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Crews clear wreckage from ‘superfog’ pileup near New Orleans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

By Kevin McGill and Sara Cline | Associated PressNEW ORLEANS — Crews worked into Tuesday morning clearing the wreckage of more than 150 vehicles involved in a series of crashes the day before on Interstate 55 near New Orleans caused by a “superfog” of marsh fire smoke and dense fog that killed at least seven people and injured another 25.Lance Scott was among the many drivers caught in the wreckage. The 51-year-old had been driving his daughter to the airport when the fog thickened, as if a “white-out on a ski slope.” He slammed on his brakes, narrowly, avoiding the cars in front of him — but from behind he heard “the most horrendous clank of metal.”“It was, ‘Bang. Bang. Bang.’ It just went on… for probably 45 seconds,” Scott said. “As every second went by the clanking of the metal got a little bit fainter, which told me it was backing up — so I knew there was layers and layers of collisions.”Scott turned ...

San Jose Sharks react to NHL’s decision to rescind Pride tape ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

San Jose Sharks players and other NHLers will once again be allowed to use special stick tape to show support for certain causes.In a reversal from its previous stance that prohibited players from displaying “cause messaging” on their equipment, including rainbow-colored tape often used during LGBTQ+ Pride night celebrations, the NHL announced Tuesday that players will be now allowed to “voluntary represent social causes with their stick tape” throughout the season.The league said it made the decision in consultation with the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition.“We are extremely pleased that the NHL and NHLPA have come to an agreement that allows our players to make an individual choice to show their public support for the wide variety of worthy causes and initiatives supported by our organization and our League,” Sharks president Jonathan Becher said in a statement to this news organization.“This is an important step towards ensuring that our...

59-year-old woman arrested for pimping and pandering in South SF

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

(KRON) – The South San Francisco Police Department arrested a 59-year-old woman on Oct. 19. for allegedly managing a commercial sex operation.An apartment on the 400 block of Cypress Avenue was reported to the SSFPD Criminal Interdiction Unit for a possible commercial sex operation. After an investigation and surveillance, detectives were able to verify activity consistent with the property being an active brothel, police said.  Cruise driverless taxi and testing permits suspended by DMV A search warrant allowed the officers to find two potential victims or workers and two sex buyers. Evidence of an active operation was seized, including a significant amount of money.The 59-year-old woman was charged with pimping and pandering.Services were provided to the workers/victims by San Mateo County’s Human Trafficking Program Coordinator.  Anyone with information on this case or other human trafficking cases is asked to call the South San Francisco Police Department or the...

Nearly 300 Bernie Sanders Alumni Call On Senator to Back a Ceasefire in Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

Nearly 300 alumni of the presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders are urging the Vermont senator to join calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. In a letter sent Tuesday, former staffers asked Sanders to introduce a Senate-side companion to the “ceasefire now” resolution in the House; support an end to U.S. funding “for war crimes against the Palestinian people, the expansion of settlements, and the occupation of Palestinian lands”; and to support an end to the blockade of Gaza. The House ceasefire resolution — led by Reps. Cori Bush, D-Mo.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; André Carson, D-Ind.; Summer Lee, D-Pa.; and Delia Ramirez, D-Ill. — now has 18 members supporting it.“President Biden clearly values your counsel, as is shown by the ways you’ve managed to shape the outcomes of his presidency,” the staffers wrote. “We urge you to make it clear what is at stake in this crisis politically, morally, and strategically.” The group also produced a video appealing directly to Sanders.290 Former @Be...

Man City changes typical pre-match routine in Champions League to get used to an artificial pitch

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Manchester City has changed its usual preparations for an away game in the Champions League ahead of a meeting with Young Boys on the Swiss team’s artificial pitch at its Wankdorf Stadium.City does not normally take up the option available to the team of training at the stadium where it is playing the game, instead preferring to work in Manchester before traveling.However, City flew to Bern early Tuesday and had a run-out inside Young Boys’ stadium on its unfamiliar terrain.Speaking at a news conference later Tuesday, City manager Pep Guardiola said he would prefer to be playing on natural grass but accepted the conditions.“If UEFA allows games to be played here, it’s because it is in good conditions,” Guardiola said.“That’s one of the reasons we never train away but this is an exception. This is why we travel in the morning for the players to feel how the ball runs, how to move left, right, backwards, forwards. That’s why. We’ll try it and the p...

