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Schools lost track of homeless kids during the pandemic. Many face a steep path to recovery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — By the time Aaliyah Ibarra started second grade, her family had moved five times in four years in search of stable housing. As she was about to start a new school, her mother, Bridget Ibarra, saw how much it was affecting her education.At 8 years old, her daughter did not know the alphabet.“She was in second grade and couldn’t tell me any of the letters. I would point them out and she didn’t know,” Bridget Ibarra said. “She would sing the song in order, but as soon as I mixed them up, she had no idea.”“I just didn’t know what letters were which,” says Aaliyah, now 9. “I know them now.”The family’s struggles coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic that forced Aaliyah to begin her school experience online. Unfamiliar with a computer, Aaliyah was regularly kicked out of the virtual classroom, her mother said. Teachers complained she was not looking at the screen and took too many breaks.Zoom school was especially difficult for Aaliyah because she was homel...

Mounting job vacancies push state and local governments into a wage war for workers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

FULTON, Mo. (AP) — At the entrance to Missouri prisons, large signs plead for help: “NOW HIRING” … “GREAT PAY & BENEFITS.”No experience is necessary. Anyone 18 and older can apply. Long hours are guaranteed. Though the assertion of “great pay” for prison guards would have seemed dubious in the past, a series of state pay raises prompted by widespread vacancies has finally made a difference. The Missouri Department of Corrections set a record for new applicants last month. “After we got our raise, we started seeing people come out of the woodwork, people that hadn’t worked in a while,” said Maj. Albin Narvaez, chief of custody at the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center, where new prisoners are housed and evaluated. Public employers across the U.S. have faced similar struggles to fill jobs, leading to one of the largest surges in state government pay raises in 15 years. Many cities, counties and school districts also are hiking wages to try to retain and attract wor...

As more migrants go missing at sea, many say bodies end up on Senegal’s beaches in unmarked graves

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

SAINT-LOUIS, Senegal (AP) — The small mounds of sand that dot the beach in northern Senegal blend into the terrain. But thick rope juts out from beneath the piles. Pieces of black plastic bags are scattered nearby, and green netting is strewn on top. That’s how residents in the small fishing town of Saint-Louis say they know where the bodies lie. These unmarked beach graves hold untold numbers of West African migrants who are increasingly attempting the treacherous journey across parts of the Atlantic to Europe, Senegalese authorities, residents along the coast and survivors of failed boat trips told The Associated Press. Bodies wash ashore or are found by fishermen at sea, then are buried by authorities with no clarity as to whether the deaths are documented or investigated as required by Senegalese and international law, according to lawyers and human rights experts. Most of the families of those buried will never know what happened to their loved ones.The route from West Af...

Nearly 200 million people in US are under heat, flood advisories

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

Nearly 200 million people in the United States, or 60% of the U.S. population, are under a heat advisory or flood warning or watch as high temperatures spread and new areas are told to expect severe storms.The National Weather Service said a “dangerous” heat wave began to scorch the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Thursday and will continue into the weekend. Severe thunderstorms and flash floods are possible for parts of the Northeast and South, New England and South Florida. Meanwhile, the string of record-breaking temperatures will persist for the Southwest and Midwest.“It’s (hitting) all the big cities,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. “That’s why the population (affected) is so high.”Scientists have long warned that climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, will lead to more and prolonged bouts of extreme weather. The prediction for continued excessive heat comes a day after the World Me...

Chicago sizzles in 2023’s hottest air Friday—thermometer temps to approach 100 degrees first time in 11 years with dangerous heat indices—but a stormy break is in sight

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

From Tom’s National Weather Service-Chicago colleagues: Southern Lake Michigan water temps from the National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville, IL at 9:08 AM CDT, Thursday, July 27, 2023The Michigan City water temperature sensor is located at a water intake one mile offshore and 60 feet below the water surface. It is read every day of the year.Severe weather and drenching, thundery downpours Friday night is to introduce a markedly cooler, less humid weekend. Heat advisories remain in effect in all but Lake County, Illinois Friday with excessive heat warnings Friday over many sections of the Chicagoland area.The atmosphere is awash in tropical moisture and buoyant heated air which may bubble up into a few isolated predawn and morning t-storms Friday--but also threaten to fuel vigorous late day or Friday night t-storms which may become severe and have the potential of producing HEAVY, POTENTIALLY FLOODING DOWNPOURS OVER A SWATH OF THE CHICAGO METRO AREA. Heat indices are likely to re...

