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After years of controversy, national bio-defense lab opens in Kansas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — After more than a decade of controversy and delays, the nation’s most secure biosecurity laboratory for research on potentially deadly animal and plant diseases has opened in Manhattan, Kansas. Although a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday, researchers at the $1.25 billion National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility are not expected to begin working on biohazards for more than a year, officials said. For now, staff will conduct compliance and regulatory work, prepare protocols and operating procedures and train before working with any pathogens, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. “They will check all the systems according to the international standards and national standards,” NBAF director Alfonso Clavijo said. “And only after we have that approval will we be able to actually do any work. We expect that by late 2024, we should be able to have that approval.”Initially estimated to cost $451 million, the price tag more than doubled after the National...

Tributes for Tina Turner, the global music superstar, after her death at 83

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

A collection of tributes that poured in Wednesday from musicians, actors and athletes following the death of musical superstar Tina Turner,“I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner. She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.” — Mick Jagger said on Instagram. Turner performed with Jagger during a show in 1985 and toured with the band in the 60s.“We have lost one of the word’s most exciting and electric performers. A total legend on record and on stage. She was untouchable. Condolences to Erwin and her family. The saddest news.” — Elton John said on Instagram.“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world? Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock ...

Small airports could be affected by WestJet possibly integrating Swoop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

A tentative deal between WestJet and the union representing its pilots likely includes a provision to fully integrate Swoop into WestJet by October of 2024, eliminating the airline.WestJet has declined to comment, citing the fact the agreement is tentative and hasn’t been ratified.However, the development could be a big deal to the 13 Canadian airports that welcome the airline, most of them smaller operations welcoming just a handful of carriers.“Generally, in the short term, there’s not a whole lot of change, but what happens is the parent airline that they’re getting merged into starts looking at the profitability of the routes. And over time what you’ll see is eventually those smaller routes and the less profitable routes start to get eliminated,” explained Wayne Smith, a hospitality professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.Smith said the loss of Swoop could represent a five-to-10-year setback for some of these smaller airports.In a written reply...

Trans girl who missed graduation over clothing code: `We deserve rights as humans’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A transgender Mississippi girl who skipped graduation because school officials told her to follow the boys dress code says she celebrated the conclusion of high school with a tropical-themed party at home with family members who embrace her full identity.The 17-year-old girl and her parents told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that they will remain outspoken about trans people’s rights, even as states restrict or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Mississippi enacted such a law this year, and a 2021 law bars trans people from girls or women’s sports.The girl requested to be identified only by her initials, L.B., because of her family’s concerns about her safety. AP is not identifying the parents by their names because of those concerns.“We deserve rights as as humans,” L.B. said Wednesday. “And I feel like there’s definitely a stigma towards our community. … It’s very disappointing.”L.B. ...

Woman who fled US to keep child custody more than a decade ago says her lawyer encouraged flight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

A Virginia woman who left the United States for more than a decade with her child to avoid sharing custody of her daughter with her former partner says her lawyer suggested she flee.In a document filed May 19 in federal court in Vermont as part of a long-running civil case, Lisa Miller outlined what led her to leave the country in September 2009 with her then 7-year-old daughter when it was becoming clear she would lose custody of the girl to her former partner Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven, Vermont.The filing is the latest chapter in a more than two-decade-long legal saga that began in 2000 when Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union, the first statewide legal recognition of same-sex couples.Their daughter, Isabella, was born to Miller in 2002. The couple split up in 2003. The Vermont family court gave custody of Isabella to Miller, but gave Jenkins regular visitation. Over the years Miller wouldn’t comply with the court ordered visitations. There were a series of le...

