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First Lieutenant Al-Attiyah Wins Silver As World Military Equestrian Championship Kicks OffLosses for big technology stocks pulled major indexes lower on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% from its record high a day earlier, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.6%. Losses for Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were the biggest weights on the market. Dell sank 12.2% after reporting revenue that fell shy of forecasts, and HP dropped 11.4% after giving a weaker-than-expected outlook. Treasury yields fell in the bond market. U.S. financial markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
It didn't take long for Sue Cranston to fall in love with wolf dogs. She started volunteering with the half-dog, half-wolf hybrids at an animal sanctuary in Colorado after moving there in the 1990s. "They stuck a little puppy in her lap and a bottle and said 'Here, feed it,' " said her longtime partner Carol Scarborough. "And that was the end of that." Just a few years later, the couple started the Indigo Mountain Nature Center and in 2000, bought a sprawling 36-acre property in Lake George, Colo., which, over the years, was home to animals including captive-born black bears and, of course, wolf dogs. Cranston died of cancer earlier this year. Scarborough and Cranston spent 39 years together. Indigo Mountain was Cranston's "passion," built with "blood, sweat and tears," Scarborough said. A New Mexico wolf sanctuary is hoping to carry on that legacy. Cranston's name is a familiar one in rescue community. The first wolf sanctuary that Brittany McDonald worked at in Texas was started with a Cranston rescue. In 2022, a few years after McDonald started working at Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary about an hour west of Grants, their paths crossed again, when Cranston asked if the sanctuary would like to take in a wolf dog puppy. They never met in person. But Cranston’s influence crossed state lines. “I started hearing the name Sue Cranston all the way back in 2017,” McDonald, now executive director of Wild Spirit, said. “She has always been one of the most highly regarded people in the wolf and wolf dog rescue community.” Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary wants to buy the Colorado property and has raised about $200,000 to purchase the land. Its goal is $1.5 million, according to the fundraising page . "When I heard about Sue's passing, it was one of those moments where you kind of look back over time and you go, 'Man, I really wish I would have connected with this person more,' " McDonald said. "Now that opportunity isn't there. So it's been really wild to find myself in this position now, working with Sue's co-founder Carol on trying to take over Sue's legacy." Finding new homes for 25 wolf dogs would be a challenge, McDonald said. At its existing size, Wild Spirit would likely only be able to take one or two of the animals. But the purchase could be an opportunity for growth. The Lake George property is centrally located near Eleven Mile State Park and surrounded by state and U.S. Forest Service land. There was no power, no water and no buildings on the property when Cranston and Scarborough bought it — the couple had to build everything "from scratch." "Where we're located here in New Mexico is very rustic, very remote," McDonald said. "Even though we are open and let people come out to see the animals and learn about them, it's not as accessible as the Indigo Mountain location is ... so it's a prime location for us as a as an organization, to build that revenue that we need." Although Cranston and Scarborough ran the nonprofit center as a private sanctuary, McDonald said Wild Spirit would like to open it to the public. Wild Spirit is home to almost 75 animals, including two red foxes, four coyotes, two New Guinea singing dogs as well as wolves and wolf dogs. Some of the animals, which are used to interacting with strangers, would likely be relocated to Indigo Mountain, which can house around 50 animals in its existing pens. People often adopt wolf dogs as puppies. Some have a higher percentage of wolf DNA, while others are more doglike. For the wolfier varieties, as the intelligent and inquisitive animals grow bigger — and go through hormonally tumultuous breeding seasons — they are often abandoned by their owners. In McDonald’s experience, most wolf dogs don’t stay with their owners longer than four years after they reach breeding age, although some are surrendered at just a few months old. “It’s like clockwork every single year,” McDonald said. Social media has had a snowball effect, McDonald said, as wolf dogs become more coveted pets. Breeders can sell a wolf dog puppy for thousands of dollars and are often “unscrupulous” about who they sell them to. This year, McDonald is expecting to see 200 litters of wolf dogs that are 85% wolf or above. “Just like was the case with Indigo Mountain, if we can’t save an animal from one of our own, that leaves very little option for the majority of these animals,” McDonald said. “Because sanctuaries are always full [and] because the problem is never going away.” Humane societies and animal control often won't take wolf dogs because they can't adopt them out, Scarborough said; she and Cranston wanted to keep the animals from being euthanized. A short woman at about 5 feet 3 inches, Cranston would bring friendly wolf dog Taza to help educate students about coexisting with Colorado wildlife. "Taza would definitely stand above her waist," Scarborough said. "She would walk into a school room, and the kids were just like, 'Oh my God.' " Cranston could hold a dog biscuit in her mouth and Taza would leap up to grab it — "to the glee of all the little school kids." The nature center is a lot of work to manage alone, and Scarborough is ready for a new chapter in her life. But she wants to keep Cranston's dream alive. "I would rather move on and know they're well-cared for the rest of their lives, like we promised them," Scarborough said. "It was a promise, and so I want to keep that promise."
VICTORIA - The British Columbia government is expanding financial assistance for those impacted by intense rainfall and flooding that hammered British Columbia's coast in October. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * VICTORIA - The British Columbia government is expanding financial assistance for those impacted by intense rainfall and flooding that hammered British Columbia's coast in October. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is expanding financial assistance for those impacted by intense rainfall and flooding that hammered British Columbia’s coast in October. The emergency management ministry says businesses and residents in Surrey, Port Moody and the village of Anmore are now eligible to apply to the Disaster Financial Assistance program. The ministry says the new areas expand upon Indigenous communities, electoral areas and municipalities already deemed eligible last month. The program is available to homeowners, renters, business owners, farmers, corporation-owned properties and charitable organizations to cover uninsurable disaster-related losses. The ministry says all applications related to the October floods must be submitted to the ministry by March 13, 2025. An atmospheric river system dumped hundreds of millimetres of rain on parts of the province Oct. 18 to 20, causing flash floods and sewer backups and making rivers overflow. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. It prompted a local state of emergency in North Vancouver and led to more than $110 million in insured damage claims according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2024. Advertisement
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