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Director of British Museum steps down amid controversy over thefts of ancient items

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The director of the British Museum said Friday that he would step down immediately amid investigations into the theft or disappearance of hundreds of items from its massive collection, including gold jewelry, semi-precious gems and antiquities dating to the15th century B.C.Hartwig Fischer had planned to leave the post next year but said his presence had become a distraction after questions were raised recently about whether the museum took warnings seriously. Two years ago, an art dealer contacted museum officials to report that he suspected items from the collection were being peddled online. “It is evident that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to the warnings in 2021, and to the problem that has now fully emerged,” Fischer said in a statement. “The responsibility for that failure must ultimately rest with the director.”London’s Metropolitan Police are now investigating the thefts. The museum previou...

‘This is a long game’: After Roe, the fight over abortion access moves to New Mexico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) — The sanctuary in Grace Covenant Reformed Church was packed.People stood shoulder to shoulder wherever they could — near the stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible, behind the neatly lined rows of chairs that serve as pews, against a wall covered in crosses made from painted wood, wire, glass and ceramic red chiles.Bibles and hymnals rested under every seat, but they weren’t used that Monday night last September. There was no sermon, because this wasn’t a church service.Residents of Clovis, a town of some 40,000 people a mere 20-minute drive to the Texas state line, crammed into this little brick building that night to discuss a plan of action to ban abortion.Just three months earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that had legalized abortion in the U.S. for almost 50 years.As trigger laws banning the procedure began going into effect across the nation — in places includi...

Rangers hire Hall of Fame U.S. women’s star Angela Ruggiero as a hockey operations adviser

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Rangers have hired Hockey Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero as a hockey operations adviser.The team announced the addition of Ruggiero on Friday along with several front office changes.Ruggiero, 43, won four Olympic medals as a defenseman for the U.S. She helped the country win gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano — the first Olympics with women’s hockey — followed by silver in 2002 and 2010 and bronze in 2006.The Michigan native skated 15 years with the national team, putting up 58 points in 61 international games. Ruggiero was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.The Rangers also promoted former NHL forward Ryane Clowe to co-senior adviser to the president and general manager Chris Drury and hired retired defenseman Paul Mara as player development assistant.Andy Hosler was hired as head athletic trainer. Hosler returns to the league after two years at Michigan State to succeed longtime trainer Jim Ramsay, who had worked in that role since the mid-1990s...

Aurora shooting suspect arrested in Georgia, accused of 2nd homicide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — A suspect who has been connected to the death of a man in Aurora was arrested in Georgia after allegedly committing another homicide. On Aug. 5, the Aurora Police Department was investigating a deadly shooting in the 3200 block of Peoria Street near the Morris Heights neighborhood. When officers arrived at a parking lot in the area, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.According to witnesses, the victim had gotten into a verbal altercation with the suspect before being shot. The suspect then fled the scene. 4 ‘armed and dangerous’ young adults wanted in shoe store robbery The Aurora Police Department Major Crimes Homicide Unit was investigating the case.On Thursday, nearly three weeks after the deadly shooting, FOX31 learned that a suspect had been arrested in connection to the case.According to the Aurora Police Department, David Kinney was identified as the suspect. Following the shooting,...

Bodycam shows officer beating suspect with tennis racket at dealership in Daytona Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) —Bodycam video of police in Daytona Beach showed an officer beating a suspect with a tennis racket. The suspect was caught breaking into a car dealership, but how the officer handled the situation is being called into question.The incident happened back on April 8 when Daytona Beach Police Officers, including a K-9 unit, responded to a Toyota dealership for reports of a man who broke into a car.Body camera video showed him carrying a tennis racket as officers found him near the service area.“Police k-9. Get on the ground now or you’re going to get bit,” said an officer .Despite multiple commands to get on the ground, the man was still standing when an officer sent his canine after him.“Get on your face now or you’re getting bit,” the officer said.What happened next is what some are calling excessive force.“The optics of this are really bad for the department,” said Albert Yonfa, a lawyer.Just a few seconds af...

