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Tracking the Tropics: Can hurricane history help us predict future patterns?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The tropics have been quiet for the first time since the season's first tropical wave formed in late May. But as we move further into the hurricane season, can we expect the peace to continue?Meteorologists often look at the past to paint a better picture of the future. So this week, Max Defender 8 Meteorologist Rebecca Barry and WCBD Meteorologist Rob Fowler will turn through the pages of history to see where things might be headed next.The National Hurricane Center has been keeping tabs on the tropics for decades. In July 1979, the center caught first wind of what would become Tropical Storm Claudette. While the storm never reached hurricane status, it is remembered for its rainfall along portions of Texas and Louisiana.An observer west of Alvin, Texas reported 43 inches in 24 hours, which is a United States record for 24-hour rainfall amount. In actuality, the storm total at that location was 45 inches. The rains went on to produce severe flooding that was re...

One dead after downtown St. Paul motorcycle crash

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

St. Paul police responded to a motorcycle crash Tuesday night.Officers arrived at the intersection of Kellogg Boulevard and Market Street in St. Paul around 11 p.m. Tuesday. A man had apparently lost control of his motorcycle and struck a utility pole, according to a St. Paul Police Department spokeswoman.The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name will be released after positive identification by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office.There were no other vehicles involved in the crash.The crash remains under investigation.Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | In partnership with Schmitt Music, Walker West Music Academy to debut 4 new Steinway concert pianos Crime & Public Safety | Details emerge about theft, death of St. Paul charter school’s beloved goat Crime & Public Safety | Letters: Our water supply isn’t inexhaustible Crime & Public Safety | Q&A: Mayor Melvin Carter ...

Jamelle Bouie: What Frederick Douglass knew that Trump and DeSantis don’t

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

There was a moment during the Trump administration when the president and his most ideologically committed advisers searched for a way to end birthright citizenship.Enshrined in the first sentence of the first section of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, birthright citizenship means that anyone and everyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen. Written to secure the social transformations wrought by the Civil War, it is a cornerstone of the United States as a multiracial democracy.President Donald Trump would end it, he decided, by executive order. “It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don’t,” he said when announcing the effort in 2018, falsely asserting, “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States — with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.”Fortunately, Trump was wrong. There is no way, short of ...

Bodies of 3 missing swimmers recovered from Minnesota river

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

RED WING, Minn. — The bodies of three people who drowned in a Minnesota river were found by search crews Wednesday after going missing over the Fourth of July weekend.The names of the two men and a girl have not been released, however the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office says all three were from the same household in Oakdale.The swimmers were part of a family gathering Monday night at Diamond Island on the Vermillion River, near the confluence with the Mississippi River, southeast of the Twin Cities.Two bodies were found in the Mississippi at 6:53 a.m. and the third about 12 minutes later, Sheriff Marty Kelly said Wednesday.A man was fishing along the shore while two adults and the girl were swimming, according to the sheriff’s office.All three swimmers began to struggle in the water and the man on the shore went in to help. He rescued an adult woman, then went back into the water to try and save the others.The sheriff’s office said both men and the girl went under the water and neve...

Crime Severity Index shows Coaldale among safest communities in Western Canada

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsDirector of Growth and Investment for the Town of Coaldale, Cameron Mills said collecting data around the Crime Severity Index (CSI) in Coaldale is one of the latest metrics or benchmarks used in the Town’s annual comparative analysis document.“(It) is the document that we use to try to give people that are interested in the Town, so our taxpayers, businesses, and stakeholders, a more clear understanding of how the Town is performing relative to other communities.”Mills said when the comparative analysis was first conceived, the document measured the Town’s standing mostly with respect to financial metrics but said it made sense to analyze crime in the report as well.“Crime was one thing that we sort of heard about often,” and said the CSI was a logical benchmark to include. The CSI uses objective data and ranks the severity of crime reported within a municipality. CSI rankings are not solely reflective of the pervasiveness of all crime, but rather a ...

