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Next year’s Olympics are giving Paris an impetus to confront crack cocaine use on city streets

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Neighborhoods in northeast Paris have struggled for years with the scourge of crack cocaine and its use in public. The Summer Olympics, kicking off a year from Wednesday, are offering an impetus to tackle the problem.Yet despite a surge in arrests and new promises of tougher security around the 2024 Paris Games, some residents question whether the newfound focus is just pushing users elsewhere instead of treating medical and mental health problems, a lack of housing and jobs and other deeper ills at the root of the crack crisis.Residents in the 18th and 19th arrondissements, or districts, of the French capital have long complained about the open-air crack use in their neighborhoods that stands in sharp contrast to the postcard-perfect tourist areas of Paris farther south.Small groups of people could be seen using illicit drugs on Sunday at the Porte de la Chapelle metro station and tram stop, located across the street from a new multi-purpose arena that is slated to hos...

Italy’s Meloni opens conference that aims to stanch flows of migrants to Europe with aid to Africa

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Sunday called for new, more equal relationships between Europe and migrants’ countries of origin and transit as she convened a summit of some 20 nations, EU officials and international organizations aimed at stanching flows of illegal migration.The one-day conference is a Meloni initiative that aims to make Italy a leader in resolving issues impacting Mediterranean nations. Chief among them is migration, as Italy sustains hundreds of new arrivals daily on Europe’s southern border, but also energy as Europe looks to Africa and the Middle East to permanently replace Russian supplies.Human rights groups see the meeting, which includes nations from both northern and sub-Saharan Africa as well as the Middle East, as creating a future roadmap, and worry it will amount to anti-migrant policies that put the onus on Africa to keep Africans out of Europe. Meloni told the opening meeting that Western arrogance had likely stood in the way of s...

'He's still got a lot of personality in there' - With help from many, Steve McMichael continues ALS fight and push for Hall of Fame

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

HOMER GLEN, Ill. — As he continues to battle a debilitating disease that has already taken so much from him, "Mongo" still hasn't lost what made him such a favorite in Chicago.The wife of Steve McMichael can see that, even as ALS has taken so much from him."He flirts with me, he does with his eyebrows," said Misty McMichael from the couple's residence in Homer Glen. "He can be mad, too. Sometimes we'll give him too much drugs and he'll give us the 'bulldog' to let us know he's had too much. "He's still got a lot of personality in there."(Courtesy: Misty McMichael)McMichael tries to show that off as much as he can these days, which is difficult due to because of what ALS has taken away from him. The former Bears' defensive tackle, who played 13 of his 15 NFL seasons in Chicago, can no longer talk or move on his own. He requires around-the-clock care from a live-in nurse, with Misty gathering the medical supplies and medication on a daily basis, with frequent trips required to pick th...

Sunday Brunch: Big Wig Tacos and Burritos

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

Check out this morning's Sunday Brunch with Big Wig Tacos and Burritos for more on their breakfast tacos.

Twitter dropping the bird logo, Musk says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk said Sunday that he plans to change the logo of Twitter to an “X” from the bird, marking what would be the latest big change since he bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year.In a series of posts on his Twitter account starting just after 12 a.m. ET, Twitter's owner said that he's looking to make the change worldwide as soon as Monday.“And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk wrote on his account.Earlier this month, the billionaire Tesla CEO put new curfews on his digital town square, a move that met with sharp criticism that it could drive away more advertisers and undermine its cultural influence as a trendsetter. What Twitter knows about you – and what you can do about it The higher tweet-viewing threshold is part of an $8-per-month subscription service that Musk rolled out earlier this year in an attempt to boost Twitter revenue. Revenue has dropped sharply since M...

