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Emaciated and imprisoned, former Georgian President Saakashvili tells court he is spiritually fit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili appeared severely emaciated on Monday in videolink testimony to a court considering an abuse-of-power case against him.Saakashvili and his supporters claim he has been poisoned while imprisoned and that he now weighs about 60 kilograms (132 pounds), half of what he weighed when he was arrested in October 2021.From a private clinic where he was being held, he told the court that despite his poor health, he was “spiritually fit and determined to serve the country,” according to local news site Agenda. Saakashvili, who served as Georgia’s president in 2004-13 and led the so-called Rose Revolution protests that drove the previous president out of office, left for Ukraine after the end of his second term. He was later convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison.He was arrested in October 2021 after returning to Georgia to try to bolster opposition forces before n...

Firework explodes in Cary man's face, causing critical injuries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

CARY, Ill. (AP) — A powerful firework exploded in an Illinois man's face, critically injuring him, as he was trying to determine why it hadn't detonated, authorities said Monday.The firework was one of many commercial-grade fireworks possessed by the 58-year-old man at a Sunday night gathering in Cary, the Lake County sheriff's office said.“He lit a firework, which did not detonate as expected,” the sheriff's office said. “The man looked into the tube housing the firework and it discharged, striking his face and then exploding.” List: What stores, restaurants will be open for July 4, 2023? The man, whose name was not released, was in critical condition at a hospital.Other fireworks were given to a bomb squad for destruction. They typically require a permit to possess and detonate, the sheriff's office said.The sheriff's office said criminal charges are possible.

Skilling: 90s around Chicago for 4th of July holiday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Approximately 2 in 10 July (about 18%) of July 4's have produced a 90-deg or hotter high temp over the past 152 years in Chicago---AND TUESDAY IS TO BE ONE OF THEM.Five of the past 22 July 4's are among those with 90-deg highs. We opened the new week with 94% of our possible sun---a development which sent temps surging 15-deg higher than our rain-drenched Sunday. O'Hare is likely to record an 88-deg high Monday.Sunday's flooding rains in Chicago produced 3.82" at O'Hare and 4.05" at Midway.  The O'Hare tally was the heaviest to occur in a calendar day there in the just over 3 years since 2020—and it hit with the area mired in a multi-month drought. Chicago had received inly 41% of its normal rain since April up to the weekend rain's (both Saturday and Sunday) arrival. Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog Now, not only in June rainfall running ABOVE NORMAL, the rainfall deficit here in Chicago since April 1 has been cut from well over 7" Friday to just under ...

'No sense of urgency': Man who captured crack on roller coaster says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (NewsNation) — A popular roller coaster in North Carolina was closed after a video went viral showing a huge crack in one of the ride's support beams.In the video, the roller coaster zooms by, moving the cracked beam and widening the crack's gap back and forth. Jeremy Wagner, who was at the Carowinds Amusement Park in Charlotte with his kids, recorded the video before reporting it to park staff. The park's newest and tallest ride was eventually shut down later on in the day. Wagner said his daughter and niece rode the Fury 325 about eight times that day. He explained since it was an extremely hot day, he left about 30 minutes early to turn on the air conditioning in the car while the two girls rode the roller coaster a few more times before heading out for the day. Riders plunge from a derailed roller coaster in Sweden, killing one and injuring several others When he pulled out in front of the park to pick them up, he was taking in the engineering feat of the roll...

Justin Fields has his moment at NASCAR's Chicago Street Race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

CHICAGO — It was a unique opportunity for the Bears quarterback at a very unique event in downtown Chicago.While it might have been adjusted a bit due to the weather, Justin Fields still got to have a first when it comes to another professional sport. Named the Grand Marshal of the inaugural Chicago Street Race Cup Series event on Sunday, the Bears quarterback had the honor of giving the command for drivers to start their engines for the Grant Park 220. "It's a new experience for me," said Fields of being around a NASCAR race. "But I feel like now I'm definitely going to get into it way more. So I'm excited."Things had to be adjusted just a bit due to the torrential downpours that canceled most of Sunday's prerace activities around the 2.2-mile course and delayed the start of the Cup Series race by an hour. Instead of around the starting grid, Fields gave the command to start the engines in the media center that was located at the Art Institute of Chicago. The delay because of the r...

