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Dancers from Maria Verdeja School of the Arts in Kendall to take part in Macy’s Thanksgiving parade

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

A group of South Florida dancers are getting ready for a major parade performance after they were invited to showcase their skills at a Thanksgiving tradition.The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a holiday tradition, a staple of the season that started back in 1924.This year marks the 97th march through Manhattan, and a local dance studio will be part of the show.Speaking with 7News on Friday, these dancers from the Maria Verdeja School of the Arts in Kendall shared their excitement ahead of their appearance at the parade later this month.“It’s a great opportunity for us all to be able to travel together and have so much fun being with all of our best friends,” said dancer Valentina Larrauri, “and I think being in the parade is something that only a little girl can dream of, so to be able to have that is so exciting.”The dancers are hard at work practicing their routine. They’ll be one of five performance groups featured in the parad...

‘Thanksgiving in a cup’: Salt & Straw turns traditional holiday dishes into tasty ice cream flavors

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

It’s November, so you know what that means: turkey time, baby!Thanksgiving is slowly creeping up on us, but you don’t have to wait until the end of the month to get a taste. Deco’s checking out a spot that scooping up some fall flavors.Woody Harrelson (as Woody Boyd): “Hey, you guys, this is Thanksgiving, and I still say this is gonna be the greatest.”So much for wishful thinking. But if you want to make sure your thanksgiving ends on a sweet note instead of a food fight, Salt & Straw on Lincoln Road has you covered.Frank Hernandez-Lara: “We’re doing a Thanksgiving feast in the form of ice cream.”Oh, like traditional dessert, right?: “We’ll have a dinner roll ice cream. We have a turkey stuffing/cranberry sauce flavor. We have mango pie. We also have a pumpkin gingersnap pie, and we have a cheesy potato casserole.”Turkey stuffing as ice cream?! OK, we’ll get back to that main course.But first, the sides.The ...

Ex-martial arts pro takes down knife-wielding man in Cutler Bay parking lot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

A former mixed martial arts fighter turned the tables on a knife-wielding man in Cutler Bay, a parking lot confrontation that was caught on camera.Speaking with 7News on Friday, Javier Baez said he was returning home from Halloween festivities, early Wednesday morning.“I got home late from trick or treat, and I left my keys in my lady’s house,” he said.Unfortunately, Baez was unable to avoid an extra scare. He believes one of his neighbors wasn’t in the right state of mind.“He just came to my window and banged it aggressively. He looked like he was having a bad day,” he said. “He was screaming for hours.”Baez said the assailant randomly came up to him as he was sitting in his car and cracked his window with a knife, just before 5 a.m.“I tried to talk him down, and I tried not to tell him to leave, and then I told him I was going to call the cops,” said Baez, “and he got mad, and he rushed me with a bigger knife.”...

Quake shakes northwest Nepal, killing at least 128 and injuring dozens. Officials fear toll to rise

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Helicopters and ground troops rushed to help people hurt in a strong earthquake that shook northwestern Nepal districts just before midnight Friday, killing at least 128 people and injuring dozens dozens more, officials said Saturday.Authorities said the death toll was expected to rise, noting that communications were cut off with many places.As day broke, rescue helicopters flew into the region to help out and security forces on the ground were digging out the injured and dead from the rubble, Nepal police spokesman Kuber Kadayat said.Troops were clearing roads and mountain trails that were blocked by landslides triggered by the earthquake. Helicopters flew in medical workers and medicines to the hospitals there.Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal also flew in on a helicopter with a team of doctors. Dahal led an armed communist revolt in 1996-2006 that began from the districts that were hit by the quake.In Jajarkot district, where the quake’s epicenter was, 92...

Editorial: Left pushes low expectations in nixing graduation

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

At some point, the left’s soft bigotry of low expectations gave way to the outright bigotry of eliminating expectations. Consider Oregon.Last month, the Oregon Board of Education unanimously voted to extend a pause on graduation requirements. Previously, the state made high school students take a test to demonstrate basic mastery of reading, writing and math. Oregon originally halted the requirement during the pandemic. Now, the earliest it will return is 2029.Students who failed the test often took elective classes to create work samples that allowed them to meet the testing requirement. As a 2022 Oregon Department of Education report on the issue noted, this was “often at the expense of another elective course.”Unless you’re in the education bubble, that makes sense. Elective classes may be fun, but a student’s future success hinges on his or her ability to read, write and do math.But anyone following recent debates about the public schools can guess the backstory here. Some group...

