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Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte turns 20, beloved by millions and despised by some

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

The seasonal drink that made pumpkin spice a star is turning 20. And unlike the autumn days it celebrates, there seems to be no chill in customer demand.Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte goes on sale Thursday in the U.S. and Canada, as it does each year when the nights start getting longer and the fall winds gather. It’s the coffee giant’s most popular seasonal beverage, with hundreds of millions sold since its launch in 2003. And it has produced a huge — and growing — industry of imitators flecked with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.In the year ending July 29, U.S. sales of pumpkin-flavored products reached $802.5 million, according to Nielsen. That’s up 42% from the same period in 2019. There are pumpkin spice Oreos, protein drinks, craft beers, cereals and even Spam. A search of “pumpkin spice” on Walmart’s website brings up more than 1,000 products. A thousand products that smell or taste like, well, pumpkin pie. For better — and, some might say, for worse — the phenomenon has moved be...

Air traffic controllers at Lebanon’s only civilian airport to go on strike over staffing shortages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Air traffic controllers at Lebanon’s only civilian airport announced on Thursday they would go on strike next month over severe staffing shortages, partially closing the Beirut hub. The announcement by the team of 13 air traffic controllers at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport follows a report last week by the European Union’s aviation safety watchdog that raised concerns after inspecting the airport, just south of the Lebanese capital. The airport is supposed to have a staff of 87 air traffic controllers, the controllers said. Lebanon’s has been in the grip of a devastating economic crisis since late 2019 after decades of corruption and mismanagement. Public sector and state institutions have steadily deteriorated as the cash-strapped government struggles to provide adequate funding. The Beirut airport has faced power cuts and equipment shortages for months during the busy tourism season. Over 4 million people flew into Lebanon since the beginning of the yea...

Court rejects appeal by German soldier convicted of plotting to attack politicians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German federal court said Thursday that it has rejected an appeal by a military officer who posed as a Syrian asylum-seeker and was convicted last of year of plotting to attack prominent politicians.The officer, who has been identified only as 1st Lt. Franco A. in line with German privacy rules, was convicted by the Frankfurt state court in July 2022 of preparing a serious crime meant to endanger the state, fraud and violations of weapons laws. The court, which found that he had right-wing extremist views, sentenced him to 5 1/2 years in prison.The Federal Court of Justice said in a statement that judges rejected his appeal in an Aug. 8 decision, finding that it was “clearly unfounded” and no legal errors had been made to his detriment.The German officer drew the attention of authorities after he was arrested in February 2017 while going to retrieve a pistol he had stashed in a Vienna airport bathroom. He was freed, but Austrian authorities informed Germany. The inve...

Bans on diverse picture books? Young kids need to see their families represented, experts say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

When Wes Brown sought out children’s books for his two young sons, he made sure to seek titles that reflected the family he and his husband were building. He found that in one called “The Family Book,” a 2003 picture book by Todd Parr. It depicts families of all kinds: the traditional nuclear family, but also families with one parent or step-parents, as well as adoptive families and same-sex parents like Brown and his husband.But across the country, books and lessons that represent different families and identities are increasingly the target of conservative pushback — even when they’re for the youngest of learners. Parr’s book for preschoolers and early readers is often among those challenged by parents and activists. “It is important my kids are definitely exposed to that,” Brown said. “What these parents are really doing is demonstrating how fragile their worldview is, that a children’s book is enough to shatter it.”Efforts to ban books have been surging at scho...

Stock market today: Wall Street mixed early as Nvidia pushes Nasdaq higher

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street was mixed in premarket trading early Thursday after chipmaker Nvidia reported blowout earnings, pushing Nasdaq futures higher.Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.6% before the bell, the Nasdaq jumped 1.3%, while Dow futures lagged, inching back 0.1%.That comes a day after Wall Street rallied to its best day since June as pressures from the bond market relaxed. Nvidia shares jumped more than 8% in off-hours trading after the company’s results covering the May-July period exceeded its own projections for astronomical sales growth. That growth has been propelled by the company’s specialized chips that help power different forms of artificial intelligence, such as Open AI’s popular ChatGPT and Google’s Bard chatbots.Nvidia’s second-quarter sales doubled from the same time last year to $13.51 billion, culminating in a profit of $6.2 billion, or $2.48 per share. That’s than nine times more than the company made a year ago, and the momentum is still buildin...

