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Plum Island beaches reopen after bacteria in swimming waters tested

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

All Plum Island beaches were reopened on Sunday morning following almost a week of closure due to an excess amount of bacteria in the water, city officials announced.A release from the city of Newburyport Sunday morning said the most recent testing of its Plum Island beaches’ water “showed significantly reduced bacteria levels.” The beach accessible from 55th Street, officials said, was reopened on Friday.As of Friday, the state’s Department of Public Health and Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health listed 64 public beaches in Massachusetts with postings indicating that swimming is unsafe or could lead to illness.City officials said Massachusetts’ beach testing program monitors more than 1,100 public beaches in the state, measuring the amount of Enterococci and E. coli bacteria present in the public swimming waters.Swimming in water containing excess amounts of bacteria, officials said, could lead to a myriad of dermatological, respiratory, eye, gastrointestinal, skin and ear i...

Plane crashes behind Stow home, three seriously injured

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

A single-engine plane crashed in the woods behind a residential home in Stowe Sunday afternoon, according to the Stowe Fire Department.Officials, in a release, said the department was called to 181 Taylor Road with reports of a plane crash. Upon arrival, officials found the plane landed on its roof in the woods behind the home, which was slightly over a mile from the Minuteman Airfield, a public-use airport also located in Stow.Firefighters extricated two individuals from the craft and treated a third that was able to exit the aircraft on their own, officials said.  Officials said the department was aided by its Maynard, Boxborough and Hudson counterparts.The three were transported to local trauma centers in helicopters with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, according to officials.Police departments from Stow, Maynard and Boxborough also assisted at the scene, along with a variety of EMTs, Boston MedFlight and UMass LifeFlight helicopters, officials said.— Developing

Avid search for missing Texas rodeo goat bringing residents of a small rural county together

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (AP) — First there was Gone Girl. Now there is Gone Goat.The search for a rodeo goat that has been missing for more than a week has the residents of a rural South Texas county enthralled as they are using horses, ATVs and even contemplating utilizing a helicopter to find the missing animal.Local businesses have donated nearly 90 prizes and gifts worth more than $5,000, including brisket, frescoes and salon service, as a reward for the person who finds the goat.“This has just gotten bigger than we ever dreamed. Our county is a really small county, about 20,000 population and a mostly agriculture, farming and ranching community. And we’re very much one big family … So, we’re excited that everybody wants to find our goat,” said Alison Savage, president of the Willacy County Livestock Show and Fair. Residents, including families, have been scouring cotton and sugar cane fields since the goat escaped from a pen in the county’s rodeo arena near Raymondville on Ju...

Spain at risk of political gridlock after conservative win falls short of toppling PM Sánchez

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain appears headed for political gridlock after Sunday’s inconclusive national elections left parties on both the right and left without a clear path toward forging a new government.The conservative Popular Party won the elections, but it fell short of its hopes of scoring a much bigger victory and forcing the removal of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Instead, the party led by candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo performed below expectations of most of the campaign polls.Even though Sánchez’s Socialists finished in second place, they and their allied parties celebrated the outcome like a victory since their combined forces gained slightly more seats than the PP and the far-right. The bloc that could likely support Sánchez totaled 172 seats; the right bloc behind Feijóo, 170.“It was a Pyrrhic victory for the Popular Party, which is unable to form a government,” said political analyst Verónica Fumanal, adding the conservatives will now have to reach out ...

NBA Board of Governors approves Michael Jordan’s sale of the Charlotte Hornets, AP source says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The NBA Board of Governors has voted to approve Michael Jordan’s sale of the Charlotte Hornets to an ownership group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, according to a person familiar with the situation.The person spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday on condition of anonymity because the sale won’t become official for at least another week.The decision ends Jordan’s 13-year run as majority owner of the franchise. He will remain on as a minority owner.Jordan agreed to sell the team on June 16. However, when an NBA owner decides to sell it first must be approved by the league’s Board of Governors. Jordan’s decision to sell leaves the NBA without a Black majority owner.Plotkin has been a minority stakeholder with the Hornets since 2019, while Schnall has been a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks since 2015. He has been forced to sell his investment in that team.The sale price is reportedly around $3 billion, according to ESPN.As an owner Jordan never came c...

