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Virginia to consider Metro’s funding request to address projected $750 million shortfall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

A Metro train at the Reagan National Station is seen in this WTOP file photo. (WTOP/Dave Dildine) A Metro train at the Reagan National Station is seen in this WTOP file photo. (WTOP/Dave Dildine) As Metro considers ways to address a looming $750 million shortfall and stave off changes to its operations, officials are requesting jurisdictions, including Virginia, review their options to help address the funding deficit that threatens thousands of jobs and various services.Metro hopes policymakers in the commonwealth will consider adjusting the state law that sets a 3% cap on the growth of Virginia’s annual payment to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Dedicating more funding to Metro and overlookin...

Pope Francis prays for a world in ‘a dark hour’ and danger from ‘folly’ of war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Amid the latest bloodshed in the Middle East, Pope Francis led special Friday evening prayers in St. Peter’s Basilica for a world “in a dark hour” and in “great danger” from what he described as the folly of war. Francis delivered his remarks in the form of a prayer to the Virgin Mary and didn’t mention by name the conflict that exploded when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated by sealing off the Gaza Strip and battering the Palestinian territory with airstrikes. He said he was praying for “especially those countries and regions at war,” and he pleaded with Mary to “take the initiative for us, in these times rent by conflicts and laid waste by the fire of arms.” “This is a dark hour,″ Francis said in a subdued voice, in his remarks in the basilica. Since the Israel-Hamas war started three weeks ago, Francis has appealed for the release of hostages taken by Hamas and for civilians in the Gaza Strip to be spared from warfare. He...

Encuentran nota de Robert Card, sospechoso del tiroteo en Maine, “equivalente a carta de suicidio”, dicen autoridades

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

(CNN) — Las autoridades encontraron una nota del sospechoso Robert Card que indicaba que el sospechoso no esperaba estar vivo cuando se encontrara la nota, de alguna manera el equivalente a una nota de suicidio, explica un funcionario.Esta es parte de la razón por la que la investigación se centró en buscar en el agua, dijo la fuente policial.La nota descrita por el funcionario esencialmente brindaba información e instrucciones a otros sobre dónde se podían encontrar las cosas y cómo deshacerse de ellas, sugiriendo en última instancia que cuando se encontrara o se leyera, Card ya no estaría vivo.¿Quiénes eran las víctimas de los tiroteos en Lewiston, Maine?Las autoridades están siguiendo la progresión natural de las pistas, considerando los próximos pasos que pudo haber tomado.Han comenzado los preparativos para buscar en el agua, particularmente cerca del embarcadero donde se encontró el vehículo de Card.Los investigadores registraron ayer el auto de Robert Card y recuperaron...

How do ski areas make snow?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Mountain ski areas and resorts in Colorado have been making snow with hopes to open up for skiers as soon as the end of October.On Friday, Arapahoe Basin announced that it will open on Sunday, making it the first ski area in the state to open for the 2023 season. Others may open soon, as several started making snow weeks ago and more snowfall is expected across the state this weekend. Photos: Mountain resorts making snow for ski season But how are humans able to do a job that is otherwise left up to Mother Nature in order to open places for people to ski earlier and earlier each year? Snow is made with compressed air, compressed water and snow guns, some of which are powerful enough to fill the Goodyear blimp in just 12 minutes.Specific weather conditions are necessary, so snowmakers watch the forecast like a hawk and wait on standby for the optimal weather.How is snow man-made?Steamboat Snowmaking Manager Ryan Olson walked FOX31 Pinpoint Weather me...

You could clear an outstanding warrant at this event in Denver

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The City of Denver is holding the second Fresh Start warrant clearance event on Saturday, where eligible people can clear their outstanding warrants.The Fresh Start program is focused on clearing city and state misdemeanor warrants for people who didn't show up to court.During this event, eligible people can speak with defense attorneys, clear their outstanding warrants and either resolve court cases or set new court dates. Denver pursues former DoubleTree Hotel for House1000 initiative During the last event on July 8, out of the 57 people who attended the event, 77 outstanding warrants dating as far back as 2007 were either resolved or rescheduled. A person is eligible if they have active warrants for one or more of the following:A Denver misdemeanor caseA Denver municipal case, including criminal traffic offensesA probation violation in a Denver County or Municipal Court caseA failure to appear at a second advisement in a Class 4, 5 or 6 non-Victim Rights A...

