Music festivals and big events using council owned sites could have a drug testing facility

A pilot for drug and pill testing facilities at major events in Belfast is to be considered.

A motion by Alliance and the Greens has passed the first hurdle at Belfast City Council this week, and will go to committee level for officials potentially to create a feasibility study.

The motion asks that any music festivals and large-scale events using council owned sites will have drug testing and harm reduction facilities in place.

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It was tabled at the City Hall Standards and Business Committee meeting this week, by Alliance Councillor Micky Murray, and seconded by Green Councillor Brian Smyth.

The motion calls on public bodies including Public Health Agency and Belfast Trust, alongside those in the community and voluntary sector, to explore the feasibility of a pilot. It also requests an internal report on the potential role of the council in supporting and facilitating a service, with particular reference to legal and regulatory considerations.

The motion states: “This council supports harm reduction approaches to drug use, particularly in the context of festivals and nightlife events. It acknowledges the rising public concerns around drug-related harm, and notes that traditional approaches focused solely on enforcement have not eliminated the presence or use of illicit substances at major events.”

The motion will go to the People and Communities Committee in April for a decision.

Councillor Murray said: “Belfast is a vibrant, growing city with a thriving events and nightlife scene that we should be proud of. However, we cannot ignore the very real and increasing risks associated with drug-related harm at large gatherings.

“This motion is rooted in a simple principle, saving lives. Evidence from other regions shows that harm reduction approaches, including drug checking services, can play a crucial role in preventing overdoses and reducing the risk of serious harm.

“While enforcement remains important, it has not eliminated the presence of illicit substances at major events. In conjunction, we need a more balanced, public health-led response.”

He said: “Drug testing services provide individuals with information about what they are taking, helping them make safer decisions. Crucially, these services also allow health authorities to identify dangerous or contaminated substances quickly and issue public warnings.

“This is about taking a pragmatic, evidence-based approach to public safety. By working collaboratively with health professionals, community organisations, and event organisers, Belfast can take a leadership role in protecting people and reducing preventable harm.

“I look forward to progressing this conversation and ensuring that Belfast remains a safe and welcoming city for everyone.”

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s photo voter identification law was upheld on Thursday, as a federal judge set aside arguments by civil rights groups that Republicans enacted the requirement with discriminatory intent against Black and Latino voters.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs is a huge legal victory for Republican legislative leaders who passed the law in late 2018 — weeks after voters approved a constitutional amendment backing the idea.

North Carolina state Senate leader Phil Berger said in a news release that with Biggs’ decision, “we can put to rest any doubt that our state’s Voter I.D. law is constitutional.”

Biggs had presided in spring 2024 over a non-jury trial in a lawsuit filed by the state NAACP, which argued that the ID requirement violated the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. At trial, the NAACP alleged Republican legislators passed the voter ID law to entrench their political power by discouraging people historically aligned with Democrats from voting.

But lawyers for the state and Republican lawmakers defending the law argued that Republicans wouldn’t have passed one of the most permissive ID laws if they wanted to entrench themselves in state politics. They argued that the law is race-neutral and contains many more categories of qualifying ID than was allowed under a previously approved 2013 voter ID law that was struck down years ago.

The lawyers also said the General Assembly had legitimate state interests in building voter confidence in elections and preventing voter fraud. Still, nationwide voter identity fraud is rare.

State NAACP President Deborah Dicks Maxwell called the latest ruling in the case “deeply disappointing and ignores the real and documented barriers” that voter ID laws have on certain voters. No decision has been made on whether to appeal.

Even with the federal litigation, the 2018 voter ID law has been carried out since the 2023 municipal elections, after the state Supreme Court upheld the law in a separate lawsuit. Those elections have included the March 3 primary — nearly all of its results were certified on Wednesday.

In her 134-page order, Biggs, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama, said evidence in the trial record did suggest the burden to obtain IDs fell more on Black and Hispanic voters. As a result, a disparate number of racial minority voters would be among thousands who will not possess the required ID on Election Day, and “for many their vote will not count when the election is certified.”

