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Wildfires causing air quality problems in Illinois Friday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) - Air quality across the state has been impacted on Friday due to wildfire smoke.The smoke originates from fires that continue to burn out of control in Alberta.The Albertan Government has declared a Provincial Emergency due to the situation. As of Friday Afternoon, the government reported 94 active wildfire with a year total so far of 494. Wildfire smoke from Canada sweeps over Chicago sky Those blazes in recent weeks have created a massive amount of smoke that is causing air quality issues across the United States, according to the EPA.The wildfire smoke has been pulled into the United States thanks to prevailing winds aloft and a strong low pressure system with a cold front sweeping across the plains.Guidance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows a large plume of smoke swirling over the Great Lakes Region, with smoke extending into the Southern Plains. Another large plume of smoke lingers over Western Canada, including over Albe...

Trailer: Sanctuary of Sin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

The U.S. Catholic Church has been rocked by reports of childhood sexual abuse, dating back decades and involving priests throughout Chicago and the country. While the church made changes to curb the crisis, the accusations continue to pour in, many involving serial abusers.So, where do the credibly accused, the worst of the worst, end up?Often, it’s a rustic retreat, at the end of a road, in the middle of America.Hiding in plain sight.WGN Films presents “Sanctuary of Sin”, a look at a little-known religious order and the role it played in the Catholic church sex abuse crisis. We reveal how the Servants of the Paraclete started, how it grew and where it is today.Beginning Monday May 22, WGN News will present “Sanctuary of Sin” during the WGN News at 9. The three-part series will culminate in a half-hour special hosted by WGN’s Larry Potash on Friday, May at 26 p.m.

17-year-old found dead in between 2 homes in Fuller Park, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

CHICAGO — A homicide investigation is underway in Chicago's Fuller Park after police say a 17-year-old was shot to death and found between two homes. Shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, police responded to the 300 block of W. 51st Street. Officers located the male juvenile with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesNo additional information was made available by Chicago police.Anyone with information may leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.An investigation is ongoing.

U.S. Energy Secretary announces $1.67 million for 10 electric vehicle carsharing hubs in St. Paul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

By the end of this summer, the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis will have installed 70 electric car-charging stations that serve as pick-up sites for HourCar’s nonprofit car-sharing services.Mayors of both cities call the burgeoning Evie Spot network a strong start toward encouraging carbon-free transportation, but they’re aware that the existing network favors some of the more densely populated areas of the Twin Cities, leaving out some diverse and high-poverty neighborhoods at the edges.With underserved communities in mind, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm arrived in St. Paul on Friday to announce a $1.67 million grant to the American Lung Association and the Minnesota Clean Cities Coalition, who together will fund an additional 10 Evie Spot charging hubs throughout St. Paul’s East Side by 2025.Several of those stations will be situated along Metro Transit’s future Gold Line bus rapid transit corridor, while other East Side locations will be det...

TV for summer 2023: Despite the Hollywood writers strike, the season continues with new premieres. Our list of 15.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago TribuneThe big news in TV right now is the Hollywood writers strike, which began earlier this month. For many, it’s no longer a profession that pays a living wage. Here’s hoping the studios, networks and streamers — which are boasting profits and paying their CEOs hundreds of millions — work out a fair contract in the coming days or weeks. But it’s possible they could delay, confident that the strike won’t affect their summer rollout of scripted series.If the strike lasts for months? The network lineup — all those cop shows and sitcoms — will not be ready to premiere in the fall as usual. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we get to it. For the time being, writers have not yet asked audiences to boycott TV altogether or cancel their streaming subscriptions, but a number of shows in production have been paused.Before we get to your summer preview, there’s one other minor change to the TV landscape worth noting: HBO Max and Discovery+ will no longer be separate st...

