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Toronto Highrise Fire Leaves Hundreds Without Homes Amid Uncertain Timeline

Fire crews are still on scene of a blaze in two connected apartment buildings in Thorncliffe Park but it's not extinguished yet. Residents of two Toronto apartment towers remain displaced after a stubborn and complex fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of units late last week. Fire crews have been battling the blaze at 11 Thorncliffe Park Drive and 21 Overlea Boulevard since Thursday, but officials say there is still no timeline for when residents will be able to return. The fire, described by Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop as one of the most complex incidents in the city’s history , has proven difficult to extinguish because it is burning inside insulation trapped between the walls of the two highrise buildings. At its peak, crews detected dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide , prompting the evacuation of all 378–408 units across the towers. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported. Acting Division Commander Robert Hewson noted that firefighters have been “actively...
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Trump Wins Colorado Ballot Case at Supreme Court, Defying Insurrection Charge

 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former President Donald Trump can appear on Colorado’s primary ballot for the 2024 presidential election, overturning a lower court decision that had disqualified him under a constitutional provision that bars insurrectionists from holding office.

The justices unanimously held that Colorado, or any other state, cannot invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War, to remove presidential candidates from the ballot without congressional action first. Section 3 states that any person who has taken an oath to the Constitution and has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to its enemies, is ineligible to hold any federal or state office.

The ruling came a day before Super Tuesday, when Colorado and 15 other states will hold their primaries. Trump is seeking to regain the Republican nomination and challenge Democratic President Kamala Harris, who defeated him in 2020. Trump’s campaign has been marred by allegations that he incited the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of Harris’s victory.

A Denver trial court judge had ruled that Trump had engaged in insurrection on that day, but was not disqualified from the ballot because he was not an officer of the United States at the time. The Colorado Supreme Court reversed that decision in a 4-3 ruling, finding that Trump was an officer of the United States when he took the oath of office in 2017, and that his conduct on Jan. 6 amounted to insurrection.

The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, saying that Section 3 requires a prior determination by Congress that a person has engaged in insurrection, and that states cannot make that determination on their own. The court also said that allowing states to remove presidential candidates from the ballot under Section 3 would undermine the Framers’ vision of a federal government directly responsible to the people.

The court’s decision is a major victory for Trump, who has faced similar challenges in other states, such as Illinois and Maine, where he has also been barred from the ballot. Trump has denied any responsibility for the Capitol riot, and has claimed that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.


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