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Corporate volunteerism: ‘Not charity. It’s good business.’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The one-day volunteering event — where employees give back to their communities by packing boxes of food or cleaning up a park or fundraising — is so ingrained in corporations that it’s long been lampooned by pop culture.However, as the national decline of volunteerism deepens, both corporations and nonprofits are looking for something more useful.“A leader calling up the nonprofit saying, ‘Hey, I have 20 people that can be over there in an hour. What do you want them to do?’ That’s not helpful,” said Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas, managing director of corporate insights and engagement at Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, which advises companies on sustainability and corporate responsibility issues.“What you want is for those volunteers to be part of an ongoing engagement, so those volunteers become embedded in the community,” she said. “They understand better what those participants needs are and they truly are then approaching their volunteerism work not as ‘I’m help...

Suspect in Japan PM attack may have had election grudge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — An unemployed 24-year-old man who allegedly threw a pipe bomb at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wanted to be a politician and believed that he was unfairly blocked from running for Japan’s parliament by an age requirement, according to media reports and social media posts that appeared to be his. The suspect, Ryuji Kimura, was wrestled to the ground and arrested Saturday at a campaign event in the fishing port of Saikazaki, in the western Japanese city of Wakayama. The explosive, believed to be a pipe bomb, landed near Kishida, who escaped unhurt.Kimura has refused to talk to police, but reports that he became angry after failing to register for an election and had sued the government might shed light on his motives. In June last year he filed a lawsuit with the Kobe District Court claiming that he should have been allowed to register for the July 2022 Upper House election. A candidate must be aged 30 years or older and present a 3 million yen ($22,260) deposit to r...

French publishing manager freed after arrest in London

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The manager of a Paris publishing house has been released by police in London after his employer said he was arrested following questioning about participation in France’s protests against pension reform.Ernest Moret, foreign rights manager at Editions La Fabrique, had been questioned after arriving at St. Pancras railway station Monday from Paris on his way to the London Book Fair, the publisher said in a joint statement with London’s radical Verso Books.A Metropolitan Police spokesperson didn’t name Moret, but said Wednesday that a 28-year-old man who was stopped by officers at the train station and arrested on suspicion of obstructing their investigation had been released on bail on Tuesday evening. No charges were filed, but the investigation continued.Police wouldn’t provide information about why Moret was stopped and questioned, but a spokesperson said he was interviewed by port officers under a law that allows them to question someone who may b...

Reports: Tesla factory where worker died had safety weakness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

SHANGHAI (AP) — Government inspectors concluded Tesla Inc.’s Shanghai factory where an employee died in a Feb. 4 accident has weaknesses in its safety measures, news reports said Wednesday.The emergency bureau of Shanghai’s Pudong district recommended an unspecified penalty for Tesla, the business news magazine Caixin and other outlets reported. They cited a copy of the report posted on the city government website.The report was removed from the website Wednesday. An employee of the emergency agency who would give only his surname, Wu, said Tesla asked for the report not to be made public because it contained photos of its production process.The investigation concluded the Tesla employee who died failed to follow rules and didn’t lock a safety gate, according to the news reports. They said another employee failed to make sure the area was clear of people before turning on equipment that crushed the 31-year-old employee, who died later at a hospital.Posts that circulated Monday on Ch...

Supreme Court set to rule on abortion pill restrictions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is deciding whether women will face restrictions in getting a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the United States, while a lawsuit continues.The justices are expected to issue an order on Wednesday in a fast-moving case from Texas in which abortion opponents are seeking to roll back Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug, mifepristone.The drug first won FDA approval in 2000, and conditions on its use have been loosened in recent years, including making it available by mail in states that allow access. Supreme Court urged to keep abortion pill restrictions in place The Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, the maker of the drug, want the nation’s highest court to reject limits on mifepristone’s use imposed by lower courts, at least as long as the legal case makes it way through the courts. They say women who want the drug and providers who dispense it will face chaos if limits ...

