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Oregon GOP walkout marks 5th day, delays Democrat-led bills

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A walkout by most Republicans in the Oregon Senate aimed at delaying action on gun safety, abortion rights and gender-affirming health care bills extended to a fifth day Sunday.Senate President Rob Wagner adjourned the body until Monday morning because a quorum could not be reached.Republicans have staged walkouts before, but this year legislators with 10 unexcused absences are disqualified for reelection, thanks to a new constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters in November.The boycott comes as several statehouses, including in Montana and Tennessee, have become battlegrounds between conservatives and liberals. Oregon has increasingly been divided between liberal population centers like Portland and Eugene and its mostly conservative rural areas.The Associated Press

Peanut butter is a liquid – the physics of this and other unexpected fluids

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

(The Conversation) - Those Transportation Security Administration requirements are drilled into every frequent flyer’s head: You can carry on liquids that are only less than 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) in volume each.But when the TSA recently confiscated a jar of Jif under this rule, peanut butter lovers were up in arms. Some skeptics of security may suspect hungry officers just wanted to make their own PB&Js. TSA, however, contends that peanut butter is a liquid – and a full-size jar of Jif is over the 3.4-ounce limit.Just like Americans’ favorite legume-based sandwich ingredient, the story – and the outrage it inspired – began to spread. However, I’m a mechanical engineer who studies fluid flows, and the TSA action made sense to me. By the scientific definition, peanut butter is indeed a liquid.First consider fluidsTo define a liquid, we must first define a fluid. Any material that flows continuously when a shearing force is applied is a fluid. Think ...

Business People: Donahue to lead state Small Business Development Center

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

OF NOTEAndy DonahueThe Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development announced Andy Donahue as Small Business Development Center director. The center offers no-cost technical assistance and support to businesses at any point in their life cycle. Donahue previously served in a similar role at the University of Wisconsin-Superior for eight years.ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERINGLHB, Duluth, announced that Stacee Demmer has been named to lead the firm’s Integrative Design Team, succeeding Michael Fischer, who will remain with the firm with an increased focus on city and county government clients. Both are based in Minneapolis.DEVELOPMENTThe Opus Group, a Minneapolis-based multi-disciplined commercial real estate developer, announced the promotion of Nick Murnane to vice president and general manager, overseeing its Minneapolis development team. Murnane has been with Opus since 2010, most recently as vice president, real estate development.FINANCIAL SERVICESTopLine Financial Credit...

Best high schools for sports in Missouri

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

More than 7.6 million high school students played sports across the U.S. during the 2021-22 academic year, according to data from the National Federation of State High School Associations. Those athletes participated in a slew of sports: from football—the most popular sport for high school boys with 1 million players nationwide—to track and field, which is the most popular sport amongst high school girls in the U.S. with more than 488,000 athletes.The dynamic landscape of high school sports has created competition not only between athletes but the institutions they represent. With more than 23,500 public and private secondary and high schools across the country, determining the best options for athletes is an arduous process.High schools across the country are vying to be crowned the best institution for athletes in America and not only has the battle become personal but regional as well. States like California and Florida, which have high-profile high-school athletic programs, also...

Worries grow about Ukraine nuke plant amid evacuations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

By DAVID RISING (Associated Press)KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Anxiety about the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant grew Sunday after the Moscow-installed governor of the Ukrainian region where it is located ordered civilian evacuations, including from the city where most plant workers live.International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi has spent months trying to persuade Russian and Ukrainian officials to establish a security zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to prevent the war from causing a radiation leak. The evacuations ordered by the Russia-backed governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province, Yegeny Balitsky, raised fears that fighting in the area would intensify. Balitsky on Friday ordered civilians to leave 18 Russian-occupied communities, including Enerhodar, home to most of the plant staff.More than 1,500 people had been evacuated from two unspecified cities in the region as of Sunday, Balitsky said. The Ukrainian Gene...

Small plane crashes in Teller County, sheriff’s office says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

A small plane crashed in a remote area of Teller County Sunday, according to the sheriff’s office.The crash happened in the area of Phantom Canyon Road, according to a statement the sheriff’s office published at 9 a.m. A search and rescue operation was underway Sunday, the sheriff’s office said.It was not immediately clear how many people were onboard the plane or their conditions.A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office did not return a request for more information.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Colorado poised to restrict county jail contracts with ICE, prohibit new private immigration detention centers Crashes and Disasters | Rampart fire burns 20 acres in El Paso County Crashes and Disasters | ACLU appeals ruling allowing Colorado sheriff to continue operating federal immigration program in county jail Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

Bangladesh looks to the future with confidence, as it marks the glory and the sacrifice of its birth

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

The Independence and National Day of Bangladesh have been celebrated at the Cercle Gaulois in Brussels, marking the 52nd anniversary of the country’s Declaration of Independence. Ambassador Mahbub Hassan Saleh said the diplomats, politicians and other guests were marking a glorious moment, not just in his nation’s history but in the history of the world, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.Bangladesh is now an important member of the international community, its nearly half a trillion-dollar economy is already the 33rd largest in the world and such is its pace of growth that it’s set to be the 24th largest by 2030. But as well as taking pride in the country’s achievements under its Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s National Day is an occasion to recall how the long struggle for freedom by its Father of the Nation and her father, B...

Sowing the seeds of death in the Caucasus

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

Ukraine will need at least a decade to clear the mines planted by the Russian occupational army in its territory. 30% of its land is dangerous to step on - writes James Wilson"Ukraine is the largest mined area in the world," the international think tank GLOBSEC said in a report published on 26 April. "Ukraine has become one of the world's largest minefields," the UN agency UNDP reported on 4 April. The report explained that "more than 14 million people" are at risk of being blown up by mines.But before Ukraine, this horrible record belonged to another country friendly to Ukraine, the soil of which is filled with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of exactly the same Russian-made mines. Moreover, their number continues to grow even today, again thanks to Russia.The country is Azerbaijan, which liberated its occupied territories of Karabakh in 2020. The separatist enclave that remains in this region, inhabited only by Armenians (after the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in the la...

Moscow’s playbook in Karabakh

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

Situated at the crossroads between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, the Caucasus region is heavily influenced by these two regional superpowers - writes James Wilson.The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers last week, intending to broker a lasting peace treaty between these two clashing countries. Many attempts to put the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict to rest have been made over the years, but this is the first time that US officials have taken an active part in the negotiations. It should come as no surprise that Blinken's decision to take a much more active part in the talks comes as a result of the increasing influence of other regional powers on the parties involved. This foreign influence also happens to have a distinct anti-Azerbaijani bias, as both Moscow and Tehran hold much against Baku. A focal point in the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia is the Armenian-populated separa...

Ukraine's Long March Against Illicit Tobacco Trade

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:15:36 GMT

According to the Corruption Perception Index 2022 of Transparency International, an NGO working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption, Ukraine is one of the few countries tracked that became less corrupt last year – writes Tetiana Koshchuk, Ph. D. (Economics), expert on taxation at the Growford Institute.For the first time, Kyiv is reaping the benefits of its fight against endemic corruption. Compared to ten years ago, Ukraine now scores 8 points more. That brings the total to 33, a historic high for a country fighting a defensive war.The country has a long tradition and a poor record of corruption. Corruption practicesand organised crime are deeply rooted in the Ukrainian society, where the oligarchs are in charge. Law enforcement agencies have notoriously bad reputation. The country’s border with the European Union spanning over 1 500 kilometers has traditionally been a green flield for illicit  trade, with cigarettes – topping the list of goods in both pro...