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Hawaii mourns the dead in ferocious wildfires; officials warn full toll not yet known

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

HONOLULU (NEXSTAR) - As Hawaii residents mourned those killed in ferocious wildfires, officials warned that the full human and environmental toll was not yet known and the recovery only just beginning from the destruction wrought by flames that galloped a mile every minute.Twenty dogs and dozens of people will make their way through neighborhoods reduced to ash, searching burnt out cars and homes for the dead. With the toll at 96, this is already the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Two fires have not yet been completely contained, including the one that demolished the historic town of Lahaina, according to an update from Maui County late Sunday. $5.52 billion estimated cost to rebuild Lahaina after fire Even where the fire has retreated, authorities have warned that toxic byproducts may remain, including in drinking water, after the flames spewed poisonous fumes. And many people simply have no home to return to — so authorities plan to house them in hotel...

61-year-old Florida man arrested after posing as a veterinarian and operating on a pregnant dog that later died, sheriff’s office says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

(CNN) — A Florida dog groomer who posed as a veterinarian has been arrested after performing a cesarean section on a Chihuahua who later died of “multiple complications from the surgery,” police say.Osvaldo Sanchez, 61, was arrested Friday and charged with animal abuse and practicing veterinary medicine without a license, according to a news release from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.Sugar, a 6-year-old Chihuahua, was having difficulty delivering her puppies in May when her owners contacted Sanchez, who had previously introduced himself as a veterinarian to the couple, the sheriff’s office said.Sanchez visited the home on May 18 to evaluate Sugar and performed a C-section and spay procedure on the 6-pound dog in his mobile office. During the surgery he removed a stillborn puppy and charged Sugar’s owners $600 for the procedure, the sheriff’s office said.After the surgery, Sugar got an infection and became ill. She stayed at a licensed veterinary clinic for a week in “dire...

David Krejci announces retirement from professional hockey

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

Longtime Boston Bruins center David Krejci has announced his retirement from the National Hockey League.“After 15 full NHL seasons I have decided to retire from the best league in the world,” Krejci said in a statement shared by the team Monday morning.Drafted by the B’s in 2004, Krejci made his debut in 2006 and was part of Boston’ Stanley Cup winning team in 2011. The Czech national also spent a season in Czechia’s top league with HC Olomouc in 2021, before returning to TD Garden for his last season on a one-year deal.Krejci’s retirement announcement came after the 37-year-old player officially logged over 1,000 games with the Bruins during his final year in the NHL.“When I was drafted in 2004, I had no idea that I would be working with such incredible and driven people who would lead us to 3 Stanley Cup Finals, and winning the ultimate goal in 2011,” Krejci stated. “I have made so many great friendships throughout the...

Coast Guard and Navy rescue 4 divers off coast of Carolinas

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — The Coast Guard and Navy rescued four divers who were reported missing Sunday off the Carolinas, officials said Monday. The U.S. Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic announced the rescue on social media. It said the divers were rescued about 46 miles (74 kilometers) southeast of North Carolina’s Cape Fear River.The four men were reported missing after they did not resurface on Sunday. They dove from a pleasure craft named Big Bill’s. The Coast Guard said Sunday in a news release that the vessel was about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and about 63 miles (101 kilometers) east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.The many shipwrecks off the coasts of both states are a popular draw for divers. The area is known for hundreds of shipwrecks and is called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”The Coast Guard said it sent several aircraft and boats to search for the divers. The Associated Press

Russia’s currency hits the lowest level since the early weeks of the war in Ukraine

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Russian ruble has reached its lowest value since the early weeks of the war in Ukraine as Moscow increases military spending and Western sanctions weigh on its energy exports.On Monday, the Russian currency passed 101 rubles to the dollar, continuing a more than 25% decline in its value since the beginning of the year and hitting the lowest level in almost 17 months.President Vladimir Putin’s economic adviser, Maksim Oreshkin, on Monday blamed the weak ruble on “loose monetary policy” in an op-ed for state news agency Tass. He said a strong ruble is in the interest of the Russian economy and that a weak currency “complicates economic restructuring and negatively affects people’s real incomes.”Oreshkin said Russia’s central bank has “all the tools necessary” to stabilize the situation and said he expected normalization shortly.The bank is adhering to a floating exchange rate because “it allows the economy to effectively adapt to changing external conditions,” centra...

