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Legalized sports betting continued to grow in 2023, though some significant states remain resistant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Legalized sports betting continued its expansion this year while also factoring into scandals in college athletics and suspensions in the NFL for players who violated the league’s gambling policy.Six states either passed legislation to legalize sports wagering or allowed sportsbooks to begin accepting bets. Another state, Florida, relaunched sports betting after a two-year legal battle ended when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in October in the casinos’ favor.Still on the sidelines, however, are the nation’s two most populous states — California and Texas. Sports betting proponents will hope to make progress against significant headwinds in both states in 2024.There was no apparent movement in California this year to legalize sports betting after two competing measures, including one backed financially by Native American tribes, went down in flames in 2022 at the ballot box.Baird Fogel, a California attorney who works with the sports betting industry...

Denver weather: Afternoon sunshine and above-average temperatures

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Morning clouds will begin to clear and help bring back sunny skies for the Front Range on Wednesday. Temperatures will stay above average in the Denver weather forecast. Weather today: Sunshine later in dayCloudy skies will be across most of the state Wednesday with clearing along the Front Range and Eastern Plains in the afternoon. Colorado rancher asks state to remove wolves after latest attack on his livestock Highs are still very mild, topping out in the upper 50s with light winds.Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on Dec. 20 Weather tonight: More cloudsClouds will build back in overnight as winds stay light. Wednesday's lows will end up in the lower 30s, keeping Denver above average.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on Dec. 20 Looking ahead: Holiday snow chancesClouds clear quickly on Thursday, allowing for sunny skies and highs in the upper 50s. Friday looks great with abundant sunshine and comfortable highs in the upper 50s. Clouds build back in on Saturda...

Vehicle crashes into home near Hollywood Hills Elementary School

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

A situation unfolded near Hollywood Hills Elementary School as reports came in about a vehicle crashing into a home, Wednesday morning.An ongoing investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the collision. No information regarding injuries or the cause of the incident has been released thus far.7Skyforce video footage showed a homeowner outside, documenting the aftermath on his phone, near the spot where the vehicle came to rest.As a precautionary measure, authorities have closed off Taft Street between 35th Avenue and Longfellow Drive in response to the crash. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Slowly Warming Ahead of the Christmas Holiday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

It’s another cool start to the day across South Florida this Wednesday but another warming trend is ahead with temperatures returning to more seasonable values for lows beginning Thursday morning.This switch to another minor warmup is courtesy of an onshore wind returning. That wind flip led to a dramatic increase in temperatures in a city like Fort Lauderdale this morning.Throughout today and tomorrow, expect a stronger breeze out of the northeast, sustained up to 25 mph near the coast along with gusts up to 30 mph.That will be paired with mostly cloudy skies and below average highs in the low 70s.For the end of the week, more sunshine will return along with the chance for a few spotty showers, highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid 60s.Temperatures will continue to warm into this weekend and early next week as winds veer more out of the east to east-southeast. Now over the weekend, clouds are forecast to increase once again but it should remain mostly dry with seasonable t...

Pornhub to face EU’s toughest online content regime

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

Three of Europe’s largest porn websites will have to start cracking down on harmful content in April 2024 or face sweeping fines under new content moderation rules, the European Commission said Wednesday.The European Commission designated adult content platforms Pornhub, Xvideos and Stripchat as so-called very large online platforms, which are websites visited on average by more than 45 million Europeans every month. The porn websites will have to respect extra obligations in fighting illegal and harmful content under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) by April 2024. Fines for violating the rules can go up to 6 percent of global turnover. Companies like Pornhub have been under growing scrutiny for not doing enough to stop illegal content like videos of child rape and non-consensual sharing of intimate content from being uploaded on their platforms. Regulators and politicians in Europe have also been pressuring them to implement measures to verify the age of u...

Senate approves final 11 military nominees after Tuberville backs down from hold

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

(CNN) — Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama on Tuesday backed down for a second time this month, allowing the Senate to unanimously confirm 11 remaining top military nominees by voice vote after months of delaying hundreds of confirmations.The move comes weeks after the former football coach released the majority of his holds, which began earlier this year over his opposition to the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing service members who have to travel to receive reproductive health care.The 11 nominees confirmed Tuesday are the last of the nominees who had been affected by his hold. The monthslong standoff delayed the confirmations of more than 450 top military nominees.“These are the 11 remaining generals who have just been approved,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday after the vote. “That’s good news.”Tuberville, who faced bipartisan pressure to cease his blanket hold, told CNN on December 5 that he had no choice but to give in after his holds ...

Soccer star Dani Alves’ trial for alleged sexual assault to start in February

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Brazilian soccer star Dani Alves’ trial for alleged sexual assault will start Feb. 5, a Barcelona-based court said Wednesday.Alves is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona night club in December 2022. The former Barcelona right back has been in pre-trial jail since January. His requests to be released on bail have been rejected because the court considered him a flight risk. Alves has denied any wrongdoing, claiming he had consensual sex with the accuser. He was indicted by an investigative judge in August and the court said there was enough evidence to open a trial.State prosecutors are seeking a nine-year prison sentence. The lawyers representing the alleged victim want him to spend 12 years behind bars.The 40-year-old Alves won 42 soccer titles, including three Champions Leagues with Barcelona and two Copa Americas with Brazil. He played at his third World Cup last year in Qatar.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerThe Associate...

New tower at surfing venue in Tahiti blowing up again as problem issue for Paris Olympic organizers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Organizers of the Paris Olympics said Wednesday that building work will continue on a new tower for judges and TV cameras at the surfing venue in Tahiti despite the sport’s governing body saying it no longer supports the controversial project.The International Surfing Association announced Tuesday that it doesn’t want the tower to be built in the lagoon at Teahupo’o, chosen for the Olympic surfing competitions next July because of its world-famous giant waves.The federation posted on social media that alternatives should be found. It cited “the likelihood that any new construction on the reef will have an impact on the natural environment” and what it said is a lack of support among Tahitians for the tower. The ISA suggested that judges could instead follow the competitions from a tower built on land, rather than in the lagoon with pristine waters and shallow reefs.Campaigners in Tahiti fear that transporting the aluminum tower into...

Poland’s new government moves to free state media from previous team’s political control

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s new pro-European Union government said Wednesday that it had changed the directors of state television, radio and the government-run news agency as it embarked on the path of freeing publicly-owned media from the political control of the previous nationalist conservative administration. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which took office last week, has made it a priority to restore objectivity and free expression in state media, which the previous government, under the Law and Justice party, used as aggressive propaganda tools, attacking Tusk and the opposition and spreading its euroskeptic views. The new government’s first steps toward a return to media freedom were met with protest by Law and Justice. Party leader Jarosław Kaczyński and many lawmakers occupied buildings housing the offices of state-run television TVP in the hopes that their supporters would come out to demonstrate in big numbers. While that didn’t happen, some of...

Three of the biggest porn sites must verify ages to protect kids under Europe’s new digital law

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:28 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Three of the world’s biggest porn websites face new requirements in the European Union that include verifying the ages of users, the 27-nation bloc said Wednesday, expanding the reach of its digital law designed to keep people safe on the internet. Pornhub, XVideos and Stripchat have now been classed as very large online platforms under the Digital Services Act because they have more than 45 million users each, according to the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch. The three companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment. They are the first porn sites to be targeted by the sweeping Digital Services Act, which imposes tough obligations to keep users safe from illegal content and dodgy products.Violations are punishable by fines of up to 6% of global revenue or even a ban on operating in the EU. Some 19 online platforms and search engines have already been identified for stricter scrutiny under the DSA, including TikTok, Amazon, Faceb...