Seattleholding.com

Fire breaks out in a lab building on a University of South Florida campus

<block>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A fire broke out Saturday evening at a lab building on the University of South Florida campus in St. Petersburg, prompting an evacuation, authorities said.The fire sent plumes of billowing gray smoke from the marine science laboratory building. No injuries had been reported, university police and the local fire department said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation. University police said more information would be released as it became available.</block>

Pickleball players killed in Texas plane crash included a school tennis star, trauma counselor

<block>Five members of a pickleball club who died after the small plane carrying them crashed in Texas are being mourned by a tight-knit community of fellow players.The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Saturday that Justin Appling, Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson were on board the Cessna 421C that crashed Thursday night in Texas Hill Country. Appling was the pilot. The aircraft had departed from Amarillo and was heading to New Braunfels National Airport. It crash-landed in Wimberley, a city about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Austin, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. The Amarillo Pickleball Club posted on its social media that the victims were members on their way to a pickleball tournament in New Braunfels.<hl2>Teammates who became more like family</hl2>Dillard and Appling, who went by the nickname Glen, were the owners of a manufactured home dealer in Amarillo. The business announced early Friday that it would be closed until Monday.Sarah Lister got to know Dillard and Appling during pickleball tournaments and described them as both genuine people. She said Appling was always making them laugh and Dillard was an amazing businesswoman and mother.She said Dillard has two daughters, one of whom was about to start college. Dillard and Appling had played mixed doubles for a long time together, and Skypala was Dillard’s women’s doubles partner, Lister said.“The pickleball world is super, super small, even though it’s huge at the same time,” said Lister. “And when one of us has a tragedy like this, it’s like it’s the whole community that gets hit.”Leroy Clifford, a club member who had traveled to the tournament on another plane, considered all of them family, even though he’d only recently met Wilson. They had traveled to Pro Pickleball Association-sanctioned tournaments all over the country together, from Dallas to Las Vegas. They bonded over being on the higher-end competitions of pickleball, but they also didn’t take themselves too seriously. “One thing I can say about this group is this group, you wanted to be around this group. They were fun, carefree, not uptight, just relaxed, loved to joke with each other, make fun of each other,” Clifford said. “You couldn’t ask for better friends, honestly.”He played the most with Skypala, who he described as quick-witted and a natural athlete.“She was very witty, super sweet and very funny,” Clifford said.Skypala, who was married with children, had just celebrated a professional milestone. Last month, she announced on her Facebook that she had just started accepting clients as a counselor, fulfilling a decade-old goal. Skypala, who has a master’s of education from West Texas A&M University, said in her post that she works with those “navigating anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, and life transitions.”Last summer, Skypala helped host a pickleball camp for dozens of children from the nonprofit Amarillo Children’s Home.Hedrick was someone who loved to laugh, carried a positive outlook and “had a big heart.” She also was a fierce player who earned the nickname “Rippy” from Appling, Clifford said. Everyone else started calling her that.“She was a very good tennis player. In pickleball, you have to be able to do drop shots,” Clifford said. “We gave her that nickname because all she did was rip. All she did was smash the ball or forehand it really hard.” Wilson, the youngest, was an accomplished tennis player. In 2022, she was University Interscholastic League team tennis state champion, according to the tennis booster club at Amarillo High School, where she graduated from.A family member of Wilson’s declined to comment when reached by phone Saturday.The pickleball club posted on Facebook that “Seren loved big and her presence, encouragement, and spirit will be deeply missed by so many.”<hl2>Amarillo pickleball community mourns together</hl2>Federal authorities are leading the investigation into what caused the crash.Recorded audio indicates another pilot in the area confirmed the troubled plane’s locator emergency device had emitted a distress signal. An air traffic controller then called 911. It was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, and there was a thunderstorm two hours later, <a href="https://forecast.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KBAZ.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the National Weather Service said</a>.The pickleball tournament the players were supposed to compete in at the Cranky Pickle in New Braunfels, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of San Antonio, canceled Friday’s events, said Martin Robertson, head pro at the venue.“We’re very heavy-hearted, heartbroken from this,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody.”Clifford said the Amarillo club’s focus now is on those closest to the five and to “lift these families up in prayer.”“It’s going to be a long road ahead. But there’s a lot of love and support from everyone that knew these people,” Clifford said.</block>

