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Cooling centers opening again as high temperatures return

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

ST. LOUIS – With precariously high temperatures forecast for the week ahead, people will need places to cool off. Many people were out over the weekend to take advantage of the beautiful weather, but unfortunately, the dangerous heat is making a return."We have days when we have thunderstorms roll by and people run for cover and, next thing you know, we have people in line for snow cones," said Kenneth Frachtman, owner of Under the Sun Sno Shack.From public pools and cooling centers to snow cones, people spent their Sunday looking for any type of relief."Between 12 and 4, it slows down a little bit until after supper. Then from 7 to 10. We're the only ones open until 10 at night," Frachtman said. 3-year-old boy from southern Illinois advances in 2023 USA Mullet Competition Frachtman said business has been consistent all summer, but expects to see a spike this week."There's no reason to go out and overdo yourself. Remember: heat stroke happens often with this type of weather. Have ...

Search and rescue canine airlifted to safety

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

Rescue crews with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department airlifted one of their search and rescue canines out of the mountains after it became overheated during a search for a missing hiker, authorities announced on Sunday.  Authorities were searching for missing 53-year-old Colin Brian Walker who was last seen on July 15 near a trailhead in Monrovia.  Surveillance video from a nearby resident captured Walker heading toward the trailhead around 6:23 a.m. He has not been seen or heard from since, police said.  It is unclear exactly how long the search and rescue dog had been working with teams in the mountains Sunday, but tactical medics with LASD’s air rescue team landed in the area of Clamshell Peak “to airlift the canine to safety and provide cooling measures,” authorities said.A search and rescue dog had to be airlifted to safety after it overheated during a search for a missing hiker on July 23, 2023. (LASD)A search and rescue dog had to be airlifted to safet...

Firefighters knock down large structure fire in Pacoima

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

Firefighters knocked down a large structure fire in Pacoima on Sunday that was threatening a row of commercial buildings, authorities announced.  Crews with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to 12902 Foothill Boulevard at around 7:20 p.m. on reports of the blaze and possible electrical wires down, according to an LAFD news release.  Video of the fire showed electrical transformers that were ablaze crackling, popping and shooting sparks into the air. Heavy flames and thick, dark smoke were also visible.  A 40-foot trailer was engulfed in flames, behind a fence in what appeared to be an industrial area, after the structure fire spread. LAFD crews knocked down a large structure fire in Pacoima July 23, 2023. (KTLA)LAFD crews knocked down a large structure fire in Pacoima July 23, 2023. (KTLA)LAFD crews knocked down a large structure fire in Pacoima July 23, 2023. (KTLA)LAFD crews knocked down a large structure fire in Pacoima July 23, 2023. (KTLA)It took 49 firef...

Indonesian ferry capsizes off Sulawesi island, at least 15 people dead and another 19 missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities say an overcrowded ferry sank off of Sulawesi Island, leaving at least 15 people dead and another 19 missing. Muhammad Arafah, who heads the local search and rescue agency, said Monday the ferry capsized off the coast. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board. Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, and ferries are a common form of transportation. With lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding, accidents occur frequently.Source

Indonesian authorities say at least 15 people died and 19 are missing after a ferry sank off Sulawesi island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities say at least 15 people died and 19 are missing after a ferry sank off Sulawesi island.Source

How France learned to love Big Brother

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

PARIS — Liberté. Egalité. But mostly: sécurité. It all started with Napoléon Bonaparte. Over two centuries, France cobbled together a surveillance apparatus capable of intercepting private communications; keeping traffic and localization data for up to a year; storing people’s fingerprints; and monitoring most of the territory with cameras.This system, which has faced pushback from digital rights organizations and United Nations experts, will get its spotlight moment at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. In July next year, France will deploy large-scale, real-time, algorithm-supported video surveillance cameras — a first in Europe. (Not included in the plan: facial recognition.) Just in the past month, the French parliament approved a controversial government plan to allow investigators to track suspected criminals in real-time via access to their devices’ geolocation, camera and microphone. Paris also lobbied in Brussels to be allowed to spy on reporters in the name of natio...

Leahy: Patent Office proposals hurt small innovators

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

Representing Vermont in the Senate for nearly 50 years will teach you how to fight like hell for the little guy. As the second smallest state by population, I worked hard to ensure that Vermont’s voice wasn’t drowned out by the larger states or the louder voices. That’s the same mentality I brought to the Judiciary Committee, where one of my top priorities was leveling the playing field in the world of intellectual property, especially for America’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.That’s why I find the new proposed rules from the U.S. Patent and Trademark (USPTO) so concerning: they could wipe out much of the progress we made on behalf of the small innovators in our patent system.Intellectual property is the backbone of our economy. Since our founding, our patent system has allowed the U.S. to grow into the greatest economic power in the world. At its best, our patent system incentivizes innovation, drives economic growth, fosters competition, and pr...

Top tips to make your resume more ATS-friendly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

Job searches are often described as akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. That could be even more so in the digital age, an era when online job boards feature hundreds, if not thousands, of listings. Sifting through those listings can be time-consuming and force job seekers to wonder if their resume will even be seen.Conventional wisdom regarding resumes may no longer apply. A resume can still be a useful asset, but job seekers must recognize the game has changed, specifically in regard to how resume submissions are received and reviewed. Many companies now use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to sift through resume submissions before they ever land in the inbox or on the desk of an actual human being.Because ATS is so popular, job seekers would be wise to embrace strategies to make their resume more ATS-friendly to increase the chances the document finds its way to a hiring manager.The right keywords can help get a resume seen. Though a resume was once viewed as a tool that a...

Lowell Folk Festival boasts diverse, delightful lineup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

Folk is Joan Baez in Harvard Square in 1960. And Robert Johnson at the crossroads in 1932. And Portuguese fado singer Sara Correia at the Lowell Folk Festival next week.Folk is the biggest, strangest and most diverse genre in the world. Probably because it isn’t a single genre but a million crisscrossing styles, inventions and reinventions. The Lowell Folk Festival brings a couple dozen of these styles to Mill City July 28-30 (for free!).Don’t know where to start? Start here or here or here or…Fred ThomasFunk is folk. And Fred Thomas is funk. The bassist cut his teeth, grew more, and cut them again holding down the low end for James Brown for over three decades. That’s Thomas on “The Payback” and “Make It Funky” and a score more ’70s staples. Now leading his own seven-piece band, Thomas will make you feel good, so good, so good.Hot Club of CowtownSomewhere between Django Reinhardt’s gypsy swing and Bob Wills’ Texas swing, this trio thrives. Come for Whit Smith’s hot licks, sta...

Editorial: Bidenomics is just tired liberalism on steroids

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:41:28 GMT

The White House wallowed in a bit of good news recently when the Labor Department revealed that inflation in June had cooled to its lowest pace — 3% — in more than two years. Still, Fed officials have signaled that another rate hike is coming because they don’t want to overreact to a single month’s improvement.President Joe Biden took the news as a validation of his economic policies, which is like the arsonist offering a bow after the massive blaze he started has been 50% contained. Despite recent progress, inflation remains higher than the Fed target rate of 2% and more than double what it was when Biden entered the White House. Administration officials would prefer not to talk about how the rate ever climbed beyond 9% in the first place, the highest in four decades.“Prices are going up at a slower rate overall, the good news is that things are not getting worse for American consumers,” Leo Feler, chief economist at the research firm Numerator, told The Wall Street Journal. “But t...