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More in new poll say pandemic is over, but fewer than half say lives are back to normal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

(The Hill) -- More Americans in a new Gallup poll say they believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, though fewer than half of those surveyed said their lives are back to normal. The survey, published on Wednesday, found that 64 percent of respondents said that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, while 36 percent think otherwise. In February, 49 percent of respondents said that they believed the once-global pandemic was over. Along political party lines, 84 percent of Republican respondents in the new poll said that they believe the pandemic is over, as did 65 percent of independents and 51 percent of Democrats. When asked if their lives will ever get completely back to the “normal” that existed before the pandemic, 43 percent of all respondents said that their normal lives have resumed, while 41 percent said they do not expect their lives to ever go back to pre-pandemic normalcy.  East Coast storms blamed for United Airlines delays and cancellations in Colorado F...

Margate Police searching for missing endangered man

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

The Margate Police Department needs the public’s help in searching for a missing endangered person. Adrian Williams, 50, was last seen leaving his residence, located in the Celebration Pointe Apartments near State Road 7, around 11:24 a.m. on Tuesday. The 50-year-old was driving a green 2010 Land Rover with Florida tag AL89FL. According to police, his vehicle was registered in the area of West Davie Boulevard and Southwest 32nd Avenue. Authorities said he meets the criteria for a missing endangered person. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this man is asked to contact the Margate Police Department at (954) 972-7111.

Florida man attempts to cancel Norwegian Cruise trip after cancer relapse, denied refund due to travel insurance exclusions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) – A Florida man was denied a refund after canceling a long-awaited Caribbean cruise due to a cancer relapse. Jack Montelbano had planned a 10-day adventure with his wife Evelyn Montelbano but had to cancel it after his cancer made an unwelcome return, forcing him to prioritize immediate treatment. The couple had purchased standard travel insurance, assuming it would provide coverage for medical complications. However, they soon discovered that their assumption was gravely mistaken.“I have been through so much stress with these people,” said Evelyn.Norwegian Cruise Line, the operator of the cruise, delivered the news to the Montelbanos in the form of a letter, which read, “This claim is not eligible for payment.” The reason cited for the denial was Jack’s cancer being deemed a pre-existing condition.The couple, residents of Ormond Beach, had relied on the travel insurance to alleviate their financial burden in the face of...

Police seek help IDing individuals linked to assault in Dorchester

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

Boston police asked for the public’s help Tuesday in efforts to identify a group of people in connection with an aggravated assault earlier this month. Police said the incident happened on June 3 around 8 p.m. on Kingsdale Street in Dorchester. Police said a woman was walking to her car when she was attacked following “a brief verbal exchange” with unknown suspects. Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at (617) 343-4712.Those wishing to reach out anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

Closing arguments set to begin in trial of man accused of killing Weymouth police officer, bystander

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

Closing arguments are set to begin soon in the trial of a man accused of killing a Weymouth police officer and an innocent bystander in 2018. Prosecutors have said Emanuel Lopes, then 20, had been wanted in connection with a crash in Weymouth on the morning of July 15, 2018. When police Sergeant Michael Chesna confronted him, prosecutors said Lopes hit Chesnea with a rock and then murdered him with his own service firearm. Other officers started chasing Lopes when he fired three more rounds – one of which fatally struck Adams while she was sitting on her sun porch, according to the prosecution.The defense rested on Monday, arguing Lopes was suffering from a mental health crisis at the time of the murders.Lopes faces two life sentences if found guilty. 

Smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires leave Detroit with some of the worst US air quality

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit area woke up Wednesday to some of the worst air quality in the United States as smoke from Canada’s wildfires settled over most of the Great Lakes region and unhealthy haze spread southward, as far as Missouri and Kentucky.The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site showed Detroit in the “hazardous” range and warned that “everyone should stay indoors and reduce activity levels.”Drifting smoke from the wildfires has lowered curtains of haze on broad swaths of the United States, pushing into southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and moving into parts of West Virginia. The AirNow.gov site listed air quality Wednesday in Cleveland, Ohio, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, Penn., as “very unhealthy.” A wider circle of unhealthy air spread into St. Louis, Mo., and Louisville, Ky. “Another round is going through western New York, western Pennsylvania later today,” National Weather Service meteorologist Byran Jackson said Wednesday. “And then th...

