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Book ban attempts on the rise in Minnesota schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

Bloomington’s monthly school board listening sessions are usually sedate, Monday night affairs in a room at the district educational services center. At most, a handful of people typically show up to ask questions or raise concerns.The past few sessions, however, have been very different. Crowds have been bigger, prompting the board to open the auditorium to accommodate hundreds of residents. A single question is increasingly on the minds of those who want to talk: Which books should the district allow on school library shelves?Board members in Minnesota and across the nation have long fielded questions about individual books. Observers, though, say what used to be occasional concerns about a single book from a parent or two have morphed into confrontations with groups and parents coming in with long lists of titles they see as inappropriate.An online petition circulating in Bloomington has raised questions about at least 29 books in the district’s elementary, middle and high school...

Kennedy, Pappas: Israel, Palestine – and Minnesota

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

We were scheduled to attend a meeting in Malta from Oct. 15-18 of Forward Global Women, a nonprofit organization established in 2011 to support and enhance women’s peace and security in the Middle East and North Africa region.Twenty-seven women planned to be there for four days of inspiring talks from women academics, activists and political leaders from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, the U.S. – and Israel and Palestine.And then on Saturday, Oct. 7, horrors erupted at a level nobody could ever have imagined.Hamas, a terrorist organization, has sworn to erase Israel and Jews from the face of the Earth. The unprecedented murders, rapes, and killings that Hamas is carrying out against Israelis bear testimony to the determination to succeed with this goal.Hamas does not represent all Palestinians, and we are devastated by the evil that is being perpetrated by Hamas and attributed to Palestinians.For the past 12 years, Forward Global Women has fostered connections between Israeli and P...

When Minnesota Board of Pardons meets, supplicants have 10 minutes to make case for mercy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

The supplicants clustered outside the enormous closed doors. They paced the hallway, fidgeted on benches, knitted their hands and waited, waited, for their 10-minute chance at mercy.A tall man in a sharp blazer, caught a quarter-century ago with 127 doses of LSD. A ponytailed Navy veteran who critically injured someone while driving drunk in 2008. A burly man twice convicted of assaulting his wife, now sitting beside him. A former addict once found unconscious in a car, syringe jutting from his arm. Others dogged by the past.They had come to the Minnesota capital of St. Paul on this steamy summer day to be forgiven. Restored. Redeemed.The doors opened to reveal Minnesota officialdom personified: the governor, the attorney general and the state’s chief justice — the three members of the Board of Pardons. They sat, unsmiling, at a long table facing a much smaller table that featured tissue boxes and a digital clock set at 10 minutes.Ten minutes: the time allotted the supplicants to pr...

Así es la vida familiar y la carrera de Daniel Noboa: pareja, hijos, estudios y más datos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

(CNN Español) — Daniel Noboa, de 35 años, es el presidente electo de Ecuador tras derrotar en las elecciones del domingo a la candidata Luisa González.Se presentó a las elecciones anticipadas para definir al sucesor de Guillermo Lasso por el Movimiento Acción Democrática Nacional y, según su plan de trabajo, sus propuestas se enfocan en atraer la inversión extranjera y desarrollar el sector empresarial del país.Noboa se centró en llegar a los jóvenes y también prometió la creación de empleo y una reforma “significativa” de las instituciones de seguridad de Ecuador, que atraviesa actualmente una ola de violencia.Aquí, un repaso a su vida y carrera.Vida personal y estudiosFecha de nacimiento: 30 de noviembre de 1987.Lugar de nacimiento: GuayaquilEstá casado con Lavinia Valbonesi.Tiene dos hijos y está a la espera de un tercero.Estudió Administración de Negocios en la Escuela de Negocios Stern de la Universidad de Nueva YorkObtuvo el titulo de Administración Publica e...

Assistant coach Alyssa Nakken interviews for Giants manager position

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Alyssa Nakken, who became the first woman to coach on the field in a major league game when she worked first base for San Francisco in April 2022, has interviewed for the Giants managerial vacancy.President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi confirmed Sunday night that Nakken had gone through a first-round interview last week.Her husband, Robert, announced in August on social media the coach is expecting the couple’s first child — a girl — on Feb. 9.Zaidi has said he hopes to find a new manager by the start of free agency to replace Gabe Kapler, fired with three days remaining in the season. He was 295-248 over three-plus seasons, with the Giants winning a franchise-record 107 games and edging the 106-win Dodgers for the NL West title in 2021 before missing the playoffs the last two seasons.The 33-year-old Nakken, a softball star at Sacramento State from 2009-2012, has been a coach on the Giants staff since Kapler hired her in January 2020.___AP MLB: https://ap...

