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UN: South Sudan struggling to implement power-sharing deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — South Sudan is facing violent clashes and increasing disillusionment and frustration as it struggles to implement the most challenging provisions of a fragile 2018 power-sharing agreement, U.N. experts say in a new report. The world’s newest nation is struggling to integrate rival military forces, draft a new constitution and prepare for its first election as an independent country in December 2024, the experts monitoring sanctions against the world’s newest nation said in a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Friday by The Associated Press.The country’s stability “will likely turn on the government’s ability to reward the patience of those who remain committed to peace, rather than those who have sought to reshape it through violence,” the report says. There were high hopes when oil-rich South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long conflict. But the country slid into a civil war in December 2013 largely based on et...

Lawyer says ‘psychotic break’ explains stepson’s killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A lawyer for a Colorado woman who repeatedly stabbed and then shot her 11-year-old stepson before driving his body across the country said Friday that the brutality of the attack was the strongest evidence that the killing was the result of a “psychotic break.”During closing arguments in Letecia Stauch’s murder trial in Colorado Springs, Josh Tolini urged jurors to find her not guilty by reason of insanity. He emphasized that she would be kept confined at the state mental hospital if they reached that verdict in the 2020 killing of Gannon Stauch. Tolini said prosecutors had not shown why the special needs teacher would want to kill the slight 80-pound boy she cared for and lived with in such a violent way.“This wasn’t a pre-planned calculated killing for some gain. This was a psychotic break fueled by rage attacking a demon from the past,” he said in court before jurors began deliberations.Prosecutors say Gannon was stabbed 18 times before being hit in the ...

Tulips fill vacant lots in Chicago to highlight redlining

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

CHICAGO -- A sea of floral beauty has attracted people to a South side neighbor where a local artist and economic developer teamed up with the community by using nature to symbolize and bring light to injustice.Residence in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood were blown away by the beauty blooming in their vacant lots. Thousands of tulips are uniting people and shedding light on one of the roots responsible for a lock of wealth and significant deterioration in many communities of color.Ghian Foreman, the economic developer involved in the project, has helped bloom these tulips on three and a half acres of vacant land at the corner of East 53rd Street and South Prairie Avenue near Washington Park on Chicago's South side.And the tulip garden has quickly attracted a fan base. Lakeview man plants tulip garden to brighten neighborhood When the tulip bulbs were planted last fall, the goal was more than simply adding a vibrate pop of color and beauty to lots left empty. But, digging d...

Trump deposition video in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit released

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

(The Hill) — Former President Trump’s videotaped deposition in E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit was released Friday.The 48 minutes of footage show Trump responding to questions from Carroll’s lawyer over the writer’s claims that he raped her in the mid-1990s. Trump denies her allegations.Carroll has sued Trump in a civil case in federal court in New York City, accusing him of sexual battery and defamation.Portions of the deposition were played for jurors earlier this week, but the footage had not been released publicly. A transcript of the deposition was previously revealed in court filings.The release of the footage follows requests from two journalists to make it publicly available. Closing arguments are expected Monday.This is a developing story.

Fun facts about UT as May 2023 commencement ceremonies kickoff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for May 5, 2023.AUSTIN (KXAN) – Beginning Thursday, the graduating class for May 2023 walked the stage at The University of Texas at Austin.With commencement ceremonies in full swing, here are a few fun facts UT presented during Thursday’s graduation.The university said it had more than 1,000 student organizations available, and UT Austin was the first university with a presidential library on campus. That library was the LBJ Presidential Library, located at 2313 Red River St.During Thursday’s ceremony, 2,746 master’s and doctoral degrees were awarded, along with 7,907 bachelor’s, law and professional degrees.The university said all 50 states were represented at UT Austin, as well as more than 130 countries. From Texas, there are also 214 counties represented at the university’s Austin location.At the university, it said UT had more than 60 national championships, as well as more than 150 Olympic medals won by Long...

