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ATS signs deal to buy water purification company Avidity Science for $265 million

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — ATS Corp. has signed a deal to buy Avidity Science LLC, a designer and manufacturer of automated water purification solutions for biomedical and life science applications, for $265 million.Based in Waterford, Wisc., Avidity has customers including pharmaceutical, biopharma, health care, government and academic research facilities. Avidity employs about 380 people across six facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, China and Japan.ATS says the deal will help boost its life sciences business and aligns with other acquisitions it has made.The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth of this year.ATS says it plans to fund the deal with cash and by drawing on its revolving credit facility.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:ATS)The Canadian Press

Amazon Prime Video will soon come with ads, or a $2.99 monthly charge to dodge them

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon Prime Video will include advertising during shows and movies starting early next year, joining other streaming services that have added different tiers of subscriptions. Members of Amazon Prime can pay $2.99 per month in the U.S. to keep their service ad-free, the company said Friday. Amazon said limited advertisements will be aired during shows and movies starting early next year so that it can “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.”Ads in Prime Video content will start in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year. The Associated Press

The US East Coast is under a tropical storm warning with landfall forecast in North Carolina

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — A storm moving closer to the U.S. East Coast will deliver tropical storm conditions to North Carolina on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.The storm was off the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina early Friday with top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph). A storm surge watch was in effect, with surges between 3 and 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 meters) forecast for parts of North Carolina, the center reported.As of Friday morning, the storm was located about 330 miles (530 kilometers) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and about 325 miles (525 kilometers) south Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and moving north around 14 mph (22 kph), the center said.Rainfall of 3 to 5 inches (7.6 to 12.7 centimeters), with localized amounts up to 7 inches (17.7 centimeters), was expected across eastern North Carolina and into southeast Virginia through Saturday, the center said.Though the system had reached tropical storm strength, it was yet to be given a name and the center wa...

EU hits Intel with $400 million antitrust fine in long-running computer chip case

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — European Union antitrust enforcers slapped Intel on Friday with a fresh $400 million fine in a long-running legal fight that the chipmaker appeared to have won last year.The European Commission imposed the 376.4 million-euro fine after a court threw out an original 1.06 billion-euro penalty issued in 2009 over allegations that the Santa Clara, California-based company used illegal sales tactics to shut out smaller rival AMD.The commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust watchdog, accused Intel of abusing its dominant position in the global market for x86 microprocessors with a strategy to exclude rivals by using rebates and sales restrictions.The EU’s General Court last year annulled the original decision, saying that the commission’s analysis of the rebates didn’t meet legal standards. However, the court confirmed that the sales restrictions amounted to an abuse of Intel’s dominant market position. It couldn’t decide how the total fin...

Bar fight leads to double shooting at Scarborough plaza; Man in custody

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

Two men are in hospital after a bar fight led to a shooting at a Scarborough plaza early Friday morning.Officers responded to a plaza parking lot on Birchmount Road near Vauxhall Drive, south of Ellesmere Road, around 1:25 a.m.Police say a fight at a bar resulted in two men being shot. Both were rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.One of the men shot was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered.Police said there was also damage to some vehicles in the area.No other suspect information has been made available.The investigation is ongoing.SHOOTING Birchmount Rd/Ellendale Dr (1:23am)– altercation at a bar led to two males shot– both taken to hospital via emergency run, one of them under arrest– firearm seized– damage to vehicles, no other victims found/came forward#GO2211906 ^vk— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 22, 2023 

Bus carrying high school students to band camp crashes, killing 2 in New York

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (AP) — A charter bus carrying high school students to a band camp veered off a New York highway and tumbled down an embankment Thursday, killing two adults and seriously injuring several others, officials said.The bus was one of six in a caravan taking the marching band, color guard and dancers from Farmingdale High School on Long Island on a beloved annual trip to a camp in Greeley, in northeastern Pennsylvania.It was only about 30 minutes from its destination when the wreck happened a little after 1 p.m. on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of New York City.A tire failure may have been to blame for the bus going off the road, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.The two adults who died were the high school's band director, Gina Pellettiere, 43, of Massapequa, and a retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, of Farmingdale. Five of the 44 passengers on board were hospitalized in critical condition, according to state police.Farmingdale s...

Friday Forecast: Temps in upper 70s with mostly cloudy conditions

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

CHICAGO — Mainly cloudy Friday with a 30 percent chance of rain and cooler lakeside. Winds: SE 5-10. High: 78/74. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Mostly cloudy tonight. Winds: SE 5-10. Low: 60.Saturday Forecast: Mostly sunny, isolated shower, cooler lakeside. Winds: ESE 5-10 G15. High: 79/75.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Leander ISD joins lawsuit over Texas Education Agency's school ranking system

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) -- The Leander Independent School District joined a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency over its school ranking system. In a social media post, Leander ISD said it reconvened after a closed session Thursday night and "passed a resolution to join a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency regarding the A-F Accountability System." The district said it would provide more information later on its board briefs page online. The lawsuit says the new rules for how the state will grade schools and districts were not provided before the school year they will be applied to. It asks a judge to prevent the Texas Education Agency from releasing scores that use the newest metrics.Leander joins several other districts suing TEA over the accountability system. MORE: Lawsuit: Texas school districts ask court to temporarily stop new A-F ratings Del Valle announced last month it joined a “coalition of school districts” across Texas suing TEA over changes to its account...

How an Austin restaurant waters daily, without breaking water restrictions

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Plants are a big deal at Austin restaurant Fonda San Miguel."We believe that when people drive up, it's the first impression and so we've really gone all out," founder and owner Thomas Gilliland said. Texas heat wave slams restaurants, food trailers As water restrictions tightened, caring for these plants became a challenge for property manager Diego Rodriguez who has to water all of them."We don't have any rain and then I work with plants, so the plants need water," Rodriguez said.Then, they had a, seemingly unrelated, plumbing problem."Well, I noticed the pipe of the drain. It was clogged," Rodriguez explained.The clogged pipe was the A/C condensation pipe."It was interesting to put a bucket and or a container to see how much water we can collect... [from] the condensation units," Rodriguez said. El Niño into 2024: What that means for winter and spring Rodriguez said he saves that water for the plants, which he has to water almost daily.In total, there are fiv...

A Grant couple rebuilt on a difficult lot after a fire. Their new home is on the latest architects tour.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:20 GMT

Chris Griese and Vicki Kappus weren’t sure what to do after a lightning strike destroyed their 1901 farmhouse in Grant seven years ago.Building on the foundation of the old house didn’t make sense, because the property on 118th Street North is in a flood plain, with setbacks and restrictions severely limiting the buildable area.Enter architect Rosemary McMonigal.McMonigal, principal of Minneapolis-based McMonigal Architects, spent hours walking the site, working on a plan to build a new house while saving as many trees as possible and taking advantage of the rural setting overlooking a marsh.“The site is one of a kind with the marsh here,” McMonigal said during a tour of the house on Thursday. “I cannot believe how beautiful it is. To me, because I live on a wetland, it is equally as beautiful as a lake. In Minnesota, everyone says, ‘Oh, it’s not a lake, it’s a marsh.’ But I think it’s as good or better because the bird life with a marsh is just so rich.”The ...