Annandale students plan walkout after district leaders deem their pride signs as too political

Annandale High School freshman Landon Nelson says his first year of high school has been challenging.

Besides it being his first year in high school, Landon also came out as queer recently.

“It’s almost every day,” Landon said of the bullying at Annandale. “You just get harassed in the hallway and get called the f-slur.” He added.

That’s why he and other students turned to the Gay-Straight Alliance. GSA is a club created at Annandale by students and teachers who wanted to create a safe and inclusive space for students who identify as LGBTQ+ to look to for support.

Annandale students plan walkout after district leaders deem their pride signs as too political

Annandale High School freshman Landon Nelson says his first year of high school has been challenging.

Besides it being his first year in high school, Landon also came out as queer recently.

“It’s almost every day,” Landon said of the bullying at Annandale. “You just get harassed in the hallway and get called the f-slur.” He added.

That’s why he and other students turned to the Gay-Straight Alliance. GSA is a club created at Annandale by students and teachers who wanted to create a safe and inclusive space for students who identify as LGBTQ+ to look to for support.

Vulnerable Minnesotans could face trouble getting rides to medical appointments next week

A group of non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) providers notified Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) officials Thursday that they might not pick up Medicaid passengers as of June 1, due to sky-rocketing expenses, including gas prices, after a budget impasse at the Capitol. 

The state statute sets the rates paid to NEMT providers for Medicaid passengers who need rides to medical appointments.

“It was a very hard decision to send out that letter,” said Tarek Menesi, CFO at Driving Miss Daisy in Golden Valley, one of around 100 providers that notified the state.

Menesi said he can’t afford to pick up Medicaid riders due to rising expenses in the industry, including record fuel prices, but will now focus on picking up private insurance riders.

Charleston Police: Woman stops gunman at party

Charleston Police are releasing new details on a Wednesday night shooting investigation.

According to CPD around 10:45 on Wednesday night officers arrived outside of 1300 Renaissance Circle apartment complex for a report of a shooting. When police got there, they found the victim, 37-year-old Dennis Butler of Charleston, with multiple gunshot wounds. Butler later died.

Police say they discovered that earlier that night, Butler was approached about speeding in the apartment complex while children were playing. Police say Butler then left the complex and returned a short time later when he parked his vehicle in front of the apartment, pulled out an AR15 style rifle and started firing at people attending a party. Police say a bystander attending the party quickly pulled out their pistol and fired at Butler, fatally injuring him.

Charleston police say several witnesses and the person who fired the gun waited on police to get there and fully cooperated with the investigation. At this time no one has been charged in the shooting. The investigation now goes to the Kanawha County Prosecutors office for review.

2 years after the murder of George Floyd, what has changed?

Like many Minnesotans, Zaynab Mohamed remembers exactly where she was when she saw the video of Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd. 

It was the evening of May 25, 2020, and she was scrolling Facebook when she saw a post with the video shared by local organizer and civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong.

"I remember being in bed at like 10 p.m., just kind of going through my phone. And then it came. Nekima had posted this really horrific video. And obviously, I always have known about police shootings … but I remember going to bed and like waking up the next day, and it just felt different."

It was different. The video, captured by Darnella Frazier, who was 17 at the time, sparked the largest protest movement against racism and racial injustice America has seen in a generation and a racial reckoning that reverberated across the world.  

Jury selection in school shooter's trial upended by T-shirt

The already slow slog of picking jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz hit a new stumbling block Monday when a potential juror's T-shirt honoring those killed and traumatized in the 2018 massacre resulted in the dismissal of her entire group of 10.

The woman, a 58-year-old high school teacher, was wearing a T-shirt in the burgundy and silver colors of Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that read “Teacher Strong.” Below that were two hashtags that were commonly found on T-shirts and bumper stickers throughout South Florida long after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting: #msdstrong and #NeverAgain.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to murdering 17 and wounding 17 others. The trial will decide whether he is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

The woman had been brought into the courtroom separately from the other nine potential jurors because she had written on her questionnaire that she has a medical condition that would prevent her from sitting for long stretches of time.

Biden says US would respond 'militarily' if China attacked Taiwan, but White House insists there's no policy change

President Joe Biden said Monday that the United States would intervene militarily if China attempts to take Taiwan by force, a warning that appeared to deviate from the deliberate ambiguity traditionally held by Washington.

The White House quickly downplayed the comments, saying they don't reflect a change in US policy. It's the third time in recent months -- including during a CNN town hall in October -- that Biden has said the US would protect Taiwan from a Chinese attack, only to have the White House walk back those remarks.

During a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Biden was asked if the US would be willing to go further to help Taiwan in the event of an invasion than it did with Ukraine.

"You didn't want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?" a reporter asked.

"Yes," Biden replied. "That's the commitment we made."

Senate Democrats propose DOJ license requirement for gun purchases

A trio of senators plan to introduce legislation on Thursday that will require residents to acquire a Department of Justice (DOJ) license before purchasing or obtaining a legal firearm. 

The bill would also raise the legal age for obtaining a firearm to 21 years old.

The bill was introduced by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

It has virtually no chance of becoming law given GOP opposition, but gives a sense of the breadth of restrictions on gun access that some lawmakers would favor imposing in the wake of years of mass shootings in the nation.

Deputies: Motorcyclist with concealed carry permit stops knife-wielding driver in road rage incident

A Flagler County man is under arrest after he threatened a motorcyclist with a knife in a road rage incident near Palm Coast Tuesday.

Deputies said they responded to the intersection of Pine Lakes Parkway and Whirlaway Drive just after 1 p.m. after getting several calls to 911 for a reported road rage incident.

According to the sheriff’s office, 50-year-old Rafael Vincent Rivera and a motorcyclist got into an argument after Rivera cut the motorcyclist off.

Witnesses told deputies that Rivera exited his truck with a knife in his hand and threatened the motorcyclist.

Tops worker says 911 dispatcher hung up on her during shooting. The dispatcher is now on leave

As she laid on the floor, behind the customer service counter where she hid while a white supremacist was actively shooting inside the Tops supermarket, she dialed 911.

Latisha, an assistant office manager at the Jefferson Avenue store who wished to provide only her first name, whispered into the phone with the dispatcher, hoping to remain unnoticed by the shooter but wanting to alert police to the tragedy that was unfolding.

"She was yelling at me, saying, 'Why are you whispering? You don't have to whisper,'" Latisha said, "and I was telling her, 'Ma'am, he's still in the store. He's shooting. I'm scared for my life. I don't want him to hear me. Can you please send help?' She got mad at me, hung up in my face." 

Latisha said she then called her boyfriend and told him to call 911. "I felt that lady left me to die yesterday," Latisha told The Buffalo News on Sunday, as she waited for a worship service to start at True Bethel Baptist Church.