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Death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001 Daytona 500 picked as NASCAR’s most pivotal moment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

The 2001 Daytona 500 remains the bleakest day in NASCAR history. The death of Dale Earnhardt from a crash on the last lap of the race robbed a family of its patriarch and the industry of the greatest stock car star of his era. But beyond the seven championships, The Intimidator persona and fierce rivalries that ushered NASCAR into the mainstream, Earnhardt’s enduring legacy may be how his death changed auto racing safety.NASCAR was still reeling from three driver fatalities in 2000 — Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr., and Tony Roper — ahead of a Daytona 500 that seemed intent on setting a new course for the series.NASCAR had moved at its own pace to impose safety rules at a time when some drivers balked at wearing enhanced technology such as the Head And Neck Safety (HANS) device. There were complaints that it was too cumbersome for a comfortable ride, while others suggested improvements were too simplistic for a sport that was akin to mayhem on the track.The Daytona 500 also ...

WATCH LIVE: Josh Harris press conference at FedEx Field

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

Josh Harris, who led the group that purchased the Washington Commanders for a record-breaking $6 billion Thursday, will hold a news conference live from FedEx Field at 2 p.m on Friday.Stay with WTOP for the livestream.Source

Humanitarian worker for the World Food Program killed in Yemen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed the head of one of the World Food Program’s offices in Yemen on Friday, the humanitarian organization said. In a statement, the program said that Moayad Hameidi, a Jordanian, was shot by gunmen not long after he arrived in the country to assume the role as head of its office in the city of Taiz. It added he died not long after reaching a hospital. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, also known by its acronym AQAP, is active in several regions in Yemen. It is believed to be one of the more dangerous branches of the al-Qaida terror network. Years of conflict have allowed the group to maintain a presence in several areas around the country. Taiz, the country’s third-largest city, has been under a siege by the Houthi rebels since 2016, as part of the country’s brutal civil war. The blockade has severely restricted freedom of movement and impeded the flow of essential go...

Hops for beer flourish under solar panels. They’re not the only crop thriving in the shade.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

AU in der HALLERTAU, Germany (AP) — Bright green vines snake upwards 20 feet (six meters) toward an umbrella of solar panels at Josef Wimmer’s farm in Bavaria.He grows hops, used to make beer, and in recent years has also been generating electricity, with solar panels sprawled across 1.3 hectares (32 acres) of his land in the small hop-making town of Au in der Hallertau, an hour north of Munich in southern Germany. The pilot project — a collaboration between Wimmer and local solar technology company Hallertauer Handelshaus — was set up in the fall of last year. The electricity made at this farm can power around 250 households, and the hops get shade they’ll need more often as climate change turbocharges summer heat.Solar panels atop crops has been gaining traction in recent years as incentives and demand for clean energy skyrocket. Researchers look into making the best use of agricultural land, and farmers seek ways to shield their crops from blistering heat, keep in moisture ...

Bear sniffs out deer carcass in CPW truck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Imagine Officer Drew Vrbenec’s surprise when he recently discovered bear prints covering his Colorado Parks and Wildlife truck. But the bear didn’t just leave behind prints, he tried to open both doors too. The bear almost struck gold as he could smell a stinky deer carcass in the truck, according to CPW Southeast Region's Twitter. Bear activity increased in 2022, trash biggest culprit The bear couldn't find his way into the car, but not for a lack of trying.After pawing over both doors and the roof he left a nose print on the rearview mirror as a warning sign for Coloradans to lock their doors during bear season.  CPW's southeast region posted a picture on Twitter of a department truck covered in bear prints. This isn’t the only bear sighting of the season. Colorado Parks and Wildlife tweeted a few warnings to be “bear aware” as bears are scrummaging through trash cans, bathing in community pools and breaking into cars.  Being bear aware with a veh...

