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Amid G7 diplomacy, Biden predicts a debt limit deal will get done

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Amid a busy day of diplomacy at the G-7 summit Saturday, President Joe Biden expressed cool confidence that the White House would eventually reach a deal with House Republicans and avoid a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt.Asked if he was worried about the talks hours after his press secretary seemed to indicate that talks had gone off the rails, Biden replied: “Not at all.”Noting that he’s been in the middle of similar negotiations many times over his career in politics, the president spoke about how talks “go in stages.” He appeared relaxed and expressed confidence that “we’ll be able to avoid a default and get something decent done.”Biden made the comments while in the midst of a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was set to host him and the leaders of India and Japan in Sydney next week. The president just days ago canceled that part of his trip so he could return home and deal with the budget impasse and the looming possibili...

Swifties Assemble!: Thousands of fans flock to Foxboro for first of 3 Taylor Swift shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Taylor Swift superfans, rejoice – the musician’s weekend of sold-out “Eras Tour” shows at Gillette Stadium is here.SKY7-HD spotted seemingly endless lines stretching through the premises well before the gates opened for the first of three shows at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.In total, the shows are expected to bring some 200,000 people to the venue through Sunday night.Fans clad in official merch, do-it-yourself-Swift-gear and cowboy boots told 7NEWS they were ecstatic as they waited for Swift’s latest Foxboro show.There was plenty of Taylor-gating underway as well, with fans swapping stories and sharing in the excitement after making the trip, whether they traveled from down the interstate, across the country, or from another part of the world.“We waited 23 years to look at her because we’re from India and she doesn’t come to India,” one fan told 7NEWS with a laugh.Where many drove, some fans rode sold-out MBTA concert trains from Bosto...

Pedestrian medflighted after being struck by vehicle in Leominster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

A pedestrian was rushed to the hospital by medical helicopter after being struck by a vehicle in Leominster on Friday night.Officers responding to a reported of a pedestrian struck at the intersection of Nichols and Main streets around 9 p.m. found the pedestrian seriously injured and a damaged sedan with a smashed windshield, according to Leominster police.The driver who struck the pedestrian stayed at the scene and cooperated with police.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

DeSantis super PAC tackles tricky task of organizing support for him in Iowa without the candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — LaTomah Hauff stopped at the red-draped table on her way into Dean’s Classic Car Museum to jot her contact information on a sign-up sheet to hear more about Ron DeSantis. The 75-year-old retired speech pathologist had driven an hour to hear the Florida governor speak in northwest Iowa last Saturday. She was one of more than 600 Iowa Republicans who filed into the exhibit hall and past the display’s brochures about DeSantis and cards to sign pledging support for him in next year’s Republican presidential caucuses.The display, with all the earmarks of a presidential campaign, was the work of Never Back Down, a super political action committee promoting DeSantis while he moves toward a 2024 bid.It was also an early glimpse of how this group — able to receive unlimited sums from wealthy donors, unlike a presidential campaign — plans to build a network of supporters necessary to compete in the caucuses. Essentially, it’s a caucus campaign that,...

NFL great Jim Brown sought solutions in a lifetime devoted to activism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

Jim Brown’s legs, ever-churning and sturdy as tree trunks, helped propel him to fame on the football field. His voice once he left the gridiron — every bit as powerful.In many ways, Brown, who died Thursday night at 87, used his platform as one of the greatest football players of all time to fight for people very much like him: unsatisfied with the status quo, tired of the withering degradation of racial inequality and, ultimately, never easy to shoehorn into one single, tidy category. Brown was an activist who sat alongside Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali and was on par with Olympic fist-raisers Tommie Smith and John Carlos.Brown was a punishing, once-in-a-lifetime running back who saw more in his journey than football and the cutthroat business it was becoming. He was a fighter for poor minorities, abhorring the gang violence that had taken over in his adopted home of Los Angeles and working for decades to help disadvantaged inner-city kids.Even at the height of his activism, ...

