Latest news with #Nexstar
The Hill
6 hours ago
- The Hill
Police in Wisconsin looking for missing 22-year-old grad student
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WFRV) — Police in Wisconsin are asking for help in finding a missing 22-year-old grad student who disappeared Sunday. According to police, Eliotte Heinz was last seen walking along Front Street South in La Crosse, Wisconsin, around 3:20 a.m. on July 20. Police, as well as her family and friends, have tried unsuccessfully to find her. 17-year-old girl becomes second suspect arrested in Pulaski Memorial Park shooting Heinz is a graduate student at Viterbo University, a private Catholic college in La Crosse, reported Nexstar's NewsNation. Heinz is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and jean shorts. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 608-782-7575. No additional details were provided. 'If you have seen anything, even if it's small, anything at all, please call La Crosse Police Department,' Heinz's mother, Amber, told WISN.
The Hill
6 hours ago
- The Hill
‘This is a tragedy': Two found dead in Kansas home after alleged child abduction
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Two people are dead and a man is in custody after an AMBER Alert was issued for a young child Tuesday morning. Initially, police in Topeka, Kansas, said the toddler had been abducted last week by an unknown suspect and was believed to be in 'imminent danger.' A later update from authorities said the vehicle belonging to the boy's mother was also missing. Early Tuesday afternoon, authorities said the missing child had been found safe, roughly 400 miles away in Illinois with the suspect. Christopher Barnshaw, 32, was arrested by police in Mattoon, Illinois, in connection with the toddler's reported abduction. As of Tuesday, he was being held for alleged aggravated kidnapping and unlawful use of a weapon. Preliminary autopsy results released for 9-year-old in AMBER Alert turned homicide investigation Nexstar's WCIA reports the toddler was found safe in the backseat of the vehicle Barnshaw was driving, which matched the description of the car missing from the child's Topeka home. During a press conference shortly after the child was found, Topeka Police said a homicide investigation had been launched in connection with the AMBER Alert. Police Chief Chris Vallejo explained that officers were called to a welfare check at a Topeka home Tuesday morning. There, a man and a woman were found dead. The 2-year-old child who lived at the home was not located, prompting the AMBER Alert. According to Vallejo, police are still investigating the cause of death for the two individuals, whose identities have not been released. 'This is a tragedy, and I know the residents around this area are concerned about this, about this event,' Vallejo said. 'It's not something that happens every day, and I feel for them. I just want them to know that we are going to bring this investigation to its full conclusion and we will bring justice for the victims with whatever information we found out and there is no ongoing threat and the Topeka Police Department and supporting departments are on this case.' What relationship Barnshaw has with the victims, if any, was not shared by police on Tuesday. Authorities said late Tuesday they were working to reunite the child with a family member.
The Hill
a day ago
- Climate
- The Hill
How ‘corn sweat' can make a hot summer day even worse
(NEXSTAR) — Forget the dog days of summer — it's corn sweat season. Through the end of July, the National Weather Service has warned that a large stretch of the country — from Louisiana to Minnesota and eastward — is expected to experience 'dangerous, prolonged heat' coupled with humid weather. For those in the Midwest and across the Corn Belt, the high humidity can be attributed in part to the plethora of corn (and other crops) growing in the region. As Ellen Bacca, chief meteorologist at Nexstar's WOOD, explains, corn and crops 'sweat' just like humans when they become hot. Unlike humans, plants bring water from their roots and release it into the air in a process known as evapotranspiration. Have this giant, noxious weed in your yard? How to get rid of it — without burning yourself Estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey say that a single acre of corn can release 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of water vapor daily. As Nexstar's WGN previously reported, in Illinois alone, the National Weather Service said a mature corn crop is capable of producing more than 35 billion gallons of water vapor in a day. That would be enough to fill over 52,500 Olympic-size swimming pools. Iowa and other areas known for growing large expanses of corn can frequently be the most humid locations in the country. That was true Tuesday: data from the National Weather Service shows dew points in the upper 70s across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Only Florida and the southern portions of the Gulf states had higher early afternoon dew points. The corn sweat effect has grown from a hyper-local event to a more expansive situation due to climate change, according to Brian James, chief meteorologist with the Nexstar Weather Center said Tuesday. 'The increased humidity caused by very large corn fields is a phenomenon that has become even more amplified due to climate change,' he explained. 'A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. That means as the summer heat builds and temperatures rise across the Corn Belt, the increased humidity is leading to heat index values above 110 degrees over a much larger area than what used to occur.' The latest temperature outlook from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center shows that, across the Lower 48, only California and parts of Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and the Northeast are likely to see below-average temperatures during the final week of July. All other parts of the country — especially areas from the southern Plains, across the Gulf Coast and into the southern Ohio Valley — have a higher chance of seeing above-normal temperatures. Any corn sweat that increases humidity will, of course, only last a few more months.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Political Power Ranker: Iowa's Senate & Governor's races, latest in NYC Mayor's race
(WHTM) – Political Power Ranker is a weekly show tracking the movers, shakers, and rule-makers in American politics. The show is built around focusing on individual states and races that are going to impact the national picture. Hosted each week by Chris Berg, Nexstar's Director of Political Content, and Spencer Kimball, Director of Emerson College Polling, we examine who's up and who's down in the world of politics based on data. This week, we check in on the New York City mayoral race, which now has several independent candidates expected to run in the general election. We also discuss Iowa's gubernatorial election, the possibility of Sen. Joni Ernst (R) retiring, and the future of Iowa's Democratic caucus with WHO's Iowa Capitol Bureau Reporter Zach Fisher. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
A massive raft of fire ants found on Austin's Lake Travis
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Residents of Texas's capital are reporting fire ants floating on floodwaters, forming living rafts out of their own bodies. On Wednesday morning, one Austinite shared video of one such raft drifting on Lake Travis. Texas woman starts AI awareness series after seeing fake photos of Texas floods shared online When their underground nests flood, fire ants link their legs and jaws together to create buoyant, self-assembled mounds. These floating colonies can contain thousands of ants — and they can still bite or sting if disturbed. Fire ants are widespread in Texas, and researchers at Texas A&M University are studying how they respond to flooding. The insects bite one another and interlock their limbs, forming tightly packed rafts that don't sink. Their waxy skin helps repel water and keep the group afloat, as seen in the video from David Todd, a viewer of Nexstar's KXAN: 'It's called a self-organizing or self-assembling process. And it's something only social insects do,' Ed LeBrun, a research scientist at the University of Texas' Brackenridge Field Lab in central Austin, said. 'There are a lot of other structures that ants make in a similar way. For example, army ants will make bridges across rivers,' LeBrun added. Creating a 'raft,' however, is more rare in the ant world: Fire ants are the only kind that do this, according to LeBrun. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
