A local family trying to get the word out about a new addition ended up informing far more people than they had intended when their gender reveal party caused the Parkers Mill Fire Department to turn up. An incident took place Wednesday which caused several neighbors in the area to call emergency services and report a possible explosion. The calls came in from the Slate Branch Road area, and some callers described the event as having shook their homes. Mark Gretz, a captain with the Parkers Mill Fire Department, said that the department was called to the scene around 4:15 p.m. When there, units located the explosion site, which a Parkers Mill Fire Department social media post stated “was very blue.” As it turns out, Gretz said, a family had decided to hold a gender reveal involving four pounds of tannerite, a combination of chemicals that when mixed together can be set off as an explosion by a high-velocity bullet. Gretz said that tannerite is usually used for target practice, but not in the quantity used for the party. “I don’t think they thought it was going to be as big of a bang as it was,” he said. For those who plan on using tannerite for such displays, Gretz advised that the public should “make sure they contact the fire department before they do something like that, so that we can have somebody on standby or even have somebody there if something were to go wrong.” And there have been cases in the United States where things have gone very wrong. According to a CNN.com article, a gender reveal using tannerite which took place on April 23, 2017 in Arizona ignited nearby dry brush that led to a 47,000-acre wildfire and caused more than $8 million in damage, most of it to a nearby national forest. That incident, known as the Sawmill Fire, was started by off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent Dennis Dickey, who later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to five years probation. Regardless of what caused Wednesday’s explosion in Pulaski, Gretz said that his fire department has seen more explosions within its district this year than it wanted to. The tannerite explosion took place just days after another explosion in the Lake Ridge Road area of Slate Branch was reported. In that explosion, a woman was reported as being severely burned. Gretz said Monday that he did not have an update on the woman’s condition, but confirmed the department’s earlier social media reports that she was taken to a burn unit in a Louisville hospital. The initial reports on that explosion said that it took place in a garage at a residence, and that gasoline fumes were ignited when the victim entered the garage and lit a cigarette. Gretz added that the fumes spread after the husband of the residence had decided to mow his yard one more time this year, and took the lid off of the gas can to put fuel into a lawnmower. When replacing the gas can, he didn’t put the cap back on. The person then closed the garage door, which allowed the fumes to build up. Gretz said that the home’s furnace was in the garage, and therefore the smell of gas fumes began circulating throughout the house. The wife went out to investigate, but when she went into the garage she also lit a cigarette. Gretz also noted that the Parkers Mill Fire Department also dealt with the aftermath of an explosion in May, in which one person was killed. That explosion took place on Hidden Crest Drive in a shed that was storing fireworks.Seahawks have taken a bumpy path to first place in the NFC WestUkraine revokes 188 disability statuses amid MSEC reevaluation
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Dunbar football outlasts Douglass-PG, 6-0, in 2A/1A state semifinalESTERO, Fla. (AP) — Sydney Shaw scored 20 points and made four 3-pointers, JJ Quinerly added 14 points and No. 12 West Virginia handed Boise State its first loss, 82-47 on Saturday in the Gulf Coast Showcase. West Virginia advances to the championship game on Sunday, while Boise State plays for third place. The Mountaineers have started 8-0 in back-to-back seasons after last year's 11-0 beginning. Quinerly also had three steals to help West Virginia reach double figures in that category in every game this season. The Mountaineers also forced 20-plus turnovers for the eighth straight game. Boise State was held to just six points in the first and third quarters. West Virginia went on two 10-0 runs in the first quarter to build a 16-point lead. The Mountaineers led by double figures the rest of the way. It was 45-23 at halftime then Quinerly scored four straight points to begin a 9-0 run that ended in a 32-point lead. Freshman Jordan Thomas, coming off her first career double-double, had 10 points and six rebounds for West Virginia. Elodie Lalotte scored 11 points for Boise State (7-1). Teryn Gardner addd 10. West Virginia was coming off an 89-54 victory over High Point on Friday to begin the tournament. The Mountaineers led by as many as 39 points and forced 22 turnovers in that one. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketballUS-Israeli citizen Omer Neutra was killed in Oct 7. Hamas attack, Israel confirms
