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Halloween gardening: Experts suggest some spooky season plants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

For some Halloween enthusiasts, the season starts long before October: The scary movie marathons have begun, the decorations are up and… the plants are showing off their foliage? Yes, the plants. Spooky-looking garden and house plants have become increasingly popular. More than 17,000 posts on Instagram include the hashtag #gothgarden and plants such as the Raven ZZ (aka  Zamioculcas zamiifolia) and Alocasia Black Velvet are hot commodities in plant shops.Though many of these plants are popular year-round and are long-term additions to gardens and homes, Halloween seemed like the perfect time to give them their spotlight. We asked experts for their picks for some creepy – but striking – plants. Carnivorous cutiesA classic edition in the creepy plant pantheon is the carnivorous plant, and Danae Horst, owner of Folia Collective in Eagle Rock and author of the book “Houseplants for All,” knows of a few common varieties that will love munching on creepy crawlies in a sunny window. Venus...

Monday night’s $785 million Powerball jackpot is 9th largest lottery prize. Odds of winning are miserable

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa — The ninth-largest lottery jackpot will be on the line Monday night when numbers are drawn for a $785 million Powerball prize.The payout has grown so large because it has been building for more than two months, since a player in California matched all six numbers on July 19 and won $1.08 billion. That’s 28 consecutive drawings without a big winner.That winless streak is due to the miserable odds of winning the Powerball jackpot, at 1 in 292.2 million. It’s those long, long odds that result in such large top prizes, as they cause the jackpot to roll over week after week.Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Letters: Oil companies | Self-driving cars | Dyslexia skills | Lottery owes | Spending here | Pride flag bans California News | Scratchers ticket worth $2 million sold at East Bay gas station California News | Winning Fantasy 5 lotto-ticket nets over $178,000 in East Bay The jackpot is the ninth-largest in the world, be...

‘Death cap’ poisoning suspected: Lunch survivor’s account called key to investigation into deaths

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

Almost two months after three of his lunch companions died from a poisoning involving suspected death cap mushrooms, an Australian clergyman has been released from the hospital.2005 photograph: Death cap mushroom in Marin County, Calif. IJ photo/Robert Tong. Police see Ian Wilkinson as a key witness to what happened during that fateful meal, served by his nephew’s wife.Wilkinson, 68, was one of four guests on July 29 at the home of Erin Patterson in Leongatha, Victoria, southeast of Melbourne. The gathering has been described as an attempt to address issues concerning the fractured marriage of Erin and Simon Patterson.Attending were Simon Patterson’s parents, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70; Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66; and Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, a Baptist minister. Simon Patterson had declined to attend.Erin Patterson, 48, served her guests beef Wellington that she had prepared. She would later tell the police she used two types of mu...

‘This is how we get started’: Los Gatos establishes DEI commission

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

The Los Gatos Town Council voted to establish a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission at its Sept. 19 meeting that will be responsible for enacting policies and procedures to make Los Gatos a more welcoming place.Discussions about establishing the 11-member commission went late into the night Tuesday as councilmembers tried to define the scope and purpose of the new commission’s work.“We have heard from our community members that this is how we get started,” Councilmember Rob Moore said. “Los Gatos currently has a reputation–an indisputable reputation in some parts of the Bay Area–for being a place that is not inclusive, and voting against the creation of this commission will only further that reputation.”“I think the way we’re going to get tangible results is through establishing this committee,” Mayor Maria Ristow said.Los Gatos has taken steps to make the town a more welcoming place following incidents over the past few years like a far-right group whose members harassed cou...

Book Review: Rural Appalachian family’s dreams turn dark in new Ron Rash novel, `The Caretaker’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

Ron Rash has made the fog-shrouded ridges of Appalachia his fictional home in novels and short stories over a highly acclaimed career dating back decades. With “The Caretaker,” his first novel in seven years, he returns to this familiar mountain terrain and its remote hill culture.Set in the early 1950s in Blowing Rock, a hamlet in North Carolina’s mountainous west, the novel is a compelling drama of young lovers beset by parental grief and scheming. Often unforgiving elements — the sneer of class bias, community stigma and intolerance — are at work to destroy the youthful lovers.Jacob Hampton, 17, is the son of well-to-do parents obsessed with seeing him enjoy a financially rich future with a suitable young woman they’ve already selected for him. Naomi Clarke, a 16-year-old hotel maid, is not that woman — but Jacob is passionately in love with her and will not be deterred.When the young couple elope, Jacob and Naomi are basically kicked off the prosperous Hampton homestead — even t...