Family sues Florida cheer gym after co-owner sent to prison for child porn

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

CLERMONT, Florida (WESH) — Outside of the federal courthouse in downtown Orlando on Wednesday, attorney Jessica Arbour announced that her law firm filed a new lawsuit against World Cheer Center – Home of the Rush All Stars.“Where you find kids, you will find predators. And this is no exception,” said Jessica Arbour.The cheerleading gym in Clermont shut down last year after one of its owners, Vigiland D’Haiti, was arrested on molestation charges. D’Haiti is accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old and two 15-year-old girls, according to Clermont police.Arbour said one of those girls is her client. Now, they are filing a lawsuit against the gym that D’Haiti and his wife owned.“She’s a child,” said Arbour. “Her parents had the right to believe that she was safe and that she was in a place where she was developing her cheer skills and her tumbling skills, not in a place where they felt she was going to be a victim to a p...

Tampa woman shares her story of surviving a stroke at only 34 years old to raise awareness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

TAMPA, Florida (WFTS) — For years, Tampa resident Ashley Nessler was always on the go, prioritizing work.It was no different on the day her life changed forever.“I was at my office. It was an ordinary Monday, and I was in meetings, and I went downstairs just to get a drink, and I suddenly collapsed in front of an elevator,” said Nessler.She couldn’t speak or move.“I could not raise my arms. I could not even vocally say I needed help. My body just shut down on me,” said Nessler.She had no clue what had happened when she came to.“I just all of a sudden lost my balance. I felt perfectly normal two minutes before it happened, and I just like kind of just fell to my knees because I couldn’t stand up anymore,” said Nessler.Her coworkers helped her up, and she convinced them that she was fine.She thought she maybe fainted because she hadn’t eaten enough that day, just wanting to get back to work because she had meetings that afternoon.“I even went home for an hour and took a nap and ...

Revealed: EU’s plan to sex up the European Parliament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Parliament knows it has a reputation for being boring. Now it’s trying to sex things up.MEPs don’t bother showing up to debates during the monthly plenary sessions in Strasbourg; journalists barely pay the place any attention; and the Parliament’s procedures are a mess — that’s according to the Parliament’s own civil servants who issued the grim diagnosis in a “background note” to senior MEPs earlier this year.Obtained exclusively by POLITICO, an obscure working group cooked up a document considering ways to overhaul the Parliament’s machinery in time for European elections in June 2024. “Debates are less lively because Members often come to plenary only for their intervention, they read out their speeches and leave right after without listening to the entire debate,” the document states.It also bemoans that there is “insufficient media attractiveness of some plenary agenda items resulting from...

See inside a new hotel in Chile where you’ll feel you’re sleeping on Mars

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

Mark Johanson | Bloomberg News (TNS)Glittering salt flats. Sky-poking volcanoes. Teal lagoons painted pink with flamingos. These are the wonders that await guests traveling to the resort town of San Pedro de Atacama — an oasis amid the greater Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which is the driest (non-polar) place on Earth.The 51-room Our Habitas Atacama, which opened on Sept. 15, is shaking things up as the most recent opening in a destination that rarely sees them. “The timing for Habitas is bang-on because the Atacama is red-hot right now,” says Harry Hastings, founder of bespoke travel company Plan South America. He says it’s one of his best-selling destinations.What sets the property apart, Hastings says, is not just the design and culinary ambitions but something far simpler: With starting rates from $300 per night, it’s the only luxurious hotel in the area that isn’t priced on an all-inclusive basis. It gives travelers rates far lower than those of such competitors as Awasi, ...

Ask a travel nerd: Environmentally friendly air travel for cheap stoics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:13 GMT

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWalletAs someone who cares about my environmental impact and spending as little money as possible, life is full of fraught decisions.Should I buy organic milk even though it’s twice as expensive? Or choose an electric car for $40,000 rather than a friend’s run-down Corolla for $3,000?Should I make eye contact with the person on the street raising money to fight climate change or awkwardly pretend to be on a phone call?The point is that my aversion to spending money often means I’m cutting corners environmentally. Yet when it comes to air travel, these preferences aren’t in conflict. In fact, reducing one’s travel carbon footprint can actually mean spending less on airfare.The only downside: It means flying with airlines that pack you in (and treat you) like sardines.The high cost of legroomFlying burns a lot of fossil fuels — there’s no way around that fact. If the entire commercial aviation industry were a country, it would rank sixth (between Japan and Germany)...