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Peony farm reopens for flower picking and picturesque scenery

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

WAYNESBORO, Va. (AP) — It might be a good time to smell the flowers.Shenandoah Peonies has opened for its second season. Located on the outskirts of Waynesboro off Stuarts Draft Highway near Troyer’s Fruit & Produce Farm, there are only a few signs along the roadside navigating customers to the farm, where the flowers are laid out in rows in the fields and bloom bright and beautiful beneath the hot sun.The peonies have been blooming quickly for over a week and are planted by Jelte Tjalf, a Dutch-born tulip farmer, and his wife, Tip, with the help of some friends. Originally from Holland, Netherlands, Tjalf said his home country is known for tulip flowers and agriculture due to the mild climate. He moved to the Lyndhurst area to work at a nearby tulip farm.The couple initially created the peony farm to plant wholesale peonies for grocery stores but soon discovered competing with large corporations was too difficult.“Plus, it’s boring, the wholesale industry,” Tjalf said. “Because...

More states are requiring patients to give consent for medical students performing pelvic exams

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A new batch of states are looking to legislate the level of informed consent when it comes to medical students performing pelvic exams for educational purposes on unconscious patients. At least 20 states already have consent laws for this practice. Montana’s governor signed a bill in April, Missouri has legislation that needs the governor’s signature to become law and Ohio lawmakers are also considering it.Colorado lawmakers want to go a step further, with Democratic Gov. Jared Polis expected to sign a bill that one bioethicist calls the broadest she’s seen — and says may go too far — due to a requirement of naming the involved students ahead of time and introducing them to the patients.Proponents “see the Colorado bill as a model we hope other states will pass,” said Elizabeth Newman, public policy director at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which testified in favor of the legislation.It’s hard to track and quantify how often medical students ar...

US beats Denmark 3-0 for 5th straight win at ice hockey worlds

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

TAMPERE, Finland (AP) — The United States shut out Denmark 3-0 on Saturday to stay perfect at the ice hockey world championship.Alex Tuch scored one goal and added two assists for the United States to earn its fifth victory from five games.Cutter Gauthier broke the deadlock midway through the final period on a power play before Tuch doubled the advantage and Rocco Grimaldi finished it off with an empty net goal.Goaltender Casey DeSmith stopped 22 shots for the shutout.The Americans lead Group A with 15 points and have secured a spot in the quarterfinals. The top four teams from the two eight-team groups advance to the knockout stage.In the Latvian capital of Riga, the Czech Republic beat Norway 2-0 to go top of Group B and earn a spot in the last eight.Dominik Kubalik scored the opening goal with a slap shot on a power play for the Czechs to lead the scoring table at the tournament with seven goals.Later Saturday, Canada is in action against Switzerland in Group B and Latvia plays K...

Russia warns West sending F-16s to Ukraine ‘carries enormous risks’: TASS

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

The West’s effort to potentially send modern fighter jets to Ukraine “carries enormous risks,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency TASS.The minister’s comments in an interview with TASS come in the wake of the U.S. getting behind a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to use modern fighter aircraft including F-16s. This could also pave the way to eventually send advanced Western combat jets to Ukraine, according to a senior administration official. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the U.S. decision in a tweet on Friday, saying that it “will greatly enhance our army in the sky.” He added that he counted on discussing “the practical implementation of this decision” at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. “We can see that Western countries continue to stick to an escalation scenario, which carries enormous risks for them,” Grushko said in the interview. “In...

Swifties take over Gillette Stadium for 1st of 3 Taylor Swift shows

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

Taylor Swift superfans, rejoice – the musician’s weekend of sold-out “Eras Tour” shows at Gillette Stadium is here.SKY7-HD spotted seemingly endless lines stretching through the premises well before the gates opened for the first of three shows at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.In total, the shows are expected to bring some 200,000 people to the venue through Sunday night.Fans clad in official merch, do-it-yourself-Swift-gear and cowboy boots told 7NEWS they were ecstatic as they waited for Swift’s latest Foxboro show.There was plenty of Taylor-gating underway as well, with fans swapping stories and sharing in the excitement after making the trip, whether they traveled from down the interstate, across the country, or from another part of the world.“We waited 23 years to look at her because we’re from India and she doesn’t come to India,” one fan told 7NEWS with a laugh.Where many drove, some fans rode sold-out MBTA concert trains from Bosto...

For Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, contract extensions loom over poor playoff performances

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

Six-hundred and thirteen million dollars.That’s the dollar amount it’s projected to cost the Boston Celtics to retain both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown when they become contract extension-eligible over the next two summers.Or at least it was the ticket price before Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat reduced Boston’s franchise cornerstones to ash, stealing Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals via back-to-back late-game Celtics collapses.And with both Tatum and Brown struggling in crunch time — also known as money time — both look like potential poor investments if the second-seeded Celtics cannot capitalize as heavy favorites against a Heat team down both a former Sixth Man of the Year (Tyler Herro) and a former All-Star (Victor Oladipo).Yet it’s the fashion with which the meltdowns occurred that’s most concerning for a Celtics team now projected to come up short in consecutive legitimate championship runs. Tatum, for example, is only...

Disgruntled Tijuana taxi drivers block access to San Ysidro Port of Entry

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) -- Drivers with the "Red and Black" taxi group in Tijuana blocked as many as eight traffic lanes leading into the San Ysidro Port of Entry disrupting the Friday morning commute for many who cross the border daily.The drivers say they are trying to pressure Baja California's governor into helping them solve a work dispute with the city of Tijuana, which has told the drivers that soon, they won't be able to pick up fares along the heavily traveled Aguacaliente-Díaz Ordaz Boulevard.The city of Tijuana and the state of Baja California are in the process of creating a mass-transit line with 34 stops along the length of the boulevard to serve the public.Both have said having the taxis share the road is not practical and would generate a lot more congestion. Shuttle service owners, drivers reeling after cartels wreaked havoc on Tijuana During the blockade at the border, many commuters sounded their horns and got into screaming matches with the drivers who stood ...

F-18 fighter jet accident at Zaragoza airbase as pilot ejects successfully

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — An F-18 fighter jet crashed at an airbase in the Spanish city of Zaragoza but the pilot ejected successfully, the Spanish defense ministry said Saturday. The aircraft landed within the perimeter of the base, the defense ministry said on Twitter. The base, which lies about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside the city, belongs to the Spanish Air and Space Force. Videos posted on social media showed a plane in flames falling towards the ground. The pilot was already in hospital and his life was not in danger, the air force said. The Associated Press

Takeaways from AP’s report on secretive networks helping women circumvent Honduras’ abortion ban

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — In remote mountain villages, urban neighborhoods, along the Caribbean coast — despite Honduras’ national abortion ban and amid suffocating social and religious opposition, women are terminating pregnancies with the help of clandestine networks seeking to make the procedure as safe as possible.The networks use code words, aliases, encrypted messages, burner phones and other tactics to disguise their activity. Most participants don’t know one another, or any specifics beyond their role in the chain that ultimately provides information and the abortion pills endorsed by the World Health Organization.Some Latin American countries — Argentina, Colombia, Mexico — are widening access to abortion, while many U.S. states are restricting it. Honduras doesn’t enforce its ban as strictly as its neighbors, but the possible punishment of up to six years in prison is a constant threat.WHAT DOES HONDURAN LAW SAY?Honduras’ total abortion ban dates to 1985. Pr...

Russian private army head claims control of Bakhmut, war’s longest battle

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:33:18 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private army Wagner claimed Saturday that his forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmut after the longest and most grinding battle of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Ukrainian defense officials denied it.In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance.However, after the video appeared, Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said heavy fighting was continuing.“The situation is critical,” she said. “As of now, our defenders, control certain industrial and infrastructure facilities in this area.” Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern command, told The Associated Press that Prigozhin’s claim “is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut.”Fighting has raged around Bakhmut for more than 200 days....