Coaldale LUB amended for some LED billboards

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

By Nikki JamiesonSunny South NewsLED Billboards are now allowed in Coaldale.A public hearing for Land Use Bylaw Amendment 873-P-05-23 was held during Coaldale town council’s regular June 26 meeting. The amendment aims to address the use of LED billboards in town. First reading of the bylaw was done during council’s May 8 meeting, in which it was further amended to allow for portable signs up to 8.9 square meters.The Town of Coaldale does not currently allow for LED Billboards in any zoning, and over the years, the Town had received requests to allow for the use of LED billboards on land along Highway 3.As the town’s existing regulations are quite strict compared to other jurisdictions, administration believes allowing for this signage in a limited capacity would align with the Town’s Strategic Plan by identifying strategies to support town business in achieving economic health, and focusing on creating a collaborative regulatory environment that attracts business to Coaldale. Additi...

Comparative analysis ranks Coaldale’s fiscal health against neighbouring communities

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsThe Town of Coaldale recently published its 2022 comparative analysis document, which provides a “bird’s eye view” of the Town’s rankings according to seven key benchmarks.The Town first published the document in 2019. The latest analysis, conducted in 2022, gathered information from various municipalities including Blackfalds, Drumheller, Edson, Innisfail, Lethbridge, Lethbridge County, Ponoka, and Taber. The document includes comparative data across the chosen municipalities and contextualizes Coaldale’s data among its peer ad nieghbouring communities. These communities were selected for the document as they reflect similarities to Coaldale in terms of population, proximity to larger urban centres, and/or are regional neighbours to the Town of Coaldale.The analysis focuses on seven benchmarks:1. Total revenues and operating expenditures2. Taxation and assessment3. Assessments growth4. Population growth5. Executive compensationAdditionally, in 2022, ...

Seven months jail for driving offences

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

By Delon ShurtzSouthern Alberta NewspapersTimothy James Clements knew he wasn’t supposed to be with Shannon Ferguson because of a judge’s no-contact order, so when police attempted to conduct a traffic stop in Taber on Nov. 20 of last year, he took off.Police were responding to a complaint about a suspicious vehicle at a commercial property on 80 Avenue, and concerns the occupants of the vehicle may have taken some items from the property, from which about $20,000 worth of wire had recently been stolen.Police spotted the vehicle on 64 Avenue, but when police activated their emergency lights, Clements sped off through a residential area reaching speeds between 80 km-h and 100 km-h. Police did not chase Clements for the safety of the public, but they observed Clements speed through a playground zone and blow through three stop signs before heading in the direction of Coaldale.Coaldale RCMP were waiting for him and saw the vehicle after it had been involved in a hit and run. Clements a...

Coalhurst man charged in child exploitation bust

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

Southern Alberta NewspapersA Coalhurst man has been charged as part of a ring of child exploitation suspects in Alberta.Chris Jenkins, 31, is facing charges of possession of child pornography, access child pornography, and make available child pornography.Operation ICE Storm 5 has led to the arrest of eight child sexual exploitation suspects. ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation team made the arrests over the past three months in Calgary and Coalhurst.Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team launched Operation ICE Storm 5 in April 2023 and focused on high-level targets that were sharing and distributing vast collections of child sexual exploitation materials via peer-to-peer file sharing networks.Operation ICE Storm 5 prioritized suspects with the largest collections and some of the most graphic content. To date, nearly one million child sexual exploitation photos and videos have been identified. More than 35 computers and electronic devices were seized resulting in terabytes of data f...

Motorcycle accident claims life of Coaldale man

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

Southern Alberta NewspapersA 61-year-old man from Coaldale died in hospital in Washington following an accident on June 23 in Pend Oreille County, Wash.Wilfred J. White of Coaldale was headed west on State Route 20 at around 12 p.m. when he left the highway and was subsequently thrown from the motorcycle. According to Washington State Patrol reports, the incident took place near the town of Tiger, an unincorporated municipality in Pend Oreille County.White was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Centre in Spokane, passing away that same day.At the time of publication, the cause of the crash remained under investigation. A celebration of life was held on July 2 at the Coaldale Community Centre.