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Facebook owner wants preteens to step into virtual reality with its Quest headset

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

The corporate parent of Facebook and Instagram plans to open a digital gateway for kids as young as 10 years old to enter virtual reality through the Meta Quest headset, despite rising concerns about children spending too much time on social media.Meta Platforms, which oversees a social media empire created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, disclosed it will lower the minimum age for a Quest account from 13 years old to 10 years old in a Friday blog post. The Menlo Park, California, company framed the change coming later this year as a family-friendly way for more people to explore artificial realms that Zuckerberg touts as the “metaverse.”The move to lure preteens into a virtual world filled with digital avatars and other technological fabrications comes just weeks after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called upon tech companies and lawmakers to take steps to protect children from the potentially harmful mental and emotional effects of too much exposure to social media.Both Fa...

How an online program could help Virginia schools overcome a teacher shortage

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

Fairfax and Arlington County Public Schools are among the Virginia districts that have been approved to partner with an online teacher preparation program that provides potential educators a pathway to getting a teaching license without going back to college.On Thursday, the Virginia Board of Education approved several school systems’ applications to work with iteach, providing a new way for prospective teachers to work toward full teaching licenses. Proponents of the approach tout its ability to help local districts work through teacher shortages.As of April 2023, the Virginia Department of Education reported over 3,500 teacher vacancies.Andrew Rozell, iteach’s president, told the board Thursday that one of the reasons the state has so many provisionally licensed teachers is “a true alternative to higher education does not exist.”“Many teachers are not making the needed financial or time commitment to complete their licensure at a college,” Rozel...

Wyndham Clark, Rory McIlroy set the pace in LA at US Open

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Open tried to fight back against record low scores with a North course at Los Angeles Country Club stretched to full length. Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy were among those who managed just fine Friday.And then it was up to Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele to tackle the biggest defense on another otherwise vulnerable course — sunshine and a freshening breeze in the afternoon.Clark, who last month broke through with his first PGA Tour title against an elite field, started strong with a bold flop shot and a monster birdie putt and then held on for a 3-under 67. Closing fast was McIlroy, without a major in nine years, overcoming a rugged start with four birdies on his last five holes for a 67.Not to be overlooked was Dustin Johnson, the two-time major champion who made a quadruple-bogey 8 on his second hole with six bad shots, one penalty and a tap-in. The man with golf’s shortest memory rebounded quickly and still shot 70, leaving him very much in ...

Review: Moby Grape co-founder Peter Lewis turns back the clock with wide range of musical styles

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

“Imagination,” Peter Lewis (OMAD Records)Peter Lewis bridges the past and future on “Imagination,” his music evoking the 1960s as his lyrics look toward eternity.Lewis, 77, was a founding member of Moby Grape, the supremely talented San Francisco band that was cursed by bad decisions, bad habits and bad luck but did release a classic album in 1967 during the Summer of Love.Lewis had the most elegant voice in a group with four fine singers, and on “Imagination” his gentle tenor turns back the clock. It’s frayed but arresting, and his flair for melody remains intact. “Remember how it was back in the day,” Lewis sings, and he also ponders the universe, the meaning of life, what’s to come and beer shampoo.Co-producer John DeNicola helps find a common thread in the album’s wide range of musical styles. “Just Like Sunshine” benefits from Lewis’ 12-string guitar, and “If I Just Had You” features Dion-esque doo-wop vocals. The trippy “Frank Zappa’s Ghost” and stacked harmonies of “La Mujer”...

Search underway for 21-year-old WPB man last seen at Fort Lauderdale Brightline station

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

Police seek the public’s help in their search for a young man who was reported missing from West Palm Beach.According to West Palm Beach Police, 21-year-old Nicholas Cappadoro was last seen getting off a train at the Brightline Station in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.Although he went missing from West Palm Beach, Cappadoro may currently be in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood or elsewhere in Broward County, investigators said.Cappadoro stands 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighs around 160 pounds, and has brown hair and blue eyes.Officials urge anyone with information on his whereabouts to call West Palm Beach Police Department at 561-822-1900 and mention case number 10140.

