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Fire destroys Days Inn hotel in Maine as firefighters work to find missing people

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

KITTERY, Maine (AP) — A fire destroyed a Days Inn hotel in Kittery Wednesday afternoon, and firefighters worked to find one to two people unaccounted for in the blaze.Kittery Fire Chief David O’Brien said the call on the fire came in at 12:03 p.m. He said the fire at the $1.6 million hotel went to five alarms.“It is a total loss,” he said. “There is nothing left of the building.”O’Brien said firefighters are chasing down reports of missing people. “At this point, we have one possibly two that are unaccounted for,” he said.O’Brien said one firefighter was injured with cuts. He also said a passerby was injured but didn’t provide additional details.Flames tore through parts of the roof, and smoke could be seen from more than a mile away. Part of the building also collapsed.O’Brien said the fire was under investigation. The size of the fire, the size of the building, wind and lack of water all made it challenging to fight the blaze, he said.

Child taken to hospital after falling out third-floor window in Worcester

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

A three-year-old child was rushed to a local hospital Wednesday after falling out a third-floor window in Worcester, police said. The incident happened on Wednesday morning on Grand Street. The girl is expected to survive. Speaking with 7NEWS later in the day, one woman who found the child after the fall and called 911 recalled the experience. Stephanie Thorin said she was visiting her daughter and granddaughter and rushed to help. The girl was somehow able to stand and walked to Thorin, who picked her up before calling 911. “She looked okay,” Thorin said. “She looked scared. She was shaken.”Thorin said both the child’s mother and father were home at the time of the incident, along with another sibling. “The mom was crying,” Thorin said. “The dad was trying to keep the little girl calm. They didn’t quite understand too much of what they were trying to tell them to do to make her sit and stay still. They were trying to make her stand and walk.”The fall was al...

Solve It 7: Detoured Deliveries

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

It started as a mystery for one couple: why weren’t they getting their packages? Once they figured it out they needed Solve It 7’s help. Brandon Gunnoe has the story.Paul and Kristin bought a new house on a new street in Plymouth.“We were very happy to live here,” Paul said.  Then they started buying new stuff from a popular online store.  “And then, when it said it was delivered, we looked outside, nothing outside,” Paul said.  “I would reach out to neighbors saying, ‘Did it accidentally get delivered to your house?'” Kristin said.The couple asked for help on their neighborhood’s Facebook group.“One of our other neighbors that’s lived here longer said, ‘Listen, we’ve had the same problem. There are similar addresses in another town; your order is probably in the other town,'” Paul said.  The couple did some online detective work and discovered their packages were being deli...

Kyle Bradish shows former organization what it’s missing as Orioles top Angels, 3-1

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

Nights such as Wednesday don’t surprise Orioles rookie infielder Joey Ortiz. He’s been watching Kyle Bradish dominate since their college days at New Mexico State.“Ever since I’ve known him, he’s always been, like, the best pitcher I’ve ever seen,” Ortiz said. “The stuff he’s got, to me, it looks unhittable.”The Los Angeles Angels were left largely feeling the same way Wednesday night, as Bradish, once a member of their minor league system, held them to one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings as the Orioles won, 3-1, at Camden Yards. He struck out five with no walks as Baltimore nearly went a second straight night without issuing a free pass.The Angels took Bradish in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, with the Orioles taking Ortiz in the same round the next year. The subsequent offseason, they became members of the same organization, when Bradish and three other young right-handers were traded to Baltimore for starting pitc...

Nick Burdi savors his return to the majors after missing 2 seasons: ‘This one was definitely earned,’ the Chicago Cubs reliever says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

In many ways, Nick Burdi’s first appearance with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night meant more to the reliever than his big-league debut.“This one was definitely earned,” a smiling Burdi said before the Cubs’ series finale Wednesday night against the Houston Astros.When Burdi reached the majors in 2018 with the Pittsburgh Pirates — appearing in two games as a September call-up — the Downers Grove South alumnus knew the promotion was coming, though the timing was a little uncertain.Burdi, a second-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 2014 out of Louisville, had been picked in the Rule 5 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies in December 2017 and traded to the Pirates. He missed most of 2018 recovering from his first Tommy John surgery but returned before the season ended.“This one to me was a lot more personal,” Burdi said of Tuesday’s outing, “and it felt like this one was my real debut, if that makes sense.”He pitched the...

