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The extreme heat in Phoenix is withering some of its famed saguaro cacti, with no end in sight

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — After recording the warmest monthly average temperature for any U.S. city ever in July, Phoenix climbed back up to dangerously high temperatures Wednesday. That could mean trouble not just for people but for some plants, too.Residents across the sprawling metro are finding the extended extreme heat has led to fried flora, and have shared photos and video of their damaged cacti with the Desert Botanical Garden. Nurseries and landscapers are inundated with requests for help with saguaros or fruit trees that are losing leaves.Phones have been “ringing nonstop” about everything from a cactus to a citrus tree or ficus, said Sophia Booth, a landscape designer at Moon Valley Nursery, which has nearly a dozen locations across the Phoenix suburbs.“A lot of people are calling and saying their cactus is yellowing really hard, fell over or like broken arms, that sort of thing,” Booth said. “Twenty-year-old trees are losing all their leaves, or they’re turning a crisp brown.”She a...

Mexico says a body spotted near the floating barriers in Rio Grande river across from Texas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government said Wednesday that a dead body has been spotted along the floating barriers that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott installed recently in the Rio Grande river, across from Eagle Pass, Texas. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said authorities are trying to recover the body, and did not know the person’s nationality. The department said Mexico had warned about the risks posed by the bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys on the Rio Grande. It also claims the barrier violates treaties regarding the use of the river, and violates Mexico’s sovereignty.“We made clear our concern about the impact on migrant’s safety and human rights that these state policies would have,” the department said in a statement.The barrier was installed in July, and stretches roughly the length of three soccer fields. It is designed to make it more difficult for migrants to climb over or swim under the barrier.The U.S. Justice Department is suing Abbott over...

Police, fire officials investigate suspicious fire at Mimico bar

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

Investigators are looking into a fire that destroyed a local bar in Mimico on Wednesday afternoon.Fire crews were called to Colins Dugout at Royal York Road and Newcastle Street shortly before 5 p.m. They say the main floor of the restaurant/bar was fully engulfed when they arrived. Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control within 40 minutes. The main floor was totally gutted while the rest of the two-storey building suffered smoke damage. No injuries were reported. There are unconfirmed reports that a Molotov cocktail was thrown through a window of the building, sparking the blaze. “There’s strong suspicion of criminal activity,” platoon chief Douglas Cumming told CityNews. Police and fire investigators are looking into the cause of the blaze.

Gunman shot on community college campus in San Diego after killing police dog, authorities say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego police shot and killed a gunman on a community college campus Wednesday after he fatally wounded a police dog, authorities said.The man was pronounced dead at a hospital after the confrontation at San Diego Mesa College, police said. His name wasn’t immediately released.Police were investigating a report that the driver of a white Tesla had shot at another driver at around 1:30 a.m., sheriff’s homicide Lt. Joseph Jarjura said.“We are still trying to figure it out, but we believe that it started on the roadways. One vehicle, possibly trying to pass the other vehicle or some type of incident,” Jarjura said.The gunman then followed the other motorist into a residential neighborhood, Jarjura said.Officers spotted the Tesla but the driver refused to pull over, drove onto a campus parking lot and abandoned the car, Jarjura said.Officers then saw the man nearby and released a police dog when he refused to drop his gun, Jarjura said.The gunman fired a shot a...

Pair killed in shootout with Ohio state troopers following pursuits, kidnapping

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

VANDALIA, Ohio (AP) — A police pursuit in Ohio eventually led to the kidnapping of a tractor-trailer driver, spurring another pursuit and a lengthy standoff that culminated in a shootout between two suspects and Ohio state troopers, leaving both suspects dead.The initial pursuit began around 1 a.m. Wednesday in London, when a police officer stopped a van. London Police Chief Glenn Nicol said a man and a woman in the van gave the officer false information, then drove away as the officer walked back to his cruiser.The van ultimately stopped at a truck stop on US 42. The two van occupants got out and were briefly chased on foot by police, including an officer who tried to stop the pair with a stun gun. The male suspect also pointed a gun at the officers but did not fire it, authorities said.The man and woman then got into a tractor-trailer cab that was unlocked and did not have a trailer attached. The truck driver was in the vehicle at the time, and the truck was soon driven away from ...

