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Disabled sailors keep joy, thrills and accessibility afloat on the San Francisco Bay

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

Alex Hruzewicz mentally juggles dozens of ever-changing questions while skippering a 41-foot keelboat named Believe along the San Francisco Bay.What’s the best moment to unfurl sails in 15 knot winds? How fast are the currents moving? Is there enough clearance for the rudder? Are any ferries barreling towards the boat? Will the tides be high enough to dock? Is there enough pressure on the lines?“It’s a dance with Mother Nature,” Hruzewicz said, tacking into the shifting gusts using the boat’s electric winches as he sails back to Pier 40 at the Embarcadero. “You can play with the wind and waves. There’s an adrenaline rush and a peacefulness — there’s not much like it.”Nettie Wijsman, from Menlo Park, a member with Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors (BAADS), sits as Alex Hruzewicz, bosun, prepares the sailboat named “Believe” for “Sunday Keelboat Sailing” at the South Beach Harbor in downtown San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, April 16, 2023. Wijsman uses a wheelchair for d...

Lounging Lady Liberty making her way to Arlington

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

Haven’t been to New York recently? No worries, Lady Liberty is making her way to the D.C. area, but in a unique pose.“Reclining Liberty,” a 25-foot-long Lady Liberty set in a lounging pose by artist Zaq Landsberg, is emigrating from the New York area and taking up residence in Arlington, Virginia.The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington and Arlington Public Art announced the statue will be on display on MoCA Arlington’s front lawn from Aug. 5, 2023 through July 28 of 2024.MoCA Arlington said that “Reclining Liberty” takes inspiration from the giant reclining Buddha statues of Asia, which represent the Buddha in one stage on the path to enlightenment and are a theme throughout Buddhist art.An opening celebration and picnic for the new lady will be held at the site on Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.“I’ve been following Zaq’s practice for many years and when I saw Reclining Liberty, I knew it was the perfect work to bring to Arlington,” said Blai...

Canadian police are investigating 70 alleged sexual assaults at Nova Scotia youth detention center

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — Canadian police are investigating at least 70 cases of alleged sexual assault at a youth detention facility in Canada’s Atlantic coast province of Nova Scotia.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Wednesday the alleged assaults took place at the Nova Scotia Youth Center in Waterville, Nova Scotia, between 1988 and 2017. Police said they could not confirm the identity of the alleged perpetrator and whether more than one person was involved Investigators told a news conference that they believe there are more victims. They are launching a confidential hotline for people who have been sexually assaulted or who have information about crimes that may have happened there. Police say their investigation team has so far spoken with 70 survivors as part of the probe, known as Operation Headwind.Source

Explosion along Lebanon-Israel border wounds 3 members of militant group Hezbollah

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — An explosion near Lebanon’s border with Israel slightly wounded at least three members of the militant Hezbollah group, a Lebanese security official said.The three Hezbollah members were taken to a hospital near the scene of the explosion in the village Bustan in the southern Lebanese province of Bustan, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The Israeli army said in a statement that several suspects approached a security fence and attempted to sabotage it, drawing efforts by soldiers to force them to retreat. It posted surveillance footage showing four people in civilian clothing approaching the border fence, and running away after an explosion. The identity of the suspects is unknown, it said.The Israeli army later told The Associated Press that soldiers had used a stun grenade.The incident took place hours before Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was scheduled to speak to commemorate the start of a monthlong war betwe...

Iowa’s new abortion ban is challenged in court, a day after it was passed by GOP lawmakers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A legal challenge was filed Wednesday to block Iowa’s new legislation banning most abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, launching what will likely be a lengthy and emotional court battle just hours after the Legislature’s late-night vote.The bill was passed with exclusively Republican support in a rare, one-day legislative burst lasting more than 14 hours. That’s despite the vocal — and sometimes tense — objections from Democratic lawmakers and abortion advocates protesting at the Capitol. Gov. Kim Reynolds says she will sign the bill, which would take immediate effect, on Friday. The challenge, filed by the ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic, requests that a district court temporarily put the soon-to-be law on hold as the courts assess its constitutionality.Abortion is currently legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, but that would change with the stroke of Reynolds’ pen Fr...

