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A woman joked that she bought a work by a famous artist for only $4. It turned out to be true

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

(CNN) — When an antiques enthusiast bought a painting that appeared to bear NC Wyeth’s signature at a thrift store in 2017, she joked that the item she picked up for just $4 might actually be real work. from the prolific artist and patriarch of Maine’s Wyeth family of painters. Her joke was no laughing matter, and the painting is now estimated to sell for as much as $250,000 at auction in September.According to specialists from the Bonhams Skinner auction house, the seller unknowingly bought the work at a Savers thrift store in Manchester, New Hampshire, while looking for frames to reuse. According to the auction house, the Wyeth painting had been hidden against a wall along with mostly damaged posters and prints.The woman took the piece home but was unable to find any information about the work with a quick internet search. After hanging her painting in her bedroom for several years, she finally put it away in a closet in her house.A painting forgotten in a closet...

Police search for hit-and-run driver after pedestrian struck in Miami

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

Authorities in Miami are actively searching for a hit-and-run subject after the driver struck a pedestrian, Sunday night.The pedestrian was struck by a gray truck at the intersection of Northwest 17th Avenue and 29th Street, and the driver fled the scene, leaving the victim’s condition unknown.The identity and condition of the victim remain unknown at this time, as authorities work to gather more information about the injured individual.Local law enforcement is urging anyone with information about the hit-and-run incident to come forward and assist in their efforts to locate the driver responsible for this reckless act. Call the police immediately if you have any information.

Chicago baseball report: Cubs could be getting some bullpen help — while the White Sox get 1 last look at Miguel Cabrera

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

The Chicago Cubs did what they needed to do in Cincinnati against a pursuing Reds team, securing a split of the four-game series.It was the minimum the Cubs needed to accomplish on the brief road trip, and they took care of business in Sunday’s 15-7 win behind a 10-run outburst over the final two innings. They return to Wrigley Field starting Monday for seven games versus the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks.The White Sox, with new general manager Chris Getz in place, will continue their evaluation process for 2024 during trips to Kansas City and Detroit.Every Monday throughout the season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and Sox.Cubs’ Hayden Wesneski shows nasty stuffThe velocity readings didn’t escape Hayden Wesneski’s attention during his relief outing in Game 2 of Friday’s doubleheader at Great American Ball Park.Wesneski’s fastball hit 99 mph in a...

Callahan: Success for the 2023 Patriots will be both simple and complicated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

The glory days are always glory days for a few reasons.Joy. Fulfillment. Peak human experience and connection.I’ll throw another one in there: they’re simple.There’s no doubt about the best days or games or seasons. Gray area doesn’t belong in glory, as the Patriots know. For 20 years, they won a Super Bowl or they failed. That was it. That was the bar, the standard set by the greatest head coach and quarterback of all time.Since Tom Brady left, the Patriots have been swimming in a gray area. A 7-9 campaign in 2020 both reflected lackluster roster talent and a confluence of circumstances outside the team’s control that dragged the season into the sewer: COVID-19, cap hell, injuries and changing league rules around the pandemic.The Patriots’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 2022 season packed a lot of gray area, too. Was it Mac Jones’ fault the team struggled? Bill Belichick’s? Joe Judge and Matt Patricia’s? The only universa...

The US government is eager to restore powers to keep dangerous chemicals out of extremists’ hands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is worried about the safety of chemical facilities across the country after its power to keep dangerous substances out of the hands of extremists lapsed a month ago.The Department of Homeland Security has long had the ability to inspect facilities where chemicals are used or stored to make sure their security systems are in place. And the facilities themselves have been required to vet prospective employees for any terrorism links.But the program, called the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, expired July 28 after Congress failed to renew it. Homeland Security officials say this left gaping holes in the country’s national security, and they are calling on Congress to act quickly when it returns this week. “The risk that terrorists could access and weaponize the dangerous chemicals produced in these facilities increases by the day,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told attendees at the Chemical Security Summit held in nor...

