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Traveling for the holidays? Here’s how to check flu and COVID levels at your destination

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

When you get ready to travel for the holidays, you may want to know how sick people are in destination where you are going.As of Friday, 17 states are reporting “high” or “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity, federal health data shows. The states where illness activity is highest are scattered throughout the U.S. but most of the Southeastern states are seeing high levels, along with Western states like California, Nevada and Colorado. New Jersey and New York City also are seeing high levels, based on percentage of visits to outpatient healthcare providers or emergency departments for fever and cough or sore throat.States with the lowest levels of respiratory illness are Minnesota and West Virginia. To check the level of respiratory activity in the area where you are traveling, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention respiratory illness dashboard.“Every individual has a different risk tolerance and a different medical history,” said Alicia Budd, lead of dom...

What to watch: ‘Iron Claw’ is a masterpiece

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

The end of the year finds awards-hungry film studios wrapping up and stuffing into theaters some some of their best goodies for audiences to unwrap over the holiday break.For the most part, you’ll be thrilled with what you’ll be given, particularly “The Iron Claw,” “American Fiction,” “The Color Purple” and “All of Us Strangers.”Here’s our roundup.“The Iron Claw”: Four brothers (Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons) deep in the heart of Texas sacrifice their dreams, careers and even their lives for their domineering manager/coach/father (Holt McCallany) who aims to create a wrestling dynasty.Director/screenwriter Sean Durkin treats this portrait of the real-life Von Erich family — a dominant force in sport in the late ‘70s and ‘80s — as if it were an American and Shakespearean tragedy. It makes for a potent combination, a knockout in every way.As he’s done with all the works that bear his imprint — “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “The Nest” and the Amazon P...

Toronto officer with prior assault charge suspended with pay for hitting woman: TPS

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

A Toronto police officer who was charged with assaulting a woman in 2022 is facing a similar offence and has been suspended with pay once again.The Toronto Police Service (TPS) said on Dec. 20, 2023, a man and a woman were involved in a dispute when a woman was assaulted.Const. Sameer Kara, 40, was charged with assault that same day. Related: 3 Toronto cops found not guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague Const. Kara was slated to appear in court on Dec. 21. He has 14 years of service with the TPS and has been suspended with pay. In April 2022, Const. Kara was charged with assaulting a woman in the area of Dundas Street West and Keele Street. At the time of that incident, the TPS said Kara was not on duty.In 2015, Const. Kara was one of three Toronto police officers who were acquitted and found not guilty of sexually assaulting a parking enforcement officer in a hotel.

Connecticut man gets 12 years in prison for failed plan to fight for Islamic State in Syria

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

A Connecticut man who pleaded guilty to planning to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria was sentenced to 12 years in prison on a terrorism charge Thursday, a lighter punishment than what had been sought by prosecutors who called him a danger to society.A judge imposed the punishment on Kevin McCormick, 30, a former Hamden resident, in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the U.S. attorney’s office called for a 20-year prison term. Judge Kari Dooley also ordered that McCormick be placed on supervised release with GPS monitoring for the rest of his life after the time behind bars.“His desire to fight for a violent foreign terrorist organization and kill people, and his multiple attempts to travel to the Middle East to carry out that desire, show that he poses a grave threat,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj Patel wrote in the government’s sentencing recommendation.McCormick, who was arrested in October 2019 as he tried to board a plane to Canada with plans...

Ohio governor visits hospitals, talks to families as decision on gender-affirming care ban looms

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

BEXLEY, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been visiting hospitals and speaking with families helped and harmed by gender-affirming care as he decides what action to take on legislation preventing minors from obtaining such treatments, he told The Associated Press in a year-end interview Thursday.“I’m trying to learn as much as I can to make a good decision,” he said during the sitdown at the Governor’s Residence, where he also discussed implementation of the state’s new recreational marijuana law, term limits, abortion, the death penalty and the 2024 U.S. Senate race. DeWine has until Dec. 29 to either sign or veto the gender-affirming care bill, which also blocks transgender student athletes from playing girls’ and women’s sports, or he can allow it to become law without his signature.He said he cleared his calendar this week in order to visit three Ohio children’s hospitals — in Akron, Cincinnati and Columbus — to study the issue....

