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Travel Troubleshooter: This Booking.com reservation is fake! Will the company pay up?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I recently booked a room at a resort in Kauai through Booking.com. The online agency worked with a third party that handled the reservation, but it didn’t come through. As a result, I didn’t have a place to stay.Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter A person at the resort said that the organization had done the same thing to another family just days before.I’ve sent multiple messages to Booking.com, but it hasn’t responded. I tried to resolve this by filing a credit card dispute, and my bank has refunded me temporarily. Still, I ended up incurring an additional $1,955 in hotel expenses. I would like help with holding Booking.com accountable.— Dale Cerney, SeattleANSWER: I’m sorry that your Booking.com reservation was a dud. I know what it’s like to show up at a hotel without a reservation, and it’s one of the worst feelings. You start to imagine yourself sleeping on a park bench. I’m glad...

3 San Leandro residents displaced on Christmas by building fire

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

(BCN) -- A fire at a residential building displaced three people in San Leandro early Christmas morning, the Alameda County Fire Department said. Rainfall forecasted mid-week: NWS The blaze hit the center hallway of the building located at 14550 East 14th Street, fire officials said on social media shortly before 6 a.m. Monday.(Photo: Alameda County Fire Department)According to firefighters, the blaze has been contained.The American Red Cross has come to the aid of the displaced residents, the fire department said.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Two Antioch kids killed in fatal hit-and-run  

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

(KRON) – Two children were killed in a traffic collision involving two vehicles in Antioch on Friday, according to the Antioch Police Department. Antioch police responded to the intersection of W. 6th St. & G St. at 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 22. According to police, a black SUV was traveling northbound on G St. on W. 6th St. sided with the blue vehicle that was traveling eastbound on W. 6th St.  Robbers are following shoppers home, Alameda police say The black SUV then collided with a fire hydrant. The suspect(s) subsequently fled the scene on foot, leaving the vehicle behind, police said.  The kids in the blue vehicle were transferred to the hospital and later succumbed to their injuries. The children were 12 and 13 years old, police said.According to police, the father of one of the minors appeared at the scene. It is undetermined if the two minors were driving the blue vehicle or if there was another driver in the vehicle, police said. The victims' names are being w...

‘We are all alone at some point’: Volunteers at Basilica of National Shrine deliver Christmas meals to those celebrating alone

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

The Christmas Day meals delivered by volunteers at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception include turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, greens, plus as cornbread and a brownie.(WTOP/Neal Augenstein) The Christmas Day meals delivered by volunteers at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception include turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, greens, plus as cornbread and a brownie.(WTOP/Neal Augenstein) Before the sun came up, and before most Christmas presents were opened, dozens of volunteers in Northeast D.C. were hard at work in the spirit of giving.In the cafeteria area of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, volunteers assembled Christmas meals ...

Aumento del salario mínimo en EE.UU. en 2024 (por estado): ¿cuánto será la cantidad y cuándo entra en vigor?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

(CNN Español) — Millones de trabajadores que ganan el salario mínimo recibirán un aumento en 2024, dependiendo de su lugar de residencia. Porque aunque el salario mínimo federal se mantiene en US $7,25 la hora, 22 de los 50 estados aumentarán la cifra oficial en sus jurisdicciones.A partir del 1 de enero, Maryland, Nueva Jersey y Nueva York tendrán un salario mínimo de US$ 15,00 la hora. En ciudades como Nueva York, Westchester y Long Island el nuevo salario mínimo será US $16,00 por hora.Múltiples municipalidades en el país establecen su propio salario mínimo, como la ciudad de Tukwila un suburbio de Seattle donde a partir de enero el salario mínimo será de US $20,29 por hora, convirtiéndose en el lugar con el salario mínimo más alto en el país.El estado de Washington tendrá el salario mínimo estatal más elevado del país a US $16,80 por hora. Los trabajadores en Hawai verán el mayor aumento del país donde el salario mínimo aumentará de US$ 14.00 a US$ 16.00.¿Cuáles estados a...

