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Maine Accepting Designs for a New State Flag
  + stars: | 2024-06-16 | by ( Amanda Holpuch | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: 1 min
Anyone with an idea for how the Maine state flag should look has a month to submit a design idea, though the contest rules limit just how much of a creative free-for-all will be allowed. Maine lawmakers agreed last year to let voters decide if they want to adopt a new state flag design that would be more distinctive than the current one, which has a blue background and the state seal, a man standing on each side of a shield that shows a moose resting under a pine tree. The state seal in the middle of the blue background combination is similar to the look of flags in at least a dozen other states. The Maine secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, announced on Friday a contest to determine which design would be used as the model ahead of a November referendum on a new flag.
Persons: Shenna Bellows Locations: Maine, The Maine
Dollar Tree said on Wednesday that it is considering a sale or spinoff of Family Dollar, which has struggled with its operation for years. There are about 8,000 Family Dollar stores, and Dollar Tree, which owns Family Dollar, said in March that it would close nearly 1,000 of them. In February, the U.S. Justice Department fined Family Dollar $41.7 million, the largest-ever financial criminal penalty in a food safety case, for distributing food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics from a rat-infested warehouse. Rick Dreiling, chairman and chief executive of Dollar Tree, said in a statement on Wednesday that the “unique needs” of its discount store chains led the company to explore a sale of Family Dollar, which it bought in 2015 in an $8.5 billion deal. This is a developing story that will be updated.
Persons: Rick Dreiling Organizations: U.S . Justice
Two dozen people were wounded and one person was killed in a shooting in Akron, Ohio, that happened overnight, officials said on Sunday. The Akron Police Department received several 911 calls about gunfire near Kelly and 8th Avenues just after midnight, according to a statement from the police and the Akron mayor’s office. All 25 victims were wounded by gunfire, the statement said. Officials did not provide information about potential suspects or describe the setting where the shooting took place. Mayor Shammas Malik of Akron, and the police chief, Brian Harding, said in the statement that the city was “reeling” from the shooting.
Persons: Shammas Malik, Brian Harding Organizations: The Akron Police Department, Akron Locations: Akron , Ohio, Kelly, Akron
Shayne Patrick Burke was on a short hike this month to photograph owls in the backcountry of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming when he spotted a grizzly bear cub about 50 to 70 yards in front of him. Instantly, Mr. Burke knew that the cub’s presence signaled trouble, he wrote on Instagram. Moments later, Mr. Burke, 35, was attacked by the cub’s mother. He turned his back, got on his stomach and locked his hands behind his neck, following advice he had read about grizzly bear attacks, he said. During the attack, on May 19, the bear repeatedly bit Mr. Burke and picked him up and slammed him to the ground, before, he wrote, one of his screams “unfortunately, but fortunately, turned her attention to my head.”
Persons: Shayne Patrick Burke, Burke, Locations: Grand, Wyoming
Amal Clooney revealed on Monday that she had reviewed the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s investigation that led to the request for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders and two Israeli leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Ms. Clooney, a prominent British lawyer, specializes in international law and human rights. She has appeared before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, where she has represented victims of mass atrocities. For this investigation, the panel was asked to determine if the prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants met the International Criminal Court’s standard. Specifically, the group was asked whether there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that those named in the warrant applications had committed crimes within the court’s jurisdiction, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Persons: Amal Clooney, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Ms, Clooney, Karim Khan Organizations: Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, International Locations: British, Israel
More than 60 years after Edward Dwight was chosen to be the first Black astronaut, only to see his place in the history of space exploration taken and deferred by the specter of racism and politics, he went to space on Sunday morning. After landing, at the end of a flight that lasted 9 minutes and 53 seconds, Mr. Dwight stood on the steps outside the door of the crew capsule, raised his arms in the air and said, “Long time coming.”Minutes later, standing outside the capsule, he said that the flight had been “life-changing.” He admitted that he had been saying, earlier in the day, that he didn’t need the flight in his life. “But I lied,” he said. Mr. Dwight, 90, was one of six people on board the Blue Origin spaceflight of the New Shepard rocket that launched on Sunday morning from a private launch site near Van Horn, Texas. The flight made him the oldest person to ever go to space; he surpassed the actor William Shatner.
