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Sea lion escapes enclosure at Central Park Zoo due to New York flooding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

(CNN) — A female sea lion briefly escaped from her enclosure in New York’s Central Park Zoo Friday when heavy rain caused her pool to flood.The sea lion managed to swim out of the flooded pool and roam throughout the surrounding area before returning to her enclosure, which she shares with two other sea lions, according to a news release from Jim Breheny, executive vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoos and Aquarium.Staff at the zoo “monitored” the marine mammal’s unexpected adventure while waiting for her to return.Water levels in the sea lions’ pool have since receded, and all animals are in their designated exhibits, the news release noted.“No staff or visitors were in danger and the sea lion remained inside the zoo, never breaching the zoo’s secondary perimeter,” Breheny said.Central Park Zoo is part of the world’s largest network of urban wildlife parks, which also includes the Bronx Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and New York Aquariu...

The Flying Scotsman locomotive collided with another train in Scotland. Several people were injured

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Several people were injured after the Flying Scotsman, the historic steam locomotive, was involved in a low-speed crash with another heritage train in the Scottish Highlands on Friday, authorities said.The National Railway Museum said the “shunting incident” took place at Aviemore Station in the Cairngorms National Park. The station is home to a heritage train line that takes visitors on steam train trips in northern Scotland. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said that emergency workers were alerted on Friday night “to reports of a collision” involving two trains at Aviemore. Police Scotland said the crash took place at “low speed.”Two people were hospitalized as a precaution, and their injuries weren’t believed to be serious. Three others were treated at the scene and didn’t require hospital treatment.The Belmond and Strathspey Railway said the Flying Scotsman locomotive was being coupled with stationary Royal Scotsman train carriages when the collisio...

Germany’s government and Elon Musk spar on X over maritime rescue ships

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s government rebuked X owner Elon Musk after he criticized the recent work of migrant rescue ships that German humanitarian groups operate in the Mediterranean Sea.Musk late Friday shared a video that showed migrants and aid workers on a boat. The right-wing account that first put the content on X, formerly known as Twitter, praised the populist far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has taken a hard line on migration issues.“Is the German public aware of this?” Musk wrote in his repost. The German Federal Foreign Office replied to Musk directly on X, writing: “Yes. And it’s called saving lives.” Musk responded that he doubted the German public supports the actions of non-governmental organizations that take asylum-seekers from unseaworthy vessels in the Mediterranean. He also asserted it was “surely” a violation of Italy’s sovereignty for German-operated ships to bring rescued migrants to Italian territory. “So you’re actually proud of it. Intere...

A lead prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case cut a contentious path during his time in Baltimore

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Before being assigned to investigate President Joe Biden’s son, Leo Wise built a reputation in Baltimore as a tough and hard-charging federal prosecutor, taking on powerful, and seemingly untouchable, figures — whether a gang of corrupt cops, a police commissioner, a top local prosecutor and even a mayor.Wise’s backers call him talented and savvy, with a knack for navigating complex, headline-generating cases. To detractors, he’s stubborn and uncompromising as well as self-promotional: he wrote a memoir about one of his major cases while still employed by the Justice Department. His approach — aggressive in a way that has won him accolades but riled other lawyers — sets the stage for a contentious fight in the high-stakes prosecution of Hunter Biden.“He holds everything very close to the vest, and he takes every possible advantage that he can take,” said Gerard Martin, a Baltimore criminal defense lawyer who calls Wise a “hard-ass.” “He’s not a guy you can go meet w...

NW Minnesota boy, 13, shoots trophy bull elk on first hunt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

KITTSON COUNTY, Minn. — They’d spotted the big bull elk the previous weekend, but when Ryker Copp went afield with his dad, Jerred, for his first day of elk hunting Saturday, Sept. 23, the elk was nowhere to be seen.A seventh-grader from Warren, Minn., Ryker found out in July that he had drawn a once-in-a-lifetime Minnesota elk tag for the Caribou Township area of Kittson County in northwestern Minnesota, which has a reputation for producing trophy bulls.Ryker, 13, was one of two hunters to draw an either-sex elk tag for Zone 30 Season H, which continues through Sunday, Oct. 1.Jerred Copp admits they “were a little bummed” when the big bull didn’t show the first day his son could hunt.“We’d spotted this elk the Sunday before, and then I kind of kept an eye on him during the week when I could sneak up there, and he was around,” said Jerred, who owns a seed company in Warren. “And then all of a sudden Saturday morning, there was no elk there. I was really trying to figure out where th...