What can Toronto’s condo massacre teach us about mass shootings?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, a shooting at a condo in Vaughan in December 2022 left six people dead, including the shooter. The shooter had long held a grudge against the members of the condo board he fired upon. He was known around the property as an angry man, and had a history of domestic abuse and violence. In hindsight, all the signs were there — so how did nobody see this coming? Michelle Henry is a reporter with the Toronto Star who wrote about the man responsible for the condo killings. She says that predicting when someone will go on to commit a mass shooting is extremely difficult, but that establishing strategies for addressing precursor behaviors may help prevent these types of attacks.“If there is domestic abuse, how do we address that? And how do we address it in a way that doesn’t necessarily make that man angrier?” she says. So what can we learn from this senseless attack? And how do we use that information to prevent further violence?You can subscribe to The Big S...

Transgender adults are worried about finding welcoming spaces to live in their later years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Rajee Narinesingh faced struggles throughout her life as a transgender woman, from workplace discrimination to the lasting effects of black market injections that scarred her face and caused chronic infections.In spite of the roadblocks, the 56-year-old Florida actress and activist has seen growing acceptance since she first came out decades ago.“If you see older transgender people, it shows the younger community that it’s possible I can have a life. I can live to an older age,” she said. “So I think that’s a very important thing.”Now, as a wave of new state laws enacted this year limit transgender people’s rights, Narinesingh has new uncertainty about her own future as she ages.“Every now and then I have like this thought, like, oh my God, if I end up in a nursing home, how are they going to treat me?” Narinesingh said.Most of the new state laws have focused attention on trans youth, with at least 22 states banning or restricting gender-affirming care f...

Mask mandates reemerge amid upturn in COVID-19 cases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

The recent upturn in COVID-19 cases in some regions has spurred a handful of entities around the country to reinstate mask mandates, reigniting the debate over what place masking requirements have in an era of living with the coronavirus.Earlier this week, Hollywood movie studio Lionsgate asked its employees to wear masks on certain floors of its facilities in Santa Monica in response to a few staff members testing positive for COVID-19.Kaiser Permanente began to require staff, patients and visitors to wear masks at its facility in Santa Rosa, Calif., this week in response to a spike in cases. Upstate Medical University in New York announced a similar decision last week for two of its hospitals.Schools like Rutgers University in New Jersey and Morris Brown College in Georgia have issued mask mandates for their respective campuses, with the Atlanta-based school reinstating masks as a two-week precautionary measure.Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) spoke out against the news fro...

CNN's parent company to re-launch streaming news service

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

(The Hill) -- Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, says it has plans to launch a new 24-hour streaming news service just over a year after shuttering CNN+. "CNN Max" will feature a full seven-day schedule of news programming when it launches in September and will draw on some of the network's top talent — including Jake Tapper, Jim Acosta and Anderson Cooper, according to the company.The new venture will be included with all "MAX packages," the company said, and will be ad-free to start, coming at no additional charge to MAX subscribers. MAX is HBO's recently rebranded entertainment streaming service. "We have the broadest and highest quality entertainment offering, and now will include world-leading news as a meaningful addition for all Max subscribers, at no extra charge," said JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games. Winners and losers of the first GOP debate The announcement comes just over a year after CNN ended its ...

Ok Boomer, let's move! Class focuses on better balance, strength to help prevent and recover from falls

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:55 GMT

One in every four seniors will take a tumble. It’s one of the leading causes of death and disability in older adults. That’s why a local fitness instructor has made it her mission to use movement to keep them on their feet. Arlene Santiago teaches her Fit Boomers workout class twice a week.“They come in here with a perception of this is going to be an easy class,” she said. “If they are here consistently, they are a completely different person from when they started.”“I don’t feel like I’m 81. I feel like I could do almost anything,” participant Penny Manus said. “I have bad hips and shoulders, but this keeps me loose, keeps me moving.”Their confidence comes from consistency.  More from Medical Watch: Exercise in a shot “My strength has improved from what it was. My weight has improved from what it used to be,” participant Josie Malecki said.Just as critical in the Fit Boomers class is gaining balance.“Everybody needs to be strong to prevent falls,” Santiago sa...