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Extreme heat pushes airlines to shed fuel, limit passengers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

High temperatures pounding parts of the U.S. are forcing airlines to adjust operations in the hardest-hit cities, reducing fuel or baggage — and in some cases shedding passengers — to help aircraft operate.Allegiant Airlines, a unit of Allegiant Travel Co., said it will delay flights if there’s a threat to passenger safety or comfort as temperatures in the Southwest continue to hit records. In Las Vegas, where Allegiant is based, excessive heat advisories have been extended through Sunday, and temperatures have been above 100 degrees F since June 30, according to National Weather Service data.High temperatures make air less dense, reducing engine performance and the amount of lift produced at a given speed. That generally means lower takeoff weights and longer takeoff distances are needed to produce sufficient lift. As a result, carriers are having to reduce pounds on the planes.On July 17, several Delta Air Lines Inc. passengers voluntarily got off a flight from Las Vegas to Atlant...

July is on track to be the hottest month on record – and things are about to get warmer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

July is shaping up to be the planet’s hottest month on record as global warming, El Nino and regional heat waves conspire to push civilization into uncharted thermal territory, experts say.As a sizzling heat dome spread misery over the American Southwest, and hospitals reported increasing numbers of heat-related illnesses, government officials told reporters this week that it was increasingly likely that July would rank as the hottest month ever recorded, and that 2023 and 2024 may end up being the hottest years ever.“We are seeing unprecedented changes all over the world — the heat waves that we are seeing in the U.S., in Europe, in China are demolishing records left, right and center,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.“This last June was the warmest June on record, and we anticipate, with the understanding of what’s going on on a day-by-day basis, that July is likely to be the warmest absolute month on r...

Gerrit Cole’s dominance, late home runs by DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton lead Yankees to 5-2 win over Royals

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

Gerrit Cole pitched to a new catcher Saturday against the Royals, but the results were largely the same for the red-hot Yankees ace.Working with Ben Rortvedt for the first time, Cole overpowered the young Kansas City lineup with 10 strikeouts over 6.1 innings in a 5-2 Yankees win in the Bronx. Cole exited in the seventh inning with the game tied, 2-2, and DJ LeMahieu led off the bottom of the frame with a go-ahead solo home run that proved to be the difference.Giancarlo Stanton added a two-run blast in the eighth inning to complete the Yankees’ scoring.Saturday marked Cole’s second consecutive game with double-digit strikeouts and fourth overall this season. He has not allowed more than three runs in any of his last nine starts — a stretch in which he’s hurled at least six innings in all but one outing.The sharp performance was the latest in a standout season for Cole, who started this month’s All-Star Game for the American League. He boasts a 9-2 recor...

Trump Organization settles Michael Cohen lawsuit over unpaid legal bills

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company and his former longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen have settled a lawsuit over Cohen’s claims that he was unfairly stuck with big legal bills after getting entangled in investigations into the former president.Lawyers for the two sides disclosed the settlement during a video conference with the judge Friday, three days before Cohen’s 2019 lawsuit was slated to go to trial in a Manhattan state court. Details of the agreement were not made public.Cohen said Friday the matter “has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties,” and his attorney, Lauren Handelsman, said the terms were confidential. Messages seeking comment were left with lawyers for Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.The legal fees lawsuit was one of the more obscure branches of the thicket of legal troubles surrounding Trump and his company. Still, the trial stood to give a platform to Cohen — an ardent Trump loyalist who became an outspoken antagonist — and to pu...

Man wanted for violent assault of Halton police officer during traffic stop

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

Halton police are searching for a 31-year-old man who assaulted an officer during a traffic stop early Saturday morning in Burlington. Police say the officer pulled over a vehicle on Plains Road and was in the process of arresting the driver on suspicion of drug charges when a “violent struggle” began resulting in the officer suffering serious but non-life threatening injuries. The driver fled the scene in the vehicle and his whereabouts are unknown. Police say Matthew Flannigan is wanted on charges of drug possession, assaulting a police officer and dangerous operation of a vehicle. He’s described as five-foot-nine with brown braided hair. He was last seen driving a blue 2021 Honda CRV with license plate CVFS 405. Police say the officer has been treated and since released from hospital.

