Author: CNN Newsource

By WLOS Staff

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    CANTON, North Carolina (WLOS) — Town leaders in Canton took the first steps toward a moratorium or temporary ban on data centers and crypto mining.

According to Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers, the town board passed the motion to set the public hearing for the moratorium on data centers, cryptocurrency mining facilities, and server farms.

The town does not have any laws currently on the books regulating the data mining industry, Smathers said.

He said a moratorium would give the town a chance to get feedback from residents and decide on any possible ordinances for that type of development.

“We understand with the mill site there’s a lot of interest, but again our first priority is to protect the citizens, not just in the Canton jurisdiction but in Haywood County,” said Smathers. “There are major worries about what data centers do through energy consumption and especially water and sound,” said Smathers.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Julie Sharp

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A decades-long plan for underground heavy rail transit along the Sepulveda Corridor was advanced by the Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors on Thursday, connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside.

Applause rang out in the boardroom after the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project was unanimously approved to move forward by board members, essentially laying the groundwork for an alternative to the 405 Freeway.

The route would travel from Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks, under Bel-Air and Beverly Crest, UCLA, and end at Metro’s E Line/Expo Sepulveda Station.

The project aims to lay nearly 13 miles of underground rail and add seven stations at an estimated cost of around $25 billion. Metro officials say the price tag will change as they finalize the project.

“We have tried widening freeways and building over mountains, and we’ve spent billions doing it. The approach has failed,” Los Angeles City Councilmember and Metro Director Katy Yaroslavsky said. “This project represents a fundamentally different strategy.”

The 2016 voter-approved half-cent sales tax, Measure M, will support the Sepulveda Transit Corridor project.

Yaroslavsky called for the agency to focus on the path to delivery and funding, encouraging her colleagues to push for cost reductions, explore new technologies, and construction approaches.

Metro officials said that construction for the project will occur underground, eliminating surface construction and reducing vibration impacts. Tunnels would be below at least 500 feet underground.

The board’s approval on Thursday moves the project forward for further design plans and a final environmental impact report, and additional environmental documentation.

“There’s still a lot to do until we get shovels in the ground, let alone open this thing,” Yaroslavsky said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Emily Ashcraft and Jodi Reynosa

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    SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — The older sister of Ivan Nickolas “Nick” Vetecnik told the man who murdered him that she and her family are serving a life sentence of grief and trauma since the teenager’s brutal death.

She said she was “locked in” on Rowdy Lee Aguilar at his sentencing hearing on Friday and wanted him to “feel every single word.”

“What you destroyed is not replaceable. What you took from him cannot be measured,” Samantha VanTreese said in her victim impact statement.

Aguilar, 22, of Taylorsville, was sentenced to a term of 25 years to life in prison for aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, although he will begin his sentence in a juvenile detention center.

She said two years before her brother’s death, he lost both of his parents.

“We were already a broken family trying to hold onto each other just to survive that pain. And my brother — a 15-year-old child — was trying to rebuild his life,” VanTreese said. “He didn’t deserve to have his future taken on top of everything he had already lost.”

Nick, of Taylorsville, was killed on May 26, 2021. Security video from Aguilar’s home shows he and Nick arrived around 10 a.m. At 1:20 p.m., Aguilar entered his home again alone with his shirt “heavily stained with blood” a statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said. About 20 minutes later, a business security camera captured Aguilar, then 17, carrying items that looked like garbage bags to the location in a nearby field where bags with dismembered body parts were discovered.

As a sister, VanTreese said she was there for her brother when he needed guidance, but instead of helping him recover from the trauma of losing his parents, his life ended “in the most violent and terrifying way imaginable.”

She described him as a “goofy, soft-hearted, trusting” child who wanted connection and family, and he believed Aguilar cared about him until Aguilar betrayed him.

“There is no sentence long enough, no vocabulary deep enough, to capture what it is like to lose a 15-year-old child, a brother, a boy who still had his whole future in front of him in such a violent, intentional and gruesome way,” she said.

