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Russian shelling kills 4 as Ukraine prepares to observe Christmas on Dec. 25 for the first time

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shelling in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region killed four people Sunday, including an 87-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife who died after a strike on their apartment building.The barrage injured nine other people, including a 15-year-old, sparked fires in homes and at a private medical facility, and set a local gas pipeline alight, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.“There are no holidays for the enemy,” Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, wrote on social media, commenting on the Kherson attack. “They do not exist for us as long as the enemy kills our people and remains on our land.”The shelling across Kherson reached the center of the region’s capital city of the same name. The assault took place as Ukraine prepared to officially celebrate Christmas for the first time on Dec. 25, having previously marked the date on Jan. 7.Some Orthodox Ukrainians observed Christmas on Dec. 25 la...

Illinois provides hotels for some migrants in Chicago

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

CHICAGO — The State of Illinois is temporarily putting migrants in hotel rooms as more migrants have come to Illinois in recent days.About 30 hotel rooms were made available on Saturday night and the remaining hotel rooms will be available for about 200 people coming on Sunday. The Illinois Department of Human Services is working with the City of Chicago to identify hotel rooms and the city is providing transportation, according to a news release from the state. Once construction is done on a shelter at the former CVS Pharmacy in Little Village, the migrants in hotels will be moved there. Work on the shelter is expected to be done in January. Aurora City Council calls special meeting to discuss unscheduled arrival of migrants bused to city from Texas “IDHS continues to welcome our new neighbors with support services and assistance with work-permit applications, which will ultimately hasten their journey to self-sufficiency,” IDHS Secretary Designate Dulce Quintero said in the rele...

Alligator chows down on python in wild video captured by Florida cyclist

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

SHARK VALLEY, Fla. (WFLA) -- A bicyclist captured a jaw-dropping video of a massive alligator eating a python in the Florida Everglades earlier this week. "That's one less python to terrorize the Everglades," Alison Joslyn wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday, Dec. 20. Joslyn, a longtime competitive endurance athlete who began participating in triathlons in 1987, was cycling through the Shark Valley area of the Everglades National Park when she stumbled across the "special and rare" sight. Where there’s water, there’s a gator: Here are the most alligator-infested lakes in Florida "I was cycling the 15-mile loop in Shark Valley, as I love the Everglades and wanted to get out into nature," Joslyn said. "I've also been into wildlife photography since the mid-90s. [I] moved to Miami in 2019 and have been amazed at the incredible nature we have at our doorstep. So I know enough that when I saw the gator and the snake, I realized right away it was something quite special and rare."(Pho...

Business People: Allina Health appoints top nursing executive

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

OF NOTED’Andre CarpenterAllina Health, a Minneapolis-based metrowide chain of hospitals and clinics, welcomes Dr. D’Andre Carpenter as the health system’s new senior vice president, system chief nursing executive. Carpenter most recently served as senior vice president, chief system nursing officer for Iowa-based UnityPoint Health.ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONSMinneapolis-based advertising and branding agency MONO announced that entrepreneur Jake Webb and his company Thrift MRKT are the recipients of the firm’s Brand-In-Residence Accelerator program. Thrift MRKT is an e-commerce platform for buyers and sellers in the resale e-commerce market. With MONO’s Brand-In-Residence program, Webb and his employees receive mentorship, access to agency leaders and other business leaders, as well as the use of MONO’s office space and accompanying resources.ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERINGMSR Design, a Minneapolis architecture firm, announced it won both 2023 AIA Minnesota Honor Awards given ou...

Friends of St. Joseph School Society supports St. Joseph School

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

By Heather CameronSouthern Alberta NewspapersLocal Journalism Initiative ReporterThe Friends of St. Joseph School Society is a group that supports St. Joseph School in Coaldale.“The purpose is to create an opportunity for parents to be involved in the school and their child’s education,” said Brent Christensen, Prinicipal of St. Joseph School in Coaldale. “They do this by working with administration at the school to identify needs at the school and organizing various fundraisers and service projects to help the school achieve these goals.”The society, Christensen says, meets at the school on a bi-monthly basis and typically, the meetings follow a parent council meeting, so they start at either 6:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., and typically, they are the last Thursday of the month.“It was created in order to provide the school with a fundraising group that is outside the mandate of what a parent council would be,” said Christensen. “Parents and staff saw a need to have increased parent engage...

