In Colombia River Guardians Fight To Protect River Polluted By Illegal Gold Mining

By JOHN RABY As an award-winning scientist, Peter Dodge had made hundreds of flights into the eyes of hurricanes — almost 400. On Tuesday, a crew on a reconnaissance flight into Hurricane Milton helped him make one more, dropping his ashes into the storm as a lasting tribute to the longtime National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radar specialist and researcher. “It’s very touching,” Dodge’s sister, Shelley Dodge, said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.

MIAMI GARDENS — Just because the Miami Dolphins are playing their stretch of games without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, it doesn’t mean they can’t find things in their offense they can take with them through the rest of the season once he returns. Or, in this case, rediscover something. The Dolphins found their run game once again in Sunday’s ugly 15-10 win against the New England Patriots. They went to the ground game 41 times for 193 rushing yards, a 4.7 average.

Joey Robinson | Bankrate.com (TNS) If you often travel with friends or family, scoring a discount for your flight companion can make booking much more affordable. Fortunately, some airline credit cards offer companion passes and discounts as benefits. They go by a variety of names: companion pass, companion certificate, companion fare, companion ticket and more.

I cannot put my finger on any single point of origin, but my Biblioracle senses have been detecting something of a publishing slump. The objective data say that my senses deceive me, as the Association of American Publishers recently reported that sales in the first six months of the year were 3.9% higher than the comparable period last year. But in talking to some folks who work up and down the industry — publishers, agents, writers and booksellers — there’s a sense that some energy has been lacking, and when asked, they had a hard time identifying a book or author that had recently lit the readership on fire. This connects with my own anecdotal data when I ask folks what they’re reading.

UCF was tabbed to finish 11th in the preseason Big 12 men’s basketball poll released on Thursday. The Knights, who are entering their second season in the Big 12, finished 12th in the league last season with a 17-16 overall mark, including a 7-11 conference record. UCF was picked to finish 14th last season, dead last in its first season in the Big 12. Kansas was once again voted the preseason favorite, with the Jayhawks earning nine of the 16 possible first-place votes for 215 overall points.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s threat of criminal charges against local TV stations running ads supporting the state’s abortion amendment is unconstitutional, the head of the Federal Communications Commission said. “The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment,” Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement released late Tuesday.