Persons: Edward Dwight, Dwight, , , William Shatner Organizations: Black, Shepard Locations: Van Horn , Texas
It took five hours, nearly 50 people and a makeshift bridge of ropes and logs, but a complex rescue effort in Connecticut this weekend successfully freed two horses, Damascus and Beau, after they became stuck in a swampy mess. “Horses are known for getting themselves into trouble, they are curious by nature,” Ms. Prink said. Both horses had found safe haven at the farm in Lebanon, Conn., after being rescued from difficult situations. Ms. Prink said that Beau and Damascus went missing on Saturday, and farm workers spent a couple of hours looking for them before finding the horses stuck in the mud. After a spending a couple more hours trying to get the horses out, the workers ultimately had to call for outside help.
Persons: Jeanna Prink, Beau, Ms, Prink, Damascus Locations: Connecticut, Damascus, Beau, Lebanon, Conn, Mexico, Canada
Where to See the Northern Lights on Sunday Night
  + stars: | 2024-05-12 | by ( Amanda Holpuch | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
The spectacular aurora borealis, the nighttime light display triggered by solar flares that has been so unusually prevalent since Friday, could be visible again on Sunday night in much of the United States as a powerful geomagnetic storm continues. The aurora borealis, or northern lights, has been observed from locations much farther south than usual, including much of the United States, England and some parts of Central America. The glowing green, pink and purple lights will be visible again on Sunday night in places with clear, dark skies, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “There’s a chance that what’s coming at us later today could be quite comparable to what we saw Friday into Friday night,” Mike Bettwy, the operations chief of the Space Weather Prediction Center, said on Sunday. “Our forecast is for it to be right up to that level.”
Persons: “ There’s, Mike Bettwy Organizations: Central America, National Oceanic, Prediction Locations: United States, England, Central
Thailand’s prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, said on Wednesday that he wanted cannabis to be re-listed as a narcotic by the end of the year, a reversal two years after the country became one of the first in Asia to decriminalize marijuana. All marijuana sales in Thailand are technically for medical purposes, but lax regulations mean that many businesses openly sell dried marijuana flowers and illegal imports. Thailand decriminalized marijuana in June 2022, giving rise to a domestic industry that has recently been challenged by competition and oversupply. There are thousands of registered dispensaries in the country, and cannabis is prescribed at hundreds of traditional medicine clinics. Foreign investors have also backed the construction of high-tech indoor cannabis farms.
Persons: Thailand’s, Srettha Thavisin, Srettha Organizations: Ministry of Health Locations: Asia, Thailand
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in September, said on Monday that she was stepping down from the role to prioritize her mental health. Ms. Voigt, who represented Utah in the 2023 pageant in Reno, Nev., said in a statement on Instagram that resigning was “a tough decision.”“In life, I strongly value the importance of making decisions that feel best for you and your mental health,” she said. Ms. Voigt, who was born in Florida, said that she was the first Venezuelan-American woman to win Miss USA, which started in 1952. As the winner, Ms. Voigt went on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador in November. She placed in the top 20, and for the costume competition, she wore an outfit that featured small models of landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument and the White House.
Persons: Noelia Voigt, Voigt, Organizations: Miss USA, Miss Universe, of, Washington, White Locations: Utah, Reno, Nev, Florida, Venezuelan, American, El Salvador
Southeast Texas faced more heavy rainfall on Sunday, with forecasters warning that flash flooding could happen in Houston after several rounds of storms in the past few days prompted evacuations and rescues in the area. The storms exacerbated dangerous conditions and forecasters said that once the storms passed, rivers could be swollen for days or even weeks. About 2.1 million people in Texas were under flood warnings on Sunday morning, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said, with many flood gauges in Houston expected to reach or exceed their flood records. The National Weather Service in Houston said that another one to three inches of rain was expected in Southeast Texas and that some places could see four to eight more inches of rain. Damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes were also possible.
Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service Locations: Texas, Houston, Southeast Texas
Dave & Buster’s did not respond to requests for comment, and it was not clear which specific games customers would be able to place bets on, or when the company would roll out the betting product, which will be available to people enrolled in the Dave & Buster’s loyalty program. On social media, people poked fun at the announcement, joking, for example, about whether customers might bet on such games as Skee-Ball. The age policies vary at each Dave & Buster’s location, but generally people under 18 years old can enter with a guardian. For example, professional golfers and tennis players pay an entry fee to compete and can win a cash prize. “If two people are competing against one another in Skee-Ball, presuming that there is nothing unusual done in the Skee-Ball game and physical skill is actually going to determine the winner, there is no problem,” Professor Edelman said.
Persons: Dave, Buster’s, Madding, , Marc Edelman, Edelman Organizations: Dave, Baruch College Locations: New York
A jawbone found in a child’s rock collection in Arizona more than two decades ago belonged to a Marine who died in California in 1951 and was buried in Missouri, the authorities said on Friday. Everett Leland Yager, a U.S. Marine Corps captain, was 30 years old when his plane crashed during a military training exercise on July 31, 1951, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona said in a statement. Captain Yager’s remains were recovered in Riverside County, Calif., and he was buried in Palmyra, Mo. More than 50 years later, a mother, who was not named by the authorities, found what she believed to be human remains in her son’s old rock collection, the sheriff’s office said. Her son had been an avid rock collector as a child and had inherited the collection from his grandfather.
Persons: Everett Leland Yager, Yager’s Organizations: U.S . Marine Corps Locations: Arizona, California, Missouri, U.S, Yavapai County, Riverside County, Calif, Palmyra, Mo
The rapper J. Cole apologized on Sunday for releasing a diss track about Kendrick Lamar, saying he felt “terrible” and vowing to update the song or remove it from streaming services. The apology followed an exchange of verses that began in October, when J. Cole and Drake ranked themselves, with Lamar, as the “big three” in hip-hop in the song “First Person Shooter.” In March, Lamar dismissed that comparison in a guest verse on the song “Like That” by Future and Metro Boomin, rapping that there was no big three, “it’s just big me.”In response, J. Cole on Friday released the diss track “7 Minute Drill” on his surprise new album, “Might Delete Later.” It includes the lines: “I got a phone call, they say that somebody dissing / You want some attention, it come with extensions / He still doing shows but fell off like ‘The Simpsons.’”Two days after the song was released, J. Cole apologized for it while onstage at his Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, N.C., according to videos posted on social media. During his headlining performance, he said that when he saw the response to the song after it came out, it didn’t “sit right with my spirit,” and that he was speaking about it at the concert to end the beef.
Persons: J, Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, , Lamar, , Organizations: Future, Metro Boomin Locations: Lamar, Raleigh, N.C
A Southwest Airlines flight safely returned to Denver International Airport on Sunday after the engine cover of a Boeing 737-800 fell off during takeoff and struck the wing flap, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Flight 3695 was headed to Houston but returned to the Denver airport around 8:15 a.m. after the crew reported the engine cowling, or cover, fell off. The plane, which had 135 passengers and five crew members, was towed back to the gate. In a statement, Southwest Airlines said its maintenance teams were reviewing the aircraft. Southwest said the passengers boarded another plane and arrived at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston approximately three hours behind schedule.
