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Florida football team alters its travel plans with Tropical Storm Idalia approaching the state

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida is altering its travel plans for the team’s season opener at No. 14 Utah on Thursday night, hoping to avoid Tropical Storm Idalia.A team spokesman said Monday that the Gators will fly to Dallas on Tuesday, practice and spend the night there, and then travel to Salt Lake City on Wednesday. Coach Billy Napier’s team had initially planned to fly from Gainesville to Utah on Wednesday.Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to start affecting Florida with hurricane-force winds as soon as late Tuesday and arrive on the state’s west coast by Wednesday. It is the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season and a potentially big blow to the state, which is also dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.Idalia intensified Monday, and forecasters predicted it would hit in days as a major hurricane with potentially life-threatening storm surges.Idalia thrashed Cuba with heavy rain, especially on the westernmost part of the isl...

Google to invest another $1.7 billion into Ohio data centers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

NEW ALBANY, Ohio (AP) — Google will invest an additional $1.7 billion to support three data center campuses in central Ohio, the company announced Monday.The tech giant now operates a center in New Albany and announced in May that it would build additional centers in Columbus and Lancaster to help power its artificial intelligence technology and other tools, Mark Isakowitz, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said the additional money will be used to complete the Columbus and Lancaster centers and expand the New Albany facility, but did not disclose more specific details.Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who participated in Google’s announcement, said no tax credits or other public incentives were offered to Google for the data-center expansion.Data centers have proliferated across the U.S. and become a welcome revenue source for local governments. They also require a large amount of electricity and high-voltage transmission lines.The Associated Press

Amazon is raising free-shipping minimums for some customers who don’t have Prime memberships

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has been quietly raising the amount some customers must spend on its site to get free shipping. To qualify for no-cost deliveries, some Amazon customers who don’t have Prime memberships now need to spend $35, up from $25 previously. Amazon spokesperson Kristina Pressentin confirmed the company is testing the new qualification, which was first reported by the blog eCommerce Bytes. The change doesn’t impact Prime members who pay $14.99 per month, or $139 a year, for free shipping and other perks. “We continually evaluate our offerings and make adjustments based on those assessments,” Pressentin said.For now, the new $35 minimum seems to apply to customers based on where they live, the consumer education website Consumer World said Monday. Among other cities, it noted Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered, has a $25 minimum, while non-Prime customers in nearby Bellevue have to pay $35 for free shipping. The move comes as the online retail giant works to cut cost...

Fiona Ferro, a tennis player who accused her ex-coach of sexual assault, returned to the US Open

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Shortly after losing in U.S. Open qualifying a year ago, tennis player Fiona Ferro accused her former coach, Pierre Bouteyre, of rape. That case is still pending, and Ferro took a few months off from the tour after going public with her story, but she returned to Flushing Meadows on Monday to play in the Grand Slam tournament’s main draw for the first time since 2021.Ferro, a wild-card entry from France who lost to two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-2 in the first round, said she has not hired a new personal coach. Instead, she is working as part of a collection of about a half-dozen players with a coach from the French tennis federation, Eric Winogradsky.“I wasn’t feeling really ready to get into a new project with a coach, 1-to-1,” Ferro said Monday. “I think I needed to be in a group with other players, because it was tough for me to be alone with only one coach.”After her hiatus from the sport through the end of last season, Ferro began pl...

Chicago Police: White Sox fan likely shot from inside the ballpark 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

CHICAGO — Police have released little information about a shooting that occurred at a White Sox game Friday night, other than to say investigators have essentially ruled out the possibility that the gunfire came from outside the ballpark.A source says police are investigating several theories, including the possibility that the gun may have belonged to a person in the stands and that it accidentally discharged. One bullet was recovered at the scene and is being analyzed, but investigators have not found the weapon, despite a search of the seating area, according to a source. 2 women shot at Chicago White Sox game at Guaranteed Rate Field During Friday's game, a 42-year-old woman was taken to a local hospital after she was shot in the leg and a 26-year-old woman suffered a graze wounded and refused medical treatment. A police spokesperson would not say whether the women have spoken with investigators. It is also unclear whether the woman with the more severe wound was tested for gu...

