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LGBTQ+ lawmaker to GOP: ‘I’m literally trying to exist’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — State Sen. Shevrin Jones can often be seen at the Florida Capitol greeting staff and colleagues with a smile or laugh, but when he’s alone it’s a different story.“The outward expression is to show God’s love. That’s what I was taught,” said Jones, a Democrat. But, he said, “I have enough tears in my car to fill a lake.”For Jones, who is gay, the past two years have been emotionally draining as Florida passed a flurry of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. More than 200 LGBTQ+ lawmakers across the country feel just like Jones, at a time when anti-gay and anti-transgender legislation is flourishing — as if they are under personal attack, and that they need to continually defend their community’s right to exist. The issue exploded into the national spotlight last week when Montana Republicans voted to bar Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is transgender, from the House floor after a standoff over gender-affirming medical care for minors.The ACLU is tracking nearly 470 ant...

Kraken-Avs Game 7 Quick Hits: Philipp Grubauer gets last laugh on Colorado fans, Avs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

Initial observations from the Avalanche’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken in Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.1. Great Wall of Gruby returnsMany of the players wearing Burgundy and Blue for the Avs over the last four years have a championship ring for their blood, sweat and tears. Philipp Grubauer doesn’t, so after watching Colorado win a Stanley Cup without him last spring after he manned the net here from 2018-21, pulling the upset in this series had to feel sweet. For much of the opening period, our old pal Gruby was running out of heads upon which to stand. At one point, the Seattle goalie found himself blindly protecting the puck with his glove-side left hand while splayed out prone, as if floating on Turquoise Lake, while bodies jostled and tumbled in the crease. The German turned away 33 shots on the night. Over the first 20 minutes of action, Gruby stopped 16 shots, while Seattle had managed only six on the other end of the ice. During a scoreless ...

Kiszla: One-hit wonders? The Avalanche championship dynasty crumbles less than a year after hoisting the Stanley Cup.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

Where did the good times go? A scant 305 days after parading the Stanley Cup through the streets of Denver, the Avalanche dynasty crumbled.With a 2-1 home loss on a sad Sunday night to an upstart Seattle team that had no business beating the defending NHL champs, the Avs are going home early from the playoffs, carrying with them hard questions.Is this Colorado team, despite the star power of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen, a one-hit wonder? Can Valeri Nichuskin, who mysteriously disappeared from this first-round series, be trusted as a key member of this squad? And if injured captain Gabe Landeskog, whose troubling knee injury cost him the entire season, can’t return to full health, might the roster need a major renovation instead of minor retooling?It wasn’t supposed to end this way.In the moments before the puck dropped in Game 7, a camera panned to an impossibly handsome man waving a sign that demanded “PLAYOFF NOISE” from the Ball Arena c...

Avalanche’s Stanley Cup defense sputters to end in Game 7 of first round vs. underdog Seattle Kraken

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

In the building where the Avalanche relentlessly endeavored to play this game for three encouraging months, and in the final chapter of a draining series in which that optimism disappeared with any sense of rhythm, home ice felt as eerie as a haunted house one last time.The Avalanche, losers of only seven regulation games in Denver during their 2021-22 Stanley Cup season, sputtered to an abrupt end in their championship defense with a 2-1 Game 7 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Sunday night at Ball Arena.Colorado lost three of four home games in the first-round series after clawing back from 14 points down in the Central Division to ensure two rounds of home ice advantage on the final day of the regular season.The Kraken scored the first goal in all seven games, an obstacle that finally became too steep to overcome at the end of a tiresome series — though the Avalanche briefly thought they had climbed a mountainous 2-0 deficit. Nathan MacKinnon buried a shot three minutes into the thir...

Caught on Video: French bulldog stolen during smash-and-grab in Oakland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- A woman is looking for her French bulldog after someone stole it out of her Tesla in Oakland. It happened in Jack London Square Friday night, and it was caught on video.The owner says she's understandably devastated. She can't sleep at night. She says her Frenchie, Boba, is very shy and can be easily scared. She's worried Boba may not be eating out of fear.Devastating video (above) shows the moment a person reaches into a Tesla and rips a Frenchie out of the window. Oakland PD warns residents as burglaries involve suspects disguised as Amazon workers "It's heartbreaking, it's really torturing for me to see the moment they took away Boba," said Boba's owner Toya Zheng. Zheng says and can hardly watch the video back. Boba even tries to get away from the person."She was trying so hard to fight back to get back into my car," Zheng said.Zheng says she takes 2-year-old Boba everywhere with her. Boba usually comes inside when Zheng goes to her office, but she wa...

