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85-year-old woman becomes oldest graduate of Virginia Tech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

One Virginia Tech student in the class of 2023 made history Friday as she crossed the stage to get her bachelor’s degree in music from the School of Performing Arts.At the school’s commencement ceremony, Kay Castagnoli, 85, was the only music major nominated for her academic excellence for the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She was only one of five students selected from the school of performing arts.“I love learning,” Castagnoli said. “I always loved going to school. I love being on a campus.”Her academic experience spans decades, starting in Southern California, where she attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a degree in chemistry. Kay moved with her husband Neal Castagnoli to Blacksburg, Virginia, in 1987.She became a researcher and teacher in Virginia Tech’s chemistry department and retired some years later. That’s when she returned to the piano.In 2007, she registered for her first piano class and began a lo...

Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing / Belkys

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

Ingredients:1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half1 small shallot, peeled and diced, approximately 2 Tbs.2 Tbs. red-wine vinegarkosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste2 thick slices of bacon, crumbled8 ounces blue cheese, crumbled1/4 cup buttermilk2 Tbs. mayonnaise1 Tbs. olive oil1 Tsp. hot sauce1 Tsp. lemon juice1 dash Worcestershire sauce, to taste1 large head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves removed, cut into 8 wedges2 Tbs. chives, finely mincedMethod of Preparation:Combine the tomatoes, shallots and vinegar in a small bowl and add salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside.For the dressing, put half the blue cheese into a medium-sized bowl and mash with a whisk.Add the buttermilk, mayonnaise, olive oil, hot sauce, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce.Mash and whisk the dressing until it is mostly smooth. Taste and add more of what you like- hot sauce, lemon juice, etc.Whisk again and set aside.To assemble the salad, place two wedges of lettuce on each plate and gently spo...

Serbian president says snap elections on cards after mass shootings spark protests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

Voters in Serbia could be headed to the polls for the third time in just four years, as the country’s president, Aleksandr Vučić suggested a snap general election may be called in the wake of major public protests over two mass shootings.Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Vučić announced that he would soon stand down as the head of the governing Serbian Progressive Party and pledged he would explain the decision at a rally in Belgrade on May 26, which he said would be “the biggest ever,” according to local media reports. New parliamentary elections, he said, could soon be scheduled and “the vote would be held no later than September.”He insisted that despite a series of tense public demonstrations calling for him to leave office, “there will be no Maidan in Belgrade,” referring to the Ukrainian revolution that ousted the country’s unpopular pro-Russian regime in 2014.Vučić has come under fire in recent weeks after two mass shoot...

Seasonable Mother’s Day, temps rebound tomorrow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

7Weather- You can feel the difference outside this morning! Our lows were running ten to fifteen degrees cooler than yesterday. Nice and dry forecast today. We end the weekend with more seasonable temperatures. Highs rebound tomorrow into Tuesday, before a cold front brings a spot shower into Wednesday and a drop in temperatures.Temperatures dropped near 40° for some towns. With cooler temperatures above us, our high temperatures will stay cooler than yesterday. You might want a light jacket or sweater with you today! We’ll see plenty of sunshine with some high clouds. Breezy at times, with a wind out of the northwest inland. Towns along the South Shore, Cape and Islands will have a wind coming off the cooler ocean water and stay near 60°/low 60s.Overnight, we’ll stay clear with light wind. That’ll help temperatures cool off nicely into the 40s by tomorrow morning. Keep that jacket nearby for the morning walk or commute! We’ll continue to see mostly sunshine...

AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election.The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing and costly to produce, especially when other kinds of misinformation were so inexpensive and easy to spread on social media. The threat posed by AI and so-called deepfakes always seemed a year or two away. No more. Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When strapped to powerful social media algorithms, this fake and digitally created content can spread far and fast and target highly specific audiences, potentially taking campaign dirty tricks to a new low.The implications for the 2024 campaigns and elections are as large as they are troubl...

Child social media stars have few protections. Illinois aims to fix that

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Holed up at home during the pandemic lockdown three years ago, 13-year-old Shreya Nallamothu was scrolling through social media when she noticed a pattern: Children even younger than her were the stars — dancing, cracking one-liners and being generally adorable. “It seemed innocuous to me at first,” Nallamothu said. But as she watched more and more posts of kids pushing products or their mishaps going viral, she started to wonder: Who is looking out for them?“I realized that there’s a lot of exploitation that can happen within the world of ‘kidfluencing,’” said Nallamothu, referring to the monetization of social media content featuring children. “And I realized that there was absolutely zero legislation in place to protect them.”Illinois lawmakers aim to change that by making their state what they say will be the first in the country to create protections for child social media influencers. Nallamothu, now 15, raised her concerns to Illinois state Sen. David Koe...

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson prepares to take office

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago will get a new mayor Monday when Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is sworn in.Johnson will arguably be the most progressive mayor Chicagoans have elected. WATCH: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot leaves city hall for last time He will become the 57th mayor and the leader of America's third-largest city.His administration will face several challenges on day one, including choosing a new police superintendent and coming up with a plan to fight violence, which normally spikes during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and summer. On Saturday, Brandon Johnson resigned as a Cook County Commissioner. His full resignation letter is below. “Today, I announced my resignation from the Cook County Board of Commissioners. As excited as I am about my future as mayor of Chicago, I am also sobered and humbled to be leaving my constituents and colleagues on the Board, because together, we have done so much important work to transform Cook County government.“As I look back on these last fou...

Weekend Break: Sneakerhead University

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

CHICAGO — WGN Weekend Morning News stopped by Sneakerhead University for Weekend Break. Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter. Sneakerhead University is located at 133 South State Street in Chicago.

A Mother's Day surprise for WGN's Gaynor Hall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

CHICAGO — WGN Weekend Morning News Anchor Gaynor Hall had a surprise during the Mother's Day show.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter. You can watch this story in the player above.

Linda Yaccarino thanks Musk for opportunity, shares excitement to 'build Twitter 2.0'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:25 GMT

(The Hill) – Incoming Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino thanked Elon Musk on Saturday for her new role at the social media company and shared her excitement to “build Twitter 2.0."“Thank you @elonmusk! I’ve long been inspired by your vision to create a brighter future,” Yaccarino tweeted. “I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together!”“I see I have some new followers,” she added in her thread. “I’m not as prolific as @elonmusk (yet!), but I’m just as committed to the future of this platform.""Your feedback is VITAL to that future. I’m here for all of it," Yaccarino continued. "Let’s keep the conversation going and build Twitter 2.0 together!"Musk announced on Friday that Yaccarino would take over as CEO, while he would transition into a new role as executive chair and chief technology officer. The billionaire had previously promised in December that he would step down as CEO “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job.” ...