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For the first time in decades, America has a new favorite dog breed — and it’s a controversial one

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time in three decades, the U.S. has a new favorite dog breed, according to the American Kennel Club.Adorable in some eyes, deplorable in others, the sturdy, flat-faced and distinctively droll French bulldog became the nation’s most prevalent purebred dog last year, the club announced Wednesday. Frenchies ousted Labrador retrievers from the top spot after a record 31 years.Why?“They’re comical, friendly, loving little dogs,” says French Bull Dog Club of America spokesperson Patty Sosa. City-friendly, with modest grooming and exercise needs, she says, “they offer a lot in a small package.”Yet the Frenchie’s dizzying rise — it wasn’t even a top-75 breed a quarter-century ago — worries its fans, to say nothing of its critics.The buzzy little bulldogs have been targeted in thefts, including last month’s fatal shooting of a 76-year-old South Carolina breeder and the 2021 shooting of a California dog walker...

Strengthen sideshow penalties by confiscating cars, readers suggest: Roadshow

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

Q: You asked others to weigh in on how to deal with sideshows.Sideshows endanger participants, spectators and property. Who would pay for a track? Liability insurance? Forgetaboutit! Finding an acceptable location for a track would be impossible. Who wants noise, exhaust, traffic, unruly crowds? NIMBY!I agree that penalties are woefully inadequate. Seize vehicles, fine participants and spectators to pay for enforcement, and revoke licenses.There’s too much decriminalizing and too many unsafe, dangerous and destructive acts happening already.Darlene Brannen, San JoseA: Half those who responded to a reader’s recent suggestion that safe spaces be found for sideshows disagree with him, and half agree.Q: A recent sideshow beneath a freeway ramp in Pinole involved gunfire. There has been more than one sideshow staged on the Bay Bridge to get maximum publicity by inconveniencing as many people as possible. Some residential intersections near my home are repeatedly hit by late-n...

167K without power following latest Bay Area storm

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

(KRON) -- Thousands woke up in the dark Wednesday morning after two days of rain and high winds from the Bay Area's latest atmospheric river felled trees and brought hundreds of thousands of power outages to the area. As of Wednesday morning, 167,293 customers remained without power, according to PG&E's latest power outage report.March 15, 2023 4 amAffected CustomersSan Francisco860Peninsula41,980North Bay1,928East Bay31,410South Bay91,115Bay Area Total167,293This is an improvement since Tuesday when outages peaked at around 4:30 p.m. with about 300,000 customers without power, with crews working overnight to bring that number down from about 200,000 as of late Tuesday night.PG&E crews began mobilizing in San Carlos ahead of the storm, citing the previous parade of storms as a learning experience to prepare earlier. Officials said they brought in crews and extra materials from Washington State and New Mexico to help respond to emergencies quicker and get power back on. ...

Biden Administration Splits on Prosecuting Russia for War Crimes in Ukraine

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

Twenty years after the United States invaded Iraq — an act of aggression that paved the way for war crimes there — Pentagon officials have sought to block the Biden administration’s efforts to aid the International Criminal Court’s investigation of war crimes committed by Russia during its yearlong invasion of Ukraine.Neither the U.S. nor Russia are members of The Hague-based international court, whose jurisdiction includes war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ukraine is not a member either, but it has granted the court authority to investigate crimes committed on its territory. The U.S. government has long held a hostile stance toward the ICC, at first fighting to restrict its mandate and later fiercely opposing investigations into itself and its allies, including Israel. As The Intercept reported, the U.S. went to great lengths to derail an investigation of crimes committed in Afghanistan by U.S. forces and the U.S.-supported former Afghan government.The ICC’s inability to hold...

UK, German fighter jets intercept Russian plane near Estonia

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British and German air force fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian aircraft flying close to Estonian airspace, the U.K. defense ministry said Wednesday, amid mounting concerns about confrontation in the skies near Russia and Ukraine.The U.K. and Germany are conducting joint air policing missions in Estonia as part of NATO efforts to bolster its eastern flank in response to Russia.Britain’s defense ministry said the Typhoon jets responded Tuesday after a Russian air-to-air refueling aircraft failed to communicate with Estonian air traffic control. The Russian plane didn’t enter the airspace of Estonia, a NATO member.U.K. and German planes are patrolling together as part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission until the end of April. Wing Commander Scott Maccoll, Commander of the RAF’s 140 Expeditionary Air Wing, said “it was great to see the U.K. and German elements operate as one team.”U.K. armed forces minister James Heappey said “this joint U...

Fox’s Hall talks survival after nearly dying in Ukraine

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A year after nearly being killed by Russian bombs while covering the war in Ukraine, Fox News’ Benjamin Hall credits a relentless optimism — and what he describes as an unexplained miracle — for getting him through.Truth is, it was probably several miracles that enabled Hall to sit in a cafe at Fox’s New York headquarters recently to discuss the book he’d written about his ordeal.There was the Ukrainian special forces officer driving by after the bombing who saw Hall’s wave and put him in a car, the lucky train ride from Kyiv to Poland, the 30 — and counting — surgeries he’s endured as he heals from the March 14, 2022, incident.No story compares with the voice he heard when the second of three bombs left him torn apart and blacked out. He swears it was his daughter, Honor, then at home in London with her mother and sisters Iris and Hero.The voice was insistent: “Daddy, you’ve got to get out of the car.” Hall obeyed, just befo...

Russian authorities say they will try to recover debris of U.S. drone brought down after encounter with Russian jets.

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities say they will try to recover debris of U.S. drone brought down after encounter with Russian jets.Source

MATCHDAY: Arsenal plays Sporting, Man U has lead over Betis

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Thursday:EUROPA LEAGUEOn course for a first Premier League title in 19 years, Arsenal doesn’t seem to mind having European commitments to clog up its end-of-season schedule. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta maintains winning the Europa League is an important objective for the club and continues to make only minor lineup changes in the competition, like in the 2-2 draw at Sporting in the first leg of the round of 16 last week. Arsenal will be favored to advance going into the return match at Emirates Stadium. Sporting has already played in north London this season — a 1-1 draw with Tottenham in the Champions League. Manchester United is in good shape to progress, leading Real Betis 4-1 from the first leg, while Sevilla — a six-time competition winner — protects a 2-0 lead at Fenerbahce. Italian teams Juventus and Roma hold leads, too, against Freiburg (1-0) and Real Sociedad (2-0), respectively.CONFERENCE LEAGUELazio is in danger of ...

US stocks fall sharply, following Europe lower, as selloff in Credit Suisse spurs fresh worries over banks; Dow down 525

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — US stocks fall sharply, following Europe lower, as selloff in Credit Suisse spurs fresh worries over banks; Dow down 525.Source

‘They’re desperate’: Some Arlington parents ask courts to intervene in teen fentanyl addiction treatment

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:01:14 GMT

A growing number of Arlington County, Virginia, parents are looking for drug abuse treatment for their children, leading to a boom in petitions filed in juvenile court seeking the court’s intervention.“A large majority of the petitions we’ve seen are fentanyl cases, children with severe substance addictions and they’re desperate,” Michael Chick, a judge at Arlington Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, said during a Monday night panel at Thomas Jefferson Middle School.More Arlington County NewsMore Virginia NewsMore Local NewsHistorically, such petitions have been filed by school systems, but Chick said parents are taking it upon themselves to seek the petitions amid a reported rise in the county’s teen fentanyl overdose rate.Chick told the group that there had been a nearly 100% increase over the past year in the number of petitions filed with the court seeking court services or supervision of a child.Parents are coming to the court to say, ...