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Those magnificent purple and green lights aren’t the aurora. They’re Steve.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

(CNN) — Not all science is carried out by folks in white lab coats under the fluorescent lights of academic buildings. Occasionally, the trajectory of the scientific record is forever altered inside a pub over a pint of beer.Such is the case for the sweeping purple and green lights that can hover over the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere. The phenomenon looks like the aurora borealis but is in fact something entirely different.It’s called Steve.The rare light spectacle has caused a bit of buzz this year as the sun is entering its most active period, ramping up the number of dazzling natural phenomena that appear in the night sky — and leading to new reports of people spotting Steve in areas it does not typically appear, such as parts of the United Kingdom.But about eight years ago, when Elizabeth MacDonald, a space physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was in Calgary, Alberta, for a seminar, she had never seen the phenomenon in person. And it did not yet have a name.In ...

When foster care kids are sex trafficked, some states fail to figure it out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

Nada Hassanein | Stateline.org (TNS)For help, call 1-888-373-7888 or text *233733 for the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline, a national, toll-free hotline.____When she was a 10-year-old foster child, Withelma “T” Ortiz often rode a public bus around the San Francisco Bay area, alone.She’d frequent a bus stop by a barber shop. Little by little, the barber, who was 15 years older, befriended her, she said — buying her snacks and meals, giving her attention, gaining her trust. It wasn’t too long before he started selling her on the street and taking explicit photos of her to post online.Ortiz wasn’t a stranger to abuse: She’d first been sex trafficked by her birth mom when she was 5 years old, and she was abused by foster parents throughout her childhood, she recalled.Ortiz was in state custody and sex trafficked through age 17. She doesn’t remember how many group and foster homes she was placed in — she stopped counting at 14 homes. As she moved from one to another, the barber s...

Pac-12 championship game preview: UW’s comfort zone, the Lanning factor and radio silence from the Pac-12 Networks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

The final Pac-12 championship game will feature two playoff contenders with a combined record of 23-1, two Heisman Trophy candidates, ABC’s top broadcast crew and a sold out stadium Friday night in Las Vegas.Not in attendance: The Pac-12 Networks.The conference’s wholly-owned media company will have no linear television presence in Allegiant Stadium, where No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Oregon collide with a College Football Playoff berth at stake.No Pac-12 Networks pregame show.No Pac-12 Networks halftime update.No Pac-12 Networks postgame show.Anyone tuning into the networks Friday at 9 p.m. will see a women’s volleyball match (USC vs. UCLA), not interviews with the Huskies and Ducks.The on-site football coverage was swallowed up by cost cuts as the conference downsizes operations. The scope-of-services plan crafted by commissioner George Kliavkoff and approved by the presidents did not bother to include expenses for a Pac-12 Networks presence at the championship gam...

Loaded semi-automatic rifle found by Santa Rosa police K-9 during traffic stop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

(KRON) -- A loaded semi-automatic rifle was discovered in the bed of a truck by a Santa Rosa Police Department K-9 officer during a traffic stop Tuesday. Santa Rosa PD officer Gonzalez-Campos and his K-9 partner Ghost conducted a traffic stop at around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.The two pulled over a pick-up truck for a vehicle code violation in the 300 block of Dutton Avenue. Approaching the vehicle, officer Gonzalez-Campos saw what he thought was a knife sticking out from under the driver's right leg.Believing the driver was possibly armed, the officer asked him to exit the vehicle and patted him down for weapons. Following the pat-down, the officer determined the object he'd thought was a knife was a screwdriver. San Francisco to open 300 new shelter beds as winter nears During the course of the traffic enforcement, the officer learned that the driver was a convicted felon who was on probation, and therefore prohibited from possessing firearms. K-9 Ghost then performed an "...

San Francisco to open 300 new shelter beds as winter nears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The City of San Francisco will be opening 300 new shelter beds this week as part of an ongoing shelter expansion. The 300 beds, according to a news release from the city, were funded in the city's most recent budget and will be spread across a number of existing locations that are also adding capacity.The additional shelter beds will bring the total number of active beds in San Francisco's system to 3,850."We continue to add shelter -- adding 300 beds this week," said Mayor London Breed in a tweet. "We now have over 3,850 shelter beds, a 60% increase since 2018."The city says it plans to add an additional 30 beds before the end of the year. Plans are also in the works to open two tiny home communities next year, one of which would include a safe parking site. BART paper tickets phased out after Wednesday “Expanding shelter is essential for helping people off the street and keeping our neighborhoods cleaner and safer for everyone,” said Mayor London Breed. “...

