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Trump-era rule change allowing the logging of old-growth forests violates laws, judge says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has found that a Trump-era rule change that allowed for the logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest violates several laws. U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Hallman on Thursday found that the U.S. Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act and the Endangered Species Act when it amended a protection that had been in place since 1994. The findings came in response to a lawsuit filed by multiple environmental groups over the change.Hallman recommended that the Forest Service’s environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact should be vacated and that the agency should be required to prepare a full environmental impact statement related to the change.“The highly uncertain effects of this project, when considered in light of its massive scope and setting, raise substantial questions about whether this project will have a significant effect on the environment,” Hallm...

2nd man charged in July shooting at massive Indiana block party that killed 1, injured 17

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — A prosecutor Thursday charged the second man arrested in a July shooting at a massive block party in central Indiana that left one person dead and 17 others wounded.Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman announced he charged Justin E. Bonner, 29, of Muncie with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.Bonner was arrested by Muncie police on Monday. Online court records did not list an attorney for Bonner who might comment on the allegations against him.His arrest was the second in the July 30 shooting, which occurred as hundreds of people were attending the block party in Muncie, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis. Joseph E. Bonner III, 30, was killed and 18 others were injured, including a woman who was run over by a car while running from the scene.The Bonners are brothers.An affidavit states Justin Bonner told police he fired a handgun at the other man charged in the case, John L. Vance Jr., 36, after seeing Vance sho...

WGN Exclusive: Ousted Urban Prep founder fights back

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

CHICAGO — For over a decade, Chicago mayors made it a point to attend college signing and graduation ceremonies for students of Urban Prep Academies.The charter school network boasts that 100% of its graduating seniors have been accepted to four-year colleges and universities for the past 14 years. It’s what made the school founder’s departure last year so surprising.“I birthed Urban Prep,” Tim King tells WGN Investigates. “Urban Prep is in my heart. Urban Prep is in my blood. Urban Prep is in my soul. I will never ever abandon it.”King is breaking his silence because he said he fears for the future of the schools he founded in 2002. “What’s concerning is less about my leaving Urban Prep but why [Chicago Public Schools] continue their assault on Urban Prep?” he said. Chicago’s ‘rat’ rage grows King’s leadership unraveled last year when he said he reported to the district social media comments made by a former student that claimed King made sexual advances...

Woman in critical condition after Harwood Heights carjacking, suspect in custody

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

HARWOOD HEIGHTS, Ill. -- A 61-year-old woman remains in critical condition after being severely beaten and left lying in the middle of a Harwood Heights street Wednesday morning.According to the Harwood Heights Police Department, officers responded to a residential area across Wilbur Wright College on the 4400 block of North Natchez Avenue just after 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday on reports of a woman lying in the street.Upon arrival, officers discovered a 61-year-old woman severely beaten lying in the middle of Natchez Avenue who later was learned to be a victim of a car jacking. She was rushed to the hospital with life threatening injuries, where she remains in critical condition.The suspect reportedly stole the 61-year-old woman's blue Scion.Neighbors tell WGN it’s normally very quiet in this area, and are horrified to hear about what happened to their neighbor.After the attack, Harwood Heights police put out an alert with the vehicle description to law enforcement across Illinois and s...

Loyola celebrates Sister Jean's 104th birthday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

CHICAGO — A back-to-school block party on Thursday at Loyola University was a chance for the campus community to celebrate Sister Jean's 104th birthday.She celebrated her birthday last week but was the guest of honor during Thursday's event. Cubs give Sister Jean a 104th birthday gift, continuing a recent tradition She gave a piece of advice to returning students and said she is sure this will be a better year for Loyola's basketball team after a not-so-great season last year.You can see more from the party in the player above.