UNC gives 'all clear' after armed assailant situation, no arrest confirmed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) — For more than three hours, the UNC-Chapel Hill campus was placed on a lockdown due to an active assailant situation. Neither police or university officials have confirmed if anyone was hurt or if the suspect has been arrested.Police have did release a photo of the gunman at large on or near UNC-Chapel Hill's campus on Monday afternoon. According to the UNC website, the suspect image matches an ID photo for a student named Tailei Qi. Tailei Qi The initial alert, which went out at about 1 p.m. urged everyone on the school's campus to stay inside and avoid windows. As of 4:16 p.m., the university issued an "all clear" alert to "resume normal activities."In the first video CBS 17 received from inside a building on UNC's campus, law enforcement officers can be seen in a hallway within Caudill Labs. The officers are seen walking through with guns raised and wearing bullet protective vests. Video courtesy Brendan LynchA massive pres...

US, Chinese commerce leaders meet: 'Huge progress'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Following a meeting in Beijing Monday, commerce leaders promised to improve communication between the United States and China, a signal that tensions could be easing."We are delivering," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said after a meeting with China's commerce minister. "I know there are challenges. As we address those challenges, more communication of the government-to-government level, business-to-business level is critical to helping resolve those challenges."Raimondo met with her Chinese counterpart for four hours Monday. They agreed to create a working group to talk through ongoing disputes, chief among them the future of semiconductor exports and getting the Chinese government to pull back from attacks on U.S. businesses in China."We have made huge progress just today," Raimondo said.Strained U.S.-China relations only worsened following incident like the discovery a Chinese spy balloon over the U.S. earlier this year.Bill Reinsch, who helped guide...

Only 1 state doesn't have a ban on texting and driving. Here's why

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) -- With a new Missouri law going into effect Monday, only one state in the U.S. now doesn't have a ban on texting and driving. Missouri's new distracted driving law took effect Monday, banning hand-held phone use while driving. While it covers sending text messages, the new law also includes holding a phone, making calls and reading messages.However, hands-free phone use will still be allowed as well as using phones for navigation, making emergency calls and listening to podcasts or music. It’s illegal to own these animals as pets in Illinois The new law makes Missouri the 49th state to implement a statewide texting and driving ban for all drivers. The state's previous law only applied to those 21 and under. Now, Montana is the only state without a law on the books banning drivers from texting while behind the wheel. In the past, bills to ban texting and driving in Montana have failed, with many Republicans arguing they're not effective and infringe on peop...

2 killed, 4 injured in Florida sheriff's office helicopter crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — Two people were killed and four others injured when a Broward Sheriff's Office helicopter crashed into a building in Florida early Monday morning, according to authorities.Preliminary information from the Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft was carrying three people when it spun out of control and crashed into a Pompano Beach structure around 7:45 a.m.Local authorities identified the aircraft as a BSO Fire Rescue helicopter. Video showed the aircraft smoking before spinning out of control. Joe the Plumber, made famous during Obama’s 2008 campaign, dead at 49 The National Transportation Safety Board said one person aboard the helicopter was killed, along with another person on the ground.According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, one of the fatalities was a flight paramedic named Terryson Jackson.Captain Terryson Jackson (Credit: Broward County Sheriff's Office)With a heavy heart, we announce the untimely loss of a longtime employee, Capta...

Trump drops 6 points in post-debate GOP poll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:07:46 GMT

Former President Trump saw a slight decrease in his support among Republican primary voters after he skipped the first GOP debate last week, according to a new poll from Emerson College.The poll, which was conducted Aug. 25-26, found 50 percent of GOP primary voters said they plan to vote for Trump, down from 56 percent in a pre-debate poll and the lowest support to date in an Emerson poll.At the same time, multiple candidates saw a slight uptick in support in the aftermath of the debate, which took place Wednesday in Milwaukee. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley saw the largest boost, with her support jumping from 2 percent to 7 percent after the debate.The poll found Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 12 percent, up 2 percentage points from before the debate.Former Vice President Mike Pence got 7 percent support in the poll, up from 3 percent before the debate.The poll found that 27 percent of voters felt entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy won the debate last week, but it did not imm...