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Man, woman from Miami arrested in Marathon traffic stop with a variety of drugs, including fentanyl

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

A man and a woman from Miami were arrested in Marathon after a routine traffic stop exposed a substantial cache of narcotics, including fentanyl. William Scott Leiva, 34, and Melanie Andrea Aguila, 35, now face multiple charges related to drug possession, according to authorities.Following the traffic stop near Mile Marker 47 on U.S. 1 around 1:30 a.m., law enforcement officers from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office discovered several illicit substances and drug-related items inside the suspects’ Honda sedan. Credit: Monroe County Sheriff’s OfficeThe vehicle had initially caught the attention of authorities due to an apparent altered license plate and the odor of marijuana permeating from inside.Leiva, identified as the driver, was taken into custody and subsequently charged with possession of LSD, possession of marijuana, smuggling contraband into a jail facility, and traffic violations. Aguila also faced a slew of charges, including possession of cocaine laced with fe...

Fights break out outside school district meeting as protesters battle over gender studies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

GLENDALE, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Protests outside a Glendale school district meeting turned violent as groups began several brawls as administrators discussed recognizing Pride Month, while the public debated gender and sexual identity studies.Demonstrations outside of the Glendale Unified School District building stayed relatively civil throughout the day. However, scuffles between the around 200 protesters and counter-demonstrators began after 6 p.m. School administrators said many of the protesters did not have students in the district.The city’s police department deployed around 50 officers to the meeting to prevent scuffles among the groups. After several brawls, officers ordered the protesters to disperse and threatened to use less-than-lethal force to break up the crowd.The attempts to de-escalate the crowd failed, prompting officers to arrest at least three people. They are accused of using pepper spray and obstruction.Tensions boiled over inside the building ...

Pence opens presidential bid with denunciation of Trump over Jan. 6 insurrection and abortion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence opened his bid for the Republican nomination for president Wednesday with a firm denunciation of former President Donald Trump, accusing his two-time running mate of abandoning conservative principles and being guilty of dereliction of duty on Jan. 6, 2021.Pence, launching his campaign in a suburb of Des Moines, became the first vice president in modern history to challenge the president under whom he served. He said Trump had disqualified himself when he insisted that Pence had the power to keep him in office — even though he did not.Trump, he said, “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol” on the 6th. “But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice.”“I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone el...

In wake of Qatargate, Commission seeks binding ethics accord

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s answer to a unified ethics overhaul across a motley set of institutions: court-backed peer pressure. Under a proposal for an ethics organization adopted by the EU executive branch today, nine EU institutions would make — and enforce — binding commitments to implement common ethics standards for political officials working in them.A promise that long predates the Qatargate bribery scandal that rocked the European Parliament six months ago, the plan is the Commission’s attempt to overcome legal and political hurdles blocking an independent ethics cop to enforce rules across the EU. The new panel would not have the power to launch investigations or punish wrongdoing; however, the proposal, obtained by POLITICO, does aim to bind political officials to better police themselves (and publicly embarrass them if they don’t).The idea is that each of the nine subject institutions would nominate a representative to sit on the ethics body, which wo...

Suspect arrested, charged with attempted murder after crews extinguish massive house fire in Holden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

A suspect is facing multiple charges, including a count of attempted murder, after crews contained “an intentionally set fire” that ripped through a home in Holden, according to officials.The Holden Fire Department said its crews were called to the area of 25 Juniper Lane around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6, where heavy flames could be seen engulfing parts of a home’s basement and first floor.According to the department, two alarms were struck as multiple fire departments sent personnel to help put out the blaze at the single-family house.Image provided by the Holden Fire DepartmentAuthorities said two civilians were evaluated and treated while no firefighters were injured during the response.Holden FD said it took around two hours to put out the blaze, which appeared to heavily damage a large portion of the front of the home, based on photos shared by the department.In a joint-statement from both Fire Chief Russell Hall and Holden Police Chief Timothy Sherblom, of...