Emerging technique offers less invasive, gentler treatment for prostate cancer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

An emerging treatment for prostate cancer is offering a gentler way for patients. It’s about reducing, even eliminating, what can be significant symptoms for men who have their prostate removed or radiated. Local doctors have spent a decade honing a less-invasive technique and it is welcome news for men who may avoid treatment due to potentially debilitating side effects.Tony Romano says he’s living one of the best chapters of his life.“I have three grandsons so spend a lot of time with them,” he said.Time with family is even more precious after the retired English teacher’s 2021 prostate cancer diagnosis. “The PSA numbers kept going higher so when they got to about nine, I opted to have my prostate removed entirely,” he said. “But there were some complications so in the middle of the surgery they had to stop.”The plot twist meant prolonged problems.“I was having some problems, voiding which is a polite way of saying peeing,” he said.But ultimately led him down a different trea...

'Total miracle': Dog home safe after Ohio storm, saved from river

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW) — An Ohio woman says she was devastated when her dog disappeared during severe storms in the area last week. She said she needed a miracle to bring her beloved pet back home.The miracle began to unfold as Elyria resident Jim Warren was on his back patio watching the rain-swollen Black River rising on the ravine below. That is when he noticed something moving in the mud near the edge of the rapids. $20M stolen ancient Roman statue seized from Cleveland Museum of Art Warren told Fox 8, "The more I looked, I saw it was a dog that was trapped in between the raging river and a fallen tree down there, and I thought, 'Oh man, that dog is in trouble.'"The dog that Warren spotted was a 14-year-old boxer-pit bull mix named Sienna, who had gotten out of her owner's backyard during a break in the severe storms two days earlier, leaving 60-year-old Renee Morton, of Elyria, heartbroken."I recently lost my husband to ALS in April, and to lose her too would have been so hard," ...

Shooter among 2 dead in shooting at The Arboretum in northwest Austin, APD says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin Police during a media briefing on Thursday confirmed the shooter was among the two dead in a shooting at The Arboretum shopping center in northwest Austin. Another person was also seriously injured.At 5 p.m., APD, Austin-Travis County EMS, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Austin Fire Department, as well as other agencies, responded to reports based off a 911 call of multiple shots fired in the 10000 block of Research Boulevard, APD Interim Chief of Police Robin Henderson said during the media briefing. Additionally, Henderson said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire and Explosives (ATF) and APD bomb squad responded to the scene, because the incident was initially reported there were sounds of an explosion.However, Henderson confirmed when officers first arrived on the scene that the incident was the result of the shooting. Two people were found dead on the scene, and police confirmed one of the people dead was the shooter. Police did not release an...

Austin ISD discusses plan to add more school resource officers amid new state law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Independent School District officials project they will need more than 100 officers to comply with a new state law requiring armed officers on every campus. According to AISD Interim Superintendent Matias Segura, the district currently has two school resource officers in every high school and one in every middle school, but officers patrol the elementary schools."What we are moving to is a placement for every elementary school and what that will do is give us complete coverage," said Segura. "That will require us to expand our police department by a little over 70 officers, and when you do that you have to add other supervisors and pay for equipment and all the things needed to support that officer."Segura said he believes they will be able to meet the requirement for HB 3 over the course of about a year. Chief Jeffrey Yarbrough with the Hutto Police Department used to serve as the chief of Round Rock ISD and said having trained officers on campus is...

Franklin, Tiller: With more Alzheimer’s treatment options, when should doctors prescribe them?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:51:11 GMT

Alzheimer’s disease was first named and described in 1910. It is disgraceful that for most of the 20th century, the disease was underfunded by the government, neglected by most of the medical community and ignored by Big Pharma. It was not until 1994, more than 80 years after the disease was discovered, that the Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug for Alzheimer’s. That medicine was not especially effective and was ultimately pulled from the market for safety concerns. Were it any other disease, such an approach would be unconscionable.Now things are changing. Every day, about 10,000 baby boomers — people born between 1946 and 1964 — turn 65, the average age of onset of the most common form of Alzheimer’s. In 2020, those older than 65 in the U.S. numbered about 56 million (nearly 17% of the total population); by 2030, every baby boomer will be older than 65, making up an estimated 73 million Americans.This has caused a rethinking of Alzh...