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Tropical Cyclone Freddy hammers Mozambique for second time

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Record-breaking Cyclone Freddy made its second landfall in Mozambique Saturday night, pounding the southern African nation with heavy rains and disrupting transport and telecommunications services.French weather agency Météo-France warned of “destructive and devastating” winds and “dangerous seas and heavy rains” that could lead to landslides. It said Freddy will go further inland through the weekend, generating heavy rains in Mozambique and southern Malawi, with rain also likely in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Its the second time Freddy has hit the country, with the cyclone originally making landfall late last month. Météo-France also raised concerns that Freddy is unlikely to weaken over land in the coming week and has a high probability of exiting back into the sea. Freddy made landfall with maximum wind speeds at sea measuring 155 kilometers (around 100 miles) an hour and sea gusts averaging 220 kilometers (around 140 miles) an hour, the agency said.Freddy wa...

Glimpse into Oscars rehearsals shows stars at Dolby Theatre

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — On Oscars Sunday, audiences can expect to see stars reunited from some of their favorite films. “Four Weddings and a Funeral” co-stars Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell will stand beside one another to present an award at the show, as will Harrison Ford and Glenn Close, the President and Vice President of the United States in “Air Force One,” and “Creed III” frenemies Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors. The Associated Press got to take a peek inside Oscars rehearsals at the Dolby Theatre Saturday.The presenters made the trek to the theater as a light, chilly rain fell outside, to run through their lines and practice handing out awards. It’s one of several rehearsals in the leadup to the show, culminating with a full run through that stretches late into the night. The theater, populated by a few dozen people from Janet Yang, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to the stagehands and camera operators practicing their movements, had an ai...

Teenager killed after storm sweeps through Florida Panhandle

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A 16-year-old girl in the Florida Panhandle was killed when a tree fell on the vehicle she was in during a fierce storm that saw wind speeds reach 80 mph (129 km), authorities said.The girl was killed and the vehicle’s driver was hospitalized Friday after the storms swept through the Tallahassee area, according to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.Because of the damaging winds, authorities in neighboring Jefferson County temporarily closed Interstate 10, the main highway through the Florida Panhandle.Damage was caused by straight-line winds that reached speeds of between 60 and 80 mph (96 and 129 kph), according to the National Weather Service.The Associated Press

WV legislators OK transgender care ban with health exemption

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s Republican supermajority House of Delegates swiftly OK’d a proposal to add mental health exemptions to a bill that would ban certain health care for transgender youth during the last day of its 60-day legislative session Saturday. The chamber approved changes made by the state Senate late Friday that would allow some transgender youth to continue receiving medical interventions, including hormone therapy, if they are at risk of self-harm or suicide.The bill now heads back to the Senate for final approval, which it is likely to receive Saturday before heading to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice. The Republican governor has not taken a public stance on the measure.Lawmakers in West Virginia and other states advancing bans on transgender health care for youth and young adults often characterize gender-affirming treatments as medically unproven, potentially dangerous in the long term and a symptom of “woke” culture.But every major medical...

Nipissing First Nation Chief asks for return of headdress

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

Nipissing First Nation Chief Scott McLeod is asking for the return of the Nipissing First Nation Chief headdress that was stolen along with his vehicle on Saturday morning.Chief Scott McLeod was in Mississauga to host the Little Native Hockey League (LNHL) tournament on Mar. 11 where his vehicle was stolen with the headdress inside.The Nipissing First Nation headdress was constructed with over two years of research by elders, academics, historians, and geographers, with the beadwork representing women’s roles in supporting the leader wearing the ceremonial headdress, seven white eagle feathers signifying a commitment that a leader makes following the seven grandfather/grandmother teachings to lead responsibly.“I ask that the perpetrators of this theft find it upon themselves to kindly return the headdress, this can be done anonymously, to the Sandman Signature Mississauga hotel or to one of the arenas where the event is taking place,” says Chief McLeod in a statement.

