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Mayor of coastal Oregon city resigns over posts in police Facebook group

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of a city on the Oregon coast has apologized and resigned over offensive content he posted in a private Facebook group for current and retired police officers. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer apologized and resigned Monday morning, three days after the media outlet revealed that since 2016, Sawyer had been sharing memes and posts denigrating women, immigrants, non-English speakers and the LGBTQ+ community in the Facebook group with 39,000 members. His posts in recent weeks specifically targeted transgender community, OPB reported.A local LGBTQ+ pride group held a demonstration over the weekend at City Hall, with more than 100 people demanding that Sawyer leave office. Five of his six colleagues on the Newport City Council attended the protest and appeared ready to ask for his resignation at a special meeting scheduled for Monday. The police chief in the central coast city of about 10,000 and the Lincoln County sheriff...

Kennedy Road BIA launches pilot project to hire local at Scarborough small businesses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

Small business owners say it’s more important than ever to buy local coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and as we deal with inflation, but in Scarborough the Kennedy Road Business Improvement Area has launched a local hiring pilot project and it’s one organizers say is a win-win solution.BIA staff created a portal through its website called Kennedy Connect for high school students and local youth. Selvin Sanderson, the community outreach and social media manager for the BIA, said potential participants can upload their resumes and accessing resources to help them boost their cover letters and resumes if needed.Once resumes and applications are uploaded, he said participating BIA business owners can log into the portal to post updating job listings and review applications.“The community provides a lot of assistance for these businesses, so why not a give back to the community and they’ll always reciprocate by coming to the business,” Sanderson said.“I believe...

UN debates deep sea mining as countries and companies now allowed to seek provisional licenses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.N. agency tasked with regulating the deep sea is debating whether to open the Earth’s watery depths to countries and companies that as of Monday were allowed to start applying for provisional mining licenses.The International Seabed Authority, based in Jamaica, launched a two-week conference on the issue Monday, a day after it missed a deadline to approve a set of rules and regulations to govern deep sea mining in international waters.“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Juan José González, the authority’s council president.The authority has issued more than 30 exploration licenses but no provisional licenses — so far.The debate on whether to allow companies to extract precious metals from the deep sea that are used in electric car batteries and other green technology comes as more than a dozen countries call for a ban or moratorium given environmental concerns.Scientists have said that minerals in the deep sea take millions of years to form, an...

North Korean leader’s powerful sister says warplanes repelled US spy plane

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un alleged on Monday that the country’s warplanes repelled a U.S. spy plane that flew over its exclusive economic zone and warned of “shocking” consequences if the U.S. continues reconnaissance activities in the area.After South Korea’s military criticized Kim Yo Jong for issuing threats against “normal” flights over open seas, Kim issued another statement early Tuesday reasserting that intensifying U.S. reconnaissance activities were encroaching on the North’s sovereignty and that the U.S. forces would “experience a very critical flight” if they continue with their illegal intrusions. Kim, one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, claimed that U.S. reconnaissance aircraft reached into the North’s eastern exclusive economic zone eight different times on Monday. Kim’s initial statement claiming that the North scrambled warplanes to chase away a U.S. spy plane was published b...

Q&A: Steven Soderbergh goes ‘Full Circle’, talks DVDs, Danny Ocean and ‘Out of Sight’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

Tuning in to Steven Soderbergh’s new MAX series “Full Circle,” you may want to put your phone or tablet down and have the time to focus. This is not a show you can have on in the background.Debuting Thursday, “Full Circle” features a large ensemble including Claire Danes, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome and Zazie Beetz. It’s a story about the fallout from a botched kidnapping — planned out of revenge — and the secrets that caused it. “It makes one demand on the viewer, which is that you pay attention,” said Soderbergh. It’s a story with “a lot going on, especially in the first two episodes but it’s going to land you in a very different place than where you started.“We were constantly working on the script up until we were shooting. We were working on the script as we were shooting. We worked on the script after we stopped shooting and then did some more shooting.”The situation required the actors to adapt to changes and be fluid, which Soderbergh says the cast c...

