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‘Without water, there is no life’: Drought in Brazil’s Amazon is sharpening fears for the future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Communities dependent on the Amazon rainforest’s waterways are stranded without supply of fuel, food or filtered water. Dozens of river dolphins perished and washed up on shore. And thousands of lifeless fish float on the water’s surface.These are just the first grim visions of extreme drought sweeping across Brazil’s Amazon. The historically low water levels have affected hundreds of thousands of people and wildlife and, with experts predicting the drought could last until early 2024, the problems stand to intensify.Raimundo Silva do Carmo, 67, makes his living as a fisherman, but these days has been struggling to simply find water. Like most rural residents in Brazil’s Amazon, do Carmo typically retrieves water untreated from the biome’s abundant waterways. On Thursday morning, he was making his fourth trip of the day to fill a plastic bucket from a well dug into the cracked bed of Lake Puraquequara, just east of Amazonas state’s...

Clergy burnout is a growing concern in polarized churches. A summit offers coping strategies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) — Every morning, the Rev. Karna Moskalik goes through a “grounding” routine that involves prayer, Bible reading, positive affirmations, and meditations about the best outcomes for the day’s tasks, as well as lighting a perfumed candle and walking through each space of her Lutheran church.“I always feel like work never ends, but at the same time I beefed up grounding because without it, I feel absolutely ineffective,” said Moskalik, who grew up a pastor’s daughter and has led the 700-member Our Savior’s congregation for four years in this small riverside town.That level of faith-based self-care is just what many clergy should practice to avoid the burnout and deteriorating mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression that experts say are affecting religious leaders at a worrisome pace.“Mental health needs are just overwhelming faith communities,” said Jamie Aten, a professor at Wheaton College and the co-founder of Spiritual First Aid. He is helping organ...

Some GOP candidates propose acts of war against Mexico to stop fentanyl. Experts say that won’t work

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Ron DeSantis wants suspected drug smugglers at the U.S.-Mexico border to be shot dead. Nikki Haley promises to send American special forces into Mexico. Vivek Ramaswamy has accused Mexico’s leader of treating drug cartels as his “sugar daddy” and says that if he is elected president, “there will be a new daddy in town.”Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 nomination and long the person who has shaped his party’s rhetoric on the border, has often blamed Mexico for problems in the United States and promises new uses of military force and covert action if he returns to the White House.Many of the GOP presidential candidates say they would carry out potential acts of war against Mexico in response to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. More than 75,000 people in the U.S. died last year from overdoses of synthetic opioids, an annual figure more than 20 times higher than a decade ago.The candidates’ antagonism toward Me...

From Coke floats to Cronuts, going viral can have a lasting effect on a small business

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Lexington Candy Shop in New York City has served burgers, fries and shakes to hungry patrons for decades. Last remodeled in 1948, the diner is the definition of old-fashioned.But that hasn’t stopped it from getting a wave of new fans.In August 2022, this old school business met the new world when Nicolas Heller, a TikToker and Instagrammer with 1.2 million followers known as New York Nico, popped in for a traditional Coke float – Coke syrup, soda water and ice cream. Naturally, he took a video. It went viral, garnering 4.8 million likes.“The next day (after the video was posted), the lines started forming at 8 in the morning,” John Philis, the diner’s third-generation co-owner, recalls with amazement. “And it was like, huh!”When a smaller restaurant unexpectedly goes viral on TikTok or other social media, the sudden demand can be overwhelming. Owners have to adapt on the fly, revamping operations to quickly serve a crush of people. But savvy business owners...

Ideal weather for the Chicago Marathon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

Mostly cloudy skies are expected with a 20% chance for some light showers and sprinkles, but for the most part, will be dry and cool. Temperatures around the start of the race are expected to be in the mid to upper 40s. WGN’s 2023 Chicago Marathon GuideThe mosquito niche refers to the specific ecological and environmental conditions in which mosquitoes thrive, and play a role in ecosystems. Climate change significantly impacts the conditions for mosquito survivability and roaming. Higher temps speed up their life cycles, increasing reproduction rates while extended warm seasons allow mosquitoes to expand their geographical range, bringing diseases to new areas.Mosquitoes are known vectors of diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika, and understanding their niche is crucial for disease management and ecological balance. As climate change induces more extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall or droughts, mosquito populations can fluctuate, affecting the transmission of disease...

