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Minneapolis backs off arrests for psychedelic plant use

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis is backing away from enforcing laws that criminalize buying psychedelic plants or using them in private.Mayor Jacob Frey on Friday ordered police to stop using taxpayer dollars to enforce most laws against hallucinogenic plants. Minneapolis still prioritizes enforcing laws against selling psychedelic plants, bringing them to schools or using them while driving.Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara in a statement said he stands by the mayor’s decision. Announcing the order, Frey cited the potential for hallucinogenic plants to treat mental illnesses including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.“Experts are telling us that these plants help people, and that’s the business we should be in – helping people,” Frey said in a statement. “With a rise in deaths of despair in our city, and in our society, the data is showing that these plants can help be a remedy.”Some researchers believe psilocybin, the compound in psychedelic mushrooms, change...

Migrants attacked in two separate robbery attempts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

CHICAGO — Two migrant men were attacked near shelters in the last week, according to the Chicago Police Department.Police said the first incident happened in the 2000 block of South Racine Avenue around 10:10 p.m. on Tuesday, where a 25-year-old man said he was walking down the street when five unknown offenders got out of a dark blue Hyundai Elantra, pulled out a handgun and demanded his personal property.A birck was thrown toward the offenders' vehicle, shattering the rear driver side window, which led to the offenders fleeing the scene. 16-year-old shot and killed over the weekend grandson of South Side pastor, activist The second incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the 2600 block of South Calumet Avenue. Police said a 35-year-old man was walking down the street when a vehicle pulled up and two unknown offenders got out before hitting the victim and taking his personal property.The offenders then fled and the victim refused medical attention.Police have no one in cu...

2 divers found dead near Hawaii's Velzyland Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

SUNSET, Hawaii (KHON) -- The bodies of two divers who had gone missing were recovered Sunday on Oahu's North Shore, the Honolulu Fire Department said. At 3:40 a.m. Sunday, the fire department received a 911 call reporting two free divers had been out exploring the waters near Velzyland Beach. The divers had reportedly been missing for several hours. Search and rescue operations started just ten minutes later. Investigators noticed a submerged dive light about 150 feet from the shore, which they said did not appear to be moving at all. Rescuers swam over to the light and dove underwater, where they discovered one of the divers unresponsive and brought him to shore. What you probably do not know about Hawaiʻi and civil rights Rescue personnel continued their search for the second diver in the same area. They used scuba gear to search underwater and overhead lighting from air crews to illuminate and scan the area. During this search, crews located the body of the second diver, which...

Quinn Ewers, Ja'Tavion Sanders 'level up' from last season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A pair of Texas football stars were out sharing their knowledge and perhaps helping develop the next generation of Longhorns on Saturday.Quarterback Quinn Ewers and tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders held a youth football camp at Hill Country Middle School for boys and girls ages 8-16 years old, and the DFW duo are building on a relationship they've had since high school.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters"We grew up in the DFW area and for our relationship to keep growing the more we play together, it's cool to see." Ewers said. "These relationships you build through football are for a lifetime. I can lean on JT, and he can lean on me, and that goes for the whole team."Sanders, a sophomore who was third on the team with 613 receiving yards last season, said the entire team "leveled up" this season."We've been close since high school, but this year he leveled up,...

Orioles top Rays, 5-3, to win pivotal series, take two-game lead atop AL East

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

As the Orioles approached the second half of the season, adding a high-leverage reliever was seen as the club’s biggest need.Mike Baumann pitched like one Sunday.The right-hander relieved a shaky Tyler Wells in the fifth inning of a tied game, pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings as the offense pulled ahead and handed the ball off to the dominant duo of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista to lead the Orioles’ 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.The win was Baltimore’s third over the Rays this weekend in a pivotal four-game series between the American League’s two best teams. The Orioles (61-38) arrived in St. Petersburg tied with the Rays (61-42) atop the AL East. They’re leaving with a two-game lead.Wells allowed just one hit, but struggled with his command throughout, walking four and hitting two batters. After three scoreless innings, the 6-foot-8 right-hander allowed a run in the fourth and a two-run, game-tying home run to Yandy Díaz in the fifth.Gunn...

