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Panic buying after Florida floods leads to long gas lines

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Historic flooding a week ago in South Florida has led to long lines at the region’s gas stations, as drivers fearful of a fuel shortage have been unnecessarily topping off their tanks.Their rush to buy gas has caused some stations to run out of fuel, prompting more drivers to fear a possible shortage and top off their tanks, creating a self-made mini-crisis, officials said.All the while, officials have reiterated there is more than enough fuel to go around if drivers just acted judiciously, filling up when it’s actually needed.https://twitter.com/FHPPalmBeach/status/1648503972112764929?s=20On Wednesday, officials at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades said that “all indicators are pointing to more fuel getting to gas stations in southern Florida faster.”A storm system stalled over Fort Lauderdale on April 12, dumping up to 2 feet of rain and forcing the closure of F...

Police searching for 70-year-old man missing from Homestead

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

The Miami-Dade Police Department Special Victims Bureau is searching for a 70-year-old man missing from his home in Homestead.According to police, Jose Caraballo Muniz was last seen near the 18000 block of Southwest 295th Terrace on Tuesday around 8:45 a.m. heading westbound.The elderly man stands at 5 feet, 6 inches, has white hair and brown eyes, and weighs 225 pounds. He wore a yellow shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes when he went missing. Muniz may also be in need of services. Anyone with information about this missing person should contact Detective M. Webb or any detective of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Special Victims Bureau/Missing Persons Squad at (305) 715-3300 or Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).

Tyre Nichols’ family sues Memphis police over beating, death

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The family of Tyre Nichols, who died three days after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the city of Memphis, individual officers and emergency medical personnel involved in his case, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Memphis.The suit, filed by lawyers for Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, seeks a jury trial and financial damages.The lawsuit accuses Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis of starting a crime-suppression unit called Scorpion that officials said would target repeat violent offenders in high-crime areas. The lawsuit claims the Scorpion unit used “extreme intimidation, humiliation, and violence” and “disproportionately focused on and targeted young Black men.” The five officers charged with beating Nichols were members of the unit, police have said. The unit was disbanded after the Nichols beating.Nichols was targeted by the unit only because he was a young Black man, the lawsuit states.The cit...

‘Don’t Say Gay’ expansion requested by DeSantis approved

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Board of Education on Wednesday approved a ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the law critics call “Don’t Say Gay” at the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis as he gears up for an expected presidential run.The proposal will take effect after a procedural notice period that lasts about a month, according to an education department spokesman.The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4-12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. Florida currently bans such lessons in kindergarten through third grade.The DeSantis administration put forward the proposal last month as part of the Republican’s aggressive conservative agenda, with the governor leaning heavily into cultural divides ahead of his looming White House candida...

Death in Istanbul: The untold story behind Syria’s White Helmets

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

A tale of love, war and Russian disinformation.By SHANNON VAN SANTIllustrations by Zé Otavio for POLITICOAMSTERDAM — I first met James Le Mesurier in Istanbul. He greeted me at his office, a three-story building in the trendy district of Beyoğlu, along the shores of the Bosphorus Strait. I had traveled to Turkey to meet him, a renowned humanitarian and one of the founders of the White Helmets rescue group in Syria. James had the dignified bearing of a former soldier in the British military, but I sensed a fragility. For years, he had been the target of disinformation from the Russian government, which accused him of being a pawn of Western intelligence, and of financial impropriety. The assaults on his character were taking a toll.Soon after meeting James in the summer of 2019, I developed a feeling of urgency I found inexplicable at the time. One day, I climbed the stairs from his office to his living quarters on the third floor, where James sat hunched over a wooden dining table, ...

Suspect ordered held without bail in connection with double stabbing at Clark University in Worcester

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

A suspect was ordered held without bail Wednesday in connection with a reported stabbing at a Clark University gym Tuesday, officials said. Police said officers responded around 6:30 p.m. to a basketball court inside the gym in the area of Downing Street. Once on scene, police said officers found two male stabbing victims with serious injuries. They were taken to an area hospital.Police said neither the people who were stabbed nor the person who was arrested appeared to be Clark students. Clark University shared a separate statement around 7:30 p.m., saying its police department and Worcester police were responding to “an active situation at the Kneller Athletic Complex involving a group fight in which two individuals were injured by knife.”7NEWS spoke with a graduate student who said he is friends with student athletes who were working out in the gym at the time of this incident. The student, Quinn Berube, said his friends saw a pickup basketball game being played and bel...

Tyre Nichols’ family files federal civil lawsuit against Memphis and police officers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

(CNN) — The family of Tyre Nichols filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Memphis, its police department and the officers involved in the fatal beating of the 29-year-old Black man after a traffic stop in January.Nichols was repeatedly punched and kicked by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop and brief foot chase January 7. He was hospitalized and died three days later.The lawsuit said the fatal beating was the “direct and foreseeable product of the unconstitutional policies, practices, customs, and deliberate indifference of the City of Memphis” and its police chief.The suit compared Nichols’ beating to the 1955 killing of Emmitt Till, adding that — like Till — Nichols suffered a beating “endured at hands of a modern-day lynch mob.”Five police officers, who are also Black, were fired following an internal investigation and were indicted on criminal charges January 26.The five charged officers were part of the departm...

MBTA’s Eng Mapping Out Slow-Zone Eliminations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

The MBTA is targeting November to finish lifting speed restrictions on the Blue Line, and plans are still in development for similar issues affecting the rest of the subway system, new General Manager Phil Eng said Wednesday. Eng outlined an initial sketch of the work ahead and steps required to resume full-speed operations on the Blue Line, one of the four major subway lines hamstrung by widespread slow zones that today blanket nearly a quarter of the system. In the coming weeks, Eng told the T’s Board of Directors, crews will aim to replace 1,950 feet of rail, 465 rail ties, and tamp 3,300 feet of track between Bowdoin and Aquarium stations, likely using an evening shutdown of subway service. That will allow the T to shave the percent of the line subject to slow zones from 43 percent to 28 percent, he estimated, speeding up travel and allowing the agency to run trains more frequently. Eng said the T is aiming to lift all Blue Line speed restrictions “no later than Nove...

Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launches 2024 presidential bid

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

(CNN) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer, launched his bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday in Boston.The 69-year-old Kennedy is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former US attorney general and assassinated 1968 presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.He will join self-help guru Marianne Williamson in a presidential primary that President Joe Biden is soon expected to enter as the overwhelming favorite.One hurdle likely facing Kennedy as he attempts to win over Democratic voters: his own family. Some Kennedy family members have denounced his views on vaccines. He has also clashed with his mother and siblings over his support for the release of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed his father in a moment that changed US history.Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic. He has promoted discredited claims linking vaccines and autism and founded the anti-vaccine organization Chil...

Guardsman Teixeira, secrets leak defendant, briefly in court

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:32 GMT

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly classified military documents made a brief court appearance Wednesday, as a hearing to determine whether he should remain jailed while awaiting trial was delayed to give the defense more time to prepare.Jack Teixeira, 21, had been scheduled for a detention hearing in Boston’s federal court, but the judge canceled it after Teixeira’s lawyer filed a motion requesting that it be delayed for about two weeks. The defense said it “requires more time to address the issues presented by the government’s request for detention.” A new date has not yet been set. On Wednesday morning, Teixeira was brought to the courtroom in handcuffs and orange jail garb as he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He said nothing beyond answering yes and no to questions about whether he understood his rights and the proceeding.Teixe...