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Kia and Hyundai thefts could affect your insurance rate soon

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

How familiar are you with the Kia Challenge?Even if you answered “Not at all,” you may have still heard about the TikTok trend of people hot-wiring and stealing Kias and Hyundais for fun.This was an alarming turn of events for the owners of around 8.3 million at-risk cars, a number estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While both Kia and Hyundai have announced software updates to address the issue, many of those vehicles are still unprotected, according to the NHTSA — including the cars owned by both writers of this article.For full transparency: Ryan drives a Hyundai, Drew drives a Kia and neither vehicle is currently eligible for the software updates. So this article is more than just another assignment — it’s also the advice we’re following to protect our cars.What is the Kia Challenge?The Kia Challenge started in Milwaukee with a group called the Kia Boyz. They gained local notoriety in 2021, but found a national audience in July 2022 when a TikTok vid...

Canadians can rent cars through Uber starting Tuesday. Here’s how it works

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

Uber Rent is coming to Canada.Uber, the well-known ride-hailing company, says that starting Tuesday, Canadians can rent a car from companies including Avis, Hertz or Budget directly through the Uber mobile app.A spokesperson said the new function will provide a seamless way to rent a car when people need a vehicle to “head out of town, run an errand, or take a weekend getaway.”The company already offers the Uber Rent service in the U.S. and the U.K. The costs of renting a car through Uber are unclear, with a spokesperson saying it will vary.The current price of Uber Rent in the U.S. depends on the time a user will be renting, car size (such as SUV), and market seasonality.“By using the Uber app, you can view and compare current prices from several popular rental companies in one place to conveniently choose the option that fits your needs,” Uber’s website states.How Uber Rent worksCanadians can access this function through their Uber app by selecting th...

Florida may study use of radioactive waste in building roads

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida may study whether a radioactive waste byproduct of fertilizer production can be used to help build roads under a bill passed by the Legislature.The proposal, which awaits a signature from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, would task the state with conducting a study about the use of phosphogypsum in road construction aggregate materials. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires that phosphogypsum be placed in ”stacks” that resemble enormous ponds. Florida has 24 such stacks, totaling about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum, with 30 million new tons generated every year through the phosphate fertilizer mining industry.The EPA in 2020 approved the use of phosphogypsum in government road construction projects but reversed its decision after Democratic President Joe Biden took office. Environmental groups have warned about phosphogypsum spilling into waterways and elsewhere during storms. A leak in March 2021 at a stack called Piney Point resulted in ...

Wildfires continue in Alberta as premier, prime minister are set to talk

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

EDMONTON — Wildfires raging in Alberta continue to overwhelm some communities and have forced thousands of people from their homes.More than 40 structures, mostly homes, have been lost on the Little Red River Cree Nation, which includes three communities in northern Alberta.Darryel Sowan, the emergency management communications co-ordinator, says some 3,700 people left the area quickly after the evacuation order was put in place.There is no road into the community, so people had to use boats, while higher-risk people were flown out.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to speak by phone with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today to discuss the wildfiresSo far this year, wildfires have burned about 380,000 hectares across the province. “Because it’s isolated, a lot of those people have never even been away from the reserve,” Sowan said Monday. “We want to get them back there and they want to go home. We are trying our best.”Chief Conroy Sewepagaham posted on soc...

U.K. seeks closer ties with Canada in science, military and technology

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

OTTAWA — Britain is seeking closer ties with Canada as it reshapes its foreign policy in the wake of its departure from the European Union.But British High Commissioner Susannah Goshko says her country is also pushing Ottawa to boost its defence spending.The United Kingdom updated its national security and foreign policy last month following uncertainty after its exit from the European Union and tumultuous politics under prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.The new plan is looking for expanded connections with Canada on everything from artificial intelligence to sanctions.Goshko says her country also wants to work to counterbalance rising authoritarianism in regions like the Indo-Pacific and as such is raising its military spending beyond the NATO target of two per cent of gross domestic product.Canada however has no plans to meet that threshold.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2023.The Canadian Press

