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European Greens call for top candidates for EU elections 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

The European Green Party is opening the call for top candidates for the 2024 EU elections, also known as “Spitzenkandidaten”. The selected Green leading candidates will be the heart and face of our political family in the campaign debates and events leading up to the EU elections on 6th-9th June 2024. Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel, co-chairs of the European Green Party comment: “During our Electoral Congress in Lyon on 2-4 February hundreds of delegates from all Green parties will elect our two European frontrunners. We call on other European political parties to do the same, to ensure a transparent political discussion prior to the EU elections taking place on 6th-9th June. Our top candidates are also our nominees for key positions, such as the Commission presidency if the opportunity arises. This is because we believe that behind-the-scenes arrangements, like the one we witnessed in 2019 with von der Leyen's appointment to the Commission presidency despite not being a candidate, ...

Thieves ransack, trash beloved local coffee shop and barbecue spot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

A beloved local coffee shop and barbecue spot in Sylmar was ransacked and trashed over the weekend, leaving the owners devastated.  Buffalo Bruce’s Mercantile, located at 13661 Hubbard Street, has been in business for 26 years, according to one of the owners, Vivian Hartman, who said when she and her husband arrived at work on Monday, they noticed the doors were broken.  “When we entered, we saw our place and it was destroyed,” Hartman told KTLA. “It smelled, there was drug [paraphernalia] everywhere.”  The store’s owner added that the thieves not only took items of value like their computers and the restaurant’s knives and other equipment, but they also used a bat to further damage the shop.  Surveillance cameras set up in the coffee shop and restaurant were dismantled and taken, she said, and the shop’s internet connection was cut by the thieves.  Even more upsetting, Hartman said that after police came and looked at everything, the thieves broke back into the ...

Blackwood shines, Eklund yells and the San Jose Sharks’ nightmare ends

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

SAN JOSE – Forget about the San Jose Sharks losing streak and every ugly night that was a part of it.Put away the record book for now.The Sharks, almost four weeks after their season began, have earned a win.Thanks to an often spectacular performance from goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and goals from Anthony Duclair and William Eklund, the Sharks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Tuesday, ending an 11-game season-opening losing streak that tied an NHL record first established in 1943. Eklund’s goal was the winner. And after he scored at the 16:18 mark of the second period, giving the Sharks their first two-goal lead of the season, Eklund stood two dozen feet away from the Flyers net and let out a roar, a release of sorts after three-plus weeks of frustration.“It was a big relief,” Eklund said of his second goal of the season.A goal by Joel Farabee with 1:11 left in the second period cut the Sharks’ lead to 2-1. At first, it appeared Blackwood made an unbelievable glov...

Mayor Thao, A's fans urge MLB to keep team in Oakland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Oakland city leaders are asking Major League Baseball owners to keep the A’s in Oakland. MLB team owners are expected to vote on the A’s potential move to Vegas next week. Mayor Sheng Thao was adamant on Tuesday that the fight is not over and that leaders and the community need to send a message that the A’s should stay in East Bay.A’s fans filled the Oakland city council chambers Tuesday to show their support for Oakland’s last major professional sports team. One person shot dead in incident involving Oakland police “We have lost almost every sports team,” said Craig Imlock, an A’s fan since the 1970s. “We have lost the Raiders, we have lost the Warriors. We need someone in Oakland. Someone has to stay in Oakland.” It warmed Imlock’s heart to see so many Oakland leaders pushing to keep the team.“This is love. This is really love. To break this by going to Vegas would be the stupidest thing ever,” he said. Thao called for MLB owners to vote “no” ...

San Francisco safety efforts outlined for APEC, holiday shopping season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

(BCN) -- Barely a month after a smash-and-grab theft at the Christian Dior store near San Francisco's Union Square, Mayor London Breed stood before the towering Macy's holiday tree and announced the opening of a safe and vibrant holiday shopping season.Joined by Police Chief Bill Scott, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and members of the Union Square Alliance, a downtown association dedicated to enhancing Union Square, Breed detailed the city's strategy to secure the area.Plans include additional uniformed and plainclothes police officers, downtown ambassadors, street closures and the installation of 400 new automated license plate readers throughout the city."You will see increased presence not only in Union Square, but in all our shopping corridors," said Scott. "You won't see the plainclothes officers that are out here getting the job done and arresting people because they're watching crimes as they occur."Regarding the Dior store incident, Scott said, "We were right there. Unfo...

