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Canadian wildfire smoke spreads ‘hazardous’ air in both countries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, sending school recesses indoors and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.While Canadian officials expanded evacuation orders and asked other countries for help fighting more than 420 fires nationwide, air quality with what the U.S. rates as “hazardous” levels of pollution extended into central New York, with massive tongues of “unhealthy” air extending as far as Virginia and Indiana.In Baltimore, where officials warned residents to stay indoors when possible and limit outdoor exertion, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husband Jack Hughes took their daily walk around Fort McHenry, a national monument overlooking the Patapsco River. The air hung thick over the water, obscuring the horizon as distant ships pushed slowly through the haze.“I walked outside this morning and it was like a waft ...

Zelenskyy denies Ukraine involvement in Nord Stream pipeline blasts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

Paul Ronzheimer is the deputy editor-in-chief of BILD and a senior journalist reporting for Axel Springer, the parent company of POLITICOKYIV — Ukraine was not behind a series of underwater explosions that crippled the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.“I am president and I give orders accordingly,” Zelenskyy told Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company, in an interview in Kyiv. “Nothing of the sort has been done by Ukraine. I would never act that way.”The denial comes after claims that Western intelligence agencies knew of a Ukrainian-backed plan to take out Nord Stream 1 and 2, which linked Europe’s energy infrastructure to Russia’s vast gas fields via pipelines running for more than 1,200 kilometers under the Baltic Sea. The motive would have been to prevent Russia from resuming its lucrative gas exports to the EU.“I didn’t know anything, 100 percent,” Zelenskyy insisted. “I said, ‘Show us ...

Suspect arrested after crews extinguish massive house fire in Holden

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

A suspect is facing charges 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, officials said an investigation of the fire led to ...

First mission to ‘touch’ the sun catches the solar wind

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

(CNN) — A solar mission that has been spiraling closer to the sun to unravel its secrets has flown near enough to our star’s surface to make a key discovery.Data from the Parker Solar Probe has uncovered the source of solar wind, a stream of energized particles that flow from the corona, or the sun’s hot outer atmosphere, toward Earth.One of the key motivations behind the mission, named for the late astrophysicist Eugene Parker and launched in 2018, was to determine what the wind looks like as it forms near the sun and how it escapes the star’s gravity.As the probe came within about 13 million miles (20.9 million kilometers) of the sun, its instruments detected fine structures of the solar wind where it generates near the photosphere, or the solar surface, and captured ephemeral details that disappear once the wind is blasted from the corona.The spacecraft was specially designed to eventually fly within 4 million miles (6.4 million kilometers) above the solar sur...

Shannen Doherty shares behind the scenes of cancer battle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

(CNN) — Actress Shannen Doherty is letting her social media followers in on the spread of her breast cancer.The “Beverly Hills, 90210” star on Tuesday posted a video on her verified Instagram account of her receiving treatment as tears filled her eyes. The caption on the video began, “January 12, 2023.”“On January 5th, my ct scan showed Mets in my brain. Yesterdays video was showing the process of getting fitted for the mask which you wear during radiation to your brain,” the caption reads. “January 12, the first round of radiation took place.”“My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life,” Doherty, 52, wrote. “I am fortunate as I have great doctors like Dr Amin (Mirhadi) and the amazing techs at cedar sinai. But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like.”The “Charmed” star was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 that went into remission two years later. In 2020, Doherty anno...

MLB monitoring Canadian wildfire smoke above Yankee Stadium ahead of Yankees-White Sox game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

Major League Baseball is continuing to monitor the hazy situation in New York City and above Yankee Stadium, a major league source told the Daily News. However, the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so that he could share information freely, did not have any indication that Wednesday’s game between the Yankees and Chicago White Sox will be postponed as of early Wednesday afternoon.The league consulted medical and weather experts on Tuesday night, when smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south into the United States. New York City was among the impacted areas, and the Yankees and White Sox played beneath the smog at Yankee Stadium as fans watched — despite the air quality index (AQI) reaching levels deemed “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy” by the Environmental Protection Agency.Per the EPA, an AQI in the 0-50 range is considered “good.” The 101-150 range is considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” such as ...

Pope Francis emerges from 3-hour abdominal surgery without complications

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

By NICOLE WINFIELD and MARIA CHENG (Associated Press)ROME (AP) — Pope Francis underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, the latest malady to befall the 86-year-old pontiff who had part of his colon removed two years ago.The Vatican said there were no complications during the three-hour surgery, which required Francis to be under general anesthesia. Soon after the procedure, the surgeon who performed the operation said the pope was awake and fine and that the hernia was fixed.The pontiff was expected to remain at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days. As a precaution, all papal audiences were canceled through June 18, the Vatican said.While hernia operations are rarely performed on an emergency basis, the procedure appeared somewhat urgent, scheduled just a day after Francis went to the hospital for tests. The pontiff’s doctors no doubt also wanted to give him ample time for recovery ahead of a busy travel schedule later this summer.Th...

‘I can taste the air’: Canadian wildfire smoke spreads hazardous haze at home and in the US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

By JENNIFER PELTZ and ROB GILLIES (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.While Canadian officials asked other countries for help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people, air quality with what the U.S. rates as hazardous levels of pollution extended into central New York. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as Virginia and Indiana, affecting millions of people.“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy. In Baltimore, where officials warned residents to stay indoors when possible, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husban...

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he wants to keep the Bears ‘shuffling’ in Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

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.Johnson made the comments at an unrelated news conference when asked about the Bears flirting with a move to Naperville as the franchise’s push for state financial support and property tax breaks has stalled.The mayor did not offer specifics about how he can convince the team to remain in Chicago, but said it’s important to “have conversations.”“I grew up with the ‘Super Bowl Shuffle.’ As I would say, as older people would say to young people when I was young, ’85 Bears, Super Bowl shuffle, y’all don’t know nothing about that,” said Johnson, who was raised in suburban Elgin. “We want to make sure we can keep shuffling here in the city of Chicago with the Bears.”The mayor did not offer specifics about how he can convince the team to remain in Ch...

Healey says no indication Baker administration broke the law after mistaken use of $2.5B

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:07 GMT

There is no indication the Baker administration broke the law when $2.5 billion in federal money was erroneously used to pay off pandemic-era unemployment benefits, which should have been funded through state coffers, Gov. Maura Healey said outside the State House on Wednesday.Questions have swirled over the past week in the Beacon Hill orbit after the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development confirmed the withdrawal of $2.5 billion in federal relief funds for unemployment claims that should have been covered by the state.“No one broke any laws,” Healey told reporters. “It’s just to a matter of whether this was done the way it was supposed to be done, or whether there were other ways that this could have been done. Again, it’s more about just getting a handle on it right now. And the most important thing is we’re in discussions with the U.S. Department of Labor. And other states are working through similar issues.”It is still unclear whether Mass...