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'Dude, where's my car?': Chicago winter parking ban goes into effect

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago's winter parking ban goes into effect, but what does that exactly mean for street parking in the city?"Starting at 3 a.m., tow trucks will be lining up to move cars parked along 107 miles of some of the city’s busiest streets," said Cole Stallard, commission for the City's Department of Streets and Sanitation.From Dec. 1 until April 1, there is no parking allowed from 3-7 a.m. on streets that display the signs below:A map of the 107 miles of streets affected by the winter parking ban can be found at the end of this article.According to Stallard, 242 cars were towed on Dec. 1 last year when the winter parking ban went into effect last year."I look down my window, don’t see my car down there," said one Chicagoan who was among the 242 towed on Dec. 1 last year. "I look down the street and see just a bunch of tow trucks. So I sprint down and I'm like telling this guy, 'I'll give you cash, just give me my car back!' and he was like, 'you got to talk to the big guy ...

Friday Forecast: Temps in low 40s with am widespread rain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Widespread rainfall Friday morning tapers to scattered showers and drizzle this afternoon as temperatures hold in the lower 40s.  Rain becomes widespread again this evening, before scattered showers taper and end overnight.  Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here Some snow is possible in far northwest counties as temperatures fall into the upper 30s. Saturday Forecast: Saturday will be cloudy with highs in the lower 40s.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

CDC: Don't eat pre-cut cantaloupe from unknown source amid deadly salmonella outbreak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

Consumers shouldn't eat pre-cut cantaloupe if they don't know the source, U.S. health officials said Thursday, as the number of illnesses and recalls tied to a deadly salmonella outbreak grows.At least 117 people in 34 U.S. states have been sickened by contaminated cantaloupe, including 61 who were hospitalized and two who died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 63 illnesses, 17 hospitalizations and one death tied to the same outbreak have been reported in Canada.The illnesses are severe, with more than half of infected people hospitalized, including residents of long-term care centers and children in day care, the CDC said.Previous recalls of whole and pre-cut cantaloupes have been expanded to include Kwik Trip markets, Bix Produce and distributor GHGA, which sent recalled products to Kroger, Sprouts Farmer's Markets and Trader Joe's stores in several states, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. ...

Dean’s Weekender: The Nutcracker, Mariah Carey, Countess Luann de Lesseps and more

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

Check out Dean’s Weekender for the latest events coming to the Chicagoland area this weekend.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

If Donald Trump is convicted, then what? The 2024 Republican convention rules don't say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Republican National Committee's rules for next year's nominating contest and convention were released this week without addressing a question the GOP could well face next summer: Can the party's delegates vote for a different candidate if the presumptive nominee is convicted of a felony?Former President Donald Trump is under four criminal indictments that will proceed through the GOP primary season, an overlap of legal and political calendars with no precedent in American politics. Fifteen states and American Samoa hold their GOP primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday, which is also the day after his first trial is scheduled to begin in Washington on charges that he unlawfully sought to overturn the 2020 election.Trump is dominating the Republican field and may secure much of the support he needs by Super Tuesday, by which time almost half of delegates who select the nominee at the GOP convention will have been awarded. Even if he were to be convicted in Wa...

After decades, 'Mutts' comic strip creator frees Guard Dog character

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Something is different on the comics pages this week. In the panels of “Mutts,” there's the long-delayed sight of freedom.Patrick McDonnell, the cartoonist who draws the popular strip, is freeing his character Guard Dog, liberating an animal who has become for decades a symbol of the cruelty of dog chaining.“I think it just hit me that I can’t do it forever and that it has to happen,” McDonnell told The Associated Press ahead of the publication of Thursday's panel showing Earl's owner kneeling beside the dog and announcing: “We have to remove this chain.” On Friday's strip, it will be gone.“I had a vague idea what the story was going to be, but I finally took some time and said, ‘Well, what is that story?’ And I was happy with what I came up with. So I said, ‘Now’s the time to do it.’”"Mutts" premiered in 1995 with two heroes — the small canine Earl and the feline Mooch, fond of saying “Yesh.” There's also Woolfie, Sid the fish, Crabby, Sourpuss and Butchie, the ever...

DPS agent denied transfer to care for terminally ill father

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A veteran law enforcement officer at the Texas Department of Public Safety said he feels betrayed by his own agency after he was repeatedly denied the ability to transfer to the DPS office in his hometown to help take care of his terminally ill father and be with his family.KXAN reached out to DPS for a comment and will update this story once a response is provided. Special Agent Calvin Green has been with DPS for nearly 14 years where he primarily worked out of his hometown of El Paso where his family lives. In April 2021, Green transferred to a new position in Austin with the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) in DPS' Capitol Region. Image of Calivin Green and his father (Courtesy: Calvin Green)The following year, Green learned that his father, who has been battling multiple sclerosis for years, was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder with no known cure, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “Ever since ...

Austin's Family Business Loan Program revamped for modern costs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin City Council voted Thursday to increase the maximum amount of money local businesses can get through the Family Business Loan program and created a process for approving loans that exceed the maximum amount. When the loan program started in 2012, the maximum amount a local business could get approved for was $1 million. But since costs for commercial real estate and payroll have gone up in the past decade, the city decided to raise the maximum amount to match the current market. Now businesses can get up to $4 million dollars from the program, and if a company needs to go past that, there is a process set in place for the loan review committee to get approval on. Who does it help?The FBLP was set up to help enable local businesses to grow and hire more employees. It's a private-public partnership between the city of Austin, Housing and Urban Development, and private investors. Sheyenne Alvarez, the program manager, said it is for businesses of all sizes. The ...

Texas birds renamed due to links with colonialism, slavery, racism

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

AUSTIN  (KXAN) – Starting in 2024, the American Ornithological Society (AOS), the largest international group of its kind, will begin an initiative to rename some species birds with English names found in the U.S. and Canada.The group said it is taking on the effort to “address past wrongs” in the naming process – for example, excluding Black and Indigenous people when naming birds or honoring historical figures linked to slavery and racism. “There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today. We need a much more inclusive and engaging scientific process that focuses attention on the unique features and beauty of the birds themselves,” AOS President Colleen Handel said in a press release. “Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely—and birds need our help now more than ever,” she continued. AOS said it would change all English bird names, r...

Demonstrators hold rally, silent protest to demand Austin leaders call for ceasefire in Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Hours before a temporary truce ended in Gaza, pro-Palestine demonstrators gathered outside and then went inside Austin City Hall Thursday to demand Austin City Council members make a formal call for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather at Texas State Capitol Sunday, call for ceasefire in Gaza The Austin for Palestine Coalition, which led the protest, wants council members to pass a resolution that was adopted by the Austin Human Rights Commission on Nov. 6. That resolution called for the council to:express support for de-escalation of the warexpress support for an "explicit ceasefire" demand of release of "civilian hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7"demand resumption of essential supplies including food, water and fuel to civilians in Gaza The coalition wants the council to take up and approve the resolution at the council's Dec. 14 meeting. The group held a rally in front of city hall Thursday morning then...