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2025-01-25
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's current governor and his successor tacked on another lawsuit Monday disputing a key provision within a GOP law that erodes the powers of several incoming Democratic state leaders — the latest in a longstanding power struggle between North Carolina's executive and legislative branches over who controls the state's elections. The lawsuit challenges one of the law's core power shifts that move the ability to appoint members of the North Carolina State Board of Elections from the governor's authority to the state auditor's office — which will be run by Republican Dave Boliek next year. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Gov.-elect Josh Stein, who currently serves as the state attorney general, filed the suit in Wake County Superior Court on Monday, saying in the complaint that the provision is unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers. The change to state election board appointments will take place next spring if it isn't blocked in court. The state elections board would likely remain under GOP control for the next few years and would trickle down to county boards as well. “We have had the same structure for our state board of elections for nearly a century and it has served North Carolina well, with fair and secure elections across our state through every cycle,” Cooper said in a news release Monday. “These blatantly partisan efforts to give control over elections boards to a newly elected Republican will create distrust in our elections process and serve no legitimate purpose.” The suit from Cooper and Stein is the second challenge the pair has levied against the GOP-controlled state legislature concerning the law. Cooper and Stein are also contesting another provision that prevents the governor from choosing his State Highway Patrol commander. Those alterations to the governor's powers were part of a larger swath of changes to several statewide offices that Democrats won in November and will preside over next year — such as attorney general, state schools superintendent and lieutenant governor. If the law withstands the court challenges, it would further underscore the GOP-led legislature's tightened grip over the other two branches of government since Republicans took control of the General Assembly more than a decade ago. Last year, GOP supermajorities in both the House and Senate firmed up power even more. Pending legal disputes in a few outstanding races , Republicans could lose their supermajority if Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn's attempt to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Frank Sossamon proves successful. That would give Stein a slightly more effective veto stamp on future Republican legislation if Democratic lawmakers stay unified. Republican legislators passed the law in both chambers earlier this month — not without scathing disapproval from crowds of protesters in the building. The bill drew the ire of House and Senate Democrats, as well as some community organizers, who denounced it as a “power grab.” They also criticized Republican lawmakers for tying the power shifts to disaster relief funding for western North Carolina in Hurricane Helene's aftermath. Most of the $252 million in recovery funds included in the law can't be spent until the next time the General Assembly acts. But GOP legislators defended the bill, with incoming House Speaker Destin Hall saying during the House vote that the changes are within the legislature's constitutional right. Republicans also point to previous Democratic actions , such as weakening the state’s first GOP governor in 1972, as reasons necessitating the legislation. Spokespeople for Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore — who are both defendants listed in the lawsuit — did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening. A state elections board spokesperson also did not immediately respond. Changes to the state elections board aren't a first for GOP lawmakers. Previous attempts have been blocked by courts , including a suit last year that would move board appointment authority from the governor to the General Assembly . Berger and Moore's attorneys moved to dismiss that case last week, and the new lawsuit from Cooper and Stein seeks to replace it.365/7 ph1

How Taylor Swift is influencing luxury home design trendsThe roughskin dog fish shark, a species of the shark family, which has never been seen live before, was recently spotted in the uncharted depths of the Cayman Islands. Scientists described their first glimpse of the shark as a “shadow swimming just beyond the (camera’s) detection window," stated multiple reports. Researchers from the Cayman Islands Department of Environment and project partner, Beneath the Waves, used a baited remote underwater video system (BRUVS) to track the dogfish shark alive. Researchers recorded two curious individuals at a depth of 1,045 meters during a deep-sea study from 2022 to 2024. Why is roughskin dogfish's live footage important Around 11 minutes of the footage from the project show the elusive roughskin dogfish shark (Centroscymnus owstonii). Few moments after the scientist spotted the shadow, the predator shark approached the bait, giving researchers an opportunity to study the species alive in its natural habitat. The roughskin dog fish shark's discovery, published in the Journal of Fish Biology, is significant as it provides the first live footage of this species, which was previously known only from dead specimens. Reportedly, the group of scientists who discovered the dog fish shark, hoped the findings would encourage conservation efforts to protect Cayman Islands' biodiversity. As per conservationists, live footage of any specimens help identify critical habitats and migration patterns of creatures of the animal kingdom. Researchers involved in discovering the roughskin dogfish A multidisciplinary team of scientists, including Olivia Dixon, Shannon Aldridge, Johanna Kohler, Anne Veeder, Paul Chin, Teresa Fernandes, Timothy Austin, Rupert Ormond, Mauvis Gore, Diego Vaz, and Austin Gallagher led the discovery. Their expertise and use of innovative technologies such as the BRUVS system have set a new benchmarks for deep-sea exploration. Taditional methods such as fishing and trawling, which have often been used for deep sea exploration, usually harm marine life. However, video-based systems like the dBRUV allow researchers to study species with minimal ecological disturbance.

Jimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’

Calgary Stampeders sign Paredes to extension, restructure Adams's contract

Beyoncé teases a Christmas halftime performance for NFL gameA new tool for the rapidly growing X competitor Bluesky helps you quickly create new feeds that you can pin to the app’s home page to follow your various interests. If you’re daunted by the prospect of having to rebuild your Twitter/X lists on Bluesky’s app, you can use the Pack2List web app to take advantage of the curation work other Bluesky users have already done to create your own customized lists. While Bluesky and its third-party developer community today offer a variety of tools for building feeds, lists, and even Starter Packs of people you think are worth a follow , Pack2List is specifically designed to turn any person’s recommended set of users from their Starter Pack into a Bluesky List in just a few steps. Starter Packs vs Lists But first, let’s back up a bit to learn about these two types of lists. The difference between a Starter Pack and a Bluesky List is that the former is meant to be used as a quick way to follow a group of users en masse. The idea is any user on Bluesky can create a Starter Pack of people they think others should follow, which they can then share with others on their feed or elsewhere on the web. These Starter Packs can also be found in a tab on users’ Bluesky profiles. Starter Packs have served as a clever way for Bluesky to grow its community and its network of connections, which can be hard to do for brand-new social networks — at least ones that don’t rely on importing your entire address book. Unlike Meta’s X competitor, Instagram Threads , Bluesky didn’t have the advantage of building out its social graph on the back of an app that already had some 2 billion-plus monthly users, as Instagram does. Instead, Starter Packs let Bluesky’s own user base curate its network into distinct, thematic groups that make it easier for people to go from an empty timeline to one filled with posts they find interesting. For instance, there are Starter Packs focused on politics, journalists, developers, technologists, academia, sports, AI, health, and various other fan groups, geographies, and communities. A third-party site, Bluesky Directory, keeps track of the growing number of Starter Packs available across the network. ( Here’s one for TechCrunch , for example!) With a click of a button on a Starter Pack, you can follow everyone on this type of curated list, or you can optionally pick and choose from its set of recommendations to follow specific individuals. Meanwhile, a Bluesky List is a curated group of Bluesky accounts that you put together for your own purposes. Maybe it’s a list of people you want to keep track of or maybe it’s even a list of those you want to block. (For left-leaning Bluesky users hoping to avoid turning Bluesky into another angry Twitter, a block list of MAGA folks has become a popular addition, based on how many people have been resharing this list with others across the social network.) But perhaps you want to pin a Bluesky List of your favorite scientists, journalists, AI researchers, authors, or other high-profile figures to your home page (or mobile home screen) for easy access. Maybe you want to build a list of your close friends, work colleagues, or other people who mainly post about a certain topic or participate in some type of community. Unlike Starter Packs, which are meant to drive follows, you don’t necessarily have to follow everyone on the lists you make. Similar to X’s Lists, you can simply create a list and click on it to see its users’ posts in their own timeline, without having their posts clutter up your main Bluesky feed. Turn a Starter Pack into a List While both types of lists are useful, Bluesky is missing a key feature that would let you take someone’s shared Starter Pack and — instead of following its users — turn that Pack into a List that’s always accessible from your Bluesky account in a dedicated spot. That’s where the Pack2List web app comes in. The tool is available on GitHub and on this basic PHP website , alongside other tools that let you merge lists, convert lists, and more. To use the service, you’ll enter your Bluesky credentials, including your username and an app password. (You generate an app password from Bluesky’s security settings. This security feature prevents you from having to share your main Bluesky password with a third-party app.) You then simply paste in the URL to the Starter Pack you want to turn into a list and select whether it’s a list you want to follow (“Content”) or one you want to use to block people (“Moderation.”) Click the “Submit” button and the Starter Pack is immediately added as a List on your Bluesky account. You can also optionally add the URL of one of your other lists that already exists on your account if you’d prefer to merge the Starter Pack into that list, instead. Of course, you don’t have to use tools like this to have a good Bluesky experience. A nice thing about Bluesky’s app is that you don’t have to be technically inclined to create an account, follow others, and engage with posts on your timeline. It looks and feels much like old Twitter, the app now called X under Elon Musk. But if you do want to explore Bluesky’s more advanced features, it’s helpful to know that there’s already a wide developer community out there building tools, services, and apps that help you do more with Bluesky if you choose.Tiny but vital metal markets rush to adjust to Chinese clampdown

