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FLL airport reopening as South Florida floods slowly recede

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — One of Florida’s busiest airports announced plans to reopen Friday morning, two days after an unprecedented deluge left planes and travelers stranded and turned Fort Lauderdale’s streets into rivers.Officials at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport completed final inspections after sunrise Friday and said in a tweet that operations would resume at 9 a.m.“Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for updated flight times BEFORE coming to the airport. Thanks for your patience as we work to restore normal operations,” the tweet said.The airport shut down Wednesday evening as a storm dumped more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of rain.“Nature has been unkind to us,” Broward County Mayor Lamar Fisher said during a news conference Thursday afternoon at the airport.A flood warning was expiring, but the National Weather Service warned motorists that water-covered roads could still be a hazard.All across Fort Lauderdale, residents and...

Body of missing 18-year-old found in Vizcaya community lake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

The Miramar Police Department confirmed that the search for 18-year-old Linnon “LJ” Latham came to a heartbreaking end on Thursday evening after, officials said, his body was found in a lake in the Vizcaya community.The cause of Latham’s death remains unknown, but his body will be examined by the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office in order to determine the cause. Although there is no suspicion of foul play at present time, investigations into the incident are ongoing.In a statement, the Miramar Police Department extended their sympathies and assured the public that they are working diligently to uncover the circumstances surrounding Latham’s death.The Pembroke Pines Police Department, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Miami-Dade Police Department and South Broward Drainage District assisted in the search for LJ. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Drake Bell jokes about briefly being declared missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

(CNN) — After police in Florida sought public help to locate Drake Bell on Thursday, the actor tried to find humor in the event post-scare.The former Nickelodeon star tweeted Thursday after the Daytona Beach Police Department announced he had been located and was safe.“You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this?” he tweeted with a laughing emoji.Earlier in the day, police shared a post on Facebook that read, “Officers are looking for Jared Bell, DOB 06/27/1986.”“He should be traveling in a 2022 grey BMW and his last known location is potentially the area of Mainland High School on 4/12/2023,” according to the post. “He is considered missing and endangered.”The star’s legal name is Jared Drake Bell.Hours later, the post was updated with the information that police were in contact with Bell and he was “safe.”There was no additional information as to the circumstances su...

Hickman students prepare for trip to NASA to show off 3D design

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

COLUMBIA, Missouri (KOMU) — Next Wednesday, Hickman High School students Gabe Palmer, Max Strode and Augustus Lookingbill will travel to Houston, Texas, to present their designs after being named finalists for a national design challenge.“I’m really excited for the students to get to set up their display in Rocket Park next to the Saturn-5 Rocket and for engineers and astronauts to walk by,” Mike Merz, Hickman’s Columbia Aeronautics and Space Association (CASA) program instructor, said. “I just think this is a great program that NASA has sponsored and I am so excited my students get to be part of it.”In February, NASA representatives Nancy Hall and Cody Farinacci came to Hickman to judge the student projects and talk about NASA and their technologies.“We were in direct contact with NASA before they came here,” Strode said. “We were doing video calls with them monthly since the start of the school year, so we’ve had to...

China arrests human rights activists en route to EU embassy in Beijing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

China on Friday arrested two human rights activists on their way to the EU’s embassy in Beijing.Human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were detained by the Chinese authorities as they were heading to a meeting with the EU’s Ambassador to China Jorge Toledo Albiñana and an unnamed senior EU official. In response, the EU lodged a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry and demanded the authorities release them and three other detained activists. News of their detention came only hours after the EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell issued a blog post where he cautioned China against any change to the status quo in Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.Borrell was supposed to visit Beijing on Friday but cancelled the trip at the last minute after testing positive for COVID 19.The EU’s diplomat in charge of the Asia Pacific region, Gunnar Wiegand, went ahead with his visit to Beijing where he met a senior Chinese official today, according to a tweet f...

