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Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change: School seemed less welcoming. Parents were no longer allowed in the building without appointments, she said, and punishments were more severe. Everyone seemed less tolerant, more angry. Negrón’s son told her he overheard a teacher mocking his learning disabilities, calling him an ugly name. Her son didn’t want to go to school anymore. And she didn’t feel he was safe there.He would end up missing more than five months of sixth grade.Across the country, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened during the pandemic. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year, making them chronically absent, according to the most recent data available. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school. All told, an estimated 6.5 million additional students became chronically absent,...

DeSantis is resetting his campaign again. Some Republicans worry his message is getting in the way

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis largely dismissed his own decision to replace his campaign leadership team as he returned to Iowa on Thursday in the midst of a weeks-long reset. The Republican presidential hopeful also made no mention of the two rounds of campaign layoffs he made recently in response to unexpected fundraising troubles.Instead, the Florida governor leaned into his central message — a self-described “war on woke” — and flashed a big smile as he courted an audience of roughly 200 cheering Republicans gathered at a family restaurant for the first of four scheduled stops on his latest bus tour through the first-in-the-nation caucus state. “We’re clicking. We’re doing well,” DeSantis told reporters after a fiery speech, dismissing questions about the turmoil that has plagued his White House bid in recent weeks. He said the average voter is far more focused on his plans for the country than his campaign leadership. “This process stuff, I think, is way overblown.”Wheth...

EPA weighs formal review of vinyl chloride, toxic chemical that burned in Ohio train derailment

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says it could soon launch a formal evaluation of risks posed by vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical that burned in a towering plume of toxic black smoke following the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.The Environmental Protection Agency is set to review risks posed by a handful of chemicals later this year, and is considering chemicals used for plastic production as a key benchmark. Vinyl chloride is among a range of chemicals eligible for review, and “EPA could begin a risk evaluation on vinyl chloride in the near future,” the agency said in a statement to The Associated Press.If selected, EPA would study vinyl chloride to determine whether it poses an “unreasonable risk to human health or the environment,” a process that would take at least three years.Environmental and public health activists cheered the development, saying EPA should have banned vinyl chloride years ago.“If one positive thing can c...

Wildfire devastates Hawaii’s Lahaina, historic town and onetime capital of former kingdom

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

KAHULUI, Hawaii (AP) — The wildfire that has brought sheer devastation to Maui is especially heartbreaking for Hawaii because it struck one of its most historic towns and the onetime capital of the former kingdom.Lahaina holds deep cultural significance for Hawaiians. The town was once the royal residence of King Kamehameha, who unified Hawaii under a single kingdom by defeating the other islands’ chiefs. His successors made it the capital from 1820 to 1845, according to the National Park Service.Kings and queens are buried in the graveyard of the 200-year-old stone Wainee Church. Later named Waiola, the church that once sat up to 200 people was photographed apparently engulfed in flames this week. “It was really the political center for Hawaii,” said Davianna McGregor, a retired professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds of structures were damaged or destroyed in the blaze that ignited Tuesday and quickly spread throu...

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried returns to New York as prosecutors push for his incarceration

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is returning to New York City for a court hearing Friday that could decide whether the fallen cryptocurrency wiz must go to jail while he awaits trial.Prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail, claiming he tried to harass a key witness in his fraud case. His lawyers insist he shouldn’t be jailed for trying to protect his reputation against a barrage of unfavorable news stories.The 31-year-old has been under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, since his December extradition from the Bahamas on charges that he defrauded investors in his businesses and illegally diverted millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency from customers using his FTX exchange.Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail package severely restricts his internet and phone usage.Two weeks ago, prosecutors surprised Bankman-Fried’s attorneys by demanding his incarceration, saying he violated those rules by ...