3 badly decomposing bodies found in remote Colorado campsite

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The badly decomposing bodies of three people were found in a remote Rocky Mountains camp in Colorado, and they may have been lying there since late last year, authorities said.A hiker discovered one of the bodies late Sunday and notified the authorities, who found the other two after arriving at the campsite Monday, Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie said.Two of the bodies were inside a small, zipped-up tent and the other was outside in the camp, which was in a remote wooded area where hikers typically wouldn't pass by, he said. There were personal belongings and tarps at the scene, and a lean-to built from local logs over a firepit."This is not a typical occurrence anywhere, by any means," said Murdie, noting that his department doesn't think the discovery implies any risk to hikers or campers in the area.The sheriff's department is looking for missing persons reports that might shed light on the situation, but they haven't found any yet, he said. The coroner won’t r...

YouTuber charged people to see autopsy photos of Gannon Stauch

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

(NewsNation) — A YouTuber obtained gruesome autopsy photos of a murdered 11-year-old boy and then charged money for people to view them, NewsNation has learned.The YouTuber, going by the name “Zav Girl,” sent in a Freedom of Information Act request for the autopsy photos of 11-year-old Gannon Stauch, who was fatally stabbed and shot by his stepmother in 2020.Once the pictures were released to the person running the YouTube account, she charged her followers $3 on Patreon to view them.Prosecutors said Gannon's stepmother Letecia Stauch killed him in January 2020 because she hated him and wanted to hurt his father, Al Stauch, whom she planned to leave and who was away on a National Guard deployment at the time. She stabbed him 18 times while he fought back, then hit him in the head and shot him. From there, she stuffed the 11-year-old’s body in a suitcase and drove to Florida to dump it over a bridge. 3 teens charged with murder after plan to egg home turns deadly, deputies say Mich...

Denver-area inflation among nation's highest

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Denver-area inflation is some of the nation's highest, according to a breakdown of consumer price index data from financial adviser site WalletHub.WalletHub compared both long- and short-term inflation in 23 metro areas to find which has had the highest overall. It looked at inflation from two months ago and from one year ago. The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area has the seventh-highest inflation among these 23 metros. Inflation slowed to 3% in June, hits lowest rate in 2 years U.S. inflation rose 3% since June a year ago, according to June 2023 consumer price index data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It has risen 0.2% since last month.This is the smallest annual increase since March 2021 as inflation fell from a 4% annual rate in May 2023. Core inflation, which does not include food and energy prices, rose 4.8% in the last 12 months and 0.2% in June, the smallest one-month increase since August 2021.Denver-area inflation has been hig...

12 escape from house fire in Miami Gardens

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

Twelve people, including children, escaped a house after it went up in flames. One person was transported to the hospital.Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units were called to the house in the area of Northwest 26th Court and 205th Street, Tuesday night.It took almost an hour for crews to put out the flames.On Wednesday morning, the home in Miami Gardens was left damaged and charred. The home’s windows were boarded up. The cause of the fire is now under investigation.

Qatargate suspects say they back stronger ethics cop

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:08 GMT

STRASBOURG — MEPs Eva Kaili and Marc Tarabella want the Commission to take a tougher approach to enforcing ethics across the EU institutions.Both stand accused of accepting cash in return for political favors in what has been dubbed Qatargate. And they are among the 365 MEPs who backed a resolution on Wednesday calling the Commission’s proposal for an interinstitutional ethics body “unsatisfactory and not ambitious enough.”It was the political scandal of Qatargate that moved the moribund idea of an independent ethics minder back onto the front burner. Yet ethics hawks in the Parliament were disappointed last month when the Commission proposed a panel that would not have the power to start its own investigations or impose sanctions.Instead, the Commission plans would set baseline requirements for EU politicians on declaring assets, disclosing third-party travel, and restrictions on side jobs. Then each institution, including the Parliament, would make commitments on how to enforce ru...