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10 Champagne alternatives, budget bubbles to toast in 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

Anna Lee Iijima | (TNS) Chicago TribuneFor wine lovers, there’s nothing more festive than a splash of Champagne to ring in the holidays. But like Band-Aids and the Xerox machine, the term Champagne is too often used as a generic substitution for any sparkling wine — whether or not it comes from the Champagne region of France.The European Union and the Champenois will forever object to this and lobby trademark disputes as needed. But it’s more unfair, perhaps, to the bevy of other sparkling wine producers worldwide whose products remain woefully unsung and underappreciated. There’s a wide range of sparkling wine options and just as many reasons why choosing alt-sparkling may spark even more joy this holiday season.For many, the price tag alone puts Champagne squarely out of reach. Because of sexier marketing and its blue-chip reputation, Champagne rarely sells for under $40 in retail stores these days, regardless of quality or provenance. In restaurants, you’re lucky to find it for l...

People are buying pricey fertility drugs from strangers on the internet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

Kristen V. Brown | Bloomberg News (TNS)After in vitro fertilization led to a miscarriage, Lindsay found herself with thousands of dollars’ worth of fertility drugs she could no longer use.She was lucky: Insurance covered most of her costs. But for the majority of people, fertility care is not covered. So Lindsay didn’t want to waste her drugs.“I knew people were paying a lot for these,” she said. “It seemed sort of criminal to throw them away.”Lindsay and the other women living in the U.S. interviewed for this article asked that only their first names be used because it’s against federal law to possess or consume drugs not prescribed to you.Lindsay looked for fellow fertility patients who might want her medications. She found them on social media. On Instagram, patients used hashtags to covertly signal they had fertility drugs for offer, or that they were in need. On Facebook, Listservs and Discord groups, people swapped (and sometimes sold) leftover medications.As more women postpo...

Video shows police knew Maine shooter was a threat. They also felt confronting him was unsafe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

By PATRICK WHITTLE (Associated Press)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Police in Maine feared that confronting an Army reservist in the weeks before he killed 18 people in the state’s deadliest mass shooting would “throw a stick of dynamite on a pool of gas,” according to video released Friday by law enforcement.The footage, which was released to the Portland Press Herald and then sent to The Associated Press, documents a call between Sagadoc County Sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Skolfield and Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer. Skolfield was following up with Reamer about the potential threat posed by Robert Card, a 40-year-old Army reservist from the Lewiston area who carried out the Oct. 25 attacks at a bowling alley and a restaurant.Skolfield mentioned Maine’s yellow flag law, which can be used to remove guns from potentially dangerous people, after Reamer said Card had refused medical treatment after his hospitalization during his Army service. Reamer echoed the id...

First responders rescue man stuck under concrete on side of cliff in Ocean Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- First responders on Friday rescued a middle-aged man who slipped and fell under broken concrete sections on the side of a cliff in Ocean Beach. Fire officials believe he may have been stuck there for up to three days.Around 3:42 p.m. Thursday, a rescue team reported to Cable St. and Orchard Ave. about a medical emergency after someone heard him calling for help, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD). As of 7:35 a.m. Friday morning, crews were still working to extricate the man from the hole. At 11 a.m. Friday, first responders were able to rescue him, lifting him out on a stretcher. #BREAKING rescuers free man trapped in cave along cliffs in #OceanBeach - updates @fox5sandiego pic.twitter.com/zgmrGDpgXu— Jason Sloss (@JasonSlossFOX5) December 22, 2023 During a news conference Thursday evening, SDFD Battalion Chief Craig Newell said rescuers discovered the man underneath a rip rap tunneling, attempting to create a shelter. San Diego police serg...

San Diego saw the brunt of the Pacific storm overnight. Here's how much rain fell

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO — The season's first significant storm battered parts of Southern California with rain as it passed over the region over the last few days.The brunt of the Pacific storm system hit San Diego County overnight Thursday into Friday, bringing thunderstorms, strong wind gusts and heavy showers to much of the region. Additional scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are possible through Friday evening as bands of the system linger before moving east. Low-level moisture Saturday morning will continue to create windy conditions for mountain and desert areas.While San Diego is not quite out of the woods yet, the storm system already dropped a significant amount of precipitation on the county, giving the area a boost towards where total rainfall should be at this point of the year.Over the last 24 hours, most of the county — all the way from the coast to the inland desert areas — saw around half an inch of rain from the storm, according to totals from the National Weather Serv...

