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Editorial: Will Biden repeat Obama’s ‘red line’ mistake?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

More than 11 years ago, Barack Obama drew his “red line” in the sand.Will the Biden administration make the same mistake?It was August 2012 when Obama, running for a second term in the Oval Office, held a news conference and fielded a question about the ongoing civil war in Syria. The president said that he had so far avoided U.S. military intervention but that his calculations would change if Syria crossed a “red line” and used chemical weapons.A year later, a chemical weapons attack believed to have been carried out by the regime of Bashar al-Assad killed 1,400 people near Damascus. Obama did little about his “red line” but eventually cut a deal with Vladimir Putin and Russia to have Syria turn over its chemical stockpiles to international inspectors. The agreement was a failure, the victim — as The Atlantic later put it — “of Syrian deception, Russian duplicity and American dithering.”Fast forward to this month in the wake of the horrific Hamas terror attack on Israel. As the Jew...

Dear Abby: Pal’s promised craft gift still a no-show

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m having an issue with my longtime best friend. We no longer live in the same state, but we talk several times a week and try to visit every year. We both love crafting, and two years ago, I started making her a big, beautiful counted cross-stitch and had it custom framed. The project took several months, and she knew I was making it.She offered — I didn’t ask — to make me a quilt from T-shirts I had collected over the years from various places I had been. So I cut the logos/graphics off the shirts and mailed them to her. She told me it would take her only a week to make the quilt. That was two years ago. It has been a year since I drove six hours each way to deliver my cross-stitch gift to her, and she still hasn’t made the quilt.I have since moved even farther away. I miss home, and I really want the quilt. I have asked her about it several times. The quilt would mean so much to me, especially now that I’m more than 1,000 miles away...

Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu receives NBA’s Bob Lanier award for community involvement

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu was recognized for his dedication to helping children in Chicago with the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award.The announcement was made in part by several students he’s working to help at his former elementary school, Beasley Academic Center. Dosunmu partnered with the school to offer Bulls tickets to every student who makes the honor roll this year. The incentive program is one of several initiatives that earned Dosunmu the Lanier honor, which three Beasley students presented to him Thursday at the Advocate Center.A Morgan Park product, Dosunmu has been dedicated to community involvement since he gained notoriety as a star guard at Illinois. He spends his summers at home in Chicago and partners with local advocacy groups focused on youth engagement and gun violence prevention.The NBA recognizes eight players each year through the Community Assist program with seven monthly awards and one offseason award.Dosunmu was recognized for his wo...

Woman found dead in hotel room after SWAT standoff; suspect arrested

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A woman was found dead inside a hotel room in the Del Cerro neighborhood where a man barricaded himself for hours, authorities said. Around 10:49 a.m., the San Diego Police Department received a call about a man refusing to pay his bill and arguing with the hotel manager at Days Inn by Wyndham Mission Valley Qualcomm Stadium/SDSU. The man then went back to his room and barricaded himself for hours, police said.Authorities made several attempts to contact the man who was believed to be armed. At one point, the suspect threw a police robot off of the balcony after he was given a cigarette by the machine, per SDPD. Surfers find body floating near La Jolla Shores Beach; man identified Ultimately, the SWAT officers used less than lethal rounds fired into the hotel room and then sent a K-9 named Hondo, who was stabbed several times by the suspect, authorities said.When police arrested the man, they found a woman's body in the hotel room.The homicide unit is currently on sc...

Leo Brooks, a Miami native with country roots, returns to South Florida for new music festival

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Growing up in Miami in the ’80s and ’90s, Leo Brooks had a secret love that he always was afraid to share with his friends: He was a country music fan.While hanging out with his friends in high school, Brooks listened to rap, hip hop, alternative rock and other popular music, but at home with his family, he listened to country. The Miami native’s love of country was inherited from his father and grandfather, who didn’t come from Nashville, but from Roatán, a small island off the coast of Honduras.“The biggest thing there is Reggae music and classic country music,” Brooks said. “So I started learning how to play music to George Jones and Hank Williams and Willie Nelson, all the country classics. It wasn’t so popular back then in Miami, so that’s something I kept to myself.”Now Brooks is returning to Miami as half of the country duo Neon Union. They are slated to perform at the Country Bay Music Festival scheduled for Nov. 11-12 at the histor...

