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Goats deployed to clear vegetation from Oakland Hills ahead of fire season

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

(KRON) — The Oakland Fire Department are set to deploy a herd of about 1,200 goats to chomp down fields of dangerous vegetation ahead of fire season. The goats have been deployed annually since 1994 as a sustainable fire prevention method.Each year, OFD deploys thousands of goats to eat away at hard-to-reach flammable plants from the Oakland hillsides. This year's herd is set to arrive on May 16, according to Oakland Fire Department officials.The goats were first brought in just three years after the devastating 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which killed 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Historically, the fire department has been reported to spend about $500,000 to truck in the goats each year.This year's fire season prep is crucial especially after an unseasonably wet winter that officials say could cause a longer and more destructive fire season due to all the early-blooming foliage that will eventually dry out.

Gary Sánchez agrees to minor league contract with Mets

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Catcher Gary Sánchez is getting another chance to restart his baseball career, agreeing Tuesday to a minor league contract with the New York Mets following his release by the San Francisco Giants.New York assigned him to Triple-A Syracuse. Sánchez would get a $1.5 million salary while in the major leagues if added to the 40-man roster.Unsigned during the offseason, the 30-year-old Sánchez agreed to a minor league contract with the Giants on April 1, a deal that called for a $4 million salary if he was added to the 40-man roster. Sánchez was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento and hit .164 (9 for 55) with no homers, eight RBIs, one double, 11 walks and 19 strikeouts in 55 at-bats. He had a May 1 opt-out provision and was released the following day.Sánchez made the All-Star Game twice during a seven-year stint with the Yankees. He hit .299 with 20 homers in 2016 and .278 with 33 homers and 90 RBIs in 2017.He batted .186 in 2018 and just .147 in 49 games in the pandemic-s...

US regulators grants license for proposed spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — US regulators grants license for proposed spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico.Source

Hay casi 10.000 migrantes en la frontera sur de EE.UU., a horas del final del Título 42

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

(CNN) — Las autoridades fronterizas estadounidenses encontraron este lunes a casi 10.000 migrantes a lo largo de la frontera sur de EE.UU., según indica un funcionario de Seguridad Nacional. Con este hecho continúa la tendencia  de las detenciones fronterizas a solo dos días de la expiración del Título 42.Funcionarios de la Administración advirtieron que las detenciones en la frontera podrían aumentar a más de 10.000 en el período inmediatamente posterior al levantamiento del Título 42. Este lunes, las autoridades fronterizas se encontraron con unos 9.900 migrantes, según indica el funcionario.En los últimos días, los cruces de migrantes han aumentado a medida que la gente se desespera y se preocupa por lo que sucederá después de que se levante la restricción de la era Covid y las autoridades vuelvan al protocolo de hace décadas.¿Qué es Título 42 y cómo funciona esta política fronteriza de EE.UU. que llega a su fin el 11 de mayo?Los funcionarios de Seguridad Nacional son muy c...

DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg tells Metro leaders: We’ve got your back

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is telling the leadership of the D.C. Metro and other transit agencies struggling financially due to a deep drop in ridership during the pandemic that the federal government is ready to help.Metro General Manager Randy Clarke recently sounded the alarm in an interview with WTOP, warning of possible deep service cuts next summer if the D.C. transit agency does not close its $700 million dollar budget shortfall.Clarke said instead of trains running at eight-minute intervals, the schedule would be cut to intervals of up to 30 minutes between trains, and the agency would lay off numerous workers.Buttigieg said he wants to help.While on the one hand saying the Department of Transportation does not want to make decisions that abridge local leaders, Buttigieg told WTOP that the federal government would have money in the upcoming year’s DOT budget to assist mass transit agencies.“There are flexibilities in the budget that we’re putting forw...

Jury finds Trump liable for sexual abuse, awards accuser $5M

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House.The verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City on the first day of jury deliberations. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexual abuse and for defaming Carroll after she made her allegations public.Trump chose not to attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.Carroll nodded as the verdict was read. Afterward, her lawyers put their arms around her, and she hugged supporters in the gallery, smiling through tears.Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, shook hands with Carroll and hugged her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. As the courtroom cleared, Carroll could be heard laughing and crying. Utah mom accused of killing husband with fentanyl wrote grief book following death Trump im...

Florida substitute teacher arrested for allegedly letting 7th grader use her vape

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

EUSTIS, Florida (WESH) — A substitute teacher in Lake County is facing child abuse charges after investigators say she let a seventh grader take a hit off her vape pen.Jennifer Hale was arrested after it happened last week at Eustis Middle School. According to the police report, it happened in the last period of the day. It says the substitute teacher heard the seventh grader talking about his friend wanting to vape and gave him hers to take a hit.Jennifer Hunter is a mom to an eighth grader at Eustis Middle School.“Teachers. It’s scary now,” Hunter said. “I never thought that a substitute teacher would give my child that or someone else’s child any of that stuff. Just other students.”According to a Eustis police report, a seventh grader said a substitute teacher named Jennifer heard his friend say he wanted to vape, and that she said, “I have one,” and pulled it out.The seventh grader says she then asked if he wanted a hit and t...

Iowa family vacationing in Florida searching for son’s missing ashes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (WESH) — An Iowa couple who was visiting Florida last month is asking for help finding a special stuffed animal.Liz Atkinson says she was on a trip to Florida with her husband and son, Sebastyan, visiting the beaches and theme parks when they lost the stuffed animal named Bruce somewhere along the way.“I remember Sebastyan holding him, but my husband got off the boat with him first and he’s the one that buckled him,” Atkinson said. “Part of me just wonders, did it fall out in the parking lot at the orange ramp at Disney Springs and we just didn’t know?”The family had to return home but posted on Facebook asking for the public’s help finding Bruce. The task is close to their hearts—not because of Bruce’s cute and cuddly appearance, but because of where he’s been and what’s inside him.“Bruce has been at every hospitalization. There’s far too many to count. He’s been with my son at every procedure,” Atkinson said. “My son th...

Florida law takes aim at teachers union that defied DeSantis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Teachers and other government employees will have to write monthly checks if they want to stay in their union after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Tuesday banning automatic dues deductions from public employees’ paychecks,The anti-union bill also gives employees the right to immediately quit a union for no reason and requires unions to recertify if the number of dues-paying members drops below 60% of those eligible to join.“If you want to join, you can, but you write a check and you hand it over. That is gonna lead to more take-home pay for teachers,” DeSantis said at the bill-signing ceremony.It was one of several bills that DeSantis signed that affect education, including new term limits for school board members, restrictions on student social media use and protections for teachers who report administrators they believe are violating state education policies.While DeSantis touted the bills as giving more freedom to teachers, the Florida E...

Official: Officer saved ‘countless lives’ ending mall attack

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:00 GMT

ALLEN, Texas (AP) — The mass shooting at a suburban Dallas shopping mall lasted three to four minutes before a local police officer shot and killed the gunman, authorities said Tuesday.The Allen police officer who shot and killed 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia acted heroically and saved “countless lives” through his quick action, Hank Sibley, the regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a news conference. He said the officer is still processing what happened and isn’t ready to have his name made public.The investigation into Garcia’s motive is ongoing, but he expressed “neo-Nazi” beliefs, Sibley said. Garcia had no criminal history before he opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday, he said.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.ALLEN, Texas (AP) — The gunman who killed eight people and wounded seven others at a suburban Dallas shopping mall had no prior criminal record but had “neo-Nazi ideation,” authorities sai...