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An accident at Germany’s biggest theme park injures 7 people, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Seven people were injured in an accident on Monday at Germany’s biggest theme park, police said.The accident happened at the Europa-Park in the town of Rust, near the French and Swiss borders. The park said that a mobile pool cracked and diving platforms attached to it from which acrobats jump collapsed during a show on Monday afternoon, German news agency dpa reported. Water from the pool flowed into a water ride attraction called Atlantica SuperSplash.Police said that five performers and two visitors were injured, and that three of the performers were taken to a hospital for checks. The cause of the accident wasn’t immediately clear.The park is a popular tourist attraction that drew more than 6 million visitors last year, mostly from Germany, France and Switzerland.It has areas with themes based on different European countries, and three based on fantasy settings. The park also hosts conferences and is a popular venue for events and television productions...

Biden says auto workers need ‘good jobs that can support a family’ in union talks with carmakers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is asking major U.S. automakers and their workers’ union to reach an agreement that takes “every possible step to avoid painful plant closings” as the sector transitions to electric vehicles.The president has not yet been endorsed by the United Auto Workers as he seeks reelection, despite his broad support from organized labor going into the 2024 campaign. The UAW represents 146,000 workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which are commonly known as the big three automakers. The workers’ contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14.Biden said in a statement Monday that as the market moves away from gasoline-powered vehicles, the auto industry still must provide “good jobs that can support a family” and ensure that “transitions are fair and look to retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities at comparable wages, while giving existing workers the first shot to fill those jobs.”“The UAW helped create the American...

Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui killed at least 96 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.Emergency management officials say the death toll is expected to rise as cadaver dogs and searchers make their way through the ashes of Lahaina, a historical town of 13,000 where almost every building was destroyed in the blaze.The Maui wildfires are currently the nation’s fifth-deadliest on record, according to research by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that publishes fire codes and standards used in the U.S. and around the world. Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the three separate wildfires that were fueled by dry weather and the winds of a nearby hurricane.A look at the other deadliest fires in U.S. history:THE PESHTIGO FIREThe deadliest U.S. wildfire on record claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and decimated the logging town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, about 50 miles (80 kilometers)...

Michael Oher, former NFLer known for ‘The Blind Side,’ accuses Tuohys of lying

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

Michael Oher, the former NFL tackle known for the movie “The Blind Side,” filed a petition Monday in a Tennessee probate court accusing Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy of lying to him by having him sign papers making them his conservators rather than his adoptive parents nearly two decades ago.In the petition filed Monday in Shelby County Probate Court, Oher asks for the conservatorship to be terminated along with asking for a full accounting of the money earned off the use of his name and story.He also asks to be paid what he is due, along with interest. Oher, who has never been a fan of the movie of his life, also asks in the petition that the Tuohys be sanctioned and required to pay both compensatory and punitive damages determined by the court.ESPN.com first reported the petition.Michael Oher, who was the subject of ‘THE BLIND SIDE,’ has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was never adopted by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, but was instead tricked into a conservatorship that gave...

UBS to pay $1.44 billion to settle 2007 financial crisis-era mortgage fraud case, last of such cases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — UBS will pay U.S. authorities $1.44 billion to settle the last lingering legal case over Wall Street’s role in the housing bubble of the early 2000s, which ultimately led to the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession. The Swiss bank agreed to pay a civil penalty over how it handled the sale of 40 mortgage-backed securities issued in 2006 and 2007. The settlement argues that UBS bankers gave false and misleading statements about the health of the mortgages in those bonds to the buyers in violation of federal securities law. For example, UBS bankers knew that the underlying mortgages in these bonds were poorly underwritten or violated consumer protection laws. The bonds in question ended up with substantial losses for investors. With the UBS settlement, the last remaining outstanding legal case from the Great Recession has now come to a close, the Justice Department said. Banks paid collectively more than $36 billion in civil penalties for their conduct relate...

