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4 killed when 2 small planes collide over Florida lake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) — A pilot and and a 19-year-old student pilot were among four people killed when two small planes collided in midair over a central Florida lake, sheriff’s officials said.A Piper J-3 Cub seaplane and a Cherokee Piper 161 fixed-wing plane collided around 2 p.m. Tuesday over Lake Hartridge near Winter Haven Regional Airport, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.“All of a sudden it was a giant boom,” Caridad Fernandez, who lives along the lake, told WESH-TV. “It literally sounded like when a rocket takes off and hits the atmosphere.”Fernandez said she and many of her neighbors in the community about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Orlando ran outside.“We pretty much saw everything hit the water,” Fernandez said.Numerous rescue workers responded to the scene, where one of the planes was submerged under about 21 feet (6.4-meters) of water, while the other was partially submerged. They pulled four bodies from the planes, the sheriff said.Faith Irene Bake...

Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska in UAE amid Russia’s war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ukraine’s first lady on Wednesday offered spirited support to her nation’s people while visiting the United Arab Emirates, a country that still remains open to Russia despite Western sanctions. Olena Zelenska described her role and that of other first ladies and gentlemen in the world as a real power while speaking before a packed ballroom on International Women’s Day. She also applauded the work of the average Ukrainian amid the ongoing war. “We are a force and we can continue to change the world,” Zelenska said at the Forbes 30/50 Summit via a translator.Zelenska’s trip to the United Arab Emirates capital comes as the UAE remains one of the few direct routes out of Moscow — for both people fleeing conscription and for the wealthy who want to park their money in a nation with access to Western financial markets. Already, the U.S. Treasury has expressed concerns with the Russian money flowing into Dubai’s red-hot r...

Founder of Love’s Travel Stops dies in Oklahoma at age 85

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores says the founder of the truck stop chain known for its red and yellow heart logo, “Clean Places, Friendly Faces” motto and in-store showers has died.The company announced on its website that Tom Love died Tuesday in Oklahoma City. He was 85. A cause of death was not given.“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather,” family members said in the statement. “While the grief we feel is unmeasurable, we celebrate his life and will continue his legacy of living a life filled with integrity, honesty and faith.”Love and his wife, Judy, founded what became Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores as Musket Corporation in 1964, according to the statement. They leased a closed service station for $5,000 in Watonga, about 50 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.“In many respects, he was an ordinary person who built an extraordinary business alongside his wife Judy and his family, who he loved deeply,...

Palestinian police fire tear gas, disperse militant funeral

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian security forces on Wednesday fired tear gas canisters and flash grenades at angry Palestinian protesters during a funeral for a militant in the occupied West Bank. It was a rare encounter that highlighted deep public dissatisfaction with the Palestinian self-rule government. Palestinians gathered in the northern West Bank city of Nablus for the funeral of Abdul Fattah Kharushah, a 49-year-old Hamas militant killed in an Israeli raid Tuesday. Kharushah had been wanted for killing two Israeli brothers in the nearby town of Hawara. It was the latest bloody raid into the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp, leaving five other Palestinians dead and over two dozen wounded.Wednesday’s funeral procession through Nablus spiraled into chaos after the mourners began to chant against the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank. The PA has long drawn resentment for its security cooperation with Israel, which allows i...

Social Democrats reflect on Ukraine war, European security

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Leaders of nine Social Democratic parties in Europe declared unwavering support Wednesday for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion and discussed future European security. Social Democrats from Germany, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland and Croatia met in Warsaw for a two-day conference about the war and the ways it has altered European politics.Former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, president of the Party of European Socialists, said there was no going back to “business as usual” with Moscow. He stressed that Europe must make sure Ukraine wins the war and that any peace agreement is struck on Kyiv’s terms.His party is a coalition of Socialist, Social Democratic, Labour and Democratic parties in the European Union, the U.K. and Norway. Lars Klingbeil, the co-chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, recently visited Kyiv and spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He stressed that Ukrain...

After Taylor shooting, feds find pattern of violations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has found Louisville police have engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights following an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor.The announcement was made Wednesday by Attorney General Merrick Garland. A Justice Department report found the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and Louisville Metro Police Department “engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.”The report said the Louisville police department “discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities,” uses excessive force and conducts searches based on invalid warrants. It also said the department violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, like the street protests in the city in the summer of 2020.“This conduct is unacceptable, it is heartbreaking,” Garland said.The sweeping probe announced in April 2021 is known as a “p...

French strikers renew pressure on Macron to ax pension plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Tens of thousands of people marched in Paris and other cities across the country Wednesday to denounce the government’s pension plan as unfair to female workers, in demonstrations meant to coincide with International Women’s Day.The show of anger against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is set to continue in coming days, as train and metro drivers, refinery workers, garbage collectors and others have said they would continue ongoing strikes. Unions aim at maintaining pressure on the government as senators debate the changes.Feminist activists say the pension reform would further deepen gender inequalities at work, where women’s wages are on average 15.8% below men’s.Hard-left lawmaker Clémentine Autain, who took part in the Paris march, said there are two reasons for the protest: “first, because, like every year, on March 8, we march to demand equality and also, to ask for this pension reform bill that is...

Powell says ‘no decision’ on the Fed’s next move on rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed Wednesday that the central bank’s policymakers have yet to decide how large an interest rate hike to impose at its next meeting in two weeks in its drive to defeat high inflation. “If — and I stress that no decision has been made on this — if the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” Powell said on his second day of semi-annual testimony to Congress. The Fed chair had made a similar comment Tuesday to a Senate panel but had not included the caveat that “no decision has been made.” Some economists and Wall Street traders had interpreted those remarks as a signal that the Fed would raise its benchmark rate by a substantial half-point at its March 21-22 meeting. As a result, stock prices tumbled Tuesday, and some bond yields rose as markets anticipated a faster pace of rate hikes. When the Fed raises its key short-term ra...

3 children, woman critically injured in fire at home of Chicago firefighter: sources

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman and three children were critically injured in a house fire on the city's Northwest Side.WGN sources have confirmed a Chicago firefighter lives at the home.The fire broke out just around 9:10 p.m. Tuesday in the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue in the Montclare neighborhood.According to police, a 34-year-old woman, 2-year-old girl and 7-year-old girl and boy all suffered from smoke inhalation and were transported to area hospitals in critical condition. Man killed after fiery two-vehicle crash on West Side The cause of the fire is under investigation. No further information has been provided.

Wintry mix likely Thursday; Storm Watch issued for Northern Illinois

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:37 GMT

Winter weather is not over for the Chicago area.A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for Thursday afternoon into Friday morning for Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois. Heavy, wet snow is possible and hazardous driving conditions likely.Latest warnings and watches from the National Weather Service.Tom Skilling reports a generous flow of moisture into the Thursday night/Friday system suggests the potential for sticking snow is real. While hardly a super storm, the combination of wind and snow in a winter with limited city snowfall could make for a messy situation later this week—one worthy of watching. A second snow system is possible for Sunday and Sunday night. Full forecast details at the WGN Weather CenterThese may not be the last wintry systems we see. The pattern remains an active one through next week with a succession of weather systems indicated by modeling as likely to cross the Midwest.