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St. Louis baby diagnosed with rare brain tumor survives after surgery

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — A St. Louis baby was given a life-threatening diagnosis before she was even born, when doctors found a tumor on her brain.In March of 2020, single mom Emily Murray did IVF to start her family. Murray got pregnant with her daughter Elizabeth the day before the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down.At a routine ultrasound just weeks before her due date, doctors found a mass on the baby’s brain.“It really always felt like things were going to be okay in a strange way, as dire as they actually were,” Murray says.Elizabeth was diagnosed with a very rare congenital brain tumor, and they were immediately set up with fetal care team at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.“We weren’t able to get a diagnosis because she was so small, because of where the tumor was in her brain,” Murray says.In November of 2020, baby Elizabeth was born.Doctors said she was too small to get the tumor removed immediately.As parts of her health declined, she had the operation when she was 5 mo...

Paw-some pooches show off surfboard skills at Hang 8 competition on Flagler Beach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Beachgoers near Daytona Beach treated to some waves and tails on the water.The fun in the sun on Saturday was part of the annual Hang 8 Dog Durfing competition.Surfers got on the water with their four-legged friends, who were seen riding the waves just as well.Thirty dogs were signed up to surf, and even more pooches participated in a costume competition.When asked how the canines respond to dressing up, surfer Chris Yeloushan replied, “They love it. She’s been dressing up our dogs since they were born, so they’re used to it, always looking for a way to get on camera.”The event was not only a competition, but a fundraiser as well. All proceeds will go to nonprofit groups dedicated to help animals in need, including K9s for Warriors, SMART Animal Rescue and the Flagler Humane Society.

Spotlight shines on mental health at Back 2 Basics event in Fort Lauderdale

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

A South Florida organization went back to the basics when it comes to mental health.Back 2 Basics, held Sunday at Esplanade Park in Fort Lauderdale, aimed to help communities crush the stigma around asking for help.Attendees got a chance to talk to mental health professionals.It also was a day of fun for everyone of all ages to help balance the mind while raising awareness.“We’re seeing more people asking for help, we’re seeing small children needing a little more attention, adults that never really thought of this before coming out and saying, ‘Hey, I don’t feel well. Please, can you help me?'” said Dr. Ann Monis, CEO and forensic psychologist with Transformative Healthcare Solutions. “So we wanted to bring this out and say, ‘Hey, community, we’re here, come talk to us, come over here, we’re available.'”The Florida Mental Health Coalition sponsored the event.May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

NSU dance students — and roommates — open up about performing for Heat, Panthers amid East finals

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

A duo of roommates are also dancers for two of South Florida’s biggest sports teams, not only sharing bills but also both teams’ drive.While the Miami Heat and the Florida Panthers are having simultaneous success, so are Madison Cantor and Natasha Madrigal, who just might be helping both teams dance right to their respective championships.“It’s both our rookie years, two on a team and, like, that’s happening, like, it’s just really thrilling,” said Madrigal.“Creating a bond and friendship, not only that we make on our teams separately, but that we get to be together, and we get to share this for the rest of our lives,” said Cantor.The dance majors from Nova Southeastern University claim they have their dream college jobs.“It was definitely, like, a big learning process, only because we have to balance school and having a professional dance job, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like we’re at work, because we...

Time for Ukraine to launch an anti-corruption counteroffensive

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

Josh Rudolph is the senior fellow and head of the malign finance and corruption team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. Ambassador Norman Eisen is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute. As Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces gets underway, the country’s allies must now help plot a separate counteroffensive — one that will be needed to beat another longtime nemesis of the Ukrainian people: oligarchs and grand corruption. A small group of businessmen — many of whom became fabulously wealthy by manipulating the process of privatizing enormous companies previously owned by the Soviet state — often consolidated control over weak governments through political maneuvers like buying media conglomerates, bankrolling political parties, bribing judges, blackmailing prosecutors and underwriting vast networks of patronage, which extend from lawmakers and ministers in Kyiv to governors and bureaucrats throughout t...

