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Travel: Ever wanted to sail to a private island? Here’s how you can

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

As cruise lines vie for industry supremacy in myriad categories onboard, they’re also playing a game of one-upmanship onshore. Private islands, those secluded oases of fun and sun that await cruisers on many warm-weathered itineraries, are as much a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses thing as who has the best waterslides, thrill rides, culinary program, entertainment and, yes, even bedding.Cruise lines have owned or operated private isles for nearly half a century, but perhaps at no other time has the development of these secluded sanctuaries been so feverish. From Central America and the South Pacific to the Caribbean and coast of southern Africa, more than a dozen are in the construction, expansion, renovation or planning phase.This collective order of full speed ahead by the industry is steel drum music to the ears of cruise vacationers looking for a happy medium between all the seeing and doing options while in port and a relaxing sea day. Because most private islands operate as extens...

Fort Bragg becomes Fort Liberty in Army’s most prominent move to erase Confederate names from bases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM (Associated Press/Report for America)FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (AP) — Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.The change was the most prominent in a broad Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the 2020 George Floyd protests, to rename military installations that had been named after confederate soldiers.The Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted nationwide after Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, coupled with ongoing efforts to remove Confederate monuments, turned the spotlight on the Army installations. A naming commission created by Congress visited the bases and met with members of the surrounding communities for input.“We were given a mission, we accomplished that mission and we made ourselves better,” Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the c...

Official: Building partially collapses in New Haven; 7 sent to hospital, 1 in serious condition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

A building in New Haven partially collapsed on Friday afternoon, trapping five people inside, a city official confirmed.A spokesman for Yale New Haven Hospital said the facility was treating treating seven patients and expected an eighth to arrive. Six of the people were being evaluated and treated; one was listed in serious condition, the spokesman said.Multiple emergency crews are responded to the building on Lafayette Street which is located at a construction site, said Rick Fontana, New Haven’s director of emergency operations.According to Fontana, people initially were trapped inside after the second floor dropped onto the first level. All of the victims were rescued as of 1:50 p.m., according to first responders at the scene.A photo from the collapsed building in New Haven on June 2, 2023.Fontana said that six people were injured, according to WTNH. A spokesman for Yale New Haven Hospital said the injured victims would be transported there.According to Fontana, the build...

San Diego coast 'unlikely' to see clearing of marine layer the next few days

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Warmer temperatures but hazy skies -- that's what the National Weather Service says may be in store for San Diegans this weekend.The second day of June brought morning drizzle to several areas throughout San Diego County. NWS data shows light precipitation fell from the sky in Pine Valley, Poway, Valley Center, Escondido, Encinitas, Vista, Carlsbad and Oceanside, among other areas early Friday.The cause of that dampness, according to NWS, was a deep marine layer. The marine layer explained: Why San Diego’s coastal areas are foggy "June Gloom" has followed "May Gray" and weather officials say the San Diego coast is "unlikely to see clearing" the next few days. On the contrary, the marine layer will become more shallow with low clouds not extending as far inland, according to NWS predictions.Despite the gloom that's become all too familiar for San Diegans this spring season, weather officials forecast temperatures to rise a few degrees each day for inland areas over the...

California campsite reservation bill passes State Assembly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A bill that would make it easier for campers at California state parks to snag a campsite reservation has passed the State Assembly with nearly unanimous support.AB 618, introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-San Ramon), proposes amendments to state campsite reservation polices that aim to open up spaces to meet demand by deterring late cancellations and no-shows with added penalties.The bill also directs the California State Parks department to implement a lottery system for a handful of the most coveted campsites, as well as provide a discount to low-income park visitors through the Golden Bear pass."All Californians should have equal opportunities and access to reserve a campsite within our public parks," Bauer-Kahan wrote in a report on the bill. These California campsites among best in the Pacific US: The Dyrt California has the most state park land in the country with 279 individual parks, with nearly 7 million visitors staying in one of the state's...

