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Amazon is raising free-shipping minimums for some

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

NEW YORK — Amazon has been quietly raising the amount some customers must spend on its site to get free shipping.To qualify for no-cost deliveries, some Amazon customers who don’t have Prime memberships now need to spend $35, up from $25 previously.Amazon spokesperson Kristina Pressentin confirmed the company is testing the new qualification, which was first reported by the blog eCommerce Bytes. The change doesn’t impact Prime members who pay $14.99 per month, or $139 a year, for free shipping and other perks.“We continually evaluate our offerings and make adjustments based on those assessments,” Pressentin said.For now, the new $35 minimum seems to apply to customers based on where they live, the consumer education website Consumer World said Monday. Among other cities, it noted Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered, has a $25 minimum, while non-Prime customers in nearby Bellevue have to pay $35 for free shipping.The move comes as the online retail giant wo...

Robotic response: Need to know CPR? Call 911, best not to ask Siri or Alexa, study finds

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

Ask Alexa or Siri about the weather. But if you want to save someone’s life? Call 911 for that.Voice assistants often fall flat when asked how to perform CPR, according to a study published Monday.Researchers asked voice assistants eight questions that a bystander might pose in a cardiac arrest emergency. In response, the voice assistants said:— “Hmm, I don’t know that one.”— “Sorry, I don’t understand.”— “Words fail me.”— “Here’s an answer … that I translated: The Indian Penal Code.”Only nine of 32 responses suggested calling emergency services for help — an important step recommended by the American Heart Association. Some voice assistants sent users to web pages that explained CPR, but only 12% of the 32 responses included verbal instructions.Verbal instructions are important because immediate action can save a life, said study co-author Dr. Adam Landman, chief information officer at Mass General Brigham in B...

Jacksonville shootings refocus attention on the city’s racist past and the struggle to move on

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

By some measures, Jacksonville was making strides to emerge from its racist past. But the killing of three Black people by a young, white shooter was a painful and startling reminder that the remnants of racism still fester in the Florida city.What happened Saturday in Jacksonville, said 79-year-old longtime resident Rodney Hurst, “could have happened anywhere, except it did happen in Jacksonville.”The shooting occurred as the community prepared to commemorate what is known as Ax Handle Saturday, when a white mob used baseball bats and ax handles to club peaceful Black demonstrators protesting segregation at a downtown lunch counter on Aug. 27, 1960. Police initially stood by but joined the white mob when the Black group began fighting back. Newspaper reports at the time said at least 62 people — 48 of them Black — were arrested for fighting and inciting a riot.Hurst, who was 16 when the violence erupted, has been encouraged by progress following the Civil Rights Movement, but...

Mother of beleaguered Spanish soccer chief starts hunger strike as calls mount for his resignation

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

MADRID (AP) — The mother of the Spanish soccer federation president under fire for kissing a Women’s World Cup champion on the lips started a hunger strike Monday in defense of her son as calls grew for his resignation and prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation.The leaders of the regional soccer bodies that make up the Spanish federation added their call for soccer chief Luis Rubiales’ resignation on Monday. FIFA, the world soccer body, had already provisionally suspended him for 90 days after he gave a defiant speech refusing to step down. The scandal surrounding the kiss — and Rubiales’ refusal to accept Jenni Hermoso’s insistence that it was not consensual — has overshadowed the Spanish team’s 1-0 victory against England in the Women’s World Cup final. Spain’s national team players said last week they would not play any more games unless Rubiales resigns. Rubiales also came under a storm of criticism for grabbing his crotch in a victory gesture whi...

Trump and 18 others charged in the Georgia election case are set to be arraigned on Sept. 6

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and the 18 people indicted along with him in Georgia are scheduled to be arraigned next week on charges they participated in a wide-ranging illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. All 19 defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 6, when they may enter pleas as well, according to court records. Trump starts off the day with a hearing at 9:30 a.m., with the other arraignments set to follow.Notices posted Monday by Fulton County court officials said that the defendants “must be present” and that face masks must be worn when entering the courthouse. A Trump spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a question for comment.The defendants met a Friday deadline to turn themselves in at the Fulton County Jail. Trump was booked Thursday evening — scowling at the camera in the first-ever mug shot of a former presiden...

