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Global airlines are aiming higher with ultra-long flights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

Mary Ann Anderson | Tribune News ServiceScoot over, Singapore Airlines, there will soon be a new sheriff in town, er, in the sky, as competition for the world’s longest nonstop flight is winging its way forward. The world is about to become smaller, its farthest-flung corners closer than ever before, and it happens all in one long, long, long flight.Although ultra-long flights are nothing new, every few years or so, an airline embarks on a journey to stretch the limits of imagination and set a new record that makes traveling the globe nonstop easier. This time around, it’s Qantas, the national airline of Australia. Qantas is taking off in 2025 with a Sydney to London Heathrow route that will cover 9,190 nautical miles and take almost 20 hours to complete.Before that flight takes off and you want to sample the current world’s longest nonstop flight, look to Singapore Airlines. According to OAG Aviation, the company that officially keeps track of aviation fun facts, the recordholder s...

Top 10 U.S. destinations for fall getaways

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

Falling leaves, pumpkin patches, cider doughnuts — it’s fall all right. If you’re craving an autumn getaway, PureWow, the New York City-based lifestyle site, is offering up plenty of inspiration, including a list of 31 vacation destinations for fall. We don’t know why they chose 31 — perhaps a penchant for prime numbers? —  but it includes hot spots that will appeal to leaf peepers, romance lovers and nature enthusiasts alike.California scored four shout-outs in all, including Yosemite National Park at No. 6 and Napa Valley at No. 8. Humboldt County’s Redwood National and State Parks landed at No. 11, thanks to its towering redwoods and serene trails. And anyone heading to San Francisco (No. 19), the site says, can “enjoy days filled with farmers markets, street fairs and football games.” (They were so perky about it, we don’t have the heart to tell them the stadium is in Santa Clara, an entirely different city an hour’s drive south.)Here’s just a peek at the list. Find all 31, alon...

Charlie McAvoy ready to hit his stride for Bruins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

A new era of Bruins hockey begins Wednesday, and no one’s more acutely aware of that than Charlie McAvoy.There is still one link left to the 2011 Stanley Cup team. And form a stature point, it’s a big one – captain Brad Marchand. But it’s the group of young veterans who’ll be in charge of this club’s destiny over the next decade.At the top of that list is McAvoy, the B’s do-it-all defenseman who’ll munch the most minutes of anyone and should challenge for a Norris Trophy for years to come.“This next chapter in Bruins history is going to be written by us, obviously, with Marchy being the lone guy left (from the Cup team),” said McAvoy. “We all have something to prove. That’s me. That’s (David Pastrnak). That’s (Brandon Carlo). That’s (Hampus Lindholm). None of us have won. We’ve been right there and gone as far as you can go and we have some experience. But what is our legacy going to be? I think that’s som...

Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies in critical condition after fire broke out during training

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were seriously hurt Tuesday after a fire broke out at a training facility north of Los Angeles.The deputies were listed in critical condition after being injured at the training center in Castaic, a community roughly 35 miles (55 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.No other details on the injuries were immediately released. It was unclear how many total people were injured and what caused the blaze. Firefighters, using water cannons, fought the fire for hours. A KTLA helicopter over the scene showed firefighters spraying water into the smoking rear of a parked semitrailer.The fire happened at about 9:30 a.m. at the facility located on a sprawling campus that also houses the Pitchess Detention Center, a county jail, the sheriff’s department said.About 10 minutes later, firefighters were dispatched to the scene and “live rounds” at the training center were making it challenging to fight the blaze, said Fred Fieldin...

Lawyers make closing arguments in trial of 2 police officers charged in Elijah McClain’s death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Lawyers began delivering closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of the first two police officers prosecuted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who was put in a neck hold and pinned down by officers in a Denver suburb before paramedics injected him with a powerful sedative.McClain was stopped while walking home from a convenience store on a summer night, listening to music and wearing a mask that covered most of his face. A 911 caller reported him as suspicious and the police stop quickly became physical with McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist seemingly caught off guard, asking to be left alone. He had not been accused of committing any crime. Prosecution witnesses testified that the sedative ketamine killed McClain. But prosecutors also offered medical testimony that the restraint of McClain by Aurora officers Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt triggered a series of health problems that made it hard for McClain to breathe and more vulnerable to a fa...