VanTreese said every day she wakes up into the reality that her brother is gone along with the future they imagined together. She said the details of his death — that he was stabbed 26 times in the back of his head and his body was dismembered — live in her mind each day and are part of trauma she carries with her.

“I will never stop wondering if he was scared, if he cried out, if he realized that the person who claimed to be his friend had become the person who decided he didn’t deserve to live,” she said.

VanTreese told Aguilar his prison sentence will not compare to the one her family has.

“I ask that the sentence reflect the truth — that a child’s life was brutally taken, that he deserved protection and that the choices made by the defendant created harm that will last generations,” she said.

VanTreese shared her statement with KSL the day after the sentencing, and said reading the words in the courtroom lifted a weight off her chest.

She said Aguilar’s comments during the sentencing hearing were “huge” to her. During previous hearings he showed no emotion or was laughing, but Friday was different, she said. He cried and apologized for being a monster and snake and told the family that Nick did not do anything to him to provoke his actions.

“Just seeing his raw emotion helped,” VanTreese said, noting that he was crying.

VanTreese said she still doesn’t know why Aguilar killed her brother and probably never will. When his case comes before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole years from now, she plans to be there.

Aguilar will remain in juvenile detention until he is 25, when he will be transferred to prison, according to the sentence.

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By Logan Stefanich

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    SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — People across the state, from Logan to Provo, likely felt the effects of an earthquake during the Thursday morning commute.

The epicenter of the 4.7-magnitude earthquake was about 25 miles south of Evanston, Wyoming, at 7:49 a.m., according to the United States Geological Survey.

People reported household items and furniture shaking, dogs barking and cats cowering.

“I was just sitting at my desk in my living room when all of a sudden I felt my house shaking and sat for a second, confused,” said Madison Olsen, in West Bountiful. “Then I could see my computers and lamp start shaking. I literally stood up, getting ready to run to my kid if I had to, but thankfully it wasn’t too long.”

Ogden resident Sandra Droguett-Collio said she “felt the floor moving.”

“I was so light,” Droguett-Collio said.

Farmington resident Troy Schauerhamer said Thursday’s earthquake is only the second he’s experienced in Utah.

“Definitely a unique experience. Also a little unsettling, because there could be an aftershock or it could get worse,” Schauerhamer said. “You are wondering to yourself if this is really an earthquake, or did something really big just fall off a shelf and shake the house?”

Talissa Meza was at work in the industrial park near the University of Utah campus when the earthquake hit.

“I was at my cubicle, my chair shook a bit and when my monitor moved, I knew it was an earthquake. It’s funny because I stood up to see if anyone knew it was an earthquake, and I saw other heads up, looking confused like me,” Meza said.

There were no reports of any damage caused by the earthquake as of 9:20 a.m. Thursday.

The USGS forecasts a 57% chance of a magnitude 3.0 or higher aftershock occurring in the next seven days. There’s a 19% chance of an aftershock of magnitude 4.0 or higher, and a 3% chance of magnitude 5.0, according to the forecast.

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By Matt Gephardt

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    MIDWAY (KSL) — When the Olympics get underway in a couple of weeks, 25-year-old Luci Anderson will be making her debut.

She has qualified to compete for Team USA in Biathlon, a grueling sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle marksmanship.

Anderson is from Minneapolis, but as she told KSL, the hills of Utah got her ready to compete at the pinnacle of her sport.

“Honestly, all my favorite ski racing memories are Soldier Hollow,” she said. “And hopefully I can make some more biathlon memories here.”

She said the skiing part was something she’d been doing her whole life. “I got into cross-country skiing when I was about 5 years old,” she said.

Shooting, though, was another story. She said she had never fired a gun before being noticed by U.S. Biathlon when she was a junior in college and skiing for the University of New Hampshire. “I didn’t really grow up in, like, a hunting family. We don’t really own guns. I think we have, like, my grandpa’s military rifle or something. I don’t know,” she said, laughing.

