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Russia says it shot down 36 Ukrainian drones as fighting grinds on in Ukraine’s east

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian air defense shot down over 30 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday.“The air defense systems in place destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.Local authorities in the southern Krasnodar region bordering the Black Sea said that a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday, but did not specify the cause. “The reasons for the incident are being established,” a statement from local authorities said, amid claims in local media outlets that the fire had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone.Drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and Moscow-annexed Crimea are a regular occurrence. Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula.In Ukraine, the country...

Erwin Chemerinsky: How new House Speaker Mike Johnson tried again and again to overturn Biden’s election

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

In less than 15 months, Congress will count and certify the votes from the electoral college. It is truly frightening that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from the far right of the Republican Party, might have a prominent role in the process.If Republicans keep control of the House in the November 2024 elections, it seems likely they will keep Johnson as speaker given their bitter divisions and difficulty in selecting someone for the position after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. Johnson was the primary proponent in the House of a way to overturn the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in the presidency. He can be expected to do the same in 2024 if Trump is the Republican nominee and loses to President Joe Biden.Johnson, a lawyer, led the House Republicans in promoting a baseless legal theory that state legislatures have sole power to select and appoint electors. This so-called “independent state legislature” theory maintains that a state legislature can allocate its e...

Author and historian delves into history of Forest Lake

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

When he was young, historian and author Justin Brink would make his dad, Kevin, drive him up and down the streets of Forest Lake in the family’s 1989 Chevy Celebrity on self-directed history tours.“I had a dime-store camera, and I would take pictures of buildings and street intersections,” Brink said. “We even stopped traffic at a main intersection once — just so I could get the right shot. I was a strange kid.”Brink recently published his first book, “Images of America: Forest Lake.” The 128-page book is packed with photos and stories curated by Brink, the president of the Forest Lake Historical Society.One early settler featured in the book is Swiss immigrant Gotthard Rahm, who arrived in Forest Lake around 1875 and served as the town’s election clerk, treasurer and supervisor. He and his wife, Marie, had three children, and they lived on about 150 acres that abutted the northwest corner of First Lake and included the outlet of the Sunrise River. Sadly, the family’s time in Forest...

Skywatch: Chilling under the thrilling November sky    

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

The best news for stargazers in November is that nights are much longer you can start your stargazing much earlier with the end of daylight-saving time. Sure it’s cooler but don’t let that stop you. It’s too good of a show to miss!Jupiter and Saturn are the biggest attractions in the evening sky this month. Jupiter really steals the show. It’s tremendously bright as it pops out in the low eastern sky during evening twilight. It’s overwhelmingly the brightest starlight object in the evening sky. The Jovian giant makes its closest approach to Earth in 2023 this Friday when it’ll be just over 370 million miles away. Jupiter is also in what astronomers call opposition because Jupiter and the sun are on opposite sides of the sky. That means Jupiter rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, gracing our heavens all night long.(Mike Lynch)With a small telescope, you should see up to four of Jupiter’s moons dancing around the 88,000-mile-wide planet in orbital periods of two to 17 days. On ...

Readers and writers: The story behind a classic musical, and the one behind sweet potato pie

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Judy Garland and Gene Kelly for grownups, twins and pumpkin pie for the Littles. A good way to start a new month of reading.(Courtesy of University Press of Mississippi)“C’Mon, Get Happy: The Making of Summer Stock”: by David Fantle and Tom Johnson: foreword by Savion Glover. (University Press of Mississippi, $35).The back story of how this film starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in their third and final pairing was brought to the screen contains enough drama, heartache, and genuine selflessness to fuel the plots of a score of MGM melodramas. It took a herculean effort and the bottomless empathy of Kelly, co-stars Phil Silvers, Eddie Bracken, Carleton Carpenter, and director Charles Walters to “pull” a performance out of a drug-addled and emotionally spent Garland… — from “Summer Stock”It’s 1950 and MGM Film Studios is the premier producer of musical films starring top talent such as Judy Garland and dancer Gene Kelly, wh...