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Jimmy Carter, 39th US president, Nobel winner, dies at 100

Honoring Ambedkar: A Legacy of Equality and JusticeTCAT enrollment up 18 percent in 2023-24

The Thai woman’s body was discovered in a fifth-floor hostel room in the Jomtien area of Chonburi in eastern Thailand. Jomtien Beach area and the Gulf of Siam, Pattaya, Thailand (stock image) An Irish man in his 70s has been questioned by police in Thailand after a woman was found dead in a hostel on Sunday. The Thai woman’s body was discovered in a fifth-floor hostel room in the Jomtien area of Chonburi in eastern Thailand and she has since been identified as 45-year-old Ms Duangta. Forensic experts and medical teams from Banglamung Hospital gathered evidence at the scene today before transferring the deceased to the Institute of Forensic Medicine to determine the course of the investigation. Ms Duangta had been dead for at least three days in the hostel room she shared with a 77-year-old Irish man being referred to as ‘Mr B’. Other residents in the building had noticed a smell coming from their room and notified authorities but police found no evidence of struggle or a break-in in the room, which Mr B had left on Sunday morning. Authorities later questioned him after finding him walking along Jomtien Beach, where Khaosod reports he claimed Ms Duangta had asked to stay with him from December 18 after being assaulted by another person. Building staff claim that the Irish man had been renting the room since October 16 and frequently brought different women to stay with him. Mr B has been taken to Pattaya City Police Station for further questioning as police investigate his relationship to the deceased and why he had not reported her death.

