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Granite City native smashes glass ceiling at Storm Prediction Center

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

NORMAN, Okla. - March is Women’s History Month, and we want to celebrate a woman originally from Granite City.Her name is Liz Leitman, and she is a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. The Granite City High School graduate’s job is to assess the storm risk around the country. But it is a Lead Forecaster that issues thunderstorm or tornado watches. And those lead forecasters had always been men. That is, until Feb. 15, 2023.“Recently, I started training on the lead forecaster desk so I can assist in issuing those severe thunderstorm and tornado watches,” explains Leitman. “And that’s what I was doing on February 15 when I had the opportunity to issue the first watch issued by a female forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center.” Trending: Ladue estate with luxury auto house sold in record-setting 8-figure deal In the 70-year history of the Storm Prediction Center, no woman had ever issued a storm watch until Leitman. Why? Like many science...

Monument damaged at Piasa Park in Alton

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

ALTON, Ill. - Vandals have knocked over and cracked the marble arrowhead at Piasa Park in Alton that described the legend of the Piasa Bird.“It was split in half where all the wording is, and some of these chunks came out," said Michael Haynes, director of Parks and Recreation in Alton. "It would not be easily repairable."On the limestone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River just north of downtown Alton is a painting of the original pictograph of the Piasa Bird. The Piasa Bird is said to be a mythical creature from Native American mythology that lived near the Alton area. Trending: Ladue estate with luxury auto house sold in record-setting 8-figure deal The arrowhead, which was donated by the Illinois State Historical Society in the mid-1980s, is made of marble granite.Haynes said it isn’t the first time the arrowhead has been toppled. This time, though, it was broken, and he encouraged anyone with information about the vandalism of the arrowhead to contact the Alton Police De...

Man shoots wife, father-in-law, himself in Lincoln County domestic dispute

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. - A Lincoln County father shot his wife, his father-in-law, and then himself as his four children watched. It was a horrifying end to a deadly domestic dispute.Lincoln County Sheriff Rick Harrell said 56-year-old Phillip Lee Foland shot and killed his wife Lauren Jennings Foland, 38, and her father Scott Preston Causet, 72, then turned the gun on himself.Investigators said the double murder-suicide happened at around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of Highway W. Police are still trying to figure out what led up to the deadly shooting. Police: Accused Schnucks shooter has medical condition, may be with girlfriend According to the police, Lauren and Causet had died on the scene. The suspected shooter, Phillip, was suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. He later died from his injuries.“There is no criminal history involving this address and no reports of previous domestic violence," Harrell said. "The t...

Clandestine living space filled with trash found in tunnel below highway flyover in Wheat Ridge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

People had been secretly living in a tunnel suspended from a highway flyover in Wheat Ridge and the space was cleared out this week with 120-cubic-yards of refuse removed, police said.A community services officer with the Wheat Ridge Police Department recently saw a person climbing into the tunnel, suspended from the Colo. 58 flyover above Interstate 70, near the intersection of West 44th Avenue and Youngfield Street, and followed the person, police said in a Thursday Facebook post.The police Facebook post includes a video of the space taken earlier this week.“It turns out people have been trespassing, living there, and storing excessive amounts of trash and property throughout the length of the flyover,” police said in the post.Items, including food, clothing, blankets, buckets and boxes, were removed and the narrow tunnel, which includes eight sections, has been cleared out.Related ArticlesColorado News | Denverites don’t like how the city is handling ...

Colorado laws to expand abortion access, protect providers and patients proposed in state Capitol

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

Colorado Democratic lawmakers introduced a package of three bills Thursday that, if passed, would increase and protect access to abortion and gender-affirming care in the state.The proposed laws expand upon lawmakers’ passage of a 2022 law codifying the right to abortions at any stage of pregnancy after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision guaranteeing the right to abortions.The bills are starting in the Colorado Senate and they aim to put a stop to disinformation and deceptive practices by crisis pregnancy centers; protect patients and providers who have abortions and gender-affirming care from threats from other states; and require insurance coverage for reproductive health care, as previously reported by The Denver Post.“Y’all felt the rage that so many of us experienced in our bodies and in our bones that the Supreme Court of this nation would so wholly undermine our ability to make decisions about our own bodies,” Sen. Julie Gon...