Cam Grindle homer gives Xaverian the Catholic Conference baseball title

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

WESTWOOD – For the second time in three years, Xaverian has itself a conference baseball championshipAfter seeing BC High score two in the top of the eighth, Xaverian rallied for three in the bottom as Cam Grindle crushed a walk-off two-run home run to lift the Hawks to a Catholic Conference championship, 3-2, over the Eagles on Wednesday afternoon.In 2021, the Hawks (11-5) also clinched the Catholic Conference title over a BC High with a walk-off home run, that one by Justice Ciampa.“Just a great baseball game in every respect,” Xaverian coach Gerry Lambert said. “This is a tremendous achievement by our guys. Pure talent wise after our top two-three guys we are not one of the 10 best teams in the state, but we are one of the toughest 10 teams in the state.”Over the first seven innings the game mirrored vintage Catholic Conference duels from the league’s wood bat days. BC High’s Sam Keene went the first six shutout innings, striking out 10, ...

WestJet CEO, pilots’ union head clash over compensation as strike looms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

No sign of a breakthrough emerged in talks between WestJet and its pilots Wednesday, as the company’s CEO deemed the union’s expectations unrealistic while the Air Line Pilots Association slammed the airline for trying to ‘publicly villainize’ its workers.WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said late Tuesday the two sides remained far apart on key sticking points — especially wages — as bargaining heats up and the clock ticks down on a strike deadline.“The gap is still massive,” von Hoensbroech said from the bargaining venue, a hotel north of Toronto. Neither the company nor the union provided a concrete update Wednesday on the negotiations.More than 1,800 pilots at WestJet and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to potentially walk off the job as of 3 a.m. EDT on Friday after the union issued a strike notice Monday night.The standoff has left thousands of passengers with travel plans for the May long weekend and beyond hanging in limbo.In ...

California congresswoman’s husband sentenced to prison in Connecticut fraud case

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The former board chairperson of a Connecticut energy cooperative and estranged husband of a California congresswoman was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for using public funds to pay for lavish trips to the Kentucky Derby and a luxury golf resort. James Sullivan, 56, a one-time Democratic congressional candidate in Connecticut, was convicted of helping plan trips in 2015 and 2016 for dozens of top staff, board members and family members totaling $800,000. Prosecutors said the trips were unrelated to the business of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, which receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.The $800,000 included travel expenses, private chartered airfare, first-class hotel accommodations, meals, tickets to sporting events, golf fees, souvenirs and gifts, federal prosecutors said. For a trip to the Kentucky Derby trip in 2015, which prosecutors said had an average cost of approximately $9,000 per guest, S...

Man who witnessed George Floyd murder by police suing Minneapolis over officers’ actions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

One of the most vocal bystanders as a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd three years ago is suing the city, alleging he was assaulted and suffered emotional distress as he witnessed the handcuffed Black man beg for his life, go limp and stop breathing.Donald Williams of Minneapolis filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court. While now ex-officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck on May 25, 2020, he threatened Williams and other bystanders with a can of mace, shaking it at them after Williams expressed concern for Floyd, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges that Chauvin and another now-former officer, Tou Thao, taunted Floyd, Williams and other bystanders who expressed concern and that Thao placed his hand on Williams’ chest. Williams took those actions as threats and, the lawsuit says, he was fearful for his safety and the safety of the other witnesses.The lawsuit says Williams is seeking more than $50,000 for each count, a standard d...

Oil project near Amazon River mouth blocked by Brazil’s environment agency

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:17 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s environmental regulator refused on Wednesday to grant a license for a controversial offshore oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River, prompting celebration from environmentalists who had warned of its potential impact. The decision to reject the state-run oil company Petrobras’ request to drill the FZA-M-59 block was made “as a function of a group of technical inconsistencies,” said the agency’s president, Rodrigo Agostinho, who highlighted environmental concerns.With Brazil’s existing production set to peak in coming years, Petrobras has sought to secure more reserves off Brazil’s northern coast. The company earmarked almost half its five-year, $6 billion exploration budget for the area. CEO Jean Paul Prates had said that the first well would be temporary and that the company has never recorded a leak in offshore drilling. The company failed to convince the environmental agency.“There is no doubt that Petrobras ...