Seoul’s spy agency says Russia has likely proposed North Korea to join three-way drills with China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Russia has likely proposed that North Korea participate in three-way naval exercises with China, according to a lawmaker who attended a closed-door briefing with the director of South Korea’s top spy agency Monday.The briefing came days after Russia’s Ambassador to North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, told Russian media that including North Korea in joint military drills between Russia and China “seems appropriate.” Matsegora added it was his own point of view and that he wasn’t aware of any preparations, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.According to lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, when South Korean National Intelligence Service Director Kim Kyou-hyun was asked about the possibility of such drills, he said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu likely proposed holding trilateral naval exercises with North Korea and China while meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in July.Kim Jong Un invited Shoigu to a major military parade in Pyongyang in July whi...

Pakistan navy helicopter crashes during a training flight, killing all 3 crew members on board

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistan navy helicopter crashed during a routine training flight in southwest Pakistan on Monday, killing all three crew members on board, the navy said.The crash of the Sea King helicopter in Gwadar, a coastal town in southwestern Baluchistan province, was apparently caused by a technical problem, the navy said in a statement.It provided no further details, saying an investigation into the crash has been launched. A video reportedly of the crash posted on social media showed the helicopter turning while apparently trying to regain control and then breaking apart and plunging to the ground.Crashes during training missions are fairly common in Pakistan. Authorities rarely release details of military training crashes and investigation reports are also not made public. In September 2022, an army helicopter crashed during an overnight mission in Baluchistan, killing all six military personnel on board.The Associated Press

Gabon’s military leader is sworn in as head of state after ousting the president last week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Gabon’s new military leader was sworn in as the head of state Monday less than a week after ousting the president whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than five decades. Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, took the oath in the presidential palace in front of a packed, boisterous room of government officials, military and local leaders in Gabon’s capital, Libreville. Oligui is a cousin of the ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, served as a bodyguard to his late father and is head of the republican guard, an elite military unit. Speaking to applauds and standing ovations Monday, Oligui said the military had seized power without bloodshed and promised to return power to the people by organizing free, transparent and credible elections. “With the new government, made up of experienced people, we’re going to give everyone a chance to hope,” he said.Sam Mednick And Yves Laurent Goma, The Associated Press

A massive wildfire in northeastern Greece is gradually abating. Over 700 firefighters were deployed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A massive wildfire that decimated vast tracts of forest in northeastern Greece over 17 days was gradually abating on Monday, although hundreds of firefighters were still tackling pockets that continued to burn, the fire department said.Reinforcements were sent over the weekend to the wildfire burning in the Evros region near the border with Turkey, bringing the total number of firefighters to 741, backed by 124 vehicles and two aircraft. The blaze has been blamed for the deaths of 20 people. All are believed to have been migrants who had recently crossed the border.The fire, which broke out on Aug. 19 near the northeastern city of Alexandroupolis and joined with other blazes to form one massive wildfire, had burned more than 93,000 hectares (230,000 acres) of land by Sunday, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service, making it the largest single blaze to have hit an EU country since records began in 2000.Wildfires are common in G...

Liz Weston: 3 ways to reduce taxes on social security

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:47 GMT

Social Security benefits were once tax-free. That changed in 1983, when Congress decided to tax a portion of benefits for the highest-income recipients.Back then, fewer than 10% of beneficiaries were affected. Lawmakers failed to update the law to account for inflation, however, so today most Social Security beneficiaries have to pay federal income tax on at least some of their benefits, says Ted Sarenski, author of American Institute of CPA’s “Guide to Social Security Planning.”There are a few ways to reduce that tax bite, however, especially if you can plan ahead.HOW SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES WORKSocial Security taxes are based on your annual “combined income.” Combined income comprises:●Your adjusted gross income, which includes your earnings, investment income, retirement plan withdrawals and other taxable income.●Any nontaxable interest you receive, such as interest on municipal bonds.●One half of your Social Security benefits.For couples filing a joint return, a combined income be...