St. Paul man acquitted in Maplewood shooting that injured man and two boys, 12 and 15

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

A Ramsey County jury has acquitted a St. Paul man of all nine charges he faced in a shooting that injured three people in Maplewood in 2019.Brendon Joseph Garza, 26, was found not guilty Monday of three counts of attempted murder and six assault charges filed in the shooting that injured two boys, ages 12 and 15, and a 25-year-old man outside a Maplewood apartment building.The jury deliberated for about three hours Monday afternoon before reaching the verdict.“While we respect the jury’s decision, we are disappointed in the outcome,” Dennis Gerhardstein, Ramsey County attorney’s office spokesman, said in a statement this week. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.”Garza was represented by attorney Dan Adkins, who said the “self-defense and defense of others” claim that was raised “resonated with jurors immediately and throughout the trial.”“He was defending himself and his two friends,” Adkins said in an interview this week.One of the boys who was shot t...

Mayo Clinic threatens to kill billions in state investment, if two health care bills pass

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic is threatening to reconsider planned construction projects in Minnesota “four times the size of the investment in U.S. Bank Stadium,” if the Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz enact two statewide health care bills.The threat was included in an email from Kate Johansen, Mayo Clinic’s vice chair of external engagement, to Walz and state lawmakers on Wednesday. The email had the subject line “Mayo HHS Omnibus Concerns.”Johansen wrote, “The two proposals discussed — the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act (KNABA) and the Health Care Affordability Board — remain serious problems that require immediate attention and action.” The email was made public Friday in reporting by the Minnesota Reformer.Mayo Clinic asked for its facilities to be exempted from the KNABA requirements and to remove the “extremely problematic” Health Care Affordability Board proposal from the state’s Health and Human Services omnibus bill.The KNABA bill would require hosp...

Taste of Minnesota will return to action — in Minneapolis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

After an eight year break, Taste of Minnesota will return under new ownership and in a new location, Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.OutKast rapper Big Boi and ’90s rockers Third Eye Blind are booked to headline the free event, which will run from noon to 8 p.m. July 2 and 3 on three blocks of Nicollet Mall, from Washington Avenue to Fifth Street. Kid Rock associate Uncle Kracker will open for Big Boi and the festival will also feature music from the Steeles, the Fabulous Armadillos, Molly Maher and others, as well as wrestling from local favorites F1rst Wrestling.Organizers are expecting an attendance of 100,000 over the two days and Metro Transit will provide free bus service.“With the music we’ve booked and the food we’ve booked, it’s going to be a super fun event,” said Taylor Carik, one of five members of the planning committee that is organizing the new Taste.A wide range of food options are planned, from food trucks to cheese curd stands, with ch...

Minnesota enacts automatic voter registration, penalties for election misinformation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

A large number of Minnesotans will be automatically registered to vote in future elections under a bill signed into law on Friday by Gov. Tim Walz.That change to state election law and others, including preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds and a permanent absentee ballot option, will help Minnesota remain a leader in voter participation, said the Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor and lawmakers.“It builds on Minnesota’s proud tradition of strengthening, expanding, investing in the voices of Minnesotans,” said Rep. Emma Greenman, a Minneapolis DFLer who was the bill’s main author in the House. “We are choosing to be a north star by expanding the freedom to vote and strengthening the power of voters in our elections.”Lawmakers, advocates and state officials including Secretary of State Steve Simon, the state’s top elections official, joined the governor for a bill signing at the state Capitol on Friday.Simon noted that it has been almost 50 years since Minnesota became one of ...

Missouri AG wants Kim Gardner to leave office earlier than June 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:25 GMT

ST. LOUIS - One day after Kim Gardner announced her upcoming resignation as St. Louis Circuit Attorney, the Missouri Attorney General is pushing for her to leave office earlier than planned. After months of calls, requests, and demands for her to resign, Gardner will officially step down on June 1. Before this announcement, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had challenged Gardner with a quo warranto lawsuit, accusing her of neglecting her duties as circuit attorney. Bailey visited St. Louis on Friday and spoke one-on-one with FOX 2 about Gardner's announcement and his next steps. Trending: Kim Gardner supporters upset; some not surprised by her resignation "Yesterday was an encouraging development, that the circuit attorney has noticed an indication to vacate the office on June 1," said Bailey. "But until such time that she is gone, and there are structural mechanisms in place to prevent this from ever happening again, we are going to continue to pursue the quo warranto act...