Q : My husband’s 8-year-old daughter has a birthday this weekend, and she decided she would like to take a few friends to the movies and then out for frozen yogurt around the corner from our home. My husband and his ex-wife plan to take her, and I was not invited. What’s good ex-etiquette? A: Let’s clarify something first. Your husband’s ex is this child’s mother, so the request may not be as off as presented at first. But it’s still inappropriate if you, as his wife, are not included when Mom also attends. If you decline the invitation because you are sick, for example, that would be understandable. But not invited? That’s not good ex-etiquette. Once a divorced parent lives with or marries someone else, the new partner becomes their primary companion. That means your husband and his ex continue to co-parent, but you are also integrated into the mix. Ideally, that would mean all three of you take the child to the movies — or, if that is uncomfortable because you have not progressed to comfortably co-parenting as a team, just one parent is designated to attend. I suggest this approach for three reasons: First, children often hope for parental reconciliation after a breakup, and when that doesn’t happen, it can be extremely disappointing. Still reeling from the first breakup, they may even perceive it as another breakup. So, if parents do attend a special occasion together, they must be mindful of how their friendly interaction is perceived by their children. Second, too-familiar interaction between parents can influence the children’s relationship with a new partner. Even though they love both parents, they can also feel protective of the new partner and not know where to turn or how to react when witnessing too-friendly parental interaction. By the same token, they might resent the new partner for getting in the way of their parents’ reconciliation. Either way, you can see how confusing this might be. Finally, the third reason is that if there is tension between any of the adults, it will embarrass the children and make them very uncomfortable. Never attempt this sort of interaction until you are confident that you are ready for it and can set a good example. I must clarify that these considerations apply to things like private birthday parties or outings, not events like Little League games or school plays where it is commonplace for both parents to support their children and where many other parents are also in attendance. I did not get the impression that you were asking this question because you were jealous. It appeared you felt overlooked and you wanted clarification. However, it seems fitting to now discuss jealous and insecure feelings and how misunderstanding your role can negatively influence both past and current relationships. Both past and current partners may experience jealousy or insecure feelings when their position is unclear or unstated. Basically, people need to know where they stand. Once parents divorce, everyone has new roles and responsibilities to consider. Parents are now co-parents. New partners are now the primary romantic interest. It is when these new roles do not match each person’s expectations that people become jealous and insecure. That merits a clarifying conversation right from the beginning. As a result, each person will better understand their position, they’ll become more confident about where they stand, and jealous and insecure feelings will hopefully be diminished. That’s good ex-etiquette. Email Dr. Jann Blackstone at dr.jann@exetiquette.com . Get local news delivered to your inbox!British Columbia Premier David Eby says Canada's premiers and the federal government have hatched a game plan over possible U.S. tariffs, where Conservative premiers lobby their Republican counterparts and left-leaning leaders court the Democrats, while the federal government focuses on president-elect Donald Trump. Eby says the premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talked about using their political diversity and connections to approach politicians and business leaders in the United States, as talks over Trump's proposed 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico ramp up. He says it has been discussed that Conservative premiers Danielle Smith in Alberta, Doug Ford in Ontario and Nova Scotia's John Houston are well-placed to lobby their contacts with Republican governors and business leaders. In a year-end interview, Eby says as a New Democrat leader he will likely have more in common speaking with Democrat governors and business leaders from the West Coast states. He says Canada's diversity of representation, ranging from the right and left sides of the political spectrum, can bring leverage and advantages in tariff talks. Eby also says — if it is deemed helpful — he is prepared to appear on American's right-leaning Fox News TV network as did premiers Ford and Smith. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2024.'I just check the Everton score and smile' - Maupay's latest goading enrages Toffees fans

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Luke Richardson was fired as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, the NHL club announced, after the team stumbled to the league's worst record so far this season. Swede Anders Sorensen, coach of the Blackhawks' top developmental club, was named interim coach for the NHL squad. Richardson, a 55-year-old Canadian, went 57-118 with 15 overtime losses in three seasons with Chicago. The Blackhawks are 8-16 with two overtime losses this season for a league-low 18 points after going 19-54-9 last season, second-worst in the NHL, and 26-49-7 in 2022-23, third-worst in the league. "Today I made the difficult decision to move on from Luke as our head coach," Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said. "As we have begun to take steps forward in our rebuilding process, we felt that the results did not match our expectations for a higher level of execution this season and ultimately came to the decision that a change was necessary." The Blackhawks are on a four-game losing streak and 3-9-1 in their past 13 starts with 2.42 goals a game this season, second worst in the NHL. They have reached the Stanley Cup playoffs only once over the past seven seasons. "I fully support Kyle's decision in making this change as he continues to do what is needed to move our team forward," Blackhawks chairman and chief executive Danny Wirtz said. "I have the utmost confidence in him and the rest of our hockey operations team as they begin their search for the next head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks." Richardson became the third NHL coach fired this season after Boston dumped Jim Montgomery last month. He was hired five days later by St. Louis after the Blues fired Drew Bannister. js/bb

Acadian Timber Corp. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.29 (TSE:ADN)Jimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’

Jimmy Carter: Many evolutions for a centenarian ‘citizen of the world’

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