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At least one tornado struck parts of Nebraska on Friday afternoon, leading to the collapse of an industrial building, injuring at least three people and prompting a widespread emergency response, officials said, a day after tornadoes battered other parts of the Midwest. The Weather Service issued tornado warnings for much of Omaha, including the downtown area. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office responded to the industrial building at Garner Industries around 3 p.m. and found it “pretty much totally collapsed” with several people trapped inside, Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said. Three people were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, he said, adding that roughly 70 people were inside when the tornado struck. The sheriff’s office also received reports of a derailed train in Waverly, Chief Houchin said, adding, “They didn’t require any emergency assistance, so we’re hoping it’s very minor.”

Persons: Ben Houchin, Houchin, it’s, ” Organizations: Midwest, The Weather Service, Sheriff’s, Garner Industries Locations: Nebraska, Omaha, Lancaster, Waverly ,

☆ A New Battery Warns Parents if Their Child Has Swallowed It
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Almost two years after a report warned that children were swallowing batteries at an alarming rate, Energizer is releasing a new battery designed to alert parents if their child has swallowed one. The new coin lithium battery features more secure packaging, a nontoxic bitter coating to discourage swallowing and “color alert technology” that activates a blue dye when the battery comes into contact with moisture, like saliva, so parents and caregivers know that medical attention could be required. The new battery was announced in a video last week by Energizer and Trista Hamsmith, whose 18-month-old daughter died after swallowing a button battery from a remote control. Ms. Hamsmith founded a nonprofit organization focused on children’s safety, successfully advocated for legislation, known as Reese’s Law, that requires a secure compartment of the batteries in products that use them as well as stronger warning labels on all packaging, and is now working to make the batteries themselves safer.

Persons: Energizer, Trista Hamsmith, Hamsmith

☆ Up to a Trillion Cicadas Are About to Emerge in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In a rare occurrence, a trillion cicadas from two different broods are expected to begin appearing in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States at the end of April. It’s the first time since 1803 that Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, will appear together in an event known as a dual emergence. Thomas Jefferson was president the last time that the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period. After this spring, it’ll be another 221 years before the groups, which are geographically adjacent, appear together again. A roughly 16-state area will be center stage for these periodical cicadas, which differ from those that appear annually in smaller numbers.

Persons: It’s, Thomas Jefferson, it’ll Organizations: Southern, Northern Illinois, Northern Illinois Brood’s Locations: Midwest, United States, Northern

☆ Chance Perdomo, Star of ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,’ Dies at 27
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | More About Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Chance Perdomo, the British actor known for his roles in the series “Gen V” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” died on Friday. Mr. Perdomo died in a motorcycle accident, Larissa Saenz, a representative for him, confirmed in a statement on Saturday. The statement said that the “authorities have advised that no other individuals were involved.” It was not immediately clear where the accident happened. Mr. Perdomo played the pansexual warlock Ambrose Spellman in the Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and Andre Anderson, a superhuman with magnetic manipulation abilities, in “The Boys” spinoff series “Gen V.”He was born on Oct. 20, 1996, according to his representative, in Los Angeles and raised in Southampton, England. Details on survivors were not immediately available.

Persons: Chance Perdomo, V, Sabrina, ”, Perdomo, Larissa Saenz, Ambrose Spellman, Sabrina ”, Andre Anderson Organizations: Netflix Locations: British, Los Angeles, Southampton, England

☆ AT&T Resets Millions of Passcodes After Customer Records Are Leaked
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | More About Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The telecommunications giant AT&T announced on Saturday that it had reset the passcodes of 7.6 million customers after it determined that compromised customer data was “released on the dark web.”“Our internal teams are working with external cybersecurity experts to analyze the situation,” AT&T said. “To the best of our knowledge, the compromised data appears to be from 2019 or earlier and does not contain personal financial information or call history.”The company said that “information varied by customer and account,” but that it may have included a person’s full name, email address, mailing address, phone number, Social Security number, date of birth, AT&T account number and passcode. In addition to those 7.6 million customers, 65.4 million former account holders were also affected. The company said it would be “reaching out to individuals with compromised sensitive personal information separately and offering complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring services.”

