what is masterchef

A Colorado high school teacher captured video footage of an ominous-looking cyclone blowing past campus Wednesday, but it was more bark than bite.

Sam Pisciotta's footage showed the dark, wide cyclone as it blew past Pueblo West High School about 120 miles south of Denver. It's believed to be a gustnado, a "short-lived, ground-based swirling wind that can form on the leading edge of a severe thunderstorm," according to AccuWeather.

"The gustnado spins upward from the ground, extending between 30 to 300 feet above the surface. However, the rotating column of air in a gustnado is not connected to the base of a cloud, making it different from a tornado," AccuWeather added. "The average gustnado lasts a few seconds to a few minutes, like a tornado does, but is relatively weak and brief." https://abc7.la/2Iah44T

Hilary Duff is getting married! The "Lizzie McGuire" actress announced her engagement on Instagram Thursday morning, writing that now-fiancé Matthew Koma "asked me to be his wife." She posted a selfie of the two smiling as she flaunted her engagement ring. https://abc7.la/2LztpCd

Australia's federal government is once again in the spotlight for a years-old plan to cull 2 million feral cats by 2020, this time after details emerged about the reported use of poison-laced sausages to reduce the island's wild cat population.

Modern feral cats are the same species as domesticated house cats, but they hunt and survive in the wild without human contact. Scientists have linked the large cat population's predatory behaviors with the decline and, in some cases, the extinction of more than two dozen of Australia's native species.

The country's Department of the Environment and Energy in 2015 unveiled its threatened species strategy, which included four main pillars: reducing the feral cat population, establishing safe havens for at-risk species, improving habitats and carrying out emergency interventions for species facing extinction. https://abc7.la/2GNXPfx

The United States government is one step closer to protecting giraffes under the Endangered Species Act following years of precipitous population decline.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that it had completed its initial review of a petition to list giraffes as an endangered or threatened species, finding that "existing regulatory mechanisms may be inadequate" and "listing may be warranted" pending a second, more in-depth review.

Agriculture, mining, poaching, disease, recreational hunting and genetic isolation are some of the threats giraffes face in the wild, according to the agency's review. https://abc7.la/2XLIMZy

"It's not about winning, but what it's about it not giving up."

Lady Gaga accepts the Academy Award for Best Original Song, "Shallow" from A Star Is Born. http://bit.ly/2H0OeT8