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Biden’s shift on F-16s for Ukraine came after months of internal debate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to allow allies to train Ukrainian forces on how to operate F-16 fighter jets — and eventually to provide the aircraft themselves — seemed like an abrupt change in position but was in fact one that came after months of internal debate and quiet talks with allies.Biden announced during last week’s Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that the U.S. would join the F-16 coalition. His green light came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent months pressing the West to provide his forces with American-made jets as he tries to repel Russia’s now 15-month-old grinding invasion.Long shadowing the administration’s calculation were worries that such a move could escalate tensions with Russia. U.S. officials also argued that learning to fly and logistically support the advanced F-16 would be difficult and time consuming.But over the past three months, administration officials shifted toward the view that it was ti...

Los Angeles Dodgers reinstate gay ‘nun’ group for Pride Night award

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Monday that a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will again be welcome at the team’s annual Pride Night, nearly a week after the team rescinded its original invitation.“We have asked the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16th,” a team statement said. “We are pleased to share that they have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades.”The group will receive the Community Hero Award in a ceremony before the Dodgers’ home game against the San Francisco Giants.After “much thoughtful feedback,” the team also apologized to the group and the LGBTQ+ community, friends and families.The Sisters, a group of mainly men who dress as nuns, is a charity, protest and performance group founded in 1979 in San Francisco. Its Los Angeles chapt...

California officials say communities near refilling Tulare Lake now unlikely to flood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials said Monday they believe tens of thousands of people living near an ancient freshwater lake bed are not likely to experience flooding this year thanks to improving weather conditions and some swift planning following a series of powerful storms that refilled the basin for the first time in decades.Tulare Lake in California’s Central Valley was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, fed by a strong flow of snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada each spring. But the lake eventually went dry as settlers dammed and diverted water for agriculture.This year, the lake started to fill again after the state was hit with a more than a dozen strong storms known as atmospheric rivers packed with massive amounts of rain and snow. What had been a dry lake bed filled with crops and crisscrossed by powerlines began to go underwater. Now, water covers more than 160 square miles (414.40 square kilometers).Most of that flooding is ...

Rain forecast could slow down record-breaking Alberta wildfires, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

EDMONTON — Light rainfall and cooler temperatures slowed down wildfire activity in Alberta over the long weekend and more rain that’s in the forecast may help firefighters catch a breath during a record-breaking season of fires.“This could be a turning point for the firefighters working out there on the fires,” Christie Tucker of Alberta Wildfire said during a news conference Monday.“We have received rain, I understand, on almost every wildfire that’s currently burning in the province except those in the far north.”She delivered the hopeful message while also telling reporters that 2023 has been the most active spring for fires on record with 945,000 hectares burned, surpassing 615,000 in 2019. Cooler temperatures and rain were forecast to continue Tuesday, she noted.Bre Hutchinson, executive director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, told the news conference the fire danger remains very high to extreme in northern Alberta, and high to v...

Over 150 doctors on strike at NYC hospital that was once called pandemic epicenter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — About 160 resident physicians went on strike Monday over what they called low pay at New York City’s Elmhurst Hospital Center, a public hospital once known as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.The doctors-in-training at the Queens hospital, who are employed by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, are the first doctors to go on strike in the city since 1990, according to their labor union, the Committee of Interns and Residents local of the Service Employees International Union.Mount Sinai “refuses to pay us the same as our coworkers doing the exact same job at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan,” Dr. Joya Dupre, a second-year internal medicine resident at Elmhurst, said in a union statement. ”It feels, fundamentally, like Mount Sinai is saying that this community does not matter. Like we as Elmhurst residents do not matter, as largely immigrant, union doctors.”Mount Sinai released a statement Monday saying it was “wo...

Names of farmworker victims in deadly Oregon crash released

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

ALBANY, Ore. (AP) — The names of the farmworkers killed and injured Thursday in one of Oregon’s deadliest highway crashes have been released. The Oregon State Police on Monday released the names of the seven people who died and the four who were injured when a semitruck left Interstate 5 and slammed into a van carrying the workers as it was parked on the roadside near Albany, an agricultural area of the Willamette Valley. The people who died were identified as: Eduardo Lopez, 31; Alejandro Jimenez Hernandez, 36; Josue Garcia Garcia, 30; Luis Enrique Gomez Reyes, 30; Javier Suarez, 58; Alejandra Espinoza Carpio, 39; and Juan Carlos Leyva Carrillo, 37. Those with serious injuries have been identified as Maria Flores Martinez, 60; Hector Galindo, 45; and Jose Eduardo Solis Flores, 41. Adan Garcia Garcia, 40, suffered an injury police described as minor. Martinez, Galindo and Solis Flores were still at medical facilities on Monday receiving treatment, police said.The Mexican Consulate i...

Ex-NFL player gets prison in man's stabbing death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

*Watch above for previous coverage.CLEVELAND (WJW) -- A former NFL player found out Monday he's going to prison for at least 12 years.Eric L. Wilkerson, 56, of Cleveland, was indicted in 2022 on charges including aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and tampering with records in the fatal stabbing of 46-year-old Brian Weems III of Maple Heights. Oakland A’s announcer fired after use of racial slur on broadcast Wilkerson pleaded guilty last week to amended charges including involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence, court records show. His remaining six charges were dropped.Wilkerson was handed an indefinite sentence of 12- to 17-and-a-half years in prison on Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. That means he won't be released until he's between 68 and 73 years old. He'll then be on probation for another two years.Police said the two men got into in argument at Weems' apartment and that Wilkerson followed him into the bathroom, where he stabbed Weems mul...

Krispy Kreme giving free doughnuts to 2023 graduates: How to claim yours

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) - Did you graduate from high school or college this spring? Krispy Kreme wants to congratulate you – as well as everyone in the Class of 2023 – with free doughnuts for your achievement.To celebrate, graduating seniors can get a free Original Glazed dozen in a Dough-ploma box, no purchase necessary and while supplies last. Taco Bell of the future: New restaurant opens with 4-lane drive-thru system You will need to go to a participating Krispy Kreme in your cap and gown or 2023 swag, or with your student ID to pick up your doughnuts starting on May 24. Snack wisely though - Krispy Kreme has a limit of one dozen per graduate. The offer is not available online. Krispy Kreme first began offering free doughnuts to graduates in May 2020, making this the fourth consecutive year of the Grad Day promotion.

6 children removed from hot car, taken to hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

DES PLAINES, Ill. — Six children were taken to the hospital Monday after they were taken out of a hot car in Des Plaines.According to fire officials, emergency crews responded to a call of children in a hot car in an apartment complex parking lot on the 9100 block of Lincoln Drive in Des Plaines around 12:30 p.m. on Monday. Housekeeper accused of assaulting 88-year-old with dementia for ‘personal sexual gratification’ The car was “accessible” and crews did not have to break in.The exact ages and the conditions of the children have not yet been released.Stay with WGN as this story develops.

Longhorns rocket up national rankings with West Virginia sweep, projected to host regional

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:16:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Voters in the four national college baseball polls really loved the Texas Longhorns' sweep of West Virginia to earn a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title.After starting the week unranked in all of them, the Longhorns shot up to No. 13 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper polls while rising to No. 20 in the D1Baseball.com poll and No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches poll.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersWith the losses at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the Mountaineers tumbled seven spots in the Baseball America poll to No. 14, 15 spots in the D1Baseball.com poll to No. 21, 10 spots in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll to No. 18 and 10 spots in the coaches poll to No. 17.It has been a rollercoaster year for the Longhorns when it comes to the rankings, but after taking out a consensus top-10 team and the Big 12's leader a...