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How I’m avoiding the crowds (and sky-high prices) this summer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

Ariana Arghandewal | Bankrate (TNS)The summer travel season can be pricey and stressful, with crowds flocking to popular destinations worldwide. While it may sound exciting to travel to Europe in the summer, the reality may be very different. My social media feeds are filled with clips of tourists packed around the Trevi Fountain, lines around the Louvre and disappointed tourists who missed out on tours that sold out in advance. All of this is avoidable if you’re willing to be flexible with your travel dates and follow where the deals are.Travel is more enjoyable with fewer people around, which is why I’m taking a different approach to summer travel planning. Rather than just staying home, I’ve managed to save money and still enjoy a wonderful summer filled with travel adventures. Points and miles are a big part of my travel booking strategy, but it goes beyond that. Here are four ways I’m avoiding the crowds (and sky-high prices) this summer.I’m avoiding busy travel datesWhile most...

Patriots training camp Day 1: Mac Jones throws an INT, Hunter Henry stars in red zone

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

FOXBORO — By and large, the Patriots’ first training camp practice Wednesday mirrored many before it.Bill Belichick’s defense bested his offense in team drills. The passing game lacked rhythm and chemistry, both of which take time to develop. Most periods consisted of red-zone play and special teams work. And an unrelenting sun beat down on a cheery crowd happy to watch their football team play football again.Practice was, in a word, normal. And for now, normal works.The Pats are actively recovering from their most dysfunctional season under Belichick, one defined by the distrust that cracked relationships between players, players and coaches — including head coach and quarterback — and a few relationships within the coaching staff. Mac Jones gave voice to these notions after practice, saying he and Belichick have agreed on a fresh start, and “trust” is the big focus of training camp.But during practice, Jones’ performance was awfully remini...

Oppenheimer’s inconvenient truth: He was a secret Communist, some historians say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

J. Robert Oppenheimer may have gone to his grave holding onto a painful secret. He repeatedly denied to the U.S. government that he joined the Communist Party while teaching physics at UC Berkeley, but some historians now say “overwhelming” evidence shows that he was a member and opened himself up to perjury charges by lying about it.A retired Stanford history professor and one of Oppenheimer’s biographers are among the group of historians who are speaking up about the famed scientist’s “secret” party membership, as Christopher Nolan’s film, “Oppenheimer,” renews debate about his legacy and shows him facing post-World War II persecution for his left-wing politics and for having friends, family members and an ex-girlfriend who belonged to the Communist Party.Barton Bernstein, a Stanford University history professor emeritus, and Gregg Herken, author of the 2002 book “Brotherhood of the Bomb,” agree that Oppenheimer was a victim of McCarthy-era excesses. They also say there’s no evid...

Deadly crash closes freeway lanes near border

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A freeway crash near the U.S.-Mexico border left at least one person dead Wednesday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol said.The crash happened shortly before noon on southbound Interstate 805 near Camino De La Plaza, which is the last U.S. exit.According to CHP's Traffic Incident Information Page, a witness reported seeing a white sedan heading towards the port of entry make a U-turn on the freeway then hit another vehicle, a minivan, head-on while driving the wrong way. FedEx driver pulls man from burning car after crash A Sig Alert was issued by Caltrans for the right two lanes on southbound I-805 north of Camino De La Plaza. The closure was expected to last several hours, according to CHP.At least one person inside the minivan was killed as a result of the crash. It is not yet known how many people were inside both vehicles.A white sedan was one of two vehicles involved in a deadly crash in San Ysidro on July 26, 2023. (KSWB)Exact details on how many people we...

Mexican marines seize 7,200 bottles of liquid meth in mezcal bottles bound for Australia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

Mexican marines working customs duty said Wednesday they found a shipping container loaded with 7,200 bottles of a clear liquid labeled mezcal but that actually contained liquid methamphetamine. The massive meth shipment was found on a Liberian-flagged vessel at the Pacific coast port of Manzanillo. The container was destined for Australia, according to shipping documents. The marines said the shipment contained 9.5 tons of liquid meth, though the dry weight of the drugs would have been considerably less. The bottles bore the Mezcal Social brand name and were marked “as artisanal mezcal,” an alcoholic beverage made from distilled agave.So far this year, Mexican marines have seized over 124 tons of meth nationwide.It would not be the first time that Mexican cartels, which dominate the international trade in meth, have tried to smuggle the drugs to Australia or in liquid form.In 2022, officials in Hong Kong seized about $5.9 million worth of crystal meth concealed in a shipment of ele...

