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‘Awesome’ solar eclipse wows viewers in Australia, Indonesia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

Around 20,000 eclipse chasers gathered under a cloudless sky in the northwest Australian coastal town of Exmouth to enjoy a rare total solar eclipse that plunged the region into darkness for about a minute late Thursday morning.The remote tourist town with fewer than 3,000 residents was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crosses remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.An international crowd had been gathering at Exmouth for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.In Indonesia’s capital, hundreds came to the Jakarta Planetarium to see the partial eclipse, obscured by clouds.Azka Azzahra, 21, came with her sister and friends to get a closer look by using the telescopes with hundreds of other visitors.“I am still happy to come even though it is cloudy. It is happy to see how people with high enthusiasm come here to see the eclipse, beca...

‘Too much to learn’: Schools race to catch up kids’ reading

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Crowder stands nervously at the front of his third grade classroom, his mustard-yellow polo shirt buttoned to the top.“Give us some vowels,” says his teacher, La’Neeka Gilbert-Jackson. His eyes search a chart that lists vowels, consonant pairs and word endings, but he doesn’t land on an answer. “Let’s help him out,” Gilbert-Jackson says.“A-E-I-O-U,” she and the students say in unison.Michael missed most of first grade, the foundational year for learning to read. It was the first fall of the pandemic, and for months Atlanta only offered school online. Michael’s mom had just had a baby, and there was no quiet place to study in their small apartment. He missed a good part of second grade, too. So, like most of his classmates at his Atlanta school, he isn’t reading at the level expected for a third grader.And that poses an urgent problem. Third grade is the last chance for Michael’s class to master reading with help from teachers before they face...

An end to the reading wars? More US schools embrace phonics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

Move over “Dick and Jane.” A different approach to teaching kids how to read is on the rise. For decades, two schools of thought have clashed on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. The battle has reached into homes via commercials for Hooked on Phonics materials and through shoebox dioramas assigned by teachers seeking to instill a love of literature.But momentum has shifted lately in favor of the “science of reading.” The term refers to decades of research in fields including brain science that point to effective strategies for teaching kids to read.The science of reading is especially crucial for struggling readers, but school curricula and programs that train teachers have been slow to embrace it. The approach began to catch on before schools went online in spring 2020. But a push to teach all students this way has intensified as schools look for ways to regain ground lost during the pandemic — and as parents of ...

Movie theaters and streamers may end up friends, after all

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After Ben Affleck and Matt Damon test screened their Nike drama “Air,” the film executives at Amazon Studios threw them a curveball.“They said, ‘What do you guys think about a theatrical release?’” Damon says. “It wasn’t what we expected when we first made the deal.”“Air,” about Nike’s pursuit of a shoe deal with Michael Jordan, went over so well with early audiences that Amazon, despite acquiring the film for its Prime Video streaming service, wanted to launch it in theaters. And in its first two weeks, “Air” has been a hit.After a strong five-day debut of $20.2 million — especially good for an adult-skewing drama — “Air” dipped only 47% in its second weekend. Reviews have been stellar. When “Air” does arrive on Prime Video, the studio and its filmmakers expect an even better showing than if they hadn’t launched in theaters.“It should function as free advertising to create this halo effect which in turn creates more viewers on the service,” says Affleck, who directe...

Biden’s labor secretary nominee faces doubts in Senate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the next labor secretary, Julie Su, will testify to the Senate Thursday with key Democrats unwilling to voice support for her confirmation, creating uncertainty about her prospects in the narrowly divided chamber.A handful of moderate Democrats have not publicly stated whether they will vote for Su’s nomination ahead of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Biden in February picked Su, a civil rights attorney and the current deputy labor secretary, to replace Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, to lead the Department of Labor.The daughter of an immigrant mother who arrived on a cargo ship, Su would be the first Asian American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level. Biden called her path proof of the “American dream” and that “she’s committed to making sure that dream is in reach for every American.”Su was previously confirme...

