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Tribe getting piece of Minnesota back more than a century after ancestors died there

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

GRANITE FALLS, Minn. (AP) — Golden prairies and winding rivers of a Minnesota state park also hold the secret burial sites of Dakota people who died as the United States failed to fulfill treaties with Native Americans more than a century ago. Now their descendants are getting the land back.The state is taking the rare step of transferring the park with a fraught history back to a Dakota tribe, trying to make amends for events that led to a war and the largest mass hanging in U.S. history.“It’s a place of holocaust. Our people starved to death there,” said Kevin Jensvold, chairman of the Upper Sioux Community, a small tribe with about 550 members just outside the park.The Upper Sioux Agency State Park in southwestern Minnesota spans a little more than 2 square miles (about 5 square kilometers) and includes the ruins of a federal complex where officers withheld supplies from Dakota people, leading to starvation and deaths.Decades of tension exploded into the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 b...

Students criticize the University of North Carolina’s response to an active shooter emergency

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — As sirens blared across the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and cell phones lit up with alerts of an active shooter, Micah Baldonado cried quietly at his desk while his teacher proceeded with the lecture.“I know there’s no right way to react, but I just lost it,” he said. “I couldn’t hold back tears. My teacher actually kept teaching for maybe 30 minutes even after receiving alerts of an active shooter.”The senior from Charlotte said rumors spread quickly across campus during a three-hour lockdown and police manhunt on Aug. 28 resulting in the arrest of a UNC graduate student. Tailei Qi, 34, is being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and having a gun on educational property in connection with the shooting death of associate professor Zijie Yan inside a science building.Baldonado spent hours listening to the police scanner and reading news reports from inside his locked classroom during what he referred to as an infor...

Berlin Wall relic gets a ‘second life’ on US-Mexico border as Biden adds barriers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — As the U.S. government built its latest stretch of border wall, Mexico made a statement of its own by laying remains of the Berlin Wall a few steps away. The 3-ton pockmarked, gray concrete slab sits between a bullring, a lighthouse and the border wall, which extends into the Pacific Ocean.“May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges,” reads the inscription below the towering Cold War relic, attributed to Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero and titled, “A World Without Walls.”For Caballero, like many of Tijuana’s 2 million residents, the U.S. wall is personal and political, a part of the city’s fabric and a fact of life. She considers herself a migrant, having moved from the southern Mexico city of Oaxaca when she was 2 with her mother, who fled “the vicious cycle of poverty, physical abuse and illiteracy.”The installation opened Aug. 13 at a ceremony with Caballero and Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s former fore...

Fatal police shooting of pregnant Ohio woman raises concerns over firing at moving vehicles

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

Body camera video of the fatal police shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant mother in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, has raised questions about how an allegation of shoplifting led to a bullet being fired through her windshield. It was unclear Saturday whether the Blendon Township Police Department has adopted a use-of-force continuum policy, which would outline measures that must be exhausted before lethal force can be used.The video of the Aug. 24 shooting, released Friday, shows Young in her car in a parking space as a police officer orders her to exit the vehicle. A second officer is seen drawing his firearm and stepping in front of the car, despite a department policy advising officers to get out of the way of an approaching vehicle instead of firing their weapon. “Are you going to shoot me?” Young asks, seconds before she turns the steering wheel to the right and the car moves toward the second officer. The officer fires through the windshield and Young’s sedan ...

Still reeling from flooding, some in Vermont say something better must come out of losing everything

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

BERLIN, Vt. (AP) — Seven weeks after catastrophic flooding in Vermont destroyed their mobile home, Sara Morris and her family don’t yet know what they will do for housing long-term. She and her husband, their three kids and his mother have been staying with Morris’ mother since the flooding mangled their home, boring a hole through the side and leaving it tilted in layers of mud. With winter fast approaching, some Vermonters hit by the July flooding are still deep in the throes of flood recovery, whether finding a place to live or repairing their homes or businesses. So far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has determined more than 2,900 homes in the state had some type of damage, based on applications and housing inspections, including 530 designated as having major damage and 14 destroyed. About 1,280 households have received rental assistance from FEMA, which may be an indication of how many people cannot currently live in their homes, according to the governor...

