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Blinken urges Congress to act on delayed ambassadorial nominations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged the Senate to move forward with votes on more than 60 diplomatic nominations, including 38 ambassadors, that have been stalled due to objections by individual lawmakers. In a letter to all 100 senators and in public comments, Blinken said delays in confirmation votes for these nominees constitute a national security risk. Blinken said 35 of the 38 ambassadorial nominees are career foreign service officers who have served in both Republican and Democratic administrations.“Vacant posts have a long-term negative impact on U.S. national security, including our ability to reassure allies and partners, and counter diplomatic efforts by our adversaries,” Blinken wrote in the letter. In particular he pointed to China and Russia as the main beneficiaries of Senate inaction.Blinken singled out Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky as the main impediment. Paul has put a blanket hold on all State Department nominees, citing the...

How Jewell Loyd's parents inspired her record-breaking WNBA All-Star Game performance

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

LAS VEGAS — It was a historic weekend for a native of the Chicago area as the best in the WNBA took the floor in Las Vegas. For Jewell Loyd, it was actually a way to make her parent's big day a little extra special. The Lincolnwood native and former Niles West standout scored a WNBA All-Star Game record 31 points for the team being led by Breanna Stewart, helping them to the 143-127 win over Team A'ja Wilson at Michelob Ultra Arena on Saturday night. Loyd was 10-22 from the field with all her made field goals coming from behind the three-point line, where she went 10-21. It was enough to earn her the game's Most Valuable Player Award as she lifted up the new and much bigger trophy after the contest.So what motivated this big performance?"I think I played hard because my parents didn't have a gift for their anniversary, so I think this will be acceptable," said Loyd. "I hope it is. So it was more so to kind of gift for my parents."It's the first MVP award for Loyd in her fifth-consec...

How Benjamin Franklin laid groundwork for the US dollar by foiling early counterfeiters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Benjamin Franklin was so busy as an inventor, publisher, diplomat and U.S. founding father that it’s easy to lose track of his accomplishments.Add one more to the roster: his early work in printing colonial paper currency designed to counter a constant threat of counterfeiting.Franklin was an early innovator of printing techniques that used colored threads, watermarks and imprints of natural objects such as leaves to make it far harder for others to create knockoffs of the paper bills he printed. A team at Notre Dame University has shed new light on his methods via advanced scanning techniques that reveal some of Franklin’s methods in greater detail — along the way, also providing one more reason Franklin appears on the $100 bill.The new research, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes data gathered with techniques such as spectroscopy, which uses laser light to identify particular elements in test samples, and electro...

Sam's Club announces $20 membership for teachers – here's how to get one

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) – Sam’s Club has announced a new membership deal for educators before the next school year.The retailer is offering a limited-time membership offer for teachers and administrators that gives them 60% off a standard Sam's Club membership, making the membership $20.The membership offer starts Monday, July 17 and runs through Tuesday, Aug. 15. Should you push over these stacks of rocks? Here’s what NPS says you should do You can redeem the offer online or in person at Sam's Club stores. To qualify, you have to be a new member and work as a state-licensed/certified teacher, principal, assistant principal or school employee at a school that is pre-K through 12th grade. The deal also covers college and university professors. Vice President of Membership at Sam’s Club Scott Ludwig said the company hopes that this new membership option helps teachers save money while getting their classrooms student ready.“We know that educators continue to dip into their own walle...

Massive search underway for missing children swept away in Penn. flash flood

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — Crews in suburban Philadelphia on Monday intensified the search for a missing 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister, swept away after weekend rains swelled the banks of a creek while they were driving to a barbecue with their family.Upper Makefield Township Fire Chief Tim Brewer said Monday the effort would be a “massive undertaking” and that 100 search crew and numerous drones would be looking for the siblings along the creek that drains into the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The children are members of a Charleston, South Carolina, family that was visiting relatives and friends when they got caught in a flash flood Saturday, Brewer said earlier.“As they tried to escape the fierce floodwaters, Dad took his 4-year-old son while the mother and the grandmother grabbed the two additional children,” he said. The father and son were “miraculously” able to get to safety. “However the grandmother, the mother, and the two children were swe...

