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Illinois World War II veteran given France's highest distinction

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

PEKIN, Ill. (WMBD) - A 98-year-old Pekin native who served in World War II, helping liberate France from German occupation, was recognized with the French Legion of Honor today at Preston-Hanley funeral home.Dean A. Preston was a Corporal in the Air Force who served as a radio operator and repairman, helping with communications across the front lines. He served in North Africa, Italy, Germany, and France during the war.Preston didn't want to have that duty initially, however."I volunteered to be in the Air Force; I thought I'd go someplace in the Air Force, but I guess they wanted me for radio maintenance, so they sent me to school, and there was 26 of us; we all ended in the same place, overseas," he said. Central Illinois hosts some of the best places to work according to Forbes A large crowd gathered to see the ceremony, which included veterans, citizens and French and American officials.Preston was given the award by French Consul General to the Midwest Yannick Tagand, who sai...

Keeler: How Broncos RB Jaleel McLaughlin ran from homelessness to NFL heroics: “I don’t want to live life with any regrets.”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

For three months, his bed was the back seat of a Ford Focus. As a teen, Jaleel McLaughlin went home to a McDonald’s parking lot, a five-star speedster living out of a four-door sedan.“You know, there (have) been games where I’ve had a great game and I’d come home to nothing,” the undrafted Broncos rookie recalled Tuesday after practice at Dove Valley. “I’d come home to sleeping in the car.“So that’s why … I don’t never get too high and never get too low. Because the unexpected can happen.”Criminy, does this unexpected fly. If your heart doesn’t lambada whenever McLaughlin touches the rock, check your pulse.If you’re not rooting for the kid to make this Broncos roster, especially once you hear his backstory, best check your soul.“(My family) definitely motivates me a lot,” the free-agent tailback and returner out of Youngstown State said. “Even if, say, I might have a down day or, say, it’s early in the morning, I think about my family. I think about the sacri...

Rescue efforts continue after massive mudslide in mountain communities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

Emergency airlifts to rescue San Bernardino County residents stranded in the mountains after Hilary caused massive mudslides that blocked roads and washed-out bridges continued Tuesday.  Forest Falls, Oak Glen and Seven Oaks on the east side of the San Bernardino Mountains were hit hard by the first tropical storm to hit California in 83 years.  San Bernardino County Fire flew helicopters into Seven Oaks today where many residents were trapped due to roads covered in mud and debris and even homes that were washed away. Firefighters airlifted 3-4 residents out at a time, bringing them into Angelus Oaks.  “It was just rain and it got stronger and stronger and by eight o’clock is when I started hearing the rocks and the boulders the size of cars bashing into each other. You could feel the whole house shake,” Seven Oaks resident David Zwieback, who was evacuated today, told KTLA.  Unfortunately, a neighbor of Tina Jerue and Zwieback is still missing, though firefighters c...

Body pulled from ocean had 'puncture wounds,' Ventura County authorities say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

An investigation is underway after a Los Angeles man's body was pulled from the ocean Saturday with "puncture wounds" to his torso.The man, Jason Jennings, 51, was found unresponsive in the water off Point Mugu in Ventura County Saturday afternoon.Fire crews and personnel from the Naval base responded to Family Beach around 1 p.m. following a report of a person in the water. The beach is located on Naval Base Ventura County property.After he was pulled from the ocean, Jennings was pronounced dead and paramedics discovered he had suffered multiple "puncture wounds" to his torso.His death is considered to be suspicious and the Ventura County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Bureau has begun an investigation.Anyone with information about Jennings' death is urged to contact Ventura County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Jeremy Bramlette at 805-384-4727. Anonymous tips can be submitted online or by calling 800-222-8477.

Violence breaks out among demonstrators over transgender policies at L.A. schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

Violence erupted between a parental rights group and LGBTQ+ supporters over transgender notification policies at Los Angeles public schools on Tuesday.The groups clashed outside the L.A. Unified School District headquarters downtown during a demonstration. As the gathering turned violent, police officers were called to the scene.Skirmish lines were set up between the dueling groups and at least three people were taken into custody for “becoming violent, pushing officers, and throwing items,” LAPD said.Violence erupted between a parental rights group and LGBTQ+ supporters over the call for transgender notification policies at Los Angeles public schools on August 22, 2023. (KTLA)Violence erupted between a parental rights group and LGBTQ+ supporters over the call for transgender notification policies at Los Angeles public schools on August 22, 2023. (KTLA)Violence erupted between a parental rights group and LGBTQ+ supporters over the call for transgender notification policies at Los An...

