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StatCan report casts clouds on claims of a widespread labour shortage in Canada

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

OTTAWA — A new report is casting doubt on the idea that Canada is facing a widespread labour shortage and bolsters the arguments by some labour economists that high job vacancies aren’t due to a shortage of workers.The Statistics Canada analysis finds there are no labour shortages for jobs that require high levels of education, suggesting other factors, such as a mismatch in skills and pay, might be to blame for a high number of empty positions.In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages have grasped headlines from coast to coast as businesses have advertised more job openings than ever. Job vacancies skyrocketed to more than one million at one point last year. The perceived countrywide labour shortage has put pressure on governments to help businesses find workers, including by increasing Canada’s immigration targets.  But the report published this week compares unemployment and job vacancies by education level and paints a more nuanced picture of the la...

Dry start to the holiday weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The overnight hours were quiet under a fair to partly cloudy sky. Temperatures fell to the 60s areawide.Another area of showers and thunderstorms is moving southeast out of the South Plains. If it holds together through the day then parts of Llano and Mason Counties could see a few showers/isolated thunderstorms after 3 p.m. Otherwise, expect clouds to increase during the morning and afternoon. Saturday's highs will be back in the middle to upper 80s.Today's normal high is 90°A few showers and isolated thunderstorms (10% chance) are forecast for Sunday afternoon with many highs between 83° and 87°.Upper-level low pressure has moved from Nevada into Utah. A disturbance from this low will move across Central Texas Sunday night/Monday. Showers will be increasing Sunday night to a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorm Monday. Memorial Day's forecast will feature rain and a few non-severe thunderstormsStorm Prediction Center forecast for MondayThe precipitation continue...

Car crash into pole leaves 1 dead in north Austin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — One person died after a car crashed into a pole in north Austin overnight, according to Austin-Travis County EMS. It happened just before midnight Friday on Research Boulevard northbound near Metric Boulevard. A car crashed into a pole with wires down, ATCEMS said. MAP: Where have Austin’s fatal crashes occurred in 2023? One adult died at the scene, ATCEMS said. Extended closures were expected at the crash scene.

Free Lowertown Sounds concert series starts Thursday in Mears Park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

Nur-D, the New Standards and Run Westy Run are among the acts booked to play the free Lowertown Sounds concert series, which starts Thursday at St. Paul’s Mears Park.The series, which runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. most Thursdays through Aug. 24, features more than 20 bands.Guests are welcome to bring blankets and chairs and enjoy food and drink from a rotating mix of food trucks and local craft beverage-makers, including Utepils Brewing, Wabasha Brewing, Brick Oven Bus, Adam’s Gyros, Hometown Creamery and Sambusa Express. For the full food truck schedule, see lowertownsounds.com.The concert lineup includes:June 1: Good Morning Bedlam and Trevor McSpadden and Mary Cutrufello.June 8: Turn Turn Turn and Danger Pins.June 15: Kiss the Tiger and Creeping Charlie.June 22: Nur-D and Malamanya.July 13: The New Standards and New Primitives.July 20: Craig Clark Band and JoJo Green.July 27: Molly Maher and Her Disbelievers and Palms Psalm.Aug. 3: Jaedyn James and Twin Citizen.Aug. 10: Salsa del Soul...

Free Rides & Fun: Union Station salutes veterans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- This Memorial Day weekend, Union Station is celebrating the men and women who have served our country. As a way of saying thanks to those who serve, all veterans will be able to ride for free over the Memorial Day weekend. With so much to do, a day downtown is easy and fun for the whole family. Veterans and people who are still in the service can ride the wheel for free all weekend. There are also bars, games, the carousel, mini golf, and more.

No graduation: 8th graders turned away from ceremony; parents furious

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo - St. Louis County parents are fuming after their kids were turned away from their eighth-grade graduation ceremony. The event was at Westview Middle School in the Riverview Gardens School District.Parents said they brought their dressed-up kids to the promotion ceremony to commemorate them graduating eighth grade and going on to high school.However, they said when they got to the door they were told they couldn’t come in, while other students were allowed to pass.One of the parents, Minyatta Simmons said she didn’t like that at all. $400,000 in watches stolen in St. Louis jewelry heist "This is a moment that they have to remember. You have four graduations: kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, and college," she said. "Why rob them of that privilege.”Another mother Lateasha Grant was also as angry that her daughter was not being allowed into the event on Wednesday.”Honestly, my baby missing out on this experience and the tears coming out of her eyes, the e...

Grading the Week: Move over Skyhook. Nikola Jokic’s Sombor Shuffle is now the most indefensible shot in basketball history.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

A message to uninitiated: Yes, Nikola Jokic meant to do that. And, yes, he does it often.It’s called the Sombor Shuffle, and in the estimation of the Grading the Week staff, it’s now replaced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Skyhook as the most indefensible shot in the history of basketball.Nikola Jokic — A+There are many variations of the Shuffle, but the general shape remains the same.It starts with two steps to create space, done in the same deliberate fashion either backwards or to the side. Then Jokic swings the ball over his head, creating a launch angle from the top of his 6-foot-11 frame that no defender in the world has a chance of contesting.And it ends with the release: A soft, high-arcing parabola that might touch a support beam in some old-school barn in middle America but always seems to drop through the net like it was guided by a laser.There is, of course, one other element of the shot that is essential: There can only be a few seconds left on the shot c...

Mathews: What California can learn from Stockton Syndrome

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

If California wants to curb poverty, its local governments must become richer.That’s one lesson from Stockton’s recent history, as recounted by Stanford Law School professor Michelle Wilde Anderson in her Zócalo Book Prize-winning book, “The Fight to Save the Town.” The author connects the dots between the poverty of people and the poverty of local governments.At the story’s heart are decades-long declines in federal and state support for local governments. Between 1979 and 2016, federal funding to neighborhood development decreased 80%.  Local governments responded by taking on debt, reducing services, selling land, and raising taxes and fees.“When local governments are populated mostly by low-income people, there is typically much less money for public services,” Anderson writes. “Weak, broke local governments make it harder for residents to lead decent lives on low incomes or get their families out of poverty. Entire towns become poverty traps.”In Stockton, population...

AP’s Global Week in Pictures: May 20-May 26

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

May 20 – 26, 2023From the U.S. debt limit negotiations in Washington, to a new Panamanian law that gives legal rights to leatherback sea turtles, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images from around the world made or published by the Associated Press in the past week.The selections were curated by AP photo editor Anita Baca in Mexico City.Follow AP visual journalism:Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/apnews/AP Images on Twitter:https://twitter.com/AP_ImagesSource

Deaths and tragedy from the 1973 Indy 500 opened the door for safety evolution in racing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Johnny Rutherford and Gordon Johncock delivered spectacular results at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that were overshadowed by perhaps the worst month in the history of the storied race.Rutherford won the pole with a record-breaking, four-lap average speed of 198.413 mph and Johncock wound up with the first of his two Indy wins, but it was a grim across the rest of Gasoline Alley.Art Pollard was killed in a pole day crash. David Savage died from injuries sustained in a terrifying race-day crash. In the chaos after Savage’s wreck, pit-sign board holder Armando Teran was fatally struck by a safety truck. And roughly a dozen spectators were burned when Salt Walther’s fuel tanks ruptured as his spinning car destroyed part of the catch fence.“I don’t know what the rest of the guys thought, but I thought, ‘Let’s just get this damn thing over, you know, this has not been good,’” Rutherford recalled. “That was the way the business was. You know,...