India Accidentally Hired a DEA Agent to Kill Sikh American Activist, Federal Prosecutors Say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it had filed charges against a man allegedly working for the Indian government to orchestrate the assassination of a U.S. citizen earlier this year. An Indian government official allegedly instructed Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, to coordinate the murder of a Sikh separatist living in New York. The indictment alleges that Gupta, after being recruited by the Indian government official, hired a hitman and paid him a $15,000 advance to carry out the murder this past summer. The hitman was actually an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to a report on the indictment in the Washington Post, the intended target of the killing was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for the New York-based Sikh activist group Sikhs for Justice. In the DEA’s press release, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said investigators had “foiled and exposed a dangerous plot to assassinate a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.”“In...

Bipartisan Plan to Trade Immigrant Rights for Ukraine Money Is Sinking Fast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

A bipartisan effort to gain votes for a bill that would trade immigrant rights for military assistance to Ukraine appears to be falling apart, getting traction with neither Democrats nor Republicans. The plan, reported yesterday, would attach a border enforcement component to President Joe Biden’s $106 billion supplemental funding request.“I think this is a ridiculous position to put us in,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. “Holding Israel aid and Ukraine aid hostage to solving a complicated domestic issue is really unfortunate.” The current negotiation has been the latest in a series of efforts by Democrats to placate Republican criticisms of Biden’s handling of the southern border, as well as an effort by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to win Ukraine funding and placate Republicans skeptical of the war.The so-called Gang of Four negotiators includes Murphy, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that funds immigration op...

Pope Francis is still having trouble breathing due to lung inflammation, Vatican says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is still having trouble breathing as a result of a lung inflammation that forced him to cancel his scheduled address at the U.N. climate conference in Dubai and to delegate the reading of his weekly catechesis lesson and other remarks to aides, the Vatican said Wednesday.Francis told his general audience Wednesday morning that he still didn’t feel well and that his voice was “not pretty.” He coughed and spoke in a whisper in the few remarks he did deliver at the end of the gathering. Francis, who turns 87 next month and had part of one lung removed as a young man, no longer has a fever and is in stable condition but continues to receive antibiotics, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in an update later Wednesday. “The lung inflammation associated with the respiratory difficulty remains,” he said.Francis came down with the flu late last week and canceled all his audiences Saturday for what he later revealed was a lung inflammation. The Va...

Jets begin Aaron Rodgers’ 21-day practice window in next step in recovery from torn Achilles tendon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers’ improbable comeback from a torn Achilles tendon has taken the next step.The New York Jets opened the 21-day practice window for the quarterback on Wednesday — exactly 11 weeks after he had surgery — with Rodgers cleared for some football activities.Coach Robert Saleh said the four-time NFL MVP, who turns 40 on Saturday, will be limited at practice and is not cleared for contact. Saleh said there’s no added risk in taking this step, emphasizing it’s not necessarily a signal that Rodgers will play again this season as much as it is the next part of the quarterback’s rehabilitation process.“For Aaron, what he will be doing in practice is no different than what he’d be doing on the field, with regards to certain drills and individual (drills),” Saleh said. “Instead of throwing with staff members, he’s throwing with teammates.”At the end of the 21-day period, the Jets will have to make a decision whether to acti...

Cowboys face Seahawks with 13-game home winning streak on the line, and Eagles around the corner

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:45:05 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys have one more game before a highly anticipated NFC East rematch.This time, it’s an opponent with a winning record as the Seattle Seahawks visit Thursday night before the Cowboys (8-3) get a little break in anticipation of the Philadelphia Eagles coming to town Dec. 10.Dallas, which has a 13-game home winning streak, has beaten three consecutive double-digit underdogs by an average of 30 points. The Seahawks (6-5) are close, with Dallas favored by nine, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.But the Cowboys say they won’t be peeking around the corner at the Eagles, who won 28-23 in Philadelphia to start November in a game Dallas easily could have won.“Seattle is giving us plenty to worry about, plenty to focus on,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “There’s a lot of length between Seattle and the next one. I don’t see that as an issue at all.”Prescott is on one of the best rolls of his career, with the star quarterback throwing...