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With US shutdown averted, White House prepares to fight for Ukraine aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

With minutes to spare, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a stopgap funding bill Saturday to avert a shutdown and keep the government open for 45 days.In doing so, he capped a chaotic 24 hours that riveted much of Washington but left one of the White House’s top priorities, aid for Ukraine, in serious jeopardy.Like others in the nation’s capital, the Biden White House had been caught off guard Saturday morning when Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly reversed course and announced that he would bring a clean, stop gap bill to fund the government through November 17, 2023.But aides weren’t terribly surprised. They had assumed the government shutdown showdown would end this way at some point — with the main question being whether McCarthy would take his lumps before or after the funding deadline.They weren’t displeased with the outcome either. The bill didn’t just fund the government, it also included $16 billion in disaster relief and, as one White House official noted, avoids “any version o...

‘Yeah, this guy is different’: When the Orioles knew Gunnar Henderson was special

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

This season has shown the baseball world how special Gunnar Henderson is. The Orioles have known it a lot longer.Saturday, Henderson was named the Most Valuable Oriole, only the fourth rookie to win the award in the club’s 70 years in Baltimore. In November, the 22-year-old is expected to be deemed the American League Rookie of the Year, Baltimore’s first such honoree since 1989. Between, he’ll get the chance to shine on the national stage of the MLB playoffs, having played a key role for the AL East champions.What makes Henderson stand out goes beyond his .257 batting average, .817 OPS, 28 homers or 82 RBIs. The Baltimore Sun asked Henderson’s teammates, coaches and even his signing scout when they knew he was a special player. Here’s what they said.2018 high school showcaseScout Dave Jennings:“Yeah, the first time was at an East Coast Pro high school showcase type deal we have down south. I was one of the coaches on that club and just bein...

Serbia’s president denies troop buildup near Kosovo, alleges ‘campaign of lies’ in wake of clashes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s president on Sunday denied U.S. and other reports of a military buildup along the border with Kosovo, complaining of a “campaign of lies” against his country in the wake of a shootout a week earlier that killed four people and fueled tensions in the volatile Balkan region. Both the United States and the European Union xpressed concern earlier this week about what they said was an increased military deployment by Serbia’s border with its former province, and they urged Belgrade to scale down its troop presence there. Kosovo’s government said Saturday it was monitoring the movements of the Serbian military from “three different directions.” It urged Serbia to immediately pull back its troops and demilitarize the border area. “A campaign of lies … has been launched against our Serbia,” President Aleksandar Vucic responded in a video post on Instagram. “They have lied a lot about the presence of our military forces …. In fac...

Texas sends personnel to Maui for fire recovery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Division of Emergency Management, or TDEM, announced that the agency has sent personnel to Hawaii to help Maui wildfire recovery.Those being sent will help with finding residents eligibility for financial assistance and helping with things like bookkeeping. RELATED: TXST emotional support dog helps fire victims, first responders in Maui “Just as responders from other states answer our call when disaster strikes here at home, the State of Texas is assisting with recovery efforts in Hawaii to support our fellow Americans as they rebuild," Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said. TDEM deployed the initiative under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which lets states provide assistance and share resources with another state in response to a disaster or emergency.

Michael E. Mann: There was global warming in prehistoric times. But nothing in millions of years compares with what we see today.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

“The climate is always changing!” So goes a popular refrain from climate deniers who continue to claim that there’s nothing special about this particular moment. There is no climate crisis, they say, because the Earth has survived dramatic warming before.Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy recently exemplified misconceptions about our planet’s climate past. When he asserted that “carbon dioxide as a percentage of the atmosphere is still at a relative low through human history,” he didn’t just make a false statement (carbon dioxide concentrations are the highest they’ve been in at least 4 million years). He also showed fundamentally wrong thinking around the climate crisis.What threatens us today isn’t the particular concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or the precise temperature of the planet, alarming as those two metrics are. Instead, it’s the unprecedented rate at which we are increasing carbon p...

