natural grass

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The NFL Players Association wants the league to switch all its fields to natural grass, calling it “the easiest decision the NFL can make.” Executive director Lloyd Howell issued a statement Wednesday morning saying NFL players “overwhelming prefer it and the data is clear that grass is simply safer than artificial turf. It is an issue that has been near the top of the players’ list during my team visits and one I have raised with the NFL.” The players’ union called for the change less than 48 hours after a season-ending injury to four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers tore his left Achilles tendon in his debut with the New York Jets on Monday night.Howell said in his statement they know there is an investment to making such a change. But he said there’s a bigger cost to the NFL if the league keeps losing its best players to “unnecessary injuries.” He noted the NFL flips surfaces to grass for World Cup or soccer exhibitions. “B...

Autoridades buscan a padre desaparecido en arroyo de Maryland que salió de pesca con su hijo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

Un hombre desapareció en un arroyo de Maryland después de que su barco se volcara durante un viaje de pesca con su hijo de 8 años, quien pudo nadar hasta la orilla, informaron las autoridades.El padre y el hijo estaban pescando juntos el martes por la mañana en Mattawoman Creek frente al Parque Estatal Smallwood, no lejos de donde el arroyo se encuentra con el río Potomac, indicó el Departamento de Bomberos del condado Charles.Su barco se volcó y el niño logró llegar a tierra, pero el padre desapareció. La primera llamada de ayuda se produjo alrededor de las 10:50 a. m. Múltiples equipos respondieron, incluido el de la Guardia Costera de EE UU.Las imágenes del helicóptero de Telemundo 44 muestran a los equipos buscando en el arroyo.La búsqueda del navegante desaparecido es ahora una operación de recuperación, no una operación de rescate, expresó el Departamento de Bomberos el martes por la noche, lo que significa que se cree que esté muerto.Quédate con Telemundo 44 para obtener más ...

New England expecting more rain, watching Hurricane Lee’s path after downpour, flooding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

Vehicles make their way through a flooded Lancaster Street during heavy rain in Leominster, Mass., Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. (Rick Cinclair/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)(AP/Rick Cinclair) Vehicles make their way through a flooded Lancaster Street during heavy rain in Leominster, Mass., Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. (Rick Cinclair/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)(AP/Rick Cinclair) LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — More heavy rain was in the forecast Wednesday in New England, where residents kept one eye on cleanup and another on the path of Hurricane Lee after downpours dropped nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in six hours and flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.The rainfall was a “200-year e...

Tech titans are giving senators advice on artificial intelligence in a closed-door forum

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been talking for months about accomplishing a potentially impossible task: passing bipartisan legislation within the next year that encourages the rapid development of artificial intelligence and mitigates its biggest risks.On Wednesday, he convened a meeting of some of the country’s most prominent technology executives, among others, to ask them how Congress should do it. The closed-door forum on Capitol Hill included almost two dozen tech executives, tech advocates and also skeptics, including civil rights groups and labor leaders. The guest list featured some of the industry’s biggest names: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X and Tesla’s Elon Musk as well as former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. All 100 senators were invited; the public was not. Schumer, D-N.Y., opened the session by saying that “today, we begin an enormous and complex and vital undertaking: building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy that Congress ca...

EU boosts green fuels for aviation: 70% of fuels at EU airports will have to be sustainable by 2050

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — EU lawmakers approved Wednesday new rules requiring airlines to use more sustainable fuels across the bloc in a bid to help decarbonize the sector.Under the new standards adopted during a European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, France, 2% of jet fuel must be sustainable as of 2025, with this share increasing every five years to reach 70% by 2050.The Parliament said that sustainable fuels will include “synthetic fuels, certain biofuels produced from agricultural or forestry residues, algae, bio-waste, used cooking oil or certain animal fats.”Recycled jet fuels produced from waste gases and waste plastic, as well as renewable hydrogen, will be considered green, while food crop-based fuels and fuels derived from palm and soy materials won’t.The aviation sector accounts for 13.9% of transportation emissions in the EU, making it the second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the sector after road transport, the European Commission said. If...

Milwaukee bar patrons who took up `Jets Lose, You Win’ offer had to pay after Jets’ surprise win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Hundreds of Milwaukee bar patrons who hoped to score free drinks through its offer to pay their tabs whenever the New York Jets, and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, lose had to pay up after the Jets got an overtime win despite an injury that took Rodgers out of the game.Jack’s American Pub announced its “Jets Lose, You Win” promotion two weeks ago, offering to pay the bar tabs of all participating customers when the Jets — and Rodgers — lose. Patrons faced conditions, including that Rodgers had to start the game and their tabs had to be opened 15 minutes before kickoff.During Monday’s game between the Jets and the Buffalo Bills, many customers at the Milwaukee bar cheered, sensing a free night of drinking, when Rodgers left in the first quarter with an injury. That injury turned out to be a torn left Achilles tendon that ended Rodgers’ debut season with the Jets. But the team went on to win the game 22-16 in overtime, dashing customers’ fre...

Sports on TV for Thursday, September 14

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

(All times Eastern)Schedule subject to change and/or blackoutsThursday, September 14AUTO RACING4 p.m.FS2 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Qualifying, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn.6 p.m.FS1 — NASCAR ARCA Menards Series: The Bush’s Beans 200, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn.9 p.m.FS1 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: The UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics, Playoffs – Round of 8, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn.5:25 a.m. (Friday)ESPN2 — Formula 1: Practice, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay, SingaporeCOLLEGE FOOTBALL7:30 p.m.ACCN — Bethune-Cookman at MiamiESPN — Navy at MemphisCOLLEGE SOCCER (MEN’S)6 p.m.PAC-12N — Oregon St. at California7 p.m.SECN — Georgia at Alabama10 p.m.PAC-12N — Washington at StanfordCOLLEGE SOCCER (WOMEN’S)9 p.m.ESPNU — TCU at BYUCOLLEGE VOLLEYBALL (WOMEN’S)5:30 p.m.BTN — Illinois at Southern Cal8 p.m.BTN — UCF at PurdueGOLF7 a.m.GOLF — DP World Tour: The BMW PGA Championship, First Round, Wentworth Club – West Course, Surre...

Belgian court overturns government decision to deny shelter to single men seeking asylum

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:11:24 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s top administrative court on Wednesday overturned a government decision to refuse to provide shelter for single men seeking asylum, saying that the move contravenes the country’s migration laws.Last month, Belgian Asylum State Secretary Nicole de Moor said that a shortage of asylum housing was expected in coming months, and she wanted “absolutely to avoid children ending up in the streets this winter.” Instead, she said, single men would have to fend for themselves. Human rights organizations and aid groups condemned the move as reneging on international commitments, and eight associations appealed to the Council of State tribunal to have the decision reversed.The court ruled that the government’s decision does not respect the rights that all asylum seekers should enjoy while their application for international protection is being examined.Belgium has long come under criticism for failing to provide enough shelter to the thousands of people who say they are ...