Persons: “ Organizations: Social

☆ Colorado Man Died From Venomous Gila Monster Bite, Autopsy Confirms
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An autopsy report revealed that a pet Gila monster’s venomous bite contributed to a Colorado man’s death in February in what an expert described as “an incredibly rare” fatality caused by one of the desert lizards. The man, Christopher Ward, 34, died on Feb. 16 “due to complications of Gila monster envenomization,” said the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office autopsy report, which also cited heart and liver problems as contributing factors. Mr. Ward endured a four-minute-long bite by the lizard to his right hand on the night of Feb. 12, the report said. Paramedics found Mr. Ward in a bed, minimally responsive and “in apparent severe distress,” the report said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was put on life support and “continued to decline throughout his hospitalization.”

Persons: Christopher Ward, ”, Ward, “ Locations: Colorado, Jefferson

☆ A ‘Perfect Monolith’ Appears in Wales
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Not one to let “horrific” weather stop him, Craig Muir left his house in Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales, early Tuesday to take his usual walk up Hay Bluff when he spotted something large, shiny and new. Standing there in the distance, like a beacon, was a silver monolith with no apparent trace as to how it got there or what it was doing in that spot. It looked like it had “just been dropped down from space,” Mr. Muir said during a telephone interview on Tuesday. The sighting immediately captured media attention, calling to mind similar mysterious objects placed around the world in late 2020. “If you didn’t know anything, to look at it, you could have easily thought it had been dropped off by a U.F.O.

Persons: Craig Muir, Mr, Muir, ” Locations: Hay, Wye, Powys, Wales

☆ Richard Lewis and ‘The (Blank) From Hell’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | More About Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Go ahead and call Richard Lewis the comedian from hell. But his most indelible legacy could be one simple phrase, spoken so often that its origin might never be questioned. “The (insert hated thing here) from hell.”It’s a phrase that seemingly has been around since time immemorial. The flight from hell, the day from hell, the lunch from hell. According to Richard Lewis and the “Yale Book of Quotations,” it came from him.

Persons: Richard Lewis, You’d, HBO’s, “, Lewis, ” Organizations: Yale, Twitter, UPI

☆ Toyota Recalls Over 600,000 Trucks and SUVs Over Safety Concerns
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | More About Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 600,000 Toyota pickup trucks and SUVs in the United States were voluntarily recalled over the past week because of different issues that could increase the risk of crashes, the vehicle manufacturer said. The first announcement, on Feb. 21, stated that about 280,000 vehicles, including certain Toyota Tundra, Tundra Hybrid and Lexus LX600 vehicles from the model years 2022-2024 and Sequoia Hybrid vehicles issued from 2023-2024, were recalled because “certain parts of the transmission may not immediately disengage when the vehicle is shifted to the neutral position,” Toyota said in a statement. The defect “can allow some engine power to continue to be transferred to the wheels and can allow the vehicle to inadvertently creep forward at a low speed when it is on a flat surface and no brakes are applied, leading to an increased risk of a crash,” Toyota said. A defect information report posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations website said that affected vehicles could “inadvertently creep forward at a low speed (up to approximately 4 m.p.h.

Persons: ” Toyota, ” Organizations: Toyota, Lexus, Sequoia, Traffic Locations: United States

A 26-year-old man was charged on Friday with kidnapping and murdering a nursing student whose body was found in a wooded area at the University of Georgia in Athens the previous day, the authorities announced. They called the homicide, the first in nearly 30 years on campus, “a crime of opportunity” and said that the two apparently had not known each other. The victim, Laken Riley, 22, was an undergraduate student at the school until the spring of 2023 and then enrolled at Augusta University’s nursing program, which has a campus in Athens, school officials said. University police identified the suspect as Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, at an evening news conference. He said that while Mr. Ibarra lives in Athens, he is not a citizen of the United States.

Persons: ”, Laken Riley, Augusta University’s, Jose Antonio Ibarra, ” Jeffrey Clark, Ibarra, Clark Organizations: University of Georgia, Augusta, University police Locations: Athens, Augusta, United States

A firefighter was killed after a house in Virginia exploded Friday night, injuring 11 other people and scattering pieces of the home across the neighborhood, officials said. Firefighters arrived at the home in Sterling, Va., a suburb of Washington, about 7:40 p.m., said James Williams, the assistant chief of operations for Loudoun County Fire and Rescue. That was around the same time the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company reported on social media that it had sent fire engines to the house to investigate a gas leak. Soon after, the house exploded with firefighters inside, leaving people trapped and the area in “total devastation,” Mr. Williams said. Aerial footage of the scene from local news media showed smoke and debris covering the area and barely any signs of the demolished house.

