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Tornado slams Little Rock, smashes rooftops, flips vehicles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A tornado plowed through Little Rock and surrounding areas on Friday afternoon, reducing rooftops to splinters, toppling vehicles and tossing debris on roadways as people raced for shelter.More than 350,000 people were at risk as what the National Weather Service called a “confirmed large and destructive tornado” tore through business districts and neighborhoods in Little Rock and North Little Rock.Passengers and airport employees at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock took shelter in bathrooms and were ordered to stay there until 3:45 p.m. Aerial footage showed several rooftops were torn from homes in Little Rock and nearby Benton.There were no immediate reports of injuries.Nearly 70,000 customers in Arkansas were out of power on Friday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages; about 37,000 were without power in neighboring Oklahoma.Massive storms brewing over at least 15 states in the Midwest and southern U.S. on Friday have meteoro...

Crews in Lynn work to put out fire that burned through multiple homes, vehicles on Chestnut Street

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

Emergency crews in Lynn spent Friday afternoon working to put out a stubborn fire that burned through several vehicles and spread to at least two homes on Chestnut Street, displacing ten people.The Lynn Fire Department said personnel were called to the area of 109 Chestnut Street on Friday afternoon where they found a 2-alarm fire burning upon arrival.Around 1:40 p.m., a SKY7 camera spotted firefighters working to put out flames that had burned through what appeared to be a box truck and a car.Both vehicles were tucked between two multistory homes that suffered serious damage. The sides of both buildings facing the vehicles were visibly charred, with heavy smoke coming from their interiors.https://twitter.com/LynnFireDept/status/1641871858558459907A tree next to one of the buildings also caught fire as dozens of Lynn FD personnel aimed water into the upper-levels of each structure.Officials at the scene told 7NEWS that all residents from both structures had been accounted for as cre...

US Army identifies nine soldiers killed in Black Hawk training accident

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

(CNN) — The US Army has identified the nine soldiers who were killed in a nighttime training accident on Wednesday evening, when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed in a field near Fort Campbell, Kentucky.An Army news release identified the soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division who were killed in the incident as Warrant Officer 1 Jeffrey Barnes, 33; Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36; Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27; Staff Sgt. Joshua Gore, 25; Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32; Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32; and Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23.“This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these Soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come,” Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), said in a statement on Friday. “Now is the time for grieving and healing. The whole divisio...

Dominion defamation case against Fox News will go to trial next month, judge rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

(CNN) — Dominion Voting Systems‘ historic defamation case against Fox News will proceed to a high-stakes jury trial next month, a Delaware judge ruled Friday, declining to declare a pretrial winner.Both sides had asked Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis for a pretrial ruling in their favor, declaring them the winner at this stage, and averting a trial. But after thousands of pages of filings and exhibits, and a series of courtroom clashes in Wilmington, Davis decided that the case should go to trial.But In his Friday ruling, Davis said that the evidence Dominion presented shows Fox News aired falsehoods about the company.“The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” Davis wrote.“We are gratified by the Court’s thorough ruling soundly rejecting all of Fox’s arguments and defenses, and finding...

Traffic stop leads to Littleton police seizing 20 kilos of cocaine from vehicle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

Police in Littleton say a routine traffic stop led to officers making two arrests and seizing approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine from a vehicle.The police department said that on Wednesday, March 29, while out on Great Road around Beaverbrook Bridge, Littleton Police Patrolman Jared Richard noticed a vehicle swerving across the roadway’s double yellow line.Stopping the vehicle, Richard discovered the driver, Erasmo Lira-Mendez, 38, was not licensed to operate a motor vehicle, according to the police department.The patrolman also discovered the driver’s passenger, identified as Cornelio-Rene Hernandez, 51, was wanted on an arrest warrant from out of Texas, leading to both individuals being taken into custody.According to a news release from the department and Littleton Police Chief Matthew Pinard, while conducting an inventory search of the vehicle, officers found 20 large bags, containing approximately one kilogram of cocaine each. Police also found $1,143 on Lira-Men...

