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At least 6 people dead in Illinois highway windstorm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

DIVERNON, Ill. (AP) — A windstorm in southern Illinois kicked up dangerous clouds of blinding dust off farm fields Monday, causing numerous crashes and killing at least six people on Interstate 55, police said.The late morning crashes involved 40 to 60 cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said.At least six people died, he said.I-55 was shut down in both directions in Montgomery County, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of St. Louis.Starrick told reporters that it was a spring version of a “whiteout situation” typically seen in winter snowstorms.“The cause of the crashes is due to excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway, leading to zero visibility,” he said.Winds at the time were gusting between 35 mph (56 kph) and 45 mph (74 kph), the National Weather Service said.“It’s very flat, very few trees,” meteorologist Chuck Schaffer said. “It’s been very dry across this area really fo...

Yankees put Aaron Judge on injured list with hurt hip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees captain Aaron Judge is going on the injured list because of a strained right hip, joining Giancarlo Stanton, Harrison Bader and third baseman Josh Donaldson on the sidelines.New York announced the move before Monday night’s series opener against Cleveland. The move is move retroactive to Friday.Judge was hurt last Wednesday when he landed hard while making an awkward headfirst slide at Minnesota on his 31st birthday. He remained in the game and started Thursday at Texas, then left in the fourth inning after striking out twice.A four-time All-Star and the reigning AL MVP, Judge is batting .261 with six homers and 14 RBIs in his first season after signing a $360 million, nine-year contract. He hit an American League-record 62 home runs last year, batting .311 with 131 RBIs, tying the Mets’ Pete Alonso for the major league lead.New York lost six of eight heading into the homestand, its record down to 15-14. The Yankees totaled eight runs during the s...

Man convicted of road rage killing after altercation, slur

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

BELMONT, Mass. (AP) — A 56-year-old Massachusetts man was convicted of murder in the 2021 death of a Black man after a road rage encounter in which he yelled a racial slur, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said Monday.Dean Kapsalis, of Hudson, was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder, violation of constitutional rights and other offenses in the killing of 34-year-old Henry Tapia, District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference. “The murder of Henry Tapia is a senseless tragedy fueled by hate and anger,” Ryan said in a statement. “The fact that some of the last words Henry Tapia heard were a horrific racial insult meant to intimidate and threaten him based on the color of his skin is something we cannot tolerate.Kapsalis and Tapia got into a verbal altercation Jan. 19, 2021. Investigators found that as the argument wound down, Kapsalis shouted the slur and then hit Tapia with his pickup. Tapia died at a hospital, prosecutors said. Kapsalis arg...

Syria: Israeli strikes hit Aleppo airport, killing 1 soldier

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes targeted the international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo early Tuesday, killing one Syrian soldier and putting the airport out of commission, state media said.Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing a military official, said two civilians and five other Syrian soldiers were wounded.There was no immediate statement from Israeli authorities on the strikes.The airport has been a key channel for the flow of aid into the country after the Feb. 6 earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, killing over 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike targeted a munitions depot by the airport. It also reported Israeli strikes at a military airport in the Aleppo countryside, though Syrian state media did not report on the matter.In March Israel struck Aleppo’s airport on two different occasions and put it out of commission for several days.Israel, which ha...

Otter Tail: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — Otter Tail Corp. (OTTR) on Monday reported net income of $62.5 million in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Fergus Falls, Minnesota-based company said it had profit of $1.49.The power company and manufacturer posted revenue of $339.1 million in the period.Otter Tail expects full-year earnings to be $4.55 to $4.85 per share._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on OTTR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/OTTRSource

Biden to meet with congressional leaders at WH May 9

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden phoned all four Congressional leaders on Monday afternoon and invited them to a May 9 meeting at the White House — a sign of the rising pressure to raise the debt cap as the Treasury Department is warning of a default as soon as June 1.Administration officials confirmed the individual calls to lawmakers and the meeting date, insisting on anonymity to discuss the plans. At the meeting, Biden plans to stress that Congress must take action to avoid default without conditions and discuss the urgency of preventing default, as well as how to begin a separate process for passing a separate fiscal 2024 budget.Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are at an impasse on lifting the government’s borrowing authority. The president has called on a clean increase to the $31.4 trillion cap, while McCarthy and GOP lawmakers are demanding spending cuts in return and passed a bill with $4.8 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years last week.McCa...

Heat, Knicks prepare for Game 2, unsure about Butler, Randle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks know how difficult it is having to play a postseason game without their do-everything forward.The Miami Heat don’t want to be reminded what it’s like now.Jimmy Butler’s status is uncertain for Miami. The Knicks aren’t sure yet about Julius Randle. That makes it hard to predict what will happen when the Heat try for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday night.Both players were listed as questionable for the game, as was Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, all because of ankle injuries.The Heat and Knicks will be followed by Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers.Miami pulled out a 108-101 victory on Sunday even with Butler slowed down the stretch after spraining his right ankle with 5:05 to play. Coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday that the Heat might not have an update on his availability until shortly before the game at Madison Square Gar...

Letecia Stauch's web searches revealed as murder trial nears end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A jury may soon decide the fate of Letecia Stauch, a Colorado stepmother accused of killing her 11-year-old stepson Gannon.Prosecutors started week five of the trial on Monday by calling up Kevin Clark, with the district attorney’s office, as the state’s final witness.Clark testified to using surveillance and phone data to create a series of timelines for Stauch's locations and conversations, both at the time of Gannon's killing and in the days following. Report: Students drew swastikas after middle school Holocaust presentation Clark pointed to a period of time when Stauch wasn’t using her phone, referring to this behavior as “abnormal.”“This was Monday, the 27th, late morning into early afternoon. It was about a four-hour period of no activity,” Clark said. According to Clark, it is believed Gannon was murdered Jan. 27, 2020, before his little sister got home from school.Read FOX31's coverage of the trial:'She was killing the demons in her lif...

Mom gets $2 million for jail death of intellectually disabled son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

DENVER (AP) — When Tomas Beauford was arrested after getting into a fight at a group home for intellectually disabled people in 2014, a device he wore around his wrist to help regulate his seizures was confiscated as if it were jewelry when he got to jail, according to a lawsuit filed by his mother. When he refused to take an array of medications there for his epilepsy and mental illness, he was allowed to skip them even though he had the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, the lawsuit said."If he were having a heart attack, they would have called 911," Marsh told FOX31's Courtney Fromm on Monday. "But he was having a seizure over and over, and they let him die." Letecia Stauch’s web searches revealed as murder trial nears end Nearly a decade after Beauford was found dead in his cell after allegedly suffering multiple seizures behind bars, lawyers for Tiffany Marsh announced Monday that she won a $2 million settlement with Mesa County and the health care company that the county had h...

AP source: Broncos pick up Jerry Jeudy's fifth-year option

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:53 GMT

The Denver Broncos are picking up wide receiver Jerry Jeudy's fifth-year option, which carries a price tag of just under $13 million in 2024, according to a person familiar with the decision.The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team hasn't announced the move.Jeudy hasn't lived up to the team's lofty expectations as the 15th overall draft pick in 2020 but he came on strong down the stretch last season when he was finally highlighted in Denver's offense. Broncos add to defense in 2023 NFL Draft Over the final six games, Jeudy caught 37 passes for 523 yards and three touchdowns at the flanker position.That piqued the interest of other NFL teams but general manager George Paton and new head coach Sean Payton both publicly dismissed the notion that Jeudy was on the trade block this offseason.Jeudy's fifth-year price tag lower than others'Drops bedeviled Jeudy his rookie year and an ankle injury sidelined him two months in Year 2. He played in 1...