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Electrical fire at Massachusetts State House was ‘accidental,’ investigators say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

An electrical fire at the State House Tuesday that forced the evacuation of the building was “accidental,” state police said in a Wednesday afternoon statement.The fire started from “electrical faults” in two lines that run from an electrical vault near a guard shack to a pull box in the sub-basement of the building, a group of investigators determined. Building management shuttered the State House Tuesday afternoon and kept it closed Wednesday because of concerns about high levels of carbon monoxide.“There is no information or evidence to suggest the fire was intentionally set,” State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement.Firefighters responded to the historic state capitol just after 2 p.m. Tuesday when the electrical fire was discovered in the sub-basement. Lawmakers, staff, and members of the public poured out of the building at the direction of authorities, congregating on nearby streets as firetrucks pulled up to the building.The fire followed a false ...

Northbound lanes of SR-67 reopen after suspected sinkhole

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Both northbound lanes of State Route 67 through Lakeside and Ramona have reopened following the completion of emergency repair work, Caltrans announced.Traffic officials say the roadway just north of Slaughterhouse Canyon Road to just south of Foster Truck Trail was open to traffic at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Emergency work began when a suspected sinkhole was discovered under the northbound SR-67 lanes during scheduled paving operations Tuesday morning around 3 a.m. Ocean Beach Pier reopens as maintenance continues What was originally thought to be a sinkhole was eventually classified as a "pavement failure due to a saturated clay sub grade," Caltrans explained. It's believed by officials that the saturation was the result of underground runoff from winter storms earlier this year.Caltrans says crews excavated a trench 12.5 feet wide, 85 feet long and 6 feet deep to remove the saturated clay sub grade. The area was then backfilled with a base made of sand and crushed rock, th...

Little relief in sight from onslaught of searing heat and rising floodwaters in parts of US, 2 dead

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — The onslaught of searing temperatures and rising floodwaters struck parts of the United States again on Wednesday with Phoenix breaking an all-time temperature record and rescuers pulling people from deluged homes and vehicles in Kentucky.Forecasters said there was little relief in sight from days of extreme weather for some areas of the country. Miami has endured a heat index of at 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) or more for weeks, with temperatures expected to rise this weekend. In Kentucky, meteorologists warned of a “life-threatening situation” in two communities, Mayfield and Wingo, where more rain was expected after flash flooding from waves of thunderstorms. More storms threatened the Blue Grass state as the National Weather Service also issued flash flood watches and warnings in nearby states. Forecasts expect as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could fall in the area where Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri meet at the confluence of the Ohi...

Titanic expert killed in sub explosion remembered for heeding ‘the explorer’s call’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

The company that owns the salvage rights to the wreck of the Titanic held a virtual memorial Wednesday for one of the world’s foremost experts about the ship a month after he died with four others in the explosion.Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, died when the Titan submersible descended into deep North Atlantic waters on June 18 to explore the Titanic — something Nargeolet had done dozens of times before. Investigators believe the submersible, owned by a private company, imploded during the descent, killing everyone aboard.The event, which was streamed live on Facebook, began with a video montage of Nargeolet and his accomplishments that showed him embarking on the first archeological mission to the site more than three decades ago. The presentation included his work to recover “the Big Piece,” a 17-ton section of the Titanic’s shell plating recovered in 1998.The video said Nargeolet “inspired generations of ocean lovers, divers and explorers over the world.” It also showed Nargeole...

British Open goes from brown grass to green. Silver is the color that matters.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Scottie Scheffler’s first look at Royal Liverpool was courtesy of video. He watched replays of the last two British Opens on these links and saw what looked to be two courses — Tiger Woods won when the grass was brown in 2006, Rory McIlroy when it was green in 2014.That describes the last five weeks at Royal Liverpool.Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A, was delighted by a heat wave last month that made these century-old links dry and crusty, the most testing conditions because of how far the golf ball goes once it gets on the ground.And now?“A bit greener that I would like,” Slumbers said Wednesday. “But every time I get excited about a nice, crown golf course, Mother Nature comes in.”Such is the nature of links golf, and such is the backdrop when the 151st Open begins Thursday with English weather that can change in a New York minute.An unusually wet June has made the fairways green and lush, ideal conditions for McIlroy to end his nine-year droug...