The 49ers need to find their pass rush after back-to-back losses

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Few teams in the NFL invest as much in draft picks and money in the defensive line as the San Francisco 49ers.So if a pass rush with players such as Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave, Arik Armstead and Co. can’t do a better job of bringing down quarterbacks, it will be a big problem for the Niners.That was evident Monday night when Kirk Cousins picked apart San Francisco’s defense in impressive fashion, throwing for 378 yards and taking no sacks in Minnesota’s 22-17 victory over the 49ers. “I mean we have a lot of really good players on the D-line and, obviously, a lot invested in it,” Bosa said. “We have to make plays when they are there. We got lulled to sleep by some of the protections. When those opportunities come, you have to be ready for them.”San Francisco had plenty of chances against Cousins with the Vikings passing the ball 45 times. But none of those plays ended in sacks and very few even in a throwaway or scramble under pressure. For...

GOP picks Tom Emmer as its nominee for House speaker but Trump is against giving him the gavel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans picked Rep. Tom Emmer as their nominee for House speaker Tuesday as they desperately searched for a way out of the chaos they have created, but the choice was quickly rejected by Donald Trump and other hardliners, leaving it highly uncertain the GOP latest hopeful can win the gavel.Three weeks after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy, throwing the House into turmoil, they appear no closer to ending the bitter infighting and choosing a new speaker who can credibly unite the GOP majority, lead the party and get the U.S. Congress working again.Dejected Republicans, many hearing from angry far-right callers pressuring them to vote against their own nominee, planned to reassemble later Tuesday afternoon ahead of possible floor action. “We’re in the same cul-de-sac,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.Emmer of Minnesota, who is the party’s third-ranking Republican as the GOP whip, jumped out in front du...

Man stopped in August outside Michigan governor’s summer mansion worked for anti-Democrat group

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A man dressed in black who works for a group specializing in opposition research about Democrats was stopped while climbing a bluff near Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s summer residence in August, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press.The man, whose name was redacted in the document, said he worked as a “political tracker” for America Rising. The police report links to two websites as potential employers, one at an America Rising corporation and one for an America Rising political action committee.The man said he was “climbing the hill to get a ‘view up here’ when he was stopped Aug. 26. When members of the Executive Protection Section advised there was no view to see where he was at, (the man) stated, ‘I guess I’m leaving now,’” state police said.The mansion on Mackinac Island is a summer residence for any Michigan governor in office. It’s located “on a bluff overlooking the Straits of Mackinac,” according to the island’s t...

Clemson will be without 2 starters in DB Mickens and WR Williams vs. NC State

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson will be down a pair of starters in wide receiver Antonio Williams and safety R.J. Mickens when it faces North Carolina State on Saturday.Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said Williams, who had just returned after missing three games with an ankle injury, hurt his toe in a loss to Miami last weekend.Mickens had an appendectomy on Monday, according to Swinney.Williams was one one of Clemson’s top playmakers as a freshman in 2022. He’s had 17 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns this year. Williams made two catches for 47 yards before coming out near halftime in the 28-20 overtime loss to the Hurricanes.Swinney said Williams would be out for a while and may be able to return toward the end of the season.Mickens’ stomach was hurting and he was diagnosed with appendicitis, Swinney said. It may take two or three weeks before he’s healthy enough to return, the coach said.Mickens has started all seven games, with 37 tackles and three pass br...

Israel vows again to destroy Hamas, rejecting calls for a cease-fire in Gaza at a major UN meeting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:37 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israel vowed again to destroy Hamas, rejecting calls from the U.N. chief, the Palestinians and many countries at a high-level U.N. meeting on Tuesday for a cease-fire and declaring that the war in Gaza is not only its war but “the war of the free world.”Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also dismissed calls for “proportionality” in the country’s response to Hamas’ surprise attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,400 people and has since led to more than 5,700 Palestinian deaths in Gaza according to its Health Ministry.“Tell me, what is a proportionate response for killing of babies, for rape (of) women and burn them, for beheading a child?” Cohen asked. “How can you agree to a cease-fire with someone who swore to kill and destroy your own existence?”He told the U.N. Security Council that the proportionate response to the Oct. 7 massacre is “a total destruction to the last one of the Hamas,” calling the extremist group “the new Nazis.” He stressed: “It is no...