1 Upvote Minneapolis residents say crime is rising after funding shift | Fox News www.foxnews.com/politics/minneapo...

Residents of Minneapolis' Southside on Thursday voiced their concerns about rising crime in the area and frustration with the city's response.



Complaints come after the city approved a plan on July 24 to move $1.1 million in funding from the police department to the Minneapolis Office of Violence Prevention. Minneapolis protesters called for police reform or a complete defunding of the police department after George Floyd, a Black man, died in police custody on May 25.

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"They got for this initiative — this violence prevention initiative. They got $1.1 million to prevent violence or whatever. Well, excuse me, but I haven't seen any prevention of violence," Central neighborhood resident Karen Forbes told KARE11 News.



The Minneapolis Public Health & Safety Committee on Thursday also released the beginning stages of a community safety plan that aims to find alternatives to police and policing activity through proposals such as mental health co-responder teams, domestic violence outreach and a violence prevention fund.



"We were hoping that they would listen to us," Forbes said in reference to a group of residents who reached out to the committee during the meeting to share their ideas for a plan to suppress crime in the area, but the discussion did not allow public comments.



Community members will have the opportunity to make public comments on Oct. 8, the Committee told KARE11 in a statement.



Forbes said a bullet recently went through her wall. Bill Rodriguez, who lives in the Bancroft neighborhood, told the outlet that he recently experienced a break-in. Other residents say they've noticed more frequent police sirens and gunshots in the area, KARE11 reported.



The Minneapolis City Council discussed residents' concerns with spikes in crime during a Sept. 16 meeting after voting to transfer funding.



Rodriguez said the Health & Safety Committee "didn't want to take public comments on public safety."



The Committee said in a statement to KARE11 that Thursday's discussion "did not include an open comment period. There was only one period during today’s meeting where the public could provide comments, and that was as part of a public hearing on a proposed food catering ordinance."



"The City has an obligation to ensure all of its public meetings comply with the law and that full and fair access is available to anyone interested in participating. State statute requires us to provide a minimum of three days public notice prior to a public comment period, and today’s staff presentation on transforming public safety did not include public comment," the statement added.



Rodriguez argued that the Committee "easily could've suspended the rules and said, 'OK, you're here, technicality, let's let you speak anyway.' They said, 'No way. Ain't going to happen.'"



Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz deployed the state's National Guard in June and late August amid civil unrest in the city after several incidents of White officers shooting Black men and women in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky and other states this summer.

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3 Upvote Judge tosses suit over Trump affair story after Fox News argues no www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-tosses...

"..no "reasonable viewer" takes Tucker Carlson seriously"



A Manhattan judge has tossed out a defamation lawsuit against Fox News brought by the former Playboy model who took a $150,000 payoff to squelch her story of an affair with a pre-presidency Donald Trump. Karen McDougal had alleged in the suit filed late last year that Fox host Tucker Carlson slandered her by calling the payout "a classic case of extortion."

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U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ruled on Thursday that McDougal failed to prove that Carlson was accusing her of an actual crime in a way that would back up a defamation claim. The judge said that lawyers for Fox "persuasively" argued that "any reasonable viewer 'arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statements" Carlson makes, according to a court filing.



The judge called the on-air remarks "rhetorical hyperbole and opinion commentary intended to frame a political debate, and as such, are not actionable as defamation," the judge said in a written ruling.

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1 Upvote Kim Jong Un Apologized for Murder of South Korean Official www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2...

Dictator Kim Jong Un sent an apology in a formal notice to Seoul for the murder of a South Korean fisheries official, whose body was reported to have been incinerated aboard a North Korean naval vessel.



According to Suh Hoon, director of national security at the presidential Blue House, the North Korean leader wrote that he "feels very sorry that...an unexpected and unfortunate incident happened in our waters, which brought great disappointment to President Moon Jae-in and South Koreans."



1 Upvote "Ultrahot Neptune" Discovered Orbiting Sun-like Star www.space.com/first-ultrahot-nept...

Astronomers discovered a new type of alien world — the first known "ultrahot Neptune," a giant planet that orbits its star 60x closer than Earth does the sun.



Previous research found that about 1 in 200 Sun-like stars possessed a planet that orbits its star so tightly that it takes less than one Earth day. Astronomers call these worlds "ultra-short-period planets."