A Gambier Island woman wants to warn seniors about a sophisticated phone scam, which she avoided and hopes they will too. Judy Weiser, a psychologist and art therapist, among other talents and credentials, is no luddite and to that end, runs her own website and is familiar with coding. But, despite being tech savvy and highly suspicious, Weiser says when a phone call came in with a recorded message from “Canada Post,” she didn’t immediately hang up. “I have a website. I have a Facebook group with over 10,000 individually approved members,” said Weiser. “I am not one who's easily scammed. I already keep alerting my husband, who's not very tech fluent, that if somebody says, ‘Is this Bob?’ You say, ‘Uh huh.’ You don't say yes, because they record your voice and it can be used for scams and hacks.” But, when the recorded messages asked her to press one to speak to someone at Canada Post about a package, she didn’t hesitate. “Well, I have five different packages that I ordered before the [Canada Post employee] strike. Amazon will not deliver to our island, so I pushed one and I got a man's voice,” she said. “So, he said we're investigating a suspicious package that was seized. It had your address on it and it had $16,000 worth of cash, several illegal duplications of fake driver's licenses and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, what?” The man went on to ask what her address is and despite her suspicions, Weiser felt caught-off-guard and gave it to him. “And I wasn't smart enough to say, what address does it have on the package? That's my stupid error,” said Weiser. “And he said, I'm going to ask you to read a statement and you need to say it, and please be honest and tell us if it's true. ‘Did you have anything to do with a fraudulent crime of money laundering?’” Weiser said while she found the exchange slightly amusing, she still wasn’t 100 per cent convinced it wasn’t really Canada Post — or a member of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service — on the line, so she wanted to play it safe by being polite. “I thought, I have no idea if this is hoax but if it is, it's a good one. So, I said, keep going.” He then asked her to spell her name. Weiser noticed there were numerous voices in the background as the man spoke and by then she had decided there was something suspicious about the entire conversation, so she asked him for his badge number and which office he was calling from. “And then he said, this is a very serious crime and if you're not guilty, we'll try to help you get this identity fraud taken care of, but we have to seize your bank account,” said Weiser. “I said, no you don't.” She then told the man that until she had something in writing that she could show a lawyer, there was no way she was going to let them freeze her bank account. At that point, Weiser was referred to the man’s “senior investigating officer,” who told her they’d have to get a sworn statement from her. “And I said, absolutely not. I'm an old lady. I'm turning 80 next summer. I don't do criminal things and you're not going to touch my bank account without something in writing. I'll sue the hell out of you.” At that point it appeared the scammers decided they had met their match, because they hung up on her. Weiser contacted in hopes of warning anyone who might get caught in the same situation. She noted, it’s often instinct to immediately try and defend yourself against such an accusation, but she suggests instead to ask for a phone number in order to call them back, create a paper trail by asking for any requests in writing via email, even if it’s legitimate, and contact a friend or family member to ask for an opinion. “And then, if you think you've been hacked, call the ,” she said. “There's a Quaker concept called bearing witness. If you can't stop a crime, you make sure they know it was witnessed, so that they know that they didn't do it in silence and it's not being forgotten. And that's been my credo my whole life.” RCMP Const. Karen Whitby said the best thing a person can do to avoid falling victim to a scam is, don’t answer the phone. “It's my number one. And, to just to be really aware before they start giving out any information and, if it's a business calling them, they can call the business back and look up the phone number themselves.” Whitby noted the Canada Post scam is rampant right now. In fact, she added, unless you’ve been an actual victim of a scam, there’s no point calling police. “There’s just too many of them.”Michigan’s upset of Ohio State ends with a brawl, blood and pepper spray
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Hampden has only happy memories for Sebastián Cancelliere, who was a significant contributor to Glasgow Warriors’ 33-19 victory over Edinburgh in the first leg of the 1872 Cup on Sunday. The winger’s previous visit to the stadium came a couple of years ago when Celtic full-back and fellow Argentine Alexandro Bernabei secured him tickets for the League Cup final against Rangers. Cancelliere witnessed a 2-1 win for Celtic that day and his first experience of playing at the ground proved even more enjoyable as the Warriors dominated their ancient rivals. Cancelliere was one of their standout performers in front of a club record home attendance of 27,538 . It was the first time playing the fixture at Hampden and he enjoyed the extra space on the flanks. “Football pitches tend to be shorter but wider than rugby pitches, in my experience,” said the Argentina international. “It was definitely a good game and a good atmosphere. “I’d actually been a couple of years ago, February 2023 I think it was. There was an Argie, Bernabei, playing for Celtic and I came to watch him in the cup final. So just coming back here and seeing everything, and playing against Edinburgh with this crowd, it was amazing.” Hampden was where Diego Maradona scored his first ever international goal so the stadium will always have a special link to Argentina and Cancelliere showed some neat footballing skills of his own during the first half, trapping a high ball with his instep. The Warriors’ combination of skill and strength up front proved to be far too much for Edinburgh but the visitors at least scored two late tries to give them some hope for the second leg at Murrayfield this Saturday. “It was a good win,” added Cancelliere. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, but I think we kind of broke them down in the first half. We knew they would be coming for us in the second half but we were strong. Those two tries at the end still hurt, but it's going to be a great game next week, so we can't wait. “Edinburgh are a great team as well, and they deserved those tries. We’ve just got to back it up next week.” The cohort of Argentine players in Scottish rugby has been diminished in recent seasons. Lucio Sordoni and Enrique Pieretto left Glasgow in the summer, and Domingo Miotti departed at the end of the previous campaign. Sadly, Emiliano Boffelli has been unable to play any rugby for Edinburgh this season and is back home as he deals with an ongoing back issue, leaving Cancelliere and Glasgow team-mate Facundo Cordero to fly the flag. They used to all get together for a Christmas barbeque but this year will be a quiet family affair for Cancelliere. “Christmas is going to be me, my wife and my little daughter, so just the three of us,” he said. “It’s going to be good, but it’s going to be different. In the last few years there have been lots of Argies here. Boff has been in Argentina for the last three weeks, and Facundo Cordero, the only other Argentinian, is going to Connacht to visit his brother. On the 26th, my mum and dad are coming as well, and they're staying for three weeks. I can’t wait for that.”
On Nov. 7, the South China Morning Post reported an uproar following a social media post depicting a small child urinating on a table full of food. The baby's mother captured the moment on video when her child sprayed the breakfast table with urine, then proudly revealed that the family had continued to eat the food. The Beijing mom commented that they "rarely put disposable diapers on him ... We do not cover it because it is better not to interrupt the child while he is urinating." ** ** **PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) — Quintell Quinn ran for 154 yards and two touchdowns to lead Texas Southern to a 31-23 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday. Quinn scored on a 32-yard run to open the scoring midway through the first quarter, and his 75-yard touchdown run gave Texas Southern a 17-13 lead with 6:59 remaining in the third. A little more than three minutes later, Jace Wilson threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Trenton Leary that stretched the Tigers' lead to 24-13. Athean Renfro added 55 yards rushing with a 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter for Texas Southern (5-6, 4-4 Southwestern Athletic Conference). DJ Stevenson threw a touchdown pass and an interception for Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-8, 2-6). Abdulbasit Osholake had an 80-yard pick-6 that tied it 7-all late in the second quarter for the Lions. ___ Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
AP Business SummaryBrief at 1:42 p.m. ESTCOP29 clinches climate finance dealJudy Porter, freelance reporter for Focus Daily News since 2011, has completed a novel about the Tennis culture in Dallas which is set to be published by American Book Publishing at the end of December. Forty Love is a romantic comedy about the Tennis leagues in Dallas and the many personalities who play in it and run the local competition. The book is loosely based on Porter’s 20 years in the Tennis Competitors of Dallas (TCD) league which began in the early 80’s. Nearly every country club and public tennis center in the Metroplex has a tennis team or two which competes in the spring and fall leagues. The league boasts over 8,000 active tennis players and has a website and two Facebook pages. Porter is a former board member of the league and a current team captain. A high school teacher and tennis coach for two decades, a number of Porter’s former student-athletes are currently tennis pros in the Dallas Metroplex. She continues to promote the sport through social media and organizing events to get players back on the courts. Described as a fun PG-13 love story about the sport and the people who play it, Porter hopes the book will make people laugh and fall in love with the sport. She notes that people who play tennis regularly live over nine years longer than people who don’t play. It’s considered a “life-long” sport and continues to grow in the metroplex with professional tournaments held here, including the Dallas Open. Dallas Maverick’s icon Dirk Nowitzki played tennis before he took up basketball and, upon his retirement, continues to play tennis. Former Dallas Cowboy (1980-1988) standout Timothy Newsome can also be spotted on the tennis courts. For more information on the book, contact author Judy Porter at judy-porter@sbcglobal.net Forty Love ISBN : 978-1-966604-06-8 American Book Publishing
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