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Biden refuses to grant some of the conditions that 9/11 defendants were seeking in plea negotiations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has refused to approve some of the conditions that lawyers for the defendants in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had sought in a possible plea bargain, ruling out a presidential guarantee that the five men would be spared solitary confinement and provided care for the trauma of their torture in CIA custody, a White House National Security Council official said Wednesday.Biden’s refusal on the plea-bargain guarantees leaves it to military prosecutors and defense lawyers to try to hash out an agreement on a plea bargain. The terms under discussion would have the five Guantanamo detainees plead guilty and serve life sentences in exchange for being spared the death penalty. Lawyers for the two sides have been exploring a negotiated resolution to the case for about 1 1/2 years. They had been waiting for about a year of that time to see if Biden would express opposition or support for some of the conditions that defense lawyers had been seeking.Bide...

Brazil cyclone, Europe flooding, another Earth heat record: What to know in extreme weather now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

Families perched atop houses pleading for help to escape the deadly flooding after a cyclone hammered southern Brazil, with the region’s governor calling it “an absolutely out of the ordinary event.”The world’s latest extreme weather disaster killed at least 31 people and left at least 1,600 homeless, authorities said Wednesday. The scope of the damage was enormous: Rio Grande do Sol Gov. Eduardo Leite said it was his state’s highest death toll from a climate event, with “entire cities that were completely compromised.”The toll included at least 15 bodies in a single house.Flooding also wracked Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria on Tuesday, fed by fierce rainstorms and killing at least seven people. The toll included at least two in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, where streets and homes were flooded in two neighborhoods.Here’s what else is happening related to extreme weather, climate and the environment right now:—The World Meteorological Organization announced a...

3 sailors whose boat was damaged in several shark attacks have been rescued in Coral Sea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men’s 9-meter (30-foot) boat had been damaged after several shark attacks. The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying “Dugong Ace,” which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.“The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they’re all healthy and well,” said Joe Zeller, duty manager at the agency’s Canberra response center.The men, aged between 28 and 64, are due...

Special meeting held on Ryan Field renovation plans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. — Evanston's Land Use Commission met before a packed crowd of residents Wednesday evening to discuss Northwestern University's proposed renovations to Ryan Field.Northwestern is proposing an $800 million project where Ryan Field will essentially be torn down, and replaced with a new, state-of-the-art field. Representatives from the university spoke during the Land Use Commission meeting to relay that the new stadium would be built without any taxpayer dollars, while also providing huge economic relief for the area.A major point of conversation Wednesday was based around Northwestern asking for a 'zoning text amendment,' which would allow the new venue to play host to six concert events in order to help foot the bill for the proposed renovations. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Northwestern provides update on Ryan Field renovation plans Also of note, university officials said the new stadium would actually have 12,000 less seats than the current edition of Ryan Field, but would a...

Mother Nature Turning On The Air Conditioner; Big T-Storms Sweep Sections of Metro Area Hitting Southern Suburbs Hardest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

BIG T-STORMS swept sections of the metro area DRENCHING the southern suburbs—evenprompting FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS there in an area which is home to 970,000 area residents. Below is a weather radar animation from the College of DuPage GOES weather satellite site:Downpours in some areas, hardly no rain in othersAt the same time thundery downpours drenched these area, other parts of the Chicago area—in typical warm weather precip fashion—saw FAR LESS RAIN.  In the city of Chicago, as an example, O'Hare tallied only 0.07" while Midwest recorded 0.35".  After 19 consecutive rainless days, even these comparatively modest city amounts were welcomeGRIST is running a series on HEAT and its impact on how and where we live—-but also on how many succumb to it and how those numbers are underreported. Its latest report is entitled "How many people are really dying from heat?" It's a fascinating series of reports and this latest piece looks at why heat fatalities are underreported.Periods of extreme...