1 person dead after vehicle crashes into a Portland health club, police say

The facility bills itself as the largest private athletic and social club in the U.S., founded in 1891 and boasting more than 21,000 members.Portland police said the person who died was found inside the vehicle after the fire was contained.According to PPB, employees at the Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC) reported seeing a vehicle driving slowly around the building before the crash.“The vehicle continued driving further inside and was soon observed engulfed in flames and employees called 911

1 person dead after vehicle crashes into an Oregon health club, police say

<block>PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One person is dead following a fiery crash at a health club early Saturday in Portland, Oregon, and evidence of an explosive device was found in the vehicle, police said.Little information was immediately available from the Portland Police Bureau about the incident that occurred shortly before 3 a.m. at the Multnomah Athletic Club. The facility bills itself as the largest private athletic and social club in the U.S., founded in 1891 and boasting more than 21,000 members. Portland police said the person who died was found inside the vehicle after the fire was contained. A club spokesperson, Adam Linnman, in a statement, said the crash occurred when the club was closed and that no club members or staff were injured. He said club officials deferred to local and federal authorities for additional details.Special agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also were responding, that agency said. </block>

Three people killed in head-on crash near Chelan

97 for several hours.The crash took place Friday night, about ten minutes after 9:00, about three miles east of the town of Chelan.State troopers say the causing driver was a 47-year-0ld man from the city of Republic, in northeast Washington’s Ferry County.He was driving a Chevy Silverado pickup truck, when investigators believe he crossed the highway’s center line and struck an oncoming Honda Civic with two people inside.The pickup truck then struck another vehicle, a Jeep SUV.The i

Spirit Airlines goes out of business after 34 years, ending operations immediately

I set my alarm clock for 3 o’clock, went onto the website and it said, ‘Spirit flights have been canceled,’” Peterson said.He said Delta Air Lines brought him and another flight attendant back to Atlanta on Saturday morning, with Peterson leaving from there to drive to his home in Shellman in southwest Georgia.“I’ll probably do my boo-hoo crying and all that other stuff once I get in the car.”Peterson said he had been a flight attendant with Spirit for 10 years and the company has “done wonders

Spirit Airlines Shut Down: What to do to get home and get refunds

American said it is looking into tapping larger planes and United said it is potentially adding additional flights on routes where they overlapped with Spirit.“We are reviewing opportunities to add additional capacity, including utilizing larger aircraft on critical routes — to support as many affected passengers as possible,” American said via an Airlines for America statement.Southwest also said it will offer a status-match, by honoring Spirit’s Silver and Gold status members with its own A-Li

Spirit Airlines built a model the industry copied. Then it collapsed.

About 17,000 employees — some with more than 25 years at the airline — learned Friday they had lost their jobs, many finding out through media reports, the spokesperson said.The provocation playbookDespite its abrupt end, Spirit left behind a reputation that was impossible to ignore.Kendria Talton, who flew Friday on Spirit from Dallas to Atlanta with her daughter for a dance competition, arrived at the airport Saturday trying to find a new way home.Talton said she had flown Spirit multiple time

Video of NYC police killing machete-wielding man at Grand Central station released