Charcoal cooking, week-long queues for gasoline: Fuel shortages slam Cuba’s countryside

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

MARIEL, Cuba (AP) — Rosa López, a 59-year-old housewife, lit a charcoal stove to boil sweet potatoes and prepare scrambled eggs for her grandchildren. The gas cylinders she normally uses to cook her meals have not been available for almost two months in Mariel, a port town west of Havana.Not far from there, on the highway to Pinar del Río and under a scorching sun, Ramón Victores spent one week waiting in line at a gas station, hoping to fuel up the 1952 red Chevrolet he uses for work, moving produce from one town to another.Cuba’s most recent fuel shortage has crippled an already fragile economy, but it is hitting rural villages particularly hard, with residents resorting to coal fires to cook their food, scrambling to find transport to take them to work and spending days — and nights — at the gas station waiting to fuel up.The Associated Press visited a dozen villages in the provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque, to the east and west of Havana, to talk to people about how the fuel s...

Greece says it’s investigating claim migrants were illegally deported back to Turkey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s outgoing prime minister says he has ordered a probe into a report that authorities illegally deported a group of migrants who had reached an eastern Aegean island from Turkey, allegedly leaving them on a raft at sea for Turkish authorities to pick up.Kyriakos Mitsotakis — who will be replaced Thursday by caretaker Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas, a senior judge, ahead of elections on June 25 — strongly denied that Greece has an official policy of returning newly arrived migrants to Turkey. Such illegal deportations are known as pushbacks.In an interview with CNN late Tuesday, Mitsotakis said that he takes the alleged incident reported by the New York Times “very seriously.”“It is already being investigated (by) my government,” he said. “I have made numerous times the distinction between (the reported pushback), which is a completely unacceptable practice, and between our obligation, which is … intercepting (migrants) on our sea border with Tu...

Why is Target pulling some Pride merch? The retailer’s response to hostile backlash, explained

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — After intense backlash from some shoppers, Target is removing certain items and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month.In confirming the changes to this year’s Pride collection, which has been on sale since early May, the Minneapolis retailer cited safety concerns for employees that have been Targeted by hostile customers.“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,” Target said Tuesday in a written statement. “Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans.”The confrontations in Target stores are taking place as state legislatures introduce a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ+ individuals across the country. Some advocacy groups have criticized Target’s response — calling on the retailer to not back down to hate-filled backlash and reaffirm its support with the LGBTQ+ community.Here ar...

KCSD: Suspect dead after 48 hour crime spree, shootout with police in Geneva

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

GENEVA, Ill. — A man is dead after going on a two-day-long crime spree that ended in a shootout with police at a busy intersection in Geneva late Wednesday afternoon, according to Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain.Police said the suspect had been on a 48-hour suburban crime spree when he carjacked a vehicle in Aurora. Kane County Sheriff's Deputies spotted the stolen vehicle and pursued him, which led to a crash near the intersection of Fabyan Parkway and Randall Road shortly before 4 p.m.According to KCSD, there was an exchange of gunfire between deputies and the suspect. The suspect is dead, while no serious injuries have been reported for the deputies involved.A police dog was also hit during the incident and severely injured, deputies said. Video captures woman setting fire at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines; charged with arson No other information is available at this time.A press conference in planned to begin at 5 p.m. CST. Stay with WGN News as this story will be...

Skilling: Cloudy in Chicagoland until Thursday afternoon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:53 GMT

Temps plummeted to late April levels today—even cooler on the Lake Michigan shoreline amid winds which have gusted as high a 36 to 44 mph up and down the western Lake Michigan shoreline—from Wisconsin into northeast Illinois.Temps, which peaked at 86 Tuesday, were more than 20 degrees cooler at O'Hare today—only reaching 67. And along the Lake Michigan shoreline, temps have hovered around 50-deg as the day's powerful, full fetch "NNE" winds traveled the length of chilly Lake Michigan into the Chicago area. Southern Lake Michigan water temps hover around 53 degrees—but are in the upper 40s mid-lake.Waves at the Wilmette buoy came in at 8 ft. Wed afternoon and white caps were visible as far as the eye could see out over Lake Michigan Wednesday.Normal lows this time of year are in the low 50s—so tonight's mid 40s will come in 7 degrees below normal—and sub normal highs are predicted Thursday with highs likely to average a few degrees cooler than today.But coming days will see the press...