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Backers of effort to repeal Alaska’s ranked voting system accused of campaign finance violations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Backers of an effort to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting system violated campaign finance rules and obscured the source of their funding, including forming a church that could have allowed donors to gain tax advantages for their contributions while skirting disclosure mandates, a complaint alleges.The complaint was filed by Alaskans for Better Elections, which was behind the successful 2020 ballot measure that replaced party primaries with open primaries and instituted ranked choice voting for general elections. The complaint is lodged against several individuals and groups involved in the repeal effort, including Art Mathias and Phillip Izon, the Anchorage Daily News reported.A group called Alaskans for Honest Elections has been gathering signatures in support of a ballot measure that seeks to repeal the new voting system. The Ranked Choice Education Association is the primary contributor to the group. But the complaint alleges the association was...

Sofia Kenin on comeback trail at Wimbledon trying ‘to prove some people wrong’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Sofia Kenin reached the third round at Wimbledon for the first time on Thursday. Or as the 2020 Australian Open champion put it: “Just trying to prove some people wrong.”Kenin beat Wang Xinyu of China 6-4, 6-3 to back up her victory over seventh-seeded Coco Gauff that ended a streak of three straight first-round exits at Grand Slam tournaments.The 24-year-old American came into Wimbledon ranked 128th and had to go through qualifying to reach the main draw — and she’s fine with that.“If I know every time I’m going to get to the third round at a Slam, I’ll play qualies,” said Kenin, who was ranked No. 4 after her title at Melbourne Park. “Yeah, definitely I feel like that for sure helped me. Grass wasn’t always my favorite surface, and I felt like I had some really good solid wins in qualies even though they were against tough opponents.“Looks obviously easy, but it was tough and I feel like those matches definitely gave me confidence.”Kenin’s win...

Made in HimmerLand Scores

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

ThursdayAt Himmerland Golf & Spa ResortFarsoPurse: $3.3 millionYardage: 6,647; Par: 70First RoundRobert Macintyre, Scotland33-31—64Ross Fisher, England33-33—66Nick Bachem, Germany34-33—67Daan Huizing, Netherlands33-34—67Johannes Veerman, United States33-34—67Lucas Bjerregaard, Denmark33-35—68Rasmus Hojgaard, Denmark35-33—68Alexander Levy, France34-34—68Andy Sullivan, England33-35—68Daniel Brown, England36-33—69Nacho Elvira, Spain35-34—69Ryo Hisatsune, Japan36-33—69Matthieu Pavon, France35-34—69David Ravetto, France35-34—69Todd Clements, England36-34—70Jeremy Freiburghaus, Switzerland36-34—70Mateusz Gradecki, Poland35-35—70Kristian Krogh Johannessen, Norway34-36—70Frederik Kjettrup, Denmark33-37—70Richard Mansell, England36-34—70Eddie Pepperell, England35-35—70Richie Ramsay, Scotland34-36—70Brandon Robinson-Thompson, England33-37—70Adrien Saddier, France35-35—70Marc Warren, Scotland36-34—70Gunner Wiebe, United States36-34—70Jeff Winther, Denmark36-34—70John Axelsen, Denmark35-36—...

US to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package: AP sources

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce on Friday that the Pentagon will send thousands as part of the latest military aid package for the war effort against Russia, according to people familiar with the decision.The decision comes despite widespread concerns that the controversial bombs can cause civilian casualties. The Pentagon will provide munitions that have a reduced “dud rate,” meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.U.S. officials said Thursday that the cluster munitions would be part of about $800 million in new military assistance to Ukraine.Long sought by Ukraine, cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing submunitions, or “bomblets,” that are dispersed over a large area and are intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once.The officials and others familiar with the decision were not authorized to publicly di...

The United States will provide cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package: AP sources

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will provide cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package: AP sources.Source

High E. coli levels close Cherry Creek swim area

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The natural swim area of Cherry Creek State Park was closed Thursday morning because of unsafe E. coli levels.Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a routine daily water quality test, the levels of E. coli in the water at Cherry Creek State Park were higher than allowable by Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment standards.E. coli are bacteria that typically live in the intestines of people or animals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most are harmless and even beneficial to a healthy human intestinal tract, but others can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory illness, pneumonia and more. COVID is now rarer in Colorado than before it was declared a national emergency When E. coli is found in water, the CDC said its presence indicates water contamination, even though the E. coli found in the water might not be harmful. The CDC said on its website that this gets confusing even for microbiologist...

Colorado completely out of drought for the first time in years

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The entire State of Colorado is officially out of drought for the first time since July 2019, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.The state's southeastern corner was the last part of the state with dry conditions of any kind, and it officially lost its "abnormally dry" status in the last week. Why you may be seeing more black widow spiders in Colorado this season To put things into perspective, as of three months ago, 47.5% of the state was suffering from drought, with parts of the state in "exceptional drought," the highest intensity level, according to the data.How does drought compare to last year?The change has been even more dramatic since the start of the year. At the tail end of 2022, 86% of the state was in varying levels of drought.Conditions were much worse this time last year, with all but 1.52% of the state in drought.The entire Denver metro was characterized as being in "moderate drought," the second level of intensity. At times during the spring of...

‘Peaky Blinders’ says Ron DeSantis campaign video used footage of Cillian Murphy ‘without permission’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

(CNN) — The Twitter account for the Netflix series “Peaky Blinders” posted a message on Wednesday strongly disapproving of the use of footage of star Cillian Murphy as lead character Thomas Shelby in a Ron DeSantis campaign video targeting the LGBTQ+ community, from the account @Proudelephantus. The video was retweeted by the account @DeSantisWarRoom.https://twitter.com/ThePeakyBlinder/status/1676674269550465032Other actors seen in the clip included Leonardo DiCaprio in “Wolf of Wall Street” and Brad Pitt in “Troy,” intercut with footage of DeSantis and newsclips pertaining to both his and Donald Trump’s LGBTQ+-related policies.“We confirm the footage of Tommy Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron Desantis (sic) campaign was obtained without permission or official li...

18-year-old arrested for string of armed robberies in Hollywood and Broward County

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

An 18-year-old was arrested after, police say, he committed a series of armed robberies. According to officials, Matthew Carr, of Hollywood, was arrested for the the robberies that took place near South 56th Avenue and Washington Street throughout the month of June. The robberies primarily took place during transactions conducted through Facebook Marketplace.A comprehensive investigation conducted by the assigned detective linked Carr to multiple armed robberies not only in Hollywood but also across Broward County. Additionally, Carr has been implicated in various other violent crimes within the county.On July 5, 2023, Hollywood Detectives, in collaboration with Detectives from the US Marshals Service, Florida Caribbean Regional Task Force, successfully took Carr into custody.

Russian cruise missile attack on Ukraine city of Lviv kills 6 people and injures dozens

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:48 GMT

By MSTYSLAV CHERNOV (Associated Press)LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired cruise missiles Thursday at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least six people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces invaded the country last year.Emergency crews with search dogs went through the rubble of the building after the nighttime attack destroyed the roof and the top two floors. At least 36 people were injured, according to authorities. The youngest of the people who died was 21 years old and the oldest was a woman of 95, Lviv province governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. “This woman survived the Second World War, but unfortunately she didn’t survive” Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kozytskyi said.Debris and wrecked parked cars lined the street outside the building, which overlooks a small neighborhood park with swings and other playground eq...