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Italy yearns to breathe polluted air

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

The EU’s pollution problem child is throwing a tantrum.Italy, one of the bloc’s most polluted countries, has repeatedly failed to meet the EU’s air quality guidelines, prompting the European Commission to take it to court more than once. Now Rome is lobbying hard to stop Brussels from tightening those guidelines further, arguing that specific geographic and climate conditions — particularly in its northern, industrial regions — prevent it from meeting existing targets.That’s an argument being pushed by Lombardy, one of the country’s wealthiest and most industrialized regions — and home to one of the cities with the worst air quality in Europe. Meeting tighter guidelines could cause GDP in Lombardy and other wealthy northern regions to drop significantly, according to Giorgio Maione, Lombardy’s minister for environment and climate. “There is only one consequence for all of this, which is poverty,” he warned.The region has found a friendly ear ...

9 ways Dutch political paralysis hits the EU

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

It’s hard to punch above your weight if you’re handcuffed. In Brussels, the Netherlands is known for its assertive positioning in EU legislation in a wide range of policy files. Despite its relatively small size, the Netherlands has a tendency to get involved, even on files that are not at the core of the Dutch domestic debate. Its prime minister, Mark Rutte, is the second-longest serving European Union leader after Hungary’s Victor Orbán, giving him the benefit of institutional memory and moral authority when speaking with fellow EU leaders. But just as the EU is racing to seal a number of key files before European election in June next year, the Netherlands finds itself in political limbo. Not only did the current governing coalition collapse; Rutte also announced he won’t run again. The next Dutch elections are slated for November, and are likely to lead to long searches for a new prime minister and enough coalition partners, given the fragmented politi...

As clinics pivot post-Roe, battle rages over syringe service in opioid-ravaged West Virginia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Staff at Women’s Health Center of West Virginia know what it’s like to provide controversial health services that government officials have sought to ban or restrict. The Charleston clinic was the state’s only abortion provider for years until the state Legislature passed a near-total ban on the procedure last year. The clinic remained open, providing other reproductive care. Now it’s trying to open a syringe service program for drug users, which is another contentious health service that has been regulated by Republican lawmakers in the deep red state. The proposal, which is scheduled to go before Charleston City Council for a pivotal vote Monday, comes as abortion providers across the country are pivoting or expanding services post-Roe, often to other hard-to-access care for marginalized communities they say face stigma and barriers similar to abortion patients. Some, like the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, have added...

One home destroyed, multiple evacuations from Oak Grove wildfire, estimated at 400 acres, 20% contained

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — At least one home was destroyed and multiple homes were evacuated after a wildfire in Hays County on Saturday.City of Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell said that approximately 30 homes were evacuated by 7 p.m. Officials responded to the fire, named the Oak Grove Fire, shortly after 3 p.m., according to the Hays County Office of Emergency Services website.The fire was first reported to be in the 200 block of Oak Grove Road near San Marcos. It is estimated at 400 acres and 20% contained just before midnight Saturday, according to the Hays County Office of Emergency Management (Hays OEM) and the Texas A&M Forest Service.For any homes that have evacuated due to the wildfire, Hays OEM said that the Promised Land Church, at 1650 Lime Kiln Road in San Marcos, and First Baptist Church, at 15951 Winters Mill Parkway in Wimberley, are open as temporary shelters.By 8:30 p.m., Mitchell said containment was increasing, and there is a massiv...

Marin County driver pulled over for carpool violation after using mannequin in back seat: CHP

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

(KRON) -- A North Bay driver seemed really desperate to get into the carpool lane. In an attempt to fulfill the multiple-passenger requirement, the driver thought they can get away by doing this.Not so fast. CHP Marin pulled over a driver for using a mannequin (view below) and making it seem they met the requirement to drive in the carpool lane, the law enforcement agency posted to their Facebook story on Thursday. Popular matcha cafe in SF’s Mission District to close A driver was pulled over for using a mannequin to get in the carpool lanes (CHP Marin).To the driver's credit, an effort was made to dress the mannequin up and make it look like a real person from afar. The mannequin was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle. It had clothes, a hat, sunglasses and tattoos."That moment you get pulled over for a carpool violation and your passenger in the back chooses to remain silent," CHP Marin wrote in its social media post.

