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In Lula’s first six months, Brazil Amazon deforestation dropped 34%, reversing trend under Bolsonaro

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — After four years of rising destruction in Brazil’s Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6% during the first six months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s term, according to government satellite data released Thursday.From January to June the rainforest had alerts for possible deforestation covering 2,650 square kilometers (1,023 square miles), down from 4,000 square kilometers — an area the size of Rhode Island — during the same period last year under former President Jair Bolsonaro. This year’s data includes a 41% plunge in alerts for June, which marks the start of the dry season when deforestation tends to jump. “The effort of reversing the curve of growth has been reached. That is a fact: we reversed the curve; deforestation isn’t increasing,” João Paulo Capobianco, the Environment Ministry’s executive secretary, said during a presentation in Brasilia. Capobianco noted that full-year results will depend on a few challenging...

Russian jets harass U.S. drone aircraft over Syria for the 2nd time in 24 hours

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers, the Air Force said.It was the second time in 24 hours that Russia has harassed U.S. drones there. “We urge Russian forces in Syria to cease this reckless behavior and adhere to the standards of behavior expected of a professional air force so we can resume our focus on the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, head of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said in a statement. U.S. Air Forces Central released videos of the two separate incidents that took place Wednesday and Thursday. In the first incident, which took place about 10:40 a.m. local time Wednesday in Northwest Syria, Russian SU-35 fighters closed in on a Reaper, and one of the Russian pilots moved their aircraft in front of a drone and engaged the SU-35’s afterburner, which greatly increases its speed and air pressure.T...

Suburban warehouse behind latest shipment of medical supplies earmarked for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

WOODRIDGE, Ill. — Tucked away in a Woodridge warehouse, it may surprise locals that the world's largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies resides, aiding under-resourced people from 135 countries, including Ukraine.On Thursday, an army of volunteers with Project C.U.R.E. Chicago carefully packed shipping container No. 114 to assist the courageous doctors and nurses working in Ukraine. "It can take up to five months to get where it's going," said Project C.U.R.E. Chicago's operation chief Jessamyn Moore. Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of planning to attack Europe’s biggest nuclear plant The 50,000-square-foot Project C.U.R.E Chicago warehouse in west suburban Woodridge is one of seven warehouses across the United States."Nationwide, we have over 35,000 volunteers," Moore said. "We couldn't do it without them."Among the many volunteers was Stevenson High School junior Vinod Kanna, who works at the warehouse on Tuesday and Thursday for about six hours a day. K...

Skilling: Cooler Thursday night before possible showers Friday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

The sun finally emerged Thursday in the wake of the latest round of drenching rains in Wednesday storms. As is typical rainfall varied----AND WIDELY based on COCORAHS volunteer observer 24 hour rainfall observations through Thursday morning at 7am CDT. Totals on the "high end" ranged from 3.12" at Manhattan in Will County, 3.04" at Oak Lawn and 2.86" at Marionette Park—to as little s 0.03" at Dwight, IL and both DeMotte and Rensselaer, IN.The spread across Chicago proper was wide---from 0.45" at O'Hare to 1.92" at Midway Airport—where when Sunday's record 4.05" is added, 5.97" of rain—NEARLY HALF A FOOT OF RAIN---has fallen in just the past 3 days.At O'Hare, July 2023's rainfall ALL OF 6 DAYS into the month, stands at an eye-catching 4.28" which is 6.6 times normal and 115% the normal full July rainfall of 3.71".With all the recent rain----albeit more in city locations than in some surrounding area (MUCH MORE in some cases!!!)----LITTLE SURPRISE the new DROUGHT MONITOR issued today ...

Glen Ellyn woman faces 132 counts of animal cruelty charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

GLEN ELLYN, Ill. -- A Glen Ellyn woman faces over 100 charges of animal cruelty and neglect after authorities discovered more than a dozen dead animals on her property.According to the court documents, the DuPage County Animal Services searched the home of 60-year-old April Elliott in Glen Ellyn and found nine dead dogs, four chinchillas, and a dead rabbit in boxes and trash bags.DuPage County Animal Services reported there were also 24 dogs alive, most of which were emaciated, some barely able to walk. Documents also showed that Elliott did not provide enough food and water for her animals, and failed to provide veterinary care. Court docs: Little Village father accused of killing wife, daughter agreed to rehab prior to shooting; no bail Animal services said when they arrived at the home, they found dogs stacked in cages inside. From a neighbor’s yard, we could also see cages in her back yard.Elliott told officers she was testing and curing diseases on the animals, and that she d...