Mississippi senator says tutu photo is misused in campaign. He’s raising money for cancer research

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Republican state Sen. Jeremy England says he intentionally wore what he considers a “very embarrassing” Halloween costume to raise money for breast cancer research — a shiny pink bodysuit with a short pink skirt.Now, England says a photo of him in the outfit has been misused, with a slur directed at him, in an increasingly divisive GOP primary as he supports Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann for reelection.A person backing one of Hosemann’s opponents posted an image of the tutu-clad England on Twitter along with a comment: “Hosemann and his groomer weirdos.”“I consider that to be some of the worst, dirty form of politics — which is, of course, where we are now in this race,” England told The Associated Press.“Groomer” is commonly used to describe how sex offenders initiate contact with their victims. The word has become ubiquitous in American politics as certain conservatives try to equate certain educational materials with pornography or ...

Man convicted in stray-bullet killing of Puerto Rican Olympian’s mom in her Connecticut home

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

A Connecticut man has been convicted of murder in the stray-bullet killing of the mother of a two-time Olympian rifle shooter from Puerto Rico.A jury found Franklin Robinson, 40, guilty Friday in the death of Mabel Martinez Antongiorgi. The 56-year-old was in her sewing and crafts room in Waterbury when a bullet flew through a wall and hit her in the head on April 9, 2022.Martinez Antongiorgi’s daughter, Yarimar Mercado Martinez, competed for the family’s native Puerto Rico at the 2016 and pandemic-delayed 2020 Games. The athlete was in Brazil for a competition when her mother was killed.A message seeking comment was sent to her Saturday. At the time of her mother’s death, she anguished in social media posts that she “couldn’t even say goodbye.” “Why you? Why this way? You were just sitting in your little house sewing, as you always did,” she wrote.According to trial testimony, a jealous Robinson was gunning for a man who had said hello to Robinson’s gi...

Hundreds of thousands march on Jerusalem to try and halt judicial overhaul

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

Tens of thousands of protesters marched into Jerusalem on Saturday evening and hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities in a last-ditch show of force aimed at blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul.Also Saturday, more than 100 of Israel’s former security chiefs signed a letter pleading with the Israeli premier to halt the legislation, and thousands of additional military reservists said they would no longer report for duty, in a protest against the plan.In scorching heat that reached 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit), the procession into Jerusalem turned the city’s main entrance into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags as marchers completed the last leg of a four-day, 70 kilometer (45-mile) trek from Tel Aviv to Israel’s parliament.The marchers, who grew from hundreds to thousands as the march progressed, were welcomed in Jerusalem by throngs of cheering protesters before...

Some critics see Trump’s behavior as un-Christian. His conservative Christian backers see a hero

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

For eight years, Donald Trump has managed to secure the support of many evangelical and conservative Christians despite behavior that often seemed at odds with teachings espoused by Christ in the Gospels.If some observers initially viewed this as an unsustainable alliance, it’s different now.Certain achievements during Trump’s presidency – notably appointments that shifted the Supreme Court to the right – have solidified that support. He’s now the clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, even after he recently was found liable for sexually abusing a New York woman in 1996 and was indicted in a criminal case related to hush money payments to a porn actress.Robert Jeffress, pastor of an evangelical megachurch in Dallas, has been a staunch supporter of Trump since his first campaign for president and is sticking by him even as rivals like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Vice President Mike Pence tout their Christian faith.“Conservative Christians con...

Smothered, covered, starstruck: Lana Del Rey spotted working at Waffle House in Alabama

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:00 GMT

FLORENCE, Ala. (WHNT) — A number of people have spotted singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey in Alabama, where she's reportedly recording, visiting friends and … working at Waffle House?The singer, originally from New York, was first sighted in Birmingham on Monday at a nail salon. In an interview with Nexstar's WIAT, 21-year-old Jordan Suttles described his experience with the "Summertime Sadness" singer. “I saw her sitting [in one of the chairs] and I basically did a double take and I thought, ‘Oh, this must be like a look-alike’ because I knew she just did a concert in Canada,” he said. “But I immediately put my hand over my mouth in utter shock and she just smiled at me, waved and laughed a little.” Waffle House has a ‘secret’ plate-marking system for keeping track of your order That night, Del Rey made it up to downtown Florence where fans got the chance to take a photo with the six-time Grammy-nominated artist.But it was few days later, when Del Rey was spotted at Waffle House, th...