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Alexandria speed camera program kicks off in 3 school zones Monday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

The City of Alexandria’s new school zone speed camera program launches Monday, with cameras placed in three locations.Speed cameras will be located in the following places:Francis Hammond Middle School (Seminary Road, between Kenmore Avenue and North Jordan Street)John Adams Elementary School and Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School (North Beauregard Street, between North Highview Lane and Reading Avenue)George Washington Middle School (Mount Vernon Avenue, between Braddock Road and Luray Avenue)The speed cameras will only be active when school speed limit signs are flashing, according to a news release from the Virginia city. Each school zone is about a quarter mile long and has a 15 mph speed limit.Signs will be posted to let drivers know when they are entering a speed camera zone. Tickets for violations will be $100.The official kickoff of the program comes after the city conducted two warning periods, one in the spring of 2022 and one this year from Aug. 21 to Sept. 15.Durin...

Veterans Reus and Hummels rescue Borussia Dortmund with 4-2 win at Freiburg in Bundesliga

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Dortmund veterans Marco Reus and Mats Hummels scored late to earn a 4-2 win at Freiburg on Saturday and reduce talk of a crisis at the club after its poor start to the Bundesliga.Reus went on as a substitute and delivered a free kick that fell to Hummels – who’s also 34 – to squeeze over the line from close range in the 88th minute, then sealed the win himself in the third minute of injury time.It meant Dortmund ended a two-game winless run ahead of its visit to Paris Saint-Germain for their Champions League opener on Tuesday.Hummels opened the scoring with a header off Julian Brandt’s corner in the 11th. He has now scored a goal in 16 consecutive Bundesliga seasons, becoming only the sixth player to do so.But the team has been struggling this season and its problems did not disappear over the international break.“It’s not just this season,” Hummels said. “Playing against defensive opponents and finding solutions with this class and calmness on the ball,...

Late goal flurry helps Aston Villa overcome Crystal Palace in Premier League

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Three late goals by Jhon Duran, Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey helped Aston Villa stage a stirring fightback to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.Palace suffered a blow when 76-year-old manager Roy Hodgson was taken ill ahead of the match. The former England head coach did not travel to Villa Park, leaving Paddy McCarthy and Ray Lewington to take charge of team affairs.Hodgson agreed to stay on in the off-season, after returning for his second spell at the club earlier in the year.His team took the lead two minutes into the second half against Villa. Jean-Philippe Mateta spun Pau Torres on the right and sent in a cross that was perfect for Odsonne Edouard to slide the ball home.Villa substitute Duran equalized in spectacular style. He chested the ball down just inside the penalty area in the 87th minute before turning and hitting a ferocious half-volley beyond Palace goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.Ollie Watkins was then brought down by Chri...

Lee brings flooded roads, downed trees and power outages as it heads toward Maritimes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

Post-tropical storm Lee flooded roadways, toppled trees and downed power lines in coastal parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on Saturday as it barreled north across the Atlantic ocean to make landfall.Pam Lovelace, a Halifax municipal councillor for an area that includes the famous Peggy’s Cove lighthouse, rattled off a list of damage the storm had already wrought in the first half of the day. Some roads were underwater, some were blocked by fallen trees, and several  boats along the harbour in St. Margarets Bay were flooded.“We really need people to stay away from the coastline,” she said in an interview. “If your boat is in the water right now, there is nothing you can do to get it out. The storm surge last night at high tide was massive, tonight it’s going to be even worse.”Across the Bay of Fundy, the mayor of St. Andrews, N.B., looked on with concern,bracing for a similarly powerful impact as the powerful storm approached.“The big c...

Timeline leading to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s acquittal in his impeachment trial

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A timeline of events that led to acquittal of three-term Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton during his impeachment trial in the state Senate. The trial started Sept. 5 and ended Sept. 16. The overwhelming impeachment vote in May by the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives suspended the 60-year-old Paxton from office.The acquittal allows him to resume his duties as attorney general.2015Paxton takes office as attorney general after more than a decade in the Texas Legislature. He is indicted on felony securities charges by a grand jury in his hometown near Dallas, accused of duping investors in a tech startup. He pleads not guilty to two felony counts, but there has still been no trial. Paxton opens a legal defense fund and accepts $100,000 from an executive whose company was under investigation by his office for Medicaid fraud. An Arizona retiree donates $50,000 to the fund, and Paxton later hires the donor’s son for a high-ranking job tha...

Brampton man charged in connection with sex assault on 14-year-old girl

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

Peel police have charged a Brampton man in connection to a sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl. Officers say on Sept. 9, the 14-year-old victim was walking through Chinguacousy Park in Brampton when she was allegedly followed and sexually assaulted.A few days later, on Sept. 14, officers arrested 44-year-old Davey Anthony Hardware. He’s been charged with sexual assault and sexual interference. Hardware has been held for a bail hearing.

Texas AG Ken Paxton was acquitted at his impeachment trial. He still faces legal troubles

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — For years, the powers and protections that come with being Texas’ top lawyer have helped Ken Paxton fend off ethics complains, criminal charges and an FBI investigation.With the Texas Senate’s Saturday vote to acquit Paxton of corruption charges at his impeachment trial the Republican has once again demonstrated his rare political resilience. And he retains the shield of the attorney general’s office in legal battles still to come.After being cleared, Paxton, 60, thanked his lawyers for “exposing the absurdity” of the “false allegations” against him, and he promised to resume doing legal battle with the administration of President Joe Biden.“The weaponization of the impeachment process to settle political differences is not only wrong, it is immoral and corrupt,” he said in a statement. “Now that this shameful process is over, my work to defend our constitutional rights will resume.”Back in office, Paxton nonetheless still faces serious risk on three ...

Anchorage scrambles to find enough housing for the homeless before the Alaska winter sets in

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson gained national attention this summer when he proposed buying one-way airfare out of Alaska’s largest city for anyone without housing who wanted to leave before winter.Now, with the first snow just weeks away, those free tickets are nowhere in sight and the city is scrambling to pull together a grab bag of housing options for its more than 3,000 unsheltered residents. The city’s mass shelter in a sports arena closed after complaints from neighbors about bad behavior and bickering between the city’s liberal Assembly and conservative mayor killed hopes for a new permanent shelter and navigation center to take its place.The Anchorage Assembly just approved $4 million in funds and will vote on additional elements of an emergency plan next week. City leaders — who estimate they still need to find up to 450 winter beds — say they are confident they have enough emergency housing ready, but the mood on the streets is grim. “A lot o...

Republican Texas AG Ken Paxton is acquitted of corruption charges at historic impeachment trial

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted Saturday of all charges at a historic impeachment trial that divided Republicans over whether to remove a powerful defender of former President Donald Trump after years of scandal and criminal charges.The verdict reaffirmed Paxton’s durability in America’s biggest red state and is a broader victory for Texas’ hard right after an extraordinary trial that put on display fractures within the GOP nationally heading into the 2024 elections. In the end, Paxton was fully cleared by Senate Republicans, who serve alongside his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.Angela Paxton was not allowed to vote. But she attended all two weeks of the trial, including the reading of the verdict, when all but two of her fellow Republican senators consistently voted to acquit her husband on 16 impeachment articles that accused him of misconduct, bribery and corruption.Ken Paxton, who was absent for most of the proceedings, did not attend the ve...

Comedian Russell Brand denies allegations of sexual assault published by 3 UK news organizations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:56 GMT

Three British news organizations reported Saturday that comedian and social influencer Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse based on allegations from four women who knew him over a seven-year period at the height of his fame.Brand denied the allegations and said that all of his relationships have been consensual.The Sunday Times, The Times of London and Channel 4’s “Dispatches” said that one woman alleged she had been raped, while three others accused him of sexual assault. One of the women also said he had been physically and emotionally abusive.The women said that they only felt ready to tell their stories after being approached by reporters, with some citing Brand’s newfound prominence as an online wellness influencer as a factor in their decision to speak.Before the stories were published, Brand posted a video online denying the allegations, which had been outlined in two “extremely disturbing letters” from a “mainstream media” television company and ...