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‘It sounded like a bomb went off’: Residents react after refinery explosion in Michigan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Michigan (WWJ) — White Lake police and township fire officials are working to discover the cause of an explosion at a refinery plant in White Lake Friday night.It happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. in the area of Young Road and Bogie Lake Road.It took a few hours before crews put it out, and White Lake Township’s fire chief, John Holland, says they don’t yet know what caused the flames.“Everything shook. I was afraid. I didn’t know what the heck was happening,” says White Lake resident Chelsea Vanhorn.Vanhorn lives in Cedarbrook Estates, a mobile home park just over a mile away from the fossil fuel recovery plant owned and operated by Hound Resources.“My plants fell off my shelves. I thought we got bombed,” Vanhorn said.Following what Vanhorn said was the explosion that shook her home, other residents of the mobile home park found themselves outside with their phones rolling around 10:30 p.m. Friday. It was then th...

Riders told to prepare for Green Line service disruptions through early December

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

T riders are being warned to expect multiple Green Line disruptions in late November and early December. Travel alternatives during this time include a combination of free accessible shuttle buses, bus options, and fare-free Commuter Rail service between South Station, Back Bay, and Landsdowne.Riders should plan for extra travel time during these disruptions.Full ClosuresGreen Line Downtown: No trains between North Station and Kenmore, Nov. 27 – Dec. 5Orange Line service is a good alternative between North Station and Back Bay, but note that Haymarket will be closedShuttles are available between Copley and KenmoreThe Commuter Rail is free to ride between South Station, Back Bay, and LandsdowneAdditionally, no trains to Lechmere December 4 – 5Green Line B: No trains between Kenmore and Babcock Street, Nov. 27 – Dec. 5Shuttles are available between Copley and Babcock StreetThe 57 bus is free to ride between Kenmore and Packard’s CornerGreen Line E: No trains between Copley and Heath S...

Christie to fellow candidates: Target Trump, not each other

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

With the polls ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday showing former President Donald Trump commanding more than 60% of support among conservative voters, one candidate is openly wondering what the rest are doing.Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made a round of television appearances on Sunday ahead of planned stops in New Hampshire this week, and claimed that if the other candidates would actually run against — instead of alongside — the 45th President, one of them could potentially beat him in 2024.“I have spent the majority of my time going after the guy who’s in first place. I’m going after Donald Trump. And all I point out about Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley is that they’re not going after Trump. And I don’t understand why they spent the time going after each other, not going after Trump. If all three of us would go after Donald Trump, well, then the most credible amongst the three of us in terms of those critiques would wind up winning this p...

Bill Belichick’s answers about Patriots’ QB situation only create more questions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

EAST RUTHERFORD — The Patriots are a shell of what they once were in all but one area: Head coach Bill Belichick, and his quarterbacks, are still among the NFL’s best in deflecting when asked direct questions.After a two-week mystery over who would start at quarterback for the Patriots, Mac Jones took the first snap of the first half. Backup Bailey Zappe was inserted into the game for the first snap of the second half.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Mac Jones benched for Bailey Zappe for fourth time in loss to Giants New England Patriots | Patriots rookie receiver Demario Douglas ruled out with head injury New England Patriots | Patriots starter suprisingly active in Week 12 matchup with Giants New England Patriots | Source: Patriots planning to start QB Mac Jones against Giants New England Patriots | Patriots release backup QB before Giants game “Yeah, I thought both guys deserv...

Saris to serve as senior judge at U.S. District Court

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

Veteran U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris plans to retire from regular active service upon the appointment of her successor, and to serve as a senior judge.Saris, who was appointed to the court in 1993, has advised President Joe Biden of her plans, the court announced Wednesday.Saris served as chief judge from 2013 to 2019 and was the U.S. Sentencing Commission chair from 2011 to 2017.After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1976, Saris clerked for the Supreme Judicial Court, and then went into private practice. In 1979, she worked as staff counsel for Sen. Edward Kennedy while he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. She went on to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney, U.S. magistrate judge, and Superior Court justice.“She has been a thoughtful, intelligent, and highly respected trial judge; a national leader on a host of issues, particularly criminal sentencing; a dedicated teacher and mentor; a forceful and effective leader of the court; and a wise and beloved colle...