Pozniak: Incident command vital at Me. shooting

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

Comprehensive news coverage of the deadly mass shooting in Maine included reports on the hundreds of law enforcement officers who joined the hunt for the gunman. These officers represented local, regional, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including many from Massachusetts, who brought various degrees of training and experience to the scene.This massive response didn’t happen by accident. It was through the implementation of the National Incident Command System created by a directive from President George W. Bush who wanted a consistent nationwide system to be used to respond to major crises and disasters.The national incident command system ensures effective communications, resource allocation, and decision making. It helps prevent chaos, coordinates the response by multiple police agencies, gathers intelligence, and leverages technology like drones and underwater surveillance equipment which ultimately increases the likelihood of a successful apprehensionA 24/7 inc...

‘JFK: One Day in America’ takes viewers back to ’63

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

“They shot his head off! I love you Jack!”Those were Jacqueline Kennedy’s words to her Secret Service protector Clint Hill as President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot 60 years ago in his Lincoln convertible on Nov. 22, 1963, and Hill scrambled onto the rear of the car to reach Mrs. Kennedy.It’s one of many revelations from the last survivors who were there that fateful day in Dallas and make National Geographic’s three-part retelling in real time in Sunday’s “JFK: One Day in America” so special.For anyone who might want to better understand what happened, “JFK: One Day” vividly recreates the events leading up to and the days after.“It was such a pivotal moment in American history, but also a global event as well,” said producer Charlotte Rodrigues on Zoom from her London office. “We wanted to do something slightly different from previous documentaries in that we wanted to capture the emotion of those key witnesses. These ordinary people caught up in this tragedy.“We didn’t w...

Michaels: Greta Thunberg deals cruel blow to Jews

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

Recent bloodshed in Israel has exposed the world to scenes that have shocked even those inured to conflict in the region.Jewish infants beheaded. Families burned alive. Festival-goers mowed down. A disabled grandmother taken captive. A Holocaust survivor executed. A child hostage taunted on camera. A woman’s body desecrated in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian rockets sometimes falling on Palestinians themselves – as seems to have happened outside Gaza’s al-Ahli Hospital.For even Jews far outside Israel, each of these – along with a surge of antisemitism, particularly in European countries with small Jewish communities – has taken a profound emotional and psychological toll. They have eroded once again our sense of safety, our hope in humanity, and our optimism in a better future.For me, amid all this, it was Greta Thunberg who delivered an exceptionally cruel blow.Just over a week ago, the 20-year-old took to social media, posting a picture with three of her friends. Crowding, one holdin...

Dear Abby: Old BF behind wife’s open marriage talk

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been with my wife for 23 years, married 19 of them. We have two grown children, ages 22 and 20. I recently realized she’s still in love with the guy she dated just before me. How did I find out? Well, one day my wife and I were watching a TV show together, and out of nowhere, she asked me my opinion on open marriages.I gave her a vague answer and started investigating why she asked me that question. That’s when I discovered text messages, phone calls and her diary for the last nine months. As far as I can tell, they haven’t had sex yet, but she wants to. I did not confront her about it. I felt bad for invading her privacy, but then again, she was being sneaky. I need to know if I should stay or go. — Uncovered in PennsylvaniaDear Uncovered: Copy those texts and her diary. Then have a talk with your wife and ask her why she asked about your feelings on open marriage, because it was out of character. After she answers, say you have been thinki...

Live updates | Calls for a humanitarian pause increase as Palestinians in Gaza lack food and water

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:58:32 GMT

Calls for a humanitarian pause increased with the United Nation’s agency for Palestinian refugees reporting the average Palestinian in Gaza is surviving on two pieces of bread a day, and only one of three water supply lines from Israel is operational. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, “We are going full steam ahead” unless the hostages held by Hamas are released. Israeli troops have further closed in on Gaza City, launching targeted attacks on militant cells there.The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,227, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under...