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Minnesota edges close to picking new state flag to replace design offensive to Native Americans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A state commission selected a basic design concept Friday for a new state flag for Minnesota to replace a current banner that is considered offensive to Native Americans, but will need more time to add the finishing touches.The final choice came down to two templates. The panel went with one bearing a stylized dark blue shape of Minnesota on the left with an eight-pointed white North Star on it, then either horizontal stripes or a solid field on the right. The commission then decided to consider variants on that theme when it reconvenes Tuesday, including an asymmetrical Minnesota that looks more like the state’s actual shape, and either a solid light blue field on the right, or adding a green stripe along the bottom to symbolize the state’s agricultural heritage.“Let’s marinate these for a couple of days. I think it’s important,” said the chair of the commission, Luis Fitch. “And then let’s hear what the public and the pe...

Assault charge over car-swerving incident at Gaza protest near B.C. legislature

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

VICTORIA — A man who allegedly accelerated his car toward a pro-Palestinian protester near the British Columbia legislature earlier this month has been charged with assault and dangerous driving.Victoria Police say the man is facing one count of assault with a weapon and one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in charges sworn on Thursday.Police say the man, who was arrested on Dec. 3 moments after the 2 p.m. incident, remains in custody.The incident was caught on a video that was circulated on social media, showing a car narrowly missing a protester on the sidewalk.The driver is then seen arguing with another protester before police intervene to separate them.British Columbia’s human rights commissioner said in November that the Israel-Hamas war has triggered a rise in violent and discriminatory incidents toward both Jewish and Muslim people in the province.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2023.The Canadian Press

A review defends police action before the Maine mass shooting. Legal experts say questions persist

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An independent report conducted for a police agency clears the agency’s response to growing concerns about the mental health of a man who later went on to commit the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history, but it does reveal missed opportunities to intervene to prevent the tragedy, legal experts said Friday.Despite receiving warnings about the man’s deteriorating mental health, drunken threats and possession of guns, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office avoided confronting Robert Card, the 40-year-old Army reservist who later killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar on Oct. 25 in Lewiston, the experts said of the report released late Thursday by Sheriff Joel Merry.Card’s body was found — with a self-inflicted gunshot wound — two days after the shootings. Reports soon began to emerge that he had spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital months before the attacks and had amassed weapons.The legal experts told The Associated Press that the rep...

Hawaii governor wants 3,000 vacation rentals converted to housing for Maui wildfire survivors

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Friday said he wants 3,000 condos and homes that are normally rented to Maui tourists converted to long-term housing for displaced wildfire survivors who are now living in hotels.Green said he’s prepared to use the “hammer” of post-fire emergency orders to make sure owners of short-term vacation rentals extend them to long-term units if enough spaces aren’t converted voluntarily by mid-January.The governor said that as of Thursday, there were 6,297 residents still living in hotels more than four months after the Aug. 8 wildfire wiped out historic Lahaina. The vast majority don’t have anywhere else to go given the extreme housing shortage on Maui.The lack of stable housing has been a source of stress for Lahaina residents, some of whom have had to switch hotel rooms multiple times since the fire. One group is camping out on Kaanapali Beach in front of resort hotels and vows to stay there until short-term rentals are converted for ...

Ohio’s 2023 abortion fight cost campaigns $70 million

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — This fall’s fight over abortion rights in Ohio cost a combined $70 million, campaign finance reports filed Friday show.Voters overwhelming passed November’s Issue 1, which guaranteed an individual’s right “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” making Ohio the seventh state where voters opted to protect abortion access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ‘s decision last summer to overturn Roe v. Wade.The pro campaign, known as Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, raised and spent more than $39.5 million to pass the constitutional amendment, the filings show. Protect Women Ohio, the opposition campaign, raised and spent about $30.4 million. Nearly $11 million in donations favoring passage of Issue 1 rolled in during the final reporting period before the Nov. 7 election. That included $2.2 million from the Tides Foundation and an additional $1.65 million from the progressive Sixteen Thirty Fund, based in Washi...

