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Opening South Boston beach delayed; boss away in England

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

If state wildlife officials had the final say, Southie residents could now be cooling off at the L Street Beach behind the renovated Curley Center.With MassWildlife outlining a beach access plan — with a shorebird monitor — the city still has to complete its own review and adopt a state beach proposal.“They don’t need any extra permissions because we have already issued our determination,” a MassWildlife spokesperson told the Herald on Wednesday. “As long as they follow their beach management plan, there is no other review on our end.”City officials say the Conservation Commission is scheduled to vote July 19 on the beach management plan, which outlines conditions the city needs to take for access not to have an adverse effect on the piping plover.The Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, head of the city’s Environment Department, which oversees the Conservation Commission, has been out of town. She received an invite from the U.S. Embassy of London to participate in a discussion ...

Manhattanhenge is a bust as clouds hide NYC sunset. Last chance this year is Thursday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — There’s only one more chance this year to possibly take in Manhattanhenge, the biannual alignment of the setting sun with the city’s east-west streets that brings New Yorkers out of their apartments to watch it bathe the urban canyons in a rosy glow. With gray, gloomy weather socking in the horizon at Wednesday’s sundown, fans of the spectacle will have to hope the clouds part Thursday.“I tried but it’s not going to happen today,” said Kevin Andrade, a restaurant server who had the day off and waited in hopes of a fiery sky show on West 23rd Street. “I’m so sad about it.”It was Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, who coined the term Manhattanhenge to describe the phenomenon. He was inspired by Stonehenge, where tourists and modern-day Druids camp out on the summer solstice to watch the rising sun align with the prehistoric stones.Manhattanhenge attracts its own Druids when it happens for two nights around Memorial...

Top tribunal certifies Guatemala’s election result minutes after another court suspends one party

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s troubled presidential election was thrown into even greater turmoil Wednesday when the country’s top electoral tribunal confirmed the results of the June 25 vote while the Attorney General’s Office announced that the second place party had been suspended.The seemingly contradictory moves fed more than two weeks of rising tensions and suspicions after the first round of voting, which had seemingly sent conservative Sandra Torres and progressive Bernardo Arévalo into a Aug. 20 presidential runoff.There were immediate calls Wednesday for Guatemalans to take to the streets in protest and demonstrators gathered outside the Supreme Electoral Tribunal until heavy rain drove them away.It was not immediately clear how the situation would play out now that yet another court had intervened in Guatemala’s electoral process, but electoral authorities said Torres and Arévalo would face each other on Aug. 20.But Rafael Curruchiche, the special prosecutor aga...

69-year-old woman dies in hospital, struck by vehicle in Etobicoke this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

Toronto police say a woman has died in a local hospital from injuries sustained when she was struck by a vehicle in Etobicoke this week.Emergency crews responded to the Horner Avenue and Thirtieth Street area near Kipling Avenue just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday.Police said the woman was crossing from the north side of Horner to the south side when she was hit in a marked crosswalk by a Dodge Ram pick-up truck turning left onto Horner from Thirtieth.The female pedestrian was rushed to a local trauma centre with serious injuries, but her condition worsened. Police said the 69-year-old woman died in hospital on Wednesday. She was not identified by authorities.The driver remained at the scene. It’s unclear if any charges will be laid.Traffic Services have taken over the investigation.With files from Patricia D’Cunha of CityNews

Tornado touches down near Chicago’s O’Hare airport, disrupting hundreds of flights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A tornado touched down Wednesday evening near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights. There were no immediate reports of injuries. A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Chicago. “This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area,” it said.By 8 p.m. the weather service said the Chicago forecast area was “currently tornado warning free.” It said the storm was moving east toward Michigan, where tornado warnings were issued.Video from TV stations showed hundreds of people taking shelter in an O’Hare concourse. Some 169 flights were canceled and nearly 500 were delayed, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.The National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings for portions of the ...