A student created a media platform by and about people of color to fill a void in campus journalism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

It was sickle cell anemia that brought Chicago-born, Detroit-raised Tiffani Jackson to Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal in 2017. Having endured some attacks, called pain crises, while attending Grambling State University, she made the decision to move closer to home.With that, Louisiana lost a music technology major but Illinois gained a journalism major, a change in focus prompted by her professors’ suggestions. Jackson parlayed the new focus into creating Onyx Connect, a media source for the diverse population on and around campus.During a semesterlong stint writing for ISU’s student-run news organization, the Vidette, Jackson began scrutinizing campus-area media outlets from the lens of having transferred from a historically Black college to a predominantly white institution.“It was a very intentional walk,” she said. “I joined to create more articles and stories about our communities. … I was the only Black reporter there; there was a Black photographer (Nodel Dug...

San Diego jury awards $46M to paralyzed jiu-jitsu student

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A San Diego jury has awarded more than $46 million to a man who suffered a catastrophic spinal injury during a beginner jiu-jitsu class five years ago, attorneys said Wednesday.Jack Greener was enrolled at Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club in 2018 when he was pinned to the mat by an instructor who placed his entire bodyweight on Greener's neck, according to the lawsuit.“The extreme force of the maneuver crushed Mr. Greener’s cervical vertebrae causing the student to fall limp, paralyzed in all extremities,” according to a statement from his law firm, Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi. Local leaders support Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s resignation Greener, who was 23 at the time, underwent multiple surgeries and was hospitalized for months, his lawyers said.Now a quadriplegic, he sought compensation for medical expenses, loss of earnings and emotional distress.Jurors ruled in Greener's favor on Tuesday after a four week trial.Attorneys for the martial arts club and the instructor di...

'Dungeons and Dragons' themed brewery pours pints of fantasy in San Diego

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

VISTA, Calif. -- Beer and fantasy enthusiasts can enjoy the craft of role-playing at a unique brewery in San Diego. "We hail from the faraway land of Vista," a "warrior" named Ryan Sather exclaimed on the set of FOX 5 Friday. Sather and co-owner Chris Barry are the masterminds behind the North County treasure that is BattleMage Brewing Company. These San Diego breweries won medals at the 2023 Brewers Cup of California The North County business offers pints of fantasy based hops and a place to gather for groups looking to immerse themselves in the tabletop game known as "Dungeons and Dragons."Players can sip craft beer while embarking on an adventure to a fantasy world filled with quests and self-imagined experiences. "We have a couple big game nights on Mondays and Tuesdays," said Barry. "We have about 100 people that come through on those days to play."People gather at BattleMage Brewing Company. (Photo: BattleMage Brewing Company)The role-playing game, which originated in the mi...

New Mexico Supreme Court blocks local abortion ordinances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court blocked local anti-abortion ordinances Friday pending the outcome of a case centered on constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.The ruling granted a request by Democratic state Attorney General Raúl Torrez and follows the state’s recent adoption of a new abortion rights bill signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham just weeks ago that overrides any local ordinances aimed at limiting access to abortion procedures and medications. The state already had one of the country’s most liberal abortion access laws, but two counties and three cities in eastern New Mexico recently adopted restrictions that reflect deep-seated opposition to offering the procedure. Torrez’s petition and the legislation that was passed during the recent 60-day aim to override those ordinances and prevent other counties from adopting abortion restrictions.The goal is for New Mexico to remain a safe haven for women seeking ab...

Stocks rally to cap a winning month, quarter for Wall Street

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied Friday to close out a winning March and first quarter of the year, feats that looked questionable just a couple weeks ago when Wall Street was tumbling in turmoil. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% to cap a 3.5% gain for the month. It also locked in a second winning quarter in a row after falling sharply most of last year on worries about high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 415 points, or 1.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.7%. For the Nasdaq, big leaps for technology stocks drove a gain of 16.8% for the quarter, its best since the surge out of the coronavirus-caused crash in the spring of 2020. Friday’s gains came after a report showed inflation across the United States slowed in February, though it was still high relative to history. A continued slowdown could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to take it easier on interest rates after jacking them higher at a furious pace over the last yea...