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Spotless arrival: Rare giraffe without coat pattern is born at Tennessee zoo

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

A giraffe without spots at a Tennessee zoo may be plain, but she’s definitely not ordinary.The female reticulated giraffe was born July 31 at the family-owned Brights Zoo in Limestone, a rural community in northeastern Tennessee.David Bright, one of the zoo’s owners, said the plain brown animal is a rarity: Research found another giraffe that was born without a pattern in Tokyo in 1972 and two others before that. The spots serve as camouflage for giraffes in the wild.The yet-unnamed baby is healthy and on display at the 103-acre zoo along with her mother, he said.The zoo took the unusual step of posting about the giraffe on its Facebook page in an effort to help conservation efforts, Bright said.“We generally do not post really any babies in the zoo but with this being such a unique situation, we knew that it would bring a lot of attention to giraffes, which would help us point people in the right direction of ‘hey, here’s how you can help giraffes in the wil...

Stock market today: Wall Street edges lower a day after a rare climb for August

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is edging lower Tuesday ahead of a couple potentially market-shaking events later in the week.The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in afternoon trading, coming off a rare August gain that was powered by Big Tech stocks Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 178 points, or 0.5%, at 34,263, as of 1:22 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was less than 0.1% higher.Stocks have struggled this month as yields have shot upward in the bond market, which cranks up the pressure on other investments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury drifted up and down Tuesday, a day after reaching its highest level since 2007.Nvidia, one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, swung from an early gain to a loss of 3% ahead of its earnings report on Wednesday, one that could be pivotal for the stock market. The chipmaker has been at the center of Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, which investors believe will create immense profits f...

Conditions are too dangerous to recover bodies of 2 men killed in Alaska plane crash, officials say

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Alaska (AP) — Recovering the bodies of two men killed earlier this month in a plane crash in a ravine cannot be performed safely, officials at Alaska’s Denali National Park and Preserve said.“If and when environmental conditions change, such as lower water volume or a frozen river allows access on foot, we will consider a recovery at that time,” Denali’s Chief Ranger Jordan Neumann said in a statement Monday.Pilot Jason Tucker, 45, of Wasilla and passenger Nicolas Blace, 44, of Chugiak, are presumed to have died when their PA-18 aircraft crashed in a tributary of the West Fork of the Yenta River, located in the southwest preserve of the national park.The Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center was informed of an overdue aircraft Aug. 9, but poor weather forced the initial search flight to turn around that evening.The following morning, a guard aircraft found the wreckage of the plane, which came to rest at the bottom of a narrow, steep...

IBM is selling The Weather Company assets to private equity firm Francisco Partners

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — IBM is selling assets of The Weather Company — including Weather.com and The Weather Channel mobile app — to private equity firm Francisco Partners.The two companies announced the deal Tuesday that also includes The Weather Company’s forecasting science and technology platform and other digital properties. They did not disclose its price.IBM agreed to buy The Weather Channel mobile app along with the digital assets of The Weather Company in 2015 for $2 billion — but did not acquire The Weather Channel seen on TV. Allen Media Group has owned the Weather Group, which includes The Weather Channel television network, since 2018.IBM will still retain its sustainability software business, including the Environmental Intelligence Suite. The Armonk, New York-based tech company said it also plans to still use The Weather Company’s weather data for this technology.According to Tuesday’s announcement, The Weather Company reaches an average of more than 415 million people each m...

Stricter bail a ‘balancing act’ with overrepresented groups: police chiefs

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

OTTAWA — The leader of Canada’s police chiefs says it’s a balancing act to toughen up the bail system without the risk of more people of colour ending up behind bars.Danny Smyth, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, made the comments today after meeting other chiefs to discuss opportunities for more immigrants to become officers.His comments come as the federal Liberal cabinet meets ahead of Parliament’s return next month, when housing, immigration and bail reform are expected to top the government agenda. Following a spate of high-profile violent crimes — including fatal shootings of officers — the police chiefs were among the voices calling on Ottawa to reform the bail system to make it harder for certain accused people to return to the community.Criminal justice experts say Black and Indigenous people are already overrepresented in the system and have difficulty getting bail as it is.Smyth says while reforming the bail system is a “ba...