Threads account can't be deleted without wiping Instagram too

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – The excitement around a fresh social media platform can be so great that users don't even think about the day they might want to erase their account – something new adopters of Meta's Threads are already griping about Thursday. In the wake of Elon Musk's shakeup of Twitter, alternative platforms such as Hive and Mastodon have tried to siphon away dissatisfied users, but when it comes to mass early adoption, Threads stands out. The Twitter rival surpassed 30 million sign ups Thursday morning, according to Mark Zuckerberg.As the buzz around Threads spread, so did news of a particular line in the service's privacy policy."You may deactivate your Threads profile at any time, but your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account." 5 things to know about Threads, Twitter’s newest rival Some who downloaded the app to give it a try – which Instagram users can do in a matter of seconds – found out deleting it was more complicated than they knew."I deac...

VIDEO: Wisconsin police officer races into burning barn and rescues cows trapped near flames

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

STURGEON BAY, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin police officer who ran into a burning barn and found three cows near flames says the bovines “made a beeline” for the safety of a pasture once he opened a gate holding them back.Sturgeon Bay police officer Andrew Crabb was nearing the end of his overnight shift on the morning of June 25 when he spotted smoke coming from a barn at a farm. He stopped, dashed across a field and entered the barn, finding the cows trapped and mooing in distress.“Once I realized what was going on inside that barn, I realized the gate didn’t get undone and those cows were not going to make it," Crabb told Fox News Digital. “So I ran in there and got the gate and then got them out. And I didn’t have to really encourage them too much. They knew exactly what they needed to do once that gate was open.” VIDEO: Wisconsin police pull bobcat from inside car Crabb said the cows “made a beeline” out of the barn and joined the rest of the herd in the pasture. He said the three ...

Study finds baby formula shortage led to many families using 'unsafe' practices

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – In a study recently released in BMC Pediatrics, researchers found that many families, especially lower-income ones, engaged in risky infant feeding practices to cope with the 2022 infant formula shortage. Due to COVID-19 supply chain disruptions, as well as some big brand recalls, seeing empty baby formula shelves in 2022 was not uncommon. Researchers found the shortage led to many families turning to harmful practices – such as diluting formula with water and using shared unregulated breast milk – to cope.  MORE: What’s behind the baby formula shortage? During the shortage, the researchers found the number of families who started watering down their formula increased from 2 to 29%, and the number of families who used human milk acquired in “informal sharing” increased from 5 to 26%. The researchers found nearly half of the over 2,000 study participants used a risky feed practice during the pandemic. More than half of American infants receive formula excl...

Heavy downpours bring Austin's coolest day in a month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Clouds and scattered heavy downpours brought us our coolest afternoon in a month with temperatures at Austin-Bergstrom limited to the 80s. But as a ridge of high pressure builds back into Texas, another heatwave builds.Some rain totals reached 1-2 inches Thursday afternoon as a surge of Gulf moisture enhanced rainfall coverage from the Gulf Coast sea breeze. Many parts of Austin saw their first measurable rain in two weeks. Updated rainfall totals A ridge of high pressure builds back into the area Friday through next week, leading to drier and hotter weather. Isolated storms are possible from Austin eastward for one more afternoon Friday, but chances of rain are just 10% and drop to zero this weekend.Forecast highs on SaturdayLight amounts of Saharan dust are blowing across the Atlantic into our area. While you may notice a light haze in the sky at times this week, there is no impact expected to air quality.Summer Fan DriveOur Summer Fan Drive is underway! Please ...

Atlantic hurricane projections jump despite El Niño

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:29 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Colorado State University issued its third Atlantic hurricane forecast for 2023 and they now expect a busier than normal hurricane season.Earlier projections weighed heavily on the belief that El Niño would be the dominating force this year. El Niño typically acts to suppress tropical activity to near or below normal in the Atlantic. 2023 Atlantic hurricane forecast in April Now, we're already four storms into the season after an unnamed sub-tropical storm in January, and Tropical Storms Arlene, Bret and Cindy in June. The active early season and the record warm or near record warm sea surface water temperatures in the Atlantic are pushing the forecast in a more active direction.Sea-surface temperature anomaliesColorado State University's revised forecast now calls for a total of 18 named storms, 9 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes.In a typical hurricane season, we get 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.In late May, NOAA released their Atlantic h...