García’s HR in 11th, Seager’s tying shot in 9th rally Rangers past Arizona 6-5 in Series opener

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit an opposite-field homer in the 11th inning, after Corey Seager’s tying two-run shot in the ninth, and the Texas Rangers opened this surprise World Series of wild-card teams with a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. The Cuban slugger known as El Bombi drove a 3-1 sinker from Miguel Castro into the right-field seats beyond a leaping Corbin Carroll. It was García’s second RBI of the game, setting a record for most in one postseason with 22. García has homered in five consecutive games, tied for the second-longest streak in postseason history, and he delivered the first walk-off homer in the World Series since Max Muncy connected leading off the 18th inning of Game 3 for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 against Boston and Nathan Eovaldi, who started for the Rangers in this one. In the first extra-inning game of this postseason, Texas became the first team to win a World Series game when trailing by multiple run...

Hawaii agrees to hand over site to Maui County for wildfire landfill and memorial

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s land board has approved handing over state land on Maui to be used for a wildfire memorial and fire debris disposal but officials urged Maui County to talk further with the community after some raised concerns about how the proposed landfill would affect nearby coral reefs and historic sites.The state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday voted to allow the county to use the parcel in Olowalu, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of Lahaina.The Aug. 8 wildfire – the deadliest to hit the United States in over a century – left behind burned cars, charred beams and piles of rubble. Officials have recovered some remains from at least 99 people but believe additional human remains are mixed in with debris ash. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency teams have been removing toxic items like pesticides and solar-powered batteries from the town. The steel and concrete will mostly be recycled, said Shayne Agawa, the director of Maui’s Department...

When a man began shooting in Maine, some froze while others ran. Now they’re left with questions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — The first loud noise 10-year-old Toni Asselin heard sounded like the thwack of a ball being hit hard across a pool table. She thought the second might have been someone dropping a bowling ball.“The third one, when I walked over to see if someone was hurt, I saw a person get shot and fall off their stool,” Asselin said.It was just before 7 p.m. Wednesday at Just-in-Time Recreation, a 34-lane bowling alley where the $75 “Pizza, Pins and Pepsi” special included a large pizza, a pitcher of soda and two hours of bowling for six people.One bowler had just removed his shoes when he thought he heard a balloon popping some 15 feet (4.5 meters) behind him. He turned toward the door, saw a man holding a gun, and took off running down one of the lanes.“I slid basically into where the pins are and climbed up into the machine,” he said.The gunfire and violence destroyed an innocent night of bowling and socializing and turned it into tragedy. People gunned down bowling for s...

In Seattle, phones ding. Killer whales could be close

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Peter Bates was dropping his car at the mechanic this month when a notification pinged on his phone: killer whales were approaching his Seattle neighborhood.He hopped on a bus toward the water, then an electric bike. He was pedaling along a shoreline trail when orcas’ black fins and white spots punched through the water a few yards away.“They move so quickly. I was pedaling fast,” he said. “I was open-mouthed the whole way. It was a completely joyful experience, just full of awe.”In a city known for stunning views of Puget Sound, and where the fate of the endangered resident orcas is a common topic of conversation, catching glimpses of the enchanting creatures is still an elusive treat. But Salish Wildlife Watch, a WhatsApp group chat that alerts its 1,800 members when orcas are near, aims to make it easier for residents like Bates to have wondrous experiences with them, and to motivate people to learn about and protect the animals. Users credit the ...

Timeline shows Maine suspect moved swiftly to carry out mass shooting rampage and elude police

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:42 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The suspect in the Maine mass shootings stayed one step ahead of police who rushed to the bowling alley and a bar but were too late to stop him from killing 18 people and slipping away into the night in his Subaru, a timeline released Friday shows. Dispatchers received the first 911 call at 6:56 p.m. Wednesday from a bowling alley, where Robert Card first started shooting, authorities say. Four plainclothes officers who happened to be at a shooting range nearby and heard the call over the radio arrived there about 90 seconds later. But Card was already gone. Then, at 7:08 p.m., dispatchers began receiving calls about a shooter at the bar about four miles (6.4 kilometers) away The first police were there five minutes later. But once again, Card was nowhere to be found. After a two-day search that shuttered businesses and forced scared residents to shelter in their homes, Card’s body was discovered Friday with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in Lisbon Fall...