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Powerful Hurricane Hilary heads for Mexico’s Baja as rare tropical storm watch issued for California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

By MARK STEVENSON and JULIE WATSON (Associated Press)MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Hilary churned off Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday as a powerful Category 4 storm threatening to unleash torrential rains on the mudslide-prone border city of Tijuana before heading into Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years. Forecasters warned the storm could cause extreme flooding, mudslides and even tornadoes across the region.Hillary grew rapidly in strength early Friday before losing some steam in the afternoon, with sustained winds falling from 145 mph (230 kph) to 130 mph (215 kph). Nevertheless, it was forecast to still be a hurricane when approaching Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Saturday night and a tropical storm when approaching Southern California on Sunday.No tropical storm has made landfall in Southern California since Sept. 25, 1939, according to the National Weather Service.A tropical storm watch was posted for much of Southern Califo...

A two-tornado day with rainfall pushing past 17 inches for the summer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

Two tornadoes touched down and the rain pelted the region — again — as the soggy summer remains stuck in a loop.The National Weather Service confirmed two twisters — one on the North Attleboro-Mansfield line and another in Weymouth. Both did minimal damage and another tornado whipped across the highway in Rhode Island, too.The rain hit all over pushing the total since June 1 past 17 inches, based on records kept for Boston. Rainfall this time last year was a parched 3.22 inches, according to the Weather Service.The total precipitation this year, which includes snowmelt, is 32.31 inches, the Weather Service added.All the rain is not necessarily bad news, said one Cape Cod farmer.“Compared to a drought, we’re doing OK,” said Ron Smolowitz, owner of Falmouth’s Coonamesset Farm. “The rain has not been a problem unless it pours on a busy Saturday.”That won’t be the case this weekend with clear skies in the forecast.Since his far...

Tropical Storm Watch in effect for San Diego County for first time in history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KSWB) -- A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for San Diego County as Hurricane Hilary rotates north from the coast of Mexico.This is the first time in history that the National Hurricane Center has made this type of advisory for the region.The areas affected include Borrego Springs, Julian, Pine Valley, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, San Diego, Escondido, El Cajon, Lakeside and Poway.The Tropical Storm Watch -- which also includes portions of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties -- went into effect Friday at 8:29 a.m.A full list of specific areas for each county can be found here. What is a Tropical Storm Watch?The National Weather Service says this means tropical storm-force winds are possible somewhere within this area within the next 48 hours. To put that in perspective, peak winds from Hilary could reach 30-40 mph with gusts to 55 mph after making landfall. According to weather officials, Hilary's window for tropical storm force winds is expecte...

Chess official calls for more research as decision to block transgender women from events draws fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — A top global chess official Friday called for more research into whether factors such as hormone levels and physical endurance might have an impact on players’ abilities at the male-dominated game. Her comments came after the world chess federation was heavily criticized for its decision to block transgender women from official women’s events. The Switzerland-based federation FIDE said the decision, set to take place Monday, would stay in effect until the federation does an assessment of the issue. Critics, including advocacy groups and some European players and federations, have derided what they call an unnecessary and discriminatory policy that appears to foster “trans panic,” with one former British women’s champion calling for the world federation to reverse its decision.Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the deputy chair of the chess federation’s management board, insisted the goal of the new regulations was “actually to increase the rights of the tran...

Impeachment case alleges Texas AG Ken Paxton used multiple phones and an alias to conceal an affair

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton used multiple cellphones and an alias on a ride-sharing app to conceal an affair, and pressured top aides to help a donor now facing criminal charges, according to new documents made public by investigators leading the impeachment of the embattled Republican. More than 4,000 pages of documents, most of which were publicly filed late Thursday and include emails and text messages, are the foundation of House Republicans’ case that Paxton abused his office and should be ousted at the end of a historic impeachment trial that begins Sept. 5 in the Texas Capitol. “It’s a complicated story,” Mark Penley, one of Paxton’s former deputies, told investigators during a deposition in March. “But if you understand what was going on, this was outrageous conduct by an Attorney General that’s supposed to be the chief law enforcement officer for the State of Texas, not the chief lawbreaking officer.”Paxton, who has been suspended from...