Emmett Till home hosting celebration in honor of Till's 82nd birthday

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

CHICAGO — On Tuesday of this coming week, Emmett Till would have turned 82 years old.In honor of his birthday, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of renovations at the museum that will honor his legacy."The title of the project is 'Be Careful, I Always Am' and that was sparked by one of the quotes Mamie said in the archives she wanted Emmet to be careful," said Germane Barnes.Banes, a Chicago-based artist, will be unveiling a new art installation as exterior renovations kick off for the Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum at 64th Avenue and Saint Lawrence Avenue. Owner of Highland Park deli heads to Ukraine to cook for families Hammock's underneath is inviting people to sit with Emmett's story, one that details the time when he was visiting his relatives in Mississippi, and he was lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman when he was just a 14-year-old boy."You would never expect this to happen to a child. You want a kid to be brave, but ...

Tomatoes, whole chicken, and other groceries that rose in price in the Midwest last month

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

(Stacker) -- After more than a year of historical inflation, grocery prices are staying steady. Prices fell in March and April for the first time since September 2020 and have changed little since.The drop earlier this spring was largely fueled by decreases in eggs—which had risen dramatically in price—as well as meats, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products.Still, inflation continued to plague shoppers. The overall cost of groceries in June remained up 4.7% from 2022—the result of historically high inflation in the past couple of years following a series of major social and economic events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, labor disruptions, and heightened consumer demand. Overall, inflation has cooled but hasn't reached pre-pandemic levels.Despite the lull, groceries in some categories continued to climb. Stacker used monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find the grocery items that experienced the largest price increases over the las...

Driver killed in high-speed crash at Ohio racetrack

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) -- A drag racing driver was killed in a crash at a racetrack in Salem, Ohio, Saturday night. Al Zukauskas was killed following a crash on the track, the announcer at Quaker City Motorsports Park told spectators. His family was at the venue when the crash happened, reports Dragzine.Spectators at the racetrack told Nexstar's WKBN that the vehicle Zukauskas was driving was a jet-powered drag car. Photos obtained by Dragzine show smoke billowing from the crashed vehicle. The outlet reported the car was going 286 mph before the accident. "In addition to being professional, he was passionate about being a jet vehicle pilot, and putting on a show for fans. That, along with his personality, made him beloved here at Summit Motorsports Park," said park spokesperson Mary Lendzion. "We send our love and prayers to his family, friends, fellow racers and fans at this incredibly difficult time."Many in the motorsports community also took to social media to offer condolences for ...

The 1975 cancels shows after band's same-sex kiss controversy

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — British pop rock band The 1975 announced on Sunday it was canceling its shows in Jakarta and Taipei after the Malaysian government cut short a music festival in the wake of the band's lead singer slamming the country’s anti-gay laws and kissing a male bandmate during their performance.The 1975 was scheduled to have a performance at We The Fest, Indonesia’s annual summer music festival, in Jakarta on Sunday night, part of their 2023 Asia tour.“The 1975 regret to announce that their forthcoming shows in Jakarta and Taipei will no longer be going ahead as planned,” the group said in a statement posted on We The Fest’s social media platforms on Sunday. They added that the decision was not made lightly "but unfortunately due to the current circumstances, it is impossible to proceed with the current shows.”Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, does not prohibit LGBTQ rights except in the conservative Aceh province.Matt Healey, the lead voc...

Austin artists create 50-foot Burning Man art piece

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:50:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A group of Austin artists are spearheading an approximately 50-foot art installation heading to the 2023 Burning Man festival late next month.The installation, entitled "1000 Hands," is a fabric-based art piece designed to reflect the effects of our "climate reality" amid ongoing environmental impacts due to climate change. Where to go, what to do in Texas when it’s too hot to handle "Knowing how we were going with materials led us to create the narrative that felt the most pressing to us — something that's on the forefront of what we care about and what we try to put out into the world," said Maria Gotay, the lead producer behind "1000 Hands."The piece entirely comprises hand-woven and dyed fabrics to reflect the abstract landscapes of the desert, with vibrant colors reflecting the rising sun and mountain ranges in the distance. In the evening, the piece will illuminate courtesy of hundreds of LED lights interwoven into it, the project's tech lead Janitha Karunara...