Skywatch: October skies are loaded this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

There’s much going on this month for stargazers, including a solar eclipse. October is also a month of transition, with summer, autumn, and even winter constellations available through the night, along with three bright planets. On top of that, nights are getting longer, a stargazer’s dream.(Mike Lynch)Summer constellations are still putting on a show in the early evening western sky. Look for the bright stars Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp, Altair in Aquilla in the Eagle, and Deneb in Cygnus. The stars, Vega, Altair, and Deneb, make the Summer Triangle, an asterism that serves as a great tool to help you find your way around that part of the heavens.Another summer constellation holdout is Sagittarius the Archer, in the low southwest sky. According to Greek and Roman mythology, Sagittarius is supposed to be a centaur — half man, half horse — shooting an arrow. Good luck seeing that! Sagittarius much more resembles a teapot that’s very easy to see. If you’re star...

HealthPartners’ new Woodbury specialty center will bring care options, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

An architectural rendering of a $50.5 million new specialty center in Woodbury that HealthPartners broke ground on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. The 55,000-square foot, two-story facility will be located on City Place Boulevard and is expected to be complete by winter 2024. The new facility will provide additional medical and surgical specialty care to the community. (Courtesy of HealthPartners)A new health center that recently broke ground in Woodbury will create 100 new jobs while adding to the health services available in the community, according to HealthPartners and city officials.The new HealthPartners specialty center, which was celebrated at a Sept. 19 groundbreaking, will focus on medical and surgical care as well as specialty needs, such as neurology, not available at other HealthPartners facilities in the immediate area. It joins the system’s other local facilities including HealthPartners Clinic Woodbury, TRIA Orthopedic Center and Melrose Center.“It’s an opportun...

Working Strategies: Business books for fall reading

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

Amy LindgrenIf you missed out on your end-of-summer reading, I have good news: Fall is here and there are more reading lists awaiting you. Today I’m providing a look at four books that touch on some aspect of improving business life. Each employs a different approach, coming from a different perspective than usual.“The Human Side of Innovation,” by Mauro Porcini, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2023. “Innovation is an act of love – or at least, it should be. Always.” Those are the opening words of this book which positions itself between two worlds – the historic version of innovation driven by “selfish” economic interests, and the version that places humanity first. From Porcini’s perspective, the transition away from the traditional innovation model is not optional but inevitable.In describing human-centered innovation, Porcini turns from MBA-touted processes, data and tools and toward the “visionaries and dreamers” who work from the desire to generate real value for other...

Literary calendar for week of Oct. 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

Curtis Chin (Courtesy of the author)CURTIS CHIN: Co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City and creator of social justice documentaries discusses his memoir “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant,” and talks about growing up Asian-American and queer as the son of Chinese restaurant owners in the Black and white city of Detroit. Free. Presented in conjunction with Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League. 5 p.m. Friday, Oct, 6. Strive Publishing, 901 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Public Functionary Cafe, 1500 Jackson St. N.E., Mpls.; Sunday, Oct. 8, Minnesota History Center. 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. Information about Chin at curtisfromdetroit.com.CAMILLE DUNGY: Reads from “Soil: The Story of a  Black Mother’s Garden,” about the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colo. When she and her family moved there in 2013, the communi...

A one-stop scary shop: Inver Grove Heights haunted house adds creepy escape rooms, mini-golf for year-round scares

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

Nicole Ross and her family used to decorate their home and yard so extensively for Halloween that limousines would line up to drive past it, she said. As their four children got bigger, so did the home haunting display.Now, Ross and her husband, Galen McKay, are part owners of Nowhere Haunted House in Inver Grove Heights along with Halloween enthusiasts Ian Knutson and Mike Reimer. Together, the four owners build sets, design costumes and — new this year — operate an eerie mini-golf course, arcade and unsettling escape rooms.The 13,000-square-foot indoor haunted house sits in an open warehouse-like space that used to be a Pawn America. The haunted house, which officially opened last fall, runs through Nov. 4 this year. To keep business coming in over the last year, Ross said they hosted seasonal haunts like “Cupid’s Revenge” and “Yule Scream,” which was centered around dark, but true, Christmas folklore.Their first season wasn’t as busy as they hoped, so this year to kee...