Bristol Myers Squibb acquires Karuna Therapeutics for $14 billion, boosting neuroscience portfolio

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb is acquiring Karuna Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that has developed a new antipsychotic, in a $14 billion deal.Bristol Myers Squibb and Karuna announced their merger agreement on Friday. The transaction, which amounts to $330 per share in cash, offers a premium of 53% over Karuna’s stock on Thursday. The deal was unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors.Karuna’s top asset is KarXT, an experimental antipsychotic with a promising novel mechanism. KarXT is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of schizophrenia in adults. The drug is also undergoing trials related to Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.“We expect KarXT to enhance our growth through the late 2020s and into the next decade,” Christopher Boerner, Bristol Myers Squibb CEO, said in a prepared statement, noting that the Karuna acquisition strengthens the company’s neuroscience portfo...

Foreign interference inquiry rejects Conservatives’ renewed request for full standing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

OTTAWA — A federal inquiry into foreign interference has dismissed a request from the Conservative party to reverse an earlier decision to deny it full standing in the factual phase of the proceedings.That means the Conservative party won’t be able to cross-examine witnesses or access documents that aren’t exhibits made into evidence, though representatives will be able to attend hearings, access exhibits and make submissions.The commission will begin holding public hearings next month, looking at attempted meddling by China, Russia and other foreign states, as well as non-state actors, in recent Canadian elections. In a decision today, commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue says the Conservative party hadn’t presented any new facts or developments to warrant overturning her earlier decision, and the party can still contribute by providing documents and information, as well as proposing witnesses and potential areas of examination for those witnesses.Hogue says while the C...

Nevada rangeland taxed by wild horses, land managers plan to round up thousands of the animals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (AP) — U.S. land managers are planning to round up more than 2,800 wild horses across four Nevada counties beginning next week in an effort to reduce pressure on the drought-stricken rangeland.The Bureau of Land Management announced details of the operation Friday, saying the current wild horse population across portions of Pershing, Humboldt, Churchill and Lander counties is more than six times what it should be.Officials said there’s not enough water and forage to support that number. “Herd overpopulation and severe drought conditions have cumulative impacts on public lands, including wild horse health that must be mitigated,” said Chris Mitchell, the manager of the agency’s Humboldt River Field Office. Mitchell said the goal is to restore an ecological balance across millions of acres of public land in northern Nevada. The area also includes habitat for the greater sage grouse as well as bighorn sheep, mule deer and pronghorn antelope. The horses that...

Residents of Iceland village near volcano that erupted are allowed to return home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

GRINDAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Residents of the small Icelandic fishing village near where a volcano erupted were told Friday they could return home. The regional police chief said residents, business owners and employees could enter Grindavik beginning Saturday and could stay overnight. The town of 3,800 near Iceland’s main airport was evacuated Nov. 10 when a strong swarm of earthquakes led to cracks and openings in the earth between the town and Sýlingarfell, a small mountain to the north. The volcano finally erupted Monday, spewing semi-molten rock in a spectacular show that lit up the night sky.Scientists said Thursday that the eruption had stopped, though pressure could start building far beneath it once again. They said the lava flow spread across an area of 3.7 square kilometers (1.4 square miles) on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.“The stress that has built up over centuries now has been released by ripping the cr...

Railroad operations resume after 5-day closure in 2 Texas border towns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:00 GMT

The federal government on Friday reopened railroad crossings in two Texas border towns, five days after the shuttering of rail operations there disrupted trade and caused outrage. Customs and Border Protection closed railroad operations in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, on Monday to reallocate their customs officers to help Border Patrol take migrants into custody. Both regions have seen the number of illegal border crossings soar this month. Operations resumed at both cities as of Friday afternoon.Troy Miller, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s acting commissioner, said the closures at Eagle Pass and El Paso were a response to more migrants traveling on freight trains recently. Miller said authorities are seeing “unprecedented” arrivals at the border, topping 10,000 crossings on some days this month.The closures affected two of the six available rail border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico. Union Pacific and BNSF, the affected carriers, said automotive, agricultural, chemica...