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Heavy rains flood Chicago roads and force NASCAR to cut short a downtown street race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Heavy rains flooded Chicago streets Sunday, trapping cars and forcing NASCAR officials to cancel the last half of an Xfinity Series race set to run through the city’s downtown.The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for multiple counties in the Chicago area, saying up to 6 inches of rain had already fallen in suburban Cicero and Berwyn by midday. The NWS website warned the flooding could be “life-threatening” through 3 p.m., with numerous impassable roads, overflowing creeks and streams and flooded basements. The Illinois State Police said parts of Interstate 55 and Interstate 290 have been closed because of flooding, with at least 10 cars trapped in water on Interstate 55 near Pulaski Road, a major north-south thoroughfare in the city, WLS-TV reported. Trains were stopped in some parts of the city as well. NASCAR officials had planned to complete the last half of an Xfinity Series race through the city’s downtown on Sunday morning after ...

Maple Leafs sign Tyler Bertuzzi to one-year, $5.5M contract

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed forward Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5 million contract on Sunday.???? We’ve signed forward Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year contract pic.twitter.com/T8PLhhOqRP— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) July 2, 2023The Detroit Red Wings traded Bertuzzi to the Boston Bruins before this year’s NHL trade deadline.Bertuzzi, 28, had a combined eight goals and 22 assists in 50 games with the Red Wings and Bruins this season. He added five goals and five assists in Boston’s seven-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.The native of Sudbury, Ont., has had a number of injuries and suffered an upper-body injury blocking a shot on Oct. 16 that sidelined him until January.Bertuzzi has 92 goals and 126 assists for 218 points in 326 career games with the Red Wings and Bruins.The Red Wings selected the Guelph Storm product in the second round (58th overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

Two people still missing after landslide in Quebec’s Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

SAGUENAY, Que. — Quebec provincial police continued to search for two people on Sunday, a day after they went missing following a landslide triggered by torrential rain in Quebec’s Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region.Police said several people were trying to clear storm-related debris from a road in Rivière-Éternité, Que., about 170 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, when the landslide occurred around 1:30 p.m.“A landslide and an overflow of the Éternité River swept away the people who were on the road to clear the route of debris. Three people were carried away by the current. A man in his 40s was located and rescued,” police spokesman Sgt. Hugues Beaulieu said in an interview. The man suffered serious injuries and was transported to hospital, where he remains in critical condition. The two other people, a man and a woman, remain missing.Beaulieu said there was no new information about the search as of 5 p.m. on Sunday, adding around 30 police officers were on the gr...

Trump’s South Carolina rally attracted a massive crowd in heavily Republican area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

PICKENS, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump marked a return to the large-scale rallies of his previous presidential campaigns, speaking to a massive crowd gathered in the streets of a small South Carolina city on a blazing summer weekend.“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be to kick off the Fourth of July weekend than right here on Main Street, with thousands of hardworking South Carolina patriots who believe in God, family and country,” Trump said Saturday to a roaring crowd in downtown Pickens as temperatures climbed into the 90s.Randal J. Beach, the police chief in the conservative Upstate community of about 3,400 residents, told The Associated Press on Sunday that his estimates of the crowd “were somewhere between 50-55,000.”The heavily Republican area is a popular one for GOP hopefuls as they aim to attract support for South Carolina’s first-in-the-South presidential primary. In recent months, other candidates including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former V...

At least 1 person is dead in a fiery small plane crash in South Carolina beach resort

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — A single-engine plane carrying five people crashed Sunday near a golf course in the South Carolina coastal resort community of North Myrtle Beach, killing at least one person, police and federal officials said.The Piper PA-32 went down northwest of the city’s Grand Stand Airport shortly after 11 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that confirmed five people were aboard.North Myrtle Beach police spokesman Patrick Wilkinson said initially that there was at least one death and one other person taken to a hospital, the Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. A North Myrtle Beach police dispatcher, contacted by The Associated Press, said she had no further information later Sunday and that no spokesperson was immediately available to provide further updates on the dead or injured.The newspaper reported the plane went down in a fiery crash near a golf course in an area called Barefoot Landing, prompting police, fire and other emergen...