Mother gets 14 years in death of newborn found floating off Florida coast in 2018

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A mother who dumped her newborn’s body into the ocean off the Florida coast five years ago pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Arya Singh, 30, also pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse during a Palm Beach County court hearing. She had been facing a second-degree murder charge, which carried a potential life sentence. The infant girl, whose body was found floating off Palm Beach County on June 1, 2018, by an off-duty firefighter, was dubbed “Baby June.”The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office launched a massive search for the mother. Detectives checked more than 600 mothers who had given birth in nearby hospitals, but all still had their babies. The case went cold until last year when detectives ran the baby’s DNA through a genetic database that turned up a relative of the father. The father told detectives he had not known about the child until a month or two after she was born. He said Singh t...

‘No good options’: Sudan’s warring sides have committed ‘extensive war crimes,’ Amnesty says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A leading human rights group said on Thursday Sudan’s warring parties have committed “extensive war crimes” including mass killings of civilians, rape and sexual slavery of women in the ongoing conflict.The east African country plunged into chaos in mid-April when monthslong tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in the capital of Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.Amnesty International’s 56-page report said civilians were deliberately targeted and killed and wounded. Women were raped, with some of them held in conditions “amounting to sexual slavery” mostly in the capital, Khartoum, and the western region of Darfur.“Sexual violence has been a defining element of this conflict since the beginning,” Donatella Rovera, co-author of the report, told The Associated Press. “Civilians really have no good options. It’s difficult for them to leave. It’s incredibly dangerous for them to stay.”Almost ...

Dead fish carpet beaches at Pacific coast town in north Mexico as experts blame toxic algae bloom

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A town on northern Mexico’s Pacific coast saw its beaches carpeted with dead fish after what experts describe as a toxic algae bloom. Officials in the northern state of Sinaloa said this week that dead fish started washing up on beaches around the hamlet of El Maviri around July 25.. About a ton of fish carcasses was trucked away, and some were kept for testing. Randy Ross, an inspector with Mexico’s health standards agency, said a cyanobacteria was found in the fish.But researchers said they are also looking at the possibility that high water temperatures — which spiked to as much as 95 degrees (35 Celsius) in recent weeks — might have contributed to the die-off.Biologist Rosalba Alonso Rodríguez of Mexico’s National Autonomous University said it would be the first time that this particular species of toxic algae was found in that area. She said high water temperatures can reduce the amount of oxygen in the water, potentially harming fish.The Associated Press

30 dead dogs found in freezer at 'horrible' Ohio animal rescue, owner arrested

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (WCMH) — Deputies have arrested an Ohio woman after finding animals at her dog rescue in "the most horrible conditions ever seen,” according to the Butler County Sheriff's Office.On Wednesday, 60-year-old Ronda Murphy was arrested on three charges, including two misdemeanor counts and one felony count of cruelty to a companion animal. The sheriff's office said as the investigation continues, more charges could be filed. Ronda Murphy. (Courtesy Photo/Butler County Sherriff's Office)Deputy dog wardens seized 90 living dogs and at least 30 dead dogs found on two properties owned by Murphy. The sheriff's office said she had operated an animal rescue branded as Helping Hands for Furry Paws. FBI finds 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing kids On Murphy's properties, investigators found remains of dead adult dogs and puppies inside refrigerators, freezers, and other locations in varying states of decomposition. One of the garages housed over 25 dogs in cages...

New Jersey dad dies after rescuing his children in river: police

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:50 GMT

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (WPIX) -- A New Jersey father died after rescuing his children from a river Wednesday, police said.The incident happened at the Millstone River around 2:15 p.m., according to the Franklin Township Police Department.Three children — ages 13, 11, and 8 — went into the water and quickly became distressed, witnesses told police. The children's father, a 42-year-old South River man, went into the river and brought his kids to the shallow water, police said. But the father "struggled to maintain his balance" and disappeared in the water, according to police. NYC woman thinks aunt is early victim of Gilgo Beach killer The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office dive team found the man's body around 5:30 p.m., authorities said. The victim's identity hasn't been released.The three children received medical attention at the scene and were released, authorities said.The Franklin Township Police Department is investigating the incident.Earlier this year, an FDNY firefight...