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LIST: some of the brightest holiday light shows

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis is a major Midwest draw for holiday lights. Several local light displays draw people from hundreds of miles away. So, what are some of the most spectacular ones in our area?Here's a look at seven that stand out to us, when they're open, and how long you have to enjoy them:U.S. Bank Wild Lights:Saint Louis Zoo, Forest Park, November 24 to December 30.Explore a 40-foot walk-through lighted tree for a photo opportunity and see the Meet Me in St. Louis display, showcasing a 15-foot arch and a 17-foot steamboat silhouette backdrop. Other displays include the Frosted Forest, Butterfly Grove, Toy Town, Holly Jolly Hangout, Arctic Alley, Twinkling Tunnel, Peppermint Pathway, and Gingerbread Lane.2. Anheuser-Busch Brewery Lights:Downtown St. Louis, November 18 to December 30.At this event, there are over a million twinkling lights at the 38th annual Brewery Lights at the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Brewery.3. Garden Glow:Missouri Botanical Garden, November 18 to January 6...

Watch the skies! Your soup is here.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Exactly a decade ago, Amazon revealed a program that aimed to revolutionize shopping and shipping. Drones launched from a central hub would waft through the skies delivering just about everything anyone could need. They would be fast, innovative, ubiquitous — all the Amazon hallmarks.The buzzy announcement, made by Jeff Bezos on “60 Minutes” as part of a Cyber Monday promotional package, drew global attention. “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not,” said Bezos, Amazon’s founder and the CEO at the time. The drones would be “ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place,” probably in 2015, the company said.Eight additional years later, drone delivery is a reality — kind of — on the outskirts of College Station, Texas, northwest of Houston. That is a major achievement for a program that has waxed and waned over the years and lost many of its early leaders to newer and more urgent projects.Yet the ...

Discount wireless plans catch up as worthy rivals to the big carriers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

Americans have long been conditioned to believe that when they buy a cellphone, the next step is to pick a wireless plan from one of the big carriers: Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile. With their plans ranging from $60 to $200 a month for individuals and families, the price of a phone is soon eclipsed by the recurring service bills.What if I told you that it no longer had to be this way?Your phone bill could shrink to as little as $25 a month if you picked a wireless plan from a lesser-known service provider known as a discount carrier. The cheaper plans, based on my tests, offer sufficiently fast internet speeds and reliable phone service. It takes some courage and technological know-how to make the switch, but the potential savings outweigh the downsides.On the surface, these budget carriers, which include Cricket Wireless, Straight Talk, Boost Mobile, Mint Mobile and Visible, lack a cool factor. They do not operate their own cell networks; instead, they lease wireless services from ...

Grading The Week: Down goes LSU! Down goes Creighton! CU Buffs, CSU Rams proving Colorado’s still a college hoops state

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

If the state of FBS football — what the heck happened, Air Force? — around here has got you down, the Grading The Week crew’s got three words:Buck up, buttercup!Colorado is still a college hoops state. And the biggest four programs in the metro — CU men and women, CSU men and women — have spent the first three weeks of a long season planting flags. Oh, and taking names. Big names, too.Colorado = College Hoops State, baby! — AWhile Tad Boyle’s Buffs (4-1) are coming off a frustrating overtime loss to Florida State in Daytona Beach, Fla., CU’s got a great chance to right the ship against Iona (2-3) on Sunday, a game that’ll also serve as a tune-up for one of the more interesting Rocky Mountain Showdowns on the hardwood in years on Wednesday night.And not just because CU is flashing a future lottery pick in Cody Williams. Or because the Rams are riding on the rainbow fumes of a colossal 21-point win over No. 8 Creighton in Kansas City on ...

Roosevelt girls basketball returns entire starting lineup as Riders aim to build long-term championship culture

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

After pressing and trapping its way to the first state title in program history last season, Roosevelt girls basketball is capable of a Class 5A repeat this season.But Rough Riders head coach Enoch Miller said his team is thinking longer-term than just another ring. The bigger question he’s pondering: How can Roosevelt build itself into a perennial championship contender?That’s the question his five returning starters are intent on addressing this year, in addition to making another deep run at Denver Coliseum in March.“We’re focusing on our culture,” Miller explained. “We’re trying to push the seniors and our other upperclassmen to mold the 16 freshmen in our program. Every day is a bunch of wide eyes — we’re trying to slow it down a bit for them, teach them, help them.“Of course we’re focused on trying to win, but we’re also focused on being great teammates and building a culture that’s sustainable even when t...

