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Biden’s ‘God save the Queen’ remark at CT gun safety summit causes confusion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

President Joe Biden’s closing statement following his keynote speech at the National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford on Friday has come into question.During his last few seconds on the stage at the summit, Biden said “God Save the Queen, man” to a crowd made up mostly of gun reform activists, gun violence survivors and families of shooting victims.Biden traveled to West Hartford on Friday to celebrate one year since the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun law passed by Congress in 30 years.After his statement stirred questions and was trending on social media, a spokesperson for the White House said Friday evening that the president was responding to someone in the crowd when he made the comment.“He couldn’t do the full ropeline due to weather, and was commenting to someone in the crowd,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton said via email.WATCH: Biden finishes gun control speech with curious 'God...

Saudi FM in Tehran as part of restoration of diplomatic ties after a 7-year rift

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat arrived in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the latest step in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two Mideast rivals, Iranian state media reported.The state-run IRNA said that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is going to meet his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran.Prince Faisal is expected to officially inaugurate the kingdom’s embassy, later on Saturday, in the capital.Both nations reopened their diplomatic missions in recent weeks.In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after seven years of tension.It was a major diplomatic breakthrough brokered by China, lowering the chance of further conflict between Riyadh and Tehran — both directly and in proxy conflicts around the region.The Associated Press

Trump’s legal troubles anger some GOP voters. Still, it’s no sure bet they will back him in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

PELLA, Iowa (AP) — Kathleen Evenhouse took a break from her work in the corner of a small-town Iowa coffee shop to slam the federal criminal indictment of Donald Trump as patently political, the work of a U.S. Justice Department she says is awash in hypocrisy. “I think we’re playing a game as a country,” the 72-year-old author from Pella said in an interview, expressing a sentiment widely shared among conservatives since the former president was charged. “I think that damages any sense of justice or any sense of — should I even bother to vote? Why should I listen to the news? Or why should I care?”Evenhouse does plan to vote in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucuses next year. Despite her anger about Trump’s plight, he will not win her support. Many voters in early states who will play an outsize role in deciding his political fate agree that he is being treated unfairly. While there is widespread distrust of the Justice Department and it...

German police arrest truck driver accused in crash that killed Italian cyclist Rebellin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

ROME (AP) — Police in Germany have arrested a truck driver accused in the crash in Italy last year that killed professional cyclist Davide Rebellin, Italian prosecutors said Saturday.Wolfgang Rieke is accused of road homicide and leaving the scene of a crash. Vicenza prosecutor Lino Giorgio Bruno said he was arrested Thursday in Muenster on a European arrest warrant. German authorities said he had surrendered.Rebellin, one of cycling’s longest-serving professionals, was killed Nov. 30 during a training run near the northern Italian town of Montebello Vicentino. At the time, Italian media reported the truck that struck him didn’t stop. But prosecutors, citing roadside video and witness photos, said the driver stopped, got out of the cab and approached Rebellin, and then got back in the truck and left the scene.The investigation identified the truck as belonging to a shipping firm based in Recke, Germany, and Rieke as the driver. After the crash, the truck continued on to its destinat...

Blinken set for high-stakes China visit with tensions rising and breakthrough prospects low

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has embarked on a high-stakes diplomatic trip to China to try to cool down escalating tensions between the two powers that have set many around the world on edge. Blinken will be the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office, and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years. Yet prospects for any significant breakthrough on the most vexing issues facing the planet’s two largest economies are slim, as already ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years. Animosity and recriminations have steadily escalated over a series of disagreements that have implications for global security and stability.Blinken arrives in Beijing on Sunday for two days of talks. He expects to meet with Qin on Sunday, Wang, and possibly Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, according to U.S. officials. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to Blinken’s trip early at a meeting last yea...

Woman critically injured in city’s west end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

A woman in her 30s suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a car in the west end. Police say the woman was struck in the area of Keele Street and Rogers Road around 5:41 a.m. Saturday. Paramedics say she was transported to a nearby trauma centre with critical injuries. The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene.

Residents and tourists alike excited for the return of the Montreal Grand Prix

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

MONTREAL — One of downtown Montreal’s most famous nightlife streets has been turned over to pedestrians this weekend, but it’s not part of Mayor Valérie Plante’s much-publicized campaign to calm traffic in the city.The Canadian Grand Prix, the unofficial kickoff to Montreal’s summer festival season, is back, and most people on Crescent Street Friday were ogling high-priced cars and checking out booths with Formula One-themed activities. On nearby Ste-Catherine Street, sports cars roared by as drivers unleashed their inner F1 driver.Residents and tourists alike are excited for the return of the race, but some are more enthusiastic than others.Interviewed on Crescent Street, Christophe Philibert and Lauren Cinq-Mars said they appreciate the tourism dollars the event brings to the city, but they wish the surrounding festivities would put more emphasis on electric vehicles. Philibert pointed to the irony of making a downtown street pedestrians-only to celebrate t...

'Red and yellow kill a fellow?': How to actually tell which Texas snakes are venomous

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

TYLER, Texas (KETK) - Everyone's heard a version of the phrase "Red touch yellow, kill a fellow; red touch black, friend of Jack,” but this iconic mnemonic device isn't as useful as you think.The rhyme is meant to help distinguish the venomous Texas coral snake, which has red stripes next to yellow stripes, from similar-looking snakes like nonvenomous milk snakes, which have red stripes touching black stripes.While the seemingly ubiquitous rhyme is helpful enough in parts of the United States where we have the Texas coral snake, it's not so helpful in other areas, according to an article from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension on how to identify venomous and nonvenomous snakes.If you're traveling abroad this summer, it's important to know the famous rhyme won't get you far internationally. In places like Mexico, Central America and South America there are coral snakes that actually have red stripes touching white rings and even coral snakes with red rings touching black rings...

LEGOs, playdough and more for local students thanks to grant initiative

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

Students in St. Paul, Eagan and Lakeville are on the receiving end of new books and school supplies focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics thanks to new “Fund My Classroom” grants.The grant initiative, hosted by Western Governors University, awarded 10 educators across the state, including St. Paul’s Jaena Stucynski, Eagan’s Matthew Beniak and Lakeville’s Lynnae Anderson.Matthew Beniak of Eagan’s Pilot Knob STEM Magnet School. (Courtesy of Western Governors University)Beniak, who works as a STEM specialist and magnet coordinator at Eagan’s Pilot Knob STEM Magnet School, was awarded $1,900. Anderson, who is an instructional data support specialist coach at Eastview Elementary School in Lakeville, received $500. Stucynski also received $500 and teaches fifth- through eighth-grade English language arts at the Journey School in St. Paul.According to the university’s news release, teachers nominated specific classroom projects in early spring...

Organizer of Stillwater’s Lumberjack Days Derby issues plea for more participants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:29 GMT

It takes at least a dozen daredevils willing to race down Stillwater’s Second Street hill in homemade, gravity-powered machines to ensure a spectacular Lumberjack Days Downhill Derby.As of Friday, only seven contestants had registered.“We’re really worried,” said longtime race organizer Joe Widmer. “We do double elimination, so everybody gets more than one race. But seven cars? I think it would be done pretty quick.”Widmer has put out a plea to anyone interested in registering for the race, which will be held at 4 p.m. July 14. The course runs for one block down the Second Street hill near Pioneer Park.“We’re used to cutting it close and having some of our drivers getting around to making their cars at the last minute, but this year seems light,” Widmer said.One longtime racer has retired. Another has moved. Yet another has taken a new job and won’t be competing.“Plus, the car I built, Flote-Bote, was sold to the glue farm for being too slow and won’t be in the rac...