New York City will give some migrants 60 days notice to leave shelter system, mayor says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — With hundreds of migrants arriving daily, New York City will start giving adult asylum seekers in the city’s shelter system 60 days notice to find somewhere else to live, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.The new policy is intended to make room for migrant families with children, Adams said. Caseworkers will help migrants who are asked to vacate find housing and other services, he said, and those who don’t find alternative housing within 60 days will have to return to the intake center and reapply for a new placement.“We must now take additional steps to create urgently needed space for families with children who continue to arrive seeking asylum and help those with us take the next steps to their journey,” Adams said at a City Hall news conference. He added, “Our goal is no child, no family sleeping on the streets.”Adams, a Democrat, has scrambled to house the tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived in the city over the past year and has called for ...

Woman and her 5-year-old daughter die after being caught in a swollen Connecticut river current

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

SPRAGUE, Conn. (AP) — A woman and her 5-year-old daughter were swept away in a swollen Connecticut river and died, officials said Wednesday.The woman, identified by state police as Dora Kelly, 39, of Norwich, and her daughter, Aralye McKeever, were swimming in the Shetucket River near River Park in Sprague when they were caught by the current Tuesday evening just before 5:30 p.m., state police and fire officials said. Both were recovered unconscious from the water downstream and taken to Backus Hospital in Norwich. Kelly was pronounced dead there. McKeever was later transferred to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, where she died Wednesday, state police said.State police said they do not suspect foul play and are treating the deaths as untimely. The Shetucket and other rivers in Connecticut have been running well above normal levels because of heavy rain in New England over the past week. The Associated Press

A feline virus mutation in Cyprus caused far fewer cat deaths than claimed, veterinary leader says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The head of the Cyprus veterinarians association on Wednesday dismissed as greatly exaggerated the claims that a local mutation of a feline virus has killed as many as 300,000 cats on the small Mediterranean island.The director of the Pancyprian Veterinary Association, Nektaria Ioannou Arsenoglou, said the group’s survey of 35 veterinary clinics indicate an island-wide total of only about 8,000 deaths. Arsenoglou said numbers that have been presented by local animal activists and amplified by foreign media outlets “simply don’t add up.”Arsenoglou told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the local mutation of a feline coronavirus that causes Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is nearly always lethal if left untreated, but that medication can nurse cats back to health in approximately 85% of cases.Spread through contact with cat feces, neither the virus or its mutation can be passed on to humans.Specific medication that can treat both the so-called “wet” and...

Judge nixes Trump’s bid to move hush-money criminal case, keeping it in New York state court

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump can’t make a federal case out of this one.U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on Wednesday rejected the former president’s bid to move his hush-money criminal case from New York state court to federal court, ruling that Trump’s lawyers had failed to meet a high legal bar for changing jurisdiction.Hellerstein found that the allegations pertained to Trump’s personal life, not presidential duties that would have merited a move to federal court.“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Hellerstein wrote in a 25-page ruling. “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.”Hellerstein’s decision sets the stage for Trump to stand trial in state court in Manhattan as early as next spring, overlapping with the 2024 presidential primary s...

Surrey must stay with local police instead of RCMP: B.C. government

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:26:37 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government has directed the City of Surrey to move forward with an independent police service despite its mayor and council’s determination to stay with the RCMP.The province said Wednesday that it made the decision to avoid a crisis in policing in Surrey that would have taken Mounties from other areas of the province.Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said in a statement that he has carefully considered the city’s report on moving back to the RCMP, but Surrey has not demonstrated that doing so would be safe or would not affect other communities.“People’s safety, in Surrey and across the province, is non-negotiable,” Farnworth said. The minister said he made the decision under the Police Act because the city failed to meet the requirements to stop an “exodus of Surrey Police Service officers” to staff the Surrey RCMP without pulling Mounties from other communities.The RCMP is experiencing critical vacancy problems in B.C. and across Ca...