Memorial Scout book box approved

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

By Nikki JamiesonSunny South NewsThe 3rd Coaldale Scouts have been approved to set up a book box in memory of a scout.During Coaldale town council’s regular Dec. 11 meeting, representatives from a local scout group were on hand to discuss installing a new book box in town.The 3rd Coaldale Scouts want to install a memorial Book Box in the public right-of-way on the corner of 20 Avenue and 13 Street. Council had previously reviewed the request at their Nov. 27 meeting. However, as representatives of the scout troop were not in attendance at the meeting, council tabled discussion until representatives were able to attend in person.A Book Box, often referred to as Little Free Libraries is a community structure whose purpose is to provide users with access to literature, allowing people to either take or leave a book at the box, free of charge.“It’s really to promote literacy in, for the residents of Coaldale. It gives an opportunity for those who can’t afford to buy books to get books t...

Taking action on drought in Alberta

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

Water is one of Alberta’s most precious resources. We all use it, consume it, and rely on it. Most of the water that Albertans use to drink, grow crops, run our businesses and sustain our environment comes from rain and melting snow. The last three years have brought droughts and water shortages in various parts of our province, including most of Southern Alberta this summer. The world is also experiencing El Niño, a global phenomenon occurring for the first time in seven years. It’s causing less snow and rain, along with higher temperatures, around the world this winter. Recent forecasts indicate that there is a 62 percent chance that the unusually warm and dry conditions that we have experienced could continue until June 2024. Alberta has five stages in its water management plan. Ranging from Stage 1, which is a minor drought to Stage 5, which is a province-wide emergency. We are currently in Stage 4. Our government is now preparing for the possibility of a serious drought next ye...

Over half of Canadian housing markets severely unaffordable

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

The latest Demographia report on housing affordability in Canada reveals that over half of the 46 Canadian housing markets we assess are severely unaffordable. Vancouver and Toronto, in particular, stand out for their high housing costs, ranking as the third and 10th least affordable among the 94 major global markets included in our latest international housing affordability study.To evaluate housing costs, we utilize the “median multiple,” which divides the median house price within a given market (census metropolitan area) by its median household income. A multiple equal to or less than 3.0 is categorized as “affordable,” while anything exceeding 5.0 is labelled “severely unaffordable.”Among the major Canadian housing markets, Vancouver (with a median multiple of 12), Toronto (9.5), Montreal (5.4), and Ottawa-Gatineau (5.2) fall into the severely unaffordable category. Vancouver has maintained a high median multiple for several decades, while Toronto has been in this range for app...

DDS exploring new therapeutic experience with Sensory Room

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

By Heather CameronSouthern Alberta NewspapersLocal Journalism Initiative ReporterDorothy Dalgliesh School in Picture Butte recently established a Sensory Room within its walls.“Our goal was to create a calming and therapeutic space to help students relieve stress and promote positive learning experiences.” said Crystal McGregor, Prinicipal of Dorothy Dalgliesh School. “Sensory rooms are amazing. They are not just important for neurodiverse individuals, but for anyone who needs time to refocus, regroup, be mindful and self-regulate. We are so grateful to have the community support to provide such a useful and student-centred space at Dorothy Dalgliesh School.”McGregor says that the sensory room has been open for approximately a month and there have been overwhelmingly positive responses from all of our students with lots of kids coming by just to explore it and coming out with big smiles, asking to come back.“It’s an inviting place where students can come in and find peace. This mind...

Copperheads head into the break in third place in the South Division

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:18:43 GMT

By Garrett SimmonsSunny South NewsThe Coaldale Copperheads head into the Christmas break after a weekend that included a gift and a lump of coal.Friday’s gift was a 4-1 win over the Airdrie Thunder, in a game where the visiting Copperheads stormed back from an early deficit to score four unanswered goals.The lump of coal came Saturday via a 7-2 loss to the Okotoks Bisons, in a home-ice defeat where the visitors filled Santa’s sack with three goals in the first and second periods.Coaldale’s win over Airdrie was a complete victory that saw Airdrie strike first before Bill Houenagnon got Coaldale on the board with a goal assisted by Griffin McCulloch. Brinley Degenstein put the Copperheads up 2-1 before the first frame was up, as McCulloch added his second helper of the period.Landon Howg made it 3-1 with a goal in the second period, as Brandon Creighton and Rhett Klemen drew assists, before Caden Heins ended the scoring with a goal of his own. Creighton and Nathan Verloop picked up as...