Philadelphia is under a ‘code red’ alert as millions from the East Coast to Canada suffer unhealthy air from Quebec’s wildfires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

(CNN) — As an orange haze of wildfire smoke from Canada smothers parts of the eastern US, officials are warning residents in both countries of unhealthy or hazardous air Wednesday.More than 55 million people in the eastern US are under air quality alerts due to the smoke. The heaviest smoke is forecast to impact the Northeast through the Mid-Atlantic and down to the Carolinas, and smoke conditions in those regions could last through at least Thursday.Major metro areas in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut now have air quality indexes (AQIs) above 150 – which is considered “unhealthy,” according to the government website AirNow.gov.Philadelphia had an AQI of 205 as of Wednesday morning, which is classified as “very unhealthy.”New York City; Jersey City, New Jersey; and New Haven, Connecticut all had “unhealthy” AQIs ranging from 155 to 171 on Wednesday morning.Live updates on the smoke’s spreadAnd the Canadian capital of Ottawa is getting...

FAA issues ground stop at LaGuardia airport due to smoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration has implemented a ground stop for flights bound for New York’s LaGuardia airport due to smoke.Flights going to LaGuardia are being kept at their departing airports until 2 p.m. ET, according to a FAA bulletin. The FAA says the chance of an extension is “low,” but delays could follow.All flights bound to Newark Liberty International Airport are being delayed from taking off from their departing airports until 11:59 p.m. ET.An FAA advisory cites “low visibility” as the cause.As of 1:00 p.m. ET, airlines in the U.S. have canceled 74 flights and delayed another 1,257, according to data from tracking site FlightAware.The Federal Aviation Administration says the extreme wildfire smoke haze lingering over the Northeast U.S. due to Canadian wildfires could delay flights through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

Afternoon Briefing: Jockeying for the Bears’ next home continues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

Good afternoon, Chicago.Mayor Brandon Johnson said he wants to keep the Bears in Chicago as the NFL franchise floats interest in potentially moving to a suburb other than Arlington Heights.Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli said conversations he’s had with the Bears about potential business opportunities there are just that, conversations. The Bears issued a statement June 2, the days officials met with the mayor, that said plans to build “the largest single development project in Illinois history” in Arlington Heights are “at risk” and they are exploring other options.Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/breaking and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices.Subscribe to more newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Daily horoscope | Ask Amy2 injured following explosion, fire at Oak Forest apartment Tuesday eveningOak Forest police and firefighters were called to 160th Stre...

Unemployment or recession fears aren’t stopping workers from making career moves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

Sarah Foster | Bankrate.com (TNS)For more than a year now, workers have been told to strap in for a recession that could zap their historic career opportunities, harm their unprecedented amount of bargaining power and injure their job security.That downturn has yet to arrive. Now, workers may be learning to live with the uncertainty.One in 3 (or 33%) employed Americans are worried about their job security, according to Bankrate’s job seeker survey released in April. But a new analysis shows they’re also the ones most likely to make career moves.Nearly 9 in 10 workers who are worried about their job security (or 88%) say they will likely take at least one career action in the next 12 months, which includes quitting a job, asking for a raise, relocating for a job, negotiating for more flexibility and searching for a new position, the survey found. About two-thirds (or 67%) of those with no job security worries said the same.Illustrating the divide even more, 21% of workers who are wor...

Great white shark called Jekyll tracked off Long Island coast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:57 GMT

Tim Balk | New York Daily News (TNS)A great white shark named Jekyll isn’t hiding from beachgoers on Long Island.The 400-pound beast swam near the beaches of the Hamptons this week before heading farther out to sea, according to shark tracking data monitored by researchers.The juvenile 9-foot-long fish, first tracked in December off the Georgia coast, has been trawling near Long Island at least since last Friday, according to the shark-tracking organization OCEARCH.The group said Monday night that Jekyll’s recent movements marked the first time its researchers have tracked the shark near New York.OCEARCH tweeted that it is “excited to see where he spends his summer.”On Sunday, Jekyll was tracked near the village of Quogue in Southampton.Despite great whites’ notoriety, generated in part by the 1975 “Jaws” movie, they do not typically attack people on purpose. Their extremely rare human bites are believed to be accidents.A study from California State University, Long Beach, released ...