Northwestern fires head coach Pat Fitzgerald, reports say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. — A hazing scandal surrounding Northwestern University's football team has led to the ouster of its longtime head coach. According to numerous reports, the first from Pete Thamel of ESPN, Pat Fitzgerald has been fired in the wake of the release of an investigation into alleged hazing in the program on Friday, and then more details coming out over the weekend.After severe hazing allegations were levied by a whistleblower, which was first reported by The Daily Northwestern, the school added to its initial punishment for Fitzgerald, which was a two-week unpaid suspension.Northwestern University has yet to confirm the move.That came from an investigation that was launched late last year into these allegations and was led by former Illinois Inspector General Maggie Hickey of ArentFox Schiff. In her investigation, she found that anonymous whistleblower’s claims against the program were “largely supported by the evidence.”Fitzgerald is arguably one of the most prominent athl...

Lake County Public Works: Precautionary boil water order in effect for Forest Lake, Glennshire and some Hawthron Woods customers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

CHICAGO -- Aqua Illinois lifted a boil water advisory on Sunday, but about a quarter of its customer who are served by Lake County Public Works, are still being asked to boil water out of precaution until more test results come back.Aqua, the essential utilities company, announced the boil water advisory that was originally placed back on July 3 for Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer and Lake County Public Works was lifted on Sunday, July 9.Over the weekend, Aqua Illinois identified the problem causing low pressure across the system, a significant leak at Spencer Loomis Elementary School in Hawthorn Woods.Aqua released an update on Sunday confirming the boil advisory being lifted after water quality tests from a third-party lab indicated water in the areas is now safe for use and meets the necessary approval levels set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).For now, Lake County Public Works announced it was keeping a precautionary boil order in effect for its customers in Forest...

Illinois lawmaker looks to create student-athlete bill of rights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

CHICAGO -- A Illinois state lawmaker and former student-athlete have been charging hard for a student athlete’s bill of rights. And in light of the Northwestern baseball and football allegations, he thinks his plan will pass.Illinois State Representative and former University of Illinois football player Kam Bucker has turned focus on gender equity, guaranteed education benefits and more to protect student-athletes moving forward."We’ve got to do something different with the way we operate college sports in this country," Rep. Bucker said. "Listen, a college locker room is a very complicated place especially for a young rookie. It’s a very vulnerable time, I think, for a young athlete when they first step foot on campus."Buckner said in addition to homework, tests, and adjusting to life on campus, a young athlete must prove himself to his teammates, but the Northwestern allegations of widespread hazing, including sexual violations, cross the line."What we saw, what we heard, what the...

Sex offender charged with murder after 10-year-old Rockford girl found dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

ROCKFORD, Ill. — A registered sex offender from Blue Island has been charged with first degree murder after a 10-year-old girl was found dead in Rockford Saturday, according to the Rockford Police Department.Antonio Monroe, 44, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder, attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping and aggravated battery/strangulation. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Police: 10-year-old girl found dead in Rockford According to police, officers were dispatched around 12:07 p.m. Saturday after a call from a woman who said her 6-year-old daughter came home and that a man took her 10-year-old sister."This is truly a real-life nightmare and it’s honestly worse than any situation I could ever think of on my own,” said Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara. "I think this is, again, a real-life nightmare, with a real-life monster.”At around 12:40 p.m., Rockford police officers said they were flagged down by a male who said he found an unresponsive juvenile girl outside of a residence in the 1200...

Twins go pitcher heavy on second day of MLB draft

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:42:00 GMT

The Twins spent the second day of the Major League Baseball draft stockpiling arms to add to their minor league system.Six of the eight picks they made on Monday were pitchers — five righties, one lefty — to add to a draft class that already included 17-year-old prep pitcher Charlee Soto, whom they selected with the 34th overall pick on Sunday night.The Twins snapped up Tanner Hall of Southern Mississippi with their fourth-round pick, added Wisconsin high schooler Dylan Questad in the fifth round and capped their day by picking four college pitchers: Nolan Santos, Jace Stoffal, Jack Dougherty and Ross Dunn. Dunn was the college teammate of Twins’ second-round pick Luke Keaschall.The Twins’ first pick of the day, Brandon Winokur, is a high school outfielder whom MLB Pipeline wrote could fall “in the five-tool potential bucket.” The only other position player they took on Monday was sixth-rounder Jay Harry, a shortstop out of Penn State.The draft will conclude on Tuesday with the fina...