Former Midway Shopping Center site, Hamm’s Brewery receive Met Council grants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

United Village, the largely-vacant space around the Allianz Field soccer stadium in St. Paul, will receive a $652,000 boost from the Metropolitan Council aimed at readying the land for future real estate development.The Met Council, the seven-county metro’s regional planning agency, recently approved nearly $3.4 million in grants related to environmental clean-up or investigation at brownfield sites across the metro, as well as other pre-development work related to future housing and commercial construction.Among the grants awarded was $652,000 to the St. Paul Port Authority for contamination clean-up and environmental oversight at a 7.4-acre site along University Avenue, fronting Allianz Field, the home of the Minnesota United soccer team.According to the grant application, redevelopment is likely to include an 87,000-square-foot, four-story office building with retail space, as well as a 170-unit hotel where the Midway Shopping Center once stood. The Minnesota Department of ...

Motorist charged in Columbia Heights deadly pedestrian crash

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

A 35-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged with driving drunk and hitting two people on a Columbia Heights sidewalk last week, killing one and critically injuring the other.Cody John Jazdzewski (Courtesy of Anoka County sheriff’s office)Cody John Jazdzewski was driving a 1998 BMW convertible south on Central Avenue when he left the road near 39th Avenue about 10:30 p.m. and struck Carrie Lynn Rivero and James Junior Beller, according to an Anoka County criminal complaint and the Minnesota State Patrol.Rivero, 58, of Minneapolis, died at the scene. Beller, 63, of Minneapolis, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.A State Patrol trooper dispatched to the scene found Jazdzewski’s badly damaged car up against a tree. Jazdzewski, who had bloodshot, watery eyes and slurred his speech, admitted to drinking alcohol before driving, the complaint said.A preliminary breath test showed he had a blood‐alcohol concentration of 0.131, the complaint sa...

Gilboa man arrested following domestic dispute

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

GILBOA, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A Gilboa man has been arrested following an investigation into a domestic dispute, according to police. Stefan Wexell, 29, is facing several charges. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! On July 14 at 11:59 p.m., police responded to a home in Gilboa for the report of a domestic dispute involving a gun. The investigation determined that during an argument, Wexell allegedly brandished and discharged a firearm within the residence, causing property damage. The victim and a child were inside the house at the time before they both fled to a vehicle, attempting to leave. Wexell then reportedly jumped on to the moving car, damaging it before fleeing on foot. Grafton man indicted for manslaughter Wexell was located by police a short distance from the residence and was taken into custody. No one was injured during the incident, and the firearm possessed by Wexell has been seized. He was transported to SP Cob...

NYS school districts start releasing safety plans for fall

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

SARATOGA COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- School districts across New York State are preparing for the upcoming academic year by fulfilling a requirement by the New York State Education Department to make a safety plan. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Mechanicville City School District's plan for the upcoming school year was posted to the district website on Friday.Superintendent Kevin Kolakowski explained that updating the plan yearly is necessary, because each school year brings new challenges and obstacles. While core safety items like lockdown drills and responding to violent threats have long been included in yearly plans, detailed remote learning options are a newer addition since the pandemic. This year, the unexpected impact of wildfire smoke from Canada has led to new air pollution protocols."As we reflect on the year prior, you take a look at new acronyms, like AQI (air quality index), which I'm sure have been around for ...

Vermont man arrested for stealing cash and firearm from an unlocked car

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

WALLINGFORD, Vt. (NEWS10) -- On the morning of July 11, Vermont State Police were notified of a theft in the Town of Wallingford. Police investigations determined that Zachary Lapoint, 33, of Killington, stole a firearm and cash from an unlocked vehicle. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Killington Police located Lapoint on July 14. He was issued a citation to appear at Vermont Superior Court, Criminal Division, in September, for the charge of petit larceny.