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Muti ends 13 seasons with Chicago Symphony Orchestra with praise and honors – and Beethoven

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Riccardo Muti was in total control to the very end.He had signaled the last note of his final Orchestra Hall concert as Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director on Sunday when several people started to applaud. His back to the audience, the 81-year-old conductor snapped out his right arm and baton, demanding silence to frame Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis.”Moments later, he relaxed his shoulders, setting off seven minutes of sustained applause.“It needs a moment of tranquility to think about,” he said the next day.Muti’s 13 seasons as music director were celebrated with Sunday’s subscription finale, and he ended his tenure on Tuesday night the way it began: with a free concert in Millennium Park, although the denouement of Florence Price’s Andante moderato and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony was played in a smoky haze caused by Canadian wild fires.His 540th performance with the orchestra and 508th as music director wasn’t a final goodbye. While the search for a...

Biden delivers 'Bidenomics' remarks in Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is in Chicago Wednesday to deliver a speech on what the White House has called "Bidenomics."Biden delivered his address at The Old Post Office in downtown. The speech is to begin a new effort to actively convince a worried public that the U.S. economy is not heading for recession but actually thriving because of his leadership. For him, there's a happy confluence of the coming 2024 reelection campaign and a favorable turn in recent economic data, leading the White House to believe that public messaging about “Bidenomics” will help to rally Democratic voters going into next year.But polling has consistently shown the economy to be a weak spot for Biden's reelection hopes. Just 33% approve of his leadership on the issue, according to a May survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs.Biden is eager to take full political ownership of the U.S. economy — a reflection of the White House belief that infla...

Biden nominates April Perry for Chicago's top federal prosecutor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

CHICAGO — While in town for a speech Wednesday, President Biden announced that he's nominating April Perry as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. If confirmed, she would be the district's first woman in the position.Perry is currently senior counsel with global investigations and fraud and abuse prevention at GE HealthCare. Prior to serving as general counsel for Ubiety Technologies from 2019 to 2022, Perry was the Cook County State's Attorney's Office's first ever Chief Ethics Officer under Kim Foxx.In April 2019 during the Jussie Smollett scandal, Perry left the office for her role at Ubiety Technologies.Prior to Dan Webb being appointed as the special prosecutor in the case that summer, which led to criminal charges against Smollett, the Chicago Tribune reported that Perry advised Foxx's assistant who headed up the case, Joseph Magats, to seek a special prosecutor.The outlet reported he told Perry that Foxx had decided that a special prosecutor should not be ...

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejects Rodney Reed's innocence claims and new trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Texas' highest criminal appeals court on Wednesday rejected death-row inmate Rodney Reed’s most recent applications claiming his innocence and seeking a new trial.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejections – years in the making – are the culmination of a massive effort by Reed’s defense team that included a two-week evidentiary hearing in Bastrop in July 2021. Dozens of witnesses testified, including the victim Stacey Stites’ mother and her former fiancé Jimmy Fennell. EXPLORE: Full coverage of the Rodney Reed case Reed, now 55, was convicted and sentenced to death in Bastrop County for the murder of 19-year-old Stites in 1996. Reed has maintained his innocence and has fought for years with the legal assistance of the New York-based Innocence Project.Over the years, Reed’s legal team has filed 10 applications for relief with the CCA, and all have failed. On Wednesday the CCA rejected his ninth and tenth applications.Jane Pucher, a staff attorney with the Innoce...

Slow temperature drop begins tomorrow

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It's been a LONG couple weeks of triple digit heat here in Central Texas... but a bit of relief from the 100°+ temps & dry weather is on the horizon.A mix of Heat Advisories and Excessive Heat Warnings continues for much of the area today as 'feels like' temps could climb up to 110°. Sunshine and dry skies will stretch areawide.Heat alerts continue for most of the area WednesdayThe powerful heat dome responsible for the prolonged June heat wave will finally shift east and weaken late week into the weekend. This displacement will allow high temperatures to drop slightly each day, falling below 100° in Austin by early next week.Sub-100° temperatures in Austin late weekend into early next weekThis change in pattern will also allow low daily rain chances to return beginning Sunday. A few isolated storms are possible through the July 4th holiday, with wetter weather possibly persisting through next week.6-10 day precipitation outlookSummer Fan DriveOur Summer Fan Dri...