'We are not all bad': Migrants stuck waiting at O'Hare, facing uncertain future in latest kick of 'political football' from Texas

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

CHICAGO — Just as Chicago emptied its police stations of asylum seekers, there's a new path to the city, and it's been opened by the governor of Texas.For months, O'Hare International Airport has been a temporary waystation for migrants newly arriving to Chicago as they await shelter. Now, O'Hare is back in the spotlight, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott begins a new campaign to “fly” migrants to Chicago in what's now become a game of "political football" with human lives.On Tuesday evening, Abbott's office confirmed that Texas emergency management officials chartered a private plane from El Paso to O'Hare carrying approximately 100 migrants.Facing the threat of fines and the impoundment of the “buses” that have carried migrants to Chicago to this point, Abbott says he’ll now send them by plane. At approximately 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, 120 migrants were dropped at a private terminal at O'Hare without warning.On Thursday, WGN investigative reporter Ben Bradley spent some time with the migrants n...

Joliet man, 21, charged with murder in killing of his mother, Joliet Police Dept. announces

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

JOLIET, Ill. — A Joliet man has been charged with the murder of his mother after being taken into custody, the Joliet Police Department announced Thursday.Justen Holman, 21, was processed and transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility on a charge of first-degree murder.According to police, Holman was taken into custody on Wednesday in the 1500 block of North Larkin Ave. in Joliet after indicating to officers that he had recently killed someone at his residence in the 6400 block of Langsford Lane.Police say officers located Holman's 48-year-old mother at the Langsford Lane residence. According to police, she appeared to have sustained gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead by the Will County Coroner's Office.Officers recovered the handgun believed to be used in the shooting, according to police.In a Wednesday news release, police said officers responded to a parking lot in the 1500 block of North Larkin Ave. after a 911 call was received from a 21-year-old male wishing t...

CDC warns of Covid surge, urges updated shots

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Top health officials are warning of a Covid surge ahead of the holidays because many Americans have not received their updated shots.According to the latest CDC data, nursing homes have some of the lowest vaccination rates but are home to the highest concentration of vulnerable people."This is where Covid likes to hit," said Dr. Francesca Ceddia, the chief medical affairs officer at Moderna. "People in nursing homes are being visited from external people. There is a risk that you're actually bringing in the disease."The data shows less than one in four residents and only two percent of staff are up to date on their Covid shots. Unlike the beginning of the pandemic, Ceddia said the issue is not limited supply."It's more a problem of fatigue, sometimes misinformation," she said.Ceddia said the focus on nursing homes is so important because they are usually an early warning sign of what will happen to the general public."Getting those vaccination rates up is real...

Traveler carrying $4M worth of ketamine stopped at Detroit airport

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – A man arriving at Detroit Metro Airport from France never made it past customs after law enforcement discovered he was carrying an estimated $4 million worth of drugs in suitcases.According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations, the man arrived at the airport on Dec. 13 with 110 pounds of ketamine in two large pieces of luggage.CBP said the traveler, a U.K. citizen, told customs officers he was transporting the bags for a family member. A man carrying $4M worth of ketamine was stopped at Detroit Metro Airport earlier this month. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)The ketamine was confiscated and the man sent back to France, CBP confirmed in a news release. The release did not say whether the man faces any potential charges. He is currently prohibited from entering the U.S.“Our drug interdiction mission is vital to protecting our nation and our communities from thedangers of illicit substances,” said Acting Port Director...

Humanitarian crisis grows in Gaza

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:21:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - The White House says it is hoping a temporary ceasefire deal happens soon, this comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows more dire by the day. A new U.N. report finds upwards of half a million people inside Gaza are now starving.The Biden administration says it's highly engaged in talks with members of the U.N. Security Council which is pushing a resolution designed to increase resources into the territory."There is an immense amount of suffering inside Gaza,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.Following the opening of a second pathway into Gaza, Kirby says more trucks carrying vital resources like water are making their way into the region.Thursday, the U.N. reported more than 570,000 people inside Gaza are facing a catastrophic food crisis.International groups like the World Food Programme say a ceasefire is the only way to stop the suffering."Like 1 in every 4 people is starving," said WFP chief economist Arif Husain.The World...