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Texas named best state for summer road trips in new report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — If you're planning a road trip this summer, you may not have to go very far. Texas was just named the best state for summer road trips in a new report.WalletHub rated each state based on road trip costs, safety and activities, with various factors determining the score in each category. What is the most visited state park in Texas? Here’s the top 10 countdown Costs include average gas prices and car repairs, as well as lowest prices of campsites and three-star hotel rooms. The safety score was determined by factors including quality of roads and bridges, traffic-related fatalities, share of uninsured drivers and number of car thefts.The activities score took into account national parks, zoos, theme parks, festivals, historical sites and access to scenic byways, among other factors.Texas ranked fifth for activities and seventh for costs, but only 38th for safety. Still, the Lone Star State came out on top overall, with New York and North Carolina in second and third...

Readers and writers: In the realm of myth and magic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

We’re in the realm of myth and magic today, with a novel based on the great epic Beowulf and a novella inspired by a Japanese folk tale. Both books have covers that are among the most beautiful of the season.(Calumet Editions)“Sister of Grendel”: by Susan Thurston (Calumet Editions, $18.99 paperback).I want to save something sacred and dear within each of us, and especially within Grendel. But I do not make the leap toward a different outcome. All it would take is a simple turn of thought, in one breath. Something to make the murders end and reverse Beowulf’s fate, and pull from his reach the elevation of hero. Turn him into nothing but a visitor. Someone without a place in myth or legend. Definitely not a future king of the Geats with a name still remembered. — From “Sister of Grendel”Susan Thurston (Calumet Editions)Susan Thurston, who lives in St. Paul, makes her fiction debut in this lush reimagining of the tale of Grendel, from the anci...

Literary calendar for week of July 2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

MINNESOTA ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR: A celebration of the local and national rare book community features familiar exhibitors such as Rob Rulon-Miller, Bookhouse in Dinkytown, Dreamhaven Books & Comics, Midway Rare Books, and others eager to meet their customers in person. The fair, hosted Friday and Saturday by St. Thomas University, invites experienced and beginning collectors as attendees, especially those looking for books and manuscripts connected to under-represented groups in the historical record.Allie Alvis (Courtesy of Allie Alvis)A special event at 5 p.m. Friday features Allie Alvis, book historian, social media enthusiast and communicator known as @book_Historian on social media platforms. Alvis, pink-haired rock star of the antiquarian book world, has spoken and published widely on a variety of topics, including the use of arsenic in book binding and glove use when handling rare books.At 1 p.m. Saturday, a three-person panel features guest speakers from the Minneapolis-...

So, what is the big deal with Taylor Swift? Here’s why there’s no one else like her

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

It’s been a week now since Taylor Swift swooped into town for a pair of shows at U.S. Bank Stadium that drew about 128,000 fans and all but dominated local media for days.And yet, still, I hear people who dismiss her. She’s just for teen girls. She’s not talented. She’s a fraud. And so on.I’ve been writing professionally about music for 28 years now and I’ve covered teen pop concerts since the days of ‘N Sync. I’ve seen it all, including that time when I went to a Kidz Bop concert alone and endured icy stares the entire show. But I’ve never seen anything like the 33-year-old Taylor Swift.For those still unconvinced, hear me out.She’s a talented songwriterSwift learned to play the guitar when she was 12 and, soon after, began writing her own songs, inspired by the likes of Shania Twain and Dolly Parton. She convinced her parents to move to Nashville, where she worked with experienced songwriters to hone her craft, including ...

St. Louis City Police investigating 3 three shootings in 6-hour span

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis City Police are investigating three shootings that happened in a 6-hour span.Officers shared that two men were shot and killed around 8:00 p.m. Saturday. It happened inside a home on Carr Street just off Lindenwood Avenue. Major damage in Collinsville, Ill. after Saturday night storms Then around 4:00 a.m., a man was shot multiple times. EMS took that victim to a nearby hospital where he died from his injuries.Homicide detectives are handling both crime scenes. FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Major damage from Saturday night storms in Collinsville, Illinois

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - There's significant storm damage Sunday morning across the metro east. One of the hardest hit cities is Collinsville, Illinois. The severe storms and strong winds lifted the roof off the old 'Home Furniture' Store. FOX 2 reporters drove from Maryland Heights and saw countless traffic lights out as there's lots of damage to take in. The top of the building thrown was across Main Street, than a crane later came in to pick it up. The tin roof of a gym connected to St. Peter and Paul Church was also ripped off by the storms. It wasn't just roofs torn off but buildings, cars were also hit hard as the storm ripped through. Woman inside car killed in St. Louis after tree falls during storms Crews ahd to overnight to clean up the Collinsville area after a Route 66 sign thrown to the ground as well.There was lightning, heavy rain, hail, and gusts as high as 70 miles per hour Saturday in Missouri and Illinois. At least one tornado warning was issued in Washington County...