Concert review: Pink sets a Target Field attendance record with colorful evening of her hits

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

Icon award winner Pink performs at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday, March 27, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)Pop superstar Pink made history Thursday night at Target Field. She stands as the first woman to headline the downtown Minneapolis ballpark and, as she gleefully proclaimed from the stage, her show set a new concert attendance record for the venue.The exact number wasn’t available Thursday night, but a 2015 Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean show held the previous record of 44,152. Really, though, it wasn’t much of a surprise, as Pink’s first local stadium show has been one of the hottest tickets in a summer full of them, with only obstructed-view and single seats available in recent weeks. Also, Pink’s previous two tours each included a pair of sold-out local stops. Clearly, the demand is there, even if she hasn’t had a significant hit since 2017.Dubbed the Summer Carnival, Pink’s summer outing burst...

Wisconsin judge allows civil case against fake Trump electors to proceed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge on Thursday allowed a civil lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for former President Donald Trump and two of his attorneys to proceed, rejecting a move to dismiss the case.The lawsuit is moving ahead in Wisconsin after Michigan’s attorney general filed felony charges on July 18 against 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump, accusing them of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state.The fake elector plan was central to the federal indictment filed against Trump earlier this month that alleged he tried to overturn results of the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors said the scheme originated in Wisconsin.Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has signaled that he is relying on federal investigators to look into what happened in Wisconsin, while also not ruling out a state probe.The pending civil lawsuit, filed by two Democratic electors and a voter, see...

Illinois elected official apologizes after using homosexual slur at meeting

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

STOOKEY TOWNSHIP, Ill. – An elected official is apologizing for using a slur about sexual orientation during a public meeting in St. Clair County, Illinois.FOX 2 obtained an audio recording of the offensive comment from Stookey Township Trustee Dan Weaver.Weaver apologized during an interview with FOX 2 on Thursday.The comment came at this week’s meeting of the Stookey Twp. Board of Trustees. Weaver has frequently clashed with the board over township spending issues. St. Louis County prosecutor not licensed attorney, must resubmit 114 cases His comment during the meeting went beyond the pale as he clashed with the caretaker of the township’s two parks.“Me being a (slur), I’m not that way,” Weaver said during the meeting. “I’m not watching him in the park. I’m not watching him in the park. I’m not gay. I’m not homosexual. I’m none of the above.”Township Supervisor Mark Bagby issued a letter, signed by Weaver’s fellow trustees and the township assessor, calling for Weaver’s written ...

KTVI celebrates 70th birthday as a TV station

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

ST. LOUIS – KTVI is celebrating its 70th birthday as a television station. We began broadcasting on Aug. 10, 1953, as WTVI Channel 54. Two years later, we became KTVI. There was no Facebook in those days, but as we celebrated our 70th birthday as a station, we took to social media to ask our viewers to share their favorite on-air moments.As the late, great Dick Ford noted, it’s the people who make this place. And those people are responsible for some of your favorite memories.Viewer Alyssa commented: “growing up with FOX 2 and all things Tim Ezell.”From bears to breaking his nose on air, Tim’s definitely done it all and risked it all to make your mornings brighter.Dennis remembered the time Paul Schankman experienced a moment we’re sure he’d like to forget. We’ll certainly never look at llamas the same way again.Behind-the-scenes bloopers reveal a different side of our staff. Peter picked out Elliot Davis. His now iconic “You Paid for It” point and decades of pinpointing government ...

'Oppenheimer' stirs interest in St. Louis' involvement in Manhattan Project

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:54 GMT

ST. LOUIS – The film "Oppenheimer" is generating a lot of interest in the Manhattan Project and St. Louis' involvement in the development of the atomic bomb. This comes just one day after the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, signaling the end of World War II. A scientific and military breakthrough that wouldn’t have been possible without the St. Louis region."That kind of finely tuned nuclear work isn't possible unless you have a chemically pure sample to begin with, and that's what Mallinckrodt provided," Dr. Gwendolyn Verhoff said.Verhoff teaches history in St. Louis and wrote her dissertation on the history of refining uranium and Mallinckrodt's work."Mallinckrodt committed his Mallinckrodt Chemical Works to developing a process to bring that product start to finish and put it in government hands in a scaled-up way that would actually have it be arriving in a way that would be suitable for a mass production wartime effort," Verhoff said. St. Louis County pros...