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Springsteen, Kaling, Louis-Dreyfus among 22 honored by Biden

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden welcomed a high-wattage collection of singers, authors, artists and humanitarians to the White House on Tuesday to present them with medals — and then stole the show himself with a quip about seeking reelection.Bruce Springsteen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mindy Kaling and Gladys Knight were among the 22 people and organizations being honored. When author Colson Whitehead’s award was announced, Biden noted that the author of “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys” has already won back-to-back Pulitzer Prizes. The president, who is expected to announce for reelection this spring, quickly picked up on that and joked that he was looking “for a back-to-back myself,” drawing a laugh from the audience.It was a feel-good event in the East Room, as the honorees stepped forward to receive their awards one by one. Louis-Dreyfus, who channeled Biden’s resume when she starred in “Veep,” jokingly sagged under the weight when the president placed the medal...

Fox, Dominion face off over airing of false election claims

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Fox News and a voting machine company that claims the conservative network defamed it by amplifying baseless allegations of fraud following the 2020 presidential election faced off in a courtroom Tuesday during a key hearing over whether journalists have a responsibility to be cautious with explosive and implausible allegations.Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems argued that Fox recklessly repeated false accusations from supporters of former President Donald Trump that its machines and the software used were responsible for Trump’s 2020 election loss. Documents released during the lawsuit have shown that top Fox executives and personalities didn’t believe the claims but aired them anyway.“There was a deliberate decision by those responsible for the broadcasts … to let the story be out there,” Dominion attorney Rodney Smolla said, adding that Fox News was desperate to win back viewers infuriated that the network had correctly called Arizona, a key...

Data shows big drop in Ontario Mpox cases in 2022, Toronto Public Health urges 2nd vaccine doses

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

As Ontario continues to see a low number of new Mpox cases in 2023, Toronto Public Health officials are urging people who got a first dose of Imvamune but not their second to make an appointment to do so.“It’s not gone … we’re still seeing some transmission although it’s quite low,” Dr. Rita Shahin, Toronto’s associate medical officer of health, said during a recent interview with CityNews.“The vaccine, although it’s not 100 per cent effective, really reduces the severity of the disease for individuals.”According to the latest Public Health Ontario surveillance report, there have been 703 confirmed Mpox cases to date in the province and more than 73 per cent of those cases were confirmed by Toronto Public Health.The report said 20 people were hospitalized and two of those individuals had to be admitted to an intensive care unit. No one in Canada has died of Mpox, but Shahin noted Mpox can be life-threatening to people with ...

Number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico drops 22%

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The number of monarch butterflies wintering in the mountains of central Mexico dropped 22% from the previous year, and the number of trees lost from their favored wintering grounds tripled.Frost and “extreme temperatures” in the United States may have played a role in the butterfly’s decline during the most recent winter season, said Humberto Peña, director of Mexico’s nature reserves.Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada overwinter in the fir forests of the western state of Michoacan, west of Mexico City. The total area they occupied this past winter dropped to 5.4 acres (2.21 hectares), from 7 acres (2.84 hectares) a year earlier.The annual butterfly count doesn’t calculate the individual number of butterflies, but rather the number of acres they cover when they clump together on tree boughs.Gloria Tavera, conservation director of Mexico’s Commission for National Protected Areas, said the area of forest cover appropriate for the bu...

Some Android users should turn off Wi-Fi calling due to security concerns, Google team warns

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - If you have an Android phone, you may want to stop using Wi-Fi calling, a team of security experts with Google warns. Earlier this month, Google's Project Zero team confirmed it had found multiple vulnerabilities in Exynos chipsets, made by Samsung. Of those, four can allow "Internet-to-baseband remote code execution," giving hackers the ability to remotely compromise certain Android phones. The hacker would only need to know your phone number, explained Project Zero, a team of security researchers that study zero-day vulnerabilities, which are flaws in software that are known but don't yet have a patch to protect against them. Fungus an ‘urgent’ threat, already in 28 states: CDC "With limited additional research and development, we believe that skilled attackers would be able to quickly create an operational exploit to compromise affected devices silently and remotely."The remaining 14 vulnerabilities found by Project Zero were determined to be "not as severe."Device...