Persons: William P Organizations: Southwest Airlines, Denver International Airport, Boeing, Federal Aviation Administration, Hobby Locations: Houston, Denver
Joe Flaherty, the comedic actor best known for his performances in the influential sketch comedy series “SCTV” and as a father on the short-lived NBC ensemble series “Freaks and Geeks,” died on Monday. His death was confirmed by his daughter, Gudrun Flaherty, who said that Mr. Flaherty died after a “brief illness.” She did not specify a cause, or say where he died. Among Mr. Flaherty’s characters were Guy Caballero, the sleazy president of the station, and Sammy Maudlin, an unctuous late-night talk show host. His character Count Floyd wore a cheap vampire costume while hosting a horror movie show, “Monster Chiller Horror Theater.” The joke was that the movies the program showed — such as “Dr. Tongue’s Evil House of Pancakes” — were seldom very scary, leaving Floyd holding the bag and often having to apologize to viewers.
Persons: Joe Flaherty, , Gudrun Flaherty, Mr, Flaherty, John Candy, Martin Short, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Guy Caballero, Sammy Maudlin, Count Floyd, Floyd Organizations: NBC, SCTV
The Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska has had a messy start, with a five-time champion shooting and killing a moose to protect himself and his dogs, race officials said on Monday. Under race rules, the musher, Dallas Seavey, had to stop to gut the moose before continuing the 1,000-mile race. Seavey killed the moose after it became “entangled” with the racer and his dogs during the race, the Iditarod said in a news release. Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race officials were notified at 1:43 a.m. on Monday. One of Seavey’s dogs was injured in the encounter and flown to Anchorage to be evaluated by veterinarians, the Iditarod said.
Persons: Dallas Seavey, Seavey Organizations: Facebook Locations: Alaska, Anchorage
At a time of book bans and efforts by state legislatures to ban drag shows, the performer and television producer who is arguably the country’s most famous drag star, RuPaul, is the co-founder of a new online bookstore that will be sending a rainbow school bus from the West Coast to the South to distribute the very books targeted by those bans. He announced on Monday that he was one of three business partners behind the bookstore, Allstora, which will promote underrepresented authors and provide writers with a greater share of profits than other online booksellers do. RuPaul said that this sort of book website would fill an important gap, especially in “these strange days, we’re living in,” to support the ideas of people “who are willing to push the conversation forward.”
Persons: RuPaul, , Locations: West Coast,
Wendy Williams, the former daytime talk show host, has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, a disorder that makes it difficult or impossible for a person to express or comprehend language, according to a statement from her representatives. Ms. Williams, 59, who hosted “The Wendy Williams Show” on Fox for more than a decade, was officially diagnosed last year after “undergoing a battery of medical tests,” according to a statement released on Thursday. The tests show that Ms. Williams has primary progressive aphasia, a type of frontotemporal dementia, her representatives said, adding that she was receiving the necessary medical care. “Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information,” the statement said, “and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions.”
Persons: Wendy Williams, Williams, Organizations: Fox
San Marzano tomatoes are prized by chefs around the world for their intense flavor and are routinely recommended by recipe writers, but one woman in California said that her effort to make a sauce from these rich and balanced tomatoes was upset by a misleading label. Simpson Imports, a Pennsylvania tomato seller, has for years sold Roma tomatoes in cans and boxes, but the California woman, Andrea Valiente, said in a lawsuit filed last year that the company had used “highly misleading tomato packaging to trick consumers into believing that they are purchasing genuine San Marzano tomatoes, at San Marzano prices.”Simpson Imports sought to dismiss the lawsuit, but Araceli Martínez-Olguín, a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of California, said in an order on Tuesday that some of Ms. Valiente’s claims could move forward. Simpson Imports said in an emailed statement that it “strongly disputes that reasonable consumers could have been deceived” by the label since “San Marzano” does not appear on it.