Teemu Pukki scores again, but controversial call on second goal costs Loons a win in San Jose

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

Teemu Pukki has been getting settled in Minnesota and it’s starting to show on the field.The new Finnish forward recently moved out of close friend and compatriot Robin Lod’s suburban house. Pukki’s wife and two daughters have joined him in the U.S., and the family said Friday they are expecting a third child.For Minnesota United, Pukki scored in a second consecutive game Saturday, a 1-1 draw at PayPal Park.Pukki, who ended a 729-minute scoring drought with a goal Wednesday, appeared to have a second goal Saturday, but he was left smirking when VAR wiped it off due to a handball call on Emanuel Reynoso.In the 60th minute, Reynoso’s through ball was blasted into the top of the net by Pukki. It was the best finish since Pukki arrived from England in early July.But referee Alexis da Silva went to video-assisted review, and the verdict was a handball on Reynoso earlier in the build up. Yet the replay showed on Apple TV had it bouncing off Reynoso’s shoulder.The Loons took an early lead ...

Man found dead with gunshot wounds in Compton crash

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

A man found with gunshot wounds was pronounced dead after a head-on crash in Compton on Saturday.Authorities responded to a collision on the 1400 block of North Long Beach Boulevard shortly before 1 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.Arriving deputies found two vehicles at the scene. One driver was found with gunshot wounds to his upper torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene.A man found with gunshot wounds was pronounced dead after a head-on crash in Compton on Sept. 2, 2023. (Citizen)A man found with gunshot wounds was pronounced dead after a head-on crash in Compton on Sept. 2, 2023. (Citizen)A man found with gunshot wounds was pronounced dead after a head-on crash in Compton on Sept. 2, 2023. (Citizen)A man found with gunshot wounds was pronounced dead after a head-on crash in Compton on Sept. 2, 2023. (Citizen)The second driver suffered minor injuries and was transported to a hospital for treatment.Detectives said the victim was shot while crossin...

Central State beats Mississippi Valley State 24-21 in the return of the Chicago Football Classic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Central State kicked a late fourth-quarter field goal and beat Mississippi Valley State 24-21 on Saturday as the teams opened their seasons in the Chicago Football Classic on Soldier Field. It was the 25 anniversary of the game and the first since 2019 that features Historically Black Colleges and Universities. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-pollSource

Drew Allar shines in No. 7 Penn State’s opening 38-15 victory over West Virginia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — With a mere flick of his wrist, rocket-armed Drew Allar began a new era in Happy Valley.This is what the 6-foot-5, 242-pound quarterback’s teammates and coaches gushed about all summer. The sophomore signal caller can make it look easy.Allar, who sat behind five-year starter Sean Clifford last year, threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start to help No. 7 Penn State beat West Virginia 38-15 on Saturday night in their season opener.“That’s the Drew we saw in preseason camp. That’s the Drew we saw in limited reps last year,” coach James Franklin said. “He was extremely poised.”KeAndre Lambert-Smith caught two touchdown passes — including a 72-yard dart that required very little windup from Allar, even though he was scrambling through the pocket when he launched it downfield. The ball soared over a lunging Mountaineer defender and fell perfectly into Lambert-Smith’s hands. The wideout didn’t even need to hit full speed to finish the sco...

Blake Watson runs for 3 TDs, Sutton Smith adds 2 more as Memphis beats Bethune-Cookman 56-10

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:31:11 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Sutton Smith ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries and Blake Watson added three rushing TDs to lead Memphis to a 56-14 win over Bethune-Cookman on Saturday night in the season opener for both teams. Watson finished with 10 carries for 75 yards. Seth Henigan completed 27 of 36 passes for 334 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Memphis. Watson scored on a 2-yard run with 12:28 left in the first quarter and Seth Morgan kicked a 45-yard field goal about 7 minutes later to make it 10-0. Bethune-Cookman got on the board when Amarie Jones returned an interception 69 yards for a touchdown with 2:15 remaining in the period. Watson sandwiched TD runs of 15 and 2 yards around a 25-yard field goal by Morgan in the second quarter to ignite a string of 46 straight points by the Tigers. Bethune-Cookman’s Ejike Brown returned a fumble 19 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring. The Wildcats converted 1-of-15 third downs, had just four first ...