‘Outlander’ stars reflect on long road leading to Season 7 of beloved historical drama

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

The wait is over, “Outlander” fans. Season 7 of the beloved historical drama premieres on Starz on Friday, but before traveling back in time, the stars of the show are dishing with Deco about what we can expect.Sam Heughan (as Jamie Fraser): “I’m not as brave as I was before, ye ken? Not brave enough to live without you anymore.”The stakes are higher than ever in Season 7 of the hit Starz series “Outlander.”Sophie Skelton (Brianna Randall Fraser): “There’s unrest in the streets, if you hadn’t noticed.”Character in “Outlander”: “Washington desperately needs soldiers up at Fort Ticonderoga.”Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe are back as Jamie and Claire … and a looming rebellion is about to take the show to the next level.Caitríona Balfe: “The Revolutionary War is here. We have amazing battles, and it just does feel really, really epic.”Sam Heughan: “It was kind of surprising to se...

Losing hope of finding kids in plane crash, Indigenous searchers turned to a ritual: Ayahuasca

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

By REGINA GARCIA CANO (Associated Press)BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The weary Indigenous men gathered at their base camp, nestled among towering trees and dense vegetation that form a disorienting sea of green. They sensed that their ancestral land — Selva Madre, or Mother Jungle — was unwilling to let them find the four children who’d been missing since their charter plane crashed weeks earlier in a remote area in southern Colombia.Indigenous volunteers and military crews had found signs of hope: a baby bottle, half-eaten fruit, dirty diapers strewn across a wide swath of rainforest. The men were convinced the children had survived. But punishing rains, harsh terrain and the passing of time had diminished their spirits and drained their stamina.The weak of body, of mind, of faith do not make it out of this jungle. Day 39 was do or die — for the children and the search teams.That night at camp, Manuel Ranoque, father of the two youngest children, reached fo...

Column: Chicago Cubs need to ensure that Kyle Hendricks never wears another team’s jersey

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

Starting pitching could be the difference in a division such as the National League Central, in which no team really stands out.And in spite of all their faults, the Chicago Cubs have consistently shown they have a rotation that stacks up with the best, especially if Kyle Hendricks continues to pitch like the Hendricks of old.Hendricks earned his second straight win Friday in a 10-3 romp over the Baltimore Orioles, leaving with a one-run lead after five innings and watching the offense pour it on against the Orioles bullpen.In his first start since taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants, Hendricks allowed two runs on five hits in an 88-pitch outing.“Seeing the results like that definitely builds confidence,” Hendricks said of his no-hit bid. “Before that I’ve been feeling really good, feeling like I’ve been making a lot of pitches. My fastball has been down at the bottom, which is different than the last couple years,...

NCAA committee recommends dropping marijuana from banned drug list for athletes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

By MICHAEL MAROT (AP Sports Writer)INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An NCAA panel is calling for the removal of marijuana from the organization’s list of banned drugs, suggesting that testing should be limited to performance-enhancing substances.The proposal released Friday from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports would mark a big change for the NCAA, which has been conducting drug tests at championship events since 1986. Committee members recommended halting cannabis tests at such events until a final decision is made, likely this fall.Legislation would still have to be introduced and approved by all three NCAA divisions to take effect. Administrators in Divisions II and III had asked the committee to study the issue.The recommendation comes as the U.S. is seeing more and more states allowing medical or recreational marijuana use.Earlier this year, the committee increased the THC threshold needed for a positive test and recommended revamped penaltie...

Canada police say bus carrying seniors did not have the right of way in crash that killed 15

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:46 GMT

By ROB GILLIES (Associated Press)TORONTO (AP) — A bus carrying seniors to a casino that collided with a semi-trailer truck in a crash that killed 15 people did not have the right of way, police said Friday, after watching video of the accident. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Supt. Rob Lasson said police also obtained witness statements from passing motorists that corroborated what investigators saw on the dash cam video from the semi truck. “This video indicates the bus entered the roadway where the semi truck had the right of way,” Lasson said, adding later: “We don’t know why the bus proceeded.”He said officers had not been able to speak to the driver of the bus, who is hospitalized. The truck driver has been released from the hospital. Lasson said police were not assigning blame at this time and continued to investigate. He added that officers were looking into whether the truck had mechanical problems. Lasson said investigators had not yet iden...