Paes helps Dallas earn scoreless draw with Minnesota United

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Maarten Paes finished with five saves to help FC Dallas play Minnesota United to a scoreless draw on an inclement Sunday night.Minnesota United (3-3-3), which came into the match tied for the fewest shots, peppered FC Dallas with 17 of them, including five on target. It was the first clean sheet of the season for Paes. Dallas (4-3-3) took just five shots. Dayne St. Clair denied the two shots on goal for his second clean sheet.Minnesota United entered play on a three-match losing streak after going unbeaten in its first five matches — suffering the same fate at the start of the 2020 season. No other team has done so even once in the post-shootout era (since 2000).Dallas was coming off a loss 3-1 to New York City FC, but hadn’t lost back-to-back matches since late May last season when its second defeat came at the hands of Minnesota United.Minnesota United beat Dallas 1-0 on the road in the season opener, gaining a measure of revenge after Dallas elimina...

El informe de objetos perdidos de Uber del 2023 incluye dentaduras postizas, marihuana, un sable láser y una máquina de granizados

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

(CNN) — Uber publicó su lista anual de objetos olvidados por los pasajeros en los automóviles e incluye algunos realmente extraños, como un monitor de tobillo, uñas e incluso una máquina de granizados.La empresa de viajes compartidos publicó su Índice Uber de Objetos Perdidos 2023 el 27 de abril, cuando Mercurio vuelve a su posición retrógrada, una época del año que, dicen los astrólogos, influye en el olvido, según Uber. El índice se basa en las denuncias de objetos perdidos presentadas por los pasajeros.Los 10 objetos más olvidados no son ninguna sorpresa e incluyen teléfonos, carteras, llaves, joyas y auriculares.Pero su lista de los 50 objetos más singulares perdidos es donde las cosas se ponen raras. Incluye un adorno navideño de Danny DeVito, una espada de fuego, un vibrador por control remoto, alitas de pollo, seis tartas de queso, trampas para ratas pintadas, una importante prueba de embarazo, dentaduras postizas, un sable láser, marihuana y un mocasín de Gucci.Turista...

Palestinians: Israeli fire kills teen in West Bank raid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces fatally shot a Palestinian teenager in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, part of a relentless wave of violence that has rocked the region for the last year.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been staging near-nightly raids in West Bank cities, towns and villages in what it says is an attempt to stamp out militancy. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year and 19 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time.The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the teen as Jibril al-Laada, 17. It said three others were seriously wounded in the fighting, which took place in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho. The camp has been a frequent target of Israeli raids.Israel launched the raids after a spate of Palestinian attacks last spring. That set off some of the worst fighting between Israel ...

New Zealand leader says he favors nation becoming a republic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Monday he personally favors his country becoming a republic, but it’s not a change he intends to push for as leader.Hipkins made the comments to reporters hours before he was due to depart for this week’s coronation of King Charles III in London.New Zealand, a former British colony, is self-governing but Charles retains a largely ceremonial role as head of state and king. Charles is represented in New Zealand by a governor-general.Like many former British colonies, New Zealand continues to wrestle with what — if any — constitutional role the British monarchy should play in modern times. Barbados chose to become a republic in 2021. Jamaica last year said it plans to pursue independence. And Australia in February decided to remove the British monarch from the last of its banknotes, although an image of Charles is expected to feature on coins.“Ideally, in time, New Zealand will become a fully independent...

Operator in limo crash that killed 20 goes on trial in NY

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:56:25 GMT

SCHOHARIE, N.Y. (AP) — Nearly five years after a stretch limousine packed with birthday revelers careened down a hill and off a road in rural upstate New York, killing 20 people, the operator of the company that rented out the vehicle is going on trial.Nauman Hussain, who ran Prestige Limousine, is charged with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter in connection with the Oct. 6, 2018 crash — one of the deadliest U.S. road wrecks of the past two decades — in Schoharie, a village west of Albany. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Schoharie County Court.Seventeen people using the limo for a birthday celebration were killed, along with the driver and two bystanders outside a country store where the vehicle crashed.The victims’ relatives have been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since. After pandemic-related delays in the criminal case, they were exasperated by a 2021 announcement of a plea deal that would have spared Hussain prison time. A sur...