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After nearly 200 episodes, the ‘Backlisted’ podcast isn’t running out of great books

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

For the past 8 years, John Mitchinson and Andy Miller have read and discussed books on Backlisted, the podcast they host that “gives new life to old books.” And now the duo, along with producer Nicky Birch, are approaching the podcast’s 200th episode later this month. When smartphones have no shortage of bad news to deliver, Backlisted’s episodes about ready-to-be-rediscovered titles can feel like a balm to readers and devoted listeners.“If you enjoy reading, you’ll probably want to hang out with the people we like talking to because the common interest is, fundamentally, shared enthusiasm,” says Miller, an author of several books who cohosts the twice-monthly show with Mitchinson, who is the co-founder of Unbound, the crowdfunded publishing house that originally bankrolled the podcast. “So if you want to hear people who love reading talking about reading in a way they hope communicates that love of reading, join us.”Miller, who does deep reading and research to prepare for episodes...

House Democrats want overflow site for waitlisted families seeking emergency shelter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

House Democrats proposed spending $50 million to create an overflow site for families and pregnant people placed on a waitlist for emergency shelter to avoid having them sleep outside as they wait for temporary housing, the chamber’s top budget writer said Tuesday.Money for an overflow shelter site is included in a $2.7 billion supplemental budget House lawmakers were preparing Tuesday for a vote Wednesday. Representatives proposed earmarking a total of $250 million to respond to an influx of migrants that has strained shelters across the state.The $50 million for an overflow site is tied to a requirement that the Healey administration find a suitable location within 30 days of the bill’s “effective date” at the risk of not gaining access to the funds and having a cap on the number of families in the emergency shelter system “revoked.”Legislators are concerned about families coming to Massachusetts “that are not going to be eligible for immediate shelter, and what is going to happen...

Palestinian Canadians share harrowing stories of loved ones stuck in Gaza

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

Palestinian Canadians from across the GTA came together Tuesday to share stories of their loved ones and their struggle to get out of the Gaza Strip, especially those stuck in the north.The press conference organized by Concerned Canadians with Family in Gaza also called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call for a ceasefire. It comes as the first Canadians were allowed to leave.Many of those who spoke up did not share their last name. Samah’s father was on vacation, visiting family in Gaza City when the Hamas attack on Israel happened on a month ago Tuesday and the war began. “My father had to watch my cousin get killed in an airstrike … 16 members of that family got killed in one airstrike,” said Samah.She said the only way he can make it out is to travel on foot through checkpoints, airstrike, and possible ground battles. “I heard today that they can’t even carry luggage with them, they can’t carry anything, they have to have their hand...

Man killed after pointing gun at Baltimore police, officials say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police officers shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at them following a foot pursuit Tuesday afternoon, officials said.Police Commissioner Richard Worley said officers were patrolling an area in southwest Baltimore known for frequent gun violence when they encountered a man who they believed to be armed. Officers tried to stop the man and he fled, Worley said. He said that during the chase, the man drew a weapon and an officer tried to tackle him. Officers opened fire when the man pointed his gun at them, Worley said.One officer received minor injuries. Officials initially thought the officer had been shot because he had blood on his pants, but they later determined that wasn’t the case, Worley said.Officials haven’t determined how many officers pulled the trigger. They also haven’t determined whether the armed man fired his handgun.The man was pronounced dead at a hospital, Worley said. His identity hasn’t been released.The officers involved are membe...

5 years after California’s deadliest wildfire, survivors forge different paths toward recovery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — On the day Paradise burned, Gwen Nordgren stopped her car just long enough to rescue a young woman escaping by foot.By that time on Nov. 8, 2018, the sky was black even though the sun had been up for hours. Both sides of the street were on fire as Nordgren grabbed the woman’s hand.“Have you lived a good life?” she asked. The woman said she had.“So have I,” said Nordgren, the president of the Paradise Lutheran Church council. “We’re going to say the Our Father and we’re going to drive like hell.”Nordgren has told that story countless times in the five years since the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history nearly erased a quiet community in the Sierra Nevada foothills. There are thousands more stories like it, each one providing a new frame for one of the worst wildfires in U.S. history.Five years later, some — like Nordgren — are sharing their stories freely and managing their post-traumatic stress enough to return to Paradise to help ...