Protests erupt outside Los Angeles elementary school’s Pride month assembly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police officers separated groups of protesters and counterprotesters Friday outside a Los Angeles elementary school that has become a flashpoint for Pride month events across California.People protesting a planned Pride month assembly outside the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Saticoy Elementary School wore T-shirts emblazoned with “Leave our kids alone” — and carried signs with slogans such as “Parental Choice Matters” and “No Pride in Grooming.” Tensions at the school have been rising since last month, when a social media page was created to urge parents to keep their children home Friday, the day of the planned assembly.Los Angeles police headquarters tweeted: “LAPD is at Saticoy Elementary School this morning. We are here to support our LAUSD partners and facilitate a peaceful and lawful exercise of constitutional rights.”Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Kelly Gonez said the assembly went on without issue. It included a reading of ...

Judge allows suspect in Indianapolis officer’s fatal shooting to seek insanity defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A man charged with fatally shooting an Indianapolis police officer when she responded to a domestic violence call in 2020 will be allowed to seek insanity as a defense as he tries to avoid the death penalty.A Marion Superior Court judge made the ruling Friday and will assign two psychiatrists to evaluate Elliahs Dorsey’s mental health.Attorneys for Dorsey filed a motion with the court in May saying a report prepared by a doctor states Dorsey was suffering from a mental illness when he shot Indianapolis Officer Breann Leath to death.Leath and three other officers were responding to a domestic violence call involving Dorsey when she was shot twice in the head through the door of an Indianapolis apartment, police said.Dorsey faces one count each of murder and criminal confinement, and four counts of attempted murder, one of which stems from his alleged shooting of a woman he had confined inside the apartment.A judge has ruled that prosecutors can seek the deat...

SIU investigating after ‘violent offender’ found dead in Etobicoke apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

The province’s police watchdog is investigating after a 39-year-old man was found dead inside an Etobicoke apartment following a domestic violence call.The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said around 2 a.m. on Friday, Peel Regional Police officers executed a search warrant at an apartment at 551 The West Mall.The SIU said responding officers breached the door as a result of a domestic violence investigation.Authorities located the body of a man and said he was pronounced dead at the scene.The victim was identified as 39-year-old Kyle Andrews. The SIU said a post-mortem is scheduled for Sunday, June 4.Last week, Peel Regional Police issued a public safety alert that labelled Andrews as a prolific violent offender known to be in the GTA.At the time, police said the 39-year-old Andrews was a federal parolee currently wanted for almost two dozen violent offences, including 15 firearms charges, assaults, uttering threats and forcible confinement.The SIU is an independent governme...

Companies reach $1.18 billion deal to resolve claims from ‘forever chemicals’ water contamination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Three chemical companies said Friday they had reached a $1.18 billion deal to resolve complaints of polluting many U.S. drinking water systems with potentially harmful compounds known as PFAS.DuPont de Nemours Inc., The Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc. said they would establish a fund to compensate water providers for contamination with the chemicals used widely in nonstick, water- and grease-resistant products, as well as some firefighting foams.Described as “forever chemicals” because they don’t degrade naturally in the environment, PFAS have been linked to a variety of health problems, including liver and immune-system damage and some cancers.The compounds have been detected at varying levels in drinking water around the nation. The Environmental Protection Agency in March proposed strict limits on two common types, PFOA and PFOS, and said it wanted to regulate four others. Water providers would be responsible for monitoring their systems for the ch...

Connecticut board votes against banning books after acrimonious debate over sexual content

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:19 GMT

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut board of education has voted two keep two books on its town’s high school shelves after weeks of acrimonious debate over book-banning that culminated in the resignation of two Republican board members.The remaining members of the Newtown Board of Education unanimously agreed Thursday night on a compromise motion that rejected banning the books “Blankets” by Craig Thompson and “Flamer” by Mike Curato, with the caveat that school administrators create a process “to support choices of individual parents and guardians” on whether their children will have access to the books.As with similar debates across the country, some parents had called for banning the books because of their sexual content. School officials in March said they received nine official complaints against “Flamer” and one against “Blankets.”“Blankets” is an autobiographical story that deals in part with sexual abuse. “Flamer,” around which much of the debate was centered, i...