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Heavy swells pound northeast Caribbean as Hurricane Lee charges through open waters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Large swells battered the northeast Caribbean on Saturday as Hurricane Lee churned nearby through open waters as a Category 3 storm.The storm, which is not forecast to make landfall, was located 385 miles (620 kilometers) east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).Earlier this week, Lee grew from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 storm in just one day amid warm waters and limited wind shear.“This was one of the fastest rates of strengthening in the Atlantic Basin on record,” AccuWeather said in a statement.Lee was forecast to pass well north of the northeast Caribbean in a big relief to people from the British Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico, which are still recovering from hurricanes Irma and Maria that hit in September 2017.Tropical storm conditions were not expected for any Caribbean island, but breaking waves of up to 15 feet (5 meters) were forecast for Puer...

Climate protesters have blocked a Dutch highway to demand an end to big subsidies for fossil fuels

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Several thousand climate activists blocked a Dutch highway on Saturday in anger at billions of euros in government subsidies for industries that use oil, coal and gas revealed in a report earlier this week.The protesters — from Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and other organizations — broke through a police barrier and sat on a main road in The Hague heading to the temporary venue for the lower house of parliament.They threatened to stay until the subsidies are lifted, and to come back every day if the police remove them.The activists brandished signs with sayings like “Fossil Fuel Subsidies are Not Cool,” and warned that the extreme temperatures seen around the world this summer are a sign of the future if fossil fuels aren’t abandoned.The action is part of a series of protests led by Extinction Rebellion targeting the Dutch parliament.A report published Monday said the Dutch government spends around 37.5 billion euros ($40.5 billion) per year i...

Frustration, despair at Montreal airport amid road traffic woes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

MONTREAL — The entrance to Montreal’s airport rumbled with honks, groans and a few profanities on a recent afternoon as a herd of cars inched forward on the road leading to the terminals.The gridlock proved too much for some anxious travellers to bear. More than a dozen ditched their rides, some dashed hundreds of metres alongside traffic, luggage in tow, in frantic attempts to catch their flights — or to simply skip the wait. Their heads bobbed between vehicles on the boulevard that branches off from the highway. There is no sidewalk. Among them was Nick Galbraith, whose father deposited him on the side of the road, hundreds of metres from the airport. “It’s an embarrassment,” Galbraith said of the traffic on Thursday. “Obviously ridiculous.”A post-pandemic surge in car traffic at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport this summer has led to frustration, confusion and desperation. The city’s public transit authority has scram...

When will the fall colors peak near me?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Sure, many of us are still soaking in the summer sun — and heat — but fall is right around the corner. Depending on where you live, the leaves may have already started fading to their fall shades of reds, oranges, yellows and browns. How fast the leaves change, and when colors peak, largely depends on where you live. Regardless of where you live, though, the leaves around you are on a schedule. Why do leaves change color?What ignites the trees to erupt into reds, oranges and yellows is largely the length of day, Brad Hutnik, a forest ecologist/silviculturist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources told Nexstar. We’ve been slowly losing daylight since the summer solstice in mid-June, and it will only become more noticeable as we move through September. Our trees are tuned into that lack of light and will begin to wind down for the year. “Oftentimes, by the time we’re seeing the leaves on the trees, that tree is functionally shut down for the...

Hyundai Rolls out free anti-theft upgrades in St. Louis County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- Hyundai Motor America is teaming up with St. Louis County, St. Louis County Police, the City of Jennings, and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis to provide free anti-theft software upgrades for certain Hyundai owners.   Fans disappointed as Guns N’ Roses abruptly postpones St. Louis show This service will be available at the Urban League's parking lot at 8960 Jennings Station Road on Saturday and Sunday, September 9 and 10. Specially trained technicians will be on hand to quickly install the anti-theft software on eligible vehicles. The process takes less than an hour.Eligible Affected Vehicles 2018-2022 Accent 2011-2022 Elantra 2013-2020 Elantra GT 2013-2014 Genesis Coupe 2018-2022 Kona 2020-2021 Palisade 2013-2022 Santa Fe 2013-2018 Santa Fe Sport 2019 Santa Fe XL 2011-2019 Sonata 2011-2022 Tucson 2012-2017 & 2019-2021 Veloster 2020-2021 Venue The mobile service center will only provid...

Sunshine and 80s on the horizon for St. Louis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- We have a beautiful weekend ahead of us. Today will be sunny, with highs near 80. Tonight, it will be in the 50s. Sunday will be a little warmer, with highs in the low 80s. With our next cold front, which brings even cooler weather, there is a greater chance of scattered rain Monday night through Tuesday morning. The temperature will be in the low 70s on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Grading The Week: A toast to Jared Goff, Lions for showing Broncos how to (finally) beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

Vic Fangio would’ve shown up to a Wednesday news conference wearing a Speedo thong before he’d call a fake punt on fourth down from his own 17.Nathaniel Hackett? Not on your stinking life.So the Grading The Week crew would like to finish the week by tipping a collective cap — er, caps — to Lions coach Dan Campbell and his staff. We salute the Columbia Blue today for a.) having no fear, on the road, against the defending Super Bowl and AFC West champs; and b.) showing the rest of the division, especially the part of the rest of division with offices in Dove Valley, how to beat the Chiefs.Jared Goff 2, Patrick Mahomes 0 — ANow we know what you’re saying, Broncos Country. Why the heck can’t we ever get the stars to align like that at Arrowhead?No Travis Kelce. No Chris Jones. About 36 KC drops. Almost everything that could go wrong for the reigning world champs in their home opener did, and yet they almost still squeaked one out in Week 1.Chiefs wideout Kedarius...

Letters: The ban on pet-store sales in Aurora celebrated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

Celebrating ban on pet salesRe: “Aurora: Retail sales of cats, dogs banned,” Sept. 6 news storyAs I read the headline announcing that Aurora had banned the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores, I immediately thought of Elijah McClain, who, until his unconscionable violent death, spent time playing violin for shelter animals so that they wouldn’t feel lonely. I was so touched by his tale that I named my own rescue pup after him. Both my beautiful boy and his angelic human namesake would be heartened by this law, designed to further animal adoption.Thank you, Aurora!Karen Dawn, Santa BarbaraGood for Aurora for prohibiting the sale of dogs from puppy mills. With the Denver area’s overpopulation of dogs, that is an environmentally sound decision.As an extremely allergic person, it is disgusting and dangerous to have restaurant patrons bringing in sniffing, jumping dogs and claim they are service animals. That is unfair to those who need a service animal trained to...

Philp: DeSantis’ fading star means Gavin Newsom will have to wait

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

Unless a Republican running for president other than Donald Trump starts to suddenly emerge as a clear and dangerous threat to Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom’s obvious national political aspirations are toast. What is emerging now on the Republican side of the ticket is clearly another Trump nomination.Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example, are polling as similar distant longshots. That’s horrible for Newsom.It’s ironic how much DeSantis and Newsom need each other to end the geriatric stranglehold on the nation’s presidential politics. But as Trump’s indictments mount, and both he and Biden get older, their dominance within their respective parties only seems to grow stronger.DeSantis is fading into a thicket of also-ran candidates after an unremarkable debate performance Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. That makes Newsom a never-ran.DeSantis began his campaign “with every sort of political and public relations (advantage) that he could possibly have,” said David Metz, a veteran Calif...

Mathews: If you want to see the future of California, look to Oregon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:02:23 GMT

In this era of exodus, if you want to see the future of California, you have to leave the state.I got an unexpected glimpse of that future recently in Bend, a small city in east-central Oregon.I spent most of my time in Bend at the new high school on the city’s southeastern edge. CalderaHigh School, and its two pristine baseball fields, hosted the regional tournament for the best14-years-and-under all-star baseball teams in the West.My hometown team, from South Pasadena, had won the Southern California championship forthe first time our Little League’s history. In Bend, our children’s friends would compete againstthe champions of Northern California and nine other states — Arizona, Nevada, Oregon,Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Alaska and Hawaii.That might sound like a diverse Western gathering. But the families of the other teams includedso many former Californians that the whole thing resembled a Golden State reunion. That wasno surprise. In recent years, departures from Califor...