Persons: Firefighters, James Williams, ” Mr, Williams Organizations: Loudoun County Fire, Sterling Volunteer Fire Company Locations: Virginia, Sterling , Va, Washington, Loudoun County

A fast-moving storm system brought several inches of snow to parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for the second time this week, leaving two inches of snow in Central Park but double-digit accumulations in other areas, such as parts of Long Island. Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Md., described the overnight system, which over-performed in some places, as having a “narrow stripe” that brought eight to 12 inches of snow across portions of central Ohio through central Pennsylvania, north-central New Jersey and clipped the very extreme southern portions of New York. Nearly 10 inches of snow accumulated in Coney Island, while parts of Queens recorded up to six inches, according to the National Weather Service. Two inches of snow fell in Central Park. Snow totals so far have ranged from six to 10 inches across southwestern Long Island, southern portions of northeastern New Jersey and parts of Staten Island, forecasters said.

Persons: Zack Taylor Organizations: National Weather Service Locations: Central, Long, College Park, Md, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Coney Island, Queens, Central Park, Staten Island

☆ Pieces of Jackie Robinson Statue Are Found Burning in Kansas Park
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Parts of a life-size bronze statue that celebrated the legacy of the legendary baseball player and civil rights figure Jackie Robinson were found dismantled and burned early Tuesday after it had been stolen from a Kansas park last week, the authorities said. Remnants of the statue were found after a city worker reported a fire in a trash can at Garvey Park in Wichita at around 8:38 a.m., Andrew Ford, a police spokesman, said in a statement. The Wichita Fire Department responded and, “while assessing the damage, they found pieces of the Jackie Robinson statue that had been stolen.”The Fire Department immediately notified the police, who collected the pieces at the scene, he said, noting that “unfortunately, the statue is beyond repair.”

Persons: Jackie Robinson, Andrew Ford Organizations: Wichita Fire Department, Fire Department Locations: Kansas, Garvey, Wichita

☆ Statue of Jackie Robinson Stolen From Kansas Park
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The authorities in Kansas are searching for the vandals who stole a life-size bronze statue commemorating Jackie Robinson, the first Black Major League Baseball player, after they cut it off at the ankles, leaving behind just the statue’s shoes and base. The police in Wichita were notified of the theft around 12:50 p.m. on Thursday after getting a call from League 42, the Little League nonprofit that installed the statue in McAdams Park, Andrew Ford, a police spokesman, said on Saturday. He estimated that the statue weighed at least 100 pounds. “I don’t know what the motivation is,” Mr. Ford said. “All considerations are being looked into.”Image The police in Wichita, Kan., said the bronze statue was removed from McAdams Park by thieves who used a truck.

Persons: Jackie Robinson, Andrew Ford, ” Mr, Ford, McAdams Organizations: Black Major League Baseball, League, Little League, Wichita Police Department Locations: Kansas, Wichita, McAdams, Kan

☆ The World Hasn’t Seen Cicadas Like This Since 1803
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The cicadas are coming — and if you’re in the Midwest or the Southeast, they will be more plentiful than ever. This spring, for the first time since 1803, two cicada groups known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, are set to appear at the same time, in what is known as a dual emergence. The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period, Thomas Jefferson was president. After this spring, it’ll be another 221 years before the broods, which are geographically adjacent, appear together again. “Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” said Floyd W. Shockley, the chair of the Entomology Collections Committee at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Persons: Thomas Jefferson, it’ll, “, ”, Floyd W, Shockley, “ That’s Organizations: Southern, Northern Illinois, Northern Illinois Brood’s, Entomology, Smithsonian National Museum of Locations: Midwest, Louisiana, Northern

☆ Dangerous Sub-Zero Wind Chills to Blanket Much of the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( Anastasia Marks | Aimee Ortiz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Wind chills of as low as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Montana and the western Dakotas. These are just some of the forecasts from the National Weather Service as dangerous winter storm conditions pounding the United States from coast to coast are expected to persist through the holiday weekend. Snow, sleet, rain and dangerous wind chills are expected to batter the West Coast, the Plains, parts of the Northeast and extend into sections of the South. An “Arctic blast” will bring dangerously low wind chill temperatures in large parts of country, particularly through the Rocky Mountain region, the Dakotas, Montana and south through the Mississippi Valley. “These wind chills will pose a risk of frostbite on exposed skin and hypothermia,” the Weather Service said.

Persons: “, ” Organizations: National Weather Service, Dakotas, Weather Service Locations: Montana, New York, Northeast, United States, West Coast, Dakotas , Montana, Mississippi

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