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Connecticut board votes against banning books after acrimonious debate over sexual content

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut board of education has voted two keep two books on its town’s high school shelves after weeks of acrimonious debate over book-banning that culminated in the resignation of two Republican board members.The remaining members of the Newtown Board of Education unanimously agreed Thursday night on a compromise motion that rejected banning the books “Blankets” by Craig Thompson and “Flamer” by Mike Curato, with the caveat that school administrators create a process “to support choices of individual parents and guardians” on whether their children will have access to the books.As with similar debates across the country, some parents had called for banning the books because of their sexual content. School officials in March said they received nine official complaints against “Flamer” and one against “Blankets.”“Blankets” is an autobiographical story that deals in part with sexual abuse. “Flamer,” around which much of the debate was centered, i...

7 injured in partial building collapse during concrete pouring mishap near Yale medical school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A building under construction near the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven partially collapsed Friday when a concrete pour went awry, injuring seven people including two critically, city officials said, adding there were no fatalities.City firefighters and other authorities were called to Lafayette Street shortly after 12:30 p.m.“Our units responded immediately within minutes and found several persons in varying degrees of injury, from broken bones to three that were partially buried under the rubble,” Fire Chief John Alston Jr. said during a news conference. “Those persons that were trapped had to be lifted out.”There were 36 people at the work site at the time, and all were accounted for, officials said.“They were doing a concrete pour on this building and as they were pouring concrete a portion of the second floor collapsed onto the first floor and then into the basement,” Mayor Justin Elicker said.Workers at the site told first responders the concrete w...

REVIEW: Bones of Crows is the beginning of a hard, but necessary conversation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

Canada’s residential school system is cultural genocide, one that was administered by the church. There’s no ifs, ands or buts here, this was cultural genocide. It was an attempt to stomp out numerous Indigenous cultures by killing the culture in children, and replacing with with Christian values taught via abusive methods. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized back in 2008, as did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 for the nation’s role in this cultural genocide. Pope Francis called it genocide back in July last year, and in October, the House of Commons passed legislation formally recognizing it as genocide.Grace Dove in Bones of Crows.Photographs by Derek RodgersBones of Crows is a film about the genocidal residential school system as seen through the perspective of a Cree woman called Aline Spears (played by Grace Dove from the Revenant and Alaska Daily). Her and her three siblings are taken to a residential school in Manitoba as children in the 19...

Statue of Queen Elizabeth repaired and reinstalled, two years after vandalism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

WINNIPEG — A bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth that was toppled and damaged by protesters two years ago was put back in its place Friday on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature after a lengthy set of repairs.The statue, almost three metres high, landed face first when it was hauled to the ground on Canada Day in 2021 by demonstrators following the discovery of suspected unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.“The face was pushed in, the arm was scraped, and the whole base was totally crooked, too,” Charles Brunet, the third-generation owner of Brunet Monuments, recalled Friday as he and a crew of workers reinstalled the statue under a sweltering sun.The repair, done in conjunction with a Saskatchewan company contracted by Brunet, also involved sandblasting and giving the statue a new protective coating.“I’m so elated. I’m so excited. She is up, she is looking good. She’s solid, too,” he said with a chuckle. “...

Denying bail OK if for a ‘just cause,’ says Charter statement on Liberal reform bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government’s Charter statement for its proposed bail reforms says there is “just cause” to deny bail if certain requirements are met. Justice Minister David Lametti introduced a bill last month that would make it harder for some repeat violent offenders to seek pretrial release by putting the onus on them to prove why they should be granted bail.Lawyers have raised concerns the law could be subject to a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees that anyone who is charged with a crime will not be denied reasonable bail without just cause.The legislation would introduce reverse-onus bail conditions for people charged with serious violent offences involving a weapon, in cases where the person was convicted of a similar violent offence within the last five years.Prosecutors in such cases would no longer have to show judges why an accused person should stay behind bars. Rather, the accused would have to demonstrate why bai...