Chicago native spreading message of kindness on World Down Syndrome Day

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

CHICAGO - More than anything, Nate Simon, a Chicago native with Down syndrome, wants more people to be kind and supportive of those with the condition. He's hoping his clothing line, 21 Pineapples, spreads awareness and acceptance about the genetic disorder."I just want more love and support," Nate Simon told WGN News.The 20-year-old and his mom, Holly Simon, appeared on the WGN News at 4 p.m. to talk about World Down Syndrome Day and their work to change people's perception of those with Down Syndrome and special abilities "one Hawaiian Shirt at a time."Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines"When Nate was born, they told me an entire book's worth of what Nate wouldn't be able to do, but no one came in the room and said, 'he could be a CEO;' 'he could be a model;' so I as a mom had to pave those ways for him. And we're doing a great job at it. We've got so many friends out there that are creating their own companies and businesses and showing people that kids with Down Syndrome ar...

A one-woman mission to save 15 duck eggs from being destroyed in Cedar Park H-E-B parking lot

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Mieka Davenport was headed Saturday to her local H-E-B in Cedar Park when she spotted two black-bellied whistling ducks in the parking lot. “There's no water or anything around, so they were kind of out of place,” Davenport said. “We were curious as to what they were doing because they seemed a little distressed.”Davenport is a self-described “crazy bird lady,” so she wanted to figure out why the ducks were behaving abnormally. She noticed a blighted tree with a hole in the center. When she approached the tree to look inside, the ducks began frantically quacking. “And sure enough, [there was] a whole bunch of eggs – 14, 15 or more eggs,” Davenport said. “I was very concerned because they're not going to make it in a parking lot [and] there's no water.”And, even more concerning, she said there was a marker on the tree, indicating it would be removed. Davenport contacted Austin Wildlife Rescue, which advised her to wait a couple more weeks before re...

Affidavit: Suspect accused of $5K fraud, impersonating victim's grandson in jail

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

BEE CAVE, Texas (KXAN) — Police said a person has been charged, accused of stealing $5,000 from a victim in Bee Cave after the suspect pretended to be the victim's grandson in jail seeking bond, according to an arrest affidavit issued Tuesday. The Bee Cave Police Department issued the warrant for a suspect accused of financial abuse of an elderly individual. Court records show the suspect has not been arrested yet.The victim told Bee Cave police in December that he received a phone call from someone who pretended to be his grandson. The caller said he was in jail and needed to be bonded out, the affidavit said. The victim was told an attorney would soon call him, the affidavit said. He answered another phone call and was instructed to put $5,000 in a Wells Fargo account, which the they did Dec. 27.The victim spoke to his grandson the next day and learned he was frauded, according to police.The affidavit said police generated a subpoena and identified the receiving party of the bank ...

Climate report: Situation more dire than ever, but it's not too late to act

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The recently-released Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a clear message from the world's best climate scientists: Drastic changes are needed immediately to secure a livable future on this planet.Chief Meteorologist David Yeomans interviewed Dr. Ben Kirtman of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School -- a climate science Ph.D and one of the authors of a previous IPCC report -- on KXAN News at 4 p.m. Tuesday.Dr. Kirtman said this latest climate assessment paints a stark contrast to previous reports in terms of how quickly and drastically changes to greenhouse gas emissions need to occur in order to cap global warming at 1.5°C (approximately 3°F) by the year 2050. In fact, the scientists in the report found that we now have a greater than 50% chance of surpassing 1.5°C of warming by 2050.Local Texas impactsCentral Texas is expected to become more arid as rainfall becomes less reliable and higher tempe...

WTAMU President provides reasoning on canceling on-campus drag show in letter to students, staff, faculty

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

Update (March 21, 4:04 p.m.) In an additional petition, posted Tuesday on the Conservative Change website, students with the Young Conservatives of Texas's West Texas A&M University branch, as well as other community members, are voicing their support for Wendler, stating that they "Stand with Dr. Wendler and WTAMU to ban drag shows on campus." In the petition, which as of around 4 p.m. Tuesday has 215 signatures, the community member is asking the public to sign the petition to "encourage Dr. Wendler and WTAMU to not be swayed by the angry voices of those who are opposed to the truth about drag shows." "We are not alone in our fight for true freedom and we must support those who are seeking to defend it," the webpage reads. Update (March 21, 11:20 a.m.) MyHighPlains.com reached out to officials with West Texas A&M University, asking for clarification on how Wendler's letter lines up with approved expressive activity on campus rules from member academic institutions of the T...