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4 tornados confirmed as Michigan storms down trees and power lines; 5 people killed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — At least four tornados touched down in Michigan as part of severe storms powered by strong winds that killed five people, while downing trees, tearing roofs off buildings and leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power, officials said.The National Weather Service on Friday confirmed that an EF-1 tornado with winds of 90 mph (145 kph) crossed from Ingham County into the western edge of adjacent Livingston County on Thursday night.Two other EF-1 tornados were reported in Wayne County’s Belleville and south of Newport in Monroe County.A weaker EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 80 mph (128 kph) was on the ground for less than two miles in Wayne County’s Canton Township, west of Detroit, the weather service said. That tornado caused a tree to fall into a house, said meteorologist Sara Schultz.The weather service office in Grand Rapids, in western Michigan, said officials would be in the field Friday conducting damage surveys on a suspe...

Woman who tried to take COVID transplant fight to Supreme Court dies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

An Alberta woman who tried to take her fight over COVID vaccine requirements for organ transplants all the way to the Supreme Court has died.The former lawyer for Sheila Annette Lewis confirmed her death Friday.“Ms. Lewis was a real true believer in fighting for personal rights and freedoms,” said Allison Pejovic, who was in touch with her former client’s son. Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal disease in 2018 and was told she would not survive unless she received an organ transplant.She was placed on a transplant wait list in 2020, but was informed a year later she would need to get the COVID-19 vaccine first.Lewis said taking the vaccine would offend her conscience and argued the requirement violated her Charter rights.The case was dismissed by an Alberta court, which said the Charter has no application to clinical treatment decisions. The Supreme Court also turned down her application for a hearing. Pejovic remembered Lewis as someone with strong beliefs. ̶...

S&P/TSX composite up, U.S. stock markets also rise Friday after Powell speech

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index climbed on Friday, buoyed by strength in the energy sector, while U.S. markets also rose following a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who said future decisions on interest rates will be based on what the incoming data says about inflation and the economy.Markets breathed a sigh of relief after Powell spoke at an annual symposium, sending stocks a little higher Friday after a rocky week, said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.Investors had been anxiously anticipating the speech at Jackson Hole, as Powell’s hawkish comments last year took them by surprise. This year, however, the chairman didn’t offer anything new, said Petursson.“No news is good news,” Petursson said. “He didn’t try and disappoint or throw water on the market. He just came out and said the exact same thing that he’s been saying for the last six months.”The S&P/TSX composite index was up 59.92 points at 19,835.75.In Ne...

DoorDash to pay $1.6M to its workers for violating Seattle sick time policy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — DoorDash will pay $1.6 million to its workers after a Seattle investigation found the company failed to implement the city’s required sick and safe time policy. The city’s Office of Labor Standards said this week that the San Francisco-based delivery company, which contracts workers to make food deliveries, violated city requirements for the second time, The Seattle Times reported. The city initially passed the requirements for food delivery and transportation app-based companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seattle made the first-in-the-nation law permanent in March as part of an effort to strengthen labor rights for “on-demand” gig workers on apps such as DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart. Multiple DoorDash workers told Seattle’s labor office that the company failed to establish a system for workers to request and use paid time, to provide timely compensation to some workers for use of the time, and to provide workers with monthly notice of their balanc...

Harris praises 2022 WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces for ‘grit and determination’ on and off court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris led a White House celebration Friday for the 2022 WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, praising the team for its “grit and determination” on the court and “ferocious” advocacy in support of colleague Brittney Griner during her detention in Russia last year.The Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in Game Four of the finals to win the championship trophy, 3-1, along with what’s become a traditional invitation to the White House. “It was only five years ago that this franchise moved to Las Vegas and now they are the first major professional sports team in Nevada history, in Nevada history, to win a championship, and that’s because this team defines grit and determination,” Harris said. The Aces were lifted to its first championship title by Finals MVP Chelsea Gray, who scored a game-high 20 points; regular season MVP A’ja Wilson, who added 11 points, and shooting by Riquna Williams, who came off the bench to score 17 points....

