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US to announce $345 million military aid package for Taiwan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is set to announce $345 million in military aid for Taiwan, two U.S. officials said Friday. It would be the Biden administration’s first major package drawing on America’s own stockpiles under a new policy intended to speed up military aid to help Taiwan counter China.The package includes man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters ahead of the announcement.U.S. lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon and White House to speed weapons to Taiwan, to help it counter China. The aid is part of a presidential authority approved by Congress last year to draw weapons from U.S. military stockpiles to support Taiwan. This gets weapons delivered faster than providing funding for new weapons.The Pentagon has used a similar authority to get billions of dollars worth of munitions to Ukraine....

Worker warned organizer ‘Someone’s going to end up dead’ before crowd surge at ’21 Travis Scott show

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Just moments before rap superstar Travis Scott took the stage at the deadly 2021 Astroworld festival in Houston, a contract worker had been so worried about what might happen after seeing people getting crushed or unconscious that he texted an event organizer saying, “Someone’s going to end up dead,” according to a police report on the deadly concert that was released Friday.The texts by security contract worker Reece Wheeler were some of many examples in the nearly 1,300-page report in which festival workers highlighted problems and warned of possible deadly consequences. The report includes transcripts of concertgoers’ 911 calls and summaries of police interviews, including one with Scott conducted just days after the event.The crowd surge at the Nov. 5, 2021, outdoor festival in Houston killed 10 attendees who ranged in age from 9 to 27. The official cause of death was compression asphyxia, which an expert likened to being crushed by a car. About 50,000 peopl...

Colorado officer who put suspect in car hit by train found guilty of reckless endangerment, acquitted of more serious charge (CORRECTS: A previous APNewsAlert erroneously reported the officer was acquitted of manslaughter. The charge was attempt to commit manslaughter)

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado officer who put suspect in car hit by train found guilty of reckless endangerment, acquitted of more serious charge (CORRECTS: A previous APNewsAlert erroneously reported the officer was acquitted of manslaughter. The charge was attempt to commit manslaughter).Source

Denver weather: 60-mph wind and quarter-size hail possible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver weather forecast will finish off the workweek with more heat along the Front Range and chances for afternoon storms yet again.Strong storms were expected to affect parts of the Front Range urban corridor and plains, according to the National Weather Service. The strongest storms over northeastern Weld and southwestern Elbert counties were capable of producing 60 mph winds and quarter-size hail.Weather today: More heat and stormsPartly to mostly sunny skies are around the Denver metro Friday with hot highs reaching the middle 90s. Why did Jeffco wait to warn about the trail predator? Storms are once again possible in the afternoon and early evening hours. Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on July 28. Weather tonight: Partly cloudyClouds will slowly clear overnight Friday with light winds and mild low temperatures in the lower 60s.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on July 28. Looking ahead: Warm weekend, more rainThe weekend will also be warm with high ...

Colorado tornadoes disproportionally affect mobile homes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Colorado's mobile homes bear the brunt of the kind of natural fury unleashed in Highlands Ranch last month.June's tornado in Highlands Ranch has the potential to be one of the most damaging in Colorado history. A tornado touched down in Highlands Ranch on June 22, during the second consecutive day of severe storms south and west of Denver. The night before, dozens of fans at Red Rocks Amphitheatre were hurt by hail before severe storms damaged homes and businesses, primarily in the Highlands Ranch area, the next day. Will tornado-hit areas qualify for a disaster declaration? In Colorado, half of the tornado deaths that have occurred since 1996 have been the residents of mobile homes — despite the fact that only 3.36% of Colorado's housing stock is mobile homes. Historically, tornadoes do far more damage and are far more lethal to mobile homes and their residents than to permanent ones, according to an analysis from the Associated Press."The Associated Press analyz...

