March 2020

Oakley empathizes with Spike Lee over treatment at MSG

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:13pm

Spike Lee bailed on his New York Knicks’ courtside seat for the rest of the season. Maybe he can commiserate with former Knicks enforcer Charles Oakley, anywhere but inside Madison Square Garden.

Lee had enough of being held by security in a dispute over his proper entrance to a Knicks game when he invoked the name of executive chairman James Dolan’s No. 1 nemesis and fellow Garden agitator.

“You want to arrest me like Charles Oakley?” Lee shouted at security Monday night.

What’s happening around the world: Virus closes schools, Louvre reopens

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:11pm
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BERLIN (AP) — More authorities are considering widespread school closures among a raft of measures being taken around the world to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

These are some of the latest developments Wednesday:

 

SCHOOL CLOSURES, PILGRIMAGES CANCELED

China’s schools, forced online, run into censors

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:10pm

BEIJING (AP) — Less than 30 minutes into a lecture on bioinformatics, Chu Xinjian’s class was abruptly cut short.

It was the first day of an unusual semester. Across China, schools are shut indefinitely in a bid to contain a new virus that has killed some 3,000 people. 

Chu’s class was one of tens of thousands of courses, from grade school to university, that have been forced online.

US strikes Taliban forces, in first hit since peace deal

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:10pm

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. conducted Wednesday its first airstrike against Taliban forces in Afghanistan since signing an ambitious peace deal with the militant group.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a tweet that the “defensive” strike was the first U.S. attack against the militants in 11 days. He said the attack was to counter a Taliban assault on Afghan government forces in Nahr-e Saraj in the southern Helmand province.

Clashes erupt on Greece-Turkey border as migrants seek entry

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:09pm

KASTANIES, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities fired tear gas and stun grenades to drive away a crowd of migrants making a push to cross the border from Turkey on Wednesday, as pressure on Greece continued after Turkey declared its previously guarded gateways to Europe open.

Turkish authorities said gunfire from the Greek side killed one person and wounded five others — an assertion the Greek government rejected as “fake news.”

The clashes were near the border village of Kastanies, along a border fence that covers much of the frontier not demarcated by the Evros river. 

Death toll from Tennessee tornadoes climbs to 24

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:08pm
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rescuers searched through shattered Tennessee neighborhoods for bodies Tuesday, less than a day after tornadoes ripped across Nashville and other parts of the state as families slept. At least 24 people were killed, some in their beds, authorities said.

The twisters that struck in the hours after midnight shredded more than 140 buildings and buried people in piles of rubble and wrecked basements. The storms moved so quickly that many people in their path could not flee to safer areas.

Cellphone alerts helped Tennessee couple escape to their basement

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 4:07pm

BAXTER, Tenn. (AP) — Billy Dyer’s cellphone blared out an emergency alert, then his wife Kathy’s phone followed, giving them just enough time to get downstairs and flip on a TV to check the news. 

Then the tornado hit. 

When the sun rose Tuesday morning, the Dyers emerged to find the walls around their corner bedroom gone. Their mattress was perched precariously on their bed’s headboard, with only sky all around. 

“Thank God we had enough time to get downstairs to the basement or we would probably not be here,” Dyer said. 

Irving Maxon ‘Max' Chase

Published on Wed, 03/04/2020 - 12:00am

Irving Maxon “Max” Chase, 84, most recently residing in Bay City, Texas and former operator of Point of Rocks Guest Ranch, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020 in Texas. A graveside memorial is planned for

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

Published on Tue, 03/03/2020 - 5:11pm
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Reading 1,000 books might sound like a lot, but that’s what the Livingston-Park County Public Library and Livingston School District are challenging parents and children to do before the kids reach kindergarten.

The library and school district are collaborating on 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, a literacy initiative aimed at pre-kindergarten children.

At least 22 dead in tornado outbreak

Published on Tue, 03/03/2020 - 5:10pm
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee as people slept early Tuesday, shredding at least 140 buildings and killing at least 22 people. Authorities described painstaking efforts to find survivors in piles of rubble and wrecked basements as the death toll climbed. 

One twister caused severe damage across a 10-mile stretch of downtown Nashville, wrecking businesses and homes and destroying the tower and stained glass of a historic church. Another erased homes from their foundations along a two-mile path in Putnam County.