‘No Labels’ movement says it could offer bipartisan presidential ticket in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A national political movement that could offer a bipartisan presidential ticket in 2024 as an alternative to major-party nominees said Monday it has now won ballot access in 10 states, after North Carolina election officials formally granted official status to a “No Labels” affiliate.The State Board of Elections voted 4-1 on Sunday to recognize the No Labels Party as an official North Carolina party following a successful petition effort. It joins four other recognized parties with which voters can now choose to be registered and field candidates.The new North Carolina party is linked to a national No Labels effort that lists a wide array of mostly centrist political leaders backing it. They include former North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who became an independent.No Labels is poised to offer a bipartisan ticket for president and vice president if Democrats and Repub...

Chicagoland residents asked to conserve water amid showers, storms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago residents are being asked to conserve water on Monday as showers and storms sweep across the area. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) of Greater Chicago has declared Monday as an "Overflow Action Day." Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms; Heavy Rains Possible The MWRD issued an Overflow Action Alert in an effort to reduce the amount of water in municipal sewers, to help avoid flooding and sewer backups as storms batter the area. Residents are being asked to delay showers and baths, flush toilets less frequently and wait to run the dishwasher or washing machine to help avoid flooding inside and around homes. The MWRD has a full list of actions residents can take to prevent flooding on its website.According to the alert, flooding and sewer backups can happen for several reasons. The MWRD says it treats an average of 1.47 billion gallons of wastewater per day, but during storms, the number reaches above 2 billion gallons. After seve...

North Dakota boy survives 100-foot-fall at Grand Canyon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — A 13-year-old North Dakota boy has survived a fall of nearly 100 feet at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon during a family trip.Authorities said it took emergency crews two hours to rescue Wyatt Kauffman after he slipped on a cliff Tuesday and plunged nearly 100 feet at the Bright Angel Point trail.The teenager was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital for treatment of nine broken vertebrae plus a ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, a concussion and a broken hand and dislocated finger. It was a popular national monument, until it was robbed to extinction “I was up on the ledge and was moving out of the way so other people could take a picture,” Kauffman told Phoenix TV station KPNX. “I squatted down and was holding on to a rock. I only had one hand on it.“It wasn’t that good of a grip. It was kind of pushing me back. I lost my grip and started to fall back,” he added.Rescue crews had to rappel down the cliff and get the injured boy out of the canyon in a basket.“I just reme...

See the first college football AP Top 25 poll of 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

NEW YORK — We're less than two weeks away from the start of college football season and we now know the team to beat to start the 2023 campaign. There are also a few teams of Chicago area interest that have found their way into the conversation when it comes to the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll.Defending national champion Georgia begins the season as the No. 1 team after receiving 60 of 63 first place votes. Michigan received two of those and is ranked second in the AP Top 25, their highest to start a season since 1991. Ohio State, who got the other first place vote, Alabama, and LSU round out the top five. Notre Dame, who finished 18th in the final AP poll after a 9-4 season in 2022, will start this season ranked 13th in rankings in Marcus Freeman's second season. They'll open the FBS season on Saturday, August 26, when they face Navy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, which is set for a 1 p.m. central time start. Illinois, which finished with eight wins for the first ti...

'Blind Side' lawsuit: Michael Oher alleges Tuohys used 'false' adoption story to make money

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:54 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The man and former football player at the center of the film "The Blind Side" is suing his adoptive family, claiming they never actually adopted him and instead tricked him into signing over the rights to his life story in order to make money.Michael Oher, whose story was the subject of the hit 2009 movie, claimed in a Tennessee court that the basis of the movie is a lie. Oher said the Tuohy family never legally adopted him.In the court filing, Oher said Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy presented him with a petition in 2004 for a conservatorship, which granted them "total control over [his] ability to negotiate for or enter any contract" even though he was over the age of 18 and had no physical or mental disabilities. He said they presented it as the only option they had to "adopt" him since he was over 18.Since then, Oher claims, the Tuohys have "falsely and publicly represented themselves as the adoptive parents of Michael."In the petition filed Monday in Shelby...