Dozens of animals removed from ‘shocking’ conditions in NH home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

Several dozen animals were removed from “shocking” conditions in a home in Bedford, New Hampshire earlier this week, the New Hampshire SPCA announced Friday. The animals, including 33 dogs, three birds and a cat, were taken into the care of the New Hampshire SPCA, which is now asking for help from the community.“We are at capacity and in need of support, food donations and adopters,” the organization said in a statement. The NHSPCA said its personnel worked with Bedford police officers to serve a search warrant at the Bedford home on Wednesday. Inside, the NHSPCA said authorities found the house was “full of mold.” The SPCA described an “overwhelming” smell from animal waste and said the dogs were living in wire crates stacked three crates high. The NHSPCA said the crates were inappropriately sized for the dogs inside and said floors in the house were covered in feces.  Officials this week said they had investigated the house where the latest group of a...

Fee-only financial planners vs. fee-based

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

Brian Baker | Bankrate.com (TNS)When looking for a financial adviser, you’ll encounter various compensation arrangements, including fee-only advisers and fee-based advisers. Fee-only advisers and fee-based advisers sound very similar, but they have some major differences, and it could have a big impact on the kind of advice you receive as a client.Here’s what you should know about fee-only and fee-based financial planners.What is a fee-only financial planner?A fee-only financial planner is someone who earns a fee for their services and does not receive commissions on the sale of financial products as additional compensation. The fee may be paid as an hourly rate, a flat fee or as a percentage of assets under management (typically around one percent).Fee-only advisers typically act as fiduciaries for their clients, meaning they put their clients’ interests before their own or their firms’. Certain professional designations such as a certified financial planner (CFP) and a chartered f...

As ranked choice voting gains momentum, parties in power push back

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

By Matt Vasilogambros, Stateline.orgOver the past decade, ranked choice voting has become increasingly popular. From conservative Utah to liberal New York City, 13 million American voters in 51 jurisdictions — including all of Alaska and Maine — now use the system, under which voters rank candidates based on preference, leading to an instant runoff in a crowded race.This year, Democrats and Republicans in power pushed back.Arguing that ranked choice voting is too complicated for voters to understand, Democrats in the District of Columbia and Republicans in states such as Idaho, Montana and South Dakota took steps to prevent adoption of the voting system.Earlier this month, the D.C. Democratic Party filed a lawsuit to block a ballot initiative that would adopt ranked choice voting and allow voters without a party affiliation to cast ballots in primaries. The lawsuit argued in part that ranked choice voting might confuse voters, which “could ultimately suppress the voice and influence...

What is the new ‘Star Wars’ show ‘Ahsoka’ on Disney+ and why should you care?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

Christopher Borrelli | Chicago TribuneAhsoka Tano pilots a flying quesadilla through an unsettled galaxy. As a member of the Togruta species, she is a native of the planet Shili, and not the Togruta colony found on the planet Kiros. (Such an easy mistake to make.) According to Wookiepedia — a product of the semi-sentient human species of the planet Earth — Togruta can be blue, purple, white, yellow or red. Ahsoka is sort of spray-tan hued, though a bit lighter. The Togruta are distinguished by their loyalty and their montrals, which Wookiepedia describes as “cone-like horns” jutting out of their temples, but, to humans, it looks like small octopuses passed out on their heads and the Togruta were totally cool with it.How much of that did you already know?It might matter if you follow the new “Ahsoka” series on Disney+ into the darkest reaches of “Star Wars” lore. To put it in fluent George Lucas: “Ahsoka” is set on the outer rim of the galaxy. But if you come to “Star Wars” every dec...

Nearly half the states now allow in-state tuition for immigrant students

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:37:26 GMT

By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline.orgWhen Cristian Dubon Solis was getting ready to graduate from a Boston high school in 2020, he started planning to apply to college. It was only then he realized that as an immigrant lacking permanent legal status, he wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts state universities, nor for state-sponsored financial aid.With no way to afford a four-year school to pursue his dream major, environmental science, he put those plans on hold.“I took a few gap years afterward,” said the now 21-year-old from East Boston, a community where about half the residents are Hispanic or Latino. Solis now advocates for young immigrants as a student coordinator for a nonprofit group called SIM, which formerly stood for Student Immigration Movement.One of four siblings, Solis came to the United States from El Salvador at age 3. His three younger sisters were born in the U.S., he said. Family and friends didn’t discuss their immigration status, so he never hear...