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With a few days remaining, here’s what the Minnesota Legislature has left to do

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

Time is running out for Minnesota lawmakers to strike a big bipartisan deal at the Capitol.The Legislature has to adjourn by midnight on Monday and so far the new Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party trifecta in control of state government hasn’t found much in the way of agreement with Republicans. Lawmakers have passed nearly a dozen budget bills so far and most of them were approved along party lines.That doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance for a deal. There are still significant budget bills that need to be completed, including those dealing with taxes, health and human services, transportation and state infrastructure projects.The infrastructure bill — called a bonding bill because the state typically borrows money to fund capital projects — is the vehicle for a compromise because it requires a super majority in both chambers.In exchange for votes on an infrastructure bill, Senate Republicans have pushed DFLers to return more of the state’s $17.5 billi...

Meet D’Arcy Drollinger, a drag queen who’s now the first drag laureate in the U.S.

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Anti-trans legislation is roiling the nation. Bills prohibiting drag performances are cropping up in statehouses. Violence and vitriol are turning children’s drag story hour events into headline-news protests.San Francisco is fighting back Thursday by naming the nation’s first drag laureate, an ambassador-style position designed to represent the city’s famous LGBTQ+ community at a time when rights are under attack.In a city known for its support of LGBTQ+ rights, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says it was a natural step to create a position that not only embraces drag culture but puts government resources toward it. D’Arcy Drollinger, a well-known drag performer and nightclub owner, will receive a $55,000 stipend in her 18-month role as the city’s inaugural drag laureate.“My goals are to make San Francisco sparkle. I think drag performers bring a lot of sparkle and humor and glamor and silliness to the world. I think that is part of why drag is so ...

Push to legalize sports betting in Minnesota on the ropes at the Legislature

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

Efforts to legalize sports betting appear to have folded at the Minnesota Legislature for lack of time.House Speaker Melissa Hortman said passage of legislation legalizing sports gambling was unlikely to make it to the floor for a vote this session.“I think we are probably out of time,” Hortman said during a Thursday afternoon news conference. “In the House it has two or three more committees. We are not going to be able to take people away from the floor to have that move through the committees that it would need to.”Getting a legal sports betting bill through both chambers would almost certainly take bipartisan support, at least in the Senate, and Republicans and Democrats don’t appear to have a finalized agreement.The Minnesota Legislature must adjourn by midnight May 22 and lawmakers have several massive bills they need to approve before then to finalize a nearly $72 billion two-tear budget.Supporters of legalized sports betting have pushed for it u...

First full-size 3D scan of Titanic shows shipwreck in new light

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

LONDON — Deep-sea researchers have completed the first full-size digital scan of the Titanic, showing the entire wreck in unprecedented detail and clarity, the companies behind a new documentary on the wreck said Thursday.Using two remotely operated submersibles, a team of researchers spent six weeks last summer in the North Atlantic mapping the whole shipwreck and the surrounding 3-mile debris field, where personal belongings of the ocean liner’s passengers, such as shoes and watches, were scattered.Richard Parkinson, founder and chief executive of deep-sea exploration firm Magellan, estimated that the resulting data — including 715,000 images — is 10 times larger than any underwater 3D model ever attempted before.“It’s an absolutely one-to-one digital copy, a ‘twin,’ of the Titanic in every detail,” said Anthony Geffen, head of documentary maker Atlantic Productions.The Titanic was on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City when it hit an iceberg off Newfound...

F.D. Flam: Do earlier, annual mammograms save more lives?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

Mainstream medical opinion holds that screening mammography is a lifesaving procedure. But doctors disagree over how often women should be screened for breast cancer. Last week, a panel of doctors known as the US Preventive Service Task Force revived the debate over mammographs by issuing a new recommendation. Their old guidelines advised starting at age 50 and getting screened every other year; the new ones keep the every-other-year recommendation but lower the starting age to 40.Despite the new recommendations, many doctors will maintain that an annual mammogram is a necessity for me and every other woman over 40. But a growing faction warn screening healthy women this frequently might do more harm than good.I haven’t chosen to get mammograms more than every other year — despite some protests from my doctors. The ideal schedule has to take into account the latest data on risks and benefits. Recent studies show every-other-year screenings still catch tumors early enough...

