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This Anza-Borrego cave system among largest in North America

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Southern California is home to countless natural wonders spanning the region’s diverse landscape. Among those destinations, hidden deep in the badlands of Anza-Borrego State Park, is a cave system that scientists believe is the largest of its kind in North America.Called the Arroyo Tapiado Carrizo Mud Caves, the cave system is estimated to be a distance of several miles long through the park’s southern badlands, with individual caverns measuring as large as 130 meters deep and 1,000 feet in length.The mud caves are just one of numerous distinctive geological formations in the Anza-Borrego southern badlands that includes popular destinations like Font’s Point and the Wind Caves. California agreed to reduce its Colorado River usage, but San Diego might not see a change But unlike some other formations in the area that are one-of-a-kind oddities, what makes the Arroyo Tapiado pseudokarst formation unique is not necessarily how the caves were made – it’s how it ended up.“...

Mexico investigates possible case of extrajudicial killings by soldiers

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office is investigating a possible case of extrajudicial killings by soldiers that left five men dead in May in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, according to a federal official.A video, originally reported Tuesday evening by U.S.-based Univision and Spain’s El Pais newspaper, apparently shows the daytime incident. The federal official who was not authorized to comment on the case and requested anonymity, confirmed that the Attorney General’s Office had opened an investigation. The official would not say when the investigation began.A security camera shows a black pickup truck crashing full speed into a wall. A Mexican military truck with a gun turret arrives shortly thereafter and runs into the passenger side of the pickup, blocking the front and back doors.Soldiers then pull five men from the pickup, disarming and kicking them, then lining them up against the wall.Soldiers then turn back toward the road and appear to ope...

Pence to launch presidential campaign against Trump in Iowa, staking hopes on leadoff voting state

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Mike Pence is staking his presidential hopes on Iowa as he launches a campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Des Moines on Wednesday that will make him the first vice president in modern history to take on his former running mate.Pence’s campaign will also test the party’s appetite for a socially conservative, mild-mannered and deeply religious candidate who has denounced the populist tide that has swept through his party under former President Donald Trump. And it will show whether Pence still has a political future after Jan. 6, 2021, with a large portion of GOP voters still believing Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen and that Pence had the power to reject the results.Pence and his advisers see Iowa — the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP nominating calendar — as key to his potential pathway to the nomination. Its caucus-goers include a large portion of evangelical Christian voters, whom they see...

China trade tumbles in May, adding to signs economic recovery is slowing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s exports fell 7.5% from a year ago in May and imports were down 4.5%, adding to signs an economic rebound following the end of anti-virus controls is slowing as global demand weakens under pressure from higher interest rates.Exports slid to $283.5 billion, reversing from April’s unexpectedly strong 8.5% growth, customs data showed Wednesday. Imports fell to $217.7 billion, moderating from the previous month’s 7.9% contraction.Trade weakness adds to signs China’s rebound is slowing following the December lifting of anti-virus controls that shut down industrial cities for weeks at a time and blocked most international travel.Retail spending is lower than expected as consumers worry about the economic outlook and possible job losses. Factory activity is contracting after interest rate hikes to cool inflation in the United States and Europe depressed demand for Chinese exports. A government survey in April found a record 1 in 5 young workers in cities were unemploy...

Protesters brawl as Southern California school district decides whether to recognize Pride Month

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) — Protesters briefly scuffled and punches flew Tuesday as a Southern California school district decided whether to recognize June as Pride month.Several hundred people gathered in the parking lot of the Glendale Unified School District headquarters, split between those who support or oppose teaching about exposing youngsters to LGBTQ+ issues in schools. Some opponents wore T-shirts emblazoned with: “Leave our kids alone.”It was the same slogan used by some demonstrators last Friday outside Saticoy Elementary School in Los Angeles to protest a planned Pride assembly.As in Glendale, police officers had to separate groups of protesters and counterprotesters who came to blows.Across the nation, Pride month celebrations are kicking off amid rising backlash in some places against LGBTQ+ rights. Community parade organizers, school districts and even professional sports terms have faced protests for flying rainbow flags and honoring drag performers. While some Republic...