But U.S. Biathlon team officials saw her ski times, brought her to the team’s headquarters in Soldier Hollow, put a rifle in her hands — and bang! Less than two years later, she’s on her way to Italy’s Dolomite Mountains.

Asked if there was a moment where competing went from fun to something where she realized she was elite, she points to a cross-country skiing race at Soldier Hollow. She was in high school and that race qualified her for a trip to Norway as an 18-and-younger athlete. “I got to represent Team USA there,” she said.

That was her first time on Team USA. It will not be the last.

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By Christopher Harris

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — A flavor synonymous with Atlanta culture could soon join Georgia’s list of official state symbols.

State Rep. Eric Bell, a Democrat from Jonesboro, has introduced House Bill 1013, a bipartisan proposal that would designate lemon pepper as Georgia’s official state chicken wing flavor. Bell says the idea grew out of a simple realization: Georgia already recognizes dozens of official symbols, and lemon pepper wings have become one of the state’s most recognizable cultural staples.

“If you grow up in Georgia, you learn about all the things we’ve officially designated: the state bird, the peach, butter pecan ice cream, Brunswick stew,” Bell said in an interview. “Lemon pepper is a culinary phenomenon here. When you travel outside Georgia, you notice pretty quickly that not every place even has lemon pepper wings. That’s when you realize how unique it is to the South and to this state.”

Bell described lemon pepper wings as more than just a menu item, calling them a shared experience that cuts across backgrounds and generations. Whether served plain, hot, honey-glazed or mixed with other flavors, he said, the dish brings people together.

“It’s literally a dinner-table conversation,” Bell said. “Sleepovers after basketball games, family dinners, Super Bowl parties … We all have memories of eating lemon pepper wings, arguing about flats or drums, ranch or blue cheese. It’s something Georgians can smile about and be proud of.”

Atlanta’s influence looms large in the bill. Bell pointed to the city’s sports culture, nightlife, and music scene, from arenas hosting Falcons and Hawks games to club kitchens and hip-hop lyrics, as key reasons lemon pepper wings have gained national attention. He noted references in songs by artists such as Gucci Mane and Rick Ross, as well as the flavor’s expansion onto menus at major restaurant chains.

“People all over the country know lemon pepper wings are a Georgia thing,” Bell said. “Whether you’re in Arizona, New York or California, when you hear lemon pepper wings, you think of Atlanta.”

The bill has drawn bipartisan support, with co-sponsors including Reps. Dexter Sharper of Valdosta, Kasey Carpenter of Dalton, David Huddleston of Roopville and Mekyah McQueen of Smyrna. Bell said the flavor’s popularity made it easy to find common ground at the Capitol.

“We’re all human, we all have to eat,” he said. “It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t like lemon pepper in some form. Even if they say they don’t like it hot, they’ll tell you they like mild lemon pepper. As long as it’s got the sprinkles on it.”

Some critics have questioned whether symbolic legislation belongs in the General Assembly, but Bell pushed back, noting Georgia’s long list of official state symbols.

“If people don’t think this belongs, then they’d have to say the same about the state song, the state fruit or any of our other symbols,” he said. “We’re working on serious issues, too. But we also need unity. And what better way to bring people together than around the kitchen table?”

Bell said the designation could also boost tourism and local businesses, encouraging visitors to seek out wing spots across the state and sparking friendly competition over who serves the best lemon pepper wings.

“People could come to Georgia and make it a point to try different places,” he said. “It highlights our restaurants and our culture.”

Since introducing the bill, Bell said feedback from constituents has been largely positive, and often playful, with residents debating preferred variations rather than the idea itself.

“Most people are just happy,” he said. “They’re sharing stories, arguing about hot versus mild, or asking why it’s not lemon pepper flats. It’s relatable, and that helps people feel more connected to state politics.”

House Bill 1013 was introduced last week and has not yet received its first committee hearing. Bell said he hopes it will be assigned soon and is encouraging Georgians to show their support as the legislative process moves forward.

If the bill ultimately passes and reaches Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk, Bell said he’s optimistic and joked that the decision could be settled over a plate of wings.

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