Mexico Supreme Court justice resigns, but not because of criticism over his Taylor Swift fandom

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican Supreme Court justice who rose to fame after openly declaring himself a fan of pop star Taylor Swift resigned Tuesday.Justice Arturo Zaldívar had previously said he faced criticism for declaring himself a “Swiftie” in June. But in a resignation letter he posted Tuesday, he did not cite criticism of his musical tastes as a reason for resigning.Instead, Zaldívar said his “cycle had come to end” after 14 years of serving on Mexico’s highest court. He was one of three justices who regularly sided with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on rulings, but they are regularly outvoted by the court’s eight other justices.López Obrador has been a fierce critic of the court, which has ruled against some of his pet projects. In June, Zaldívar wrote in his social media accounts that “There are those who criticize me because I like Taylor Swift.”“They claim that Taylor, 33, is superficial and irrelevant. That her music is only made for — and listened to — by 15...

Electric-vehicle chargers distributed unequally in Canada, environment audit finds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

OTTAWA — The national infrastructure program to install electric chargers for passenger vehicles is too concentrated in a small number of provinces and has no data to show where the biggest gaps are, a new audit says.The report was one of several that Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday.DeMarco said the good news is that Canada appears on track to hit its goal of installing 33,500 charging ports by 2026. As of July, the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program had approved and funded 33,887 charging ports. About 13 per cent of them were already operational, and the rest are supposed to be up and running by March 2026, said DeMarco.However, he said almost nine in 10 of the ports that had been funded were in Ontario, Quebec or British Columbia. There were no targets set to identify where need was the greatest, or to ensure that lower-income communities and rural and remote areas were served by the program, the audit found.It’s cri...

Oregon GOP senators who boycotted Legislature file federal lawsuit in new effort to seek reelection

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Republican state senators in Oregon who boycotted the Legislature for a record six weeks earlier this year have filed a federal lawsuit as part of their efforts to seek reelection despite a recent voter-approved measure aimed at preventing walkouts.The senators are challenging an amendment to the state constitution approved by voters last year that bars lawmakers from reelection if they have 10 or more unexcused absences. The measure passed by a wide margin following GOP walkouts in the Legislature in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Confusion over its wording has sparked a debate over what the consequences of this year’s walkout would be for boycotting senators.Three Republican state senators, along with three county Republican central committees and two voters, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Oregon on Monday. In the complaint, Sens. Dennis Linthicum, Brian Boquist and Cedric Hayden — who all racked up more than 10 unexcused absences during this year&#...

Father of boy abducted in 2011 not notified of Hopley’s escape from halfway house

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

The father of a boy abducted in 2011 by a man who is now wanted on a Canada-wide warrant says he’s incredulous the repeat offender could walk away from a Vancouver halfway house.Paul Hebert says in a written statement that police did not notify him or his family that Randall Hopley went missing on Saturday after removing his electronic monitoring bracelet.Hebert, who now lives in Alberta, says Hopley was also released from custody just two weeks before he abducted his three-year-old son from the family’s home in Sparwood, B.C., in 2011.Hebert says while he doesn’t have “all the answers,” he believes that the “justice system isn’t working” if it allows Hopley to be placed in a situation where walking away was a possibility.Hopley, who is 58 years old, went missing just days before he was scheduled to appear in court to face charges for violating his release conditions.Vancouver Police say Hopley likely took “deliberate actionsR...

South African government minister and bodyguards robbed at gunpoint on major highway

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:39 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police are on a manhunt for suspects who robbed a government minister at gunpoint and disarmed her two bodyguards of their pistols on a busy Johannesburg highway, police said Tuesday.The robbery took place while Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga’s bodyguards were changing a punctured tire in the early hours of Monday morning. Three gunmen allegedly appeared from bushes, ordered the bodyguards to lie on the ground before taking their firearms, and then pointed a gun at Chikunga and robbed her of some personal items.“A manhunt has since been launched following this unprecedented incident,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said.The minister told lawmakers during a parliamentary briefing Tuesday that the ordeal had traumatized her.“The whole experience was very traumatizing, devastating, it was bad,” Chikunga said, adding that she tried to make a call when she realized something was amiss. “But just before I could do anything they...