
Undefeated PSG ease 3-0 past ToulouseA former Penticton support worker who claimed discrimination for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine has had her complaint against the B.C. General Employees' Union dismissed by the Labour Relations Board. According to the Nov. 22 decision, Amie Harbor claimed that her employer had constructively dismissed her for failing to disclose her vaccination status, and alleged that the union had provided bad faith and discriminatory representation when she filed a grievance with them. Harbor started work for Thomspon Community Services (TCS) in 2018 and stopped in 2021 after the public health order requiring vaccinations against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic went into effect. Ahead of the order coming into effect, Harbor declined to share her vaccination status with her employer and had informed them that she was seeking an accommodation due to her "strongly and conscientiously held political beliefs" that align with those of the BC Libertarian Party. To support her request, she attached a letter of support from Keith MacIntyre, the party's leader. According to the Labour Relations Board's decision, Harbor's employer then informed her that before it could make an accommodation assessment, needed her to disclose her vaccination status. TCS also requested evidence of more long-term involvement with the BC Libertarians, asking for any membership receipts or documentation. "In terms of the letter of this date from Mr. MacIntyre, we have received several very similar letters and will require more substantive evidence of your long-term political belief and participation with the British Columbia Libertarian Party," TCS was quoted as saying. TCS also noted in its reply to Harbor's accommodation request that she should notify the union of her request and also asked how her case was different from a BC Human Rights Tribunal case heard already that year. Harbor did not provide any of that information, and once the deadline arrived, was placed on an unpaid leave due to failing to meet the requirements of the provincial health order. A year later, Harbor went to the union to ask about filing a grievance over the issue. The union then contacted TCS, which informed both them and Harbor that it remained willing to end the leave should the public health order be lifted or if Harbor discloses her vaccination status for TCS to do an assessment. A month after that, Harbor officially filed a grievance claiming that TCS had constructively dismissed her from employment, discriminated against her, psychologically harassed and terminated without cause. All of the claims were denied by TCS, and the union initially forwarded the case to arbitration, before deciding otherwise. A staff representative then informed Harbor that the union had decided against going to arbitration after further review and multiple other arbitrations that had found ineligibility to work under a public health order offering just cause for termination. Harbor then appealed the decision not to go to arbitration to the Union's Area Grievance Appeal Committee, which finally dismissed the appeal in February of 2024. The provincial appeal committee declined to hear a further appeal of the area committee's decision. As a result, Harbor brought forward a complaint against the union, claiming that they had made representations and responded to her grievance based on "a pre-determined, discriminatory position regarding employees and vaccine choice." To back up her argument, she pointed to publications made by the union in advance of the public health order taking effect which had sections pointing out accommodations could be applied for on a medical basis, which Harbor argued disregarded political beliefs. The Labour Relations Board rejected Harbors arguments, stating that the staff representative had explicitly considered her accommodation request for her political beliefs, and came to the decision not to advance the grievance to arbitration due to a lack of compelling evidence of success. "Similarly, the GAC considered the issue of the applicant’s request for an exemption due to her political belief in its decision dated February 1, 2024," reads the Board's decision. "Again, there is no indication in the GAC’s response to the Applicant that it relied on a view that there could be, or should be, no exemptions for pollical beliefs." The board also noted that Harbor had waited a year before filing the grievance, that Harbor had not disclosed her status to even begin the accommodation assessment, and that she had not provided any additional material as requested by TCS.