Jury finds De'Ondre White guilty of murder in Sixth Street mass shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A jury found De'Ondre White guilty of the murder of Douglas Kantor in the incident now referred to as the Sixth Street mass shooting.Sentencing for White will occur Thursday morning.White is accused of firing at least eight times into a large crowd, killing Kantor, an innocent bystander, in June 2021. This incident is now referred to as the Sixth Street mass shooting. "I was just scared...I didn't want to go to jail," De'Ondre White, on trial for murder told a courtroom on Wednesday, in response to being dishonest with police and fleeing a murder scene. ‘This senseless tragedy has put an end to all his dreams’: 25-year-old dies in downtown Austin mass shooting Kantor was in town celebrating his recent grad school graduation. White took the stand as the final witness in a two-week trial on Wednesday. He appeared nervous, but eager to tell his side of the story in his own words.He admitted to trying to get away with firing into the cr...

One person dead in southeast Austin vehicle-pedestrian crash, ATCEMS says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- One person is dead after a vehicle-pedestrian crash in southeast Austin Wednesday night, Austin-Travis County EMS confirmed on Twitter.Shortly after 9 p.m., medics and the Austin Fire Department responded to reports of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle in the 3000-3195 block of East Highway 71 in the westbound lanes, medics said.One adult person was pronounced dead on the scene, medics said.Drivers should expect extended road closures around the scene, as well as seek an alternate route.No other information was available Wednesday.

Horns Pre-game Southeastern Showdown: Getting you ready for Texas-Alabama

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

Watch the 30-minute Horns Pre-game Southeastern Showdown in the video player above as KXAN Sports gets you ready for the biggest game this week in college football.AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas Longhorns starting quarterback Quinn Ewers told reporters that he thinks the team is "ready to take the next step" and the KXAN Sports team has a full breakdown of what it will take for the 'Horns to accomplish that in our Southeastern Showdown Special. Eyes on Alabama: Texas set for future SEC clash No. 11 Texas will join the SEC and become an official conference rival of No. 4 Alabama in July 2024, but, first, the two programs conclude their home-and-home series as non-conference foes this Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. "Should be a great night of football, and I know that the key to the drill for us is to focus on what we need to do to prepare and get ourselves in the right frame of mind," UT head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. Members of the Longhorns Radio Network...

Back-to-school vaccinations encouraged as Minnesota’s immunization rate declines

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

When a child starts a new school year, they’re exposed to a lot of new people and a lot of new germs.That’s one reason why Andrea Singh, a pediatrician at HealthPartners Park Nicollet, said it’s important for kids to be up to date with their immunizations. But according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health, about one in three 6-year-olds are not up to date on their vaccinations, like measles, polio and chickenpox.“As a health care clinician, it’s a scary time,” Singh said. “As we see these immunizations declining, we are fortunate that we live in a generation where we haven’t seen some of these scary illnesses take over. Childhood illnesses take over communities, even COVID. We were lucky because it didn’t hit kids disproportionally.”But with vaccinations declining and distrust of the medical community increasing, Singh thinks there could be a resurgence in illnesses like polio and measles.Those vaccination rates have steadily declined since 2019 in Minn...

‘It didn’t seem real’: Friends reflect on loss of teens in fatal crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:36:00 GMT

UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. – Twelve hours after a crash took the lives of three Ladue Horton Watkins High School students, mourners staged a vigil just feet from the scene."You never think that it will happen to you or people you know until it does happen," said Nylah Sannold, who had been friends with two of the three victims for years.The crash occurred just after 7:15 a.m. Wednesday in the 1000 block of Groby Road at Mulberry Lane, located near Kaufman Park.Police found a 2016 Hyundai Accent embedded in the side of a vacant home. Corporal Dallas Thompson, Missouri State Highway Patrol, said the three 15-year-olds were found dead inside the vehicle. Only the driver had been wearing a seat belt.Sannold remained in shock Wednesday evening, joining several others in paying tribute to a group she said could fill a room with light. Three teens die after car crashes into a University City home "It didn’t seem real that it happened,” she said. "We lived in the same neighborhood; we rode the ...