Literary calendar for week of Oct. 29

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

PATRICK BARB: Introduces “Pre-Approved for Haunting,” in conversation with Katrina Monroe. 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.STEACY EASTON:  Presents “Why Tammy Wynette Matters.” 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, SubText Books, 6 W. Fifth St., St. Paul.LITERATURE LOVERS’ NIGHT OUT: Hosts Julie Schumacher (“The English Experience”), Jimin Han (“The Apology”), Daniel Hornsby (“Sucker”), and Jocelyn Cole/Sharon Nagel, writing as Juneau Black (“Twilight Falls”), at two events. 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, Hopkins Activity Center, 33 14th Ave. N., Hopkins. $15.Hosted by Cream and Amber. 11 a.m. luncheon Saturday, Nov. 4, Grand Banquet Hall, 301 Second St. S., Stillwater, presented by Valley Bookseller of Stillwater. Contact the stores for more information.LITERARY BRIDGES: With readers Jeanne Lutz, Diane Jarvenpa, Hardy Coleman, Frank Gioia and Jim Bohen, including a farewell to Donna Is...

7 candidates vie for 4 seats on St. Paul school board

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Seven candidates have lined up for four seats on the St. Paul school board, which oversees the second-largest school district in the state.St. Paul Public Schools educates some 33,000 students across 68 schools, a number that has fallen from roughly 37,000 students over the past decade. Parents have blamed declining enrollment on school start times, competition from a growing number of charter schools and the difficulties of navigating a pandemic that beginning in 2020 forced kids into more than a year of online learning.Questions around school safety, school consolidations and declining high school graduation rates also loom over the school district, which entered the pandemic in 2020 at the same time as a teachers strike. Then there’s growing financial pressure as inflationary costs rise while enrollment declines, triggering a recent series of budget outreach events.Despite the district’s challenges, many families remain fiercely loyal to their school and to the distri...

Ask Amy: Spouse can’t bear to be with in-laws

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Dear Amy: I can’t stand my wife’s family.Things were great in the early years but became progressively worse over time.Out of the blue my father-in-law insisted on being called “Sir” — after a decade of me calling him by his first name.He worked hard and came from nothing, but acts like no one else but him can have a successful life or career.He is ALWAYS passive-aggressive toward me.My sister-in-law intentionally invaded my personal space and basically sexually harassed me in order to make me uncomfortable, in addition to directing insults at me in front of her parents.My wife ignores or doesn’t acknowledge this, but after her sister admitted it and apologized to her (not me) for doing this, my wife acted like it’s no big deal.The mother-in-law (RIP) would ignore me in my own house while visiting my kids.I told my wife that I don’t want to be around her family; they make me uncomfortable and treat me like a loser. (I am a hard-working RN with a m...

Horoscopes Oct. 29, 2023: Winona Ryder, surround yourself with solid friendships

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Ben Foster, 43; Gabrielle Union, 51; Winona Ryder, 52; Richard Dreyfuss, 76.Happy Birthday: It’s time to rediscover what brings you joy. Look for opportunities to resurrect. New opportunities are within reach, but it’s up to you to make it happen. Nurture what you love, change what you don’t and take responsibility for your happiness. Surround yourself with solid friendships, concrete ideas and innovative plans that help you grow as everything around you moves forward. Your numbers are 4, 12, 20, 26, 30, 35, 44.ARIES (March 21-April 19): You’ll be surprised by the response you receive. Choose to verify what you hear and to consider your next move. A change of heart will prompt an opportunity to repeat something you enjoy. Don’t sit on the fence if a decision is essential. 3 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Engage in whatever draws you most; opportunity will unfold. A chance meeting, conversation or offer will stimulate your m...

Gaza residents raid food warehouses as ‘civil order’ disintegrates, UN says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Thousands of people in Gaza pillaged wheat, flour and other food supplies from United Nations warehouses, a U.N. agency said on Sunday, warning that “civil order” was starting to disintegrate in the besieged enclave.Israeli military forces expanded their ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing that the war with the Hamas militant group was entering a “second stage.” Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes early Sunday near the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in northern Gaza, residents said, after Israel claimed Hamas has a command post under the facility, the Associated Press reported.Israel says most residents in Gaza have heeded its orders to flee to the south, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north.According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), a local humanitarian organization, the Israeli military on Sunday morning issued a warning regarding another hospital, calling on the NGO to “immed...