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George Floyd’s killing capped years of violence, discrimination by Minneapolis police, DOJ says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

By JIM SALTER and MARK VANCLEAVE (Associated Press)MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday issued a withering critique of Minneapolis police, alleging that they systematically discriminated against racial minorities, often violated constitutional rights and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before George Floyd was killed.The report was the result of a sweeping two-year probe, and it confirmed many of the citizen complaints about police conduct that emerged after Floyd’s 2020 death. The investigation found that Minneapolis officers used excessive force, including “unjustified deadly force,” and violated the rights of people engaged in constitutionally protected speech.The investigation also concluded that both police and the city discriminated against Black and Native American people and those with “behavioral health disabilities.”“We observed many MPD officers who did their difficult work with professionalism,...

Pittsburgh synagogue gunman is found guilty in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in US history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

By PETER SMITH (Associated Press)PITTSBURGH (AP) — A truck driver who spewed hatred of Jews was convicted Friday of barging into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shooting everyone he could find, killing 11 congregants in an act of antisemitic terror for which he could be sentenced to die.The guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion after Robert Bowers’ own lawyers conceded at the trial’s outset that he attacked and killed worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Jurors must now decide whether the 50-year-old should be sent to death row or sentenced to life in prison without parole as the federal trial shifts to a penalty phase expected to last several weeks.Bowers was convicted of all 63 criminal counts he faced, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. His attorneys had offered a guilty plea in return for a life sentence, but prosecutors refused, opting...

Iowa Supreme Court declines to reinstate strict abortion limits, but a new law could be coming

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

By HANNAH FINGERHUT and SCOTT McFETRIDGE (Associated Press)DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Abortion will remain legal in Iowa after the state’s high court declined Friday to reinstate a law that would have largely banned the procedure, rebuffing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and, for now, keeping the conservative state from joining others with strict abortion limits.In a rare 3-3 decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law. The latest ruling comes roughly a year after the same body — and the U.S. Supreme Court — determined that women do not have a fundamental constitutional right to abortion.The blocked law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. The law contains exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, incest and fetal abnormality.Writing for the three justices who denied the state’s request to reinstate the law, Justi...

Nusrat Chowdhury confirmed as the first Muslim female federal judge in U.S. history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nusrat Chowdhury, a civil rights lawyer, has been confirmed by the Senate as the first Muslim female federal judge in U.S. history.She will assume her lifetime appointment in Brooklyn federal court in New York after a 50-49 vote on Thursday along party lines.The confirmation drew praise from the American Civil Liberties Union, where she is the legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. Prior to that post, she served from 2008 to 2020 at the national ACLU office, including seven years as deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program.In a tweet, the ACLU called her a “trailblazing civil rights lawyer.”Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who recommended her, said she makes history as the first Bangladeshi American as well as the first Muslim American woman to be a federal judge.“Nusrat Choudhury is a shining example of the American Dream,” Schumer said in a statement. “She is the daughter of immigrant parents, a graduate...

5 sailors injured at Naval Base Point Loma

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect there were five sailors injured in this incident.SAN DIEGO -- Five sailors were sent to the hospital Friday morning following a crash at Naval Base Point Loma, authorities confirmed.The San Diego Fire Rescue Department says crews responded the area of Sylvester Road just before 2 a.m. after a caller from the U.S. Navy requested fire and medical assistance due to a crash involving a watercraft. Man stabbed during argument over cigarettes: police Brian O'Rourke, the media relations officer for Navy Region Southwest, told FOX 5 that a West Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit conducting routine training operations off the coast of Southern California hit the Zuniga Point Jetty while entering San Diego Bay around 1:50 a.m.Authorities say five people sailors were transported from the scene to UC San Diego Health in Hillcrest. O'Rourke says they are all in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.According to the Navy, a...

Grammys: Only ‘human creators’ eligible to win, recording academy says response to AI

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Recording Academy are making several changes to the Grammy Awards, including a rule that stipulates “only human creators” can win the music industry’s highest honor in a decision aimed at the use of artificial intelligence in popular music.“A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category,” they said, under new “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protocols” released Friday. The rule was set following the semiannual academy’s board of trustees meeting last month, where it was determined that work that features elements of AI are eligible, as long as a human creator is responsible for a “meaningful” contribution to the music and/or lyrics.“The human authorship component of the work submitted must be meaningful,” the new requirements read in part.The news arrives shortly after Paul McCartney announced on Tuesday that a forthcoming “last Beatles record” had been composed using artificial intelligence by extracting John Lennon’s voice from a...

Mali’s top diplomat demands UN peacekeepers leave the country after more than 10 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s top diplomat demanded Friday that U.N. peacekeepers who have been in this West African country grappling with an Islamic insurgency for more than a decade leave immediately, claiming they had failed in their mission. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop made the request in a speech to the United Nations Security Council. He said the U.N. mission had not achieved its objectives and was sowing distrust among the people. Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities the following year, with the help of a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies. The U.N. peacekeepers — a contingent of more than 15,000 — came in a few months later in what has become one of the most dangerous U.N. missions in the world. At least 170 peacekeepers have been killed in the country since 2013, according to the U...

Florida man gets 4 years, 9 months for attacking officer at US Capitol insurrection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida man was sentenced Friday to four years and nine months in federal prison for storming the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and attacking a police officer.Mason Joel Courson, 27, of Tamarac, Florida, was sentenced in District of Columbia federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in November to assaulting, resisting or impeding a law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon. The judge also ordered three years of supervised release and restitution of $2,000. Courson was arrested in South Florida in December 2021.According to court documents, Courson joined with others objecting to Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory over former Republican President Donald Trump. A mob attacked the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying election results, authorities said. Five people died in the violence.According to an indictment, Courson participated in an assault of a Metropolitan Police Department offic...

Teen says she was sexually assaulted by boys at Greg Norman’s home after being served alcohol

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — LIV Golf leader Greg Norman and his wife are being sued by a high school girl who says she was sexually assaulted at their Florida home by two boys during a party where alcohol was served to her, her alleged attackers and other minors. The lawsuit alleges that Norman, 68, and his wife, interior designer Kirsten Kutner, served alcohol to minors during a pool party her teenage daughter hosted for her Oxbridge Academy classmates and other teens at their Palm Beach Gardens mansion in September 2021. The girl and her parents allege that Kutner served her daughter and the girl drinks before other guests arrived. More alcohol was served throughout the party, the lawsuit alleges, and the girl became “incapable of standing on her own and was seen stumbling around the party.” The girl alleges that two boys, who also had been drinking at the party, then sexually assaulted her on the grass next to the pool. The lawsuit, which was filed in March, alleges that Norman ...

Demolition crew saves abandoned litter of baby raccoons in Utah

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:49:08 GMT

MORGAN, Utah (AP) — An abandoned litter of raccoons discovered at a construction site in northern Utah found new homes earlier this week after a construction crew uncovered the animals below the remnants of a demolished home.“A big-hearted foreman for the demolition crew working on Morgan Valley Drive came to the fire station asking for help,” the Morgan County Fire Department said in a statement on Wednesday. “After his crew knocked down an abandoned home, they heard chirping in the rubble.”The eight baby raccoons appeared to have no mother. Firefighters cared for them until someone with permits to raise raccoons offered to adopt them. Utah requires permits to home non-native species like raccoons or coyotes, which frequently roam wild.The Associated Press