Keeler: Bruce Brown got money too dumb to turn down. Now Christian Braun can make Nuggets look like smartest guys in the room. Again.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

Bruce Brown is a reliable condiment-making entrée money. But like ranch dressing and ketchup, the man goes with almost everything. And everyone.We’re happy for you, Brucey B. Honest. Conventional wisdom said the Nuggets’ do-everything former sixth man would land a bag around double the $7.8 million max that Denver could offer for ’23-24. Indiana tripled it.BB11 did what 98.6% of us would do in the same situation. Having bet on himself last summer, and won a ring in the process, this time he took the cash upfront.After making $15 million over his first five seasons in the league, the Pacers guaranteed Brown a whopping $45 million for the next two, including a reported $21.95 million in ’23-24 with a club option to follow.It’s a short career and a long life. Brucey went from a parade to plentitude in about 15 days. Which is a pretty dang good fortnight, no matter how you slice it.The greatest compliment you could leave BB11 is the way he made the tough stuff look easy. The second-grea...

Coloradans in MLB Draft: How Jonah Cox bootstrapped from Class 1A to bona fide pro prospect in three years, three colleges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

Three years ago, Jonah Cox was a no-name recruit out of Class 1A Flatirons Academy who had his Division I plans scuttled due to a coaching change at Wichita State, and his senior season canned because of the pandemic.So Cox, without fanfare or hype, entered the junior college circuit. All he’s done since is hit, and hit some more, while bootstrapping his way into a college baseball star and likely pick in the upcoming MLB Draft.Cox dominated at Butler Community College as a freshman and Eastern Oklahoma State College as a sophomore before transferring to Oral Roberts. There, the 21-year-old rattled off a 47-game hit streak and won Summit League Player of the Year while helping the Golden Eagles back to the College World Series for the first time since 1978.“To (bootstrap) like that, you have to have a desire to get better, to develop, and to know that you’re not a finished product and that you need to improve,” ORU coach Ryan Folmar said. “(Cox) was ope...

Map: 3.8 earthquake felt across Los Angeles County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

An earthquake of magnitude 3.8 was felt across the Los Angeles area early Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.The quake, at 2:29 a.m, was centered off the coast about 13 miles southwest of Malibu.Reports to the USGS Did You Feel It website were received from Ventura to the San Diego County line, across the San Fernando Valley and as far inland as Ontario.Related ArticlesScience | Magnitude 3.0 earthquake shakes South Bay Science | Back-to-back earthquakes shake Southern Colorado Science | Earthquake rattles Northern California Science | Why the Hayward Fault is the epicenter of debate over housing goals vs. earthquake risk Science | 4.4-magnitude quake strikes 13 miles from Healdsburg

Algunas ciudades de EE.UU. sustituyen los fuegos artificiales del 4 de julio por drones ecológicos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:54:44 GMT

(CNN) — La amenaza de incendios y la preocupación por el medio ambiente han llevado a algunas ciudades estadounidenses a renunciar este año a los tradicionales fuegos artificiales del 4 de julio en favor de llamativos espectáculos de luz con drones.Salt Lake City (Utah) probó este sábado esta forma alternativa de celebrar el Día de la Independencia con el primer espectáculo de drones de su historia.La alcaldesa de la ciudad, Erin Mendenhall, dijo en un comunicado de prensa que el nuevo formato suponía un esfuerzo para minimizar el “alto peligro de incendios” de la zona y para disminuir los problemas de calidad del aire causados por la pirotecnia.“A medida que suben las temperaturas y aumenta el peligro de incendios, debemos ser conscientes tanto de la calidad de nuestro aire como de la posibilidad de que se produzcan incendios forestales”, declaró Mendenhall en el comunicado.Utah registra una media de 800 a 1.000 incendios forestales al año, y el estado...