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Shedd Aquarium brings back Stingray Touch Exhibit for the summer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

CHICAGO — For the tenth time in as many years, Shedd Aquarium has brought back it's 'Stingray Touch' Exhibit, where guests at the venue can can interact with the animals in what the aquarium calls "a one-of-a-kind, hands-on experience for a closer connection with nature and wildlife."A school of cownose rays. (Credit: Shedd Aquarium/Brenna Hernandez)The exhibit is home to cownose rays, which the aquarium describe as being tactile animals that naturally school together and brush up against one another while swimming. On top of having a hands-on experience, guests will also be able to learn unique facts on the creatures and how the Shedd Aquarium cares for the cownose rays in the exhibit.According to the Shedd Aquarium, cownose rays are well-known for their marathon mass migrations. Each autumn, as their summer waters start to cool, schools numbering in the thousands seek warmer habitats, moving from places like southern New England and Florida's west coast, to places in the southern ...

'Terrifying': Passenger recalls experience aboard Carnival Sunshine during storm

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- A passenger is recalling her "terrifying" experience aboard a Carnival cruise ship after it was stuck at sea during a Memorial Day weekend storm. The Carnival Sunshine was returning to port in Charleston, South Carolina from the Bahamas when it was rocked by a coastal storm that generated damaging winds and high surf. A Myrtle Beach woman said she was "scared for her life" during the hourslong ordeal, which began around 8:00 p.m. on Friday. "The ship took a hit from a wave about 11:00 at night," Sharon Tutrone said. "The wave hit on our side of the ship – we were on the right side of the ship – and that wave pushed the ship to the left where I thought we were going to capsize." Tutrone, who was taking a celebratory trip with her mother after beating breast cancer, said the entire experience was "terrifying." "Going through cancer was scary, but being on that ship during that storm, that was about 30 times scarier for me," she...

The Red Line Doubleheader: A Chicago day full of baseball

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

CHICAGO — With a couple of tickets, a train pass, and a little bit of endurance, a Chicago baseball fan had a dream scenario on Monday. One could attend two Major League Baseball games in the city in a single day, first on the north side and then on the south side. It's also known by many people as the "Red Line Doubleheader."For the second and final time in 2023, the Cubs and White Sox had home games at different times on Monday, allowing willing fans enough time to see both. The north siders were hosting the Rays at 1:20 p.m. at Wrigley Field while the White Sox hosted the Angels at 7:10 p.m. at Guaranteed Rate Field. Here's a look at the journey undertaken by those who decided to take the trip from one ballpark to the other during a "Red Line Doubleheader."The Cubs were first up with a contest against the Tampa Bay Rays in the afternoon on a warm yet overcast afternoon at Wrigley Field. A crowd of 38,163 fans showed up with the hope that the home team would be able to stop a four...

How Loons manager Adrian Heath handles substitutions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

Minnesota United can see the end of a grueling stretch.Come Saturday, the Loons will have played 12 matches over 43 days since late April, and manager Adrian Heath has asked a smaller group of players to get the team through it.“Big workload,” Heath said Tuesday. “Plenty of miles on the clock, for sure, over the last few weeks.”The busy schedule continues with the Loons (5-5-4, 19 points) traveling to play Austin FC (4-6-4, 16 points) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Q2 Stadium in Texas.In MLS action, MNUFC has made a league-low 43 substitutions this season, according to fbref.com. Those subs are playing more than the MLS average at 21 minutes per appearance, which ranks 11th in the league.With five substitutions available per match, Heath has averaged 3.07 changes per game, leaving approximately two unused subs per contest.“America has a fascination with substitutes, more so than anywhere else I’ve ever been,” said the Englishman, repeating a line he often uses when the subject is broache...

Miami Heat set road map forward for Timberwolves

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

Caleb Martin was narrowly edged by Jimmy Butler for the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award Monday after the Miami Heat knocked off the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals in Boston.Martin certainly was Miami’s best player in the back half of the series, culminating in a 26-point, 10-rebound performance on the strength of 11-for-16 shooting in the decisive game. Heat starting point guard Gabe Vincent scored in double-figures in five games of the series, including a 29-point explosion in Game 3.Max Strus is averaging 10 points a game during this Heat run. Duncan Robinson just shot 48 percent from deep in the Eastern Conference Finals. Haywood Highsmith is a defensive chess piece Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has at his disposal.All five of those players have one thing in common — none were drafted. That’s right, four of Miami’s current top seven rotation players — and five of its top 10 — heading into the NBA Finals were not even second-round ...