Forensic genealogy leads to arrest in 2007 Kansas rape case

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas have arrested and charged a man in a 2007 sexual assault by matching a DNA sample to data submitted to genealogy websites.Ted Foy, 52, of Augusta, is jailed on $500,000 bond after he was charged last week with rape, aggravated sexual battery and aggravated criminal sodomy. His attorney, public defender Sonya Strickland, didn’t respond to an Associated Press email seeking comment Monday. The Wichita Eagle reports that it was the Wichita police department’s first arrest using investigative genetic genealogy. The process received widespread attention after it was used in 2018 to track down a California serial killer who was responsible for at least 13 killings and dozens of rapes in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, the method has led to the identification of dozens of suspects in cold cases, though some critics have voiced privacy concerns.“With these sorts of dragnets, you are using probable cause against one person to invade the privacy of ...

Debt options abound, but can Biden, McCarthy strike a deal?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

The White House and Congress could strike a deal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for budget cuts. Or they could agree to a stopgap measure to keep paying the nation’s bills while negotiations continue. They also could let the negotiations unravel, sending the economy into a chaos.As President Joe Biden prepares to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the congressional leaders this week for the first time over the debt ceiling crisis, the options for easing out of the standoff are many.But the political incentive for compromise is harder to come by, with no easy endgame ahead of a June 1 deadline to raise the debt ceiling or risk defaulting on the nation’s $31 trillion debt.“We have to avoid default, period. Full stop,” the House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said over the weekend.At Tuesday’s first high-stakes meeting, it’s extremely unlikely there will be any quick resolution. Biden and the big four congressional leaders of the House and Senate wil...

Indiana judge deals blow to state’s lawsuit against TikTok

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana judge has ruled that downloading the free social media app TikTok doesn’t amount to a consumer transaction under state law, dealing a blow to the state attorney general’s lawsuit claiming the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform misleads its users about the level of inappropriate content and security of consumer information.The decision issued last week denied the request from Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita for a court order preventing TikTok from stating on online app stores that it has “none” or “infrequent/mild” references to drugs, sexual or other inappropriate content for children as young as 12.Judge Craig Bobay of Allen County Superior Court in Fort Wayne also ruled that state courts don’t have authority over TikTok’s statements to Apple’s app store as both companies are based in California.“No aspect of the age rating process takes place in Indiana,” the judge wrote. “This suit-related conduct is not related to and does not arise out o...

Pop-punk band Sum 41 to split up after finishing tour and final album, band says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

TORONTO — Canadian pop-punk band Sum 41 will split up following the release of their final album and a farewell world tour. In a social media post Monday, the band said they will finish all upcoming tour dates this summer in Europe and the U.S. as they look forward to the release of their final album, “Heaven x Hell.” Details of the album release and the final tour have yet to be announced. In a social media post announcing the split, the band said being a group since 1996 has led to some of the best moments in their lives.The Ontario-formed band won a Juno for group of the year in 2003 and rock album of the year in 2005. Its current members are frontman Deryck Whibley, guitarists Dave Baksh and Tom Thacker, bassist Cone McCaslin and drummer Frank Zummo.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2023.The Canadian Press

Simulation suggests 2020 census missed many noncitizens

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:49 GMT

New results from a U.S. Census Bureau simulation suggests a significant number of noncitizens were missed in the 2020 census, a national head count during which the Trump administration tried but failed to prevent people in the country illegally from being tallied.A simulated head count by the statistical agency utilized 31 types of administrative records from government agencies and third-party sources to produce estimates of the U.S. population on April 1, 2020 that could be compared to the survey-like responses used in the last official tally of every U.S. resident. The simulation was an experiment which doesn’t change the results of the once-a-decade count of every U.S. resident that helps determine political power and the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal funding in the U.S. Almost a fifth of noncitizens found in the administrative records had addresses that couldn’t be matched in the 2020 census, suggesting that “a significant fraction of noncitizens” were missed,...