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Dear Abby: Poolgoers leave towels to claim shady spot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

Dear Abby: The other day I went to the pool in my neighborhood and found there were four lounge chairs with towels on them indicating they were “reserved.” They are the best chairs in the pool area because they are covered by a small roof and protected from the sun. I then had to use another chair that only partially covered me.It wasn’t until three hours later, when I was about to leave, that a couple carrying party items showed up to claim the chairs. Would it have been OK to move the “reserved” chairs to another area and put mine under the roof, and then put them back when I leave? What if the people come and I’m still there? — All Wet in FloridaDear All Wet: What those neighbors did was rude. Yes, it would have been OK for you to sit in the shade, protected from the sun. If the entitled folks who tied up the chairs (for hours) came down to use them within 15 minutes, you could have moved. But under the circumstances, you should not have ...

What should I do on the death anniversary? More are asking as US mass killings rise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — On a September day that he knew would be hard, 51-year-old Damone Presley marked the occasion with barbecue and balloons.He was commemorating the one-year anniversary of the day in 2021 that his daughter and her three friends were fatally shot in Minnesota by a man who left their bodies in an abandoned SUV in a Wisconsin cornfield. Presley gathered 50 friends to celebrate the life of his daughter, Nitosha Flug-Presley, who was 30 when she died. He went big on the anniversary because he felt sure that’s what his daughter would have wanted.“She would always do stuff big,” Presley told The Associated Press.There have been 553 mass killings in the United States since 2006, and at least 2,880 people have died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. Those include killings where four or more died, not including the assailant, within a 24-hour period. So far in 2023, the nation has witnesse...

Mexico prosecutors withdraw case against woman sentenced to prison for killing rapist attacking her

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican prosecutors announced Saturday night that they are withdrawing a case against a woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a man as he raped and attacked her.In a ruling last week that touched off a public outcry, a court in Mexico State said that while it agreed 23-year-old Roxana Ruiz was raped in 2021, it found her guilty of homicide with “excessive use of legitimate defense.” It also ordered Ruiz to pay more than $16,000 in reparations to the family of her attacker.Feminist groups, which have supported Ruiz’s defense, angrily protested, saying the ruling was criminalizing survivors of sexual violence while protecting perpetrators in a country with high levels of gender-based violence and femicides. Protesters in Mexico City carried signs reading “Defending my life isn’t a crime.” Ruiz, an Indigenous woman and single mother, told reporters after the court’s ruling that she had received death threats because of the...

Using ‘he/him,’ ‘she/her’ in emails got 2 dorm directors fired at small New York Christian college

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Shua Wilmot and Raegan Zelaya, two former dorm directors at a small Christian university in western New York, acknowledge their names are unconventional, which explains why they attached gender identities to their work email signatures.Wilmot uses “he/him.” Zelaya goes by “she/her.”Their former employer, Houghton University, wanted them to drop the identifiers in line with a new policy for email formats implemented in September. Both refused and were fired.“My name is Shua. It’s an unusual name. And it ends with a vowel, ‘a,’ that is traditionally feminine in many languages,” Wilmot said in a nearly one-hour video he and Zelaya posted on YouTube shortly after they were let go last month. “If you get an email from me and you don’t know who I am, you might not know how to gender me.”Ongoing culture wars in the U.S. over sexual preferences, gender IDs and transgender rights have engulfed politics, school campuses and many other facets of public and private life. At leas...

Kinsey Institute experts study sex, gender as misconceptions block state dollars

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Unfounded claims about Indiana University’s sex research institute, its founder and child sex abuse have been so persistent over the years that when the Legislature prohibited the institute from using state dollars, one lawmaker hailed the move as “long overdue.”The decision, largely symbolic, does not halt the Kinsey Institute’s work, ranging from studies on sexual assault prevention to contraception use among women. But researchers tell The Associated Press the Republican-dominated Legislature’s February decision is based on an enduring, fundamental misunderstanding of their work — a false narrative that they, despite efforts to correct such misinformation, cannot shake.Funding from the university remains unclear, but Zoe Peterson, senior scientist and director of the Sexual Assault Research Initiative at the Kinsey Institute, will continue her inquiries into consent and those who perpetrate sexual assault. Contrary to what conspiracy theorists claim about...