More say Trump broke law in Ga. case than NY’s: AP-NORC poll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has emerged largely unscathed politically from his New York indictment. But a new poll suggests that investigations in Georgia and Washington could prove more problematic.Only 4 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump acted illegally in New York, where he has been charged in connection with hush money payments made to women who alleged sexual encounters, according to the new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. More — about half — believe he broke the law in Georgia, where he is under investigation for interfering in the 2020 election vote count.The poll finds about half feel similarly about his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, which are both under investigation by the Justice Department.The findings suggest potential future charges in those cases against Trump may resonate more deeply with the American public than his allege...

SpaceX takes second shot at launching biggest rocket

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX prepared to launch the biggest and most powerful rocket Thursday, working nonstop after the first shot at a test flight fizzled earlier in the week. The nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship was poised to blast off from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. SpaceX’s Elon Musk gave 50-50 odds of the spacecraft reaching orbit on its debut. None of the rocket will be recovered. Instead, if all goes well, the first-stage booster, dubbed Super Heavy, would drop into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft on top would continue eastward, passing over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans before ditching near Hawaii. The whole flight, if successful, would last just 1 1/2 hours. The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.A stuck booster valve scrapped Monday’s try. Hundreds of space...

‘Really fortunate’ Crookston lawmaker continues recovery from March stroke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

CROOKSTON, Minn. — A month after she had a minor stroke in St. Paul, state Rep. Deb Kiel says she is recovering well.Last Friday, the Republican lawmaker from Crookston was on her way back from attending a Sand Hill Watershed District meeting in Winger, her first legislative activity since her stroke.“It was very important for me to rest, so the challenge of shutting off the legislative work that I was doing was difficult, but I’m doing well,” Kiel said.On March 17, the 65-year-old Kiel had a minor stroke and was hospitalized overnight in St. Paul. She then returned home to Crookston, where she has been recovering. Initially, she hoped to return to the Capitol the week after she announced she had had a stroke, but following doctors’ orders, Kiel has pushed back returning to the stress-filled job as the legislative session nears the end.State Rep. Debra Kiel, R-Crookston, is pictured at work during the 2023 session of the state Legislature in St. Paul. Kiel has been recovery fr...

Timberwolves deliver big rally, still fall down 2-0 to Denver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

The Timberwolves dug themselves a 2-0 hole with their 122-113 Game 2 defeat Wednesday in Denver, but it’s hard to bury them after their second-half effort suggested a pulse is indeed present.But in the bigger picture that is the NBA playoffs, close only counts for so much. Because in the end, Minnesota was out-executed in the closing minutes by a team that was accustomed to doing that to opponents all season.Jamal Murray was a flamethrower in the final frame, hitting one shot after another to spoil an equally heroic effort from Anthony Edwards.The guards went back and forth for 12 minutes of scintillating basketball, with Murray scoring 10 in the final frame versus Edwards’ 14.For the game, Murray tallied 40 points, while Edwards had 41. In the end, Murray simply had more help. Nikola Jokic finished with 27 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, while Michael Porter Jr. scored 13 points of his own in the fourth for Denver.Edwards’ partner in crime, Karl-Anthony To...

Winder gets one step closer to the big leagues in Saints’ rain-soaked loss to RailRiders

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:25 GMT

It was a miserable night for baseball, but one that moved Josh Winder one step closer to returning to the Twins.Making his first appearance with the Saints on Wednesday in a rain-shortened 3-1 loss to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at CHS Field, the 26-year-old right-hander, on rehab assignment as he comes back from a shoulder strain, got his work in without any signs of physical problems.Winder entered the game in the top of the sixth with the Saints trailing 1-0. He surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced before walking two batters and allowing a runner to score from third on a wild pitch.Winder retired the leadoff hitter in the seventh on a groundout before being replaced by Jordan Balazovic. He threw 36 pitches; 18 for strikes.“He’s got some stuff to work on,” Saints manager Toby Gardenhire said of Winder, who was not available for comment after the game. “But he was pitching, and that’s the most important part. We’ve got to get him on the mound first and...