Friends and family gather for the funeral of Houston rapper Big Pokey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Family and friends gathered at the funeral over the weekend for Houston rapper Big Pokey, an original member of the pioneering group Screwed Up Click.Pokey, who was born Milton Powell, died June 18 at the age of 48 after collapsing at a performance in Beaumont, located east of Houston. Those attending his service Saturday at Fountain of Praise church in Houston included Mayor Sylvester Turner, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and rappers Paul Wall, Trae Tha Truth and Slim Thug, the Houston Chronicle reported.Pokey was known for Texas and Gulf Coast hits such as “Ball N’ Parlay,” “Who Dat Talking Down,” and a verse on DJ Screw’s nearly 36-minute freestyle known as “June 27th.” He was also featured on Megan Thee Stallion’s 2022 “Southside Royalty Freestyle.” Nationally, Pokey was most known for a featured appearance on Wall’s 2005 debut hit song, “Sittin’ Sidewayz.” The chorus was sampled from Pokey’s verse on “June 27th.”Pokey, who grew up in Houston, began garnering l...

Union to provide update on strike by nearly 7,400 port workers across B.C.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

VANCOUVER — The union representing thousands of striking British Columbia port workers says it plans to offer an update on negotiations later today. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada says it will provide more details on the ongoing talks at a 3:30 p.m. news conference in Vancouver. It will mark the first time the union has spoken publicly since nearly 7,400 members walked off the job on Saturday morning.The BC Maritime Employers Association has previously said federally mediated talks with the union took place over several days and were slated to continue today.Business groups across Canada have sounded the alarm about the potential economic impact of the strike, which affects thousands of cargo loaders and 49 of the province’s waterfront employers at more than 30 ports across the province.The union has previously said contracting out, port automation and cost of living are key issues in the dispute.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jul...

CPD: 13-year-old girl missing from Humboldt Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department is seeking the public's help in finding a 13-year-old year old girl who went missing in Humboldt Park Tuesday.Missing 13-year-old Miracle Brown.Police said Miracle Brown, 13, was last seen in the 4000 block of West Hirsch Street on June 27.She's described as being around 4-feet-10-inches tall, weighing around 160 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, with police saying she may be as far away as St. Paul, Minnesota.Anyone with information that can help police find Brown can reach Area Five detectives with CPD at 312-746-6554.

Report: Former Austin Parks employee falsified timecards, received $11K in unearned wages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new investigative report released from the City of Austin's Office of the City Auditor found a former Parks and Recreation Department employee fraudulently collected $11,000 after falsifying time cards for six months.Now-former PARD employee Desarae Ybarra submitted timesheets for hours she didn't work between June and December 2021, per the auditor report. She began working at PARD as an IT geospatial technician in March 2021 and "was responsible for updating tree inventory data across 300 public parks" in the city, per the report.Joshua Erickson, an environmental conservation program manager at PARD, oversees planning and directing environmental conservation program strategies, while Kirsten Schneider is an environmental program coordinator and reports to Erickson.Per the report, "Ybarra became Erickson's direct report due to management vacancies at PARD" in July 2021. Erickson designated Schneider to assist him in overseeing Ybarra's work and approving her times...

Twins to remain on Bally Sports North through end of season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

BALTIMORE — Bally Sports North will continue to broadcast Twins games through the end of this season, an industry source confirmed, after a period of uncertainty as to whether the station’s parent company, Diamond Sports Group, would commit to making a payment for the second half of the season.The Twins were owed two payments totaling $54.8 million from Diamond, which is going through bankruptcy proceedings, for the rights to telecast their games this season. The latter payment was due at the beginning of July.For fans, this news means nothing will change in the near-term as Bally Sports North will continuing broadcasting Twins games through this season.This comes after Diamond initially had only paid the Twins 75 percent of the first payment the club was owed back in April. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled in favor of the Twins and three other teams last month, requiring Diamond to pay the teams the full contract rate. The Twins subsequently received the remaining 25 percent of the...