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The List: What I've learned in 20 years, according to Lauren Jiggetts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

WGN Morning News Anchor Lauren Jiggetts shares her list of things she's learned in the past 20 years.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Midwest primed to be next frontier for invasive plant kudzu

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — One of the country’s most notorious invasive plants is expected to become a major pest throughout the Midwest.A study published earlier this year by researchers at Purdue University-Fort Wayne identified the Great Lakes as the next frontier for kudzu.Kudzu is a hearty vine that was first brought to the United States from Asia as an ornamental plant and was eventually used for erosion control. In addition to its meaty vines, kudzu produces large, fragrant purple flowers and brown, hairy seed pods. It quickly grew out of control and was removed from the list of acceptable species in the Agricultural Conservation Program. By 1998, Congress listed it as a “noxious weed” and it is now commonly known as “the vine that ate the South.” NOAA releases summer weather predictions for all 50 states Jordan Marshall, a professor of plant biology at Purdue University-Fort Wayne and lead researcher on the kudzu study, said speed is the plant's primary weapon.“It grows ...

Why is Memorial Day in the spring?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Though Memorial Day may seem randomly placed on the calendar, there's a reason it always falls on the last Monday of May.To understand, you need to go back roughly 155 years. It was 1868, three years after the Civil War had ended. Major General John A. Logan, the leader of the Grand Army of the Republic (an organization of Union veterans), declared that May 30 should serve as Decoration Day. On that day, Logan wanted Americans to place flowers on the graves of the war dead, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Falling far enough into the spring, the hope was that flowers would be in bloom nationwide. Records show the first large observance of Decoration Day was held at Arlington National Cemetery that year. Flowers were spread on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers alike, and Logan's order for his post called for graves to be decorated “with the choicest flowers ofspringtime." The most popular college majors aren’t the highest-paying – t...

Texas Longhorns placed in Coral Gables regional, will take on Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns are headed to southern Florida to start the NCAA tournament.The NCAA baseball tournament selection committee named 64 teams Monday for teams to compete for a spot in the Men's College World Series, and the Longhorns are a No. 2 seed in Coral Gables regional, hosted by the Miami Hurricanes.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersTexas will open the 4-team regional at 1 p.m. Friday against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, an at-large team from the Sun Belt Conference who lost to Southern Mississippi in the SBC tournament championship game. The game will be aired on Longhorn Network.The Hurricanes, the No. 9 national seed, and the Maine Black Bears round out the field in Miami.The Texas A&M Aggies are headed to the West Coast to the Stanford regional as a No. 2 seed to take on Cal State Fullerton in the opening game Friday. San Jose State, who ...

I-70 Series: Watch Cardinals host the Royals for free

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals (24-31) are hosting the Kansas City Royals (16-38) for a two-game series as the teams renew the I-70 rivalry.Fans can watch Monday's game for free on MLB.TV. First pitch is at 1:15 p.m. Through the first six weeks of the season, the Cardinals were 14 games below .500. Since that time, they've gone 14-7. They're still 7 games under, but the team has shown great promise over the last three weeks. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Cardinals (Seasonal) SIGN UP NOW The Cardinals are 11-15 at home, but the visiting Royals are equally dismal on the road, with an 8-17 record in away games.Starting outfielders Dylan Carlson (ankle) and Tyler O'Neill (back) are on the 10-day injured list. Lars Nootbaar will move to center field to fill in...

Two dead, another injured in Sunday night crash on Interstate 25

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

Two people died Sunday night and a third suffered possible serious injuries after a car crash Sunday night on Interstate 25, police say.Around 11:30 p.m. officers responded to the southbound lane of Interstate 25 at Yale Avenue, according to a Denver Police Department release. There, a single car, which had been exiting on to East Yale Avenue, swerved back onto the interstate and hit the cushion barrier.#TRAFFIC: #DPD is investigating a fatal traffic crash involving a motorist at SB I-25 at Yale Ave. Two parties within the vehicle were declared deceased. Updates to this investigation will be posted to this thread as they are made available. #Denver pic.twitter.com/69sHjRI00l— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) May 29, 2023The driver and front passenger died at the scene while a rear passenger was taken to the hospital for their injuries, the release said. Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | 22-year-old man...

“Bolder Boulder Bugler” Stewart Boone passes away at 98 years old

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

When thousands gather for the Bolder Boulder Memorial Day Tribute at Folsom Field on Monday, they may notice someone missing.Stewart Boone passed away at his home in Kansas on May 10 at the age of 98. Many in Colorado knew him as the Bolder Boulder bugler. Since 2010, he regularly played the national anthem on his trumpet during the post-race ceremony.Bolder Boulder co-founder Steve Bosley said the event won’t be the same without Stewart Boone.“I’ve got many memories but one of my absolute favorites, he started and in 10 seconds, 40,000 people were singing along,” Bosley said.Read the full story at Denver7.com.Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

Man fatally struck in Huntington Beach hit-and-run crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

A 51-year-old man was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Huntington Beach early Monday morning, police said.The incident was reported around 4 a.m. on Beach Boulevard north of Knoxville Avenue, according to the Huntington Beach Police Department.Responding officers found the victim on the roadway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Authorities do not have a description of the suspect vehicle or driver.Anyone with additional information about the crash is asked to call traffic investigator D. Demetre at 714-536-5670.

1000s in Florida struggle to recover as new storms loom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

By Curt Anderson | Associated PressFORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Eight months ago, chef Michael Cellura had a restaurant job and had just moved into a fancy new camper home on Fort Myers Beach. Now, after Hurricane Ian swept all that away, he lives in his older Infiniti sedan with a 15-year-old long-haired chihuahua named Ginger.Like hundreds of others, Cellura was left homeless after the Category 5 hurricane blasted the barrier island last September with ferocious winds and storm surge as high as 15 feet (4 meters). Like many, he’s struggled to navigate insurance payouts, understand federal and state assistance bureaucracy and simply find a place to shower.“There’s a lot of us like me that are displaced. Nowhere to go,” Cellura, 58, said during a recent interview next to his car, sitting in a commercial parking lot along with other storm survivors housed in recreational vehicles, a converted school bus, even a shipping container. “There’s a lot of hom...

As oceans rise, NYC faces another threat: the city is sinking

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:38 GMT

By Bobby Caina Calvan | Associated PressNEW YORK — If rising oceans aren’t worry enough, add this to the risks New York City faces: The metropolis is slowly sinking under the weight of its skyscrapers, homes, asphalt and humanity itself.New research estimates the city’s landmass is sinking at an average rate of 1 to 2 millimeters per year, something referred to as “subsidence.”That natural process happens everywhere as ground is compressed, but the study published this month in the journal Earth’s Future sought to estimate how the massive weight of the city itself is hurrying things along.More than 1 million buildings are spread across the city’s five boroughs. The research team calculated that all those structures add up to about 1.7 trillion tons (1.5 trillion metric tons) of concrete, metal and glass — about the mass of 4,700 Empire State buildings — pressing down on the Earth.The rate of compression varies throughout the city. Midtown Manhatta...