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British Open goes from brown grass to green. Silver is the color that matters.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Scottie Scheffler’s first look at Royal Liverpool was courtesy of video. He watched replays of the last two British Opens on these links and saw what looked to be two courses — Tiger Woods won when the grass was brown in 2006, Rory McIlroy when it was green in 2014.That describes the last five weeks at Royal Liverpool.Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A, was delighted by a heat wave last month that made these century-old links dry and crusty, the most testing conditions because of how far the golf ball goes once it gets on the ground.And now?“A bit greener that I would like,” Slumbers said Wednesday. “But every time I get excited about a nice, crown golf course, Mother Nature comes in.”Such is the nature of links golf, and such is the backdrop when the 151st Open begins Thursday with English weather that can change in a New York minute.An unusually wet June has made the fairways green and lush, ideal conditions for McIlroy to end his nine-year droug...

New York City will give some migrants 60 days notice to leave shelter system, mayor says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — With hundreds of migrants arriving daily, New York City will start giving adult asylum seekers in the city’s shelter system 60 days notice to find somewhere else to live, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.The new policy is intended to make room for migrant families with children, Adams said. Caseworkers will help migrants who are asked to vacate find housing and other services, he said, and those who don’t find alternative housing within 60 days will have to return to the intake center and reapply for a new placement.“We must now take additional steps to create urgently needed space for families with children who continue to arrive seeking asylum and help those with us take the next steps to their journey,” Adams said at a City Hall news conference. He added, “Our goal is no child, no family sleeping on the streets.”Adams, a Democrat, has scrambled to house the tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived in the city over the past year and has called for ...

Woman and her 5-year-old daughter die after being caught in a swollen Connecticut river current

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

SPRAGUE, Conn. (AP) — A woman and her 5-year-old daughter were swept away in a swollen Connecticut river and died, officials said Wednesday.The woman, identified by state police as Dora Kelly, 39, of Norwich, and her daughter, Aralye McKeever, were swimming in the Shetucket River near River Park in Sprague when they were caught by the current Tuesday evening just before 5:30 p.m., state police and fire officials said. Both were recovered unconscious from the water downstream and taken to Backus Hospital in Norwich. Kelly was pronounced dead there. McKeever was later transferred to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, where she died Wednesday, state police said.State police said they do not suspect foul play and are treating the deaths as untimely. The Shetucket and other rivers in Connecticut have been running well above normal levels because of heavy rain in New England over the past week. The Associated Press

A feline virus mutation in Cyprus caused far fewer cat deaths than claimed, veterinary leader says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The head of the Cyprus veterinarians association on Wednesday dismissed as greatly exaggerated the claims that a local mutation of a feline virus has killed as many as 300,000 cats on the small Mediterranean island.The director of the Pancyprian Veterinary Association, Nektaria Ioannou Arsenoglou, said the group’s survey of 35 veterinary clinics indicate an island-wide total of only about 8,000 deaths. Arsenoglou said numbers that have been presented by local animal activists and amplified by foreign media outlets “simply don’t add up.”Arsenoglou told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the local mutation of a feline coronavirus that causes Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is nearly always lethal if left untreated, but that medication can nurse cats back to health in approximately 85% of cases.Spread through contact with cat feces, neither the virus or its mutation can be passed on to humans.Specific medication that can treat both the so-called “wet” and...

Judge nixes Trump’s bid to move hush-money criminal case, keeping it in New York state court

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump can’t make a federal case out of this one.U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on Wednesday rejected the former president’s bid to move his hush-money criminal case from New York state court to federal court, ruling that Trump’s lawyers had failed to meet a high legal bar for changing jurisdiction.Hellerstein found that the allegations pertained to Trump’s personal life, not presidential duties that would have merited a move to federal court.“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Hellerstein wrote in a 25-page ruling. “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.”Hellerstein’s decision sets the stage for Trump to stand trial in state court in Manhattan as early as next spring, overlapping with the 2024 presidential primary s...

