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Updating RCMP ‘militaristic’ training is long overdue, experts say

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

Scott Blandford considered attending the RCMP Academy when he was looking to become a police officer about 40 years ago, but he soon realized the training centre in Regina wasn’t for him.Blandford said he remembered the academy, also known as Depot, having a “militaristic” culture that he wanted to avoid.“It was essentially military boot camp,” said Blandford, now an assistant professor and program coordinator in policing and public safety at Wilfrid Laurier University.“It was a training facility that was very built around where everything was geared toward developing the culture of the RCMP, marching and discipline.”Blandford instead opted to attend the Ontario Police College, later graduating and becoming a police officer for 30 years.While the college had some militaristic components, he said it didn’t appear to be as “in your face” as Depot.“From everything I’ve seen and experienced, and I currently have students that have gone through that model at Depot, they haven’t changed t...

If Candida auris is drug-resistant, how do you kill it?

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – A deadly fungus spreading in more than half of U.S. states is so concerning in part because of the way it has evolved to be resistant to both antimicrobial cleaning products and anti-fungal drugs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently warned.The fungus, Candida auris or C. auris, has mainly spread in health care settings, like hospitals and nursing homes. Counterintuitively, because hospitals are disinfected so frequently, they can be the birthplace of bacteria or fungus that are resistant to cleaning products and to treatments.“If you think about the amount of cleaning that we do in the hospital versus what you do at home, it’s significantly greater in a hospital setting. So every time we’re spraying Clorox … that just creates the opportunity for more resistance,” Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, told Nexstar. “Over time, those pathogens have been able to evolve ...

Dame Edna creator Barry Humphries dies at 89: 'Completely himself until the very end'

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, a condescending and imperfectly-veiled snob whose evolving character has delighted audiences over seven decades, has died. He was 89.His death in the Sydney hospital, where he spent several days with complications following hip surgery, was confirmed by his family.“He was completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit,” a family statement said.”With over 70 years on the stage, he was an entertainer to his core, touring up until the last year of his life and planning more shows that will sadly never be," they added. Morgan Wallen falls hard during Kentucky concert, video shows Humphries had lived in London for decades and returned to native Australia in December for Christmas.He told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last month that his physiotherapy had been “agony” follow...

Morgan Wallen falls hard during Kentucky concert, video shows

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

(WATE) — Fans at Morgan Wallen's concert in Kentucky on Thursday got more of a show than they paid for when the singer tripped on stage, briefly disappearing into a cloud of fog. The country music singer reappeared, seemingly uninjured, and never missed a beat while singing through the on-stage spill. "I was about to be legless after that song!" he said after finishing the performance. Why some Uber drivers went on strike during Taylor Swift's Florida concert Video obtained by Nexstar's WATE shows Wallen performing his song "Heartless" at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville just before the fall. Wallen then walked to the front of the fog-covered stage, tripped over what appeared to be a light fixture, and briefly disappeared under a layer of fog before standing right back up. Wallen falls while performing Heartless at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY. (Tiffany Anderson)Another angle of the fall, shared to TikTok by a concertgoer, showed Wallen laughing and making a face shortly...

How fast can we stop Earth from warming?

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

(The Conversation) - Global warming doesn’t stop on a dime. If people everywhere stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow, stored heat would still continue to warm the atmosphere.Picture how a radiator heats a home. Water is heated by a boiler, and the hot water circulates through pipes and radiators in the house. The radiators warm up and heat the air in the room. Even after the boiler is turned off, the already heated water is still circulating through the system, heating the house. The radiators are, in fact, cooling down, but their stored heat is still warming the air in the room.This is known as committed warming. Earth similarly has ways of storing and releasing heat.Emerging research is refining scientists’ understanding of how Earth’s committed warming will affect the climate. Where we once thought it would take 40 years or longer for global surface air temperature to peak once humans stopped heating up the planet, research now suggests temperature could peak in close...