Lionel Messi set to make his Inter Miami debut in Leagues Cup opener against Cruz Azul

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.(AP/WSVN) — Lionel Messi’s debut gameday with Inter Miami has arrived.Messi is expected to play Friday night when Inter Miami takes on Cruz Azul in a Leagues Cup match at his new home stadium. Team officials say all tickets — about 21,000, in a newly expanded stadium — have been sold, though thousands were available for resale on secondary markets Friday morning.It’s unclear how much Messi, a World Cup champion for Argentina and someone who Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham calls the best player ever, will be on the field in his debut. He signed a 2-1/2 year contract with Inter Miami this past weekend, and the deal will pay him between $50 million and $60 million annually. That will almost certainly work out to more than $1 million per match.He was introduced to his new home fans on Sunday and officially trained for the first time as a member of the club Tuesday.Messi made the decision in June to join Inter Miami and come to Major League Soccer. He considered a...

Woman arrested for battery and defrauding taxi driver in North Bay Village

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

Crystal Alisha Brewster, a 33-year-old woman from Brooklyn, found herself in police custody after being arrested for battery and defrauding a taxi driver in North Bay Village.The incident took place Thursday, July 20, at approximately 7:30 p.m. when police was dispatched to 7939 East Drive in response to a reported strong-arm robbery of a taxi driver.The victim, a 68-year-old taxi driver who only spoke Creole, explained to officers that he picked up a black female, identified as Brewster, wearing a black top and black skirt from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. He then transported her to 7939 East Drive, where the incident unfolded.Upon arrival at the destination, Brewster allegedly paid only $25 of the $63.15 taxi fare, stating that it was all she would give. When the victim requested the remaining amount, Brewster allegedly smacked his hand, causing the money to fall to the ground. A confrontation ensued inside the building, during which Brewster purportedly hit th...

Groups working to round up domesticated rabbits that have been running loose in Florida neighborhood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

WILTON MANORS, Fla. (AP) — Dan Trebowski was angry when he saw people in front of his Wilton Manors home trying to capture the lionhead rabbits that have populated his neighborhood. He feared the domesticated bunnies, who are not meant to live outdoors, were being taken away to be killed.He calmed down once he was assured that Dylan Warfel, Tina Crossgrove and Kristina Gertser were from Penny & Wild Smalls of South Florida. Theirs is one of the groups that has begun capturing the estimated 60 to 100 rabbits that have populated the suburban Fort Lauderdale neighborhood so they can be put up for adoption.They are captured using traps, hands and, sometimes, nets. They are not harmed in the process.“It is important that they are not euthanized. It is understandable that this is not the right environment for them,” Trebowski said Thursday night. Still, he is a bit disappointed that the rabbits can’t stay — his two schnauzers love playing with them. Most of them just hop right u...

Pro-war nationalist and Putin scourge Igor Girkin held on extremism charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

Igor Girkin, a former soldier-spy and critic of President Vladimir Putin’s conduct of the war against Ukraine, was detained on Friday on charges of inciting extremism after the latest in a series of diatribes against the Kremlin chief appeared to go too far.Girkin, who goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov (“Shooter”), gained notoriety in 2014 when he led a band of irregular troops into Eastern Ukraine and briefly became the breakaway region’s defense minister. He was convicted in absentia of murder by a Dutch court over his role in shooting down a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet, a tragedy that cost 298 lives.The 52-year-old has since reinvented himself as an ultra-nationalist military commentator and has delivered a series of withering critiques of Russia’s war aims and strategy in Ukraine.In a statement posted to Girkin’s Telegram channel, his wife Miroslava Reginskaya said that representatives of Russia’s Investigative Committee — an anti-corruption and c...

Mass. Jobless Rate Sinks To Record Low 2.6 Percent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

The Massachusetts economy continues to hum along in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption, a trend that business leaders and analysts say could forecast more inflationary pressure on the horizon.With employers across the state still struggling to fill open positions, labor officials reported Friday that the statewide unemployment rate ticked downward one-fifth of a percentage point to 2.6 percent in June — the lowest single-month rate since at least 1976.The new record low is a preliminary estimate, and officials might revise the unemployment rate upward when they release the next batch of data in August. Some experts also caution against reading too much into the difference between a 2.6 percent unemployment rate and the previous record of 2.7 percent set each month between July and November 2000.But the broader trend — nearly a year and a half with unemployment at or below 4 percent — still represents a significant turnaround since the public healt...