11 nations of West Africa commit to a military deployment to restore the ousted president of Niger

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Eleven West African nations have agreed to commit troops to a military deployment aimed at restoring Niger’s democratically elected president following last month’s coup, an official for the regional bloc said Friday after a defense ministers meeting.The ECOWAS bloc previously announced its intention to deploy a force to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been under house arrest since he was overthrown by members of the presidential guard July 26. But the 15-member bloc had not detailed which countries would join, nor has it said when the force might enter Niger. On Friday, the ECOWAS commissioner for peace and security, Abdel-Fatau Musah, said 11 countries have committed to the deployment. “We are ready to go anytime the order is given,” Musah said in the Ghana capital, Accra, following two days of meetings there. “Our troops are ready to respond to the call of duty of the region.” The 11 countries don’t include Niger itself and the b...

Canada wildfire evacuees can’t get news media on Facebook and Instagram. Some find workarounds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

Before fleeing about 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) south of Yellowknife by car, Agnes Grandejambe looked to social media to find out almost everything she needed to know about escaping the encroaching wildfires.Some from official government accounts. Mostly from friends and family, including an offer of help from her First Nation band.But not from news media sites. That’s because Canadian news outlets — including the only one she trusts — have been blocked on Facebook and Instagram as a result of a dispute with the national government.“People were posting how close the fires were. And we knew the highway kept opening and closing, so we said, ‘OK, we’ll just go,’” said the 65-year-old who is a longtime resident of the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories.Her preferred media site, Yellowknife-based Cabin Radio, has been doing its best to get around the ban with help from the station’s audience members who have been taking news from the Cabin Radio website — filled...

Dealer gets 10 years in prison in death of actor Michael K. Williams

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City drug dealer was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for providing “The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams with fentanyl-laced heroin, causing his death.Irvin Cartagena, 40, of Aibonito, Puerto Rico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams. Cartagena had pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to distribute drugs.Williams overdosed in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment in September 2021. He died hours after authorities said he bought the heroin from Cartagena on a sidewalk in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood in a deal recorded by a security camera.Williams famously portrayed Omar Little, the rogue robber of drug dealers, in HBO’s “The Wire,” which ran from 2002 to 2008. In addition to his work on the critically acclaimed drama, Williams also starred in films and other TV series such as “Boardwalk Empire.”Cartagena faced a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and could have faced up to 40 years behind bars.“I am very sorry fo...

Appeals court strikes down Utah oil railroad approval, siding with environmentalists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A U.S. Appeals Court on Friday struck down a critical approval for a railroad project that would have allowed oil businesses in eastern Utah to significantly expand fossil fuel production and exports.The ruling is the latest development in the fight over the proposed Uinta Basin Railway, an 88-mile (142-kilometer) railroad line that would connect oil and gas producers in rural Utah to the broader rail network, allowing them to access larger markets and ultimately sell to refineries near the Gulf of Mexico. The railroad would let producers, currently limited to tanker trucks, ship an additional 350,000 barrels of crude daily on trains extending for up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers).The Washington, D.C.-based appeals court ruled that a 2021 environmental impact statement and biological opinion from the federal Surface Transportation Board were rushed and violated federal laws. It sided with environmental groups and Colorado’s Eagle County, which had sued to ch...

Suburban Detroit police fatally shoot motorist awakened from sleep inside car

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:14 GMT

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Suburban Detroit police fatally shot a motorist they awoke from sleep in a running car when he accelerated with an officer beside him in the vehicle and crashed into a patrol car Friday.The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched shortly before 6 a.m. to a complaint that a vehicle was blocking a driveway and they found the driver asleep with a gun beside him.One deputy removed the gun from inside the car while another entered it from the passenger’s side, the office said in a chronology. When the motorist resisted arrest and accelerated, crashing into a patrol car, a curb and a street sign, the deputy who was partially inside the car fired a single shot striking the motorist, the sheriff’s office said.The motorist was pronounced dead at a hospital, the office said.The deputy who was partially inside the car and partially hanging outside it was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries, it said.The names of the deputi...