Harry Litman: Why Special Counsel John Durham’s report takes so long to say so little

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

Rarely has a government report taken so long — in years and pages — to tell the public so little as Special Counsel John Durham’s report to the Department of Justice this week.When then-Attorney General Bill Barr appointed Durham to investigate the department’s probe of connections between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Trump and his true believers looked forward to revealing a criminal conspiracy within the FBI. Trump tweeted at the time that Durham would uncover the “crime of the century.”Instead, four years after Barr first ordered Durham to investigate the investigators, he produced a ponderous, 316-page tome that interminably chews over information that has long been in the public record.The bottom line awaiting the minuscule percentage of the country that has the time and patience to wade through the report is a handful of small and already familiar cavils about the procedural details of the FBI’s work. The bureau ...

Area community pools in need of lifeguards this summer

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

ST. LOUIS - There's just over a week left until Memorial Day weekend, and pools are ramping up their search for lifeguards. This comes as they face the challenge of a nationwide shortage.Employees who work at public pools said they're planning to open on or before Memorial Day weekend, and although they have some lifeguards on staff, they say they need more."It is such an important job for everybody to have, and the training is pretty intense," said Kassi Baker, district aquatic director.Baker works with the YMCA at Carondelet Park in south St. Louis and said they have 30 to 40 positions open for the summer. She said it's critical to have a lifeguard on deck."You never know when somebody's going to get into distress with not being able to swim," Baker said. "Or if they would have like a heart attack or a stroke. So having somebody trained to take over that situation is very important." In-N-Out Burger poised for major expansion, including in Missouri The YMCA is offering a $200 si...

Windsor’s Cameron Thomas makes lasting impression in short time as state champion pole vaulter

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

LAKEWOOD – Cameron Thomas wasn’t feeling it. The Windsor senior walked around distraught, his jaw hanging and his hands over his head after the Class 4A boys pole vault competition at the CHSAA state track and field meet Thursday morning.“That was the worst meet ever,” Thomas repeated while pacing around the far left of the track at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood.He then plopped onto a metal bench and dropped his head before one of the officials approached him to offer encouragement.“You are the state champion,” she said, hoping to brighten the mood.Indeed, Thomas was the 4A boys pole vault champion — a fitting end to an impressive high school track career. But Thomas didn’t clear 17 feet as he did in April or surpass the 4A state meet record of 16 feet. He defeated his competition by reaching 15 feet, 6 inches, which made his stomach turn because he wanted to do so much better in his grand finale.“16 (feet), 5 (inches) is such a light bar for me that I do all the time,” he ...

Nuggets vs. Lakers: Live updates and highlights from Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

Live updates, tweets, photos, analysis and more from the Denver Nuggets’ Game 2 matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers at Ball Arena in Denver on May 18, 2023.Nuggets-Lakers Game 2: Must readsNuggets’ Bruce Brown: “Goal” was to take Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell out of the gameWhen Bruce Brown lowers his shoulder, not many defenders have the bulk to stop him.That’s especially true in transition, where Brown rumbled for five of his six made baskets against the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.When Brown picked his head up and saw Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell staring back at him, he took it as an invitation to engage.“I mean we got out in transition, we attacked them, we took D-lo out the game,” Brown said Wednesday after the Nuggets’ film session in the wake of their Game 1 victory. “That was our goal to get him involved in everything.” Read more…Nuggets vs. Lakers: Three keys to victory in Game 2 of Western Conference FinalsThe first chapter of the 2023 West...

Hancock blasts Texas governor for sending busload of migrants to Denver’s Civic Center Park

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:24 GMT

More than 10,000 migrants have made their way to Denver since December, but on Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the first bus of arrivals that the state of Texas directed to Denver.Republican governors across the country, including Abbott, have been transporting migrants who arrive in their states to Democratic-led states and cities as a political statement.  Although hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly from Venezuela, have been coming to Denver each week by way of El Paso, Texas since early December, the migrants have come on commercial buses, seeking assistance to get to their final destinations.Colorado’s state and local officials have previously said that recent arrivals were not a result of political moves by GOP leaders and that the migrants were traveling to Denver on commercial buses, not coordinated by any state entities.That is, until now.In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Abbott said the first group of migrants chartered by his state to Colorado ...