8 shot in overnight shootings on South and West side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Police are investigating incidents where eight people were shot within two hours on the city's South and West Side.A man was driving near the 6500 block of South Kenwood Avenue when he heard shots and felt pain. He sustained a gunshot wound to the cheek and was transported to a hospital in good condition. Around 2:09 a.m., a 22-year-old boy was driving a car near the 4700 block of South Ada Street when he saw a group of individual standing on the sidewalk. He heard shots and felt pain. He self-transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the right lower leg. He is in good condition. Boy, 17, shot and killed on Northwest side A few minutes later, a 32-year-old man was standing on a sidewalk near the 1300 block of South Springfield Avenue when he was shot in the hip. He is in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. Three individuals were shot while travelling in a car near the 6700 block of South Eberhart Street around 1:27 a.m. A 32-year-old man sustained a gunsho...

ATCEMS: 1 dead following crash involving pedestrian in south Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin-Travis County EMS reported a traffic fatality overnight Friday into Saturday in south Austin.ATCEMS responded to a collision involving a vehicle and a pedestrian at 3:34 a.m. at the intersection of East Stassney Lane and South Interstate 35 Frontage Road heading north.First responders said medics attained a “Deceased on Scene” pronouncement for an adult patient from the incident.According to ATCEMS, there was no other information available, and it was no longer on the scene.

Cooler air today and tomorrow from this morning's cold front

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Severe thunderstorms roamed the Hill Country Friday night. Hail was an issue for a few areas. Valley Spring, northwest of Llano, reported hen egg-sized (2" in diameter). There were two reports of walnut-sized hail (1.50" in diameter) at Cherokee (San Saba County. Friday night/Saturday morning rain totals found the higher numbers in the Hill Country. There were many areas that measured more than an inch, topped 2.48" at a gauge 6 miles east-northeast of Willow City (Gillespie County). More beneficial rain for the Hill Country Central Texas Rain Totals Most areas east of I-35 did not measure as much. Based on this morning's radar it looks like the additional rain this morning will range to between .05" and .10". INVESTIGATION: LCRA didn't plan for climate change until KXAN investigation Saturday afternoon will be mainly dry with most highs below normal. North winds near 10+ mph will keep today's temperatures on the cooler side. Today's normal high is 88°Highs to...

Austin serial killer: Servant girl murderer terrorized city in 1800s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- While current Austin is known for its music scene and its cultural life, there is also some dark history. In the 1880s, a killing spree ensued in Austin, according to an excerpt from the novel "The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer," which was published in a 2016 Texas Monthly article.A total of seven women were murdered and the boyfriend of one of the victims was attacked with knives, axes, bricks or iron rods, the article said.The murders happened over the course of one year, beginning in December 1884.The Austin Police Department at the time was "baffled" by the murders taking place and tried using different tactics to find evidence at each crime scene, according to a documentary about the murders on PBS.But who were the victims, why were they murdered and why did these murders go unsolved? Numerous theories have circulated, according to the documentary.Who were the victims?Mollie SmithOn New Year's Eve night in 188...

Twins’ Rocco Baldelli: We’re sticking with Jax

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:00 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Hundreds of feet from the action, in the bullpen in left field, Jhoan Duran was preparing himself in the seventh inning. It would seem he was preparing to face superstar Shohei Ohtani.But he didn’t.Twins manager Rocco Baldelli opted to let Griffin Jax face Ohtani, after he already had given up a single and a triple, wiping away the Twins’ one-run advantage. Jax’s 3-2 pitch to the star came close to clipping the corner but was called ball four. Jax was left in to face the next hitter, too, and surrendered the go-ahead run on a Hunter Renfroe single in the Twins’ 5-4 loss on Friday night at Angel Stadium.“Jax needs to, in his role, needs to go out there and pitch and find his way through innings,” Baldelli said. “ … He’s a key member of our ‘pen, and we’re going to lean on him still at times, even though he’s not throwing the ball as well as he can. … I know it was not an easy decision, but we’re going to let him pitch in this situation.”So, what situation was ...