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The Boeing Company ( NYSE:BA – Get Free Report )’s share price traded up 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $181.43 and last traded at $180.62. 1,817,368 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 9,299,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.38. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Boeing from $240.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Boeing from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $169.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Northcoast Research raised Boeing from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Boeing from $232.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Boeing from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $190.11. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on BA Boeing Trading Up 0.2 % Boeing ( NYSE:BA – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aircraft producer reported ($10.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($10.34) by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $17.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($3.26) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The Boeing Company will post -16.18 earnings per share for the current year. Institutional Trading of Boeing Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Boeing by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 473,917 shares of the aircraft producer’s stock worth $72,075,000 after acquiring an additional 38,300 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Boeing by 6.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 666,244 shares of the aircraft producer’s stock worth $101,296,000 after purchasing an additional 38,332 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Boeing by 9.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,700,706 shares of the aircraft producer’s stock valued at $1,018,775,000 after buying an additional 602,143 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Boeing by 243.4% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,381 shares of the aircraft producer’s stock valued at $818,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of Boeing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,679,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.82% of the company’s stock. About Boeing ( Get Free Report ) The Boeing Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems, and services worldwide. The company operates through Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; and Global Services segments. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Boeing Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Boeing and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .House rejects Democratic efforts to force release of Matt Gaetz’s ethics reportNatural gas projects accelerate as Virginia’s energy needs soar
A fugitive gains fame in New Orleans eluding dart guns and nets NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For months, a fugitive dog known as Scrim has transfixed the city of New Orleans. The 17-pound mutt has gained fame eluding a tenacious band of citizens wielding a tranquilizer dart gun and night vision binoculars. He's already escaped two homes. Now his sightings are plotted on a crowd-sourced Google map. Animal rescuers hope to capture the renegade pooch and put him in a place that's safe and secure. But there's a backlash, fueled by the now-viral video of Scrim leaping out a two-story window, under the hashtag #FreeScrim, as some think the dog should be able to roam free. McConnell falls and sprains wrist after GOP luncheon, colleague says he is 'fine' WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon on Tuesday, the latest in a series of medical incidents for him in recent years. That's according to a senator who was with him when it happened. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican and a doctor, said McConnell walked back to his office after the fall with no assistance and had “a small scratch.” Medical staff were seen taking a wheelchair into McConnell’s office just before a scheduled weekly news conference. McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, did not attend the news conference. Who is Tony Buzbee, the lawyer suing Jay-Z as part of civil cases against Sean 'Diddy' Combs? HOUSTON (AP) — High-profile legal battles are nothing new for Texas attorney Tony Buzbee. His latest is a lawsuit he’s filed against rapper Jay-Z. Buzbee is accusing the iconic rapper as well as Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting a minor at an awards show after-party in 2000. The lawsuit against Jay-Z is part of multiple civil cases Buzbee has filed on behalf of more than 150 people who allege sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of Combs, who denies the claims. In his legal career, Buzbee has represented a variety of clients, including victims of sexual assault and well-known politicians. His critics say he’s full of bluster and bombast. Buzbee's firm says he's worked to “pursue justice against powerful figures.” OpenAI releases AI video generator Sora but limits how it depicts people SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI has publicly released its new artificial intelligence video generator Sora but won’t let most users depict people as it monitors for patterns of misuse. Users of a premium version of OpenAI’s flagship product ChatGPT can now use Sora to instantly create AI-generated videos based on written commands. Among the highlighted examples are high-quality video clips of sumo-wrestling bears and a cat sipping coffee. But only a small set of invited testers can use Sora to make videos of humans as OpenAI works to “address concerns around misappropriation of likeness and deepfakes,” the company said in a blog post. Soto's record $765 million, 15-year contract with Mets reverberates through Major League Baseball DALLAS (AP) — Juan Soto’s record $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets, the largest and longest deal in baseball history, has reverberated across the winter meetings. It stung the Yankees, who offered $760 million over 16 years to the All-Star outfielder. Soto’s deal sparked even greater expectations in a free agent market that includes pitchers Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker, third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder Anthony Santander. Many small-market teams have long sought a salary cap but the consensus since the 1994-95 strike has been not to propose a hard limit. Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s trust over Fox News media empire control rejected RENO, Nev. (AP) — A sealed document obtained by The New York Times says a Nevada commissioner has ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s effort to change his family’s trust to give his son Lachlan Murdoch control of his media empire and ensure Fox News maintains its conservative editorial slant. The commissioner concluded in a decision filed on Saturday that the two men had acted in “bad faith” in their bid to amend the irrevocable trust. Lachlan Murdoch is the head of Fox News and News Corp. The trust divides control of the company equally among Murdoch’s four oldest children after his death. A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch says he and his son intend to appeal the ruling. Greyhound racing is increasingly rare worldwide. New Zealand now plans to outlaw the practice WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's racing minister says the country will outlaw greyhound racing, citing the injury rates for racing dogs. He says it will be shut down over the next 20 months, allowing time for those it employs to find other work and homes to be found for the 2,900 racing dogs. New Zealand is one of only a handful of countries where commercial greyhound racing is held. The industry body says the government has not recognized the progress it has made in animal welfare. The government passed an urgent law Tuesday barring greyhound owners from killing dogs as the industry winds down. Trustee over Infowars auction asks court to approve The Onion's winning bid A trustee who oversaw the bankruptcy auction of Alex Jones’ Infowars is asking a judge to approve The Onion’s winning bid for the conspiracy-filled platform. Trustee Christopher Murray took the stand Tuesday in the second day of testimony at a hearing where a judge is scrutinizing the satirical news outlet’s winning offer. He told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston that he was there asking a court to approve the sale of Infowars’ parent company to The Onion’s parent company. It is not clear how quickly Lopez will rule. The Onion wants to turn Infowars’ website and social media accounts into parodies. Still rockin': As a singer turns 80, the Christmas song she sang as a teen is a holiday staple NEW YORK (AP) — Brenda Lee's memories of recording “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” are a little hazy now. But that's to be expected, since she was 13-years-old when it was made in 1958 and this month is celebrating her 80th birthday. The song has lived a remarkable life, and even unseated Mariah Carey's “All I Want for Christmas is You” at the top of the Billboard charts last year. Experts say the way it evokes a simpler time at the “Christmas party hop” is a key to its success. The song achieves the neat trick of sounding retro without being dated. Mass evacuation of Philippine villages underway after a brief but major volcanic eruption MANILA, Philippines (AP) — About 87,000 people are being evacuated in a central Philippine region after a volcano erupted with a huge plume of ash and superhot streams of gas and debris hurtling down its slopes. The eruption Monday of Mount Kanlaon on central Negros island did not cause any immediate casualties, but the alert level was raised one level, indicating further and more explosive eruptions may occur. Volcanic ash fell over a wide area, nine flights were canceled or diverted, schools were closed and a nighttime curfew was imposed in the most vulnerable areas. Mass evacuations were being carried out urgently in towns and villages nearest the volcano's western and southern slopes.None
It was a day of celebration as Riverside Elementary in Coral Springs unveiled a much-anticipated renovation to the school library, showing it was finally getting some return from the decade-old $800 million bond referendum. The media center now had new paint, flooring and furniture. Colorful tables and cushioned chairs replaced the old wooden furniture that had been there since the school opened in 1987. The renovation was part of an overall $2 million investment in the school that also included restroom renovations, air conditioning and roofing upgrades and a new fire alarm system. “Media centers are often the heart of a school and serve as a hub for learning,” School Board Chairwoman Debbi Hixon said at the Dec. 12 ribbon-cutting. “Within these walls, incredible, exceptional, educational experiences will be able to take place.” But Hixon and others attending the Riverside event told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that as excited as they were about the renovation, it highlighted a problem. A modest renovation that was planned to cost $1 million and be complete in 2020 cost twice that and forced students and parents to wait for years. “There were a lot of questions from parents,” said Lisa Ivanik-Geller, the longtime media specialist at Riverside. “It’s been many years since they said it was going to happen. But it finally did.” It’s a story that’s far from unique to Riverside. Broward school officials poorly