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MEG Energy sees third-quarter earnings, bitumen production rise

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

MEG Energy Corp. says it earned $249 million in the third quarter, up from $156 million a year earlier.The Calgary-based energy company says earnings per diluted share were 86 cents, up from 51 cents during the same quarter last year.Revenues were $1.4 billion, down from $1.6 billion a year earlier. CEO Derek Evans says increased bitumen production and strong bitumen realizations resulted in over $400 million in free cash flow, allowing the company to advance its debt reduction. The company says it paid down US$68 million in debt, or approximately $92 million in Canadian dollars, during the third quarter. Bitumen production rose to 103,726 barrels to day, up from 101,983 a year earlier.  This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MEG)The Canadian Press

Mexican governor says 1 child died and 3 others were exposed to fentanyl, but downplays the issue

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A one-year-old child died and a four-year-old has recovered after being exposed to the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in the drug-plagued northern Mexico state of Sinaloa, authorities said Monday. The state’s governor acknowledged that so far this year, a total of four children have been treated for exposure to fentanyl in Sinaloa, Mexico’s best-known drug-trafficking state and home to the cartel of the same name.But Gov. Ruben Rocha sought to downplay the issue at a news conference Monday, saying that so far “only one child has died, the other three didn’t.” He also at one point claimed there was no fentanyl in his state, despite its reputation for being a major producer.Rocha said the kids may have been exposed through contact with an addict or someone who worked in a clandestine fentanyl pill-pressing workshop, which are common in the state and which press fentanyl powder into fake pills made to look like Oxycontin, Valium, Xanax or other medicati...

Workers at Freedom Mobile unionize, ink first collective agreement

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

LAVAL, Que. — Teamsters Canada says retail and call centre workers at Freedom Mobile across the country have unionized after a six-month organizing drive and negotiated their first collective agreement. Teamsters national president François Laporte says the union negotiated an immediate two-per-cent bonus for all members and ensured four-per-cent annual pay increases for the next four years. In May this year, Teamsters said the Freedom Mobile workers had expressed interest in unionizing after Shaw Communications Inc. agreed to sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor’s Videotron.The sale was a condition of the merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw. In a news release Monday, Laporte says the employer did not oppose its organizing campaign, taking “a more progressive approach to labour relations.” He says there has never been more interest in joining a union in the aftermath of the pandemic and in the face of rising inflation.“This is a clear sign that the tides are shifting, and ...

Teachers in Portland, Oregon, strike for a 4th day amid impasse with school district

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Schools remained closed in Portland, Oregon, on Monday as a teacher’s strike entered its fourth day, prompting state lawmakers to increasingly weigh in and call on the district to negotiate in good faith.At a news conference with a Portland teachers union leader, state legislators representing the Portland area said they were frustrated by the district’s claim of a lack of funding. The Legislature this year approved a record $10.2 billion budget for K-12 schools. But Portland Public Schools has said the money isn’t enough to meet the union’s demands of higher pay for educators.“It feels a little disingenuous to have them come back and say, “Actually, we can’t do it because you didn’t give us enough money,’” state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner said of the district. “We did everything that schools asked us for and then some.”In a letter to Portland Public Schools last week, Portland-area legislators including Steiner called on t...

Hundreds of thousands still in the dark three days after violent storm rakes Brazil’s biggest city

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — At least 400,000 customers in Brazil’s biggest city still had no electricity Monday, three days after a violent storm plunged millions into darkness around Sao Paulo, the power distribution company Enel said.The storm, with winds of up to 100 kph (62 mph), caused at least seven deaths, authorities said, and uprooted many large trees, some of which fell on power lines, blacking out entire neighborhoods. At one point on Friday, 4.2 million residents had no power, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported. In some apartment buildings, condo associations delivered bottles of drinking water to older residents.José Eraudo Júnior, administrator of a 15-floor building in Sao Paulo’s Butanta neighborhood that didn’t get power back until Monday evening, said electricity went out for all 430 apartments Friday night.Water in the roof tanks ran out by Saturday evening, while underground reserves could not be tapped because there was no power to run the pump...