NHL issues updated theme night guidance, which includes a ban on players using Pride tape on the ice

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

The NHL sent a memo to teams last week clarifying what players can and cannot do as part of theme celebrations this season, including a ban on the use of rainbow-coloured stick tape for the Pride nights that have become a hot-button issue in hockey.The updated guidance reaffirms on-ice player uniforms and gear for games, warm-ups and official team practices cannot be altered to reflect theme nights, including Pride, Hockey Fights Cancer or military appreciation celebrations. Players can voluntarily participate in themed celebrations off the ice.Deputy NHL Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday, a few hours before the season opened with a trio of games, that the league sent the updated memo, which was first reported by ESPN.The You Can Play Project, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ participation in sports and has partnered with the NHL for the past decade, ripped the league by saying, “If Hockey is for Everyone, this is not the way forward.”“It i...

North Carolina Democrat kicks off gubernatorial campaign tour alongside governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein pitched himself Tuesday as a champion for the state’s most vulnerable residents in the face of policies that he said have threatened women’s reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ safety and health care access.“Our home is under assault,” Stein said. “Right-wing politicians are taking a sledgehammer to its foundation.”The Democrat kicked off his statewide campaign tour Tuesday at Shaw University, a private Baptist historically Black university in Raleigh, nine months after he entered the race. The sitting attorney general was introduced to a small crowd of supporters by the man he hopes to succeed, with few students in attendance. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is barred from seeking a third consecutive term in 2024 and has already endorsed Stein. He reassured voters Tuesday that Stein would not kowtow to the Republican-controlled General Assembly. “North Carolina has been a better place because Josh Stein has been...

Disappearance of 3 seniors with dementia renews calls for vulnerable persons alerts in Ontario

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

After the disappearance of three seniors in the last two weeks, including one with a tragic conclusion, calls for a “silver alert” to be implemented across the province have been renewed.A search is currently ongoing for a missing 73-year-old, Desmond who was last seen October 6 near his home. Desmond lives with dementia and Parkinson’s disease and police have described the search as “urgent.”Earlier this week, 68-year-old Norman, who has dementia. was found alive after going missing for three days and sadly, 76-year-old Tulip was found dead in a wooded area of Midtown following a week-long search.NDP MPP Monique Taylor said these recent disappearances have made the bill she introduced earlier this year all the more important. Bill 74 would address what she calls a gap in our current emergency alert system called the Vulnerable Persons Alert. A petition on her website currently has over 2,100 signatures.“These [vulnerable people] have dementia, th...

Biden interview in special counsel documents investigation suggests sprawling probe near conclusion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s interview with prosecutors over his handling of classified documents signals that a sprawling investigation that has included questioning of some of his closest aides and at least one cabinet member is nearing a conclusion.The White House revealed on Monday night that Biden was interviewed on Sunday and Monday by special counsel Robert Hur’s team, meaning that he was fielding questions from investigators during the same hours that his administration was consumed by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. It’s a familiar dynamic for a president who over the last year has had to fulfill his duties as commander in chief while dealing with scrutiny over his own classified records retention and the legal problems of his recently indicted son, Hunter.Investigators typically save interviews of key players for the final days of an investigation, a sign that Hur’s nine-month-old probe is likely near the end. Because Hur is a Justi...

Deadly bird flu reappears in US commercial poultry flocks in Utah and South Dakota

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:17:51 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Highly pathogenic bird flu has made its first appearances in U.S. commercial poultry flocks this season, affecting one turkey farm in South Dakota and one in Utah.The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that avian influenza, which is deadly to commercial poultry, was confirmed in a flock of 47,300 turkeys in Jerauld County, South Dakota, on Oct. 4 and at a farm with 141,800 birds in Utah’s Sanpete County last Friday. The outbreaks are the first reported among commercial flocks in the U.S. since the disease struck two turkey farms in the Dakotas in April. Infected flocks are normally destroyed to prevent the flu’s spread, and then the farms are decontaminated. Before last week, the only reports of bird flu in recent months in the U.S. in recent months were sporadic appearances in backyard flocks or among wild birds such as ducks, geese and eagles. While wild birds often show no symptoms of avian influenza, infections in them are a concern to the pou...