managed the $800 million bond referendum that voters approved in November 2014 to provide much-needed upgrades to schools, forcing many students to learn in leaky, moldy and uncomfortable conditions for years, according to audits, investigations and a statewide grand jury report. While the bond program has produced some nice libraries, culinary labs, weight rooms, art and music rooms and classroom additions, those have often been overshadowed by years of long delays in addressing the basics, such as roofs, air conditioners and perennial flooding. Broward schools are now planning to end the program next year, while still finishing any work that was promised. “I think it’s pretty clear the program didn’t work the way it was supposed to,” said School Board member Sarah Leonardi, who was first elected in 2020. “Obviously, it has done a severe amount of damage to public trust, and I think it’s going to take a long time to repair.” The district’s bond-related work is known as the SMART program for its focus on safety, music and art, athletics, renovations and technology. It was supposed to be completed by 2021 at a cost of $1 billion (including some non-bond funding). Instead, the program has now reached the 10-year mark with less than half the work complete and a price tag of $1.7 billion, a 70% increase. Even when the work is finally complete, the district will have still have billions of capital needs, officials said. “We overpromised and underdelivered, we poorly planned how to do the work and we poorly executed the poorly planned work,” School Board member Allen Zeman, who was elected in 2022, told the Sun Sentinel. “All three of those made it end up with the unfortunate fact the SMART bond was anything but smart.” The SMART program was the focus of a statewide grand jury report, completed in 2021 and released in 2022, that concluded school administrators had mismanaged the program and misled the public for years. The same grand jury indicted three school district administrators, including then-Superintendent Robert Runcie, who was charged with perjury . He was accused of lying not about the substance of the bond but whether he was prepped about a technology contract that was partially bond funded. He has pleaded not guilty, and his case is set for trial in June. He could not be reached for comment, despite attempts by phone. Issues with the bond program also led the grand jury to recommend that Gov. Ron DeSantis remove Runcie’s allies on the School Board. DeSantis removed four board members and replaced them in August 2022. The state Department of Education forced Runcie’s successor, Vickie Cartwright, to fire three administrators named negatively in the report. The School Board later fired Cartwright, in part due to what some board members felt was a lack of urgency to fix issues identified by the grand jury. (Cartwright’s firing later was rescinded , and she agreed to a mutual separation from the district.) Now many in the school district want the stench of the SMART program gone. They’ve set an official end date for the program of Oct. 31, 2025, even though they acknowledge the work won’t all be finished by then. The unfinished projects will just move over to the district’s regular capital budget. Related Articles Zeman, who asked the School Board in May 2023 to set the completion date, told the Sun Sentinel recently that imposing a deadline is getting better results. “We’ve had some systemic improvements,” he said. “It used to take 12 months on average to get a change order approved. Now it’s being done in 10 working days.” Howard Hepburn, who started as superintendent in April, said his staff is working hard to get bond projects finished. He has made what many see as an overly aggressive prediction that all but 25 of the 172 projects now under construction will be complete by Oct. 31. The remaining 25 are scheduled to be finished in 2026. “We’re an administration of high expectations,” Hepburn told the Sun Sentinel. “We know the impact of what we do every day, how it impacts our students and impacts our learning environments. We’re trying to close out 10 to 12 projects per month, minimum.” That’s a completion rate the school district has yet to come anywhere close to achieving. A Sun Sentinel analysis of Bond Oversight Reports from the past two years show that the district has closed out an average of 3.5 schools per month. The most recent report shows that for the months of July through September, the district finished five new projects, an average of 1.7 per month. “Based on that analysis, it doesn’t look good. They’ve got to really step up,” Stephen Hillberg, an engineer who chairs the Bond Oversight Committee, told the Sun Sentinel. Kimberly Burke-Mohorne, who chairs the Facilities Task Force, another district oversight committee, responded “absolutely not,” when asked whether it was realistic for the district to finish 147 projects in less than a year. School Board member Nora Rupert, whose northeast district includes many projects that are still waiting to be finished, said, “Obviously it’s not going to get done by October.” While she voted last year to support the Oct. 31, 2025, deadline, she called the decision to move unfinished projects from the SMART bond budget to the regular capital budget a “shell game.” Rupert is the only current School Board member who was on the board when the bond passed in 2014. However, the grand jury didn’t recommend she be removed, saying she had “diligently attempted to hold the superintendent and the rest of the district accountable.” Hixon, who was first elected in 2020, said the decision to end the program next year is a good one. The $800 million bond money ran out two years ago, so the district is already using other funds to pay for these projects. The district will no longer pay for a program manager, a function now handled by the consulting firm AECOM. She