No future for Europe without a new social contract

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

The European Union urgently needs to be more social. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, people in the EU are dealing with one crisis after another, crises that are putting at risk their access to housing, their purchasing power, their energy supply and that are leaving people unable to provide food for their families. An increasing number of families and individuals are facing energy poverty and social exclusion, while inequalities are increasing rapidly. We need to respond to this acute social crisis, and we must prepare a just transition to a climate-neutral economy. Achieving a more social Europe is a formidable challenge that should be central in all the Union’s actions.Governments have been slow or unwilling to respond to the social crisis, and no ambitious plan has been put forward.Governments have been slow or unwilling to respond to the social crisis, and no ambitious plan has been put forward. Saving the banks during the 2008 financial collapse and the coordinated ec...

Carbon removal technology: a sustainable solution to a global problem

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

The race is on to revolutionize the fight against the climate crisis. And for Drax, carbon removals are seen as a critical tool.Renewable energy company Drax is positioning itself as a global leader in carbon removals using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Currently the UK’s largest renewable energy provider by output, Drax was one of the first companies in the world to set the lofty goal of becoming carbon negative — removing more emissions from the atmosphere than it creates — by 2030. Over the past decade Drax has worked toward this goal, while supporting energy security in the U.K., by converting its coal generation units in Yorkshire to renewable biomass made from sustainably sourced wood pellets. Now, Drax is focused on the development of its global BECCS projects.“BECCS is unique because it delivers reliable renewable power — essential for energy security — as well as carbon removals, which the world needs to reach net zero. No other readily available techno...

On debt ceiling, Biden, McCarthy to meet Monday as negotiators ‘keep working’ to resolve standoff

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and House Republicans wrapped up another round of debt ceiling talks Sunday as Washington races to strike a budget compromise along with a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit and avert an economy-wrecking federal default. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone Sunday while the president was returning home on Air Force One after the Group of Seven summit in Japan. They plan to meet Monday at the White House.“It went well, we’ll talk tomorrow,” Biden said of the phone call as he arrived back in Washington late in the evening.Upbeat, McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol that the call was “productive” and that the on-again, off-again negotiations between his staff and White House representatives are focused on spending cuts.Negotiators for the Democratic president and Republican speaker met for 2 1/2 hours at the Capitol as talks appear to be narrowing on a 2024 budget year cap that would be k...

Legislature OKs bill to boost transportation funding with gas tax hike, new package delivery fee

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

A transportation budget bill that would increase the per-gallon tax on gasoline and introduce a fee on many deliveries is set to become law after gaining final approval from the Minnesota Legislature.Under an $8.8 billion transportation package approved by the Senate and House on Sunday, Minnesota’s gas tax would be indexed to the rate of inflation, a move that could increase the price of fuel by 5 cents per gallon by 2027. The current state tax is 28.5 cents. The new 50-cent tax would apply to retail deliveries over $100.Republicans in the minority oppose the new taxes, but Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers who control the Senate and House say expected future shortfalls in transportation funding demand new sources of ongoing revenue from the state.Rep. Frank Hornstein and Sen. Scott Dibble, Minneapolis DFLers who chaired the House-Senate conference committee on transportation that approved a deal on the taxes, said the bill is a “historic, generational investment.”“I’m ...

3 minors, adult arrested after Fairfield attempted robbery

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:12:51 GMT

(KRON) -- Three minors and one adult were arrested in connection to an attempted robbery Sunday, the Fairfield Police Department (FPD) said in a news release. The incident happened in the parking lot at Solano Town Center Mall. Sonoma County Sheriff’s wife arrested on DUI suspicion after Tesla crashes into Santa Rosa home: authorities The male victim made a large purchase at the mall before being followed at the parking lot near JCPenney, according to FPD. The victim then went to his car and locked his doors.One of the suspects shot at the car window, reached inside and hit the victim with the firearm, police said. The unidentified victim suffered "mild to moderate" injuries from the alleged attack. FPD officers respond and arrived at the scene. Two of the attempted robbers and two others in a getaway car were arrested. FPD did not specify when or what time on Sunday the attempted robbery happened. KRON4 reached out to the department for more details about the incident and is awai...