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Don't bring firewood to campsites: Here's why

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

TRANSFER, Pa. (WKBN) -- You might have a long packing list for your summer camping trip, but there's one thing you shouldn't bring: firewood.It's not the wood that's the real concern, it's the invasive species the firewood may carry, said Bill Spring, with Shenango River Lake in Pennsylvania. The pests may be invisible to the naked eye, and hidden within the firewood. Hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park? There’s a shuttle for that "Even though it may not look like it, firewood isn’t dead," writes the National Park Service. "Live wood-boring beetles, tiny insect eggs, microscopic fungi spores, and more can be hidden in and on even the healthiest looking wood." Other pests that could be hiding in firewood include the emerald ash borer, which attacks ash trees, and the spotted lanternfly that's invading the country.Spring said bringing firewood from far away can spread these invasive pests to new areas, where they can damage native forests. "These organisms cannot travel far on t...

Sunny Isles Beach PD find missing 75-year-old woman

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

The Sunny Isles Beach Police Department located a missing 75-year-old woman.Concepcion Lewis Diaz is identified by officials as a Hispanic woman with brown eyes and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. She was last seen walking out of her house around 5 a.m. on Saturday wearing burgundy-colored long pajama pants and a matching top. Police say they found the woman in Doral on Saturday afternoon.

New York City will charge drivers going downtown. Other cities may be next

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

New York (CNN) — President Joe Biden’s administration is set to allow New York City to move forward with a landmark program that will toll vehicles entering Lower Manhattan, after a public review period ends Monday.The toll is formally known as the Central Business District Tolling Program — but it’s commonly called “congestion pricing.”In practice it works like any other toll, but because it specifically charges people to drive in the traffic-choked area below 60th street in Manhattan, it would be the first program of its kind in the United States.Proposals range from charging vehicles $9 to $23 during peak hours, and it’s set to go into effect next spring.The plan had been delayed for years, but it cleared a milestone last month when the Federal Highway Administration signed off on the release of an environmental assessment. The public has until Monday to review the report, and the federal government is widely expected to approve it shortly after.From there, the New...

Trump hits campaign trail as indictment roils 2024 race

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump is set to return to the campaign trail Saturday, traveling to Georgia and North Carolina for speeches at a pair of state Republican conventions as news of his federal indictment roils the party’s 2024 presidential race.The pre-planned stops come the day after the Justice Department unsealed its indictment laying out the government’s case that Trump and aide Walt Nauta mishandled classified national security documents.Trump’s speeches will mark his first public outings since he was indicted for a second time in less than three months, with probes into election interference efforts in Georgia and his actions surrounding January 6, 2021, in Washington threatening to pose further legal troubles.The visits will give Trump a chance to respond to the charges in a campaign-style as he mounts battles on both the political and legal fronts. The former president is scheduled to appear Tuesday in a federal c...

Boston Police Officer shot while responding to robbery remains in stable condition on Saturday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

A Boston cop remained in stable condition Saturday morning after being shot multiple times Friday night while responding to a robbery, a department spokesman said.The officer experienced non-life-threatening injuries and was being treated at Boston Medical Center, where two other officers who were injured Friday night while responding to the situation were also taken.A department spokesman declined to name the officer and said more information would be released later on Saturday. A suspect has not been identified by police but one has been taken into custody, police said.A Boston Medical Center spokesperson referred questions on Saturday to the Boston Police Department.At a Friday night press conference held at nearly 11:30 p.m. outside Boston Medical Center, Police Commissioner Michael Cox said a suspect shot the officer “multiple times” and was promptly arrested by the two other responding officers, who were also injured but not from gunfire.Cox said the officer worked in Roxbury’...

Trump campaigns after indictment unsealed | Live updates

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Follow along for live updates on former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate. The indictment marks the first time in U.S. history that a former president faces criminal charges by the federal government he once oversaw. Trump faces the possibility of prison if convicted.___What to know:— A timeline of events leading to Trump’s indictment in the classified documents case— Indictment accuses Trump of scheming and lying to keep secret papers— A look at the charges, the special counsel’s investigation and what’s next— Trump faces a string of inquiries in various states and venues as he campaigns for a return to the White House— Does the indictment stand to damage Trump’s standing with voters?___TRUMP SUPPORTERS CHEER FORMER PRESIDENT IN GEORGIAScores of Trump supporters braved the beating sun to cheer the former president’s arrival ...

Randy Cox, paralyzed in police van, reaches $45 million settlement with New Haven, Connecticut

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

New Haven, Connecticut, has agreed to a $45 million settlement with Randy Cox, who was paralyzed while being transported handcuffed and without a seat belt in the back of a police van following his arrest last year, the city’s mayor and attorneys said Saturday.The agreement was reached Friday evening following a daylong conference with a federal magistrate judge, Mayor Justin Elicker said. It came two days after the city fired two police officers who authorities said treated Cox recklessly and without compassion. “The city’s mistakes have been well documented,” a statement by attorneys Ben Crump, Louis Rubano and R.J. Weber, who represented Cox, said. “But today is a moment to look to the future, so New Haven residents can have confidence in their city and their police department.”Cox, 36, was left paralyzed from the chest down June 19, 2022, when the police van he was riding in braked hard, sending him head-first into a metal partition while his hands were cuffed behind his b...

Heavy rains in northwest Pakistan leave 20 dead, 80 injured

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Heavy rains swept through Pakistan’s northwest on Saturday, causing several houses to collapse and leaving at least 20 people dead and 80 injured, authorities said.Rains and hail hit the Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Karak districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, senior rescue officer Khateer Ahmed said, uprooting trees and knocking down electrical transmission towers.Officials were working to provide emergency relief to the injured, Ahmed said.Last year, monsoon rains and flooding devastated Pakistan, killing more than 1,700 people and affecting around 33 million people, displacing nearly 8 million.To mitigate the effects of natural disasters, the government in it national budget draft presented Friday allocated $1.3 billion for climate resilience.Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday expressed grief over the loss of life loss from the storm and directed authorities to pick up the pace of the relief operation.Meanwhile, Sharif ordered officials to...

Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski, known as the ‘Unabomber,’ has died in federal prison

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81.Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons, told The Associated Press. He was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m., she said. A cause of death was not immediately known.Before his transfer to the prison medical facility, he had been held in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years for a campaign of terror that set universities nationwide on edge. He admitted committing 16 bombings from 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming several of his victims.Years before the Sept. 11 attacks and the an...

4 children, including a baby, survive 40 days in Amazon jungle after plane crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:28 GMT

Four Indigenous children survived an Amazon plane crash that killed three adults and then braved the jungle for 40 days before being found alive by Colombian soldiers, bringing a happy ending to a search-and-rescue saga that captivated a nation but also prompted questions about their extraordinary survival.Officials in the South American country announced their rescue Friday, following days of highs and lows as searchers frantically combed through the rainforest hunting for the youngsters, members of the Huitoto people and aged 13, 9 and 4 years and 11 months.As the children received treatment Saturday at a hospital in the capital, Bogota, authorities were yet to explain how the siblings endured their time alone in the remote area. Earlier, officials had said the oldest children had some knowledge of how to survive in the rainforest.President Gustavo Petro celebrated the news upon returning from Cuba, where he signed a cease-fire with representatives of the National Liberation Army ...