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Obama’s first college is latest to end legacy admissions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A California college where President Barack Obama started his undergraduate studies will no longer give special treatment to the children of alumni.Occidental College, a private liberal arts school in Los Angeles, is the latest school to end legacy admissions in the wake of a Supreme Court decision removing race from college admissions decisions.A campus letter from the school’s president said an applicant’s family ties to Occidental alumni “could be considered” in the past but had only “minimal impact” on decisions.“Still, to ensure we are removing any potential barriers to access and opportunity, Occidental will no longer ask applicants about alumni relationships as part of the application,” President Harry J. Elam Jr. said in a campus message on Wednesday. He cited the Supreme Court’s decision.The school of about 2,000 students is known for being the campus where Obama began his college career in 1979. Obama spent two years at Occidental before transferring to C...

Human case of West Nile virus possibly found in Weld County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — West Nile virus has been discovered around Colorado, both in mosquitoes and at least two humans.Weld County announced Thursday it was investigating a potential case of the virus in a resident there. A human case also was detected this week in La Plata County in the southwest corner of the state, where Durango is the county seat. Why did Jeffco wait to warn about the trail predator? In Denver, health officials announced Thursday the virus had been detected among mosquitoes. But no human cases among Denverites have been detected so far, according to the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.West Nile virus has been found in seven Colorado counties so far this year, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment:ArapahoeBoulderDeltaDenverLarimerPuebloWeldMosquito populations higher this yearMosquito numbers have been higher this year after heavy rainfall through the spring and summer, health officials say.In Weld County, health offi...

Colorado couple competes in Cheyenne Frontier Days chuckwagon cookoff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (KDVR) — Cheyenne Wells, is a city in Colorado with a population 600. Better make that 598, because Tammy and Michael Engelbrecht are not in Cheyenne Wells right now. They are in Cheyenne, Wyoming, they are cooking up a storm, chuckwagon style.A chuckwagon is an Old West-era kitchen on wheels. They were used for storing food and preparing food for cowboys, pioneers and anyone who needed to eat in the field. They were used in wagon trains to feed settlers as well. They were the original food trucks.It's part western heritage, part living history and a big part culinary cuisine. Cowboy grub had to be great.“Food was the only thing that they had to look forward to. Food was the only luxury they had,“ Michael Engelbrecht said. “The average age of the cowhand was about 12 years old to 14 years old and so as a very young man, he may or may not have a family, and you need to keep him on the trails,“ Tammy Engelbrecht, said.The Engelbrechts are farmers in eastern Colorado. Wh...

19-month-old boy adopted by South Florida couple after difficult and lengthy deportation battle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

A 19-month-old boy at the center of an international deportation debate was officially been adopted by a South Florida family.After a difficult and drawn-out battle on Thursday, the toddler legally became Angel Simmons by his foster family, who will be able to keep him in the U.S. Simmons was officially adopted, in a very short but emotional ceremony at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.His adoptive mother, Tamara Simmons, read a beautiful message to the newest member of her family.“Dear Baby Angel, I wonder if you can even begin to grasp how loved you are,” she said as she fought back tears. “You are everyone’s baby.”His adoptive father, Gerald Simmons, said it took a lot of time and effort to see this day.“We really wanted to fight for this boy,” he said.Angel has been cared for by Tamara and Gerald since late 2021, when he was just a few days old. His biological mother’s parental rights were terminated, and according ...

FBI searching for man who robbed Truist Bank in Hialeah

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

Federal authorities seek the public’s help in their search for a robber who targeted a bank in Hialeah.According to the FBI, the subject went inside the Truist Bank along the 7700 block of West 33rd Avenue, at around 1:10 p.m., Thursday.Investigators said the masked man, captured in surveillance images, demanded money from a teller and left with an undisclosed sum of cash.The bank remained closed for the remainder of the day.Officials urge anyone with information about this robbery or the subject’s whereabouts to call the FBI at 754-703-2000.

Mets Notebook: Starling Marte’s return ‘not imminent’ after migraines, Buck Showalter says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

Starling Marte was eligible to come off the injured list Thursday but the Mets are not ready to activate the right fielder. Marte is still dealing with migraine headaches and his child is due any day now, which has also complicated the matter.“Not imminent,” manager Buck Showalter said Thursday at Citi Field ahead of the series opener against the Washington Nationals. “I know they’re talking about making sure they’ve got the right diagnosis with the migraines.”Marte worked out at Citi Field over the weekend when the Mets were in Boston for a three-game series against the Red Sox. He was also with the team this week at Yankee Stadium for the Subway Series and was able to do baserunning drills ahead of Tuesday’s game in the Bronx. However, Marte has not been completely migraine-free. The 34-year-old has had more headaches this week but “on a lesser scale.”The key concern is that the headaches are occurring so closely together. Mart...

Dorchester Father’s Day murderer convicted, will spend rest of life in prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

A New Hampshire man has been found guilty of gunning a man down as he celebrated Father’s Day in a Dorchester park with his family two years ago.A Suffolk Superior Court jury on Thursday convicted Ira Grayson, 37, of Manchester, N.H., of first-degree murder and related weapons charges for the death of Stacy Coleman, 33, of Dorchester, on June 20, 2021. At the time of the shooting, Grayson was on federal supervised release following a conviction in New Hampshire for being a felon in possession of a firearm.“Today when he walked out of the courtroom, he told his family members that he loved them,” Rhonda Adams, the aunt of the victim, told the Herald following the verdict, which came on her birthday. “But I can’t tell my nephew that I loved him anymore.“I’m going to tell him he took my nephew away from his kids,” she continued. “My poor sister. He’s killing her, too. She won’t eat anymore. She says all she want is justice. Maybe after today it will ...

Indictment alleges that Trump, aides asked staffer to delete camera footage at Mar-a-Lago to obstruct document probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

WASHINGTON — A new indictment alleges that Former President Donald Trump and his aides asked a staffer to delete camera footage at Mar-a-Lago to obstruct a document probe.The allegations were made Thursday in an updated grand jury indictment that adds new charges against Trump and adds another defendant to the case.A Trump spokesperson dismissed the new charges as “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by the Biden administration “to harass President Trump and those around him” and to influence the 2024 presidential race.The charges against the individual, identified on the court docket as Carlos De Oliveira, were not immediately revealed Thursday.Trump and valet Walt Nauta were charged last month by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith in a 38-count indictment with conspiring to hide classified documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, from government investigators who were demanding them back.The records were taken by Trump to the Palm Beach com...

'I just did what I think anybody would do': FedEx driver on saving man from burning car

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- "I was just going down the 15, you know, just like any other night.”FedEx driver Jonathan Rohrbach was going from Riverside County to Otay Mesa around 3 a.m. Wednesday when he spotted a car that had crashed and caught fire on Interstate 15 in the Miramar area.“Some people get in a car accident, if they're OK they'll get out of the car, grab their phone, they'll be talking to the tow truck, 911, whatever -- walk around the car looking at the damage," Rohrbach said. "But I didn't see anybody walking around, which usually means they're still in the car, plus it was on fire, that could get bad real quick," said Rohrbach.Rohrbach quickly stopped, then grabbed his phone and a fire extinguisher from his FedEx truck.He temporarily knocked down the fire and noticed the driver was trapped after the guard rail had gone through the driver’s door. DUI suspected in deadly crash near border “He kept saying ‘my legs, my legs’ -- so I kind of thought that he might have been pinned be...

Dozens of smuggled people found working in ‘horrible’ conditions at illegal California pot plant

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:24 GMT

MERCED, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of people who apparently were smuggled into the United States were found working and living in “horrible” conditions at an illegal marijuana plant in California’s Central Valley, authorities said Thursday.Deputies served a search warrant Wednesday afternoon at a site on unincorporated land near the city of Merced and discovered the operation. Images posted online by the Merced County Sheriff’s Office showed trays, bags and boxes stuffed with what looked to be marijuana in a run-down interior space. “We literally have thousands of pounds of finished marijuana from an illegal grow and illegal source,” Sheriff Vern Warnke said in a video.Deputies found 60 people working there including men and women who were offered various unspecified resources, plus one juvenile, who was seen by child welfare authorities and released to a parent, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Our investigators learned that these individuals arrived at the property...