Clarence Avant, ‘Godfather of Black Music’ and benefactor of athletes and politicians, dies at 92

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Clarence Avant, the judicious manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and many others and came to be known as “The Godfather of Black Music,” has died. He was 92.Avant, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, according to a family statement released Monday morning.Avant’s achievements were both public and behind the scenes, as a name in the credits, or a name behind the names. Born in a segregated hospital in North Carolina, he became a man of lasting and wide-ranging influence, in part by minding two pieces of advice from an early mentor, the music manager Joe Glaser: Never let on how much you know, and ask for as much money as possible, “without stuttering.”He broke in as a manager in the 1950s, with such clients as singers Sarah Vaughan and Little Willie John and composer Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the theme to “Mission: Impossible.” In...

Heavy rains trigger floods and landslides in India’s Himalayan region, leaving at least 33 dead

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Heavy monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in India’s Himalayan region, leaving at least 33 people dead and many others trapped, officials told local media on Monday.Torrential downpours that began over the weekend in the mountainous Himachal Pradesh state have flooded roads and washed away homes as scores of rescuers work to help those trapped under piles of debris.A cloudburst in the state’s Solan district on Sunday night killed nine people in the area, and 12 people died following two landslides in Shimla, the state’s capital, authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency.At least a dozen others were killed as heavy rains battered various parts of the state, sparking flash floods and more landslides, authorities said.The state’s chief minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, said rescuers in Shimla were working to clear the debris and help those still trapped.Cloudbursts are defined as when more than 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) of rainfall occurs within...

Off Alaska coast, research crew peers down, down, down to map deep and remote ocean

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — For the team aboard the Okeanos Explorer off the coast of Alaska, exploring the mounds and craters of the sea floor along the Aleutian Islands is a chance to surface new knowledge about life in some of the world’s deepest and most remote waters.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel is on a five-month mission aboard a reconfigured former Navy vessel run by civilians and members of the NOAA Corps. The ship, with a 48-member crew, is outfitted with technology and tools to peer deep into the ocean to gather data to share with onshore researchers in real time. The hope is that this data will then be used to drive future research.“It’s so exciting to go down there and see that it’s actually teeming with life,” said expedition coordinator Shannon Hoy. “You would never know that unless we were able to go down there and explore.”Using a variety of sonars and two remotely operated vehicles — Deep Discoverer and Serios — researche...

2nd swimmer in a month abandons attempt to cross Lake Michigan, blames support boat problems

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The second swimmer in a month has abandoned an attempt to cross Lake Michigan after spending hours in the water.Bryan Huffman, 49, of Holland, Michigan, began the roughly 50-mile (80-kilometer) swim Saturday morning in Wisconsin, the Detroit Free Press reported.Huffman successfully swam across the English Channel in 2022 but he didn’t have much luck in the lake. He told the newspaper he gave up after his support boat lost its steering, and he grew cold after battling a lake current. He said he managed to swim only about 12 miles (19 kilometers) in 13 hours.Jim Dreyer of Grand Haven, Michigan, abandoned his attempt to cross the lake on Aug. 1 after swimming just 10 miles (16 kilometers). He said poor weather conditions forced him to quit.The Associated Press

Crews clear roads after mudslide in the Italian Alps coats city streets in muck

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:08:44 GMT

ROME (AP) — Civil protection crews cleared mud-covered roads in an Italian Alpine city Monday after a mountain mudslide sent water, soil and debris pouring into town, bursting riverbanks. After searching homes and cars overnight, authorities said all residents were accounted for.Streets and cars in Bardonecchia, a city near Turin in the Val di Susa mountain valley, were coated in thick, gray sludge following the violent mudslides late Sunday. Witness video showed a huge wave of dirt, water and debris toppling a gate and residents running away as the muck rushed down a city street; other videos showed thick mud coursing through the river banks that pass through town.Piedmont regional governor Alberto Cirio said there were no victims and that five people initially believed to be missing had been accounted for. In a Facebook post, Cirio said damage was significant; Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani promised support from the federal government.Civil protection crews began removing the debri...