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Pressure grows on Niger coup leaders as deadline looms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

Pressure is mounting on Niger’s putschists hours ahead of a deadline later Sunday set by a group of West African countries for the military to step down or face a possible military intervention. ECOWAS, a bloc of 15 Western African countries, issued its ultimatum after Niger’s top military officers announced on July 27 that they had overthrown the country’s President Mohamed Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021. According to France 24, the deadline expires on Sunday evening; Reuters reported ECOWAS did not communicate the exact timing. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said late Saturday that his country opposes any military intervention in Niger.“A military intervention could ignite the whole Sahel region and Algeria will not use force with its neighbors,” Tabboune was quoted as saying in an interview with local media.Several Western leaders have also pressed for dialogue, with Germany advocating for continued “mediation effort...

Hours-long standoff involving barricaded suspect in Charlestown ends peacefully

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

An hours-long standoff between police and a barricaded suspect around Caldwell Street in Charlestown Saturday night ended after over eight hours.Boston police then responded to the area where police said a man barricaded himself inside his home shortly around 4:30 p.m. The standoff lasted until about 1 a.m. Police said no one was injured, and the barricaded person was sent to the hospital for evaluation.Neighbors speaking with 7NEWS said they called police because they were concerned for another neighbor. “He was, if anything, he was inside his own apartment where he’s allowed to have it,” a neighbor said. “I think he was just dry firing it, like it wasn’t loaded just clicking. From what I hear, the neighbors probably heard that through the walls.”With police responding, some neighbors said they came home to realize they could not park on their street. Some were still unable to get home around 11 p.m. No further information was immediately available.

Veterans see historic expansion of benefits for toxic exposure as new law nears anniversary

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nicole Leger always thought of the burn pits at military bases in Afghanistan as more like campfires than health hazards. Ordered to dispose of sensitive documents, she would toss the paperwork into the flames while catching up with fellow soldiers, moments of quiet bonding that provided a respite from her riskier work as a hastily trained medic for the U.S. Army. “We really didn’t see that it was dangerous at the time,” she said. “It was just part of the mission. So we had to get it done.”But then her sinus problems began, only worsening after she returned home, where she sometimes found herself gasping for breath at night. She remembered thinking, “This wasn’t who I was before I got in.”Although Leger already received disability benefits for post-traumatic stress, migraines and a hip fracture, it wasn’t until President Joe Biden signed legislation known as the PACT Act last year that her monthly payments expanded to take into account the impact of the burn ...

Skywatch: A great summer shower

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

The annual Perseid meteor shower is a late summer stargazing classic in our Minnesota-Wisconsin skies. The Perseids, which peak this week, and the Geminids in mid-December, are the two best annual meteor showers in our skies. Many other moderate to minor meteor showers get too overhyped by the media and the internet. I’m afraid folks get disappointed and discouraged when they lose sleep over not much of a show. The Perseids, though, will not let you down. Especially this year since moonlight won’t get in the way during the peak next weekend.The Perseids have been going on for about a week and will continue this week, peaking next weekend, Aug. 12-13. The best time to see the Perseids, or any meteor shower, is from around midnight to just before morning twilight gets going. Get your afternoon nap! The Perseids are extra special this year because there’s no moonlight interference in the early morning hours, leaving us with dark skies. If you can get out into the coun...

Mary Stanik: Coping with more smoke from not so-distant-fires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

When smoke from the most recent Western Canadian wildfires cloaked Minnesota and temporarily gave Minneapolis-St. Paul the worst air quality numbers in the country, I figured I’d hear from friends and acquaintances seeking alleged western “Fire Country” advice on coping with skies more darkly sickening than dusky pretty. And I did.One of them expressed genuine shock that so much putrid smoke from so far away could affect the supposed Land of Sky Blue Waters in such an awful way. This person said, “I know Arizona and a lot of the West can be on fire all the time but we’re pretty used to fairly clean air here. How on earth do you people manage?”Now this acquaintance is not an unknowing person, a climate change denier or a believer in a fantasy world. But after talking for a few minutes, I realized that three years after moving from St. Paul to Tucson solely to get my brother’s help with my aged mother (and not to play golf in December or pay fewer taxes), issues such as fire, drought,...