After Roe v. Wade, the fight over abortion access moves to New Mexico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) — The sanctuary in Grace Covenant Reformed Church was packed.People stood shoulder to shoulder wherever they could — near the stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible, behind the neatly lined rows of chairs that serve as pews, against a wall covered in crosses made from painted wood, wire, glass and ceramic red chiles.Bibles and hymnals rested under every seat, but they weren’t used that Monday night last September. There was no sermon, because this wasn’t a church service.Residents of Clovis, a town of some 40,000 people a mere 20-minute drive to the Texas state line, crammed into this little brick building that night to discuss a plan of action to ban abortion.Just three months earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that had legalized abortion in the U.S. for almost 50 years.As trigger laws banning the procedure began going into effect across the nation — in places includi...

Moms are cracking eggs on kids' heads on TikTok. Why?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Just about everything has trended on TikTok — dances, clothing styles, even financial advice. But one of the platform's latest jokes has some worried about potential damage it could be doing to unsuspecting tots.You've likely seen the innocent-intentioned videos: A parent, usually a mother, is in the kitchen cooking with her child. As ingredients go into the mix one-by-one, out of nowhere, the mom cracks an egg on the child's head. Costco pulling Kirkland vodka from shelves — here's why The children's reactions vary. While some certainly do understand their mom's joke, some videos show kids — many toddler-aged — either confused or upset at the unexpected hit.Despite the trend's popularity (#eggcrack has 233M views, while #eggprank has 681M views), many online worry the prank could be humiliating children for social media likes, in addition to unintentionally creating feelings of instability between parent and child. Many TikTok users spoke out this week about the poten...

Hot weekend with a few storms, but wetter on Monday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Exceptionally hot temperatures will continue into the weekend. We broke the record warm low temperature this morning dropping to 80º, the previous warmest low was 79º set in 2020 and 2006. We also likely broke today's record high of 105º from 1924. We were already at 105º as of 3 p.m. at Austin's Camp Mabry and will probably finish the day with a high near 107º!Very isolated storms remain possible through about 8 p.m. this evening, but most of us miss out again on rain as coverage will be extremely limited.Rain chances don't look great on Saturday either with only 10% rain chances, generally west of I-35 with the greatest potential.Sunday's rain chances rise a bit more, right now at 20% with isolated to widely scattered storms possible during the afternoon and early evening.Weekend forecastWe can't forget the heat this weekend, both days will be very hot with highs around 105-106º both days. Humidity will remain elevated with Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisor...

Who's the best high school football player in Austin?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- High school football is back again, and with a soft opening Thursday night, it kicks into high gear Friday with all kinds of action in the KXAN viewing area and beyond.KXAN toured the Austin area during the training camp period and got an early look at several area football programs as they prepared for the season. We asked a couple of questions to all of the teams we spoke with ahead of the season.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteOne of those questions was, "Who is the best player in the greater Austin area that is not on your team?"You can hear their answers in the video above.Some of the most popular answers were Hutto's Will Hammond, Weiss' Adrian Wilson, Westlake's Jack Kayser and a couple of standouts from Vandegrift.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than t...

Flow of Barton Springs no longer considered low due to drought, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Barton Springs is no longer under its first-ever Stage IV Exceptional Drought status, after the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District found a discrepancy between direct flow data collected while assessing the drought, indicating low flow levels, according to officials. The district, the City of Austin and the U.S. Geological Survey Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center took manual measurements of the flow at Barton Creek Thursday morning, just below the pool, the general manager of the district said in an email. Barton Springs flow is low, officials preparing for next level of drought "What we discovered is that there is a discrepancy between direct flow data collected today and flow that is derived from a statistical relationship with stage," the general manager said. "The latter is what the USGS gauge generates every 15 minutes. Apparently, at these low flows, the statistical relationship needs to be recalibrated and the new flow measurements gener...