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Opinion: California water proposal has dark, hidden currents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

When’s the last time you thought about where your water comes from? If you aren’t steeped in water policy, it’s fair to assume you may not appreciate the complexities of managing our water systems. But what’s vital to know is that water is the essential building block to ensure prosperous, healthy communities.This resource ensures housing gets built, people can afford groceries and local businesses can offer good jobs. Legislation introduced in Sacramento creates uncertainty that threatens these underpinnings of our economy.As a former legislator, I trust that my former colleagues had the best intentions in putting these policies forward, but residents should be aware that these bills are far reaching and will create dramatic changes that increase costs.Three bills currently moving through the California Legislature – SB 389, AB 1337, and AB 460 – aim to provide the State Water Resources Control Board with new authorities to regulate water. On the surface, this may seem like a good ...

Henry Kissinger, History’s Bloodiest Social Climber

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2023.Photo: David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty ImagesIn 2002, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and his wife attended an elegant dinner party hosted by Barbara Walters. Other participants included Time editor Henry Grunwald, one-time ABC Chair Thomas Murphy, and Peter Jennings, then the anchor of ABC “World News Tonight.”At one point in the evening, as New York magazine recounted, Jennings addressed Kissinger and asked him, “How does it feel to be a war criminal, Henry?”Kissinger did not respond. However, Grunwald informed Jennings that this inquiry was “unsuitable.” Walters, who considered Kissinger “the most loyal friend,” later said, “I tried to change the subject, but it was a very uncomfortable moment. [Kissinger’s wife] Nancy reacted very strongly and hurt.” Most Read ...

Deaths and tragedy from 1973 Indy 500 opened the door for safety evolution in racing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Johnny Rutherford and Gordon Johncock delivered spectacular results at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that were overshadowed by perhaps the worst month in the history of the storied race.Rutherford won the pole with a record-breaking, four-lap average speed of 198.413 mph and Johncock wound up with the first of his two Indy wins, but it was a grim across the rest of Gasoline Alley.Art Pollard was killed in a pole day crash. David Savage died from injuries sustained in a terrifying race-day crash. In the chaos after Savage’s wreck, pit-sign board holder Armando Teran was fatally struck by a safety truck. And roughly a dozen spectators were burned when Salt Walther’s fuel tanks ruptured as his spinning car destroyed part of the catch fence.“I don’t know what the rest of the guys thought, but I thought, ‘Let’s just get this damn thing over, you know, this has not been good,’” Rutherford recalled. “That was the way the business was. You know,...

UK police free man involved in Downing Street collision — then arrest him on unrelated charge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A man who was taken into custody after his car crashed into the gates of the British prime minister’s residence in central London was released in that case — but then immediately rearrested on charges of making indecent images of children, police said Saturday.The 43-year-old suspect was arrested for the unrelated offense shortly after he was released pending further investigation into the crash, the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. The collision Thursday afternoon outside the prime minister’s official residence and offices at 10 Downing St. set off an intense security response.Authorities later said the incident wasn’t believed to be terror-related. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and criminal damage.It wasn’t immediately clear whether the crash was deliberate. Video posted on social media showed a silver hatchback car heading straight for the gates at low speed across Whitehall, the main thoroughfare in London’s government d...

US, EU allies scold Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

Europe’s largest economies and the U.S. slammed Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia after Pristina used force to secure access to municipal buildings in the north of the Balkan country near the Serbian border.Police used tear gas in the town of Zvecan to disband a crowd of ethnic Serbs on Friday who were trying to block a newly elected Albanian mayor from entering his office building.The violence triggered an immediate backlash from Serbia, whose President Aleksandr Vučić placed his army on full combat alert and told military units to move closer to the border with Kosovo.Washington was quick to condemn Pristina for using violence and worsening relations with Serbia. Tensions between the two countries persist since the brutal Balkan war in the late 1990s after Kosovo’s bid to break away from Serbia. Kosovo secured its independence in 2008, but many Serbs in the northern regions of the country still see Belgrade as their home capital, complicating relations between t...

Soccer legend Briana Scurry offers words of encouragement to UMass Amherst grads

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

Hall of fame soccer player Briana Scurry returned to her alma mater University of Massachusetts Amherst to speak at graduation on Friday. She encouraged students to draw strength from life’s hardships.Scurry, a trailblazer for Black women in sports, retired from soccer due to concussions but has since advocated for concussion awareness. The goalkeeper is considered one of the first Black women and openly-gay professional women’s soccer players and appeared 173 times internationally for Team USA. Scurry received an honorary doctorate from UMass Amherst.

Fantastic Memorial Day Weekend forecast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

7Weather – We lucked out with a beautiful weekend to ring in the unofficial start to summer! It’ll be dry, sunny and warm – especially away from the coast line.High pressure is in control of our forecast. There’s an area of low pressure spinning to our south along the Carolina coast. That system is packing a punch bringing heavy rain, gusty wind, strong surf and rip currents to the southeast. That will stay to our south.Bright sunshine today with a light northwest wind. Temperatures inland rebound to the upper 70s/low 80s. Sea breezes will develop this afternoon so it will be cooler along the coast.A blanket on the sand will be better than getting in the water if you’re heading to the beach. Water temperatures are still around 55-60°, so it’s cold! Nice sailing weather with more of a breeze this afternoon.Tomorrow will be the warmest day of our Memorial Day Weekend. Warmer air above us, plenty of sun and a southwest breeze will boost temperatures ...

Mike Lupica: Even with all the hype over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, this is still a Giants town

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

It is always worth noting, and remembering, that the Giants remain the big game in town when it comes to pro football and sometimes everything else. That means even when Aaron Rodgers is playing for the other team in town, even though “town” really means Jersey.There have been times, you bet, when the Giants have been the Other Team. But not many, and not for long. It was that way, of course, for the brief, shining moment of Joe Namath. And it felt that way when Rex Ryan got the Jets, and got them to two straight AFC championship games, as close as that all was to the Giants not letting the Patriots get to 19-0 that night in Glendale, Ariz.It’s also worth nothing, and remembering, that after the second Super Bowl win against the Patriots, the Giants showed that they could drive straight into a ditch as well as the Jets could. Then both of them felt like the Other Team, one dreary losing season after another.But all of that was before Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll arr...

Ukraine claims Russia is plotting ‘a provocation’ at nuclear plant, offers no evidence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed, without offering evidence, that Russia is plotting a “large-scale provocation” at a nuclear power plant it occupies in the southeast of the country with the aim of disrupting a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive. A statement released Friday by the intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces would strike the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, and then report a radioactive leak in order to trigger an international probe that would pause the hostilities and give the Russian forces the respite they need to regroup ahead of the counteroffensive. In order to make that happen, Russia “disrupted the rotation of personnel of the permanent monitoring mission” of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency that was scheduled for Saturday, the statement said. It didn’t offer evidence to back up any of the claims. The IAEA said in an emailed res...

Quebec toddler dies after falling into grain mixer in farm accident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:55 GMT

SAINT-LIN-LAURENTIDES, Que. — Quebec provincial police say a two-year-old girl has died after falling into a grain mixer on a farm north of Montreal.They say the accident occurred Friday at a family farm in St-Lin-Laurentides, about 85 kilometres from the city. Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau says emergency services were called at about 3:30 p.m. after the child fell into an industrial mixer.The girl’s parents also intervened quickly but she had already died.The young victims relatives were transported to hospital to be treated for shock.Police are investigating the death as is the case when a child is involved, but authorities say there is no indication of negligence.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2023.The Canadian Press