Illinois lawmakers scrutinize private school scholarships without test-result data

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Critics of an Illinois program providing private school scholarships say there’s no proof it improves academic achievement. But state education officials have never reported the academic performance of participating students as required by the Invest in Kids Act, a hot issue as lawmakers reconvene Tuesday. The five-year-old program expires at year’s end. Supporters want it reauthorized before the General Assembly adjourns for the year on Thursday. Opponents say it’s a drain on public education and want it ended.The Invest in Kids Act requires participants to take the same standardized test as their public-school counterparts each spring to measure their progress and judge the program’s success. Critics led by teachers’ unions wonder where the numbers are. They haven’t been collected.The coronavirus pandemic essentially shut down annual statewide student assessments in 2020 and 2021, the first two years of Invest in Kids. T...

Toronto mother calls for reversal of Bill 60 after nurses caring for her child move to private clinic

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

A Toronto mother says she is in a desperate situation as she loses publicly-funded nurses for her complex special needs child to the private sector.Nicole Payette-Kyryluk is urging the Ford government to reverse funding cuts and legislation that she says is privatizing the healthcare system.Her 12-year-old daughter, Alexa, was born with a rare neurodegenerative disorder. She is non-verbal and palliative and wasn’t supposed to survive past the age of two.Payette-Kyryluk describes her life as every parent’s worst nightmare because in recent months, access to care has become unimaginably difficult.“She has a lot of different things, health wise. And she requires a lot of suctioning,” said Payette-Kyryluk. Alexa’s condition has worsened. She now requires a ventilator and round-the-clock care.“She’s also tube-fed so we have a feeding pump there. We have to nebulize her so we have equipment here to clear her airway,” explained Payette-Kyrylu...

Crescent Point solidifies Montney dominance in $2.55B deal for Hammerhead Energy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

CALGARY — Crescent Point Energy Corp. says it has signed a $2.55-billion deal to purchase Hammerhead Energy Inc, a Calgary-based energy company with assets in the Montney oil-producing region of northwest Alberta.The deal positions Crescent Point as a dominant player in the Montney, one of North America’s largest unconventional petroleum plays.As a result of the deal, Crescent Point will acquire approximately 800 drilling locations.This will immediately make Crescent Point the largest landowner in the Alberta Montney’s volatile oil fairway, in addition to already being the largest landowner in the adjacent Kaybob Duvernay play.The purchase will make Crescent Point the seventh-largest oil and gas exploration and production company in Canada by volume, with production expected to total over 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day once the deal is closed.The deal, which includes approximately $455 million of Hammerhead’s net debt, will see Hammerhead shareholders receive $21 pe...

Man hit by bottle during altercation on CTA train

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was hospitalized early Monday morning after he suffered cuts to his arms after being hit with a bottle during an altercation on a CTA train, police say.According to Chicago police, the 23-year-old man was riding on a train near the 1100 block of South State Street on the Near South Side when the altercation broke out between him and another man just before 3 a.m. FBI-Chicago warns of charity fraud amid ongoing conflict between Israel, Hamas Police say amid the altercation, the victim was hit with a liquor bottle, leaving him with lacerations to his arms. Officers say Chicago firefighters transported the victim to the hospital in good condition.Currently, it is unclear what led to the altercation, and police say no arrests have been made.  Chicago City Council committee holds hearing on Peoples Gas rate hike request Authorities have not yet identified the man involved and say an investigation is underway.Anyone with information that could help police in their...

FBI-Chicago warns of charity fraud amid ongoing conflict between Israel, Hamas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:50 GMT

CHICAGO — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a warning to the public about scammers seeking fraudulent donations amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.According to Robert Wheeler Jr., the special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, criminals are using the tragedies unfolding in the Middle East to solicit fraudulent humanitarian donations, before using the money for their own expenses or to support criminal enterprises. Chicago City Council committee holds hearing on Peoples Gas rate hike request What is charity fraud?According to the FBI, charity fraud, which is also known as "disaster fraud," can come in many different forms. Special agent Wheeler said some perpetrators taking part in these types of crimes may prey on victims within the local community by claiming to collect funds for victimized families abroad. Foreign terrorist organizations may also take part in these types of crimes by establishing fake charities on soc...