Local nonprofit helping seniors paint their homes through Paint-A-Thon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A local nonprofit is using the summer months to help out seniors in the metro paint their homes. It's part of Brothers Redevelopment's Paint-A-Thon that runs through the spring and summer months, where volunteers get together to paint the homes of seniors who otherwise couldn't get it done physically or financially. Those volunteering on Friday were with Huntington National Bank. This is part of the company's $40 billion Strategic Community Plan which reflects the bank’s commitment to improve the economic vitality, financial security and sustainable future for those it serves.The nonprofit was able to auction off a signed Nuggets basketball shortly after the team took home the championship. Those proceeds were a huge part in making Paint-A-Thon a success thus far. Not to mention, it's all part of the goals of the organization. ‘So much joy and happiness’: Locals create disability-friendly clothing and artwork "For us to give back really in a way that is in our wh...

Street flooding persists after night of heavy downpours across Broward County; flood watch cancelled

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

More rounds of rain fell across South Florida after a night of relentless downpours caused flash floods in parts of Broward County and led to hundreds to flight delays at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.A flood watch was extended for much of mainland South Florida from noon on Friday until 6 p.m., but it was cancelled just before 6 p.m. as weather conditions continued to improve in the late afternoon hours.As of 5 p.m., Miami-Dade and Broward counties were mostly clear, but there was heavy precipitation over Marathon and Big Pine Key, with a light drizzle extending as far south as Naval Air Station Key West.Fort Lauderdale set a new record on Thursday with 6.19 inches of rain, the wettest July day on record. In Hollywood, 7News cameras captured “Caution flooded street” signs along Scott Street, which still had considerable flooding near North 14th Avenue. Drivers maneuvered around the standing water. Off to the side, a water pump was placed by the ci...

Miami-Dade Police and Fire Rescue respond to reported bomb threat at MIA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

Authorities are investigating a reported bomb threat made at Miami International Airport. According to officials with Miami-Dade Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, around 5:20 p.m., units were dispatched to the airport’s cargo area in the vicinity of 6650 NW 22nd Street referencing the reported threat. No further information has been released by authorities as they continue to assess the situation.Passengers with travel plans through Miami International Airport are advised to check with their respective airlines for potential delays or disruptions resulting from the ongoing response to the reported threat.Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Phoenix’s record heat is killing off cactuses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

(CNN) — At a botanical garden in Phoenix some cactuses can’t take the heat.Record-high temperatures in Arizona, combined with a lack of seasonal monsoons, have caused saguaro cactuses at the Desert Botanical Garden to become “highly stressed,” according to Chief Science Officer Kimberlie McCue. She said a saguaro can appear “fairly normal” or feel somewhat squishy before it suddenly collapses and reveals it has been rotting from the inside out due to heat-related stress.Every February, the Desert Botanical Garden takes inventory of its saguaro cactuses and assesses each one’s condition. McCue said since 2020, when record temperatures caused stress in many of the saguaros, she and her team have seen more of the garden’s cactuses die. Present-day heat records are sending some of those previously affected cactuses over the edge, causing them to lose limbs and even collapse.Wednesday night ended a record streak of 16 days above 90 degrees in Phoenix. The city is forecast to see temperat...

Fashion designer works with skin from invasive Everglades pythons to create custom designs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:20 GMT

Most of us know pythons as invasive reptiles harming the Everglades’ delicate ecosystem, but for one South Florida fashion designer, these snakes also make for some wild style. Karen Hensel has today’s 7 Spotlight. Plenty of people are scared of snakes. Elle Barbeito is not one of them.Elle Barbeito, fashion designer: “Burmese pythons, they are from Southeast Asia, and they’re a really beautiful snake, they really are. They grow really, really big.”Big snakes that cause big problems ravaging native wildlife in the Everglades.Elle Barbeito: “It’s a really intense environment.”And it’s where Elle discovered her artistic passion back in 2018.Elle Barbeito: “Because now my dad was hunting, so I was just going with him all the time, and just like, sitting in the back of the truck. I loved it. I just was like really obsessed with it.”Elle, a South Florida native who went to fashion school in New York, says she became disill...