$4 movie tickets? National Cinema Day returns this Sunday

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Still haven't seen “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer”? This Sunday, you'll be able to catch up for $4 a ticket in movie theaters nationwide.Theater owners announced Monday that the second annual National Cinema Day will be held Sunday, Aug. 27. For one day, all movies — in all formats and at all showtimes — will be $4 at participating theaters. More than 3,000 theaters are participating, which accounts for most of the cinemas in the U.S., including the leading chains AMC and Regal.It's the second straight year theaters are trotting out the one-day event at the tail end of summer. Last year's inaugural National Cinema Day, put on by the Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Association of Theater Owners, was judged an enormous success. An estimated 8.1 million moviegoers bought $3 tickets on Saturday, Sept. 3. The average movie ticket in 2022, according to NATO, cost $10.53.The discount gimmick turned into the highest attended day of the year for theaters. A...

South Suburban Airport closer to reality

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

MONEE, Ill. — Local leaders are celebrating a new law which will force the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to review development proposals for the long talked-about South Suburban Airport, and decide if the project can move forward. WGN Investigates: Is decision day finally near for third Chicago airport? House Bill 2531 passed the House 72-40 on Mar. 16, and the Senate 33-20 on May 17. It was then signed by Gov. Pritzker on July 28. The subsequent law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024 and puts a six-month deadline in place for IDOT to establish a prequalification process and begin reviewing proposals to develop and maintain the airport.Tuesday, U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (IL-02) held a press conference, alongside several other area leaders, to celebrate the impending prequalification process and discuss the impact they believe an airport will have on the region.See the full press conference, plus a discussion with WGN investigative reporter Ben Bradley, in the video...

New rule proposal would require seat belt warnings for rear seats

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

(WWLP) - The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed a new rule to require manufacturers to add a seat belt warning system for the rear seats of cars, trucks and some buses in order to increase seat belt use. High fatality rates due to lack of seat belt use In the recent proposal by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the rule also calls for a requirement of a seat belt warning for the front passenger seat and an increase to the length of the warning. This would apply to vehicles that weigh less than 10,000 pounds.The proposal suggests: A visual warning on a vehicle startup for at least 60 seconds, notifying the driver of the status of the rear seat belts. If a rear seat belt is not buckled, an audio warning would then go off for at least 30 seconds while the vehicle is driving.An audio-visual warning for the right front passenger seat that remains active until the seat belt is secured, similar to how the driver seat warning is currently.“Wearing a s...

Musk plans to strip headlines from news articles on X

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

(The Hill) – Billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has shared plans to strip headlines and other text from posts that display a news article’s lead image.The change, first reported Monday by Fortune, would mean that users — from individuals to publishers — would have to manually add their own text to posts and links that they share. Otherwise, the post will only display an image with no context other than an overlay of the URL. A source told the media outlet that Musk was pushing for the latest change, noting how it will help reduce the height of posts, allowing more posts to fit into the portion of the timeline that appears onscreen. The source added Musk said the change will help curb the clickbait problem on the site.“It’s something Elon wants. They were running it by advertisers, who didn’t like it, but it’s happening,” the source told Fortune, noting Musk said news articles occupy too much space on the platform. Musk...

JetBlue slashing airfare prices for some fall travel. Here's when to buy

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:06 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — JetBlue is offering major discounts on certain airfares for travel starting as early as next month. Here's the details on the JetBlue Big Fall Sale.Now through Thursday, customers can access a variety of sales, including one-way tickets as low as $39. Travel dates must be between Sept. 6 and Nov. 15, 2023, excluding travel on Fridays and Sundays. Other blackout dates may apply depending on certain routes, JetBlue says. United Airlines pilot filmed chopping at parking gate with ax had hit a ‘breaking point,’ he told deputies The deals are good for the airline's lowest fare classes, Blue Basic and Blue — both of which come with some limitations. As explained by the Points Guy, Blue Basic flyers are only allotted one personal item onboard. Full-size carry-ons must be checked at $65. While Blue does offer one free carry-on, all checked baggage will cost extra. See a movie for $4 on National Cinema Day Also important to note is that while the Blue fare class doesn't come ...