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MedWatch Digest: New hope in preventing miscarriages and birth defects — and more

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

For Thursday, Oct. 5, WGN’s Dina Bair has new medical information, including: More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch Vaccine could protect women during pregnancy A virus that plagues pregnant women can lead to devastating results, including the loss of a pregnancy or severe birth defects. Tulane University doctors say they have made a discovery that could stop the virus from ever taking hold. Women who are exposed early to Cytomegalovirus (CMV) have a reduced threat when they become pregnant. The common herpes virus can be contracted before women become pregnant and causes no side effects. But it can be passed to a developing fetus. Knowing prior exposure can protect the mother and baby. Researchers say they have a target for developing a CMV vaccine.  The full study is in the journal PLOS One.Study: Diabetes drugs used for weight loss can pose serious threatWeight loss drugs that have become a craze for celebrities and anyone hoping to shed pounds, could cause serious stomach da...

City, state officials working with Homeland Security to manage Chicago migrant crisis

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

CHICAGO -- From Chicago to Springfield, the effort has intensified to lobby Washington to assist with the city's migrant crisis.On Thursday, the Biden Administration promised to slow the surge at the US border, with federal assessment teams on the ground in Chicago looking to help. With the dramatic surge of new arrivals this week, Mayor Brandon Johnson and City Hall are preparing for a trip to the southern border to better assess the crisis that’s being felt so acutely here in Chicago.  Lawsuit filed against city to end inhumane conditions for Chicago residents, migrants The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assesses the city’s migrant crisis grappling with limited shelter space for the more than 17,000 asylum seekers who’ve arrived since the summer of 2022, including 2,300 migrants, according to city reports.The DHS announced they plan on deploying a military personnel surge to support border efforts that's expected to support the 2,500 National Guard personnel...

Hutto PD gets $500K boost for officer salaries

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

HUTTO, Texas (KXAN) — The Hutto Police Department was allocated an additional $500,000 which it will put toward raising pay for its officers and civilian staff.Hutto Police Chief Jeffrey Yarbrough said the raise has now made officer pay more comparable to salaries seen in other Central Texas cities. He also said this will help the department's recruitment efforts.This raise also comes with a nightside differential for officers, which provides an additional 15% per shift for officers who work after 6 p.m."During all my years of law enforcement, I've learned that when officers who are public servants can come to a place where they feel valued - that is priceless," Yarbrough said.Yarbrough said city officials and leaders were very receptive to this additional funding. He said the raise is a sign that the city is investing in public safety for its rapidly growing community."We're not only competitive, we're exceeding some of the salaries that are provided by some of our other law enforc...

New Texas law aims to give Black, Latino students better access to advanced math classes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — There's a new state law requiring all middle school students who test in a certain percentile to automatically be put in advanced math classes.The goal? Eliminating the equity gap. And it's already made an impact on Central Texas school districts.There was high energy in Mr. Kevin Taylor's 8th grade pre-algebra advanced math class on Thursday."Regular math is boring!" a student shouted from the group eager to learn. This was in response to Reporter Jala Washington asking why the students wanted to take an advanced math course.Mr. Taylor's class is perhaps a bit more diverse than a few years ago, after some Central Texas School Districts—including Hays CISD—their policies."Their local policy shifted from teacher recommendation counselor recommendation, or using STAAR as a cutoff score, to looking at top 40% quintile of students performance, and then automatically enrolling them in advanced math in sixth grade," Jennifer Saenz with the organization, Education Equals Ec...

Earthquake-detecting AI algorithm finds success in early trial

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm which aims to one day predict earthquakes before they happen, according to a press release by UT’s Jackson School of Geosciences.  Using real-time seismic data paired with previous earthquakes, the release said researchers trained the AI algorithm to identify statistical bumps which it used over a seven-month trial period in China to forecast 70% of earthquakes a week before they happened.   MAP: What’s the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Texas? The international competition held in China pitted the UT-developed AI against 600 other designs. It came in first place by successfully predicting 14 earthquakes. The predictions estimated where the earthquakes would occur within approximately 200 miles and almost exactly calculated their strength, with only one missed earthquake and eight false warnings, according to researchers.  Although it is u...