A Helsinki deputy mayor is under fire after being caught red-handed spray-painting graffiti

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — The deputy mayor of Finland’s capital is facing possible legal action, and calls for him to pay compensation for damages and to resign, after he was caught red-handed spray-painting graffiti in a railway tunnel last weekend.The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency told public broadcaster YLE on Wednesday that cleaning up graffiti illegally painted by Paavo Arhinmäki, one of the four deputy mayors of Helsinki, cost the city around 3,500 euros ($3,830).Arhinmäki, 46, and a friend were caught by guards in a rail tunnel in eastern Helsinki on Friday just after they had completed graffiti, which Finnish street art experts said looked partly inspired by works seen in New York City in the 1970s.Finland’s largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, published a photo of the large-scale graffiti in a tweet.In a Facebook posting on Sunday, Arhinmäki, who is known as a strong supporter of street art and as a creator of graffiti in his youth, apologized for his “stupid fooling aroun...

Lawyer tied to rapes by DNA left on drinking glass is accused of 5 more attacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

A New Jersey lawyer recently charged with sexually assaulting four women in Boston 15 years ago — attacks he was linked to by DNA he left on a drinking glass — has been indicted on suspicion of five additional attacks during the same time period.Matthew Nilo, 35, was indicted Tuesday on seven charges stemming from five attacks on four women in Boston’s North End, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden. The attacks happened between January 2007 and July 2008 while the victims were walking alone in the dark, either at night or early in the morning, Hayden said. One woman was attacked twice, 11 days apart, he said in a news release.“This case demonstrates that no attack will go uninvestigated, no suspect will go unpursued, and no amount of time will insulate a criminal from a crime,” he said.Nilo’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, did not respond to a phone message Wednesday.Nilo, of Weehawken, New Jersey, was arrested in late May and pleaded not guilty this mo...

Arizona’s Oak Flat is sacred land to some Native Americans, but it’s endangered by a plan for a mine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

OAK FLAT, Ariz. (AP) — Azee Romero climbed barefoot on the wrinkled trunk of the massive Emory oak tree at the center of the Oak Flat Campground.The 5-year-old in his black dinosaur t-shirt with hair tied under a backwards baseball cap scaled higher and higher until he found the perfect seat. There, cradled by the sturdy trunk, the boy flashed a gap-toothed smile and rested comfortably as if he’d just climbed onto the lap of a grandparent.In fact, that centuries-old oak tree and the ground below it – the sacred, ancestral flats that stretch for miles east of Phoenix — are like kin to Azee’s family. “My little guy, his umbilical cord is buried here,” said Azee’s mother, Lian Bighorse. She said the connection to Oak Flat is physical as well as spiritual. The family is Chiricahua Apache and Oak Flat, or Chi’chil Bildagoteel, is a consecrated place used for prayer and ritual by them and many other Native Americans in the region. Elders say the land was blessed by Usen, their Creat...

Airline delays and cancellations are bad. Ahead of the holiday weekend, they’re getting worse

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:15 GMT

Travelers are getting hit with delays at U.S. airports again early Wednesday, an ominous sign heading into the long July 4 holiday weekend, which is shaping up as the biggest test yet for airlines that are struggling to keep up with surging numbers of passengers.As of early morning, nearly 1,300 flights have been delayed in the U.S., according to FlightAware. Cancellations neared 700 flights. Cancellations and delays were most severe along the East Coast early and were growing worse rapidly. Disruptions are expected to spread West. The delays are being compounded by thunderstorms that raked the Northeast on Tuesday. At various times, the Federal Aviation Administration held up flights bound for LaGuardia Airport in New York and Reagan Washington National and Baltimore-Washington airports near the nation’s capital.About 6,500 flights were delayed and about 1,900 canceled on the East Coast Tuesday. United Airlines, with a major hub in Newark, New Jersey, canceled about 500 flights or ...