Bond granted for 3 activists whose fund bailed out people protesting Atlanta ‘Cop City’ project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge on Friday granted bond for three activists involved in supporting the protest against a planned police and fire training center in Atlanta that opponents have derisively dubbed “Cop City.” Adele MacLean, 42, Marlon Scott Kautz, 39, and Savannah Patterson, 30, were arrested Wednesday on charges of charities fraud and money laundering. They lead the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which has provided bail money and helped find attorneys for arrested protesters.Magistrate Court Judge James Altman agreed to set bond of $15,000 apiece. That bond is to be subject to various conditions that Altman planned to outline in a written order later Friday.The office of state Attorney General Chris Carr is leading the prosecution. A spokesperson for Carr in an email characterized the arrests and the search of a home owned by MacLean and Kautz as “a multi-agency effort and part of an ongoing investigation into violent activity at the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training C...

More than $20M in scholarships for Bulls College Prep graduating class

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

CHICAGO — Members of the graduating class from Chicago Bulls College Prep are heading off to college with a large amount of scholarship money. The class of 2023 has earned more than $20 million in scholarships.SEE ALSO: Already a college graduate, CPS high schooler taking success to new degree One of the graduates is 18-year-old Angel Gutierrez from Pilsen, who set a goal as a small child to go to an Ivy League school. With the help of school counselors, Angel is now Harvard-bound as a first-generation college student who earned $3 million in scholarships alone. Gutierrez aspires to become a lawyer or a neurosurgeon. "For low-income students, like me, we do have the ability to achieve our dreams and we can get scholarship money and we can get full rides because colleges do want to invest in the future and specific diverse backgrounds like mine," Gutierrez said. "It’s what we’re trying to do every day, through all the challenges, and that is making sure kids under...

Lawmakers decry defense spending cap amid war in Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – After lawmakers reached a deal to increase the debt ceiling to prevent the U.S. from defaulting, Republican senators are unhappy with the deal that was spearheaded by their colleagues in the House.South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham says he and other Republican senators are unhappy with the cap on defense spending imposed by the deal. Graham worries the defense spending cap will stop the U.S. from continuing to help Ukraine fight for its independence.“What the House did was wrong,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said. “It's right to want to control spending and there's some good things in this bill but it was wrong to give a defense a number inconsistent with the threats we face.”Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Republican senators came to him to figure out how to ensure the U.S. doesn't abandon Ukraine.“When they came to me and asked me to do this, I said ‘Yeah, that's a good idea,’” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.Schumer says he's been working with Re...

Dave Ramsey being sued for $150 million by former listeners

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

(WHNT) — Dave Ramsey, the finance guru radio host who offered millions of people advice for managing their debts, is now being sued for $150 million dollars by some of those same listeners.As reported first by ReligionNews, former fans of Ramsey's are suing him and his company, along with a marketing firm, saying they were defrauded by Timeshare Exit Team, who Ramsey often endorsed. Jacky Oh, who appeared on ‘Wild ‘N Out,’ dies at 32 Seventeen plaintiffs filed the class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington in April, saying they were scammed out of millions by following Ramsey's advice, a man who vehement and frequently spoke about his hatred for timeshare companies. Former Ramsey listeners stated they were not aware he was being paid $30 million between 2015 to 2021 to promote the timeshare group, promising listeners a way out of their timeshare burdens."Ramsey has gained the trust of millions of followers through his long-running radio show, conference...

Bears say Arlington Park no longer ‘singular focus’ for new stadium

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:35 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears' attempt to build a new stadium in the Chicago suburbs might not be limited to Arlington Heights.In fact, Naperville could be in play.On Friday, the Bears released a statement in which they said that the Arlington Park property is no longer their "singular focus" when it comes to building a new venue to play their home games. This announcement comes four months after the Bears closed on the 326-acre site on the former horse racing track for $197.2 million dollars. The team began demolition of the inside of the buildings at Arlington Park just this week, but tax issues could have the team looking elsewhere to build a new venue.“The Chicago Bears goal of building the largest single development project in Illinois history led by billions of dollars in private capital investment, and the jobs and economic benefits generated, is at risk in Arlington Heights.," said the Bears in a statement to WGN-TV. "The stadium-based project remains broadly popular in Arli...