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Maui fire deaths surge to 53 and likely to go higher, governor says. Over 1,000 structures burned

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A search of the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of obliterated neighborhoods and landmarks charred beyond recognition, as the death toll rose to at least 53 and survivors told harrowing tales of narrow escapes with only the clothes on their backs.A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighborhoods that had been a vibrant vision of color and island life reduced to gray ash. Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundations, including along famous Front Street, where tourists shopped and dined just days ago. Boats in the harbor were scorched, and smoke hovered over the town, which dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island’s west side. “Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that were still burning, he said. The death toll will likely rise as search...

Fire erupts at East County home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

RAMONA, Calif.-- Firefighters on Thursday are battling a house fire in the Ramona area.Around 4:05 p.m., SkyFOX was over the scene at 1621 Royal Vista Drive.The blaze, which authorities say started around 3:24 p.m., could be seen spewing white smoke at a rapid rate. SDPD releases bodycam video of deadly shooting involving K-9 No injuries have been reported at this time.The house fire comes a day after the "Bunnie Fire," also in Ramona, burned nearly 200 acres and prompted temporary evacuations Wednesday.Check back for updates on this developing story.

A rocket with a lunar landing craft blasts off on Russia’s first moon mission in nearly 50 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A rocket carrying a lunar landing craft blasted off Friday on Russia’s first moon mission in nearly 50 years, racing to land on Earth’s satellite ahead of an Indian spacecraft. The launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in the Far East of the Luna-25 craft to the moon is Russia’s first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union.The Russian lunar lander is expected to reach the moon on Aug. 23, about the same day as an Indian craft which was launched on July 14. The Russian spacecraft will take about 5.5 days to travel to the moon’s vicinity, then spend three to seven days orbiting at about 100 kilometers (62 miles) before heading for the surface.Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China. India and Russia are aiming to be the first to land at the moon’s south pole.Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, said it wants to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the ...

Canadian on Maui says ‘firestorm’ engulfed town, as death toll rises to 53

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

A Vancouver man who lives part time on the Hawaiian island of Maui has described how an enormous “firestorm” engulfed the town of Lahaina, where at least 53 people were killed by the devastating blaze.Brad Desaulniers, 61, has owned a home in Kihei, about 30 kilometres from Lahaina, for 20 years. He said he watched smoke rising over the water and hills that separate the two towns.“It was a firestorm,” Desaulniers said in a phone interview from Kihei. “There was an entire firestorm that was two miles wide and two miles deep that just raced across and destroyed everything in its path.”“There have been more and more wildfires in Maui for the last 10 years, but nothing like this. Some of the people who’ve been here through some of the volcano issues have said this dwarfs anything that’s ever come out of the volcano.”The wildfire, fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, ignited Tuesday and quickly race...

Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn arrested in 2021 after groping complaints at club, police records show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Boris Epshteyn, a longtime aide to former President Donald Trump, was arrested in 2021 after he was accused of repeatedly groping two women in an Arizona nightclub, according to police records.Epshteyn pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct charges in Scottsdale city court after prosecutors dropped charges of attempted sexual abuse, assault-touching and “harass-repeated acts.” He paid a fine and served probation, and his conviction was set aside earlier this year.The arrest was first reported Thursday by The Arizona Republic. Epshteyn, who is advising Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.A club security guard flagged down police early in the morning of Oct. 10, 2021, and told officers that women had complained Epshteyn touched them inappropriately, according to a police report and body-worn camera footage released under Arizona’s public records law. One woman told officers Epshteyn was especially aggr...

Mississippi Supreme Court won’t remove Favre from lawsuit over misspent welfare money

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court says it will not remove former NFL quarterback Brett Favre as a defendant in a civil lawsuit that seeks to recover millions of dollars of misspent welfare money meant to help some of the poorest people in the United States.A panel of three justices issued a brief ruling Wednesday, denying an appeal from Favre.His attorneys said in written arguments in May that the Mississippi Department of Human Services is making “utterly meritless” legal arguments in suing the Pro Football Hall of Famer.On April 24, Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson denied Favre’s request to be removed from the lawsuit, which has more than three dozen people or businesses as defendants. Favre asked the Supreme Court to overturn Peterson’s decision.Millions of federal welfare dollars for low-income Mississippi residents were squandered on projects supported by wealthy or well-connected people from 2016 to 2019, prosecutors say.The Department of Human Servic...

Death toll from Maui fires rises to 53, governor says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Thursday that 53 people were killed in the devastating Maui wildfires, and the death toll will likely continue to rise.Search and rescue operations were continuing, Green said, and officials expect it will become the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1961 tsunami killed 61 people on the Big Island.More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that are still burning in Lahaina and surrounding areas.“Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down,” the governor told The Associated Press.The wildfire that has brought sheer devastation to Hawaii’s Maui struck Lahaina, one of its most historic cities and the onetime capital of the former kingdom. pic.twitter.com/tcxc47zYQu— The Associated Press (@AP) August 10, 2023More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that were still burning, he said.The death toll will likely rise as search and rescue operations continue, Green added, and officials expect it will become the state’s...

Connecticut school district lost more than $6 million in cyber attack, so far gotten about half back

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

NEW HAVEN (AP) — The city of New Haven lost more than $6 million in multiple cyberattacks on its public school district earlier this summer and has so far managed to recoup about half of the money, officials announced Thursday. The thefts, which occurred in June and involved hackers impersonating the city’s chief operating officer and private vendors in emails, came to light after a Connecticut school bus company raised questions about why it hadn’t yet been paid.“The individual or the individuals that did this are criminal. They are unbelievably unethical to not only steal money from the public, but steal money from New Haven public school children,” said Mayor Justin Elicker, a Democrat, during a news conference.Elicker said the FBI asked New Haven officials not to initially speak publicly about the hacking in order to protect its investigation. So far, $3.6 million has been recouped and the FBI has frozen additional funds, he said. Elicker could not provide a specific...

Recent shark deaths in Canada a sign that efforts to grow the population are working

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

An unusually high number of great white sharks found dead on Canadian beaches over the past year is a sign the population is growing, says a shark biologist.Four great white sharks were found washed up along beaches in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec in the past 12 months, said John Chisholm from the New England Aquarium in Boston, Mass. That number is higher than previous years, he said in an interview Thursday.“The other part of this is how many go unreported as well,” he said.Great white sharks have been protected in Canada since the late 2000s and the United States since the mid-1990s, Chisholm said, adding that those conservation efforts may be leading to population growth.“In addition to the sharks being protected, the food that they eat has also been protected — the seals especially,” he said. “It’s a combination of factors that are contributing to increased numbers.”University of Prince Edward Island’s Atl...

Utah man killed after threats against Biden believed government was corrupt and overreaching

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:44 GMT

PROVO, Utah (AP) — An armed Utah man killed by FBI agents after making violent threats against President Joe Biden was described by his family Thursday as a gun enthusiast and devoted churchgoer who became distraught over what he saw as “a corrupt and overreaching government.” The family insisted in a statement that Air Force veteran Craig Deleeuw Robertson would not have acted on the threats and committed violence over political disagreements, despite court records in which prosecutors depicted him as radicalized.Robertson, who public records say was 74 years old, was killed Wednesday by agents trying to serve a warrant at his Provo home hours before the president landed in Utah to visit a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) away.Prosecutors had filed three felony charges against Robertson under seal for alleged threats, including one this week that he was “cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle” in anticipation of Biden’s Uta...