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Real estate industry facing pushback to longstanding rules setting agent commissions on home sales

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A series of court challenges are seeking to upend longstanding real estate industry practices that determine the commissions agents receive on the sale of a home — and who foots the bill. One case brought in 2019 in federal court in Missouri by a couple of home sellers ended Tuesday with a federal jury ordering the National Association of Realtors and some of the nation’s biggest real estate brokerages to pay almost $1.8 billion in damages after finding they artificially inflated commissions paid to real estate agents. The verdict stated that the defendants “conspired to require home sellers to pay the broker representing the buyer of their homes in violation of federal antitrust law.”If treble damages — which allows plaintiffs to potentially receive up to three times actual or compensatory damages — are awarded, then the defendants may have to pay more than $5 billion.“This matter is not close to being final as we will appeal the jury’s verdict,” Mantill Wi...

Movie Review: In ‘Radical,’ an unorthodox teacher in a violent Mexican border town

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

On their first day sixth grade, the students of Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary School in the Mexican border city of Matamoros find their new teacher rolling on the floor surrounded by overturned desks.They’re not desks, he exclaims. They’re lifeboats.So begins Christopher Zalla’s “Radical,” an inspirational based-on-a-true-story drama about an unconventional teacher named Sergio Juarez Correa (Eugenio Derbez). His day-one lesson is ultimately about buoyancy. But the metaphor isn’t hard to grasp. In Lopez’s classroom, education is a life raft.“Radical,” which opens in theaters Friday, is a conventional but stirring entry in the crowded canon of uplifting educator tales like “Stand and Deliver,” “Lean on Me” and “The Class.”“Radical,” though, isn’t set at an inner-city school in Los Angeles, New Jersey or Paris, like those films are. Matamoros, along the Rio Grande and across from Brownsville, Texas, is considered a lawless place, known for extreme violence and migrant encampments. “Rad...

Mother, son charged with kidnapping after police say they took a teenager to Oregon for an abortion

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

An Idaho woman and her son have been charged with kidnapping after prosecutors say they took the son’s minor girlfriend out of state to get an abortion. Court documents show Idaho police began investigating the mother and son earlier this summer after a 15-year-old girl’s mother told authorities her daughter had been sexually assaulted and later taken to Oregon to have an abortion.With some narrow technical exceptions, abortion is banned throughout pregnancy in Republican-controlled Idaho. The procedure is legal in left-leaning Oregon, prompting many patients to cross the state border for abortion services, a trend anti-abortion opponents have struggled to stifle. Idaho’s Republican-controlled Legislature and Republican Gov. Brad Little are seeking more ways to curb abortion as well. Recently, the state made it illegal to help minors get an abortion without their parents’ consent, legislation aimed at preventing minors who don’t have parental approval from getting ...

Pope Francis says he’ll spend 3 days in Dubai for COP28 climate conference

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said Wednesday that he will travel to Dubai for three days during the COP28 climate conference hosted there. Francis said during an interview on Italian television network RAI that he would depart for Dubai on Dec. 1 and stay until Dec. 3. Excerpts of the interview were broadcast on Wednesday evening and recorded a few hours earlier. The full hourlong interview was to be broadcast later Wednesday night.Francis offered no details of his trip’s program, including any appearance at the conference. The travel comes about two weeks before his 87th birthday. When asked about his health — after setbacks that included abdominal surgery just a few months ago to repair a hernia and remove intestinal scarring — Francis quipped in reply in what has become his standard line — “I’m alive.”The international climate conference begins on Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 12. Francis has made the need for urgent care for the environment a hallmark priority of his papa...

Blinken heads to Israel, Jordan as Gaza war and criticism of it intensifies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan this week as Israel’s war in Gaza and international criticism of it intensify, the State Department said Wednesday.Blinken will depart Washington on Thursday and will be in Israel and Jordan on Friday and Further stops in the Middle East are possible, meaning the trip may follow the frenetic pace of Blinken’s last trip to the region shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel where last-minute schedule changes were frequent. Blinken ended up traveling to Israel three times as well as six Arab nations during that trip.Blinken will be entering a diplomatic maelstrom that will likely complicate his mission. Jordan announced Wednesday that it had recalled its ambassador to Israel and would not permit Israel’s ambassador to Jordan to return to the country. It said it would not revisit those moves until the Gaza conflict was over.State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would once again und...