Change sought in management of bequest to Marine on St. Croix library

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

Elizabeth Whipple Jordan loved reading and the library in her adopted hometown of Marine on St. Croix. She was a close friend of the late Grace Mary Grady, the longtime Marine librarian who made the library a welcoming place for children by keeping a huge bowl filled with M&Ms and putting up a big sign that said “Absolutely NO silence.”When Jordan died in 2000, she left a bequest of nearly $227,000 to the Washington County Library system “to be used specifically for the Marine on St. Croix Library and in any manner which is deemed appropriate by the Board of Administration.” Since that time, county officials have managed the trust and granted an annual stipend to the Marine Library from those assets.Now, Marine Library Association members are asking county officials to turn over the management of the trust, now worth $238,018, to the St. Croix Valley Foundation.“We think setting it up with the St. Croix Valley Foundation is a preferable approach for all involved,” sa...

Local doctor explains best ways to prevent, treat ticks and poison ivy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

ST. LOUIS – It's that time of year when people like to hike, camp, and enjoy the great outdoors. But the risks of tick bites and getting poison ivy can ruin your summer fun.Dr. Farzana Hoque, an associate professor of medicine at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital, offers advice to both avoid and treat those maladies."If you are hiking, stay away on the main path. Avoid the long grass and brush, because most of the ticks and poison ivies are there," she said.If you get bitten by a tick, remove it right away. Doctors warn not to twist the tick to get it off; use clean tweezers instead. After it's removed, clean the bite area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water. Then watch out for symptoms of Lyme disease for up to 30 days. Boat runs aground at Lake of the Ozarks, strikes home Warning signs to look out for include a circular, expanding rash with a target-like appearance, muscle aches, body aches, fever, and headache.There is also a proper way to dispose a tick."Either put i...

Conservative party poised to win Spain’s election but have less stellar victory than predicted

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

By CIARÁN GILES and JOSEPH WILSON (Associated Press)MADRID (AP) — Spain’s conservative Popular Party was set to narrowly win the country’s national election Sunday but without the majority needed to topple the coalition government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.With 90% of votes counted, PP was is on course to secure 136 of the 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish parliament. Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers Party was poised to take 122 seats, two more it had the outgoing legislature. Although the Socialists can likely call on the predicted 31 seats of the left-wing Sumar (Joining Forces) alliance and several smaller parties to assemble more than the sum of Spain’s right-wing parties, there was a real possibility that neither side would be able to secure a majority. Pre-election polls had predicted a bigger victory for the PP and the possibility for it to form a coalition with the far-right V...

PHOTOS: Colorado Dragon Boat Festival 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

The 23rd annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival took place at Sloan’s Lake in Denver on July 23, 2023.The event features two styles of dragon boats: The flag-catcher boat and the Hong Kong-style boat. In the boats paddlers sit in twos side-by-side, and each athlete has a single-bladed paddle. All boats have a drummer and a steerer or sternsman, and athletes paddle to the rhythm of the drum.The flag catcher boats have a flag catcher. At the end of the race, the flag catcher lies on top of the dragon head and pulls a flag, which stops the clock. Races were 400 meters and 200 meters over two days. Forty teams competed in this years races.As well, more than 180 performers, 170,000 attendees over the two-day weekend and 400 volunteers helped bring the festival to the lake this year. Along with the races the event included dance and martial arts performances, bands, Asian food, comedians, and a variety of cultural events.Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment ...

3 suitcases with human remains found

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:24 GMT

Police in Delray Beach, Florida are investigating after a woman's remains were found in three suitcases seen floating in the water Friday in Delray Beach, Florida. Police were called about a strange item seen floating along the Intracostal Waterway, north of Boca Raton on the state's east coast, local outlet WPTV reported.Three suitcases were found in the waterway, all containing human remains, Delray Police said.According to local reporting, authorities believe the remains belong to one woman, who has not yet been identified. The remains were sent to a medical examiner to be identified. Is traffic speed really still enforced by aircraft? Delray Police said the woman is white or Hispanic with brown hair. She is believed to be middle-aged, 5'4" tall, and may have tattooed eyebrows. The woman was wearing a floral tank top, a black undershirt, and black mid-thigh shorts. A day earlier, workers on a Texas ranch found human remains in a piece of luggage. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Sal...