UPDATE: One dead, three injured in shooting at Citadel Mall

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

UPDATE: MONDAY 12/25/2023(COLORADO SPRINGS) — According to CSPD, the two men taken to the hospital are stable but remain in serious condition. CSPD said no arrests have been made.CSPD said the shooting at the Citadel Mall appears to be a "targeted attack" and said there is no known threat to the community.UPDATE: SUNDAY 12/24/23 8:45 p.m.The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) said one person has died and three others are injured after a shooting at the Citadel Mall on Sunday, Dec. 24. Police said just after 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, two groups of people were fighting before the shooting began. Police said one man was killed, two other men were seriously injured and taken to the hospital and one woman was also hurt and transported.CSPD believes that all those injured or killed were part of the two groups involved in the fight.Several people have been detained and police will be on scene for several more hours as they investigate. The mall has been cleared and remains closed. It is...

Photos: Denver's snowiest Christmas on record

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Christmas morning in 2023 hit 9 degrees in Denver, but there have been crazier Christmas Days in Denver.Winter snuck up on Denver on the morning of Christmas in 2007. While there was no snow on Christmas Eve, the city woke up to a very white Christmas.The snowstorm swept across the Front Range, leaving the Mile High City with 7.8 inches on Dec. 25, taking the previous record set in 1894 with 6.2 inches. Denver weather: Cool and breezy before quick Tuesday snow United Express regional jet passes behind a pile of snow as crews clear a Christmas Day winter storm at Denver International Airport Tuesday Dec. 25, 2007 in Denver.(AP Photo/J. David Ake)Pedestrians struggle against the wind-driven snow to walk along a street in downtown Denver as a winter storm dumped up to eight inches of snow on the metropolitan area to give Denver a white Christmas on Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2007. The storm dropped 19 inches at the Steamboat Springs ski resort and 12 inches were reported in ...

Unaccompanied 6-year-old child put on wrong Spirit Airlines flight

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

(CNN) — An unaccompanied 6-year-old child flying on Spirit Airlines to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida, was instead put on a flight to Orlando.In an emailed statement to CNN, Spirit Airlines apologized to the family, saying on December 21, the child was supposed to fly from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers.Instead, Spirit Airlines said the child was “incorrectly boarded” on a plane to Orlando.“The child was always under the care and supervision of a Spirit Team Member, and as soon as we discovered the error, we took immediate steps to communicate with the family and reconnect them,” the airline said in a statement to CNN.CNN affiliate WINK-TV spoke to Maria Ramos, a woman who identified the child as her 6-year-old grandson.After the plane he was initially supposed to be on landed and her grandson wasn’t on it, panic set in for Ramos, she told WINK-TV.Ramos told WINK-TV she got a call from her grandson after he l...

Pigeon found outside Florida hair salon reunites with owner after 15 months

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — A seemingly ordinary pigeon found outside a Cape Coral beauty salon turned out to be an unexpected Christmas miracle, reuniting with its owner after being missing for over 15 months since Hurricane Ian. Elizabeth Merriken was in the salon chair of Eva’s Hair and Skin Salon in Cape Coral when a bird started drawing people outside the front door. “I’m always finding homeless stray animals. So it was typical for me,” she said.Merriken managed to grab the bird, and, upon inspection, she found a phone number on its foot. The discovery unfolded when Tammy Pangburn, a massage therapist at the salon, noticed the pigeon exhibiting unusual behavior. “I had just watered the plant outside the door, and the water was dripping down. And I noticed this bird come up, trying to drink the water,” she said.To their surprise, they realized the pigeon was not a wild bird but someone’s pet. “We called him to see if he was missing a ...

Turkey steps up airstrikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq after 12 soldiers were killed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:37 GMT

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — Turkey intensified its airstrikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in Iraq over the weekend.The Turkish defense ministry said in a statement Monday that it had killed at least 26 militants in the strikes.In Qamishili, in northeast Syria, at least six civilians were killed in Turkish airstrikes Monday, according to a local hospital official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. A statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based war monitor, also said six civilians were killed.The observatory reported that 11 other civilians were wounded in the strikes.Turkey has carried out 124 strikes in northeast Syria in 2023, killing 92 people, according to the Observatory.On Friday, Turkish officials said militants affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s...