PC’s hoping to gain a seat in Liberal stronghold in Scarborough-Guildwood byelection

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

Fresh off the mayoral byelection, residents in Scarborough-Guildwood are being asked to return to the polls Thursday to fill a provincial seat.The seat has been held by the Ontario Liberal party for 16 years, most recently by Mitzie Hunter, who resigned her seat in the Ontario legislature to run for mayor of Toronto. She finished sixth amongst the crowded group of candidates. Now, Doug Ford’s progressive conservatives have brought in a familiar face in hopes of changing the riding’s representation at Queen’s Park.Toronto City Councillor Gary Crawford will be running under the PC umbrella after serving as a councillor for four terms in Scarborough-Southwest. “Here’s an opportunity for me as a city councillor with so much experience to go up to the province to bring that experience for the residence of Scarborough-Guildwood and all of the city,” Crawford told CityNews.Crawford has spent the last few years as budget chief at City Hall and is campaigning on that positi...

‘A giant flying propane tank’: Congress gets serious about unsolved UAP mysteries

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

WASHINGTON — Age-old political concerns — national security, public safety, government oversight and the sanctity of taxpayer dollars — emerged Wednesday alongside the unlikeliest of bedfellows: the enduring mythology of UFOs.Rechristened as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, the unsolved mysteries of the skies have undergone a dramatic image overhaul in recent years, thanks to ever-more credible tales of close encounters and diminished public trust in government. Gone are dismissive references to flying saucers and “little green men,” replaced by a much more modern and pervasive conspiracy theory reflective of 21st-century U.S. politics: your government is lying to you.That message came through loud and clear Wednesday as a trio of former military and intelligence officials urged lawmakers on Capitol Hill to get serious about exposing UAPs and top-secret government efforts to investigate them.“We need to tell the folks at the Pentagon they work for us, dadgum ...

Search extends into seventh day for Ukrainian man missing after swim in Quebec river

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

SAINT-ANSELME, Que. — Quebec provincial police spent a seventh day Wednesday looking for a missing Ukrainian refugee missing since last week after going for a swim in a river southeast of Quebec City.Police have not formally identified the missing man, but an official with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress says he is 21-year-old Sumit Shyder. Shyder has not been seen since heading out for a swim on the evening of July 19. His brother found his bicycle and personal effects by the shore of the Etechmin River in St-Anselme, Que., that night.Quebec provincial police had hoped to be able to send divers back into the river on Wednesday afternoon, something they haven’t been able to do since last week due to strong currents. But Sgt. Hugues Beaulieu said the current was still deemed too strong so the search continued from the shore and using helicopters.A candlelight vigil was to be held in honour of Shyder on Wednesday evening in front of the St-Anselme Church, the town noted on its w...

UK billionaire whose family trust owns Tottenham soccer club pleads not guilty to insider trading

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Joe Lewis, the British billionaire whose family trust owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer club, pleaded not guilty in New York on Wednesday to insider trading charges alleging that he fed corporate secrets to romantic partners, personal assistants, friends and his pilots, earning them millions of dollars illegally. Lewis was released on $300 million bail, using a yacht and private plane as collateral, after he entered the plea in Manhattan federal court. Two of his pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan ‘Marty’ Waugh, also pleaded not guilty to related charges and were each released on $250,000 bail.All three must remain in the United States.U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who announced the charges Tuesday night in a video, said Lewis was accused of “orchestrating a brazen insider trading scheme” that utilized his access to corporate boardrooms to feed inside tips to friends and lovers.“Those folks then traded on that inside information — and made millions of dollars in the...

Court-appointed manager of Mississippi capital water system gets task of fixing sewage problems

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:02:54 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The independent manager working to fix the long-troubled water system in Mississippi’s capital city will also be assigned to oversee repairs to the city’s deteriorating sewer system, under a proposed order filed Wednesday by a federal judge.Officials from the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Jackson all agreed to give the extra duties to Ted Henifin.Henifin had decades of experience running water systems in other states before U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate appointed him late last year to run the Jackson system.Wingate had said during a hearing in May that he was considering putting Henifin in charge of the sewer system, as well.Todd Kim, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement Wednesday that the new agreement will lead to faster steps to improve problems, including “sewage ...