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San Diego launches instant permit program for residential solar projects

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego has launched a new instant permit program for residential solar projects, city officials announced on Tuesday.The program, which is mandated by a state bill, will allow residents to apply for solar and battery storage building permits for their home online and instantly receive approved paperwork, bypassing city review of their installation plans.San Diego officials say the new permit program builds on other initiatives geared towards reduce processing times for applications to help the city meet its goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2035.“This is just the latest in a series of moves we’re making to streamline our permitting process so we can get things done faster,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in a release. “More and more San Diegans are wanting to put rooftop solar on their homes, and I’m thrilled that the City of San Diego is now helping them accomplish this by granting them instant permit approval for installation.” Qualifying projects include the in...

Hours-long SWAT standoff initiated in Chula Vista

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- A hours-long SWAT standoff was initiated in a Chula Vista neighborhood Tuesday night, authorities confirmed.According to Chula Vista police, the standoff began around 5 p.m. after officers were dispatched to a condo complex on Regency Court to contact a wanted suspect. Sound grenades were deployed by law enforcement to try to coax the suspect out of the complex, before SWAT personnel attempted to enter the complex.The identity of the person has not been disclosed by law enforcement. However, CVPD said they had a felony warrant out of their arrest. According to CVPD, the suspect was taken into custody peacefully around 11:35 a.m.All roads in the area have since reopened.

4 LGBTQ+ retirement hurdles (and what to do about them)

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

In many ways, retirement planning for someone in the LGBTQ+ community is the same as anyone else’s retirement planning: save more, spend less, invest for the long term.But for LGBTQ+ people, there are unique challenges. Historically lower incomes mean they have less to save overall. Because they’re less likely to have children and may not have traditional family support structures, people in the LGBTQ+ community must plan more carefully for long-term care. It’s also crucial to have thorough estate planning documents, as fewer same-sex couples are married.Here are a few of the hurdles of LGBTQ+ retirement planning — and how planners recommend jumping them.1. IT’S HARDER TO SAVELGBTQ+ workers earn about 90 cents for every dollar earned by the average worker, according to a 2022 analysis from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, an educational organization focused on LGBTQ+ civil rights. They’re also more likely to report working part time or as a freelancer or contractor.If you don’t...

WSP Global raises earnings forecast as profits soar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

MONTREAL — WSP Global Inc. is raising its earnings forecast for the year amid rising revenues fuelled by organic growth as well as recent acquisitions.In the three months ended July 1, the engineering firm says net earnings attributable to shareholders rose 69 per cent to $150.7 million from $89.3 million in the same period a year earlier.The Montreal-based company says revenues jumped to $3.63 billion in its second quarter from $2.76 billion the year before, pushed up by organic growth of net revenue that topped nine per cent.WSP says adjusted net earnings increased to $1.56 per share versus $1.30 per share a year prior, beating expectations of $1.49 per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.On the heels of at least eight acquisitions since May 2022, WSP says it expects revenues for this year to hit between $10.7 billion and $11 billion, up from a previous outlook of $10 billion to $10.6 billion.The company is projecting adjusted earnings of $1.9 billion to $1.9...

Hydro One earnings on the rise after rate hike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

TORONTO — Hydro One Ltd. says second-quarter earnings ticked up four per cent compared to a year ago.In the three months ended June 30, the power utility says net income attributable to common shareholders rose to $265 million from $255 million in the same period a year earlier.Hydro one is reporting second-quarter revenues that inched up by one per cent to $1.86 billion versus $1.84 billion a year earlier.It says diluted earnings increased to 44 cents per share from 42 cents per share, above analyst expectations of level year-over-year diluted earnings, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.Hydro One attributed its boost in profits to a hike in 2023 transmission rates and lower asset removal costs due to fewer storm-related replacements, and despite higher operations and maintenance costs.The quarter also saw the company break ground on a transmission line between its switching stations in the municipality of Chatham-Kent and the Lakeshore municipality in southwestern ...

