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High Fire Danger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

While the dry weather has been pleasant to enjoy the outdoor activities, the low humidity and lack of rain day after day, has dried out the grounds/brush and elevated the brush fire risk. Today, the combination of relative humidity plummeting to 15-20% and west winds gusting to 30mph, has prompting a red flag warning to be hoisted. That means the fire danger is high and any brush fire that gets going can easier spread and become hard to control. Careful with any tool that creates sparks and discard cigarettes properly to reduce that brush fire risk from starting. Fire pits/burning brush are also not a good idea on afternoons like today. Tomorrow, the fire danger is elevated again, although it’ll be much cooler with highs closer to 60. Relative humidity is low again, near 20%, with winds gusting to 25-30mph again. Heading to the Sox game in the evening? Temps will be chilly, in the 50s at first pitch. With clear skies and a bone dry, fresh Canadian airmass in place tomorrow ni...

A driver in Colorado tried to switch seats with his dog to avoid a DUI arrest, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

(CNN) — A driver in Colorado tried to avoid a DUI arrest by swapping seats with his dog after being pulled over, police said.The man was stopped by police around 11:30 p.m. Saturday for allegedly driving 52 mph in a 30-mph zone, the Springfield Police Department said in a post on Facebook.“The driver attempted to switch places with his dog who was in the passenger seat, as the SPD officer approached and watched the entire process,” the post said. “The male party then exited the passenger side of the vehicle and claimed he was not driving.”The man, whom police didn’t name, appeared intoxicated, and when asked by an officer if he’d been drinking, he ran away, the post said.He was apprehended about 20 yards from the vehicle, police said.The man was taken to a hospital where he was medically cleared, then booked into the Baca County Jail on charges including driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, speeding and resisting arrest, police said.The dog was handed over ...

Gunman who killed 3 and injured others in New Mexico appears to have roamed a neighborhood and fired at random, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

(CNN) — The teenage gunman who killed three people and wounded six others in New Mexico appeared to target victims at random as he roamed a neighborhood, using at least three guns – including an AR-15-style rifle – to fire at homes, cars and other targets before police shot him dead, authorities said.The attack leaves yet another American community “reeling in anguish and disbelief,” Farmington’s mayor said. Still, “there were no schools, no churches, no individuals targeted” Monday by the 18-year-old, its police chief said, nodding to the wider US scourge of gun violence that’s tallied 225 mass shootings in the first 20 weeks of the year.The shooter and victims in New Mexico have not been publicly identified. Police are expected to hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon.Investigators are still piecing together how the attack unfolded over a “wide and complex scene” that spans more than a quarter of a mile, Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in&n...

Special prosecutor ends Trump-Russia investigation, saying FBI acted hastily

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A special prosecutor found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence as he concluded a four-year probe that fell far short of the former president’s prediction that the “crime of the century” would be uncovered.The report Monday from special counsel John Durham represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Instead, Durham’s investigation delivered underwhelming results, with prosecutors securing a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they took to trial.The roughly 300-page report catalogs what Durham says were a series of missteps by the FBI and Justice Department as investigators undertook a politically explosive p...

Orioles minor league report: Pair of top prospects earn weekly honors for standout performances

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

The Orioles’ second-best hitting and pitching prospects still in the minor leagues dominated last week and were honored as a result.Outfielder Colton Cowser was named the International Player of the Week after posting a 1.477 OPS for Triple-A Norfolk, and pitcher Cade Povich won the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week Award after his spectacular start for Double-A Bowie.Cowser, the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect still in the minors behind Jackson Holliday, according to Baseball America, continued his torrid start to the season, going 11-for-22 with nine runs, five RBIs, two doubles, two home runs and nine walks. He reached base in 20 of his 31 plate appearances.The 23-year-old reached base in five of the Tides’ six games and tallied four multi-hit games. On Thursday, he went 3-for-3 with two home runs and two walks. He then reached base five times on Saturday, going 3-for-4 with two walks.In 36 games, Cowser is slashing .336/.477/.567 for a whopping 1.044 OPS. His .477 on-...