Jets’ Solomon Thomas is driven by the memory of his sister and an ever-present call to help people

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Solomon Thomas was lost, stuck in a dark place mentally while desperately trying to overcome the anxiety, depression and sadness that gnawed at him.He needed help. He wasn’t sure if he could overcome it all. And he didn’t know where to turn.Thomas’ older sister Ella died by suicide in January 2018 at 24 years old after dealing with her own mental health issues. Thomas, who had just completed his rookie NFL season with San Francisco, grieved with his family, but those dire thoughts never left his mind — until he started talking about them.Long chats with therapists helped him and his family move forward. So did a few media interviews, which resulted in the surprising realization he was not alone. “There’s a stigma about suicide and mental health,” said the 28-year-old Thomas, in his second season with the New York Jets. “We started to speak and started telling Ella’s story and we started helping people. We saw the impact of just...

Wildlife conservation groups sue over lack of plan for railroad to reduce grizzly deaths in Montana

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Two wildlife conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against BNSF Railway over delays in finalizing a plan to reduce the number of federally protected grizzly bears that are killed by trains in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho.WildEarth Guardians and the Western Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit in federal court in Missoula on Thursday arguing BNSF and other railroads that use their tracks, including Amtrak, have been killing grizzly bears without an incidental take permit for decades. Such permits, required under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, allow a certain number of protected animals to be killed in exchange for efforts by a company to try to reduce the deaths.BNSF Railway says that even though it doesn’t have a permit, it is taking measures to prevent grizzly bear deaths.The railroad’s first efforts to obtain an incidental take permit began in 2004 and have still not been completed nearly 20 years later, the lawsuit filed by t...

NCAA, states seek to extend restraining order letting transfer athletes play through the spring

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The NCAA and a coalition of states suing the organization asked a federal court Friday to extend a small window for multiple-transfer athletes to compete through at least the winter and spring semesters.The motion seeks to extend the 14-day temporary restraining order barring the NCAA from enforcing a rule for those athletes who transfer multiple times. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in West Virginia issued a temporary restraining order against the NCAA. The ruling, part of a lawsuit by a coalition of seven states, said athletes who previously were denied the chance to play immediately after transferring a second time can compete in games for 14 days.The NCAA then circulated a document to its member schools clarifying that the redshirt rule for athletes would still apply if the court’s decision is reversed: Basketball players who compete during the two-week window would be using up a season of eligibility. Now, the two sides apparently...

Video released of man wanted for allegedly setting Mississauga restaurant on fire

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

Peel Regional Police have shared a video of a man wanted for arson after he allegedly set fire to a restaurant in Mississauga.Investigators said just after 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 28, the male suspect attended a restaurant in the area of Drew Road and Bramalea Road.Video shows the man breaking into and setting fire to the restaurant. The suspect then entered a dark-coloured sedan driven by a second suspect and fled the area. No injuries were reported.The man in the video was last seen wearing a baseball hat, dark-coloured clothing and a handkerchief over his face. There is no description of the second suspect.

UN peacekeeping chief welcomes strong support for its far-flung operations despite `headwinds’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:50 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations peacekeeping chief says he was very satisfied with the strong support of many countries for its far-flung operations at a recent ministerial meeting, despite “headwinds and challenges and problems.”Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the undersecretary-general for peace operations, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the bi-annual ministerial meeting in Ghana’ s capital, Accra, earlier this month was attended by nearly 100 countries.He said 33 countries made pledges of 117 military and police units for the U.N.’s peacekeeping operations – and 45 countries made over 100 pledges related to training peacekeepers and partnerships.“We had really a strong level of support towards peacekeeping, which is great … and the pledges were very good,” Lacroix said.The number of U.N. peacekeepers and staff has fallen from over 100,000 worldwide to 70,000 as missions have ended, some more successfully than others. There are now 12 peacekeeping operations in ...