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Death toll climbs amid trail of tornadoes 

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

WYNNE, Ark. — Residents across a wide swath of the U.S. raced Sunday to assess the destruction from fierce storms that spawned possibly dozens of tornadoes from the South and the Midwest into the Northeast, killing at least 32 people.The storms tore a path through the Arkansas capital and also collapsed the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, stunning people throughout the region with the scope of the damage.The number of deaths continued to grow Sunday.“While we are still assessing the full extent of the damage, we know families across America are mourning the loss of loved ones, desperately waiting for news of others fighting for their lives, and sorting through the rubble of their homes and businesses,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.Biden earlier declared broad areas of the country major disaster areas, making federal resources and financial aid available for recovery.Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas, where at least five people were killed, al...

Massachusetts weather forecast: Close to 70 degrees on the way during ‘mostly dry week’

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

Could 70 degrees be spotted on thermometers across the region during the first week of April?It’s certainly a possibility with the National Weather Service forecasting unseasonably warm conditions this week.The warmest day is expected to be on Thursday, as meteorologists forecast high temps in the upper 60s to near 70 degrees.“If this were a sunny day we would be talking highs approaching 80F!” the National Weather Service’s forecast discussion reads. “Given the amount of clouds and periods of rain, highs are more in line with the upper-60s to near 70! Still not bad when you see our normal high are in the low to mid-50s.”Ahead of that abnormally warm Thursday, the workweek should start with dry and mild conditions. Monday will be a mostly sunny day with high temps in the mid-50s.It’s expected to turn breezy Monday afternoon, with strong wind gusts up to 35 mph. Also, dewpoints are only going to be in the 20s.“These low dew pts combined...

Police reforms tested in city where officer killed Black man

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

The Rev. James Stokes remembers Grand Rapids following the slaying of George Floyd, when demonstrations devolved into rioting that left businesses damaged and scores of people arrested.Stokes and other leaders in the western Michigan city desperately wanted to avoid a similar outbreak of violence when a white Grand Rapids police officer fatally shot Patrick Lyoya, a Black motorist, last April. After video of that shooting was publicly released, outrage in the community grew, and some feared a violent response. But the protests — while loud and angry — were peaceful. No buildings were burned. No shops were looted.City leaders say policing reforms and outreach to Grand Rapids’ Black community, including the clergy, helped to keep the peace after Lyoya’s slaying. Others believe the reform efforts have been slow and their impact superficial at best.“We knew what potentially could have happened,” said Stokes, pastor of New Life Tabernacle church. “As pastors, we g...

Kelsea Ballerini honors shooting victims at CMT Music Awards

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

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The CMT Music Awards opened Sunday with a tribute to victims from a school shooting, as co-host and country star Kelsea Ballerini shared her own experience as a witness to another school shooting at her high school. Country stars walked the red carpet ahead of the awards show, held this year in Austin, Texas, wearing black ribbons in honor of the six victims — three adults and three nine-year-olds — who were killed Monday at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.Ballerini described a 2008 shooting at a school in her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee before dedicating Sunday’s show to the “ever-growing list of families, friends, survivors, witnesses and responders whose lives continue to be forever changed by gun violence.”Country singer Blake Shelton then kicked off the awards show with a Texas dance hall version of his song “No Body.”This year’s CMT Music Awards will merge country, rock and blues straight from the heart of Texas, featu...

LSU wins 1st NCAA title, Mulkey’s 4th, beating Clark, Iowa

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

DALLAS (AP) — Kim Mulkey returned home to Louisiana wanting to bring LSU its first basketball championship. The Hall of Fame coach did just that in only her second year at the school.Her Tigers used a record offensive performance to beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa 102-85 on Sunday and win the first basketball title, men’s or women’s, in school history.“I turn around and look at the Final Four banners (in the home arena), nowhere did it say national champion,” Mulkey said. “That’s what I came home to do.”The victory made Mulkey the first women’s coach to win national titles at two different schools. She won three at Baylor before leaving for LSU two years ago.“Coaches coach a lifetime and this is the fourth time I’ve been blessed,” Mulkey said. “Never in the history of LSU basketball, men or women, has (anybody) ever played for a championship.”The feisty and flamboyantly dressed Mulkey, who wore a sparkly, golden, tiger-striped outfit, now has the third-most natio...

Another potential severe weather outbreak beginning in the Tuesday/Tuesday night time frame

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

Friday's storm HAD A COLD SIDE TO IT TOO with mega-snows beneath its windy northern flank, which ranged from the northern Plains across a swath of Minnesota and the North Woods of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Seasonal snow tallies there have been quite phenomenal. Tom Skilling posts maps here of the latest storm's snowfall and also season to date snow tallies across the Upper Midwest. Minneapolis' 2022-23 season snow tally currently matches Chicago's all time snowiest full season total set in 1978-79:  89.7"!Total storm snowfall late this past week on the cold side of the same spring system which produced damaging t-storms and tornadoes in Chicago and across a wide swath of the central U.S.Storm totals across the North Woods of Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper PeninsulaLate week snow accumulation totals west into Minnesota and the Dakotas72 hour snowfall from the late week spring storm per the National Weather Service2022-23 seasonal snowfall to dateThe National Weather Service ...

Trump to deliver remarks after his arraignment, campaign says

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

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Tuesday night in Florida after his scheduled arraignment in New York on charges related to hush money payments, his campaign announced Sunday.Trump will hold the event at his Mar-a-Lago club after returning from Manhattan, where he is expected to voluntarily turn himself in. He is expected to be joined in Florida by supporters as he tries to project an image of strength and defiance and turn the charges into a political asset to boost his 2024 presidential campaign.Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed up by a Manhattan grand jury last week, two people familiar with the matter have told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that is not yet public because the indictment remains under seal. Chris Christie calls Trump camp’s ‘bravado’ over indictment ‘baloney’ ...

Almanac for April 3, 2023

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

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'I wake up crying': Victim speaks about shooting at east Austin park

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

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The victim of a shooting at an east Austin park spoke out about the terrifying moment shots were fired with a playground full of children. It happened last Sunday at Chicano Park. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Multiple injuries after Sunday shooting in east Austin park The victim wishes to remain anonymous, but said he is one of three people who were injured in that shooting. "It's hard for me to walk on it. I'll go to sleep crying. I wake up crying," he said. He said the bullet went through both his pelvis and colon. The shooting left the victim with a scar along his stomach. (Photo: KXAN) "They had to do surgery to get all the pieces out," he said. Austin Police said that evening, they were called to the intersection of Nash Hernandez Sr. Road and Chicon Street, located next to Chicano Park. "People go out there and go have fun with the family," the victim said. He said the incident started after two vehicles, both with rims that were sticking out several inches, collided....

Fiona and Ian retired as hurricane names by WMO

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

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The names "Fiona" and "Ian" will no longer be used to name Tropical Storms or Hurricanes in the future. Those names were retired by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) due to the devastation and deaths caused by both storms.NOAA and WMO has lists of predetermined names to help differentiate between storms. These lists repeat every six years. Names get "retired" from the list if they cause too much death or destruction.WMO determined "Fiona" and "Ian" would be replaced by the names "Farrah" and "Idris" when last year's list returns in 2028.96 names have been retired in the Atlantic basin since 1953, which was when the current naming structure first began.Storms with a name beginning with "I" have been retired more than any other letter. The retiring of "Ian" adds to a long list of other retired "I" storms that now totals 14.Retired "I" named stormsHurricane FionaHit the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos before moving into Canad...