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Local couple visiting Israel for their son’s wedding now scrambling to get home 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

Sonia Burkin, who lives in Boston, came to Tel Aviv to see her son get married this week. The joyous occasions soon turned nightmarish, though, as she and more than 200 relatives who flew in for the wedding were instead forced to seek shelter as violence broke out in Israel. Burkin spoke to 7NEWS on Tuesday while fighting continued between the Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel over the weekend.Burkin said the family, at one point, had to rush to a bomb shelter on four occasions in the same night. “That’s when it just really became real,” Burkin said. Burkin’s son and his fiance canceled their wedding as their loved ones scrambled for flights to take them anywhere else.In downtown Tel Aviv, Burkin said she and her family were initially awoken by sirens and the sound of Israeli Iron Dome interceptors targeting rockets fired by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Burkin said the family has spent the last few days bracing for i...

6.3 magnitude earthquake shakes part of western Afghanistan where earlier quake killed over 2,000

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — Another strong earthquake has shaken part of western Afghanistan where a quake on Saturday killed more than 2,000. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake Wednesday morning was about 28 kilometers (17 miles) outside Herat, the capital of Herat province, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter of Saturday’s quake was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the provincial capital, and several aftershocks have been strong, including another 6.3 magnitude Saturday.Taliban officials said more than 2,000 had died across Herat after the earlier quakes. They subsequently said the quakes killed and injured thousands but didn’t give a breakdown of casualties.Information on damage from the latest tremor was not immediately available. But there is little left of the villages in the region’s dusty hills besides rubble and funerals.In Naib Rafi, a village that previously had about 2,500 residents, people said almost no one was still alive beside...

Man runs almost 9,000 miles across Australia to raise support for Indigenous Voice

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Ultramarathon runner Pat Farmer ended a 14,400-kilometer (8,950-mile) run at the central Australian sandstone landmark Uluru on Wednesday after a seven-month journey to raise public support for the creation of an Indigenous advocacy body in the constitution.Australians will vote on Saturday at a referendum that would enshrine in the constitution a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a mechanism for Indigenous Australians to advise lawmakers on policies that effect their lives.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was at Uluru, which is an Indigenous sacred site also known as Ayers Rock, to welcome the 61-year-old runner’s arrival.Albanese said he had “utter admiration and awe” for Farmer’s commitment for the cause which opinion polls suggest is unlikely to succeed.“No one has done more than this bloke and I am very pleased to welcome him here at Uluru,” Albanese said.Farmer said his first glimpse of the enormous rock rising from the flat Australian wildern...

Kevin Phillips, strategist who forecast rising Republican power, dies at 82

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Phillips, the author, commentator and political strategist whose landmark book, “The Emerging Republican Majority,” became a blueprint for Republican thinking in the 1970s and beyond, has died. He was 82.Phillips died Monday in a hospice near his home in Naples, Florida, according to his wife, Martha Henderson Phillips. The cause of death was Alzheimer’s disease. “The Emerging Republican Majority” was published in the summer of 1969, just months after Richard Nixon narrowly defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey for the presidency. Phillips, in his late 20s at the time, was a Nixon campaign adviser and compulsive statistician who charted voting patterns dating back to the country’s founding.He foresaw Nixon’s victory and the appeal of the far-right third party candidate George Wallace as the beginning of a paradigm shift in American politics. Since 1932, the country’s politics had been shaped by Franklin Roosevelt and his “New Deal” coalition of northern...

One person rushed to hospital after pedestrian struck in North York

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

One person has been rushed to hospital after a collision where a pedestrian was struck near the northbound Allen Road ramp and Lawrence Avenue West in North York on Tuesday night.Police responded to reports at approximately 8:36 p.m. of a pedestrian struck by a black pick up truck that was no longer on scene when police arrived.The victim was rushed to hospital via emergency run with serious injuries. The black pick up truck was last seen northbound on Allen Road.Northbound Allen ramp is closed and delays are expected.

CPD seeks to identify man in connection to Avalon Park homicide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying a person of interest in connection to a homicide from February.Chicago police are seeking to identify an individual in connection to a homicide that occurred on the 8100 block of South Kenwood Avenue in Chicago's Avalon Park neighborhood at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Man arrested after climbing Accenture Tower in Chicago The individual was wearing a gray winter jacket, black shirt, black pants, and dark Nike shoes.Anyone with information regarding this incident or the individual's identity are asked to contact the Chicago Police Department at 312-747-8271.

Chicago Police Memorial Foundation to unveil plaza honoring fallen CPD K9s, horses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation will dedicate a new memorial plaza honoring CPD service animals who have died while serving alongside officers.An unveiling ceremony is set to take place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Gold Star Families Memorial and Park along Special Olympics Drive, across from Soldier Field in the Loop. Man arrested after climbing Accenture Tower in Chicago According to the foundation, the new K9 & Equine Plaza will recognize eight K9s and three horses who have died while serving alongside officers.The plaza will feature bronze sculptures of horses, K9s and CPD officers as well as personalized bricks purchased by donors who helped fund the project. According to the foundation, the plaza will be located north of the water wall at the park, just east of the stadium.Several officials from CPD and the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation will speak at the event.

104-year-old woman dies days after world-record skydive attempt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

OTTAWA, Ill. (WGN-TV) — A 104-year-old Chicago woman who recently set out to break a world record as the oldest person to ever jump from a plane has died. Dorothy Hoffner was found dead Monday morning by staff at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community after passing away in her sleep Sunday night, her close friend, Joe Conant, told the Associated Press.Conant said he met Hoffner, whom he called Grandma at her request, several years ago while working as a caregiver for another resident at the senior living center. He said Hoffner had great energy and was mentally sharp.“She was indefatigable. She just kept going," he said Tuesday. “She was not someone who would take naps in the afternoon, or not show up for any function, dinner or anything else. She was always there, fully present. She kept going, always.” 104-year-old Chicago woman becomes oldest person to tandem skydive On Oct. 1, Hoffner made a tandem skydive that could land her in the record books. She jumped out of a ...

FAA investigating after jet forced to take 'evasive action' at AUS

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after an F-18 fighter jet was forced to take "evasive action" back in September at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport, the agency confirmed to KXAN in a statement Tuesday.Around noon, Sept. 23, the jet "conflicted with two aircraft" at the airport, according to the FAA. The pilot of another jet took "evasive action" after getting an alert that the F-18 was nearby.Furthermore, the F-18 flew near Runway 18L while another aircraft was preparing for takeoff, the statement said.The FAA will determine the closest proximity of the aircraft as it continues the ongoing investigation.

DWI charges: Vadnais Heights lawmaker was two times legal limit to drive

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

A Vadnais Heights lawmaker had a blood-alcohol level two times the legal limit to drive in Minnesota and told a Chisago County sheriff’s deputy she thought she was in St. Paul, according to driving while impaired charges filed against her Tuesday.The Chisago County Attorney’s Office charged Democratic-Farmer-Labor Rep. Brion Curran after a deputy arrested her early Monday.At 1:56 a.m., the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a red sport utility vehicle, possibly a Mazda, “all over the road and speeding” north on Interstate 35 approaching North Branch. A deputy was dispatched at 2:05 a.m. to I-35 in Harris, north of North Branch, on a report of an SUV off the road.The deputy saw a red Mazda CX-5 SUV driving slowly on the shoulder. As he pulled up behind the vehicle, it came to a stop. The deputy saw what appeared to be fresh damage to the driver’s side front corner and the driver’s side front tire was flat.Brion Curran (Court...