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Hundreds of B.C. firefighters dig in for Fort St. John battle amid weather reprieve

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Hundreds of firefighters are taking advantage of a weather break to prepare for a potential worsening of conditions near the wildfire-threatened city of Fort St. John in northeastern British Columbia, as the community of 21,000 remains on evacuation alert.Hannah Swift, an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said 400 fire personnel, 22 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 helicopters were in the vicinity of four blazes close to the city.“We have more resources arriving by the hour,” she told a news briefing. She said a break in the weather, in which winds dropped and shifted direction, had been “a bit of a reprieve” for Fort St. John and crews had used the opportunity to reassess and position themselves ahead of a warm front.That new weather change, bringing hotter conditions and a potentially problematic wind shift, could arrive as soon as Wednesday evening, she said. The calmer winds Tuesday had helped crews hold off the wildf...

Vaccine authorized for emergency use in California condors amid bird flu outbreak

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California condors will receive a vaccine for a deadly strain of avian influenza that threatens to wipe out the already critically endangered vulture species, federal officials said Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service granted emergency approval for use of the vaccine after more than a dozen condors recently died from the bird flu, known as H5N1. There are fewer than 350 California condors in the wild, in flocks that span from the Pacific Northwest to Baja California, Mexico. A pilot safety study will begin this month in North American vultures, a similar species, allowing investigators to check for any adverse effects before they give vaccines to the endangered condors, according to an agriculture department statement.The department approved the emergency vaccination “because these birds are critically endangered, closely monitored, and their population is very small which allows close monitoring of the vaccine,...

Lawmakers warn leaky, crumbling UK Parliament at risk of ‘catastrophic’ event

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Parliament building is an architectural masterpiece, a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by 1 million people a year. It’s also a crumbling, leaky, asbestos-riddled building at “real and rising” risk of destruction, lawmakers said Wednesday.In a hair-raising report, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said the seat of British democracy is “leaking, dropping masonry and at constant risk of fire,” as well as riddled with asbestos.“There is a real and rising risk that a catastrophic event will destroy” the building before long-delayed restoration work is done, the committee said.In the most urgent in a series of warnings stretching back years, the committee said renewal work had been painfully slow and mostly amounted to “patching up” the 19th-century building, at a cost of about 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) a week.The committee slammed “years of procrastination” over the building’s future. In 2018, after years of dithering, lawmakers voted t...

Musk says he’s not stepping down as Tesla CEO, tells shareholders the company will advertise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

Elon Musk on Tuesday dismissed speculation that he might step down as Tesla’s CEO and told the company’s annual shareholders meeting that the the electric car and solar panel company would start doing some advertising.“Say it ain’t so,” one shareholder asked Musk about stepping down as Tesla’s leader. “It ain’t so,” he replied without further discussion.When another shareholder suggested that Tesla try advertising, Musk said he is open to it. “This has some merit,” he said to the shareholder at the meeting at Tesla’s factory site near Austin, Texas. “We’ll try a little advertising and see how it goes.”Tesla famously has avoided paying for advertising like its competitors, relying a lot on Musk’s ability to generate free publicity — he has 140 million followers on Twitter, the social media company bought for $44 billion last fall. Musk told shareholders that the company’s “Full Self-Driving” software is getting close to where it’s safer than ...

Firefighters battling blaze at abandoned lumber yard near The Stockyards

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

Toronto firefighters are on scene of a fire at an abandoned lumber yard in the Stockyards area.Emergency crews were called to Weston Road and Gunns Road near Keele Street and St. Clair West just after 6:30 p.m.Firefighters are actively fighting the fire at this location and residents are asked to avoid the area as there are road closures near the blaze.Weston Road is blocked in both directions from St. Clair Avenue to McCormack Street.

Father 'overjoyed' after reuniting with child abducted in South Elgin; mom charged

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

SOUTH ELGIN, Ill. — A girl who was allegedly abducted in South Elgin in 2017 by her noncustodial mother has been found safe in North Carolina after she was spotted at a business, authorities said.Officers found a woman and a minor child at the business in Asheville, North Carolina, and were able to confirm their identities, police said. They said the woman, Heather Unbehaun, 40, was wanted on an extradition warrant out of Illinois for child abduction.Unbehaun posted a $25,000 bond Tuesday and was released from custody, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office said. Unbehaun declined to waive extradition, the office said.PREVIOUS COVERAGE: South Elgin dad asks for public’s help on anniversary of 10-year-old’s abductionIt wasn’t clear whether Unbehaun has an attorney who might comment on the allegations against her."I'm very pleased to find out the little girl is safe," said Amy Schaff, who lives nearby.South Elgin, Illinois, police said they were notified Saturday by police in Ashev...