Purdue University professor working to help robots better work with humans

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A team of students and professors at Purdue University are working to make robots smarter and able to help in more situations, like natural disasters.Anikert Bera, an associate professor, and the university’s IDEAS lab are researching to make AI, or artificial intelligence, and robots smarter. ‘Robot dogs’ to help agents patrol Southwest border Bera said the team focuses on social robotics and is trying to bring robots closer to humanity and solving tasks.“We realized that most of these robots are fairly dumb, we tell them what to do,” Bera said. “And it does that right, with a high level of precision, because that's what we're going for.”But the goal is to make them smarter and work alongside humans to complete more complex tasks, including after natural disasters, like the recent earthquake in Turkey.“The biggest problem is that first responders by the time they reach the location, it's very hard for them to look at, you know, rubble and where people are s...

Best public elementary schools in Illinois

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

Early childhood education provides students with a foundation for success for the rest of their lives. In studies about the ROI of early education, for every $1 spent, $7 are generated later. As a result, it is imperative to invest in children's futures by providing them high quality learning environments and curricula.Because there can be vast differences in the number and type of resources distributed among school districts, it is left largely up to parents to determine what school is best for their child. In response to that need, Stacker compiled a list of the best public elementary schools in Illinois using rankings from Niche.Keep reading to see how school districts in your state stack up.#25. Steeple Run Elementary School- School district: Naperville Community Unit School District No. 203- Enrollment: 642 (student to teacher ratio unavailable)- Niche grade: A+#24. Elmwood Elementary School- School district: Naperville Community Unit School District No. 203...

Florida woman calls for 'Sugar Daddy Appreciation Day' at board meeting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida woman took the podium at the March 2 Planning & Zoning Board meeting in Boca Raton with an unusual request. She asked the board to designate March 10 as "Sugar Daddy and Mommy Appreciation Day."The woman, who identified herself as Ashley Cream, stood up to speak after the board discussed amending city code regarding storage of flammable liquids. An elderly man stood up from a wheelchair and walked beside her to the podium. Cream told the board members they were "looking absolutely fabulous, a little bit serious," before saying she appeared before them as a concerned citizen and voter. Investigators find 6 bodies, 154 cremated remains linked to illegal California crematorium "You guys may not be aware, but Florida has the largest per-capita population of sugar daddies in the U.S.," Cream said, pointing out that Miami, Palm Beach and Boca Raton have the most "concentrated populace of these aged benefactors." "Sugar daddies both gay and straight — ...

Cold front tonight knocks down Sunday's highs

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Day 2 of South by Southwest came in hot with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s! We avoided records, but it was still toasty.Tonight will stay very warm ahead of a cold front that comes through early Sunday morning. Evening temperatures will mostly be in the 70s! NEW BLOG: La Niña has ended — Here’s what’s next and when El Niño could begin As our cold front comes through we'll find morning lows dropping into the 50s, making for a much cooler start to the second half of the weekend.Sunday is the first day of Daylight Saving Time. Don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour. You'll lose an hour of sleep, but you'll gain roughly an hour of evening daylight! Sunrise Sunday morning will be at 7:44am, the latest sunrise of the whole year. The sun goes down at 7:37pm Sunday evening.Sunday's forecastSunday's weather will be noticeably cooler behind the early morning cold front. We'll have a mix of sun and clouds with highs in the mid 70s, close to 15º cooler than Saturda...

No. 17 Holy Family uses “championship habits” to beat No. 2 Resurrection Christian in Class 4A boys basketball final

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:26 GMT

Holy Family boys basketball head coach Peter Villecco went from hoping his team would get into the Class 4A field, to imploring his No. 17-seeded team to use “championship habits” down the stretch in the state championship game.Talk about a whirlwind month for the Tigers.In the end, his team embraced those habits and sprinted to the Class 4A crown, defeating No. 2 Resurrection Christian, 53-43, on Saturday to win its fourth state title in program history and first since 2014.“From where we came in the last month — we were down in the dumps — we were dropping like a rock in the RPI and weren’t even looking at it, and just said ‘we just wanna get in’. They gave us the 17 (seed) and we just had a light switch turn on,” Villecco said.The habits of spacing the floor, ball security, making good decisions and securing rebounds with two hands all helped the Tigers (17-11) to a storied run.Rocco Bridges (5) of the Holy Family Tigers on a shot attempt...