'Groundhog day:' Second special session convenes with no signs of compromise on property tax cuts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As the second special legislative commenced Wednesday, lawmakers in the House and Senate hurried through their own familiar plans for property tax relief and showed no signs the two chambers are any closer to a compromise.The House of Representatives convened for less than 20 minutes. The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a property tax relief bill that is identical to the bill that failed in the first special session. The full House is expected to pass it when they convene again Friday morning.The Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed its own plan, which provides a $100,000 homestead exemption and is nearly identical to the version that failed to reach the Governor's desk in the first special session.Gov. Abbott again directed the legislature to consider only property tax relief in this special session. As governor, he alone has the power to convene legislators and define the topics of debate in a special session. His call included two charg...

Former Saratoga Springs motel to be Code Blue shelter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Shelters of Saratoga has secured a lease to operate a Code Blue Winter Shelter for 2023-24 starting in the fall. The shelter will be located in the former Grand Union Motel on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! According to a press release, the lease was signed in early June, and will have semi-private rooms for those experiencing homelessness when the temperature is below 32 degrees. Shelters of Saratoga will operate the shelter in partnership with Saratoga County.“In past seasons, the shelter was an open space lined with cots," said Duane Vaughn, executive director of Shelters of Saratoga. “The new location will offer guests additional privacy, critical for restful sleep. Sleep is key to a healthy life, and we are working diligently to make accommodations as comfortable as possible." New 24/7 homeless shelter in Saratoga Springs already at capacity In t...

Ex-NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett drowns in Florida at 35 years old

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — Former quarterback Ryan Mallett—who played for New England, Houston, and Baltimore during five seasons in the NFL—died. He was 35. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Mallett died in an apparent drowning, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Mallett was a football coach at White Hall High School in his native Arkansas, and the school district also confirmed his death in a post on its website on Tuesday.Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said the University of Arkanas—where Mallett was QB of the Razorbacks—“lost an incredibly special person.” He tweeted, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and teammates of Ryan Mallett.” Tri-City wins slugfest over Schaumburg Mallett played for the University of Michigan for one season before finishing his college career at Arkansas. He passed for 7,493 yards and 62 touchdowns in two seasons with the Razorbacks.“He lived with great e...

Part of Route 85 in Slingerlands to close for a month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

SLINGERLANDS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- As the Albany County Rail Trail Bridge Replacement Project continues in Slingerlands, the Albany County Department of Public Works will be closing both lanes of State Route 85. The closure begins June 30 at 10 a.m. and runs through July 31 at 6 a.m. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The closure will be near the Rail Trail Bridge between Kenwood Avenue and Mullins Road. Traffic will be detoured over Cherry and Kenwood Avenues.The Department of Public Works said the drainage issues under the previous bridge will be addressed. The full road closure will shorten the project and also help ensure the safety of drivers and workers. Stuyvesant Plaza renews leases for three tenants Check out NEWS10's traffic tracker. You can plan your route and see traffic delays in real-time!

2nd Missouri man sentenced in death of woman who was caged, dismembered

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:04:39 GMT

BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) — A second man has been sentenced to life in prison for the death of a woman who was kept in a cage and dismembered in southwest Missouri in 2021.Timothy Norton was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in Dallas County court to first-degree murder in the death of 33-year-old Cassie Rainwater. As part of his plea agreement, charges of kidnapping and abandonment of a corpse were dropped.Another man, James Phelps, entered an Alford plea earlier this year in the same case and was also sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News SIGN UP NOW The two men were arrested in September 2021 after the FBI received a tip about photos showing Rainwater in a cage on Phelps' property near Le...