Man wanted in series of armored vehicle robberies arrested in Rancho Cucamonga

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

A man believed to be part of a crew that targeted and robbed armored vehicles across Los Angeles County was arrested in Rancho Cucamonga Wednesday night, according to the FBI.James Russell Davis, 34, is believed to be part of the “Chesapeake Bandits” allegedly responsible for a string of armed robberies.A federal warrant had been issued for his arrest back in February.The group was named after Chesapeake Avenue in the West Adams neighborhood, where the suspects are believed to have met and staged robberies, according to the FBI.The robberies then occurred in broad daylight, and the group has been linked to attacks with losses in the hundreds of thousands.Deneyvous Hobson, 36, had been arrested in connection with the incident, but authorities believe five others are part of the group. The other accomplices have not been identified.The group has targeted drive-thru ATMs and other businesses, including check-cashing locations, officials said.They allegedly take over armored cars when t...

4 arrested in sports card store burglary; 2 at large 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

Four men have been arrested for allegedly burglarizing a sports card store in Burbank early Thursday. Burbank police responded to a call regarding a commercial burglary at Burbank Sportscards, located at 1610 West Burbank Blvd., around 1:30 a.m. A resident contacted authorities after hearing the business’ burglary alarm, accompanied by “banging noises at the back of the business,” according to reports. When officers arrived on the scene, they located a blue truck traveling east on Burbank Boulevard at Front Street at a high rate of speed that failed to yield to police and escaped onto The 5 Freeway. The driver of the truck exited the freeway at Sunland Boulevard and then ditched the vehicle in the 8400 block of Wheatland Boulevard after which a short foot pursuit ensued. Police were able to apprehend four of the six occupants that ran from the vehicle. A significant amount of property stolen from Burbank Sportscards was found within the vehicle and in the suspects’ possession,...

Judge uses slavery law to rule on frozen embryo case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

By Matthew Barakat | Associated PressFAIRFAX, Va. — Frozen human embryos can legally be considered property, or “chattel,” a Virginia judge has ruled, basing his decision in part on a 19th century law governing the treatment of slaves.The preliminary opinion by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner – delivered in a long-running dispute between a divorced husband and wife – is being criticized by some for wrongly and unnecessarily delving into a time in Virginia history when it was legally permissible to own human beings.“It’s repulsive and it’s morally repugnant,” said Susan Crockin, a lawyer and scholar at Georgetown University’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics and an expert in reproductive technology law.Solomon Ashby, president of the Old Dominion Bar Association, a professional organization made up primarily of African American lawyers, called Gardiner’s ruling troubling.“I would like to think that the bench and the...

Kevin Durant injury delays opportunity to play for Bay Area fans live

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

Warriors fans haven’t seen Kevin Durant live in the Bay Area since he suited up for Golden State for the Western Conference semifinals. With another stroke of bad luck, that streak will continue into Monday’s game between the Warriors and Phoenix Suns.Durant sprained his ankle warming up prior to what would have been his home debut for the Suns on Wednesday. He’s set to miss at least three weeks, according to reports, which most definitely rules him out for the game at Chase Center.Durant played the Warriors at Chase Center once during his 1-1/2 year tenure with the Brooklyn Nets, but it was without fans in the stands due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Durant watched from the bench with injuries during Brooklyn’s two other visits to the Bay Area.The Warriors have yet to face the Phoenix Suns since their blockbuster trade with the Nets for Durant at the Feb. 9 deadline. Brooklyn took a good chunk of Phoenix’s depth in the trade, including Mikal Bridges, C...

‘Baretta’ star Robert Blake dies at 89; was acquitted of killing his wife

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

By Linda Deutsch | Associated PressLOS ANGELES — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted of murdering his wife, died Thursday at age 89.A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the defendant in a real-life murder story more bizarre than any in which he acted.In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoane...