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Police identify victim in fatal hit-and-run; search for driver underway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

In an incident that occurred in the early hours of Thursday, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a speeding vehicle that fled the scene without rendering aid or providing information. The victim has been identified as 36-year-old Felix Benitez.The fatal hit-and-run took place as Benitez was crossing Northwest 32nd Avenue at Northwest 103rd Street in Miami. Around 3:45 a.m. an unidentified southbound vehicle on 32nd Avenue crashed into him.Benitez was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital following the incident but unfortunately succumbed to his injuries. Authorities from the Miami-Dade Police Department are seeking the public’s assistance in apprehending the driver responsible for this hit-and-run. A description of the suspect vehicle is believed to be a sedan, which should have noticeable damage to its hood and windshield as a result of the collision. Officials urge anyone with relevant information to come forward and assist in the investigation. Miami-Dade Police Department...

Hundreds of dolphins and sea lions have washed up dead or sick in California amid toxic algae outbreak

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

(CNN) — The scene is unsettling: hundreds of sea lions and dolphins are sprawled across the beaches in Southern California, either dead or sick and exhibiting abnormal behavior.Officials have received more than 1,000 calls in recent weeks from beachgoers, tourists and residents reporting sick, dying and dead sea mammals washed ashore from Santa Barbara to San Diego County, amid a growing toxic algal bloom in the waters off the coast.The wave of dead or sick animals is “one of the largest in memory,” Justin Greenman, a stranding coordinator with NOAA Fisheries, told CNN. “It’s completely overwhelming.”And, Greenman said, it doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon.Marine-life experts believe the harmful algal bloom is to blame, though they are waiting on test results to confirm it. The algae, Pseudo-nitzschia, produces a neurotoxin called domoic acid, which can be poisonous to seabirds and fish once ingested. It can then travel across the food chain to larger marine animals like dol...

Lonzo Ball not expected to play for the Chicago Bulls in the 2023-24 NBA season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

Lonzo Ball’s absence from the basketball court is only growing longer.Executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas confirmed Thursday that Ball is not expected to play for the Chicago Bulls in the 2023-24 NBA season.Ball underwent a rare cartilage transplant in March, his third procedure to address a baffling knee injury that has kept him sidelined since January 2022. While Karnišovas said Ball is “recovering nicely” after moving off crutches in May, the team does not have any expectation for the point guard to return to the court this coming season.“Going into the offseason, our expectation is that he’s not coming back next season and he’s going to continue on his recovery,” Karnišovas said. “If he comes back, it would be great, but we’re just going to treat this offseason and getting ready for the season that he’s not going to be back.”The Bulls have been committed to Ball...

Chicago Bulls make draft night trade to select Julian Phillips — ‘one of the best athletes in the draft’ — at No. 35

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

The Chicago Bulls injected some life into a sleepy NBA draft night on Thursday by making a late-night trade to acquire Tennessee product Julian Phillips with the No. 35 pick.The Bulls sent a pair of future second-round picks to the Wizards to acquire the pick, according to a report by Shams Charania. The Wizards had previously traded with the Boston Celtics for the No. 35 pick.A lengthy forward at 6-foot-8, Phillips impressed at the draft combine with his 7-foot wingspan and 43-inch vertical, the highest of all attendees.“He’s one of the best athletes in the draft,” executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas said. “He can step in right now, probably can defend on our level. He has a lot of things to improve but we’re looking forward to it. He’s very young and very talented.”Phillips carved out his draft stock on the strength of his defense — an extremely similar resume to 2022 first-round draft pick ...

For Chicago Cubs fans who made the overseas trek for the London Series, the trip is exciting — and bittersweet

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

For longtime Chicago Cubs fan Marci Watts, the London Series represented the perfect 55th wedding anniversary gift for her parents, who are diehard St. Louis Cardinals fans.The teams’ rivalry and a trip to London created the perfect union for the family’s split allegiance. Watts grew up in the Peoria area, which is well known for its divided fan support between the Cubs and Cardinals. Her best friend was a Cubs fan and despite her parents, Wayne and Sharen Cinotto, supporting the Cardinals, Watts gravitated toward the lovable losers and fell in love with Wrigley Field when making trips to the city with her friend’s family during the 1970s.“It’s become a family tradition to argue about them,” Watts told the Tribune on Thursday from the team’s fan rally at Horse and Guardsman pub. “I didn’t even realize until I was older, in my teens, that I was doing something that was interesting, shall we say.”However, those travel plans i...

Tropical Storm Cindy forms behind Bret in an early and aggressive start to Atlantic hurricane season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Cindy has formed behind Tropical Storm Bret, in the first case of two storms in the tropical Atlantic in June since record keeping began, forecasters said Friday.The historic event signals an early and aggressive start to the Atlantic hurricane season that began June 1 and whose peak usually runs from mid-August to mid-October. Forecasters blamed unusually high sea temperatures for the rare development.Cindy is expected to remain a tropical storm as it heads northeast into open waters.Meanwhile, Bret brought winds, heavy rain and swells of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) early Friday to islands in the eastern Caribbean that shut down to prepare for potential landslides and flooding. Officials in the French Caribbean island of Martinique said they were searching for four people who apparently were aboard a lifeboat after their catamaran sank during the storm.Power outages were reported in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with at least 130 people ...

Worker dead after explosion at North Carolina plant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

WADESBORO, N.C. (AP) — One worker is dead after an explosion at a North Carolina plant, according to a county official.Firefighters called to the Darling Ingredients rendering plant in the Wadesboro area around 9 p.m. Thursday found a plume of smoke, Anson County Emergency Services Chief Rodney Diggs said.After air monitoring determined that there wasn’t a threat, one employee was found dead, Diggs said. The explosion involved aluminum chloride and an investigation into the blast is ongoing, he said.There’s no threat to the community, Diggs said.The explosion was at an ancillary building at the site, Darling Ingredients spokesperson Suann Guthrie said, and the rendering plant, where otherwise unusable parts of slaughtered animals are turned into usable products, has been shut down during the investigation, Darling Ingredients spokesperson Suann Guthrie said.“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our employee,” Guthrie said.The Associated Press

Stock market today: Wall Street points lower in premarket as rate hike anxiety carries over

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

BANGKOK — Markets on Wall Street pointed lower early Friday as anxiety carried over from a day earlier when a handful of central banks around the world cranked interest rates higher in their fight against inflation.Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.6% and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%. Barring a turnaround, the benchmark S&P 500 is poised for its first losing week in the past six.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week has reiterated his belief that inflation is still too high and that further increases to rates may be necessary. Powell testified before a Senate committee Thursday, a day after appearing before a House of Representatives committee.The Fed held interest rates steady at its last meeting after raising rates aggressively throughout 2022 and into 2023 to tame painfully high inflation. Inflation has cooled somewhat since last summer, but the Fed has signaled it may raise rates two more times this year as it tries to push inflation dow...

Paris climate summit ends without a deal on global tax on shipping

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Participants at the Paris summit on finance and climate stopped short of a deal to create a tax on greenhouse gas emissions produced from international shipping.The two-day gathering of world leaders and finance bosses, aimed at tackling climate change and poverty, ended without a major announcement Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the summit, said upcoming reforms of the international finance system would be assessed within the next two years. The idea of a global tax on the greenhouse gas emissions produced from international shipping has been gaining traction and could potentially be adopted at a July meeting of the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ agency regulating shipping.Some experts believe that a tax on shipping alone could raise $100 billion a year, and a strong endorsement of it in Paris would have provided Macron with a symbolic win.“This is tax-free sector. And there’s no reason why it’s not taxed,” Macron said.Bu...

Infighting among Putin’s lieutenants hurts Russia’s war footing, if not his hold on power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:32 GMT

The video was shocking — not just for what it showed but also for what was said.Yevgeny Prigozhin, the outspoken millionaire head of the private military contractor Wagner, stood in front of the bloodied bodies of his slain troops in Ukraine and yelled expletive-riddled insults at Russian military leaders, blaming them for the carnage.“They came here as volunteers and they died to let you lounge in your red wood offices,” Prigozhin shouted. “You are sitting in your expensive clubs, your children are enjoying good living and filming videos on YouTube. Those who don’t give us ammunition will be eaten alive in hell!”It was a disquieting display for Russians used to more than two decades of rigidly controlled rule by President Vladimir Putin — years with little sign of infighting among his top lieutenants.Prigozhin’s video in May and his other rants against the military leadership have been met with silence from Putin, as well as the brass. Some see Putin’s failure to squelc...