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey says cash found in his home was from his personal savings, not bribe proceeds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey says cash found in his home was from his personal savings, not bribe proceeds.Source

Sean Payton’s Broncos fall apart in ’embarassing’ 70-20 loss at Miami

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton called Sunday’s 70-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins embarrassing — something that will be tough to rewatch on tape for the players and coaches — in a postgame news conference that lasted less than five minutes.Denver gave up nearly 800 yards of total offense, including 350 yards rushing, and were overpowered by the Dolphins on both sides of the ball. Now they’re 0-3 for the second time in four seasons with few positives to take away from Sunday’s output.“We knew we were playing a real good offense,” said Payton, only in his third game as Denver’s coach, “but we’ve got to look closely at what we were doing. When somebody runs the ball up and down the field like those guys did, and throws it up and down the field, it’s not acceptable.”It was Denver’s most lopsided loss since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. The Broncos lost 59-14 to the Raiders on Oct. 24, 2010, with Josh McDa...

Colorado native works on uncovering answers to save children at St. Jude 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (KDVR) — FOX31 and Channel 2 now have less than 3,000 tickets available for the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway. FOX31’s Nicole Fierro took a trip to St. Jude’s campus in Memphis to learn about the lifesaving impacts these ticket sales help fund.On St. Jude’s campus, there are scientists, doctors and patients from all over the world. Dr. Marybeth Lupo, a Colorado native, traded the mountains for microscopes in the heart of Memphis back in 2017.“I grew up in Littleton, just outside of Denver, went to college in Boulder, went to grad school in Aurora at Anschutz,” Lupo said.  Tickets on sale now for the 2023 St. Jude Dream Home Lupo earned her Ph.D. in cancer biology from the University of Colorado Anschutz and her undergraduate degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Colorado Boulder.Her purpose at St. Jude revealed itself right away on her first visit during a graduate student symposium.“When we were ta...

Free Covid-19 tests are now available for order from the US government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

(CNN) — Covid-19 tests are now available to be ordered for free from the US government.Starting Monday, people can order four tests per US household through Covidtests.gov. People without an internet connection can call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to request tests.Covid-19 rapid tests can be taken at home and can be used regardless of whether someone has symptoms. The tests should be good through the end of the year. Some of the dates on the tests may show that they are expired, but the US Food and Drug Administration has extended those dates.The US government previously shipped more than 755 million free Covid-19 tests to people who requested them. The program has been suspended since May. Covid hospitalizations have been on the rise in the United States since July, with weekly admissions now more than triple what they were two months ago.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people test if they have any Covid-19-like sym...

Van Dyke throws for 3 TDs, Parrish rushes for 2 scores, unbeaten No. 20 Miami routs Temple 41-7

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:33:04 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Tyler Van Dyke’s dad was a Philadelphia Eagles fanatic, so that meant the family rooted on the team and hit the road for games at the Linc — even if game days for the season-ticket holders meant a 3 1/2-hour trip from their Connecticut home.Van Dyke didn’t recall the exact section he sat inside the big stadium in south Philly but he remembered the seats were up high. High enough that he was almost at eye level to the 2017 Super Bowl banner.Now the starting quarterback for No. 20 Miami, Van Dyke wears No. 9 — just like former Eagles QB Nick Foles — and made a new favorite memory inside the stadium. He threw for three touchdowns and helped the Hurricanes beat Temple 41-7 on Saturday and move to 4-0 for the first time since 2017.“I was looking up at the stadium where he had our season tickets, where we used to sit,” Van Dyke said. “It’s just very cool, and it’s a blessing to play in the stadium where you grew up watching pro football games.”H...