Republican US Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado won’t seek reelection, citing party’s ‘insidious narratives’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

DENVER (AP) — U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a conservative Republican who represents much of Colorado’s rural eastern plains, announced Wednesday he would not seek a sixth term in Congress, citing many in his party who refuse to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.In a video message posted online, Buck said voters’ hopes that Republicans will take decisive action may be in vain, and that his party’s “insidious narratives breed widespread cynicism and erode Americans’ confidence in the rule of law.”“Too many Republican leaders are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing Jan. 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are a weaponization of our justice system,” Buck said.The 64-year-old former prosecutor, who has served in Congress since 2015, was one of the eight Republicans who joined with Democrats to oust House Speaker Kevin M...

Labour shortages cost Canadian agriculture sector $3.5 billion in 2022: research

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

OTTAWA — The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council says labour shortages cost the agriculture sector $3.5 billion in sales in 2022. Research by the Conference Board of Canada on behalf of the council found the sector has a vacancy rate of 7.4 per cent. The council says the agriculture sector employed more than 420,000 workers in 2022, and almost a quarter of them were foreign workers. Jennifer Wright, executive director of the council, says there’s an urgent need to boost the labour supply in Canadian agriculture. She says this new data on Canada’s agriculture labour market is important so that the industry can tackle these challenges. The council says the data is part of a longer term initiative to update its labour forecasting system and support its national workforce strategic plan. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2023.The Canadian Press

A section of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed after visitors allegedly try to hold a young bear

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A section of the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina has been closed temporarily after the National Park Service said it received multiple reports of visitors feeding and attempting to hold a young bear.The 8-mile (12.9-kilometer) closure just northeast of Asheville stretches from milepost 367.6 near the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area to milepost 375.6 at Ox Creek Road. National Park Service officials blocked off the road on Monday and say it will remain closed until further notice.The recent bear interactions allegedly took place at the Lane Pinnacle Overlook, a popular high-elevation viewpoint, at the height of leaf-peeping season, officials said. The temporary closure is necessary to protect bears and park visitors alike, said Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout.“When people intentionally attract bears with trash and food it can lead to very dangerous situations,” Swartout said in a written statement. “In this instance we want to gi...

Telus, TerreStar complete trial of mobile-to-satellite connectivity

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

MONTREAL — Telus Corp. says it has successfully trialled technology that allows smartphones to send and receive voice calls and text messages using satellites.The test was conducted in partnership with Montreal-based telecom provider TerreStar Solutions Inc. and non-terrestrial network service provider Skylo.Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle says the trial could pave the way to eliminate no-coverage zones, which would keep people in remote regions connected and ensure emergency services remain reachable during outages.The technology could also be used to improve employee safety in industries that require remote field work and deliver real-time data on temperature and water to farmers.The Vancouver-based telecommunications company says it hopes to introduce smartphones with 5G satellite capabilities to customers next year.Earlier this year, Rogers Communications Inc. announced it was partnering with SpaceX and Lynk Global to deliver satellite-to-phone connectivity, enabling co...

Movember marks 20 years of changing the face of men’s health

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:55 GMT

You may notice some fuzzy upper lips around the office over the next few weeks. Movember, the annual moustache-growing fundraiser for men’s health, is back for another year. In fact, 2023 marks its 20th anniversary, including 17 right here in Canada.Initially conceived as a way to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer, Movember has since evolved beyond simply growing a moustache.“We also encourage people to move for your health and we encourage people to set a goal of 60 kilometers [for the month of November],” said Todd Minerson, country director for Movember Canada.  “That 60 represents one man we lose every minute to suicide around the world in each hour of the day. You can also host an event and you can ‘mo your own way’ [and] set your own goals, set your own objectives.”He says your donations can make a big difference.“We just have announced in September about $5.8 million in new funding towards prostate cancer research,&#...