Immigrant rights group based in Md. criticized for harsh statement on Israel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

Andrew Friedson, vice president of the Montgomery County Council, is demanding that the Silver Spring-based immigrant rights group CASA retract a statement it posted on social media, then removed, that was harshly critical of Israel.The Monday statement by CASA’s executive director Gustavo Torres said the nonprofit group stands in steadfast solidarity with the people of Palestine. The statement went on to accuse Israel of “systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” and, while it condemned the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, it charged that Israel has unleashed “the heinous practice of terror” in Gaza.The statement called for an immediate cease-fire and condemned U.S. military aid to Israel.The group, which receives federal, state and county funding to advance its program of aid to immigrants, also linked the Palestinian struggle with those of the immigrant communities it supports, whose countries it said have been “wrecked by the da...

Parents fight to keep Bowie school open, but is it too late?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

In recent years, Pointer Ridge Elementary School has hovered around 50% capacity, with the most recent numbers from September of 2022 showing it was at 53% capacity, tied for the lowest school population in all of Prince George’s County.It was one of a handful of schools the county was ready to close at the end of last year, but a furious fight by the parents at the school led former chief executive officer for Prince George’s County Public Schools Monica Goldson to delay the decision by a year. Her replacement, new Superintendent Millard House, has indicated he’s ready to move ahead with the closure of the school, though parents aren’t giving up the fight.House will meet with parents at Pointer Ridge on Wednesday night, and a statement provided to WTOP from PGCPS ahead of the meeting said the decision was “well-considered,” noting low enrollment for several years in a building that’s more than 50 years old.Closing the school, the county sai...

Bjugstad’s shootout goal lifts the Arizona Coyotes to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Nick Bjugstad scored the only goal in a shootout and the Arizona Coyotes beat Seattle 4-3 on Tuesday night to snap a four-game losing streak to the Kraken.Matias Maccelli, Barrett Hayton and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, who converted twice on the power play and have won four of six home games at 5,000-seat Mullett Arena this season. Bjugstad has delivered the deciding goal in both of Arizona’s shootout wins this season.“Sometimes you score and you just get confidence from it,” said Bjugstad, who has 17 shootout goals in his 13-year career. “I didn’t really expect coming into the league to be shooting. I had a lot of reps when I was a young player in Florida. That helps with the nerves.”Eeli Tolvanen, Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Kraken, who have lost four of six overall. They’ve played five overtime games already this season, winning twice.“It’s a tight league,” defenseman Justin Schultz said. “Every game is a b...

Sharks end record-tying 11-game skid to start season with 2-1 win over Flyers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The San Jose Sharks snapped an 11-game losing streak that tied for the longest skid to start the season in NHL history with a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist, Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves and William Eklund added a power-play goal as San Jose (1-10-1) won. The Sharks had allowed 10 goals in each of their last two games.Joel Farabee scored for Philadelphia (5-7-1), which lost for the fifth time in its last six games despite out-shooting San Jose 39-19.Samuel Ersson made 17 saves for the Flyers, who played without starting goaltender Carter Hart for a third straight game due to a mid-body injury. He remains day-to-day.Philadelphia’s top center Sean Couturier returned to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury, recording two shots.Duclair scored his third goal of the year 1:43 into the first period to give San Jose an early lead.Eklund made it 2-0 in the second, scoring his ...

Johansen scores go-ahead goal late, Colorado beats New Jersey 6-3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:19 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Ryan Johansen scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Colorado Avalanche broke out of an offensive slump with a 6-3 win over the short-handed New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.The Avalanche also got two goals from Mikko Rantanen, including an empty-net goal in the final moments. Nathan MacKinnon, Miles Wood and Ross Colton also scored, although Colton drew successive boarding and cross-checking penalties that landed him in the penalty box for seven minutes during which New Jersey scored twice.Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Toffoli had goals for New Jersey, which was without centers Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Hughes missed a second game since suffering a right shoulder injury Friday night at St. Louis.Team officials have described the status of Hughes, who has 20 points (5 goals, 15 assists) in 10 games this season, as week-to-week. Hischier has missed the last five games with an upper body injury.Colorado was missing center Fredrik Olofsson,...