From fruit to flesh: A day in the ink shop with San Diego tattoo apprentices

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- As the saying goes, "art is forever." That is especially true for those who choose their own bodies as a canvas. The practice of tattooing body art has been around for millenniums. From the mummy of Ötzi the Iceman discovered in the Alps to evidence of ancient Egyptian tattoos, the inking of flesh is a creative activity that has evolved as humans have.Fast-forward to present day, it's commonplace to stumble across tattoo shops and parlors on everyday streets -- whether it be in rural or urban communities.Some may say it's the pain of passion that drives humans to seek out creators armed in artistry with inked needles. It takes a lot of trust to offer up your body as a canvas as you'll be carrying around those art pieces for the rest of your life. Optical phenomenon: Sundog spotted above San Diego County mountain range How does one begin machining across the largest organ of the human body? From fruit to flesh and all things in-between, four San Diego tattoo appr...

One of world’s largest icebergs drifting beyond Antarctic waters after being grounded for 3 decades

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

One of the world’s largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters, after being grounded for more than three decades, according to the British Antarctic Survey.The iceberg, known as A23a, split from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. But it became stuck to the ocean floor and had remained for many years in the Weddell Sea.The iceberg is about three times the size of New York City and more than twice the size of Greater London, measuring around 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert from the British Antarctic Survey, told the BBC on Friday that the iceberg has been drifting for the past year and now appears to be picking up speed and moving past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, helped by wind and ocean currents.“I asked a couple of colleagues about this, wondering if there was any possible change in shelf water temperatures that might have provoked it, but the consensus is the time had just come,” Fleming t...

Girl, 11, confirmed as fourth victim of Alaska landslide, two people still missing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

WRANGELL, Alaska (AP) — Authorities recovered the body of an 11-year-old girl Saturday evening from the debris of a landslide in southeast Alaska that tore down a wooded mountainside days earlier, smashing into homes in a remote fishing village. The girl, Kara Heller, was the fourth person confirmed killed by last Monday night’s landslide.The girl’s parents Timothy Heller, 44 and Beth Heller, 36, and her sister Mara Heller, 16, were discovered and confirmed dead in the initial days after the landslide. Search crews are looking for a third child still missing from the Heller family, Derek, 12, and neighbor Otto Florschutz, 65, according to Tim DeSpain, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety. Florschutz’s wife survived the disaster.The landslide came down in the direct path of three homes near Wrangell, a fishing community of about 2,000 residents located on an island about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Juneau.DeSpain said the latest victim was fou...

The body of an abducted anti-mining activist is found in western Mexico

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in western Mexico said Sunday they have found the body of anti-mining activist Higinio Trinidad de la Cruz. Prosecutors said De la Cruz’s body was found on a rural road in the state of Jalisco near the border with the neighboring state of Colima. They said de la Cruz appeared to have been shot to death. The community group Tiskini said in a statement that de la Cruz had been abducted on Saturday. The group said he was an environmental and community activist in the Jalisco town of Ayotitlan. De la Cruz had opposed both illegal logging and iron ore mining that have altered the environment of the rural community.Jalisco state prosecutors said they were investigating the crime, but Tiskini called on federal prosecutors to take on the case.The group also demanded protection for the inhabitants of Ayotitlan, saying it is “a community under siege by drug cartels that are plundering its lands and natural resources through illegal mining and logging.”It is comm...

Jordan’s top diplomat wants to align Europeans behind a call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:22 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday he hopes a meeting of Mediterranean officials will help bridge a gap between Arab and European countries in calling for a humanitarian pause in Gaza to become a permanent cease-fire.The fragile pause in hostilities between Israel and the Hamas militant group continued Sunday with a third straight day of hostages and Palestinian prisoners released. It was originally scheduled for four days and neither side has made fully clear what comes after Monday.Safadi said the truce was holding up but that more effort was needed to reach at least 200 daily trucks bringing aid into the Gaza Strip, and for the pause in the fighting “to immediately develop into a permanent cease-fire.”The minister spoke to The Associated Press on the eve of Monday’s Union for the Mediterranean gathering that will bring to Barcelona in northern Spain 42 delegations from Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, many of them represented by...