Titan submersible may have tried to resurface before tragedy: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

(NewsNation) — New details about the implosion of the Titan submersible indicate the vessel "dropped weights" before communication was lost, reported by The New Yorker. In an interview, Rob McCallum — a former advisor to OceanGate, the company that designed the Titan submersible — said he received a report that when the submersible reached 3,500 meters it dropped weights, meaning it aborted the dive, The New Yorker reported, before it “then it lost comms, and lost tracking, and an implosion was heard.” US Coast Guard to lead investigation into Titan implosion At one point, McCallum criticized the company's Cyclops I — the predecessor to the doomed "Titan" Cyclops II submersible — for its design to be piloted by a PlayStation controller.“Everyone was drinking Kool-Aid and saying how cool they were with a Sony PlayStation,” he told The New Yorker. “And I said at the time, ‘Does Sony know that it’s been used for this application? Because, you know, this is not what it was designed ...

Christmas Tree Shops expected to liquidate all stores: court filings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

MIDDLEBORO, Mass. (WXIN) — Christmas Tree Shops is expected to begin liquidating all its stores across the United States, according to court filings.Christmas Tree Shops, recently rebranded as CTS, is a retail store known for offering a variety of home decor goods including bed, bath, kitchen, and dining products and furniture along with seasonal and holiday decorations.When the retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, chairman Marc Salkovitz called the move "strictly a financial restructuring." “We continue to believe that given its storied history and strong customer loyalty, Christmas Tree Shops has tremendous potential, and we remain committed to the long-term success of the business,” he added. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Christmas Tree Shops reported operating 82 different stores in 20 U.S. states. It then announced plans to close 10 of those stores across seven states: Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia...

Rescue crews respond to 'jet ski incident' in Lake Travis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Rescue crews responded to a "jet ski incident" on Lake Travis Monday afternoon, according to Austin-Travis County EMS.The Lake Travis Task Force responded to Paradise Cove Marina in Hudson Bend, where ATCEMS said a person was in the water.The patient was taken by North Lake Travis FD boat to Emerald Point Marina. ATCEMS medics then transported the person to Baylor Scott & White Lakeway with non-life-threatening injuries.This is the second water rescue on Lake Travis this afternoon. Crews have switched to recovery mode after an 8-year-old boy fell off a boat in the Cow Creek arm of the lake.

Rainey Street EMS patrols help intoxicated man found on ground near lake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin-Travis County EMS helped a man early Saturday morning who medics found "disoriented" on the trail near Lady Bird Lake.Medic Jordan Andrade was stationed on Rainey Street as part of ATCEMS' new pilot program in response to certain concerns about deaths in Lady Bird Lake when she said she and her partner saw a man - apparently intoxicated - stumbling near the trail. EMS plans pilot staging program near Rainey Street "We attempted to assist him up and help up, but he didn't want anything to do with us," she said. About an hour later, the two medics started driving around to look for him again. "We couldn't find him anywhere," Andrade said. "Then not too long after that, we got a call that there was a male down, bloody, on the trail back here."She said they called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital, and that if they weren't stationed nearby, it would have taken medics much longer to get to him."It took us about a minute or less to get to the scene. It...

Sick of Twitter? Some similar social media options

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Saturday, Elon Musk announced temporary plans to limit how many tweets users can read each day, all dependent on their verification status and the amount of time their account has been active.Musk said verified users would be able to read 6,000 posts daily, while unverified and newly created, unverified accounts were limited to 600 or 300 posts each day. The move led to backlash within hours of the announcement, along with Musk's later decision to extend the limits.Amid the backlash, some users began seeking out alternative sites similar to Twitter, without the same post limits. Here's a roundup of other sites available for those looking to add a new social media channel to their repertoire or abandon ship in the Twitterverse.BlueskyIt hasn't publicly launched yet, but Bluesky is a Twitter-esque social media platform that saw so much user interest over the weekend that the website suffered an outage Saturday from people trying to sign up, per Forbes.The invite-onl...