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Cruise line let passenger’s body decompose, lawsuit says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A widow and her family are suing Celebrity Cruises for allegedly mishandling her husband’s body after he died while they were on a ship last year, saying it was left to decompose and they suffered extreme emotional trauma. After Marilyn Jones’ husband of 55 years, Robert Jones, died of a heart attack Aug. 15 onboard the Celebrity Equinox, his body was stored for nearly a week inside a walk-in cooler normally used for beverages instead of a properly chilled morgue as she was promised, according to the federal lawsuit filed in Florida. That left the body bloated and green, and the family was unable to have an open-coffin funeral “which was a long standing family custom and was what his family had desired,” the lawsuit says. Marilyn Jones, her two daughters and three grandchildren are seeking $1 million in damages. Celebrity Cruises declined to comment, citing the case’s sensitivity and “out of respect for the family.” The Celebrity ...

NAACP sues Mississippi over ‘separate and unequal policing’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The NAACP warns that “separate and unequal policing” will return to Mississippi’s majority-Black capital under a state-run police department, and the civil rights organization is suing the governor and other officials over it.Republican Gov. Tate Reeves says violent crime in Jackson has made it necessary to expand where the Capitol Police can patrol and to authorize some appointed rather than elected judges. But the NAACP said in its lawsuit filed late Friday that these are serious violations of the principle of self-government because they take control of the police and some courts out of the hands of residents.“In certain areas of Jackson, a citizen can be arrested by a police department led by a State-appointed official, be charged by a State-appointed prosecutor, be tried before a State-appointed judge, and be sentenced to imprisonment in a State penitentiary regardless of the severity of the act,” the lawsuit says.Derrick Johnson, the national president of...

Mexico seizes 10 tigers, 5 lions in cartel-dominated area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in Mexico said Saturday they have seized a huge collection of exotic animals including 10 tigers, six jaguars, five lions and other species in a cartel-dominated town. The announcement came just a week after U.S. prosecutors revealed that a boss of the Sinaloa cartel fed his enemies, alive and dead, to tigers he kept. The discovery announced Saturday came in the western state of Jalisco, the turf of a cartel of the same name. Authorities did not identify the owner of the land where the vast menagerie was found. But the township of La Barca, Jalisco has been the scene of mass graves and cartel executions in the past. Agents also found antelopes, a llama, deer and birds at the property.The animals appear to have been kept in pens, stalls and cages over a wide area.It is not clear why they were being kept, but the animals were seized and were presumed to have been held illegally.In 2013, at least 65 bodies were unearthed from clandestine burial pits aroun...

Drug suspect takes off with sheriff’s meth after sting fails

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A suspected drug trafficker is on the run with nearly 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of methamphetamine belonging to a California sheriff’s department after an undercover sting went wrong, authorities said.The Press-Enterprise reported Friday that the Sheriff’s Department in Riverside County, southeast of Los Angeles, is now trying to get its drugs back.Authorities set up the sting Wednesday in an attempt to identify drug traffickers. Undercover deputies met with the suspect for the drug sale, and the suspect later drove away, the newspaper reported. Deputies from the gang task force then attempted to pull over the suspect, who refused to yield and sped off, the department said in a statement.“Due to the high speeds and suspect’s disregard for public safety, deputies lost sight of the vehicle,” the statement said.In response to an emailed request for comment sent by The Associated Press, the sheriff’s department declined to release additional details.T...

Group calls on Canada to create sponsor program for family fleeing war-torn Sudan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

The head of a Sudanese community organization says his group is calling on the federal government to create a program for community members seeking to sponsor family who are either stuck in Sudan or have fled to nearby bordering countries.Ashraf alTahir, president of the Sudanese Canadian Communities Association, says the umbrella organization of groups based across the country has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.He says the diaspora are prepared to pay any associated costs, but need the government to put a program in place.AlTahir says he fears the situation in Sudan could turn into another genocide like the one in Rwanda and says western governments must not abandon the people of that country.Late Friday, the federal government said it deployed members of its Global Affairs Standing Rapid Deployment Team to Djibouti due to the volatile and rapidly deteriorating situation in Sudan.Joly said Canada’s embassy in Sudan’s c...