Other voices: What the future of school choice looks like

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

Many states have recently created or expanded school-choice programs, but are parents taking up the opportunity? It’s early days, but data from several states should encourage lawmakers that robust offerings are in demand.Indiana this year reported an increase of some 20% in its voucher program. More than 53,000 students participated in 2022-23, compared with 44,376 the previous school year, according to the state education department. Thirteen more private schools were included, bringing the total to 343. All of this was before the state made vouchers nearly universal in May by raising the income cap and removing other restrictions.Florida also made its K-12 scholarships universal this year by removing income limits. Step Up for Students, a nonprofit administering organization, recently said it had awarded 268,221 income-based scholarships, up from 183,925 at the same time a year ago. The group said it also had granted 74,711 special-needs scholarships, an increase of some 15,000.A...

Why experts say Coach Prime “pays for himself” at CU, despite $29.5-million, 5-year contract

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

BOULDER — In less than nine months on the job, Deion Sanders already has CU back among college football’s top 25.The top 25 in merchandising, at any rate.According to Fanatics.com, the Buffs’ e-commerce partner, sales of CU merch as of last month made it the second-highest among, shall we say, “current” members of the Pac-12 and “top 20” among all NCAA schools.Moreover, CU sales via the site were up in late July by more than 100% compared to the same period in July 2022.So when insiders such as athletic director Rick George and independent sports business consultants concur that Coach Prime’s five-year, $29.5 million contract will make a return on the Buffs’ initial investment, the explosion of CU alums — and new fans — walking around in “Prime 21” merchandise offers a pretty good signpost as to why.“I think since Coach (Prime) has come aboard to the campus, a lot of positive things have happened,” CU chancellor Phil DiStefano told The Post last month.“Especially with (football) sel...

Inside Carrie Walton Penner’s first year as Broncos owner and her vision for what comes next

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

JL Skinner relished the chance to be a role model.The Broncos rookie safety grew up going to the Boys & Girls Club in Southern California. He credits a lot of his development as a kid to the hours, days and weeks he spent there after school and in the summers.So in June, he jumped at the opportunity to join other rookies for a day trip to the Denver Broncos Boys & Girls Club.“It felt like going back home for a little bit,” Skinner said.Given his history, Skinner had a sense that he and the other Broncos youngsters would be the highlight of the day, probably the week, for the kids there. What he didn’t know when he got on the bus that morning, however, was that he would find a new role model, too.At the start of the day, Broncos owner Carrie Walton Penner made her way from seat to seat, introducing herself to the newest members of the football team.Intimidating, right? The wealthiest ownership group in American sports? The boss’s boss’s boss?Actually, according to the sixth-r...

By accumulating arms, Rockies give vote of confidence to young positional talent: “We’re going to be an elite team in a couple years.”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

HARTFORD — From across the country, the top positional players in the Yard Goats’ clubhouse got the message the Rockies’ front office sent at the trade deadline.After flipping five veterans for seven pitching prospects, Colorado sees a window on the horizon to become competitive again — especially with a wealth of positional talent.“It shows that the front office believes in what they have right now on the position side, and I think that if we keep expanding pitching, we’re going to be an elite team in a couple years,” explained outfielder Jordan Beck, Colorado’s No. 4 prospect who’s mashed 23 homers this year. “I’m just glad, and excited, (that movement) is happening.”Colorado’s recent misses on the mound at the top of the draft — see: Mike Nikorak, Robert Tyler, Riley Pint and the yet-to-debut Ryan Rolison — plus a rash of injuries to its top-ranked starters in the system suddenly had the club facing a dearth ...

Letters: Reduce, reuse and recycle solutions are within our reach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:11 GMT

Reduce, reuse and recycle solutions are within our reachRe: “Upstream solutions to downstream problems,” July 30 commentaryIn the 1960s, beverage containers were glass, aluminum, or cardboard. Why can’t we go back there today for many of our liquid products? It doesn’t take a new packaging discovery, a new plastic formula, or anything else. It’s all right there. Why can’t our government require companies to evolve their packaging strategies to go “back to the future?”Curt Anderson, BroomfieldThis article hits the nail precisely on the head. We recycle but stay within the rules of our trash collection company to rinse out containers and strip the paper labels from metal cans. That requires “precious” water be wasted. And then we are not really sure.We reuse plastic bags that the grocery stores send home with us for trash. The rest, we recycle at the store along with other plastic bags that display the “recycling” symbol, hoping those actually get recycled. And while there...