Óscar Mercado shines in first Cardinals start, 10 years after St. Louis drafted him

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Every once in awhile, you'll witness the success story of a baseball player who had an unusually long journey in the minors leagues, but kept their big dreams alive and eventually earned a call to the majors. Last year, James Naile debuted for his home state St. Louis Cardinals after seven years in the minor leagues. This year, 34-year-old infielder Drew Maggi made his Major League debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates after 13 years in the minor leagues, one of the longest waits in quite some time. The St. Louis Cardinals promoted another player this week who sort of follows that narrative. Óscar Mercado made his St. Louis Cardinals debut Wednesday evening as a defensive replacement. He earned his first start with the Cardinals on Thursday, and it was quite impressive. Three hits, three runs scored, two stolen bases and four putouts between the corner outfield spots. RELATED - Cardinals slug 7 HRs, set two new records at Busch Stadium III Perhaps it was a bit overshadowe...

Civil rights lawsuit filed against former Aurora officer claims excessive force

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

A former Aurora police officer has been named in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court for an alleged attack on a 49-year-old disabled woman who was walking her small dog in an apartment complex. The lawsuit claims excessive force and that the woman’s civil rights were violated.Douglas Harroun was arrested and charged with felony assault in connection to the Jan. 11 incident. He resigned from the Aurora Police Department on Jan. 30. An internal affairs investigation is ongoing.Wyoma Martinez, 49, who suffers from complex regional pain syndrome, was walking her dog when Harroun, who was off duty at the time, pulled up in a vehicle and began “revving his engine and came dangerously close to hitting” Martinez, according to the lawsuit.Harroun was “apparently frustrated” with Martinez, “who was not moving quickly enough” because of her disability, which became acute after a 2018 car accident, according to the complaint. Martinez was trying to n...

Double trouble? Colorado primed for flooding between torrential rains, spring snowmelt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

Colorado’s mountain snowpack is starting to melt faster, potentially bringing more high water after recent heavy rain turned some of the state’s typically feeble creeks into torrents.Big water rose to levels up to 80 times higher than the norm during rain bursts in Colorado Front Range cities this week, forcing police in Denver to warn creekside campers who lack housing to clear out, and scrambling 30 firefighters in Colorado Springs who recovered the body of a person swept away.More rain was falling Friday — and National Weather Service meteorologists forecast thunderstorms nearly every day next week — saturating soils to the point that water more easily gains momentum.“The risk of flooding is out there,” said U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Brandon Forbes, who runs the federal government’s network of 360 gauges on rivers and creeks around the state, which provide cubic-feet-per-second (cfs) water flow measurements every 15 minutes.“Certainly on the...

Arizona, California and Nevada try to make a deal to cut Colorado River usage — but is it enough?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

Arizona, California and Nevada might have reached a deal to conserve water from the drying Colorado River but it’s not enough to meet federal demands or the realities along the drying Colorado River, water experts say.Those states, which make up the river’s lower basin, are reportedly close to an agreement that would cut the amount of water they draw from the waterway. They’re racing against the clock to find an agreement before the end of the month or else the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation might make the cuts for them.But their proposed savings – reported Thursday by the Washington Post – amount to half of the minimum amount of water federal officials said the basin must save. And while the Colorado River’s headwaters saw an above-average snowpack this year, that extra water only buys the West a bit more time and the boon isn’t expected to last.“The river is telling us that we haven’t done enough,” Jennifer Gimbel, a senior water policy scholar at Colorado State University said....

Can the 14th Amendment solve the debt-limit crisis?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:55:59 GMT

Republicans walked out of debt-limit negotiations Friday, charging Democrats with being "unreasonable" in the face of the GOP's threat to crash the global economy.This renewed calls from some Democrats for President Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment as a way of doing an end-run around Republicans' brinkmanship.What is that? And would it work? Let's take a look.Section 4 of the 14th Amendment says: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."Some, including constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe, say this provision empowers the president to take charge of debt management."This is a guarantee that the U.S. will always be good for all its debts, period," Tribe says.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce countered that using the 14th Amendment in this fashion "would be as economically calamitous as a default triggered by a fail...