Air India plane flying from New Delhi to San Francisco lands in Russia after engine problem

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — An Air India plane flying from New Delhi to San Francisco landed in Russia after it developed an engine problem, officials said on Wednesday.The plane, carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members, landed safely at Russia’s Magadan airport in the country’s far east on Tuesday, Air India said in a statement.The flight “developed a technical issue with one of its engines,” the statement said, adding that the aircraft was undergoing safety checks and the passengers were being provided support on the ground.Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesman, said that American citizens were likely on the flight but could not immediately confirm how many. He said his understanding was that Air India would be sending a replacement aircraft to Russia so the passengers could continue their travel to the U.S.“We are continuing to monitor the situation,” Patel said.Girvaan Kaahma, 16, was traveling on the flight with his uncle and brother. He said they are barred from...

Opponents compete to square off against Venezuela’s powerful leader

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Leaders of Venezuela’s fractured opposition are shaking voters’ hands and promising — yet again — that they will defeat President Nicolás Maduro at the ballot box. Maduro is backed by the all-powerful United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which has controlled the nation and its oil wealth for a quarter-century. The party was led for 15 years by Hugo Chávez and has been behind Maduro for a decade, all the while tilting the electoral system in its favor and using government benefits as incentives to vote for it. Despite the sky-high odds against them, opposition leaders say that giving up would be worse, so they’re holding an Oct. 22 primary to decide who will take on Maduro next year. They are getting a lukewarm reception from dispirited voters who were told for years to boycott elections.Interested candidates could officially enter the race starting Tuesday but many election basics — such as who will vote, how and where — remain undetermined. Still, so far a...

As conservatives target schools, LGBTQ+ kids and students of color feel less safe

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The first encounter with racism that Harmony Kennedy can remember came in elementary school. On a playground, a girl picked up a leaf and said she wanted to “clean the dirt” from Harmony’s skin. In sixth grade, a boy dropped trash on the floor and told her to pick it up, “because you’re a slave.” She was stunned — no one had ever said anything like that to her before.As protests for racial justice broke out in 2020, white students at her Tennessee high school kneeled in the hallways and chanted, “Black lives matter!” in mocking tones. As she saw the students receive light punishments, she grew increasingly frustrated.So when Tennessee began passing legislation that could limit the discussion and teaching of Black history, gender identity and race in the classroom, to Harmony, it felt like a gut punch — as if the adults were signaling this kind of ignorant behavior was acceptable.“When I heard they were removing African American history, banning LGBTQ, I alm...

Bottomless supply? Concerns of limited Canadian hydropower as U.S. seeks to decarbonize grid

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Policymakers seeking to make the U.S. electric grid less reliant on fossil fuels have long looked north to Canada and its abundant surplus of hydropower, advocating for new transmission lines to bring more of that cheap, clean electricity south.But with demand for green energy growing north of the border, too, there are new concerns that Canada’s hydro supply isn’t as bottomless as it once seemed.A study published in May by the Montreal Economic Institute predicted that Quebec, now home to one of the world’s largest hydroelectric systems, will over the next decade fall short of the generating capacity needed to meet increasing demand for power in the province.Some New England lawmakers are questioning the wisdom of plans to construct new transmission lines across their states, despite Canadian energy giant Hydro-Québec’s insistence it can still meet its energy obligations.“They have their own energy needs,” Maine state Sen. Nicole Groho...

Quebec wilderness outfitters hit hard by Quebec fires and forest access ban

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:51:58 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec’s massive forest fires have forced most of the province’s wilderness outfitters to shut down during one of their busiest seasons. While some have been closed due to active fires, dozens of others have been forced to cancel reservations by a government order limiting access to forests in much of the province. Dominic Dugré, the president of Fédération des pourvoiries du Québec, an industry association, said that of the more than 500 outfitters who operate in Quebec’s forests, 350 have been forced to close. “These are the best weeks of the year,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s the peak for trout fishing, walleye, bear hunting, so those are precious weeks for the profitability and sustainability of the operations.”Dugré said only one outfitter’s operation has been confirmed to have burned, but it’s impossible to know whether others in the fire zones have been damaged or destroyed.“There is insur...