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All previously known ultra-short-period planets were either rocky planets less than twice Earth's width or so-called hot Jupiters, gas giants sizing in at more than 10x Earth's diameter. Scientists haven't found many ultra-short-period planets of intermediate size, a phenomenon dubbed the "hot Neptune desert" because Neptune's size is between those of Earth and Jupiter.

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1 Upvote Makers of "Toy Story 4" Sued By Evel Knievel’s Son deadline.com/2020/09/disney-evel-...

Evel Knievel once said, "I would always rather be in the arena fighting than be a spectator.” The legendary stunt rider’s son is clearly taking those words to heart with a new lawsuit against Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar over Duke Caboom who was introduced in last year’s Toy Story 4.



“Defendants have used in commerce, and continue to use in commerce, the likeness, reputation, and image of Evel Knievel in the film Toy Story 4 through Defendants’ depiction of Duke Caboom, and has exploited the same connection through marketing, promotion, advertising, and sales of Toy Story 4, and in connection with the manufacturing, distribution, marketing, advertising, promotion, and sales of the Duke Caboom action figure, all without the consent or approval of K&K,” Knievel's son claimed in the trademark-infringement complaint filed this week in federal court in Las Vegas.



1 Upvote Crew Change Crisis Sees 400,000 Sailors from Around the World Unable to Be Relieved www.pressreleasepoint.com/some-40...

Captain Hedi Marzougui, who was in command of a vessel between December 2019 and May 2020, appealed to Governments via the U. N. General Assembly to act to allow seafarers to come home.



"Not knowing when or if we will be returning home brings a severe mental toll on my crew and myself," Captain Marzougui said. "I would encourage each and every one of you to think of how you would feel, if you had to work every day, for 12 hours, with no weekends, without seeing your loved ones, and trapped at sea. Now add that you have to do that with no idea of when you will be repatriated."

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Pandemic restrictions on travel have severely impacted seafarers. Despite pleas to Governments to designate them as essential key workers and to facilitate their travel, the number of seafarers whose contracts have been extended by several months continues to increase. Some seafarers have now been at sea for 17 months without a break, well beyond the 11-month limit set out in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). While those 400,000 seafarers are stuck at sea another 400,000 are unable to join ships.

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1 Upvote Yet Another Guilty Plea In College Admission Scandal patch.com/massachusetts/boston/an...

A former college entrance exam administrator pleaded guilty Friday to taking bribes to help wealthy parents rig their kids' test scores as part of a college admissions bribery scheme.



Niki Williams, 46, a former employee of the Houston Independent School District, is among about 40 people who have admitted to charges in the case that exposed a scheme to get undeserving teens into college with fake athletic credentials or manipulated test scores.



2 Upvote NASA Narrowed Leak Source on ISS to 2 Areas www.businessinsider.com/nasa-narr...

The ISS's been leaking for more than a year.



While the station is perpetually losing some air, officials first noticed an increase in that airflow last September. At the time the leak wasn't major, but this summer they saw an increase in that higher-than-usual rate.



In late August, the three crew members aboard the station — astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner — hunkered down in one module of the station and sealed off the others. ... They then conducted leak tests on each section.

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1 Upvote Portland Denied Permit for Peaceful Gathering by Proud Boys Citing Coronavirus Restrictions www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/0...

The government of the City of Portland, Oregon, denied the Proud Boys group a permit to protest at Delta Park on Saturday, citing coronavirus restrictions. The same governmemnt has failed to halt the nightly BLM and Antifa protests that grip the city.



In 2018, the Guardian reported that the FBI classified the Proud Boys as an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism.” McInnes, who has since disassociated with the group, said his primary focus is/was preserving “Western values.” Members of the group describe themselves as proud “Western chauvinists.” The extreme-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorized the organization as a hate group.



1 Upvote CDC Data: Coronavirus Survival Rate: 99%-Plus for Ages 69 and Younger, 94.6% for Older www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/0...

The U.S. CDC updated its estimated Infection Fatality Rate parameters to include age-specific data showing the vast majority of people who contract the Chinese coronavirus survive.



CDC’s new IFR estimates, broken down by age, are part of the agency’s September 10 update to its “COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios.”

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Based on the “Scenario 5: Current Best Estimate” for the IFR, Breitbart News confirmed the updated age-specific survival rates: 0-19 years old, 99.997 percent; 20-49 years old, 99.98 percent; 50-69 years, 99.5 percent; and 70 years old or older, 94.6 percent.

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