‘It gave me power’: Two-Spirit Canadian singer Shawnee Kish on finding her identity through music

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

A Canadian Two-Spirit singer-songwriter is sharing her journey on how music helped her find her identity.Shawnee Kish, a 2022 Juno Award nominee for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year, says her path with music started at a young age.“I really struggled with my identity,” she said. “I didn’t understand what it meant to be Indigenous, or what it meant to be Two-Spirit. I was struggling with my home life, I was struggling with my school life, and I just didn’t feel like I fit within the confines of what the world expected of me – and [then] I found music.”She says music helped her find her place in the world.“I rediscovered music and the power that it has, and the power that it gave me, that I fit in the world in my own way. I just discovered that there’s this purpose for me in this life,” she said.“It gave me power, and hope, and a sense of belonging that allowed me to live — not only that, to dedicate the rest ...

Up to $17K reward offered in deadly Colorado rock attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A reward for information in the rock attack that killed a 20-year-old Colorado driver has increased to up to $17,000.Metro Denver Crime Stoppers released information on the award increase on Friday, saying it was donated by someone close to the family of Alexa Bartell. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling the tip line at 720-913-7867 (STOP)."No piece of information is insignificant," Metro Denver Crime Stoppers stressed in the announcement. Own a Tesla in Jeffco? How you could help the deadly rock investigation Bartell, of Arvada, was driving near the 10600 block of Indiana Street on Wednesday night when someone threw a large rock at her vehicle, killing her.Investigators say the attack was one in a series of at least five that night in Jefferson and Boulder counties that involved a light-colored pickup truck or SUV (see the list of incident addresses below). They believe there could be more victims."If you were in any of these areas and witnes...

Texas A&M researcher finds link between father's drinking and alcohol-related birth defects

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas A&M researcher has found a connection between alcohol-related birth defects and a father’s drinking habits before conception. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most severe condition of a spectrum of fetal alcohol disorders associated with drinking during pregnancy. Medical professionals have for awhile thought that these conditions were solely a result of a mother’s drinking habits during pregnancy; however, Texas A&M Associate Professor Michael Golding’s research has found that a father’s lifestyle choices can also play a role in these conditions.  MORE: Texas A&M researcher unraveling the mystery of a kidney disease epidemic For most of the 1990s, it wasn’t considered risky for expecting moms to drink at any time and at any level during pregnancy. Then in the mid-1970s, physicians began documenting birth-defect disorders associated with prenatal alcohol consumption. It wasn’t until 1981 that the U.S. Surgeon General began advising women to a...

How long will Joel Eriksson Ek be out? His prognosis is still being evaluated by the Wild.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

It was such a seemingly normal play that caused Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek to leave Friday’s game at Xcel Energy Center. Something he’s probably down thousands of time in his career. Maybe even more.Yet, after making his highly anticipated return for Game 3 of the first-round playoff series between the Wild and Dallas Stars, Eriksson Ek made a simple turn on the ice and then immediately skated toward the bench.The fact that Eriksson Ek left in any capacity proved to coach Dean Evason that it must have been serious. This is the guy who has played through countless bumps and bruises in the past. He wouldn’t leave a playoff game unless he absolutely couldn’t go.“Well yeah, that quickly, right?” Evason said. “If anyone could come back, it would’ve been him.”He did not come back into the game and now it’s unclear how long Eriksson Ek will be out.“He’s going to get checked with the doctors,” Evason said. R...

Meet Ber, the Minnesota native who performed live at a Wild-Stars playoff game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:39 GMT

Berit Dybing had some free time earlier this month after wrapping up her first headline tour. What better way to celebrate than by supporting the hometown team in the midst of a playoff push?So, she bought a ticket to the April 3 game between the Wild and Vegas Golden Knights at the Xcel Energy Center, and was sitting in the crowd when she heard a familiar voice over the loud speakers.Her own.With the game in the middle of a stoppage, her song “Boys Who Kiss You In Their Car” blared for nearly 18,000 people to hear. The 25-year-old Bemidji native, who goes by the stage name Ber, captured the moment and posted it on TikTok.It was the first time she had ever heard a song of hers in the wild. No pun intended.“I’ve had my friends send me videos on Snapchat being like, ‘Your song just came on at H&M’ or something like that,'” Ber said. “I’ve never personally been sitting somewhere and heard a song of mine come on.” @heythere...