SF Giants’ Kyle Harrison lives up to hype in debut, but Phillies win on a walk-off

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Harrison couldn’t help but hear the noise.Teammates chided him. Fans heckled him.“Just telling you that you need to be up there. This and that. You hear it,” Harrison said a day before making the most-anticipated arrival of a Giants prospect in a decade. “I hear the noise.”In front of 40,420 rabid fans, under a cotton-candy sky on a Tuesday evening and three levels of grandstands, Harrison either tuned out the noise, the most he’s ever experienced on the mound, or thrived on it — either way, in an environment that was a far cry from De La Salle campus or Sacramento, Harrison largely lived up to the billing, with the understanding that this was never going to be a seven-inning or 100-pitch debut.The Giants understood the challenge the Phillies’ loaded lineup presented. They believed Harrison, even on a pitch count, was ready for it.And in 3⅓ innings of work, he put them in position to capitalize on the little offense they ...

Oakland homicide suspect arrested after body set on fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

(KRON) -- An Oakland homicide suspect was arrested three weeks after a body was set on fire along an East Bay interstate. Raul Ramirez-Perez, 22, of Oakland, was arrested for the murder of 47-year-old Nathan Kolasa, the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division revealed Tuesday.Kolasa's body was found burning next to the 17th Street offramp of Interstate-980 in Oakland around 1:25 a.m. August 1. Firefighters were initially called to the blaze to extinguish a brush fire."Officers were advised by members of the Oakland Fire Department that after extinguishing the fire, they located a deceased person who had suffered burns," the CHP wrote.CHP detectives took over the investigation and determined that Kolasa had died before the fire ignited. "Kolasa had suffered significant traumatic injuries which caused his death prior to the fire starting," investigators wrote. The victim was reportedly beaten to death with a metal pole. Ramirez-Perez was identified as a prime suspect. On Friday...

Top Turkish diplomat calls for Iraq to designate PKK a terrorist organization during Baghdad visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister on Tuesday denounced a separatist Kurdish group that operates in northern Iraqi territory as an enemy of both Turkey and Iraq, and urged the Iraqi government to ban the group as a terrorist organization as Ankara has done.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged Iraq to label the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, a terrorist organization during his first visit to Baghdad since taking office. The trip came ahead of an anticipated visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after what has been months of escalating hostility between Turkey and Turkish-backed groups on one side, and Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria on the other.In a statement after meeting with his counterpart, Fidan urged Iraqi officials to “not allow our mutual enemy, the PKK terrorist organization, to poison our bilateral relations.”While Baghdad has frequently complained that Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq are a breach of its sovereignty, Fidan described t...

Calhoun’s 3-run homer rallies Guardians to 8-3 win over Dodgers, who drop just third game in August

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Kole Calhoun’s towering three-run homer capped Cleveland’s five-run seventh inning as the Guardians rallied for an 8-3 win on Tuesday night and cooled off the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost for just the third time in August.Calhoun, who was acquired earlier this month in a trade from the NL West leaders for cash, connected off reliever Caleb Ferguson as the Guardians came from behind to stun baseball’s hottest team.The Dodgers are 17-3 in August and 25-10 since the All-Star break.Oscar Gonzalez also homered for the Guardians, who trailed 3-2 entering the seventh after being held to six hits over 6 1/3 innings by Dodgers rookie starter Bobby Miller (7-3).But Steven Kwan and José Ramírez hit two-out RBI singles off Ferguson and Calhoun, who spent roughly two months this season stuck at Triple-A Oklahoma City with the Dodgers, hit the left-hander’s first pitch barely over the wall in right to make it 7-3.Another former Dodger, Guardians starter N...

Osleivis Basabe’s first major league homer is a grand slam as the Rays beat the Rockies 12-4

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:00 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Osleivis Basabe hit a grand slam for his first major league homer, capping off a nine-run eighth inning for the AL wild card-leading Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the Colorado Rockies 12-4 on Tuesday night.Basabe is filling at shortstop for Wander Franco, who is on MLB’s administrative list while authorities in the Dominican Republic investigate him for an alleged relationship with a minor.After the Rays loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth against Brent Suter (4-1), pinch-hitter Christian Bethancourt delivered an RBI single to tie it before Yandy Díaz made it 5-4 on his run-scoring base hit. Díaz went 3 for 5 in his career-best fifth straight multi-hit game, raising his AL-leading average to .328.Randy Arozarena added a two-run single off Daniel Bard that went off left fielder Nolan Jones’ glove, and Isaac Paredes drove in a run with a double. Bard then hit Jose Siri with a pitch to load the bases and bring up Basabe, who took him deep to left fi...