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Montgomery Co. Council appoints Harris as new planning board chair

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

Artie L. Harris, Jr. will chair the Montgomery County Planning Board after the county’s council tapped him for the position on Tuesday. The council also appointed Josh Linden as a planning board member as well.The planning board is the primary land use and planning adviser for Montgomery County, as well as commissioners of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.The appointments come after the planning board’s previous chair, Casey Anderson, and other board members, including Vice Chair Partap Verma, Gerald Cichy, Tina Patterson and Carol Rubin, were embroiled in controversy — which included Anderson acknowledging he kept a fully stocked bar in his office, which went against Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission policy.“Artie Harris and Josh Linden have the combined experience, leadership and listening skills that are necessary to engage with community members and the Council about land use and planning issues. These individuals ...

Climate outlook shows rain in forecast through end of May

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- It has been a record-breaking May in Denver so far with 4.7 inches of rainfall half way through the month. As of Wednesday evening, this May in Denver is the 10th wettest on record. Over 800% of average precipitation measured in parts of Colorado Looking ahead for the next two weeks, this May will likely end with over five inches of rainfall accumulation in Denver. The precipitation forecast above shows the potential rainfall accumulation added up over the next seven days. For many parts of central and southern Colorado, totals will range from .75 inch up to two inches for the seven days. This comes after the three to seven inches measured in parts of eastern Colorado last week. Denver has had 5 times more rain than Seattle so far this May The wettest days in the seven-day forecast will be Thursday afternoon into Friday morning of this week with scattered showers and storms. The eight to 14-day outlook by the Climate Prediction Center shows likely above averag...

Deputy in El Paso County catches driver going 113 mph

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) -- The El Paso County Sheriff's Office recently caught a driver going 113 mph on Highway 94, and said the action was something they see a lot.The driver was slapped with a ticket for speeding and for reckless driving. Mind-wandering crashes double in Colorado "A perfect example of dangerous driving we see in El Paso County on a daily basis," EPSO said. A driver convicted of speeding 25 mph or more over the speed limit can face a minimum fine of $150 and 10 days in jail. A charge for reckless driving is added if the driver is going 40 mph over the limit or more.Traffic deaths of all kinds on the rise in ColoradoIn 2022, the state saw 745 traffic deaths, the highest number in decades. "It’s impossible to think of a community that hasn’t been affected by one of these crashes,” Colorado State Patrol Col. Matthew Packard said in January when the data was released.El Paso County alone saw 83 -- the most of any county -- with 28% of those being speed-related...

More Storms In Store

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

High pressure in the Gulf and low pressure to the North will maintain our winds flowing in out of the West-Southwest. This is going to keep developing storms moving from West to East through Friday. Therefore, look for strong morning sunshine followed by afternoon storms developing inland and pushing toward the coast. High temperatures will range in the upper 80’s to low 90’s. Not everyone will get activity, but those areas that do can expect to see pockets of heavy rain producing gusty winds and frequent lightning. The Storm Prediction Center has place the Florida Peninsula under a marginal risk of encountering a strong-end storm. Have a wonderful day South Florida and make it a safe one! Vivian GonzalezMeteorologist, AMS Certified WSVN Channel 7

Minnesota man indicted over theft of ruby slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

(CNN) — US authorities have charged a man in connection with the theft of a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actress Judy Garland as Dorothy in the 1939 classic movie “The Wizard of Oz” nearly 20 years after they were stolen from a museum in Minnesota.On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted Terry Jon Martin on one count of theft of a major artwork for allegedly stealing “an object of cultural heritage from the care, custody, or control of a museum,” according to court documents filed in the US District Court of Minnesota. The slippers were valued at least $100,000, court documents stated.CNN has reached out to Martin for comment. It is unclear if he currently has an attorney of record.In August 2005, authorities said a thief broke into the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota before smashing a glass display case and stealing the slippers. Investigators said they had no evidence, aside from a single sequin that had fallen off one of the slippers.A breakthrough in the cas...