Biggs said the state’s history of race discrimination and voter suppression warrants finding that the law was enacted with discriminatory intent. But she wrote that court rulings since the lawsuit was filed — including one from a federal appeals court panel in the case — requires “this Court to assign less weight to the historical background” and “almost impenetrable deference to the presumption” that lawmakers approved it in good faith.

Biggs had previously issued in 2019 a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the 2018 law, saying it was tainted because the 2013 voter ID law was struck down on similar grounds of racial bias.

But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her decision, writing that she had put too much emphasis on the past conduct of the General Assembly when evaluating the 2018 law.

So based on the “preliminary injunction record, the limited evidence presented at trial, and the arguments of counsel,” the court “concludes that it is compelled by controlling case law” to side with the state and legislative leaders, Biggs wrote Thursday.

North Carolina’s voter ID law offers free ID cars at the Division of Motor Vehicles and at county election offices statewide. People lacking photo ID at the polls should have their votes count if they fill out an exception form or bring in their ID to election officials before the final tallies.

In the separate state court lawsuit, the 2018 law was struck down initially. But when the state Supreme Court flipped from a Democratic to a Republican majority, the justices agreed to revisit the matter and proceeded to uphold photo ID.

Thirty-six states have laws requesting or requiring identification at the polls, 23 of which seek photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A gang member serving a life sentence for murdering two young men after mistaking them for rivals has had his sentence increased for battering a taxi driver in a separate attack.

Jason Furtado, 29, helped plan the ambush that saw Leonardo Reid, 15, and Klevi Shekaj, 23, stabbed to death at a music video shoot in Archway, north London, on the night of June 29, 2023.

He was jailed for at least 34 years at the end of a long-running trial at the Old Bailey.

But the killer was back in court on Thursday after pleading guilty to GBH with intent in relation to an attack on an Uber driver three months before the murders.

District judge Emma Deacon KC gave Furtado a consecutive three-year sentence for the attack at Wood Green Crown Court.

She told Furtado: ‘This was an explosive piece of violence from you against Mr Edwards without any proportion to the reality – which was that you were challenged by a taxi driver for banging on his windscreen.’

Furtado, who had been among a group of people inhaling nitrous oxide, had lashed out at Mr Edwards after he dropped off a passenger outside a club in Islington, north London, in March 2023 at around 3.30am.

The judge said Furtado ‘threw a gas canister at him and you hit him over the head with it’.

Mr Edwards fell to the ground but Furtado hit him multiple times, including to the head, and ‘stamped on his head at least twice’.

He then rolled from the pavement to the road.

Mr Edwards was then run over by a car driven by Furtado’s girlfriend Charlotte Sibley, the court heard.

Furtado had pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent while Sibley, 28, of Hackney, east London, had pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving.

Prosecutor Martyn Bowyer said: ‘Mr Edwards remembers nothing until he woke up in hospital.’

Sibley was fined £750 and disqualified from driving for six months by the judge who said it was nothing short of “miraculous that he did not sustain injuries as a result of your driving”.

Sibley, who was three months pregnant at the time, later told police that a fight between some men had broken out and she was in a ‘frightened and confused state’ when she fled and drove over Mr Edwards’s leg.

The judge described Sibley’s driving as ‘utterly irresponsible’, involving an ‘unsafe manoeuvre’ and that the fight had stopped by the time she decided to drive away.

The judge told Sibley: ‘You had run over him. You must have felt something. You had driven over someone’s body.

‘In driving away, you were thinking of yourself.’

Sibley was also ordered to pay a statutory surcharge.

The prosecution said no evidence was being brought regarding an attempted murder charge against Furtado while not guilty verdicts were recorded in relation to allegations of assisting an offender and dangerous driving against Sibley.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Darrell “Dash” Crofts, who teamed with childhood friend Jim Seals for such 1970s soft-rock hits as “Summer Breeze,” “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer,” has died. He was 87.

Crofts died Wednesday of heart failure at the Heart Hospital of Austin in Austin, Texas, said his daughter, Lua Crofts Faragher. She said her father had been suffering heart issues for several years and had been hospitalized for about a month.