<block>NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police have released body-worn camera footage of officers shooting and killing a machete-wielding man who stabbed three people at a Grand Central subway stop last month.The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRmeHQZ6AhY&rco=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video clip</a> posted on the department’s YouTube page Friday shows officers confronting Anthony Griffin after he had randomly slashed three people at the 42nd Street-Grand Central subway station, which connects to Grand Central Terminal.The uniformed officers, identified in the video as detectives Ryan Giuffre and Anthony Manetta, are seen encountering the 44-year-old as he walks up a stairwell holding a large knife at around 9:40 a.m. on April 11. They order Griffin to drop the weapon multiple times, but Giuffre draws his gun as Griffin continues to hold the knife high near his head.Griffin then retreats back down the stairs but starts moving toward the officers with the knife still overhead when they start to pursue him.“Nobody wants to hurt you,” Giuffre says in the video. “We can talk about it. Get down. Get down. Dude, I’m not going to ask you again. Please. Please. Please. Get down!”But Griffin continues shouting and moving erratically toward the officers with the large blade raised up.“I don’t want to be here. Shoot me,” he says at one point. “I am Lucifer,” he says at another. Giuffre then fires two shots at Griffin, who immediately drops to the ground. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at the time of the incident that the officers ordered Griffin to drop the knife at least 20 times but he refused to comply.“Our officers were confronted with an armed individual who had already injured multiple people and was continuing to pose a threat,” she said. “They gave clear commands. They attempted to de-escalate. And when that threat did not stop, they took decisive action to stop it and to protect New Yorkers on one of the busiest train platforms in the city.” The three stabbing victims — an 84 year-old male, 65-year-old male and 70-year-old female — sustained injuries including “significant lacerations to the head and face” and a skull fracture, though the wounds were not considered life-threatening, Tisch said. </block>

Germany focuses on shared interests after US announces troop drawdown

deployment in Europe.Boris Pistorius said Europe recognized and was acting on the necessity of doing more to ensure its own security within the U.S.-led NATO military alliance that counts Germany as a key member, and said it is doing so. He suggested America, too, gains from its military deployment in the continent.“The presence of American soldiers in Europe, and especially in Germany, is in our interest and in the interest of the U.S.,” Pistorius told the German news agency dpa.Pistorius calle

Did you find an animal nesting near your house? Here’s what to do

Experts maintain that with a few exceptions and some preparation, coexisting with creatures usually is easy — and often a lot of fun.“My two biggest things are: Stay away from the nest or the little family as much as possible, and stay curious,” said Brittney Yohannes, a spokesperson for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.Leave it aloneFind a nest or baby animal? Wildlife experts advise leaving it alone.Removing a nest can be illegal under federal law. If a bird has nested in a stra

Yemen introduced the world to coffee. Now, its coffeehouse culture is booming in the US

population as a whole, according to the Arab American Institute.While most Yemeni coffee shops are in places with high concentrations of Arab Americans, including Michigan, California and Texas, they’re also opening in locations as diverse as Alpharetta, Georgia; Overland Park, Kansas; and Portland, Maine.A taste of homeFaris Almatrahi is the co-founder and owner of Texas-based Arwa Yemeni Coffee, a chain with 11 cafes across the U.S. and 30 more in development. He said an ongoing civil war in Y

Berkshire Hathaway’s profits double as shareholders gather for the annual meeting on Saturday

<block>OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway’s first-quarter profit more than doubled as the value of its investments grew and most of its businesses improved. The conglomerate that Warren Buffett built released its earnings report Saturday as thousands of shareholders streamed into an arena in Omaha, Nebraska, for the annual meeting. Berkshire said it earned $10.1 billion, or $7,027 per Class A share. That’s up significantly from last year’s $4.6 billion, or $3,200 per A share. This year’s meeting is the first one that Buffett won’t lead from the stage after Greg Abel was promoted to CEO in January. Attendance at the meeting is expected to be down somewhat this year. The paper value of Berkshire’s investments always has a major impact on its bottom line even though it hasn’t sold most of its stocks, but it did record a $5.8 billion gain on the stocks it did sell during the quarter. The value of the portfolio did slip to just over $288 billion.Berkshire’s massive cash pile continues to grow, and it hit $397.4 billion at the end of the first quarter.Buffett has long encouraged investors to pay more attention to the company’s operating earnings that exclude investments to get a better idea of how its companies are performing. The operating earnings grew to $11.3 billion, or $7,889.44 per Class A share, from last year’s $9.6 billion, or $6,703.41 per Class A share. The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted earnings of $7,611.35 per A share.Berkshire said its profits got a $249 million boost from its foreign currency holdings because of the exchange rate. A year ago, Berkshire recorded a $713 million loss on foreign currencies. Most of Berkshire’s varied businesses reported better operating earnings this year. The insurance unit that includes Geico and a number of other companies reported an underwriting profit of $1.7 billion, up from $1.34 billion last year. Profits also grew somewhat at BNSF railroad and Berkshire’s utility and manufacturing companies.</block>

