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Butter cow to be unveiled ahead of 2023 Illinois State

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The 2023 Illinois State Fair starts Thursday.To celebrate the occasion, Governor J.B. Pritzker and other state officials will unveil the iconic butter cow on Wednesday. The sculpture is made with 500 pounds of unsalted butter. Anheuser-Busch selling 8 beer, beverage brands to cannabis company The unveiling is at 3:00 p.m. at the Fairgrounds.

Airport Commission considering Boeing expansion lease amid tax break talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Boeing has plans for a nearly $2 billion expansion project near St. Louis Lambert International Airport. They call it 'Project Voyager.'The Airport Commission meets Wednesday to consider leasing 154 acres of airport land to Boeing for the project, including the former McDonnell- Douglas facilities. Boeing also wants a 50% tax break on the project from the St. Louis County Council - in exchange for creating 500 jobs.The county council met Tuesday night, but took no action. New estimates show Boeing would save $155 million over 10 years if the tax break is approved. That would impact the tax money available to area school districts. Bump-and-rob carjackings on the rise, police say "If Boeing cared about the community as they claimed they wouldn't be shaking down St. Louis County for a handout that exceeds $100 million.' local Tom Sullivan expressed. The company would be paying all its taxes like the smaller companies."Boeing is the largest manufacturer in the state of Mi...

Mega Millions $1.58 billion jackpot won on single ticket in Florida

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A single ticket sold in Florida is good for a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot, ending a stretch of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months.A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery. The winning numbers drawn Tuesday night were: 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and the yellow ball 14.A message was left seeking comment Wednesday from Publix. Messages left for the Florida Lottery weren’t immediately returned.In California, one ticket sold in the Merced County farming community of Hilmar matched the first five numbers, for a prize of $3,383,371.Before the big win, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. That enabled the prize to steadily grow to be the third-largest ever in U.S. history.Mega Millions jackpot winners are rare thanks to odds of one in 302.6 million.The $1.58 billion payout would go to the winner if they opt for an annuity,...

Iconic Cabazon Dinosaurs salute Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

One of the two Cabazon Dinosaurs is donning a red bow tie and gray suit as a tribute to the late Paul Reubens, who played Pee-wee Herman.RELATED: As Pee-wee Herman, Paul Reubens created a mischievous man-child for the agesLocated in Cabazon, an unincorporated community in Riverside County off the 10 Freeway, the 65-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus rex has been repainted to “wear” Pee-wee Herman’s iconic wardrobe. The dinosaur known as Mr. Rex stands alongside a 150-foot-long brontosaurus statue and together they are a famous roadside attraction.Mr. Rex, one of the Cabazon Dinosaurs, sports a fresh coat of paint Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, in tribute to the late actor Paul Reubens, who was renowned for the Pee-wee Herman character who appeared at the site in the 1985 film, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)Visitors take a close look at Mr. Rex, one of the Cabazon Dinosaurs, on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. It has been painted to resemble the outfit worn...

The Snake – curvy 2.4-mile stretch in Santa Monica Mountains – takes big step toward reopening

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

The winding stretch of highway known as The Snake may be on the road to reopening — but only if safety measures are deemed adequate.Residents remember the sounds of twisted steel, shattered glass and firetruck sirens from all-too-common traffic collisions involving street racers on The Snake, a curvy, dangerous portion of Mulholland Highway near unincorporated Agoura.But that 2.4-mile section of the notorious street within the Santa Monica Mountains, roughly from Kanan Road to Sierra Creek Road, has been closed to vehicular traffic for more than four years due to damage from mudslides after slopes were denuded by the 2018 Woolsey fire.A closed portion of Mulholland Highway near Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park in Agoura Hills, CA., Monday, Aug, 7, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Mulholland Highway at April Road in Agoura Hills, CA., Monday, Aug, 7, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)LA city workers use K-rails to try to hold bac...