Seals and Crofts were native Texans who had known each other since high school and played together in various groups before becoming a duo, Seals & Crofts, in the late 1960s. Blending pop, country, folk and jazz, they were part of a wave of million-selling soft-rock (or “easy listening”) bands that included America, Bread and Loggins and Messina.

“Summer Breeze,” “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer” all reached the Top 10, while their other popular singles included “I’ll Play for You,” “Hummingbird” and “We May Never Pass This Way (Again).” The wide-eyed sentiments of the latter made it a favorite for high school yearbooks:

“Life / So they say / Is but a game and they’d let it slip away / Love / Like the autumn sun / Should be dyin’ / But it’s only just begun.”

Not always easy listening

Like many bands of the era, Seals & Crofts sang of love, peace, music and the natural world. But the inspirations were rooted less in the counterculture than in the Baha’i faith, a monotheistic religion advocating global unity that they both embraced in the 1960s.

“It became a driving force in their careers and the way they lived their lives,” Faragher said.

They worked Baha’i themes into their music — “Hummingbird” is a metaphor for the Baha’i prophet Bahaullah — distributed literature after their shows, and sometimes preached from the stage, including during a performance on “Tonight” with Johnny Carson.

“You start out writing songs like ‘the leaves are green and the sky is blue and I love you and you love me’ — very simple lyrics — but you grow into a much, much broader awareness of life, of love, and of unity,” Crofts told Stereo Review in 1971. “It’s really great to be able to say something real in your music.”

One Baha’i tenet, that the soul begins with the formation of the embryo, led to controversy. In 1974, the year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision established the right to abortion, Seals & Crofts released the ballad “Unborn Child,” the title song of their new album.

It was inspired by the wife of their recording engineer, who had seen a television documentary about abortion and wrote a poem with such lines as “Oh tiny bud, that grows in the womb, only to be crushed before you can bloom.” Numerous radio stations refused to play “Unborn Child” and protesters picketed Seals & Crofts, although the album was certified gold for selling 500,000 copies.

“I think we got more good results out of it than bad,” Crofts later told the St. Petersburg Press, “because a lot of people called us and said, ‘We’re naming our children after you, because you helped us decide to save their lives with that song.’ That was very fulfilling to us.”

By the early 1980s, soft-rock bands were out of fashion and Seals & Crofts had been dropped by its label, Warner Bros. They broke up for a time but continued to appear together at Baha’i gatherings, while also recording on their own. Crofts released a solo album, “Today,” in 1998, and six years later reunited with Seals for “Traces.” More recently, their music was revived by Faragher and Seals’ cousin Brady, who toured together as Seals & Crofts 2. (Jim Seals died in 2022).

“There’s not a time that we performed that we didn’t have hundreds of people coming up and expressing their love and often saying the music changed their life,” Faragher said.

“There were so many people who loved them,” she added. “They were a constant service to mankind.” She said that her father’s death, a few years after that of Seals, marked the end of an era.

“That’s what makes it so painful — that it’s the end,” she said. “But the music will always, always live on.”

Long-awaited breakthrough

Darrell George “Dash” Crofts was born in Cisco, Texas, in 1938 and was singing and playing music from an early age, eventually learning piano, guitar, drums and mandolin.

He met and befriended Seals when both were teenagers and in a local rockabilly band, the Crew Cats. By the end of the 1950s, they had moved to Los Angeles and joined The Champs, best known for the early rock hit “Tequila.” Seals and Crofts would later briefly play in a band led by Glen Campbell, and join another California group, the Dawnbreakers, whose members included Crofts’ future wife, Billie Lee Day.

Although they performed on the same bill as Eric Clapton and Deep Purple among others, they were turned off by the volume and the lifestyle of hard-rock performers and honed a gentle sound. Seals & Crofts released their eponymous debut album in 1969, and soon followed with “Down Home” and “Year of Sunday.”

Their commercial breakthrough came in 1972 with “Summer Breeze,” which featured a chorus that ranked with a contemporary hit, the Eagles’ “Take it Easy,” as a definition of post-1960s escapism: “Summer breeze makes me feel fine/blowing through the jasmine of my mind.”