Ramsey County attorney’s office: White Bear Lake officers justified in firing shots back at man during ‘critical incident’ last year

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

The Ramsey County attorney’s office said Thursday that two White Bear Lake police officers were legally justified last year when they fired a dozen rounds at a man after he shot and severely injured one of them.Daniel Loren Holmgren Jr., 34, was not hit by the shots that officer Ryan Sheak and Sgt. Eric Gadbois fired after Holmgren emerged from his apartment bedroom and began firing his handgun on Jan. 24.Daniel Holmgren, 33, DOB: 09/13/1989, of White Bear Lake, was booked into the Ramsey County jail on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with allegedly shooting a White Bear Lake police officer on Jan. 24, 2023. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)Holmgren’s gunfire hit Sheak twice in the midsection, but the officer managed to fire back one shot. Gadbois shot 11 times after Holmgren went back into his bedroom, according to a six-page memorandum the attorney’s office prepared after its review of the incident.Both Sheak and Gadbois “only used deadly for...

Andreas Kluth: We need to keep supporting Ukraine, Elon

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

Surely we have bigger things to worry about than “a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing.” That quote comes from Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of the UK at the time. He said it in 1938, when Adolf Hitler was about to seize the Sudetenland, part of what was Czechoslovakia. And you know what came next.Now compare that sentiment with some of the notions bandied about today regarding the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. People “have bigger problems than Ukraine,” says Robert Fico, a pro-Russian former prime minister of Slovakia, who just won another election. In the U.S., Elon Musk, serial entrepreneur and aspiring populist firebrand, is more specific: “Why,” he wonders on his own social media platform, “do so many American politicians from both parties care 100 times more about the Ukraine border than the USA border?”Go ahead and insert your own priority, whatever that may be. Maybe, like Mus...

Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson is always open. Even when he’s not.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

After being gifted a free play last week, the Vikings made the Carolina Panthers pay with a deep shot downfield.The execution was perfect as quarterback Kirk Cousins delivered a pinpoint pass and star receiver Justin Jefferson rose up to make a spectacular catch in the end zone.Asked about that sequence, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell heaped praise on Cousins for throwing the ball to Jefferson in that moment. It was single coverage on the outside, and thus, imperative that Cousin gave Jefferson a chance to do something special.“We got a 1-on-1 there,” O’Connell said. “I thought Kirk did a great job of orchestrating that, holding the safety , then really throwing it to a great spot versus a good matchup.”The fact that Jefferson outmuscled cornerback D’Shawn Jamison for the ball was further confirmation of his greatness.Never mind that it was a 50-50 ball when Cousins let it rip. There’s no such thing as a 50-50 ball when it comes to Jeff...

Man sentenced for 2020 Bevo murder

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

ST. LOUIS - A Lemay, Missouri, man was sentenced Thursday in connection with a 2020 murder in St. Louis City's Bevo neighborhood.Darryl Anderson Jr., 37, appeared in St. Louis Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action.Anderson told the court he shot and killed Daron Jefferson on June 11, 2020, outside a 7-Eleven store in the 4900 block of Christy Boulevard. Jefferson was 29. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News SIGN UP NOW Police and prosecutors did not mention a motive for the murder.Anderson was originally charged with first-degree murder. His trial was set to begin next week.Anderson will receive credit for three years of time served.

Water disposal company to pay $500,000 in state settlement over emissions violations in Weld County

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:06:46 GMT

Saltwater disposal company Expedition Water Solutions will pay $507,325 in penalties as part of a settlement with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment over emissions violations in Weld County, the agency announced this week.Colorado’s Air Pollution Control Division first discovered elevated benzene emissions at the company’s disposal well sites in Platteville and Kersey in May 2022, and a toxicology analysis determined the levels of benzene to be above health guideline values, according to a news release from the health department Wednesday.The well sites, used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas operations, can generate emissions when water is improperly transferred from a truck to the basin.“We took action to protect Coloradans in a major way with this settlement,” Michael Ogletree, director of the Air Pollution Control Division, said in a statement. “The changes we’re requiring the company to make will have a transformative impact in protecti...