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Ticker: Amazon cuts 9,000 more jobs; Gas prices down on lower oil costs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

Amazon plans to eliminate 9,000 more jobs in the next few weeks, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to staff on Monday.The job cuts would mark the second largest round of layoffs in the company’s history, adding to the 18,000 employees the tech giant said it would lay off in January. The company’s workforce doubled during the pandemic, however, in the midst of a hiring surge across almost the entire tech sector.Tech companies have announced tens of thousands of job cuts this year.In the memo, Jassy said the second phase of the company’s annual planning process completed this month led to the additional job cuts. He said Amazon will still hire in some strategic areas.The job cuts announced Monday will hit profitable areas for the company including its cloud computing unit AWS and its burgeoning advertising business. Twitch, the gaming platform Amazon owns, will also see some layoffs as well as Amazon’s PXT organizations, which handle human resources and other funct...

Jimmy Carter had ‘a certain magic,’ says former aide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

James Fallows was 27 when he went to work in Jimmy Carter’s White House and 29 when he left, but the Redlands, California, native is still thinking about Carter. Even more so since the former president, now in hospice care, seems to be in his final days.Carter was 56 when he left the presidency after a single term. At 98, he has been a former president for an astonishing 42 years.“He’s been a former president 10 times longer than he was president,” Fallows told me by phone Thursday from his home in Washington, D.C.“Most of today’s Americans,” Fallows said, “were born after Carter left office.”(That’s sobering news for someone who just turned 59. I had no clue that being alive during Carter’s presidency meant I was on my way to taking Carter’s Little Pills.)Because most know Jimmy Carter as a former president, not as president, his so-so record has been eclipsed by his undeniably successful retirement years.“He has essentially invented what the post-presidency can be,” Fallows said. ...

Red Sox: Delayed by visa issues, Yu Chang will have less than week to compete for roster spot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

Yu Chang is one of several ballplayers competing for a spot on the Red Sox roster, but unlike the others, he’ll have less than a week to make his case.On Monday morning, Alex Cora told reporters that visa issues have delayed Chang’s arrival. He’s now expected to arrive Thursday, exactly one week before Opening Day.The versatile infielder played for Chinese Taipei, who were mathematically eliminated (due to Pool A’s five-team tie) in the first round of the World Baseball Classic. Though he hasn’t played in over a week and wasn’t at spring training prior to the tournament, he won’t be starting from scratch when he arrives. Sources tell the Herald that since Chang was playing at a high level in the World Baseball Classic, it shouldn’t be long before he sees some action.But including his estimated day of arrival, all that stands between the Red Sox and their first game of the regular season are six Grapefruit League games and a day off on ...

Police seek victims of sexual molestation at East County motel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. — Authorities are seeking help identifying underage victims of alleged sexual molestations at an East County motel, El Cajon police said Monday.The alleged incidents happened at a Motel 6 at 550 Montrose Court in El Cajon, according to police.On Friday, police received a call from an employee with People Assisting The Homeless (PATH) reporting suspicious circumstances with a client, ECPD Public Information Officer Lt. Jeremiah Larson said in a news release.The PATH client, 34-year-old Lawrence "Larry" Cantrell, allegedly told the employee that he and another man had sexual contact with a minor and that he had a recording of the incident on his cell phone, police said.According to police, Cantrell is a convicted felon and sex registrant who wears a GPS-monitored ankle bracelet. He had been staying at the Motel 6 for five to six days through the PATH program and was believed to have been kicked out of another motel in San Diego for causing a disturbance, Larson said. ...

Newsom visits San Diego to talk mental health, fentanyl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- California Governor Gavin Newsom stopped in San Diego Sunday, as part of his four-city tour to address issues across the state.Newsom gave several speeches throughout the day, discussing policies surrounding the behavioral health system, homelessness and the fentanyl crisis. In his first remarks at 1:30 p.m. from Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, Newsom delivered remarks on new policies to modernize and expand the state's behavioral health system.One of the key proposals he announced Sunday is a potential 2024 ballot measure that will expand funding to build residential facilities where those with mental health conditions can be treated. Newsom to start California tour with homelessness proposal The governor then stopped by a National Guard facility in National City at 4:30 p.m. to deliver remarks on the fentanyl and opioid crises in the state. In his speech from the facility, Newsom discussed additional funding going towards the state's efforts to combat the crisis, ...

Wyoming bans transgender youth from girls’ sports teams

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming has become the 19th state to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls or women’s sports teams after the Republican governor opted not to veto the legislation.Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to become law without his signature Friday, saying he supports and agrees with the overall goal of fairness in competitive female sports. But he also said in a decision letter that the ban “is overly draconian, is discriminatory without attention to individual circumstances or mitigating factors, and pays little attention to fundamental principles of equality.”The law, which takes effect July 1, will prohibit “students of the male sex from competing on a team designated for students of the female sex.” It’s among dozens of Republican proposals pushing back against transgender rights in statehouses across the U.S., including measures to ban gender-affirming care for minors, restrict drag shows, and prevent transgender people from using restrooms, l...

Alberta moves to force oilpatch to pay owed taxes above ‘threshold’ amount

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is taking steps to force oilpatch companies to make good on their unpaid municipal taxes, including sending reminders from provincial cabinet ministers to those in arrears.“Our goal is to reduce unpaid taxes throughout the province,” Energy Minister Peter Guthrie said in a release.Earlier this month, Rural Municipalities Alberta released figures showing that energy firms owed $268 million in back taxes in 2022, a figure that is up more than six per cent from 2021. The pace of nonpayment has also increased. There was $53 million left unpaid last year, up $15 million from the previous year.In addition, the organization said its members have written off another $150 million in unpaid taxes as unrecoverable. On Monday, Guthrie said he’s issued an order that blocks companies from acquiring or transferring licences on wells or other assets if their unpaid taxes exceed a threshold amount. That threshold is yet to be determined and is to b...

Airbnb criticized after 1 killed, 6 missing in charred rubble of Montreal building

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec politicians criticized short-term rental company Airbnb on Monday for failing to be a proper corporate citizen, after a building used for illegal rentals was ravaged by a fire that killed one and left at least six missing under the rubble.Firefighters have said that several apartments in the building located in Old Montreal were being used as Airbnb rentals, and police have said that they didn’t know how many of the missing were tourists.San Francisco-based Airbnb is “washing its hands” of the problem of illegal rentals in cities across the province, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters outside the historic three-storey building. She said the company, which operates an online marketplace for short-term rentals, should ensure people listing their properties on the website have proper permits.“Short-term rental platforms cannot just say that they are the ‘housing marketplace’ and then wash their hands of it afterwards,” Plante sa...

Official: Mountain lion claws man in hot tub in Colorado

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

NATHROP, Colo. (AP) — Wildlife officials said Monday they are searching for a mountain lion that clawed a man’s head while he was sitting in a hot tub with his wife at a rental home in central Colorado.The man was soaking in the in-ground hot tub in a wooded subdivision west of Nathrop on Saturday night when he felt something grab his head, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. He screamed at the mountain lion and started splashing water while his wife shined a flashlight at the animal.Authorities said it retreated to the top of a hill and continued to watch the couple.The man and his wife were able to get back into the home, where they cleaned his wounds and called the property owner, who happened to work for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The man had four superficial scratches on top of his head and near his right ear, but he declined medical treatment.“We think it’s likely the mountain lion saw the man’s head move in the darkness at ground-level but didn’t recognize the p...

Trump indictment would be unprecedented moment in US history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:11 GMT

The decision whether to indict former President Donald Trump over hush-money payments made on his behalf during his 2016 presidential campaign lies in the hands of a Manhattan grand jury that has been hearing evidence in secret for weeks.An indictment of Trump, who is seeking the White House again in 2024, would be an unprecedented moment in American history, the first criminal case against a former U.S. president. Law enforcement officials are bracing for protests and the possibility of violence after Trump called on his supporters to protest ahead of a possible indictment. An indictment could also test a Republican Party already divided over whether to support Trump next year, in part due to his efforts to undermine his 2020 election loss.Trump denies any wrongdoing and has slammed the Manhattan district attorney’s office probe as politically motivated.Here’s a look at the hush-money probe, grand jury process and possible ramifications for his presidential campaign:___...