These are the 10 most educated cities in the US: study

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

(KTLA) – Michigan is home to the most educated city in the nation, while cities in California and Texas dominated the list of the 10 least educated, according to a ranking released this week by WalletHub.The personal finance website graded 150 metropolitan areas on factors including the percentage of adults with a high school diploma, college experience or higher education degrees. It also examined the quality of public schools and universities and looked at gender and racial gaps. California home prices have fallen most in this city since June: Study Ann Arbor, Michigan, was ranked as the most educated city in the U.S., followed by San Jose, California; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco and Madison, Wisconsin.It was a good showing for the Golden State – until you look at the bottom of the list.Five California cities were ranked among the 10 least educated cities, according to WalletHub.The agricultural communities of Visalia (150), Bakersfield (147), Modesto (146), Stockton (145), ...

Where to go, what to do in Texas when it's too hot to handle

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – It's hot, hot, hot in Texas this summer – and national forecasters predict that will continue for at least another month. But if weeks of being cooped up in the air conditioning have you feeling a little restless, look no further. We asked locals from around the state what they do to beat the heat on a sticky summer day, and broke down their suggestions by metro area. As long as you can brave the heat long enough to get there, these spots promise to help cool you down amid this never-ending heat wave. AbileneAbilene is lucky to have nearly a dozen swim spots within a two-hour drive of the city. Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Nasworthy and Lake Ft. Phantom Hill are all great for swimming and building sand castles on the shore. Kids might also like to spend the day going down the slides at Adventure Cove.AmarilloWhile the Texas Panhandle is home to the 'coldest' cities in the Lone Star State, temperatures can still climb into triple-digits. However, there are still several popu...

Charley Walters: Vikings’ negotiations with Danielle Hunter could get ugly

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

It’s clear that unless Danielle Hunter gets a much bigger contract before Vikings training camp begins next week, he won’t be showing up.It’s a good guess that the Vikings are willing to improve the team’s top pass rusher’s $5.5 million salary for the coming season to $15 million plus incentives, but are reluctant, because of his injury history, to guarantee a deal for 2024 or beyond. It could take at least a two-year guaranteed contract in the $35 million to $40 million range to keep Hunter, 28, happy in Minnesota.If Hunter is a no-show for training camp, he would get fined on a daily basis. If he elected not to show up for the regular season, he would lose game checks.Coming out of LSU in 2018, Hunter signed an under-market $72 million, five-year contract. He also missed a season and a half due to injuries. Had he not missed those seasons, he would have received a long-term guaranteed deal from the Vikings. Now, negotiations could get ugly.— In a month or so, when Forbes comes out...

Letters: Delete, delete, for the future must be controlled

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

A future that must be controlledSo much previewed by George Orwell presents itself for inspection every day.“Who controls the past controls the future,” he wrote in his novel “1984”, adding, “Who controls the present controls the past.”Raw data is the enemy in such a scenario. It gets in the way of controlling the past and mucks things up.Thus, as the Pioneer Press reports (in an article by Christopher Magan, July 15): “The Minnesota Department of Human Services will delete emails more than a year old starting in August under a new policy unless workers decide the messages contain official government records.”The department’s dilemma, I suspect, is that, in the course of the free flow of discussion that occurs as workers resolve matters at hand, there may be unwise commentary typed into emails that might interfere with the manner in which, later on, the government wishes to present the past to the public.To sum up: While the thought process involved in decision-making is...

Azerbaijan president gives insight into prospect of peace with Armenia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:43 GMT

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has held a question-and-answer session with some 200 members of the press from around the world, gathered in the city of Shusha. It was recaptured from Armenia in 2020, during the Second Karabakh War. Since that conflict, a peace agreement has proved elusive, writes Political Editor Nick Powell from the Shusha Global Media Forum.President Ilham Aliyev took questions from journalists for nearly three hours at the Shusha Global Media ForumHe described the forum as “a remarkable event for our country and for Karabakh”. Shusha, he added, is a symbol of Azerbaijan’s victory in the Second Karabakh War but also of peace; after it was liberated the war stopped.Shusha has been officially declared by presidential decree the cultural capital of Azerbaijan. The government is restoring the city’s monuments after the Armenian occupation when Shusha’s traditional 17 mosques and 17 springs were destroyed. Five of the springs again have water.President Ilham A...