Trump likes the idea of the government owning some US companies but took a pass on Spirit Airlines

Trump had told reporters in the Oval Office that he wanted to save the jobs at Spirit Airlines and that “when the prices of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit.” Government investment can help to even the playing field for American companies competing against subsidized foreign businesses, said Monica Gorman, a managing director at Crowell Global Advisors who helped lead manufacturing and industrial policy in the Biden White House.But Gorman said that it was unclear whether the Trump

‘She revealed her true colors’: Jake and Spike react to Katie Wilson’s ‘bye’ to millionaires departing WA

I’d love to hear you out on what you’re going to do to help make it a better place for us to want to stay and do business.’ Now, the downside is it doesn’t sound like that conversation went too great, because shortly thereafter, they announced that they’re expanding to Nashville, and likely going to be headquartered there,” Jake said.Ferguson had said that Starbucks is an “important part of the fabric” of Washington’s community, but Starbucks

‘That’s enraging’: Jake and Spike debate WA giving inmates free tablets while cutting state park funding

The problem that I have is that the state is prioritizing its fight for mental health and benefits; they have access to these things, but we don’t have access to the parks as we used to.”Spike countered that the tablets cost Washington nothing, provided free by a single company, and said the rehabilitation benefits alone justify the program, regardless of the price tag.“It relieves stress, lowers anxiety, and gives people a pleasant distraction, a harmless distraction, from tim

‘We just had to be a little creative’: Issaquah mayor boasts $40M savings from city hall plans

“At the end of the day, property taxes are high in Issaquah, and I think people appreciate the fact that we’re not asking to pay any more than they already do.”In light of the recently passed so-called millionaires’ tax in Washington, Mullet affirmed that some aspects of the broader government actions are out of his hands, but he sees it as a problem-solving challenge that he will work through for his city.“We just want Issaquah to be an oasis of tranquility, like I

Tech Talk: Quarterly earnings spotlight AI spending vs. cloud revenue as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet face Wall Street pressure

Wall Street’s attention shifted sharply to Big Tech after Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet reported quarterly earnings, with investors looking beyond headline numbers to a deeper question: Is artificial intelligence paying off?Analysts said the latest earnings cycle has become a high-stakes test of whether massive investments in AI are translating into real revenue growth, particularly in cloud computing, a core profit driver for the tech giants.Alex Halverson, a tech reporter with The Seat

The long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic creeps into the race for Ohio governor

Mike DeWine to battle the virus — closing schools, shuttering businesses, restricting sporting events and suspending voting in the 2020 primary — are drawing fresh attention as she runs for the state’s top office and have become a central line of criticism from Republicans.During campaign rallies, Ramaswamy has accused Acton of spreading dangerous “COVID ideology.” Her campaign said it does not think voters will buy it.“Dr. Acton is proud of the work she did alongside Governor DeWine to put publ

Pope Leo XIV encourages wealthy US Catholics to keep donating

Catholics to keep on giving to support his charitable works, in an audience that confirmed how the election of the first U.S.-born pope has invigorated American Catholics and their donations.The Chicago-born Leo met with members of The Papal Foundation, a major funder of papal development projects in the developing world, in the Apostolic Palace at the end of their annual pilgrimage to Rome. In his remarks, Leo thanked the foundation stewards for their generosity, which he said had allowed &#822