National news
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Canada’s largest railroads have come to a full stop. Here’s what you need to know
TORONTO Canada’s two largest railroads have ground to a haltafter an ongoing labor dispute couldn’t be resolved before the overnight deadline Thursday. Canadian National and CPKC have shut down all their trains in Canada and stopped shipments into the U.S. afterfailing to reach new agreementswith the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference…
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FDA approves updated COVID-19 vaccines, shots should be available in days
WASHINGTON U.S. regulators approved updated COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, shots designed to more closely target recent virus strains and hopefully whatever variants cause trouble this winter, too. With the Food and Drug Administrations clearance, Pfizer and Moderna are set to begin shipping millions of doses. A third U.S. manufacturer, Novavax,…
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Biggest diamond in over a century found in Botswana and it’s a whopping 2,492 carats
GABORONE, Botswana The largest diamond found in more than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the country’s president showed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday. The Botswana government says the huge 2,492-carat diamond is the second-biggest ever discovered in…
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Babysitter pleads guilty to manslaughter after man she shook when he was an infant dies
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A former babysitter pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday for the 2019 death of a man she was accused of disabling as an infant 40 years ago. Terry McKirchy, 62, accepted a plea deal for the death of Benjamin Dowling, who died at 35 after a life of…
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Hitting kids should never be allowed: Illinois bans corporal punishment in all schools
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. This school year, Illinois will become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools. Legislation that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law this month bans physical punishment in private schools while reiterating a prohibition on the practice in public schools implemented 30…
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Bird flu restrictions cause heartache for 4-H kids
EVART, Mich. Alison Smith stared at the virtually empty dairy barn inside the Osceola County Fairgrounds, once bustling with teens and preteens preparing to show their prized animals but now eerily silent as an invisible virus once again interfered with a cherished summertime rite. Smith, a 16-year-old from the Grand…
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Strikes against railroads in Canada could affect US supply chain
DETROIT Canadas two largest railroads are starting to shut down their shipping networks as a labor dispute with the Teamsters union threatens to cause lockouts or strikes that would disrupt cross-border trade with the U.S. Both the Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National railroads, which haul millions of tons…
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Talk show icon Phil Donahue dies
Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that brought success toOprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others, has died. He was 88. NBC’s Today show, citing family members, said Donahue died Sunday after a long illness. Dubbed the king of daytime talk, Donahue…
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Got cold symptoms? Here’s when kids should take a sick day from school
PHOENIX As schools reopen for another year, they are focused on improving student attendance. But back-to-schoolis hitting just as COVID-19 cases are increasing, raising the question: When is a child too sick for school? School absences surgedduring the pandemic and have yet to recover. Nearly 1 in 4 students remains…
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Wisconsin woman who said she legally killed sex trafficker gets 11 years in prison
KENOSHA, Wis. A Milwaukee woman who said she was legally allowed to a kill a man because he was sexually trafficking her was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison after pleading guiltyto a reduced count of reckless homicide. A Kenosha County judge sentenced Chrystul Kizer to 11 years of…