Kim vows to boost North Korea’s nuclear capability after observing new ICBM launch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further bolster his country’s nuclear fighting capabilities as he supervised the second test-flight of a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the mainland U.S., state media reported Thursday.Kim’s statement suggested North Korea would ramp up weapons testing activities to expand its arsenal in response to recent U.S. steps to enhance its security commitment to ally South Korea.“The present unstable situation in which the security environment on the Korean peninsula is being seriously threatened by the hostile forces every moment,” Kim said, according to state media. “(That) requires more intense efforts to implement the line of bolstering nuclear war deterrent.”The Korean Central News Agency reported Kim’s comments a day after the launch of the Hwasong-18, which was first test-fired in April and which Kim has called the most powerful weapon of his nuclear forces. The road-mobile ICBM has bu...

ESPN's Dick Vitale diagnosed with cancer for a third time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

(AP) - Longtime ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale says he has been diagnosed with cancer for a third time.Vitale tweeted Wednesday that he had surgery in Boston this week, and tests revealed that he has vocal cord cancer. He said he will undergo six weeks of radiation treatments.“I plan to fight like hell to be ready to call games when the college hoops season kicks off in the fall,” Vitale tweeted, adding that his doctor “feels that scenario is entirely possible.”The 84-year-old Vitale has previously been treated for melanoma and lymphoma. He celebrated being cancer-free in April of last year.Vitale has been with ESPN since 1979, the year the network launched. He called ESPN’s first college basketball broadcast. He's also a longtime fundraiser for cancer research.Vitale helped friend Jim Valvano to the stage at the 1993 ESPYs, where Valvano delivered his famous “Don’t give up” speech. Valvano died of adenocarcinoma less than two months later.

Doctor behind once-viral TikTok page stripped of medical license by state board

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – An Ohio plastic surgeon with a once-viral TikTok page has been stripped of her medical license.On Wednesday, the Ohio Medical Board permanently revoked the licensure of Dr. Katharine Grawe, formerly known as @doctorroxy on TikTok, after she botched the surgeries of three patients – each of whom required medical care following their procedures, according to disciplinary records with the board. She was issued a $4,500 fine for failing to meet the standard of care."I strongly recommend that there never be a Dr. Roxy or patient one, two or three - and protect the people of the state of Ohio from this reckless physician," board member Dr. Jonathan Feibel said. High school baseball standout loses his hand after July 4 fireworks accident From 2018 to 2022, Grawe frequently livestreamed patients’ surgeries on her TikTok, amassing thousands of followers who tuned in to watch the procedures. But a board member at Wednesday’s hearing said Grawe prioritized her social ...

Tornado touches down near O'Hare Airport in Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday following warnings of severe weather for the city. There were no immediate reports of injuries.A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Chicago.“This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area," it said.By 8 p.m. the weather service said the Chicago forecast area was “currently tornado warning free." It said the storm was moving east toward Michigan, where tornado warnings were issued.Video from TV stations showed hundreds of people taking shelter in an O’Hare concourse. Some 166 flights were canceled and nearly 500 were delayed, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.The National Weather Service issued two tornado warnings for portions of the cit...

Ex-Minneapolis police officer sentenced to workhouse for high-speed crash that killed St. Paul man

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:36 GMT

A former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in the county workhouse for a high-speed pursuit that killed an innocent St. Paul motorist.Brian Michael Cummings, 39, pleaded guilty in April to criminal vehicular homicide in the July 6 crash that killed 40-year-old Leneal Lamont Frazier. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a charge of second-degree manslaughter.Frazier was the uncle of Darnella Frazier, whose cellphone video of George Floyd’s May 2020 murder at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked a wave of global protests against racial injustice.The sentence by Hennepin County District Judge Tamara Garcia was a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines.On the night of the crash, Cummings attempted to stop a Kia Sportage SUV he believed was stolen in North Minneapolis, the criminal complaint said. The driver sped away from Cummings, who pursued for 20 blocks at speeds that reached roughly 100 mph through residential nei...