Three shootings overnight in St. Louis, one fatal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- There were three shootings in St. Louis overnight. Two people were injured in separate shootings within a span of two minutes, and a third victim was found dead.The first incident occurred this morning, September 30, around 1:30 a.m. The victim arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound. Approximately two minutes later, another shooting took place on North Broadway, near Fremont Street. Both victims are expected to survive. St. Louis had only 2 officers for an entire district – Both called in sick However, just after 6 p.m. last night, a fatal shooting occurred in the Dutch town neighborhood of Dunnick Hub. A 30-year-old man was shot in the head.Homicide detectives are currently investigating this particular case. If you have any information about any of these shootings and wish to remain anonymous, please call Crime Stoppers at 1866371.

Zero out Prostate Cancer walk/run in St. Louis today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- Registration for today's Zero Out Prostate Cancer Walk begins at 7:30 a.m. this morning for the kids, dash, and 5K run/walk.The event will take place in Tower Grove Park, near the Sons of Rust Pavilion. It serves as an important opportunity to unite and raise awareness about prostate cancer.The event will also celebrate prostate cancer survivors and caregivers while honoring those who lost their battle with the disease. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 8:25 a.m. with the kids' dash and 5K starting a little before 9 a.m.

Google says switching away from its search engine is easy. It’s not.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

Imagine if every time you went to the supermarket, your shopping cart came loaded with the same box of cereal.This cereal happens to be the most popular, so it’s convenient for the store to have it in the cart. If you don’t like it, it’s simple enough to put it back on the shelf and grab a different box.That’s essentially the crux of Google’s defense against the Justice Department in a consequential antitrust trial — the federal government’s first such case in the modern internet era — that is now unfolding in court.The government has accused Google of illegally using partnerships with handset makers, computer manufacturers and browser developers to stifle competitors in online search. Under those partnerships, the Justice Department argues, Google made its search engine the default service on an overwhelming majority of consumer electronics, including smartphones. That then deterred people from trying alternative search engines, such as Bing, DuckDuckGo and others.But Google ...

Grading The Week: Rockies manager Bud Black, pitcher whisperer? Not so much. Not anymore.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

Whatever Bud Black is whispering, they’re not listening.Remember when Black was hired as Rockies manager before the 2017 season and sold as a pitcher whisperer?Colorado had been grooming a bunch of young, live arms in Jon Gray, German Marquez, Tyler Chatwood, Tyler Anderson and Jeff Hoffman, with Kyle Freeland on the way. They just needed a sage, wise voice to get them in line and on track.And it worked. Black steered the Rox to the franchise’s first back-to-back playoff berths in ’17 and ’18 on the strength of that young rotation and on a rock-star infield with Arenado, Story and LeMahieu.But to the kids on the Grading The Week staff, Rocktober feels more like 15 years ago than five.And to be frank, as the Rox hit the 100-loss tape for the first time, we’ve been struggling all week at coming up with more than one starting pitcher under 29 years old whom Black and the Rockies have actually made better since 2019.Bud Black, developer of pitchers — D-Germ...

Opinion: New Supreme Court term will feature women’s rights issues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:32 GMT

The last two Supreme Court terms were a shock to the system. First came the Dobbs ruling that overturned the fundamental constitutional right to abortion care when it struck down Roe v. Wade.Then last year, the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action in college admissions, struck down the Biden administration’s student loan reforms, and gave businesses the right to discriminate against same-sex couples, to name just a few of the consequential decisions handed down by the most activist and ideological Supreme Court in memory.What can we expect from the term that’s about to begin? More of the same? Or even worse?Women will be watching this court to see how far it is prepared to push back against the principle that the government is responsible for expanding equality, fighting for justice and lifting the disadvantaged.We’ve been at this crossroads for too long. Nine justices — three appointed by Donald Trump — have unparalleled power, and last year, the new ultra-conservative majority ...