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Thinking of moving to Florida? Here are 5 ways hurricanes will increase your living expenses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

By Leslie Kaufman and Tim Quinson | BloombergThe US hurricane season officially kicks off next week, and no other place in the country is more vulnerable to storm-related damage than Florida, the fastest-growing state in the nation. Last year, Hurricane Ian battered the state, killing almost 150 people and costing insurers roughly $63 billion.Florida has an outsize susceptibility to climate events, with damages equaling almost 4% of the state’s annual gross domestic product since 2017, said Andrew John Stevenson, senior ESG climate analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Last year, Hurricane Ian resulted in a more than 10% hit to the economy when totaling up all of the property destruction, infrastructure spending and power outages, he said.With the climate crisis resulting in increasingly more dangerous storms, the residents of the Sunshine State are left with higher costs in the form of indirect and direct insurance payments.Here are five ways that climate change is costing Floridians ...

Who’s behind the attacks in Russian region near Ukraine?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

By Dasha Litvinova, Yuras Karmanau and Hanna Arhirova | Associated PressTALLINN, Estonia — Russia alleges that dozens of Ukrainian militants crossed into one of its border towns in its Belgorod region, striking targets and forcing an evacuation, before over 70 of the attackers were killed or pushed back by what the authorities termed a counterterrorism operation.Ukraine denied any involvement in the skirmishes Monday and Tuesday, instead blaming two Russian groups that claim to be volunteers fighting alongside Kyiv’s forces in an uprising against the government of President Vladimir Putin.While neither version could be independently verified, whatever happened appears to have sent Moscow scrambling to respond to one of the most serious border incursions since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said an elderly woman died in the chaotic evacuation, and 12 people were wounded in the attack and shelling. As fighting there appar...

Police: Man shoots roommate for eating last Hot Pocket

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

By Matthew Keck | WLKY via CNNLOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — A man was shot over the weekend in Louisville, and police say it was over a Hot Pocket.The Louisville Metro Police Department arrested 64-year-old Clifton Williams on Sunday after they said he shot his roommate following an argument in the Wyandotte neighborhood.Police said that Williams’ roommate had eaten the last Hot Pocket, so he started throwing tiles at him.Arrest slips say that the roommate tried to leave, but Williams went inside and got a gun. The man was then shot in the buttocks as he was trying to leave, according to police.The victim traveled a few blocks to get help and was taken to UofL Hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.Williams is being charged with assault, has been ordered not to have contact with the victim. His bond was set at $7,500.

SeaWorld San Diego says goodbye to Big Bird, Elmo and the Sesame Street gang

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch are saying farewell to SeaWorld San Diego as the children’s television characters make the move south to their new permanent home at Sesame Place San Diego.The Rescue Jr. kids play area will replace the former Sesame Street Bay of Play when the new themed land opens later this spring at SeaWorld San Diego.The new play area for young children will combine fun and education as kids learn about SeaWorld’s animal rescue and rehabilitation efforts while enjoying rescue-themed rides, climbing structures and splash pad play areas.The new Rescue Jr. kiddie land at SeaWorld San Diego will include:Rescue Bay Splash Zone – Splash pad water play area with the Rescue 1 boat docked in a shallow-water rescue training ground.Rescue Training Obstacle Course – Dry play area including the Nautical Net Climb with swaying net bridges and suspended tunnels, Breakwater Bounce with an inflated airbag floor and Tadpole Play soft play area.Rescue Jr. Play Y...

Five injured in SF carjacking that led to vehicle pursuit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Five people were injured Tuesday morning at 16th Street and Potrero Avenue after a suspect vehicle involved in a pursuit crashed into bystanders, according to police. Emergency crews are on the scene, according to the San Francisco Department of Emergency Services. Child attacked and robbed at San Francisco park Officers with the San Francisco Police Department Southern Station responded at approximately 10 a.m. to the area of Folsom and Mabini streets on a report of a carjacking, SFPD said. A suspect vehicle matching the description was located near Kansas and 25th streets. The vehicle led police on a pursuit.After leading officers on a pursuit through city streets, the suspect vehicle was involved in a vehicle collision near 16th and Potrero. Five victims sustained injuries. Officers were able to render aid and medics were summoned to the scene, police said.People have been advised to avoid the area and to expect traffic delays. This is a developing stor...