Pakistani court seeks government response over Imran Khan’s appeal, refuses to release him

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A top Pakistani court Wednesday said it wanted to hear from the government before deciding over former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s appeal against his imprisonment on corruption charges.Khan was arrested at his Lahore home on Saturday and given a three-year jail sentence on charges of concealing assets. He is held at the high-security prison Attock in the eastern Punjab province while his legal team seeks his release. His appeal hearing is underway, but the Islamabad High Court gave Khan no immediate relief and he remains behind bars. The court said it seeks government response and would hear from the Election Commission of Pakistan’s lawyers before deciding on Khan’s appeal.The commission last year disqualified Khan from holding public office for five years accusing him of unlawfully selling state gifts and concealing assets as premier. Khan was notified of his disqualification again on Tuesday following his sentencing.The court adjourned without s...

Norway considers blowing up a dam after days of heavy rain over Scandinavia cause floods

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Days of heavy rain triggered landslides and flooding in mountainous southern Norway, where authorities said Wednesday they were considering blowing up part of a dam at risk of bursting to prevent downstream communities from getting deluged. The Glåma, Norway’s longest and most voluminous river, is dammed at the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant, which was under water and out of operation. Police said a controlled explosion before the dam fails would allow officials to control the flow of water.“When there is so much water, we can perhaps imagine, in the worst case, a kind of tidal wave coming sailing down the river,” police spokeswoman Merete Hjertø told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.Pål Erik Teigen, a police officer in the Innland region, later told the VG newspaper that the facility “is without power, so we cannot make contact with the hatches. We will soon physically help open a hatch.”A Norwegian woman in her 70s died early Wednesday after falling i...

Niger’s ousted president is said to be running low on food under house arrest 2 weeks after coup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s deposed president is running out of food and experiencing other increasingly dire conditions two weeks after he was ousted in a military coup and put under house arrest, an advisor told The Associated Press on Wednesday.President Mohamed Bazoum, the West African nation’s democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since mutinous soldiers moved against him on July 26. The family is living without electricity and only has rice and canned goods left to eat, the advisor said. Bazoum remains in good health for now and will never resign, according to the advisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive situation with the media. Bazoum’s political party issued a statement confirming the president’s living conditions and said the family also was without running water.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Bazoum on ...

Amazon nations seek a common voice on climate change and urge action from the industrialized world

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Eight Amazon nations urged industrialized countries on Tuesday to do more to help preserve the world’s largest rainforest as their leaders met at a major summit in Brazil to chart a common course on how to combat climate change. They said the task of stopping the destruction of the rainforest can’t fall to just a few countries when climate change has been caused by many. The members of the newly revived Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, or ACTO, hope a united front will give them a major voice in global environment talks.“It is time to look at the heart of our continent and consolidate, once and for all, our Amazon identity,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The leaders aim to fuel much-needed economic development in their countries while preventing the Amazon’s ongoing demise “from reaching a point of no return,” according to a joint declaration issued Tuesday, the first day of the two-day summit. Some scientists say that when 20%...

Shipping company ordered to pay $2.25M after discharging oily bilge off Rhode Island

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:15 GMT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The owner of a Greek oil tanker has been ordered by a U.S. judge to pay $2.25 million in fines and penalties after discharging oily bilge water into the ocean during a trans-Atlantic voyage and admitting to other environmental violations by its captain and chief engineer.Zeus Lines Management S.A. was fined over $1.68 million at a formal sentencing Tuesday and will pay an additional $562,500 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund projects that benefit marine and coastal natural resources in Rhode Island, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney in the state.The company and the two crew members had agreed to the penalties in May.The Galissas, owned by Zeus, was transporting a cargo of diesel from Rotterdam, Netherlands, to Rhode Island in February 2022 when it discharged nearly 10,000 gallons (about 37,000 liters) of bilge water, and also failed to report a hazardous condition in the cargo tanks to the U.S. Coast Guard, prosecutors said.Th...