Loyd scores 32, Whitcomb hits key short and Storm defeat mercury 97-91 despite 28 by Taurasi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Jewell Loyd scored 17 of her 32 points in the fourth quarter and Sami Whitcomb hit a back-breaking 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to lift the Seattle Storm to a 97-91 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night.Brittney Griner had 22 points for the Mercury after sitting out the previous three games for a mental health break and Diana Taurasi had 28 points in the game after she scored 42 and surpassed 10,000 in her legendary career but it wasn’t enough against the last-place Storm. Seattle is now 7-20 this season with three wins coming over the Mercury. Unlike the first two matchups, won by an average of 18.5 points, this game had seven ties and 12 lead changes, eight of those in the first half of the fourth quarter. Loyd had six points in an 8-0 run that put Seattle up 87-81 with 3:18 to play.A Griner three-point play made it 89-87 with 2:31 to go but Loyd banked in 3-pointer at 1:03. Taurasi scored on a drive but then Whitcomb beat the shot clock with a 3 fo...

Machado hits a home run and a 2-run, go-ahead single to lift the Padres over the Dodgers 8-3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado homered into the second deck in left field in the fourth inning and then hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seven-run eighth inning for the San Diego Padres, who beat NL West-leading Los Angeles 8-3 Saturday night to snap a six-game losing streak to the Dodgers. The Dodgers’ bullpen meltdown was similar to the one by the Padres on Friday night that helped Los Angeles rally for a 10-5 win.With the Dodgers leading 3-1, Yency Almonte (3-2) loaded the bases with one out and was replaced by Caleb Ferguson. Juan Soto hit an RBI infield single and a throwing error by second baseman Kiké Hernàndez on the play brought in the tying run. Machado then singled to left to bring in two more runs for a 5-3 lead.Machado was caught in a rundown but ended up on third after a throwing error by Ferguson. Machado was checked by a trainer and manager Bob Melvin said he has hamstring tightness.The Padres had six singles and three walks while sending 12 batters to the...

Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan spends night at high-security prison after court sentencing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

ATTOCK, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan spent the night at a high-security prison after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics. The court ruled Saturday that Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts.The prison sentence could bar him from politics under a law that prohibits people with a criminal conviction from holding or running for public office. He could also lose the chairmanship of the party he founded, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI.It’s the second time this year that Khan has been detained, joining other former Pakistani prime ministers who had been arrested and seen military interventions throughout the country’s political history.But his current residence at the Attock prison is a far cry from his custodial conditions in May when he was taken ...

Crammed with tourists, Alaska’s capital wonders what will happen as its magnificent glacier recedes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of tourists spill onto a boardwalk in Alaska’s capital city every day from cruise ships towering over downtown. Vendors hawk shoreside trips and rows of buses stand ready to whisk visitors away, with many headed for the area’s crown jewel: the Mendenhall Glacier.A craggy expanse of gray, white and blue, the glacier gets swarmed by sightseeing helicopters and attracts visitors by kayak, canoe and foot. So many come to see the glacier and Juneau’s other wonders that the city’s immediate concern is how to manage them all as a record number are expected this year. Some residents flee to quieter places during the summer, and a deal between the city and cruise industry will limit how many ships arrive next year.But climate change is melting the Mendenhall Glacier. It is receding so quickly that by 2050, it might no longer be visible from the visitor center it once loomed outside.That’s prompted another question Juneau is only now starting to contemplate: Wh...

6 months after a devastating earthquake, Turkey’s preparedness is still uncertain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:50:42 GMT

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Dust and rubble fill the street as an excavator tears off chunks of concrete from an old apartment building. Bystanders and former residents watch from afar as construction equipment tears down the structure. Among the bystanders is Ibrahim Ozaydin, 30, a former resident. He watches the demolition not with worry, but with relief, as his building was marked by officials as unsafe months ago. Ozaydin and his family were shocked to learn that the municipality deemed his building uninhabitable. “We decided to build our own house,” he told The Associated Press as he watched his former home being torn down. “Instead of living in a poorly built house, let us take our own precautions.”The sight of construction vehicles demolishing buildings became engrained in Turkish minds six months ago today, after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Kahramanmaras and 10 other provinces in southern Turkey on the morning of Feb. 6.Over 50,000 people died, and hundreds of tho...