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Hospitals experiencing surge in fentanyl emergency room visits among teenagers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

Like other communities in the Washington region and across the nation, Fairfax County, Virginia, is in the grips of the opioid epidemic driven by fentanyl; and sadly, teenagers are increasingly caught up in the crisis.Concerned parents gathered at Woodson High School Monday night for a briefing by school, health and public safety officials on the dimensions of the drug crisis and its impact on teens.“Among American adolescents, we’ve seen quite a rapid increase in fentanyl deaths,” said Jennifer Feltes, an epidemiologist with the Fairfax County Health Department. Parents were told that seven Fairfax County teens, under 18 years old, suffered deadly opioid overdoses from 2020 through nine months of 2022.And even more teenagers have wound up in hospital emergency departments.“Among those 17 and younger, we have sadly seen an increase in ED visits for nonfatal opioid overdose in recent years,” Feltes said. While there were no hospital visits related to opi...

Wild’s Foligno early game misconduct in Game 5 vs. Stars

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno got a game misconduct and a five-minute major penalty just over 2 minutes into Game 5 against the Dallas Stars after a knee-on-knee hit with Radek Faksa on Tuesday night. Faksa remained facedown on the ice after the collision near the blue line, which came right after he had knocked the puck out of the air with his hand. He had to be helped off the ice once he got up, but returned to the game midway through the first period.The major penalty was upheld and the game misconduct issued after officials reviewed the play. Dallas took a 1-0 lead when Tyler Seguin scored eight seconds into the penalty. That was one of five shots the Stars got on goal in 2 1/2 minutes before defenseman Miro Heiskanen’s interference penalty that led to 4-on-4 hockey. Seguin had two power-play goals in Game 4 when Dallas won 3-2 on Sunday night in Minnesota to even the series at two games apiece. Both of those came after penalties by Foligno.There were...

Blackmon hits 40th leadoff HR, Rockies beat Guardians 5-1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Charlie Blackmon homered and drove in two runs, Brenton Doyle had his first three major league hits and the Colorado Rockies beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-1 on Tuesday night to clinch their first series win this season.Colorado, a National League-worst 8-17, lost 11 of 12 before winning its first two games of the three-game series by 11-1. The Rockies have won consecutive games for just the third time this season.Blackmon hit his 40th leadoff homer, ninth-most, on the second pitch of the game and then had an RBI double off Peyton Battenfield (0-2) in a three-run second that built a 4-0 lead. Blackmon scored on Kris Bryant’s single, tying Larry Walker for second in Rockies history with 892 runs.A day going 0 for 3 with a walk in his debut, the 24-year-old Doyle singled in the second, hit an RBI double in the sixth and reached on an infield single in the eighth. He also stole two bases.Ryan Feltner (2-2) allowed an unearned run and five hits over six innings. The Ohi...

Hialeah considers annexing part of Brownsville, upsetting the neighborhood’s residents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

A battle is brewing in Miami’s Brownsville neighborhood. Hialeah officials are looking to annex some land, but residents say, not so fast.It was a packed room inside Hialeah City Hall, Tuesday night, filled with frustrated people Miami-Dade’s Brownsville neighborhood.Many took the podium.“I want to know when you are going to reach out to us, the business people and let us know what is going on,” said one man to the councilmembers.The City of Hialeah has commissioned a study looking at the possibility of annexing part of Miami-Dade County.The evening saw a presentation on the feasibility of the idea.A portion of Brownsville, a historically black neighborhood, falls within the boundaries of the annexation plan.It also includes the Brownsville Church of Christ where members have been gathering day after day this week to learn of the potential annexation.“It is an attempt to take away the economic gain of the community,” said Harrell Hebron, the pasto...

Residents at Miami’s Nirvana condominium complex raise concern of crocodile sightings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

A community is raising safety concerns after spotting a crocodile roaming in the waters of their backyard. They say the reptile is too close from where dogs and kids play.“It’s scary. It’s of course scary,” said a woman.“There’s a big croc here and it’s potentially dangerous for dogs and the kids” said a man.“It was scary when I saw it,” said a man.Multiple crocodile sightings in Biscayne Bay, in the very spot where families enjoy the outdoors, which is essentially their backyard within Miami’s Nirvana condominium complex.Residents have been taking and sending images exclusively to 7News about the crocodiles that also live where their kids and dogs play.A family that saw the crocodile a couple of weeks ago said they have not let their dog go into the water since. “We’re just worried about the dogs and especially the safety of the little children,” said a man. Z said he’s worried about his fetching dog, Chloe, as well as his neigh...