Former Lake Zurich Lacrosse Club president accused of embezzling $160K

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

LAKE ZURICH, Ill. -- The former president of the Lake Zurich Lacrosse Club was arrested on Tuesday after being accused of money laundering.According to the Lake Zurich Police Department, law enforcement were approached by the executive board members of the Lake Zurich Lacrosse Club NFP in January 2023.The board members told Lake Zurich PD that a past organization president, James Sherer, 55, of Lake Zurich, may have embezzled over $160,000 over a two-year period. 1 killed, 1 critical after Fox Lake restaurant shooting Sherer served as Lake Zurich Lacrosse Club president from August 2020 to November 2022. He reportedly withdrew funds from the Lake Zurich Lacrosse Club bank account for personal use.Newly appointed board members identified the unauthorized withdraws and alerted authorities.The Lake County State's Attorney's Office issued an arrest warrant for Sherer, who was taken into custody by Lake Zurich police following a traffic stop on Tuesday.Sherer's bond has been set at $20...

CPD cautions business owners after rash of burglaries on Near West Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police are warning business owners on the Near West Side following a rash of burglaries and attempted burglaries over the past month.  Thieves targeted 15 bars, taverns and restaurants spanning several Chicago neighborhoods, including West Town, Ukrainian Village, Little Italy,  the Lower West Side and the Near West Side. Police say in each incident, the offenders use a rock or brick to break a window of the business. Once inside, a crowbar is used to access the cash registers and safe. Second man charged in robbery, shooting that critically injured Dakotah Earley last year A list of the incident is below: 1700 block of West Grand, Saturday, April 15200 block of North Ashland, Sunday, April 162100 block of West Chicago, Sunday, April 161400 block of West Taylor, Sunday, April 16200 block of North Ashland, Tuesday, April 251300 block of West Erie, Tuesday, April 251400 block of West Taylor, Tuesday, April 252100 block of West Chicago, Tuesday, April 252100 block o...

Wanted Ohio man tells police to be 'quicker' looking for him on Facebook post

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

NEWARK, Ohio (WCMH) – A convicted felon in Ohio was in a humorous mood Tuesday when local police asked for help catching him.The Newark Division of Police posted on Facebook that Tanner Rhinehart, 20, had a warrant out for his arrest after failing to appear at his sentencing hearing for a probation violation. However, Rhinehart didn't shy away from responding to the Newark police post from his own account, which saw laugh reactions from over a hundred other users."Y'all almost had (me) the other day you gotta be quicker than that (sic)," Rhinehart wrote.Rhinehart's probation violation stemmed from a charge of failing to comply with an officer on February 26, 2023. He originally had received the one-year probation sentence from a November 2021 case in which he was convicted of receiving stolen property, according to the Licking County Municipal Court Clerk's Office. 5-year-old hospitalized after being stung by scorpion in pool at Las Vegas home Rhinehart was arrested, then bailed o...

Taco Bell petitions to end trademark of 'Taco Tuesday'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:17 GMT

(The Hill) - The restaurant chain Taco Bell filed a petition on Tuesday to end the chain Taco John’s trademark of the phrase “Taco Tuesday,” arguing that it should be available for all who sell tacos. Taco Bell said in a release that the trademark, which has been in place since 1989, has put companies at risk of legal action if they want to use the phrase. It said the chain is not seeking any damages or trademark rights but wants “common sense for usage of a common term.” “Taco Bell believes ‘Taco Tuesday’ should belong to all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos. In fact, the very essence of ‘Taco Tuesday’ is to celebrate the commonality amongst people of all walks of life who come together every week to celebrate something as simple, yet culturally phenomenal, as the taco,” the release states. Taco Bell has also started a petition for “fans and taco lovers” to support the efforts to remove the trademark.  Your Mai Tai may give you island vibes, but it...