Persons: Andrea Valiente, ” Simpson, Araceli, Valiente’s, , San Marzano Organizations: Simpson Imports, U.S, Northern, Northern District of Locations: California, Pennsylvania, San, Northern District, Northern District of California
A Ukrainian man pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to his leadership role in two cyberattack schemes that caused tens of millions of dollars in losses and temporarily crippled a Vermont hospital in 2020, according to the Justice Department. He was arrested in Switzerland in 2022 and was extradited to the United States in 2023. A lawyer for Mr. Penchukov could not be found because the court file was sealed. The Justice Department said that Mr. Penchukov helped lead “a wide-ranging racketeering enterprise and conspiracy” that installed malicious software known as Zeus onto thousands of business computers, starting in 2009. The malware allowed the enterprise to collect information used to log into online banking accounts, including passwords and personal identification numbers.
Persons: Vyacheslav Igorevich Penchukov, Penchukov Organizations: Justice Department, Prosecutors, Court, The Justice Department Locations: Vermont, Donetsk, U.S, Nebraska, Switzerland, United States
Ring, a home security camera company owned by Amazon, said that it would stop letting police departments request users’ footage in its app amid longstanding concerns from privacy advocates about the company’s relationship with law enforcement. Eric Kuhn, the general manager of subscriptions and software for the Ring app Neighbors, announced on Wednesday that the company was shutting down a feature that allowed the police to request and receive videos from users of the app, a social platform similar to Nextdoor and Citizen where people can share alerts about crime near their home. Mr. Kuhn did not say why Ring was eliminating the app feature, which allowed the police to ask the public for help with active investigations under a special category of posts called “Request for Assistance.”People could respond to the posts by sending the police videos that may be relevant to an investigation without the police needing to seek a warrant.
Persons: Eric Kuhn, Kuhn Organizations: Amazon
A surge of unexpected waves swamped the island of Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands on Saturday, forcing evacuations from a U.S. Military base and causing damage that could take months to repair. A video from inside a building at U.S. Army Garrison Kwajalein Atoll that circulated widely on social media showed a surge of water crashing through a set of double doors, knocking them off their hinges and upending people who were standing nearby. Another burst of water rushed through the windows, forcing the people to wade through waist-high water as furniture and vegetation floated around them. Roi-Namur is a small island about 2,300 miles southwest of Hawaii and is the second-largest island of the Kwajalein Atoll, a loop of coral reefs in the Marshall Islands.
Persons: U.S . Army Garrison Organizations: U.S, Military, U.S . Army Locations: Roi, Namur, Marshall, Hawaii, Kwajalein
A powerful storm diverted dozens of flights in Britain and Ireland on Sunday and Monday, sending passengers to Germany, France and northern Britain, and stranding some at airports overnight. At Dublin Airport, 166 flights were canceled Sunday night, another 29 flights were canceled on Monday, 36 flights were diverted to other airports and 34 aircraft performed what are known as “go-arounds,” or aborted landings, according to the airport. Despite the flight chaos, the airport was open and operational on both Sunday and Monday, Graeme McQueen, a spokesman for Dublin Airport, said in a statement to The New York Times. Winds from the storm, named Isha, eased overnight on Sunday and changed to a more favorable westerly direction to allow “for a smooth first wave of flights.”
Persons: Graeme McQueen, Isha Organizations: Dublin Airport, New York Times Locations: Britain, Ireland, Germany, France
A Colorado man was cited after more than 200 newspapers were stolen from distribution boxes, stopping people from buying The Ouray County Plaindealer the day it published a front-page story about an investigation into sexual assault at the home of the Ouray city police chief. The Plaindealer said in a note to readers on Thursday that all of the newspaper’s boxes in the city of Ouray and all but one in the town of Ridgway had been emptied after the weekly newspaper’s latest edition had been distributed. “Whoever did this does not understand that stealing newspapers doesn’t stop a story,” the note said. The Plaindealer has been operating since 1877 and reports on news in mountainous Ouray County, which is about 165 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, and has just over 5,000 residents.
Persons: Plaindealer Locations: Colorado, Ouray County, Ouray, Ridgway, Colorado Springs
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