New York City has a right to shelter, but will it establish a right to sleep outside?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Eric Adams has hailed his city’s right to shelter as a hallmark of compassion for its most destitute. Now he must decide if he will extend that compassion by bestowing homeless people with the right to sleep outside.The City Council unanimously approved a “Homeless Bill of Rights” last month that would make New York the first big U.S. city to establish an explicit right to sleep in at least some public places.If Adams, a Democrat, allows the measure to become law, it could be a notable departure for the city, which has for years sent police and sanitation crews to clear homeless encampments as they arise.It also would run against the prevailing political headwinds in other places that have struggled with large numbers of people living in tents and other makeshift shelters.The Los Angeles City Council passed a broad anti-camping measure two years ago. Then last year, the city outlawed tents within 500 feet (150 meters) of schools and day cares and banne...

Polls open in Greece’s first election since international bailout spending controls ended

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Polls have opened in Greece’s parliamentary election, the first since the country’s economy ceased to be subject to strict supervision and control by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during its nearly decade-long financial crisis.The two main contenders in Sunday’s vote are conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, a Harvard-educated former banker, and 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, who heads the left-wing Syriza party and served as prime minister during some of the financial crisis’ most turbulent years.Although Mitsotakis has been steadily ahead in opinion polls, a newly introduced electoral system of proportional representation makes it unlikely that whoever wins the election will be able to garner enough seats in Greece’s 300-member parliament to form a government without seeking coalition partners.The winner of Sunday’s election will have three days to negotiate a coalition with one or more other parties. If that fails, the mand...

Debt limit talks appear deadlocked as GOP won’t budge on spending cuts; vote may require Dem support

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

By KEVIN FREKING, SEUNG MIN KIM and ZEKE MILLER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt limit negotiations between the White House and House Republicans appeared deadlocked during weekend negotiations, as GOP lawmakers held tight to demands for sharp spending cuts, rejecting alternative ways to reduce deficits. President Joe Biden and world leaders are keeping watch from afar hoping high-stakes discussions would make progress on avoiding a potentially catastrophic federal default.The Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are racing for a budget deal that would pave the way to increase the nation’s debt limit. Republicans are rejecting a White House plan that would impose less strict cuts while also increasing revenues. The two sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at $31 trillion, so the government can keep paying the nation’s bills.“We’re going to get a chance to talk later today...

Loons net dramatic late goal for 1-0 win over Portland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

Minnesota United manager Adrian Heath has continued to put faith in struggling striker Luis Amarilla; it is not paying off.With Amarilla held scoreless in nearly 70 minutes Saturday, the Paraguayan has not scored an open-play goal in more than 650 minutes this season.But Loons rising star Bongi Hlongwane remained hot and bailed out his struggling teammate with a last-second goal to give MNUFC a 1-0 win over Portland Timbers at Providence Park.Hlongwane’s 94th-minute goal Saturday pairs with his goal Wednesday, which was the difference in a 1-0 win over Houston Dynamo. The 22-year-old leads team with four MLS goals and two more in U.S. Open Cup play.After Hlongwane ripped off his jersey in celebration, he did the Robin Lod celebration, pulling and firing an arrow a la Robin Hood. It was a nice gesture for Lod, who was lost to a torn meniscus on Wednesday.MNUFC defense was stout throughout and were able to leapfrog the Timbers (4-6-4, 16 points). After going winless in six match...

Matthew Tkachuk plays hero again in another OT win for Panthers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:48 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk finished a feed from Sam Reinhart at the 1:51 mark of overtime to help the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Saturday night for a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference final.Less than two days after scoring the winner in a four-overtime thriller, Tkachuk came through again, this time on the power play after a faceoff win by the Panthers. Sam Bennett sent a pass to the left side for Reinhart, who zipped the puck across to Tkachuk for the easy finish against a sprawled-out Antti Raanta.Tkachuk immediately skated toward the door on the boards leading to the Florida locker room, motioning to his teammates that it was time to roll out and celebrate.It marked Tkachuk's third overtime winner in the playoffs, which includes a Game 5 road win in the first-round upset of Boston following the Bruins’ record-setting regular season. And just like that, Florida won on the road for the eighth straight time in the playoffs — including star...