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Book invites kids to turn native gardens into national park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

Doug Tallamy, the wildlife ecologist and entomologist who urges home gardeners to join forces and create a pollinator-friendly “Homegrown National Park,” is now bringing kids into the effort.Tallamy has become a leading evangelist for the return of native plants and trees that can support birds, bees and other essential wildlife. Anyone with a yard, patio or windowsill can chip in.And they can encourage parks, playgrounds, schools and colleges, hospitals and office buildings, golf courses and even airports to join in, he urges.Tallamy’s new book, “Nature’s Best Hope: How You Can Save the World in Your Own Yard” (Timber Press), is aimed at middle schoolers (and, he hopes, their parents) in time for Earth Day. It follows his influential 1999 book for a general audience, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.”He hopes the book will carry the message into classrooms around the country.“The idea is that kids are the future stewards of ou...

Dutch salvage team set to pump oil off rusting Yemen tanker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch salvage company has reached agreement with the United Nations to pump oil from a rusting tanker off the coast of war-ravaged Yemen in a move hailed as a “critical milestone” in moves to avert a possible environmental disaster, its parent company announced Thursday.Boskalis said that its Smit Salvage subsidiary has reached agreement with the U.N. Development Program to transfer more than one million barrels of oil from the decaying tanker FSO Safer. A specialist support ship, the Ndeavor, is setting sail Friday to the east African nation of Djibouti to prepare for the mission, the company said.The announcement came just over a month after the U.N. said it had signed an agreement to buy a very large vessel that can hold oil pumped off the Safer.The Japanese-made Safer was built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in the 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels of oil pumped from fields in Marib, a province in eastern Yemen. With the impoverished Arab ...

Texan princess evicted from Rome villa, Caravaggio stays

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

ROME (AP) — A Texas-born princess piled her four yapping bichon frise dogs into a taxi Thursday after being evicted, following a bitter inheritance dispute, from a historic villa in Rome that contains the only known ceiling painted by Caravaggio.Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, nee Rita Carpenter, abandoned the Casino dell’Aurora off the swank Via Veneto hours after Carabinieri police arrived to enforce a court-mandated eviction order. Before she had even left, a locksmith changed the locks on the big green front door. Her dramatic exit — one of the dogs briefly escaped as she spoke to journalists on the street — capped a remarkable, years-long soap opera that exposed the dirty laundry of one of Rome’s aristocratic families. The Boncompagni Ludovisi are perhaps best known for having produced Pope Gregory XIII of Gregorian calendar fame. But lately they have attracted more attention due to the inheritance dispute and court-mandated auction of their famous villa in the hea...

320 Sudanese soldiers crossed into neighboring Chad

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

N’DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — At least 320 Sudanese soldiers have fled into neighboring Chad amid fighting in their own country, authorities said. A contingent of soldiers crossed into Chad earlier this week and have been disarmed said Daoud Yaya Brahim, Chad’s defense minister at a press conference in the capital, N’Djamena, on Wednesday.As fighting rages in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, concerns of a regional spillover are increasing. After the fighting erupted on Saturday, as both sides vie for power, Chad closed its 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) border with Sudan. The RSF is a powerful armed force and this military superiority likely explains why Sudanese troops are fleeing into Chad, say conflict analysts.“By detaining these fleeing troops, (Chad’s president) is seeking to avoid the perception that he is allowing the Sudanese army to operate fro...

16-year-old critical after double shooting on South Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

CHICAGO — A 16-year-old boy was critically wounded following a double shooting on the South Side early Thursday morning.Just after 12:15 a.m., police responded to the 2900 block of South State on the report of shots fired. Police discovered a 16-year-old boy laying down inside a residence suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Northwestern in critical condition. 3-year-old girl shot inside Gary home A 20-year-old man self-transported to the University of Chicago with a gunshot wound to the body. He was last listed in good condition.No one is in custody. Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

Girls, 13 and 15, face felonies for robbery and battery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

CHICAGO — Two teenagers, 13 and 15, are facing multiple felonies for a robbery and aggravated battery that took place in the Loop Wednesday. Police reports state that both the 13 and 15-year-old girls are facing two felony counts of robbery and another count of aggravated battery. According to police, the girls were arrested on Wednesday around 7:40 p.m. in the 100 block of West 79th Street on the South Side. They were identified as the offenders who less than 90 minutes earlier, battered and robbed a 30-year-old woman in the 100 block of West Jackson Boulevard. 3-year-old girl shot inside Gary home Police said they were also connected to a robbery of a 26-year-old woman in the 100 block of West Madison Street. The teens were placed into custody and charged accordingly.

Michelin recalls snow tires that don't have enough traction

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Michelin is recalling more than 542,000 snow tires in the U.S. because they don't have enough traction to work in all snowy conditions.The recall covers certain Agilis CrossClimate C-Metric tires that Michelin says don't meet U.S. safety standards. The tire maker says in documents posted Thursday by safety regulators that tires without sufficient traction can increase the risk of a crash.Dealers will replace the tires at no cost to owners. Owners will get interim notification letters starting June 12. They'll get another letter once the replacements are available.The company says initial tire testing was done with the wrong tire pressure. Later tests by Michelin discovered the problem.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has posted a document with the tire sizes on its website.

SpaceX giant rocket fails minutes after launching from Texas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but failed minutes after rising from the launch pad.Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites; both the booster and spacecraft on top were to be ditched into the sea.Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. Space’s first try to launch the rocket was called off Monday because of a stuck valve in the rocket during fueling.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s new rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, blasted off Thursday on its first test flight, thundering into the South Texas sky in an attempt to orbit the world.Elon Musk’s company launched the nea...

Chicago survivalist on Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

Cannabis cultivator Raven Smith is in the current season of Naked and Afraid. She spent 2 weeks in the mangroves of Palomino, Colombia as part of a fan challenge. Raven's episode is streaming now. And you can see new episodes of Naked and Afraid every Sunday on Discovery.

Nearly 1,500 book bans implemented in the first half of this school year: analysis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:05:13 GMT

(The Hill) - Almost 1,500 school book bans were put into place around the U.S. in the first half of the current academic year, according to PEN America.An analysis from the group released Thursday found 1,477 book bans implemented in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, affecting 874 unique books. The six months prior, from January 2022 to June, there were 1,149 instances of book bans found by the free speech organization. While PEN America put together a comprehensive report, it says the number of book bans is "unquestionably much higher" than what it was able to gather from public information. It distinguished among four different types of book bans: banned in libraries and classrooms, banned in libraries, banned in classrooms and banned pending investigation. Banned pending investigation was the most popular category for the first half of the current school year, making up 52 percent of the book bans, the organization found. “Though timelines vary acro...