A Massachusetts Town Is Suing Monsanto for Its Cancer-Causing PCBs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

Clare Lahey has lived with her husband in the home he grew up in, just up the street from the Housatonic River in the town of Lee, Massachusetts, for nearly five decades. Now, in the twilight of their lives, they’re watching as the same chemicals that have ravaged the health of people living along the river for years are now being dredged and dumped near their home. Lahey has had bladder cancer twice, 15 years apart; her husband is wracked with illnesses including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease even though he never smoked. She believes that proximity to the river is to blame for their health problems, and she’s not alone: The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, warns that the river’s PCBs are likely to cause cancer in humans, and a Massachusetts Department of Public Health study on the cancer link is scheduled to be released this year.“Why don’t we just move away?” Lahey asked. “Well, because he’s 85 and I’m 82, and we want to finish out our lives ...

Netflix to charge an additional $8 month for viewers living outside US subscribers’ households

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

Netflix on Tuesday outlined how it intends to crack down on the rampant sharing of account passwords in the U.S., its latest bid to reel in more subscribers to its video streaming service amid a slowdown in growth.To combat password sharing, Netflix said it will limit viewership of its programming to people living in the same household. Those who subscribe to Netflix’s standard or premium plans — which cost $15.50 to $20 per month — will be able to allow another person living outside their household to use their password for an additional $8 per month, a $2 discount from the company’s standard stand-alone plan.Subscribers will still be able to watch Netflix when they are traveling. The company based in Los Gatos, California has 70 million U.S. accountholders.The long-anticipated move, telegraphed by Netflix nearly a year ago, seeks to end a practice that the company allowed to go unchecked for years while its streaming service was attracting subscribers in droves. At tha...

Lakers hoping LeBron James decides to continue career after playoff elimination

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers hope LeBron James will decide to continue his career after he recovers from the difficult end to their season.James didn’t meet with the media on the day after the top scorer in NBA history said he needed time to think about his basketball future following the Lakers’ elimination from the Western Conference finals.The 38-year-old James has skipped his team’s postseason media exit interviews before, but his decision Tuesday left Lakers fans hanging about his intentions with his enigmatic comments following a four-game sweep by the Denver Nuggets.General manager Rob Pelinka and head coach Darvin Ham said they’ll speak with James soon about his future.“We all know that (James) speaks for himself, and we’ll look forward to those conversations,” Pelinka said. “LeBron has given as much to the game of basketball as anyone who has ever played. When you do that, you earn the right to decide if you want to give more. R...

Walter Royal, North Carolina chef who won on ‘Iron Chef America’ cooking with ostrich, dies at 67

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

Walter Royal, the chef of a destination steakhouse in North Carolina who triumphed as a challenger on “Iron Chef America” by cooking mostly Southern dishes with ostrich meat, has died.The Angus Barn in Raleigh, where Royal served as executive chef since the 1990s, announced his passing on its website. The restaurant’s statement said Royal died Monday at the age of 67. The announcement did not provide a cause or say where the chef had died. The grandson of farmers, Royal grew up in rural Alabama and worked as a social worker before honing his craft under acclaimed Southern chefs, The Raleigh News & Observer reported. Royal was already well established as a chef in the Raleigh area when he cooked before a national audience in a 2006 episode of “Iron Chef America.” Judge Joel McHale said Royal used one of the world’s “ugliest birds” to create one of the best desserts. It was a chocolate soufflé made with an ostrich egg.Royal led a team challenging celebrity chef Cat Cor...

Audit: State departments fell short when it came to reporting and justifying some pandemic emergency contracts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:22 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.The Senate co-chair of the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Audit and Evaluation Committee said changes to state procurement law will likely prevent future mishandling of emergency contracts, such as those during the recent COVID-19 pandemic identified in a recent report by the Office of Legislative Audits.The Office of Legislative Audits found that the Office of State Procurement within the Department of General Services skirted some record-keeping requirements and failed to provide timely notification on millions of dollars in contracts. Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-Howard and Anne Arundel) said the report provides more detail of a problem highlighted in a 2021 audit that triggered lawmakers to tighten state law.“Certainly, part of the challenge is that, by nature, things that are an emergency are intended to bypass a lot of the rou...