said it’s time to move on from the SMART program. “We won’t be stuck in the whole bond place when that’s not where the funds are coming from anymore,” she said. “We’ve still committed to finishing the projects.” The school district’s bond fatigue is a far cry from a decade ago when Runcie campaigned to put the bond referendum on the November 2014 ballot and to sell it to the public. The district had a long history of problems in its facilities department outlined by previous grand juries, and two School Board members had been arrested on ethics and corruption issues in 2009 and 2010. One pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges , while another was convicted of a state charge of misconduct in office . In a news conference in 2014, Runcie said the problems were in the past. “This is a different School Board,” Runcie said at the time. “Over the past 2 1⁄2 years, this school district and administration have worked hard to show our commitment to spend taxpayer dollars responsibly and continue to build and restore public trust and confidence in us.” What was not widely known at that time was that the district made a number of key blunders that year that it struggled to overcome. Instead of focusing the bond program on the oldest schools with the most dire needs, the district spread the program out countywide to improve its chance of passing, the grand jury report said. It resulted in newer schools like Cypress Bay in Weston and Falcon Cove Middle in Weston getting new buildings to relieve crowding, while numerous older schools got less visible improvements, like roofs and air conditioners. Instead of fully using a professional firm to survey schools to assess needs, the district decided to save money by using its own staff, many of whom lacked the skills or training to assess the condition of schools, the statewide grand jury found. The needs assessment also grossly underestimated the cost of roofs, putting them at $6 to $8 per square foot, about half of what the district had paid seven years prior. “It is difficult for us to overstate the ridiculousness of this amount,” the grand jury report stated. “That needs assessment just got everyone off on the wrong foot,” Bob Nave, senior vice president for Florida TaxWatch, a government accountability group, said in a recent interview. TaxWatch provided quarterly feedback to the Bond Oversight Committee from 2015 until it dropped out earlier this year, citing a lack of funding. The 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland brought intense scrutiny on the district, including the bond program. Media reports, including one published in The Hill based on the research of a high school journalist, revealed that the district was far behind on promised safety projects, including single points of entry to control visitor access to schools and fire alarm systems. Shortly after taking office in 2019, DeSantis commissioned a grand jury to look at safety issues as well as how districts managed voter-approved bonds. Broward quickly became the primary focus. “This is not normal. BCPS is not the first local school district to undertake a construction project of this scale. In fact, all three school districts in South Florida are currently involved in similar projects,” but without similar issues, the grand jury report stated. Since the grand jury report was released in 2022, the district has had three permanent and two temporary superintendents. There has been progress, district officials and observers said. The district has made changes to its inspections department that enabled reviews to be completed faster. The School Board now allows the superintendent to approve smaller change orders instead of them having to get on a board agenda. Some delays produced better results, school officials say. Northeast High in Oakland Park was only set to get a renovation, but after community pressure, the School Board approved a new classroom building. Stranahan High in Fort Lauderdale is getting a cafeteria that wasn’t planned. C. Robert Markham Elementary in Deerfield Beach is being rebuilt instead of just renovated. Rickards Middle in Oakland Park is also being rebuilt but that’s due to a major roof collapse related to a structural failure when the school was built in the late 1960s. Zeman said the upgrades have resulted in the public getting 18% more in scope than what they approved. However, the cost increase has been about 70%. School Board members are now pondering the idea of asking voters for another bond in the future. They said they’re correcting mistakes from the past. They’ve enlisted a firm to conduct the thorough assessments of school conditions that should have been done in 2014. They’ve also entered into contracts with companies to assess roofs and structural conditions. Zeman said he wants to “beg forgiveness” from the public and ask them to give the district another chance, estimating there are still $5 billion to $6 billion in capital needs in the district. He said the district’s recent A grade is already helping to restore confidence. “I think the public will be convinced of the overwhelming need to build great schools, and we can point to systemic improvements we’ve made,” Zeman told the Sun Sentinel. He said the district should have the needed data to go to voters as soon as 2026, although he doesn’t know if other decision-makers will be ready that soon. Hixon said the district still has a lot of work to do to ensure before it can consider another bond referendum. She noted the district is in a multiyear effort to close or repurpose schools, which could affect what type of renovations are needed. “I think we would have to finish out all the (2014 bond) projects that were supposed to be done and show with different leadership, there’s a commitment to doing it right,” she said. “I would say it would be a few years before we could do that.”