Petro: “Si hay que suspender relaciones exteriores con Israel, las suspendemos”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

(CNN Español) — El presidente de Colombia, Gustavo Petro, escribió este domingo en X: “Si hay que suspender relaciones exteriores con Israel, las suspendemos. No apoyamos genocidios. Al presidente de Colombia no se le insulta”.Es la respuesta del mandatario a la convocatoria de la Cancillería de Israel para una “conversación de reprimenda” con la embajadora de Colombia en ese país, tras las recientes declaraciones de Petro en las que comparó el Gobierno de Israel con los nazis.Las reacciones de los líderes latinoamericanos al conflicto de Israel y HamasEl portavoz del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores de Israel, Lior Haiat, calificó esas declaraciones de “hostiles y antisemitas”.El funcionario dijo que en la reunión se expuso que las declaraciones del mandatario colombiano “reflejan un apoyo a las atrocidades cometidas por los terroristas del Hamas” y que, en consecuencia, Israel decidió detener las exportaciones de seguridad a Colombia.Molesto por esta decisión israelí, Petro ...

Bills running back Damien Harris suffers neck injury, leaves field in ambulance versus Giants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills running back Damien Harris suffered a neck injury in the second quarter of Sunday night’s game against the New York Giants and was taken by ambulance to a hospital for additional testing, the team said.The Bills said Harris does have movement in his arms and legs.Bills coach Sean McDermott said on NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast after halftime that he did not have an immediate update on Harris’ condition.Harris flashed a thumbs up sign with his left hand as he was being loaded into the ambulance. He lay still on his back on the turf for several minutes after being tackled by linebacker Bobby Okereke on a 1-yard gain up the middle to convert a third-and-1 situation.Harris’ helmet appeared to hit Okereke squarely in the left shoulder. The game was delayed for about five minutes while players from both teams gathered around him on the field.Bills trainers and medical staff rushed from the sideline to attend to Harris before a hushed so...

Tom Kim wins in Las Vegas for the 2nd time in the same PGA Tour season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tom Kim now has something in common with Byron Nelson as the only players to have won the same PGA Tour event twice in the same season.Kim successfully defended his title Sunday in the Shriners Children’s Open when he closed with a 5-under 66 to emerge from a pack of a dozen players who had a chance in the final hour. Kim wound up winning by one shot over Adam Hadwin, who birded the final hole for a 67.Kim now has three PGA Tour titles in the last 15 months, at 21 the youngest player since Tiger Woods in 1997 to have three tour wins.“I really felt confident in myself,” Kim said. “I knew that if I did me I was going to be able to do it. I’m stoked to get this one.”He won in Las Vegas a year ago, beating Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the TPC Summerlin, when the Shiners Children’s Open was early in the season. Now, the Las Vegas event is still part of the same season because the PGA Tour goes to a calendar season starting in 2024.Nelson won the San ...

Brady Tkachuk scores 2 again as Senators beat Lightning 5-2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Brady Tkachuk had his second two-goal game as the Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Sunday night.Mathieu Joseph, Vladimir Tarasenko and Tim Stützle also scored, while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 22 shots to get his first win with the Senators.Anthony Cirelli and Tanner Jeannot each scored for the Lightning, and Matt Tomkins had 33 saves in his NHL debut.Both teams had played Saturday with the Senators beating Philadelphia 5-2, while Tampa Bay fell 6-4 to Detroit.Leading 3-2, Tkachuk was able to give the Senators some breathing room midway through the third period when he beat Darren Raddysh in a race and scored five-hole on Tomkins. Stützle added an empty-net goal, with Korpisalo picking up the secondary assist.Ottawa outshot Tampa Bay 17-3 in the first period, scoring the opening goal for the third straight game when Tarasenko got a backhanded pass from Ridly Greig and beat Tomkins from down low 7:02 into the game.The Lightning tied it in the o...

Lionel Messi remains a doubtful starter for Argentina. Neymar under fire in Brazil

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:50 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Lionel Messi’s involvement in a 1-0 win over Paraguay last week doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be fit for Argentina’s next game in World Cup qualifying against Peru. Messi played most of the second half against Paraguay last Thursday despite struggling with muscular pains in the weeks leading up to the game.But there’s no certainty he’ll play against Peru on Tuesday despite practicing with the squad.Meanwhile in Brazil, Neymar is under fire for his lackluster performance in a 1-1 draw against Venezuela last week that ended with some fans throwing popcorn at the Arena Pantanal in Cuiabá. He will have a tough challenge at Uruguay to show he is back in form.The next World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is expanding to a 48-team format, meaning direct entry to the top six teams in South America. The seventh-place team will contest an intercontinental playoff for a berth.World Cup winner Argentina leads continental qualifying with 9 points, follo...