Battenfeld: Durham report vindicates Trump’s belief he was targeted by FBI

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

Special counsel John Durham’s report on the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” Russia probe of Donald Trump vindicates the former president’s belief that he was targeted by enemies in the Justice Department and will only embolden Trump on the 2024 campaign trail.“Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” Durham wrote in his 306-page report.The special counsel appointed by the Trump administration nearly four years ago – which has so far failed to send anyone to jail – rapped the FBI for relying on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence” to support its Russia probe.Durham also wrote there was a “predisposition to open an investigation into Trump” among “certain personnel” at the FBI.No kidding.The report now becomes political fodder for Trump and Republicans a...

Wealthy residents fleeing Massachusetts and have been for years, study shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

High-income residents have been fleeing the state for years, according to recent research from the Pioneer Institute, in a pattern that is worsening as taxpayers stare down the state’s newly passed millionaire’s tax.According to research of Internal Revenue Service data conducted by the economic policy think tank, Massachusetts is the fourth worst state in the country when it comes to out-migration, behind only California, New York and Illinois.“Net out-migration has nearly quintupled and the largest spike in departures occurred in 2020 and 2021, as remote work took hold and most other states were cutting taxes,” Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios said with the release of the study.Pioneer’s research showed that $900 million worth of wealth left the state in 2012, a number that skyrocketed to $4.3 billion in 2021. According to Pioneer, those making over $200,000 per year account for 60% of lost wealth due to out-migration. In 2021, those taxpayers took about $...

A rare, endangered seal named Yulia basks on Tel Aviv beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An unexpected visitor spotted sunbathing on a beach in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is turning heads and causing a media buzz. But it’s not American film director and Tel Aviv mainstay, Quentin Tarantino, or another Hollywood celebrity — it’s Yulia, an endangered Mediterranean monk seal.The seal cow first appeared south of Tel Aviv’s main beachfront last Friday. On Tuesday, Yulia drew clusters of curious onlookers to the rocky beach south of Jaffa’s historic center.These seals are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with as few as 350 mature specimens estimated to exist in the wild. Its populations have dwindled due to historic seal hunting, fishing, and habitat destruction. Rarely spotted on Israel’s shores, the dwindling Mediterranean monk seal populations are believed to survive only in a handful of places in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel’s Nature and Park Authority has fenced off the section of bea...

EU countries adopt law banning products which fuel deforestation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The 27 European Union countries have formally adopted new rules that should help the bloc reduce its contribution to global deforestation by regulating the trade in a series of goods.Under the legislation, companies trading palm oil, cattle, wood, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy will need to verify that the goods they sell in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation anywhere in the world since 2021.The regulation also covers derived products such as chocolate or printed paper.Forests are an important natural means of removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, since plants absorb carbon dioxide when they grow.According to the World Resource Institute, a forest area the size of 10 soccer pitches disappears in the world every minute and the EU says that without the new regulation it could be responsible for the loss of 248,000 hectares of deforestation per year — a surface almost as large as member country Luxembourg. The law will force comp...

South Korea’s president vows to expand non-lethal aid to Kyiv in meeting with Ukraine’s first lady

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:22 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to expand the country’s non-lethal aid to Kyiv when he met with Ukraine’s first lady Tuesday in Seoul.Olena Zelenska visited South Korea as a special envoy of President Volodymyr Zelensky. During her meeting with Yoon, Zelenska requested South Korea expand its support of non-lethal military supplies, including equipment for detecting and removing mines and ambulance vehicles, according to Yoon’s office.Yoon replied that his government would closely coordinate with NATO and other international partners to “actively support the Ukrainian people,” his spokesperson Lee Do Woon said during a briefing.Yoon also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the “horrific losses of innocent lives, especially women and children, are unacceptable under any circumstances,” according to remarks shared by his office. Lee said Zelenska made no request for South Korean weapons supplies during her conversation with Yoon.Sou...