“That was the beginning of bigger concerts, bigger crowds and we kept getting hits in the Top 40,” Crofts told the podcast “Inside MusiCast” in 2021. “That cemented us in the music business.”

Crofts is survived by his second wife, Louise Crofts; his children Lua, Faizi and Amelia; and eight grandchildren, Faragher said. His first marriage ended in divorce.

—-

Noveck contributed from London.

As the Senate debates the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, misleading claims about the bill’s impact on voter registration are spreading on social media, with elected officials on both sides of the aisle putting their own spin on it.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, wrote in an X post: “Under the SAVE Act, you cannot use your driver’s license to register to vote. Republicans want you to buy a passport instead. If you can afford one. This is a modern-day poll tax.” Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, replied in his own X post, which included Duckworth’s, “this is a lie” and cited a section of the legislation that requires states to establish their own processes for voter registration applicants who cannot provide the required proof of U.S. citizenship.

But the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: People would not be allowed to use their driver’s license when registering to vote under the SAVE America Act.

THE FACTS: This is missing context. Driver’s licenses that include verification of citizenship, such as an Enhanced Drivers License (EDL), could be used for voter registration in a limited number of states if the SAVE America Act passes. It has passed the House and is now in the Senate. However, those without such a license or who live in states or territories that don’t issue them would need to provide additional documentation.

“Most driver’s licenses, the purpose of it is to license you to drive,” said Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan organization. “It’s not designed to prove your citizenship. And so the requirement to prove your citizenship is sort of separate and beyond.”

The SAVE America Act requires that when registering to vote in federal elections people provide “documentary proof of United States citizenship.” This can include REAL ID-compliant identification that confirms citizenship, a valid U.S. passport, a military ID card, or another form of government-issued photo identification that states the applicant’s place of birth. Additional documentation to prove U.S. citizenship would be required in some cases.

People who are legal U.S. residents but not citizens also can obtain a REAL ID. According to the Department of Homeland Security, only five states — Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington — issue enhanced driver’s licenses, which are REAL ID-compliant and prove citizenship as well as identity. Other states, such as Montana, South Dakota, Florida, and Iowa, have passed or are considering legislation that requires licenses to include citizenship markers.

“For the vast majority of Americans, a REAL ID would not be sufficient to register to vote under the SAVE Act,” said Eliza Sweren-Becker, deputy director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “That’s because most REAL IDs do not have any affirmative indication of U.S. citizenship, which is a part of what the bill would require if a REAL ID were to be used for registration.”

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have argued that the SAVE America Act is needed to eliminate instances of noncitizen voting, which is already illegal in federal elections and can lead to felony charges and deportation. Cases where it occurs are rare. Opponents stress that the bill’s proof of citizenship requirements would create an undue burden for many voters due to obstacles such as the costs associated with obtaining a passport and processing times for government documents, including birth or marriage certificates. A recent survey found that more than 9 percent of voting-age Americans — 21.3 million people — cannot readily access documents proving they are citizens.

Neither Duckworth nor Lee responded to a request for comment.

The SAVE America Act was passed by the House in April 2025 and is currently being debated by the Senate. Efforts to end a Homeland Security shutdown that has caused severe travel disruptions stalled when Trump linked any deal to his push to pass the act.

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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

NEW YORK (AP) — The runway where two pilots died in a collision between a jet and a fire truck reopened Thursday morning at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which had been operating at limited capacity all week as investigators examined the wreckage and work crews cleaned up debris.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the tarmac resumed operations at around 10 a.m. after the runway and its associated infrastructure were “repaired, inspected, and confirmed” to meet Federal Aviation Administration regulations for safe operation.

The agency, which oversees the region’s airports, said reopening the second of two runways at LaGuardia, one of the busiest airports in the nation, will help “restore full operational capacity,” though it advised travelers to still check with their airline for flight status.

LaGuardia continues to register the most delays and cancellations among airports in the country with more than 300 canceled in the last 24 hours, according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website.

