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UMN students to get bigger refunds from pandemic semester as class-action lawsuit settles

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

The University of Minnesota has settled a class-action lawsuit over student fee refunds it issued early in the coronavirus pandemic.The case had been scheduled for trial next week in Hennepin County. Instead, attorneys for each side will draft a formal settlement agreement and present it to the judge for approval sometime in the next 45 days, according to a letter to the court from one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.Eventually, some 60,000 students who paid mandatory student fees at one of the U’s five campuses during the spring 2020 semester could get additional money back, but the dollar amounts haven’t been disclosed.The U in 2020 issued $35.4 million in pro-rated refunds for housing, dining and parking contracts and various student fees after shutting down the campus in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.Students got back only half of their pro-rated fees for student government and student services, however, and no refunds for fees connected to building improvem...

Floating excavator deployed this week to clear Raspberry Island driftwood

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

LS Marine Inc. deployed a floating excavator situated on a barge this week to remove driftwood from Raspberry Island, located in the Mississippi River just outside downtown St. Paul.The company, based in Inver Grove Heights, expects to haul more than 40 truckloads of wood from the island and nearby public docks on behalf of the city. The wood will be taken by barge to the Southport Terminal, south of the St. Paul Municipal Airport, where it will be cut up, and then hauled by trucks to a contractor for chipping, shredding and reuse.Taylor Luke, president and owner of LS Marine, said much of the driftwood is underwater and not immediately visible to the eye. He said he expects the work, which began Monday, to continue through Friday.“It happens any time basically you have high water,” Luke said. “The river system everywhere gets inundated with drift debris that catches on something.” Related ArticlesLocal News | The Great River Passage Conservancy names Ka...

Advocates renew push for New York for All Act

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)--At the Capitol, advocates called on the state legislature to pass New York For All, legislation that would prohibit local law enforcement from asking about people’s citizenship or immigration status and then work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE."I don’t want my local police dollars to be wasted, rounding up people who they think or suspect are here without status. I’d rather my local law enforcement work on solving actual crimes. Work on protecting actual people in communities," said Democratic Senator Andrew Gounardes.Gounardes sponsors the bill and said jurisdictions such as New York City already do this. He wants it to be a law statewide and said if ICE has warrants, the bill wouldn’t stop them from following their process. Republican Minority Leader, Rob Ortt, is against this legislation."The State of New York would prohibit local law enforcement with cooperating with federal immigration officials. We in New York, whether it’s a...

NYS Reports its Anti-Tobacco Measures are Working

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The New York Department of Health reported that state efforts to curtail tobacco usage are working. The measures primarily include increasing cigarette prices and taxes.MORE news from NEWS10“The intent of banning the sale of flavored vaping products and restrictions on certain other tobacco sales was to prevent young people from starting a deadly addiction and to encourage adults to quit” said Dr James Mc Donald, the acting state health commissioner. Mc Donald added that the state is continuing its efforts to ban flavored tobacco products such as menthol.New York State’s heath department cited three policy measures that have lowered state tobacco usage.The first, from the New York Youth tobacco survey, found that cigarette usage fell from a peak of over 27 percent in 2000 to 2 percent most recently. E cigarette usage declined 32 percent from 2018 to 2022.A second report from the 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System found a 15 percent decrease in ad...

Albany barbershop on healing journey after May shooting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- On May 13, a gunman opened fire on an Albany barbershop, killing a barber and wounding a 19-year-old man and a 9-year-old child. The shop has since been trying to heal and slowly welcome back customers into their chairs.A few weeks after the shooting, on a Thursday afternoon, three men inside Village and Barber and Beauty were talking about scripture, debating how God's Will could allow humankind to experience calamity. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! "But if you’ve ever read the Book of Job," owner Reginald Graham, also a pastor, replied to another barber at the shop while cutting a reverend's hair, "you can be smack dab in the middle of God’s will, doing exactly what he wants you to do, and still go through some trials and some tribulations.” Graham knows about tribulations firsthand. Last month, his grandson was grazed by a bullet as he was giving him a haircut.An image of Tyrone Staley from his ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany won't oppose St. Clare’s case

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has responded to the motion filed on behalf of the St. Clare’s pensioners, stating they will not oppose it. The Diocese said that the bankruptcy court should enter an order allowing the matter to go forward in court. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The Diocese acknowledged that it is appropriate for the issues in the case to be decided by the New York State Supreme Court and Schenectady County. They have also requested regular status reports by the bankruptcy court on the progress of the case until the matter is resolved, because of the effect the decision will have on the Diocese's Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan.The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany also addressed a statement made by Mary Hartshorne, the leader of the St. Clare’s pensioners, in her letter to Pope Francis in early April, which stated that pensioners are struggling to pay for rent, mortgages, me...

Troy man pleads not guilty to manslaughter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- On Thursday, Tavel Harris, 45, of Troy, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence. The indictment alleges that Harris recklessly caused the death of Naghira Walker on or around April 22, 2023. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Harris was also accused of intending to conceal, alter, or destroy the victim’s body, as well as clothing and bedding which contained Walker's blood. Police investigations determined that Harris used a U-Haul truck and his mother's wheelchair to dump Walker's body outside a vacant home. Harris is due back in court on June 22. Bail is set at $50,000 cash, $100,000 bond, and $150,000 partially secured bond.

NYS hosts first School Safety Summit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- New York State hosted the first of its kind, School Safety Summit. Over 900 school administrators and staff attended the two-day event in Albany. Education experts say school safety comes in many different ways. Whether it's feeling safe physically, being able to discuss issues such as bullying or simply feeling included, safety is key.  Students, staff welcome new Siena College president "And helping school leaders understand that safety is not just the absence of threat or harm or violence, but rather the existence of systems and structures that support mutual care and belonging and interconnection," said Christina Pate, Senior Associate at West EdW. Pate echoed what many education leaders had to say at the summit - school safety requires different approaches.  "We really want to make sure that our student and faculty, meaning teacher, principles, superintendents, really have a plan in place, and that plan has to be well known to the students and to the me...

St. Louis child dies after shooting himself

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

ST. LOUIS - A child died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the city's Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.According to Sgt. Charles Wall, a spokesman for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. in the 3100 block of Brantner Place.Police found the child, who suffered a head wound, and rushed him to a local hospital, where he later died. The 10-year-old child has not been identified.An adult man was taken into custody Thursday afternoon at the scene of the shooting.

Guilty verdict for man who struck, killed woman with his truck

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:30:55 GMT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Jurors in Madison County needed only 40 minutes of deliberation before returning a guilty verdict against a man who intentionally struck and killed a woman with his truck along a Pontoon Beach highway.Lisa Dunnavant-Polach was killed on Feb. 21, along Illinois 111, in the area north of Interstate 270 near Bel Air Drive.Dunnavant-Polach was running on foot and attempting to evade Richard Mayor, who was driving a Ford F-150. Prosecutors said they had been in a relationship, but got into a dispute prior.Stacy O’Dell saw what was happening and called her husband, Steven, and asked him to come and help. Steven, who was driving a tractor-trailer, pulled over along the side of the highway to help Dunnavant-Polach. As Dunnavant-Polach ran to get into the tractor-trailer, the F-150 slammed into her and sped off. ‘Drought alert’ declared in Missouri, some relief possibly on way for St. Louis Steven O'Dell, a former Marine, testified that one of Dunnavant-Polach's legs w...