Opinion: Homelessness crisis will haunt Newsom in debate with DeSantis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

After exchanging long distance insults for months, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will supposedly have a face-to-face debate some place and some time in the fall.DeSantis is trying to gain traction as a Republican candidate for president in 2024 while Newsom is trying to establish himself as a national Democratic Party leader with potential White House ambitions circa 2028. Each portrays his state as a model of governance for the nation to emulate.If it happens – and it’s not certain, given squabbling over details – a Newsom-DeSantis debate would be the political equivalent of another clash of overstimulated egos, the cage match between two tech tycoons Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.While Newsom seems to be the glibber of the two, and thus is favored by media handicappers to out-talk his rival, the California governor has one enormous albatross sitting on his shoulder: his state’s ever-worsening homelessness crisis – and he knows it.When Newsom was interv...

Cal Fire to probe tragic missteps in aerial firefighting ‘ballet’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

While Cal Fire is assisting the National Transportation Safety Board with its investigation into the collision of two helicopters Sunday above Cabazon that killed three people, officials at the state firefighting agency also want to learn for themselves what protocols may have been violated.The Bell 407 spotter helicopter took off for the 20-mile trip to the Broadway fire from Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base at 6:34 p.m., circling briefly while en route, followed by the Sikorsky S-64 “Skycrane” three minutes later. The helicopters, under contract to Cal Fire, collided over the fire at 6:45; the Bell crew died in the crash while the Skycrane landed safely with two aboard.Air Shasta Rotor & Wing pilot Tony Sousa was killed in the collision of two helicopters over the Broadway fire in Cabazon on Aug. 6, 2023. (GoFundMe) Four other firefighting aircraft, including a spotter airplane, were over the fire at the time.Typically, said Capt. Richard Cordova, a spokesman for the Cal Fire/R...

Disneyland security dog attacks 81-year-old grandfather, lawsuit alleges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

A Disneyland security dog attacked an elderly Nevada man at the entrance to the Anaheim theme park and bit the 81-year-old grandfather in the stomach, according to a lawsuit filed in an Orange County court.Paul Perez, of Las Vegas, has filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in Orange County Superior Court for damages related to the alleged Disneyland security dog attack on May 10, 2022, according to the court filing.SEE ALSO: Disneyland to turn Steakhouse 55 restaurant into a bar and loungePaul Perez, 81, of Las Vegas, alleges a Disneyland security dog bit him in the stomach, according to a civil lawsuit. (Courtesy of San Diego attorney Ian Pancer) The civil lawsuit filed on Aug. 1 accuses Disneyland and Disney’s theme park division of negligence and seeks restitution for a physical wound, pain, suffering, emotional distress and the cost of past and future medical treatment.A Disneyland dog handler caused a security dog to “abruptly step directly in front and ver...

Big changes for ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am as PGA Tour schedule announced

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is cutting its field nearly in half and eliminating one of the three courses, part of the price to become a signature event with a $20 million purse in a revamped 2024 schedule the PGA Tour released Monday.Pebble Beach replaces the Phoenix Open as a signature event, which was expected. What it gave up was the 156-man field, each with a prominent amateur, playing Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula over 54 holes before a cut to the final round.Next year Pebble Beach will have 80 players and 80 amateurs competing for 36 holes at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, with only the pros advancing to the weekend at Pebble Beach.The tournament will be held Feb. 1-4.“Needless to say, we are thrilled,” said Steve John, CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, which is the host organization for the event.In a prepared statement from the Foundation, it thanked title sponsor AT&T and the Pebble Beach Company.Bill Murray tracks a w...

Krugman: Climate war has gradually become a part of the culture war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:14:51 GMT

Understanding climate denial used to seem easy: It was all about greed. Delve into the background of a researcher challenging the scientific consensus, a think tank trying to block climate action or a politician pronouncing climate change a hoax and you would almost always find major financial backing from the fossil fuel industry.Those were simpler, more innocent times, and I miss them.True, greed is still a major factor in anti-environmentalism. But climate denial has also become a front in the culture wars, with right-wingers rejecting the science in part because they dislike science in general and opposing action against emissions out of visceral opposition to anything liberals support.And this cultural dimension of climate arguments has emerged at the worst possible moment — a moment when both the extreme danger from unchecked emissions and the path toward slashing those emissions are clearer than ever.Some background: Scientists who began warning decades ago that the rising co...