Elias: Transgender students California’s latest state-local conflict

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

For the last several years, the dominant sentiment among Gov. Gavin Newsom and other top state officials and legislators has been that one size fits all of California when it comes to housing.Related ArticlesLocal News | Elias: Here are the signs Newsom is setting self up for ’28 presidential run Local News | Elias: California towns’ battle for local control still very much in play Local News | Elias: California should try same test on homelessness as addiction The conviction that the state can and should dictate virtually all policy on land use and development — an area that was previously the purview of local government as long as California has been a state — underlies all the major new housing laws California has adopted over the last three years.These measures make denials of building permits almost impossible in most places, even when proposed projects far exceed local plans approved by city councils, county boards an...

Stephens: The fallacy of the Mideast war “Cease-Fire Now” crowd

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

Of all that’s been said and written about the war between Israel and Hamas, nothing has cut through the mental fog quite so brightly as a remark this month from Hillary Clinton on “The View.”“Remember,” the former secretary of state said, “there was a cease-fire on Oct. 6 that Hamas broke by their barbaric assault on peaceful civilians and their kidnapping, their killing, their beheading, their terrible, inhumane savagery.”Those three words — that Hamas broke — aren’t trivial. They give the lie to the “Cease-Fire Now” mirage, or imposture, that has become a rallying cry at pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They are at the heart of what the war is about, and the key to how it can end. And they are the bright dividing line between those who would allow Hamas to get away with murder, and those who would refuse.Why should it matter that it was Hamas that broke the cease-fire when Palestinian civilians are being killed in large numbers by Israeli bombs and bullets? Those saying...

Grealish misses Man City vs. Liverpool match because of illness. Haaland starts

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Jack Grealish was left out of Manchester City’s squad against Liverpool on Saturday because he was was unwell.But Erling Haaland was in the starting lineup for the clash between the Premier League’s top two at Etihad Stadium. The striker sustained a knock while on international duty with Norway last week.City manager Pep Guardiola said England international Grealish was “feeling unwell” and that was the reason for the midfielder’s absence.John Stones was on the substitutes’ bench after recovering from a muscle injury.___More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Así está el legado de Diego Maradona, tres años después de su muerte

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

(CNN Español) — “Para nosotros los argentinos, el 10 es un número muy especial. Vos decís ‘10’ y automáticamente se te viene Maradona a la cabeza”, dijo Lionel Messi en semanas atrás en diálogo organizado por Adidas con el exfutbolista Zinedine Zidane.Diego Maradona tendría hoy 63 años. Habría visto campeón del mundo por tercera vez a la Selección de Argentina. Estaría, como siempre, con su aura magnética, con su presencia de fuego y con ese espíritu quijotesco que marcó el sendero de su vida.Maradona fue un rayo que recorrió el mundo gracias a sus hazañas deportivas, a su rebeldía incombustible, a su andar intrépido y sin pausas. Esa leyenda en vida se apagó un 25 de noviembre de 2020, a sus 60 años. Aunque con la inmortalidad que había adquirido, por una vida de tan alto voltaje, la cual tras su deceso no hizo más que agrandar ese legado de una figura distintiva mucho más allá del propio fútbol.Asimilando día a día su partida por parte de sus íntimosEste 25 de no...

At FGCU, there are no guards, no forwards and no centers. Only shooters.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

ESTERO, Fla. (AP) — If one was to break down Florida Gulf Coast’s scoring so far this season by position, this would be the mathematics:— 0% from guards.— 0% from forwards.— 0% from centers.— 100% from shooters.FGCU — a mid-major program that has won at least 30 games in six of the last nine seasons and has led all of Division I women’s basketball in 3-pointers made in each of the last four years — has taken the concept of positionless basketball to an entirely new level. The Eagles have 16 players on their roster, and every one of them is listed at the same position: shooter.Some may seem like guards, some may have post moves like forwards or centers, but the Eagles just classify everyone the same way.“I was being asked what position everybody was,” said Eagles coach Karl Smesko, who has guided his team into the season-ending AP Top 25 in two of the last three seasons; only nine schools have been ranked in the final poll in each of the last three seasons. “We don’t really have a po...