Biden 2024 campaign sees multiple ‘viable pathways’ to 2024 election win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

By WILL WEISSERT (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ‘s reelection campaign is vowing to hold the states that won him the White House in 2020 but also compete in places it lost like North Carolina and increasingly Republican-dominated Florida, providing what it says are “a number of viable pathways to the 270 electoral votes” needed to clinch four more years. Offering her first extensive comments on strategy since she was named manager of Biden’s campaign last month, Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo to “interested parties” that the 2024 race presents “significant opportunities to grow Democratic support.” It was released while Biden was traveling in Japan, but he is skipping previously planned, subsequent stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea to focus on debt limit talks in Washington.Rodriguez said the reelection campaign is planning early investments to try to retain battleground states Biden won in ...

Column: A chilly spring for David Ross and Pedro Grifol — and other warning signs for Cubs and White Sox in the summer ahead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

What the Washington Post termed “a bizarre, localized cold front” hit Chicago on Tuesday afternoon, suddenly turning a warm spring afternoon into a chilly night.Meteorologists called it a “pneumonia front,” comparing it to the chills one experiences when getting ill.Coincidentally, Cubs fans also have been going through a pneumonia front after a feel-good start to the 2023 season evaporated into thin air, leaving them cold and confused and looking for someone to blame.The Cubs blew a five-run, eighth-inning lead Wednesday night in Houston in a 7-6 loss to the Astros, extending their losing streak to five games and falling to 19-24, tied with the rebuilding Cincinnati Reds for third place in the National League Central.Drew Smyly pitched seven perfect innings in a 13-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 21, leaving the Cubs at 12-7. They’ve gone 7-17 since, wasting another strong outing by Smyly on Wednesday.The Cubs batted .242 with a .709 OPS...

‘We’ve got to cash that win in’: Chicago Cubs bullpen blows a late 5-run lead in disastrous walk-off loss to seal a road sweep

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

Ten disastrous minutes separated the Chicago Cubs from the cusp of ending a season-high losing streak to their worst loss of the season.A five-run lead entering the bottom of the eighth should have provided enough cushion for the Cubs to put away the Houston Astros. Instead they departed Minute Maid Park ahead of Thursday’s day off with a crushing 7-6 walk-off loss that raised more questions about how the Cubs bullpen can get on track.The Cubs (19-24) head to Philadelphia, where they kick off the last leg of their three-city, nine-game trip Friday carrying a five-game losing streak.“We’ve got to cash that win in,” manager David Ross said. “You’re trying to set guys up for success and match up things that go well, and it didn’t go well tonight. So you’ve got to look at it. Go back to the drawing board and continue to have those guys work.”Mark Leiter Jr., pitching for the second time in 10 days, allowed two runs in the eighth and ...

UK telecom company BT plans to shed up to 55,000 jobs, replace some with AI

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

By KELVIN CHAN (AP Business Writer)LONDON (AP) — U.K. telecom company BT Group said Thursday that it plans to shed up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade and replace some of them with artificial intelligence, as part of an overhaul aimed at slimming down its workforce to slash costs. BT, which has 130,000 workers including both staff and contractors, said in its latest earnings report that its number of employees would be reduced to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2030. “By the end of the 2020s, BT Group will rely on a much smaller workforce and a significantly reduced cost base,” CEO Philip Jansen said. “New BT Group will be a leaner business with a brighter future.”Tech and telecom companies have been cutting jobs as the industry undergoes a painful shakeup amid flagging economic growth and surging inflation. U.K.-based wireless carrier Vodafone, which operates in Europe and Africa, said days earlier that it’s laying off 11,000 workers as part ...

Kenyan marathon star Eliud Kipchoge wins Spain’s 2023 Asturias award for sports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:19:27 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Kenyan marathon specialist Eliud Kipchoge has won the Princess of Asturias Award for sports for 2023, the Spanish foundation that organizes the prizes said Thursday.Kipchoge, 38, who took Olympic gold medals in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was world 5,000 meters champion in 2003 “is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time,” the foundation’s panel of judges said in a statement.The foundation highlighted that he is known as “the philosopher” for his strategy and concentration in running. Kipchoge has won in 10 editions of four of the major marathons, including London and Berlin four times each. He is the current Olympic marathon champion and holds the world record for the discipline, with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, 9 seconds set in Berlin last year. That timing lowered by 30 seconds the record he himself had set in 2018.In a statement from Kipchoge forwarded by the foundation after the announcement, he said it was an “...