The bodies of the two Air Canada pilots, meanwhile, were being repatriated to Canada.

The remains of the first officer, Mackenzie Gunther, arrived Thursday at Ottawa International Airport. Capt. Antoine Forest’s body was being flow to Montréal Trudeau International Airport, according to The Air Line Pilots Association.

The association said the deaths of the two young aviators have shaken up the industry. Forest’s death has sparked an outpouring of sympathy in his hometown of Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, southwest of Montreal. Gunther, 30, and Forest, 24, died when their Air Canada plane collided with a firetruck after landing at the airport.

The destroyed Air Canada plane and the fire truck were towed from the crash site late Wednesday as the National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation.

The agency said Thursday that the truck has been placed in an undisclosed, secure location and deferred to questions about the status of the plane to Air Canada, which didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The airline has said the plane would be placed in a hangar and that it would soon begin the process of reuniting passengers with their baggage and personal belongings.

Michael Rousseau, the company’s CEO, also apologized Thursday for his inability to express himself in French after facing calls to resign over his English-only message of condolence.

The crash happened late Sunday night as an Air Canada regional jet arriving from Montreal and carrying 76 people struck an airport fire truck that had initially been cleared to cross the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard another plane.

Roughly 40 people were treated at hospitals for injuries, including the two firefighters and a flight attendant who survived after being thrown onto the tarmac while still strapped in her seat. Most have since been released from the hospital.

___

Gillies reported from Toronto.

The 40-year-old chef, originally from Carlisle, won the BBC One cooking show’s final, which saw the remaining three chefs cook up a three-course meal in a bid to impress the judges.

Baty, who lives in Whitefield, Greater Manchester, with his wife and children, said: “This means everything to me, it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had. It’s absolutely incredible, I’m over the moon.

“If I’ve learned anything through this competition it’s cooking food you believe in and cooking from the heart can take you a long way. Hopefully this journey is just the beginning.”

The series 18 finale saw Baty compete against runners-up Luke Emmess and Mark O’Brien to become the champion of the series.

He dedicated his final menu to members of his family, and it was described by judge Marcus Wareing as an “absolute knockout three-course menu”.

Baty presented the judges with a starter inspired by his mother, which was a take on a prawn cocktail, hailed by judge Monica Galetti as a “delicate yet gutsy dish”.

She added: “What a great way to start this menu. Brilliant job, your mum would be proud.”

Baty then presented his main course, which was dedicated to his father, who died while he was at university, which he said caused him to feel lost and questioning his ability as a chef.

He made a chicken breast roulade wrapped in a chicken and truffle mousse with king oyster mushroom, set puree and tarragon mayonnaise, served with a side of fries and a madeira sauce.

The dish was described by judge Matt Tebbutt as “an absolute winner”, and was followed up by a dessert dedicated to Baty’s partner’s family.

He served a twist on the Brandy Alexander cocktail made up of layers of milk chocolate and dulce de leche cremeux, topped with a brandy snap, brandy-poached pears and a ginger and brandy sauce.

Baty said his time on MasterChef: The Professionals was an “amazing adventure”, adding: “I’ve taken so much more from the competition than I thought.

“It’s changed me as a person, it’s changed me as a chef. Now that I’m standing here holding this trophy it’s given me a whole new road to travel on and I’m going to go all the way down it.”

It was TV host and chef Tebbutt’s final time on MasterChef after he revealed earlier this month that he was “only ever doing one series”.

The 52-year-old replaced the former face of the show, Gregg Wallace, who was sacked after a series of misconduct allegations relating to his time on the amateur series, MasterChef.

MasterChef: The Professionals is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

She was also charged with publishing or distributing written material, and using words that were threatening, abusive or insulting intending thereby to stir up racial hatred or having regard to all the circumstances was reckless as to whether racial hatred would be stirred up, in breach of the Public Order Act 1986.

“Honestly, he has to show [it], because we have more evidence without him than with him, so the pressure is on him,” Tuchel said. “He had a difficult season but he has also had a difficult spell with the national team. He was only once available for us and when he was available, we decided to stick with the same squad so there is big competition for his best position, No10.