What caused gas delivery delays at port everglades and what could fuel future improvements

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

Trying to find fuel created a lot of stress on South Floridians after the historic flooding in Broward County, so how is Port Everglades trying to make sure we stay gassed up if something similar happens again? Karen Hensel takes us inside the port for tonight’s 7 Investigates.Patience — like fuel — was in short supply last week.Now, with gas stations mostly back to normal, the lines are gone, but the frustration still feels fresh.Jonathan Daniels, director Port Everglades: “People needed to be certainly patient. We saw some patience lacking towards the end. We understand that. We are part of the consumers as well. There was frustration.”But Daniels says there was never a shortage of gas.Jonathan Daniels: “People need to understand that the fuel was here.”Fuel brought in by big oil tankers like this one.So what caused the delivery delays?Jonathan Daniels: “Where the problem did occur was in the containment systems in and around the tan...

Morton goes 7 innings, Albies 2 HRs, Braves beat Marlins 7-4

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched seven strong innings, Ozzie Albies homered twice and the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 7-4 on Tuesday night.One night after Spencer Strider took a no-hitter into the eighth in an 11-0 victory, the 39-year-old Morton (3-2) allowed three hits and one run with two walks and nine strikeouts. He retired 13 of 14 batters before Jon Berti singled with two outs in the seventh. Morton threw a season-high 108 pitches, 66 for strikes.The five-time defending NL East champion Braves have won 10 of 12 against Miami, which got an inside-the-park homer from Yuli Gurriel in the ninth off Jesse Chavez. Gurriel scored on a head-first slide. Left fielder Kevin Pillar crashed into the left-field wall trying to make the play, was checked by a trainer and stayed in the game.Chavez struck out Jorge Soler to end the game with runners on first and second.Albies’ homer made it 5-1 in the sixth off Andrew Nardi. Eddie Rosario and Albies hit back-to-back long ...

Chinese official expected at King Charles’ coronation was key player in Hong Kong crackdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

LONDON — Han Zheng, China’s vice-president who oversaw the crackdown on liberties in Hong Kong, is expected to attend the king’s coronation in the U.K., in a move likely to antagonize British critics of Beijing.The newly-appointed deputy to President Xi Jinping will officially represent his country in London at the May celebrations for King Charles, according to two U.K. officials speaking on condition of anonymity. His presence would draw the ire of Conservative MPs who are critical of the Chinese government and fear that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is too friendly toward Beijing.Han was in charge of Hong Kong affairs for the Chinese government between 2018 and March this year. His new role as China’s vice president gives him oversight of foreign policy and involves representing Xi abroad. His predecessor, Wang Qishan, attended the late Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September.China’s crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong since 2019 has led to a deterioration in...

Who is running Georgia?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

Arshan Barzani is a student at Yale Law School, where he is an editor of the Yale Law Journal. His writing has appeared in outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Lawfare, and his book “Chronicles of Caesar’s Wars” is the first translation of Napoleon’s history of Julius Caesar.It’s impossible to go very far in Georgia without seeing a Ukrainian flag.Blue and yellow decks out email signatures and hotel bills, the menus of chic Tbilisi wine bars and the walls of rural huts. Rude graffiti calls for Russian vacationers to pack their bags, while a placard on a restaurant’s door bans fans of Russian President Vladimir Putin — inside, its tables are full.Russia conquered 1-in-5 acres of Georgia in a five-day war in 2008, and it still holds these lands — the long-restive Abkhazia and South Ossetia — today, with troops stationed just an hour’s drive from the capital.That war turned out to be only the first in Russia’s revanchist trilogy, followed by the anne...

Turkey’s jailed electoral kingmaker predicts Erdoğan’s demise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:19 GMT

The man who stands to shape Turkey’s historic election next month — in which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is seeking to consolidate his 20 year grip on power — is running his campaign from a prison cell, and he reckons he has an edge. Selahattin Demirtaş, a former presidential candidate and party leader, is spending his seventh year behind bars on terrorism charges in a high-security prison near the Greek border. Even so, he still wields huge influence in the knife-edge May 14 presidential and parliamentary election, largely because of the votes of millions of Kurds, who represent around a fifth of the NATO member’s population of 85 million. Those Kurdish votes are now likely to prove decisive, and Demirtaş estimates his party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), represents about two-thirds of them. “In this critical election where even half a percent is crucial, Kurdish voters will be very influential in determining the outcome,” he told POLITICO in...