Working Strategies: Signals show a tightening job market

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

Amy LindgrenIs anyone else getting nervous? I’ve been feeling a small but steady drumbeat for about a year now, pulsing out the signals of a tightening job market. Of course, that could just be indigestion, but what if?Depending on where you’ve been focusing your attention, you might not be seeing the same warning signs or you might be interpreting them differently.For example, we’re still experiencing labor shortages, at least in certain roles and sectors. But that’s a kind of signal too: When employers can’t find staff, they can’t expand. And if they can’t expand, they may instead contract — cut workers, that is — to make the profits they need.Already this past year we’ve heard of cuts in the tech sector after aggressive hiring the previous year. We’ve also seen seemingly unshakable retail giants such as Walmart and Target pull back on some urban stores, while this last week brought news of a med-tech leader, Medtronic, launching global layoffs.Uh-oh.If that weren’t en...

Woman killed by hit-and-run driver attempting to escape officers in Anaheim: Police

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

A woman is dead in Anaheim after she was struck by a vehicle that was fleeing a police car from nearby Placentia, officials said. The woman was struck at about 1:10 a.m. in the 700 block of East Street in Anaheim, according to Jon McClintock of the Anaheim Police Department. Investigators believe the victim, who has not been identified, was hit by a vehicle whose driver was trying to flee the Placentia Police Department. McClintock said that the investigation so far indicates that Placentia officers were not in pursuit of the driver, though he deferred to the PPD for confirmation. The PPD did not return KTLA's request for more information.The woman was later declared dead at a local hospital, while the driver fled on foot after the crash, McClintock said. Footage from the scene shows a white BMW X5 crashed into a fence around a home, with the front half of the vehicle coming to rest in the house's front yard and the back half of the SUV remaining on the sidewalk.Despite a multi-hour...

Shooting at Hollywood nightclub hospitalizes at least 1 person

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

A shooting outside a popular nightclub in Hollywood sent at least one person to the hospital early Saturday morning. Police confirmed they received reports of gunshots heard outside the Next Door Lounge at Highland and Lexington avenues around 12:45 a.m.  Officers were able to clear the establishment and found no victims, but they did say that one person arrived at a nearby hospital with at least one gunshot wound. Police confirmed they received reports of gunshots heard outside the Next Door Lounge on Highland Avenue around 12:45 a.m. April 22, 2023. (RMGNews)Police confirmed they received reports of gunshots heard outside the Next Door Lounge on Highland Avenue around 12:45 a.m. April 22, 2023. (RMGNews)Police confirmed they received reports of gunshots heard outside the Next Door Lounge on Highland Avenue around 12:45 a.m. April 22, 2023. (RMGNews)Police confirmed they received reports of gunshots heard outside the Next Door Lounge on Highland Avenue around 12:45 a.m. A...

Track and field: School records fall on a warm day at CCS Top 8 meet

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

LOS GATOS — Miles Roberts was a bored sixth grader when his parents decided he needed something to do. So they had him try track and field and burn off some energy if nothing else.Six years later the Leland senior is one of the top high hurdlers in the state.Roberts won the 110-meter high hurdles Friday at the Central Coast Section Top 8 meet at Los Gatos High in a time of 14.13 seconds, just off his season-best, 14.11, which is the second-fastest time in the state.Roberts placed fourth at the state meet last year as a junior in 14.18, so he’s been in the low 14s for a while. Cracking the 14-flat barrier, getting down in the 13s — elite territory for any high hurdler at any level — is the obvious goal.“It’s all I can think about,” Roberts said. “I see 13.99 in my dreams.’Roberts also placed third in the long jump Friday with a mark of 22-6.Leland’s Miles Roberts crosses the finish line first in the 110 hurdles at the Central Coas...

March miracle? California home prices rebound 7.6%

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:44:47 GMT

The “Looking Glass” ponders economic and real estate trends through two distinct lenses: the optimist’s “glass half-full” and the pessimist’s “glass half-empty.”Buzz: California home prices rebounded 7.6% in March, as recently lower mortgage rates gave house hunters some added buying power.Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at the monthly sales report from the California Association of Realtors, which tracks closed transactions involving existing single-family houses. The association’s data reach back to 1990.Debate: Is the housing market finding a bottom after the California bubble burst last year?Glass half-fullMarch’s statewide median price was $791,490, up 7.6% from February. This price benchmark had fallen eight out of the previous nine months.But it’s no miracle turnabout. March is usually a strong buying month. Prices have averaged 5.7% gains in this month since 1990 – and jumped 10% in March 2022.Consider that March’s price is still off 6.8% in a ye...