Faculty member shot and killed in a campus building, says University of North Carolina official

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A University of North Carolina faculty member was shot and killed in a campus building, an official said Monday. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said the shooting was in Caudill Laboratories, and there is no longer a threat to the public. A suspect has been arrested, the school said. Students and faculty at the flagship campus barricaded themselves in dorm rooms, offices and classrooms for hours until a lockdown was lifted. About three hours after warning students to seek shelter indoors and avoid windows, the school posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “All clear. All clear. Resume normal activities.”The school’s first alert was sent out just after 1 p.m. At 1:50 p.m., officials posted on X that the shelter-in-place order remained in effect and that it was “an ongoing situation.” About 40 minutes later, the school added a post saying: “Remain sheltered in place. This is an ongoing situation. Suspect at large.”About two hours after the f...

Former NFL player Marshawn Lynch gets November trial date in Las Vegas DUI case

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A November trial has been scheduled for former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch on misdemeanor charges following his arrest a year ago on suspicion of drunken driving when he was found in a damaged luxury sports car on a downtown Las Vegas street.Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge Cedric Kerns on Monday scheduled a two-day trial beginning Nov. 8 on the charges, which also include failure to drive in a travel lane and driving an unregistered vehicle.Lynch pleaded not guilty in March to all charges and did not attend the brief scheduling hearing, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. His defense attorneys, Richard Schonfeld and David Chesnoff, declined to comment to the newspaper and The Associated Press.Police said Lynch, now 37, was found asleep about 7:30 a.m. Aug. 9, 2022, behind the wheel of an “undriveable” 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 that had one front wheel missing and a rear wheel damaged and “about to fall off.”Schonfeld and Chesnoff have argued that Lynch w...

Jacksonville shootings: What we know about the hate crime

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A white man wearing a mask and firing a weapon emblazoned with a swastika gunned down three Black people Saturday in a racist attack in Jacksonville, Florida. The shooter, who had also posted racist writings, then killed himself. Here’s what is known about the killings:WHERE AND WHEN DID THE SHOOTING TAKE PLACE?The shooting happened Saturday afternoon at a Dollar General store in New Town, a predominantly Black neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida. The city has almost 1 million residents and lies just south of the Georgia border. About a third of Jacksonville’s residents are Black.Just last week, a city council committee pulled funding for the mayor’s chief of diversity and inclusion — the first time the city would have had such a position.The store where the shootings took place is near Edward Waters University, a historically Black school with about 1,000 students. The school said the man was spotted on campus by a security guard shortly befo...

The Jacksonville shooter killed a devoted dad, a beloved mom and a teen helping support his family

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A.J. Laguerre worked at a Dollar General store after finishing high school to help support the grandmother who raised him. Angela Michelle Carr was an Uber driver beloved by her children. Jerrald Gallion relished weekends with his 4-year-old daughter.All three were slain Saturday when a gunman with swastikas painted on his rifle opened fire at the Dollar General where Laguerre worked in Jacksonville. The sheriff said writings left by the killer, a 21-year-old white man, made clear that he was motivated by racism. Each victim was Black.“I never thought I’d have to bury my baby brother,” Quan Laguerre said Monday outside the family’s house not far from the store. “They say don’t question God,” he said. “But I just want to know why.” A.J. Laguerre, 19, was the youngest of five siblings, all raised by their grandmother after their mother died in 2009, his brother said. The family celebrated in 2022 when A.J., like his older siblings before him, graduated from h...

Flying debris smashes through car’s windshield on Toronto highway

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:41:19 GMT

A driver avoided a serious injury after a large piece of debris from a commercial motor vehicle struck a car’s windshield on a busy Toronto highway.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say it happened in the southbound lanes of Highway 400 near Finch Avenue on Monday.A police spokesperson said the debris hit the driver’s steering wheel and landed on the passenger seat.Photos shared on “X,” the social media website formerly known as Twitter, show the damaged windshield and the debris in the passenger seat.“Fortunately, there were no injuries to the driver,” an OPP spokesperson wrote on social media.It’s unclear if anyone else was in the vehicle at the time.OPP is investigating.#hwy400 SB at Finch Ave in #Toronto. Debris from a commercial motor vehicle struck this passenger vehicle’s windshield. The debris hit the steering wheel and landed on the passenger seat. Fortunately, there were no injuries to the driver. #TorontoOPP investigating. ^yb pic.t...