NTSB blames poor track conditions for fatal 2021 derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

HELENA, Mont. — Poor track conditions that should have been flagged by a freight railroad company’s inspectors caused the derailment of an Amtrak train in Montana that killed three people and injured 49 others in 2021, federal investigators said Thursday in a final report.The severity of the injuries were made worse by the Amtrak train’s lack of seatbelts and windows that weren’t strong enough to keep passengers from being ejected when the train derailed, the National Transportation Safety Board found.Amtrak’s Empire Builder derailed Sept. 25, 2021, in northern Montana while it was en route from Chicago and the Twin Cities to Seattle and Portland, Oregon, with 165 people on board, including its crew. It was traveling on tracks owned by BNSF Railway.Six people were ejected from the train’s observation car, which has larger windows and was one of three cars that ended up on its side. One person who had been riding in the observation car died, as did two people who were in the ve...

Ex-Loon Kei Kamara strikes again to foil Minnesota United in Leagues Cup group stage match

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

Bongokuhle Hlongwane did his best to put Minnesota United atop its Leagues Cup group, but a porous second-half defense doomed the Loons to a 3-2 loss to Chicago on Thursday night at Allianz Field.“I thought we had the game in our hands,” said Hlongwane, “but we couldn’t protect what we had.”After a sedate first hour of the match, Minnesota and Chicago combined for five goals in 21 minutes, with the final goal immediately preceding a 34-minute weather delay — lightning-fast scoring, followed by actual lightning.The loss puts Minnesota and Chicago level at the top of their group, with both teams on three points. That said, there’s no scenario in which the Loons would not go through to the knockout round, thanks to tiebreakers — but it remains to be determined in what place they might finish.If Minnesota wins the group, it would automatically host a knockout-round match. If they finish second, they could play either at home or on the road. Minnesota won’t know until Monday’s game betwe...

Concert review: Cheery, grinning Thomas Rhett lights up Xcel Energy Center

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

Thomas Rhett has quietly become one of the biggest stars in country and his performance Thursday night at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center proved how he pulled it off.For 90 minutes, the 33-year-old son of ’90s country act Rhett Akins had the entire capacity crowd in the palm of his hand and offered a set list stuffed with familiar hits. Both in concert and in interviews, Rhett comes across as an affable, cheery and approachable guy free from even a hint of ego or controversy.A grinning Rhett opened by playing a drum kit that slowly emerged from beneath the stage. His custom bomber jacket with “St. Paul” emblazoned on the back had the crowd cheering, as did the one-two punch of his opening songs “Vacation” and “Look What God Gave Her.” From there, he worked in as many hits as he could, from “Marry Me” to “Make Me Wanna” to “What’s Your Country Song.” Rhett’s voice is nothing special, but his enthusiasm helps sell everything fr...

Local logistic business promote its brand in a big way

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

ST. LOUIS - People are talking about what is likely St. Louis's biggest billboard. It's on the roof of a building that sits right in the flight path of St. Louis Lambert International Airport.You can't miss it as you exit or enter Lambert: a massive warehouse with "Davidson-Logistics.com" written on the roof. The giant red letters span nearly a third of a mile (1,657 feet)."Actually, our business card is on top of our roof,” said Don Davidson, Jr., founder of Davidson Logistics, Inc. “We’re right on the runway path, 1-2, which is the approach and departure. I thought what better advertisement could we have for a lot of aircraft passengers and people that fly on airplanes that go in and out…actually we’ve gotten some customers off of it. Oh yeah, we have."They are customers who require logistics space to store items as well as the ability to get those items where they are needed when they are needed. That massive 'business card' has 35 million cubic feet of space, making it ideal for...

Homeless man charged with attempted murder for stabbing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:15:24 GMT

A 41- year-old unhoused man from Northern California is facing charges of attempted murder after stabbing a person in Riverside, authorities announced earlier this week.  On July 21, officers with the Riverside Police Department responded to the area of Central Avenue and De Anza Avenue at around 7:25 a.m. on reports of a stabbing that had just occurred.  At the scene, officers located an adult male victim suffering from stab wounds. The man was treated by paramedics at the scene and rushed to the hospital where he remains in critical condition, according to a news release from Riverside PD. Not long after, the suspect, identified as Adam Edward Chang was found and detained by officers, who also recovered the weapon used in the attack.  Adam Edward Chang, 41, of Northern California was arrested on July 21, 2023 for attempted murder. (Riverside PD)Detectives with the department's Robbery-Homicide Unit, along with specialists from the Forensics Unit, assumed the investi...