Old NASA satellite will fall to Earth Wednesday night

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

An old NASA satellite is expected to fall to Earth this week, but experts tracking the spacecraft say chances are low it will pose any danger.The defunct science satellite known as Rhessi will plummet through the atmosphere Wednesday night, according to NASA and the Defense Department.NASA said Tuesday that the reentry location is not being disclosed, given lingering uncertainty over when and where it might go down. Most of the 660-pound (300-kilogram) satellite should burn up upon return, but some parts are expected to survive. What a newly-launched probe can teach us about Jupiter and its icy moons The space agency said in a statement the risk of anyone on Earth being harmed by plunging satellite pieces is “low" — about 1-in-2,467.Rhessi — short for the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager — rocketed into orbit in 2002 to study the sun.Before being shut down in 2018 because of communication problems, the satellite observed solar flares as well as coronal mass eje...

APD investigating deadly shooting at north Austin apartment complex

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Police said a man died Tuesday night after a shooting at a north Austin apartment complex. The Austin Police Department responded around 10:20 p.m. to The Hedge Apartment complex, which is on the southbound service road of Interstate 35 just northeast of Powell Lane. Police said they got multiple calls about a man who had been shot. Officers arrived and tried to save the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they do not have information on a suspect but said there was no known threat to the public. According to APD, the man was found by two people who called 911.Austin Police say this was Austin's 24th homicide of 2023.

Risk of strong to severe storms next 3 days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- An active stretch of weather will begin today and continue through Friday. Below is a day-by-day breakdown of storm potential & risks:TODAY (WED): Mainly cloudy skies can be expected through most of the day with a few sprinkles in the mix. A low risk for an isolated strong to severe storms is possible in the far western Hill Country late day as a dryline further west triggers storm development. Low confidence exists in storms (1) forming & (2) holding together long enough to reach the Hill Country, but if they do, large hail will be the primary concern.Low risk (1 out of 5) for strong to severe storms Wednesday afternoon & eveningTHURSDAY: A slow-moving cold front tied to a strong storm system further north will be the main driver of storm development in our area Thursday. Scattered storms and showers are looking likely for a large portion of our area. There is a 1 out of 5 risk for isolated severe storms in the far west and south with an elevated 2 out ...

Nico Perrino: College campus hecklers, your disruptions don’t count as free speech

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

America is experiencing two disturbing simultaneous trends: the rise of mob censorship to shut down speaking events on college campuses, and an attempt to justify it as merely the exercise of “more speech.”At SUNY Albany this month, protesters stormed an event, formed an improvised conga line and prevented a lecture — ironically, titled “Free Speech on Campus” — from beginning.In a now notorious incident at Stanford Law School last month, protesters shouted down a federal appellate judge’s speech.And in November, hecklers drowned out conservative commentator Ann Coulter at Cornell, playing loud music, chanting, shouting at her and repeatedly preventing her from speaking. “We don’t want you here, your words are violence,” screamed one heckler.I have defended free speech on college campuses for over a decade. We’ve seen waves of shout-downs before. But few defended the disruptions. In fact, they were usually met with ne...

Ask Amy: Conversations about Down syndrome feel awkward

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:48 GMT

Dear Amy: Our family has/had three members with Down syndrome; my youngest sister was born with DS in 1968, and passed away in 2016.I have a cousin with the condition, and my daughter and her husband have a son (our grandson) with Down syndrome.I’ve been involved in the Down syndrome community for many years. I have a teaching degree in special education and was a special education educator for years.Even with a greater socially open acceptance, I still experience social awkwardness when the topic of DS comes up.Although I am perfectly comfortable chatting with others about Down syndrome, I don’t know how to handle situations when others are uncomfortable.When meeting someone for the first time, if I mention that we have a grandson with DS, the other person often looks like a “deer caught in the headlights.”They don’t know how to respond, and the conversation quickly becomes awkward and uncomfortable.I could choose not to say anything in the first place, but ...