Surrey must stay with local police instead of RCMP: B.C. government

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government has directed the City of Surrey to move forward with an independent police service despite its mayor and council’s determination to stay with the RCMP.The province said Wednesday that it made the decision to avoid a crisis in policing in Surrey that would have taken Mounties from other areas of the province.Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said in a statement that he has carefully considered the city’s report on moving back to the RCMP, but Surrey has not demonstrated that doing so would be safe or would not affect other communities.“People’s safety, in Surrey and across the province, is non-negotiable,” Farnworth said. The minister said he made the decision under the Police Act because the city failed to meet the requirements to stop an “exodus of Surrey Police Service officers” to staff the Surrey RCMP without pulling Mounties from other communities.The RCMP is experiencing critical vacancy problems in B.C. and across Ca...

Suburban man accused of distributing child pornography

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

CARY, Ill. — A suburban man is facing ten charges relating to a child pornography investigation.On Tuesday, Algonquin police arrested Donald Peters after executing a search warrant at his residence in Cary. Man dies from punching window of suburban bar after getting kicked out He was charged with the following offenses.Child pornography - reproduce or distribute videoChild pornography - solicits another to provideIntimidation - physical harmIntimidation - expose to hatred, contempt or ridiculeChild pornography - possess visual reproductionCyberstalking - suffer emotional distressCyberstalking - cause fear for safetyElectronic harassment - obscene messageElectronic harassment - make threatDisorderly conduct - breach of peacePeters faced a $250,000 bond and posted ten percent to be released.No other details have been provided at this time.

Powerball: 5 wildly rare occurrences that are more common than winning the jackpot

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

(KGET) – It should come as no surprise that the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are quite slim at roughly 1 in 292.2 million. But don't fret, because you still have better chances of achieving similarly exceptional accomplishments, like hitting a hole-in-one, meeting the president, or … being struck by lightning?Shocking, we know. Can you increase your odds of winning the Powerball jackpot? As the experts explain, there are several wildly unlikely occurrences that are still more common than picking the winning Powerball numbers. And most — aside from being zapped by a lightning bolt — seem downright delightful. Getting struck by lightningLet's get this one out of the way: According to the National Weather Service, you have a 1 in 15,300 chance of being struck by lightning, meaning you have a better chance at the lightning lotto than Powerball. In fact, the NWS reports that the U.S. averaged 43 reported lightning fatalities per year from 1989 to 2018.The odds of being struck ...

Odds for the 16 LIV Golfers playing in the British Open at Royal Liverpool

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

(LIV Golf) - Last month in finishing fourth at the U.S. Open, Cameron Smith was happy with the way his driver performed. “Feels better than what it did last year,” he said.Two weeks ago in winning LIV Golf London, Smith wasn’t as completely satisfied, especially on the weekend as he tried to protect the lead. “I have to do some work on that,” he said. “… If there's one thing, I think it would just be tidy up that driver.”So, the question becomes upon entering this week’s Open Championship: Did Smith solve enough of whatever issues he was having with the driver to successfully defend his title? And if not, will it even matter given his prowess with the putter and his short-game ability?Despite the victory at Centurion Club, the Ripper GC captain acknowledged he’s yet to have a complete tournament, one in which he’s fired on all cylinders. But he’s definitely trending. Perhaps this week will be the culmination of the work he’s done lately to fine-tune the few parts of his game that st...

Austin to vote on standard pay rate for all city-led music performances

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:31 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The City of Austin could approve Thursday a new, uniform pay rate scale for musicians hired to perform at City-led music events.Currently, there isn't a universal, standardized pay rate across all City departments, and some pay discrepancies exist across departments.For example, the city's Economic Development Department approved a pay rate of $200 per musician for a City Hall performance during council meetings, while the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport currently pays musicians $150 for two 50-minute sets.In recent years, continued calls have advocated for increased wages for Austin musicians, particularly as the city's cost of living has skyrocketed. As a result, Austin City Council will weigh in on the following proposed standard pay rate for all city-led performances across departments:$200 per musician for groups of up to six people$150 per musician for groups between seven and 10 people$1,500 total for groups of musicians of 10 or moreIf approved, the i...