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Illinois bill: Police not allowed to stop drivers for rearview mirror air fresheners, other hanging items

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) -- Illinois drivers may not have to worry about being pulled over purely for items dangling from their rearview mirrors, thanks to a proposed legislative update. House Bill 2389 is currently under consideration in Springfield. If passed, it would no longer allow law enforcement to pull someone over purely for having an item like an air freshener, a disability placard or a rosary hanging from their rearview mirror or attached to the windshield. Dust cloud causes crashes, closes I-55 for 28 miles Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias believes the current law is discriminatory. “Pulling someone over for merely having an air freshener attached to the rearview mirror is not only archaic, it’s ridiculous,” Giannoulias said. “Amending the law by prohibiting traffic stops that encourage discriminatory practices will ultimately make our streets safer for both motorists and police officers.”Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), who sponsored the bill in the House of Repres...

Where a miserable April ranks in White Sox history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

CHICAGO - One of the most incredible finishes for the White Sox in years couldn't erase what had happened the other 29 days of the month. Down by four heading into the ninth inning, the White Sox stunned the MLB-leading Rays by putting up seven runs in the ninth. Andrew Vaughn's walk-off three-run homer gave the team an improbable 12-9 victory to snap a ten-game losing streak.It's the team's largest ninth inning comeback for a win since September 7, 2007 against the Twins, when they trailed by six going into the ninth, tied it, then won in extra innings. To find the last time the White Sox won in the final frame down at least four runs, you have to go back to April 28, 2004, when they trailed Cleveland 8-4 in the ninth before winning 9-8.But that only put a brief positive shine on what was a terrible month of April for the club, who've put themselves into a hole to start the 2023 season while also making some history of the wrong kind.The team's performance during that month was one...

First son Hunter Biden in Arkansas court for child support hearing, requests lower payments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

BATESVILLE, Ark. (KARK) – Hunter Biden appeared in court Monday in Batesville, Arkansas, to attend hearings in an ongoing child support case.The president’s son entered the Independence County Court through the back doors surrounded by secret service.Lunden Roberts, the mother of Biden’s child, was also present. Arkansas mother of Hunter Biden’s child asks court to give daughter his last name The two had originally agreed on child support payments in March of 2020, but the case was reopened in September 2022. Biden’s legal team said Hunter Biden’s finances have changed, requesting his child support payments be lowered.Since September, Judge Holly Meyer has expressed frustration over the pace at which this case is going, ordering the two to be in the same room Monday to iron out any details.“The longer you two wool over this discovery, the more hearings we're going to have and the longer this is going to take,” Meyer said. DNA test shows Hunter Biden is the father in Arkansas pat...

Pay-per-article service coming to Twitter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (WIVB) - Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter has been controversial, dividing users over topics of subscription, verification and content.But the business magnate, whose leadership extends to Tesla and SpaceX as well, believes an upcoming change "should be a major win-win for both media orgs & the public."On Saturday, Musk announced that sometime this month, Twitter will let media publishers with subscription services start charging people per article read if they choose not to subscribe to that particular publisher."This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an occasional article," Musk wrote. MTA ends real-time service alerts on Twitter, says platform is ‘no longer reliable’ It's not clear when exactly this month the change will take effect.Response to Musk's statement has been mixed, with some Twitter users suggesting alternative payment methods, such as cryptocurrencies like Dog...

Gwyneth Paltrow won't recoup attorney fees in ski crash suit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Gwyneth Paltrow will not recoup the attorneys' fees she paid to successfully defend herself against a lawsuit from a 76-year-old retired optometrist who claimed she was at fault for crashing into him at a posh Utah ski resort in 2016.In a ruling published on Saturday, a Utah judge said attorneys for Paltrow and Terry Sanderson had agreed to drop the matter of Paltrow's attorneys' fees. District Court Judge Kent Holmberg's final judgement did not detail why the matter of attorneys' fees that Paltrow sought in her 2019 countersuit was dropped.The judgement affirmed the jury's unanimous verdict finding Terry Sanderson — the man who collided with Paltrow — to be “100% at fault," awarding Paltrow the $1 she sought in a countersuit. It also said Sanderson would not appeal the verdict, effectively ending a protracted legal battle seven years after the two crashed on a beginner run near the base of Deer Valley Resort in Utah.Representatives for both...