Rondo Days canceled for fourth consecutive year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

Rondo Days, once an annual celebration of St. Paul’s historically-Black Rondo community, will not return this summer.After back-to-back cancellations during the coronavirus pandemic, organizers announced they’ve been “working hard to rebuild Rondo Days as the longstanding legacy event for the city” but need more time to “build a festival that reflects the post-Covid, George Floyd era and the changing demographics of the neighborhood.”The festival, founded in 1983 by Floyd Smaller and Marvin Anderson, is meant to reunite a neighborhood split in two by the 1960s construction of Interstate 94, while introducing newer residents to the rich history of Old Rondo.It last was held in 2019, when rain canceled the parade. Called off over public health concerns in 2020 and 2021, the parade and festival were canceled again last year due to the high cost of hiring police and implementing public safety precautions.“The security cost was just devastating, ...

Colonie Town Supervisor suing NYC, Albany over migrant arrival

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Two buses of asylum seekers arrived in Albany over the Memorial Day weekend. Meanwhile, the Colonie Town Supervisor is suing Albany and New York City following the arrival of a group asylum seekers to a hotel in the town Saturday.Colonie Town Supervisor Peter Crummey claims Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan knew asylum seekers were going to the Sure Stay Plus Hotel by Best Western on Wolf Road before he was blindsided with the news Friday night.“She was in the middle of it, not only saying 'don’t come here,' but she knew that Colonie was going to be the target," Crummey said, "and she didn’t even call me to say 'hey, guess what?'”Sheehan denies that."I mean, Peter Crummey is just flat out wrong. The city of Albany has no control over this. We did not send migrants anywhere," Sheehan said. "We are mystified as to why the Town Supervisor has included us in the lawsuit over this.”Sheehan is asking the judge to drop Albany from Crummey’s lawsuit.  Since the migrants c...

New bill would allow no-excuse early voting by mail

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---In New York State, you can only vote by mail if you meet certain qualifications."We do require voters to have an excuse to vote via absentee ballot, and those include being absent from your county, or absent from New York City if you’re a resident of New York City. It also includes permanent or temporary illness or physical disability," explained Jennifer Wilson, spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections.Other valid excuses include caring for someone with a permanent or temporary physical disability, if you’re in jail awaiting trial, or are in a veterans hospital.A new bill introduced would allow people to vote early by mail without an excuse."We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for people to vote, because when it’s easier for people to vote, more people vote and that’s good for our Democracy," said Michael Gianaris, Senate Deputy Leader. "Now one of the things we saw during COVID was that many people were anxious to vote by mail from...

Variscite lawsuit settled & OCM to crack down on illicit shops

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- A lawsuit that blocked recreational cannabis licenses in the Finger Lakes region has been settled. It all started when the company, Verascite, based in Michigan, sued the state over its policy on granting licenses. Cannabis confusion: addressing CAURD applications Initially, the lawsuit resulted in a federal judge suspending cannabis licenses from being issued in five New York regions, but after an injunction from The Office of Cannabis Management, that narrowed down to just the Finger Lakes. "When the lawsuit had come up it was devastating, all of us were immediately put to a halt. Our whole dreams were kind of put in jeopardy at that moment," said Britni Tantalo. She and her husband Jayson, currently sell indoor and outdoor growing equipment for cannabis. They’ve applied for the CAURD license as Flower City Dispensary and are hoping to be one of the 18 approved to open shop in the Finger Lakes. The settlement will allow licensing to proceed in the Finger ...

Missouri felon admits obtaining gun through straw purchase

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:26:54 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Less than a month after being released on parole from state prison, an Independence, Missouri, man finds himself facing a federal prison term for illegally obtaining a firearm.Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri said Kurup Seuell, 21, purchased a Glock 9 mm through an intermediary, also known as a "straw purchase."According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a straw purchase involves "buying a gun for another person who is prohibited" from owning one.Seuell admitted in court that he and another individual went to a firearms store and shooting range in Lee's Summit, Missouri, on Jan. 30, 2021. That individual purchased the handgun on Seuell's behalf. Woman ‘saving up’ as Ferguson PD cracks down on expired tags The Missouri Department of Corrections had paroled Seuell on Dec. 28, 2020, following a 2018 conviction for stealing.Federal investigators examined Seuell's social media accounts from Jan...