Elderly woman killed in house explosion in Berlin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

An elderly woman was killed in a house explosion in Berlin early Friday morning, according to police. The incident took place at a home on Pleasant Street around 3:30 a.m.Officials blocked off the area around the home and firefighters were called in from 10 communities.Fire officials were seen spraying water down on the house from a truck ladder. Chief Michael McQuillen says the woman’s daughter was inside the home as well. She was rescued by neighbors, who came running out when they heard the explosion and pulled her from the debris. Several houses on the block have some superficial damage from the explosion. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation and no additional information has been released. This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Walmart sells menswear brand Bonobos at a steep loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

 (CNN) — Clothes sometimes sell for a steep discount at Bonobos. Thursday night, the company itself sold for a loss.Walmart has announced that it’s offloading the trendy menswear brand, selling it to management firm WHP Global and retailer Express Inc. for $75 million. That’s a steep loss for Walmart, which acquired the brand in 2017 for $310 million as part of a failed attempt to diversify its online presence under previous managementWHP Global is little-known company that owns some recognizable brands, including the Toys “R” Us, Anne Klein and Joe Jeans. Last year, WHP took a 60% stake in Express Inc. WHP is buying the Bonobos brand for $50 million, while Express Inc. will has acquired “operating assets and assume the related liabilities” for $25 million.“Bonobos is delivering double-digit sales growth and we plan to continue that momentum while also realizing operating synergies and other economies of s...

The fire at an Indiana plastics recycling plant is out. But residents’ health concerns linger as asbestos is found in debris

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

(CNN) — Up to 2,000 residents of an eastern Indiana city are still waiting to learn if it’s safe to go home now that an inferno that raged for two days is out at a plastics recycling plant that a state judge had deemed a public health hazard.“We’re now able to turn our attention to collecting air and water samples and determine when the evacuation order can be lifted,” Richmond Mayor Dave Snow said Thursday night. “Our goal is to get people back into their homes as soon as possible.”One of two air samples taken a little more than a mile from the fire site detected chrysotile asbestos in debris, a US Environmental Protection Agency official said Thursday. Also called white asbestos, it can cause cancer and is used in products from cement to plastics to textiles.Anyone who may have fire debris in their yard should not mow it until officials can advise more on how to clean it up, the EPA official, Ja...

Fort Lauderdale airport reopens after devastating floods with more rain possible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

(CNN) — The Fort Lauderdale airport reopened Friday morning, after monumental flooding wreaked havoc on the South Florida city and surrounding communities, closing schools and government buildings, and sending hundreds of residents to emergency shelters.Many streets turned into lakes across Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday and Thursday when a historic volume of rain exceeding 2 feet inundated the coastal city. The flooding shut down the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.The airport reopened Friday at 9 a.m., according to officials.Several travelers were in the line to get through security as operations slowly resumed and airline staff were checking in passengers.Departures “are delayed avg. 186 mins. due to runway obstruction,” the Federal Aviation Administration said.“Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for updated flight times BEFORE coming to the airport,” the airport said.“We’re planning to start our op...

The Rays are the real deal and may not be going away anytime soon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:35:01 GMT

The Rays and their $74 million payroll are off to a ridiculous 13-0 start, annihilating every opponent in their path with 10 of their wins being decided by four or more runs. It’s an auspicious start, and one underpinned by more than simple good fortune over a handful of games. The Rays, Yankee fans may be troubled to learn, are both the real deal this season and poised to commit these types of atrocities to the AL East for some years to come.For a start, the Rays were already pretty good. Kevin Cash’s club managed 86 wins and snuck in as the third wild card before losing to the Cleveland Guardians — despite missing arguably their two biggest offensive contributors for the majority of last season.Highly-touted shortstop Wander Franco played just 83 games due to a broken hamate bone/hamstring injuries while Brandon Lowe — who slugged 39 homers in 2021 — appeared in just 65 games due to a stress reaction in his lower back.Now their No. 2 and 4 hitters are...