The Arctic is becoming foggy as sea ice melts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — For decades now, sea ice in the Arctic continues to melt as our climate continues to warm from greenhouse gas emissions. As sea ice and snow melt, less solar radiation is being reflected back into space and is instead now absorbed at the surface.This is called a 'Positive Feedback Loop' where warming causes ice to melt and then that melting causes further warming. Because of this, the Arctic is actually warming roughly two times faster than the rest of the globe.One "benefit" of sea ice loss however has been the increased amount of cargo ships that have been more freely able to sail through the Arctic as shipping channels open. The Trans-Arctic route for example runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Ocean. This used to be a nearly impossible route without heavy icebreakers attached to the ships. But now with less and less sea ice, Trans-Arctic shipping has increased, tremendously reducing travel time, increasing shipping time and reducing the...

The Killers and Imagine Dragons headline new TC Summer Fest at Target Field

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

Las Vegas rock bands the Killers and Imagine Dragons will headline the inaugural TC Summer Fest, set for July 14 and 15 at Target Field.Tickets for the festival-style concert series are priced from $239 to $39, or $406 to $66 for both days, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via twins.com/tcsummerfest.The Killers emerged in 2004 with the album “Hot Fuss,” a worldwide hit that topped seven million in sales. Their debut single “Mr. Brightside” went double platinum and they’ve since returned to the charts with a string of hits that include “Somebody Told Me,” “When You Were Young,” “Read My Mind,” “Human,” “Spaceman,” “Runaways,” “The Man,” “Run for Cover,” “Caution” and “My Own Soul’s Warning.”In March 2020, the band announced a massive worldwide tour just days before the pandemic-related lockdown. They canceled the tour dates, but did release their sixth album, “Imploding the Mirage,” that August. They went on to issue another record, “Pressure Machine,” in 2021 and returned to the roa...

Marine who volunteered in Ukraine, survived rocket attack: ‘I would do it again’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

In the dark, there was a staccato beat of sound — a thundering, unplaceable boom. Then there was the pain, sudden and unyielding.Giovanni Roman was hit.It was just before midnight on a frigid February evening in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine when the 29-year-old Marine veteran from Garden Grove, California, was struck by an enemy Russian rocket while inside a Humvee on the frontlines.Blood soaked through his vest. Pain electrified him. The impact shattered part of Roman’s skull, claimed his right eye, and jettisoned shrapnel into his arm and hand. But somehow, Roman stayed awake. He remembers it all.“I’ve always believed as a man you should be willing to die for something,” Roman said. “I have no problem dying helping someone out and helping the defenseless — and that is exactly what was going on there.”The hours leading up to the attack were as normal as they could be in the embattled country, where Roman volunteered twice as a medic and soldier.On a second trip that began ...

Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek played through broken leg in playoffs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

Joel Eriksson Ek logged less than 20 seconds of ice time in the playoffs.After making his highly anticipated return in Game 3 of the first-round series between the Wild and Dallas Stars, the 26-year-old center left the ice midway through the first shift.Though it was clear at that time that Eriksson Ek played through a major injury, he confirmed Monday that he suffered a broken leg while blocking a shot in an April 6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had surgery on his fibula shortly after leaving Game 3 against the Stars.Asked how helpless of a feeling it was to leave the ice, Eriksson Ek hung his head in disappointment before answering.“It sucks,” he said. “You play a whole season and then right before playoffs you get hurt.”He suffered the broken leg blocking a slap shot from Penguins star Evgeni Malkin. The pain took over immediately and even if Eriksson Ek knew he probably wasn’t going to be 100 percent in the playoffs, he attacked the recovery p...

The Black Keys added to Minnesota State Fair Grandstand lineup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:25 GMT

Garage rock duo the Black Keys will return to the Twin Cities for the first time in four years when they open the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand concert series on Aug. 24.Tickets are priced from $159 to $69 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Etix or by phone at 800-514-3849. The Velveteers open.Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney met as kids in Akron, Ohio, and began making music together as teens. They released their debut album, “The Big Come Up” in 2002 and spent the next few years building a following on the club circuit and, later, on alt-rock radio.The Black Keys’ sixth album, 2010’s “Brothers,” broke them into the mainstream, selling two million copies, earning three Grammy awards and scoring a pair of huge radio hits with “Tighten Up” and “Howlin’ for You.” The follow-up, “El Camino,” also went double platinum on the back of the singles “Lonely Boy” (a Gram...