PHOTOS: Day 2 of 2023 Austin City Limits Music Festival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Weekend One of Austin City Limits Music Festival continued Saturday at Zilker Park. Shania Twain, Foo Fighters, Tove Lo, Noah Kahan, Alanis Morissette, Thirty Seconds to Mars and many more performers took the stage Saturday. MORE PHOTOS: Day 1 of Weekend 1 at ACL Here's some pics from Day Two of Weekend One:Shania TwainShania Twain performs during the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Laura Roberts/Invision/AP)Shania Twain performs during the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Laura Roberts/Invision/AP)Shania Twain performs during the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Laura Roberts/Invision/AP)Shania Twain performs during the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, Oct....

Autumn air much of the week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Overnight temperatures fell to the 50s for most of the area. There were some mid and upper 40s reported in parts of the Hill Country. Today will be mostly sunny with most highs ranging from the middle 70s to around 80°. Humidity will fall to the 20s during the afternoon.Expect another chilly night with morning lows Monday falling to the 50s.Rain chances return on Tuesday. Moisture in the mid and upper levels from Tropical Storm Lidia (soon to be Hurricane Lidia) will stream into Texas. Showers and thunderstorms will increase during the afternoon, lasting into the evening and overnight hours.A few showers will be possible early Wednesday morning, Thursday and Friday morning. The next cold front arrives Friday morning. Limited moisture results in a low rain chance east of I-35. The front leaves a strong north wind Friday afternoon and night.The area will go from highs in the upper 80s to low 90s Thursday to the low to mid 80s Friday to the mid to upper 70s Saturday. ...

Baby horned lizards released to the wild from north, east Texas zoos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A new batch of baby horned lizards raised in north and east Texas zoos were released to the wild Friday as part of ongoing efforts to restore the Texas species.The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department alongside the Fort Worth, Dallas and Caldwell zoos released the babies "in an ongoing effort to restore this iconic Texas species to its native range," the TPWD and Fort Worth Zoo said in a joint Facebook post.TPWD officials said in the post the species has been in a population decline for the past 50 to 60 years.TPWD and Fort Worth Zoo officials added in an Instagram post the two entities are tracking the species' progress in their release zones, noting they've discovered offspring from one of the horned lizards released two years ago.The Texas horned lizard is currently designated as a "threatened species in Texas," according to TPWD information on the species. The horned lizard is marked by its characteristic head with multiple horns, brownish color and "two rows of ...

“You’re not free to leave”: A San Jose police officer beat a jaywalking suspect who failed to follow his orders. Should he have walked away instead?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

Journalists from the Bay Area News Group and the California Reporting Project reviewed a series of cases involving violent confrontations between San Jose police and mentally impaired individuals. Many of those cases raise questions about the conduct of the department’s officers, who have been trained to avoid the use of force in such situations. Our full report can be read here.Case Study #2: William WallaceTHE SCENE: A nearly empty Sunol Street near the intersection with West San Carlos Street, on May 26, 2021. San Jose Police Officer Barron Kim’s encounter with Wallace on this night over a minor infraction — jaywalking — careened into violence. Should the officer have walked away rather than confronting him?William Wallace sits bloodied and handcuffed in a southbound traffic lane on Sunol Street following a 2021 stop by San Jose Police for alleged jaywalking. (San Jose Police) Kim immediately suspected that Wallace’s “bizarre behavior” stemmed from mental illness or in...

“Watch this guys”: San Jose police encouraged residents of a homeless camp to observe as they beat a mentally ill man

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:35:31 GMT

Journalists from the Bay Area News Group and the California Reporting Project reviewed a series of cases involving violent confrontations between San Jose police and mentally impaired individuals. Many of those cases raise questions about the conduct of the department’s officers, who have been trained to avoid the use of force in such situations. Our full report can be read here.Case Study #1: Arthur Lee TurnerTHE SCENE: A homeless encampment near the Guadalupe River, on September 16, 2019. A decision by two San Jose officers to corral residents for “trespassing” led to the beating, pepper spraying and Tasing of an unhoused man who failed to follow the officers’ commands but did not appear to threaten them. A policing expert who reviewed the records called the officers’ actions “the wrong approach.”Arthur Lee Turner falls to the ground after Officers Alex Cristancho and Steven Aponte tase him. (San Jose Police) Officers Steven Aponte and Alex Cristancho had li...