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With master qeej players, Hmong arts and culture festival set to return to Landmark Center on June 4

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

The second annual Qeej and Hmong Arts Festival, which organizers say is the country’s only event of its kind dedicated to the traditional pipe instrument, is coming to downtown St. Paul next month.The festival, which is organized by the Hmong Cultural Center, is free and will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 4, at Landmark Center.In addition to highlighting master qeej performers, the festival will also include championship dance crews, other musicians and a fashion show with both traditional and contemporary garments. A Hmong shaman will also perform poetry, said festival organizer Kang Vang, a citizenship educator at the Hmong Cultural Center.Plus, local crafters will have wares for sale, and Hmong and other Southeast Asian food will also be available.The qeej, which is pronounced somewhat like the English word “king” but with a more guttural first consonant, is an important element in many Hmong life cycle events, particularly funerals. The instrument, which can ...

Ask Amy: My friends send me this irritating message every single day

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

Dear Amy: When the pandemic first hit, two of my college friends and I started a group text. It was a true lifeline.About a year ago, however, the two friends started texting “Good morning!” every single day. That’s it: just “Good morning!”My friends both live alone, so these check-ins may feel important to them, but I find them incredibly irritating.I’m not sociable in the morning, and I’m not a fan of obligatory daily texts, especially as life has mostly returned to normal.I haven’t responded to the “good morning” messages in at least six months. They still arrive every day.I’ve turned off notifications and reply only to actual conversations, but my friends haven’t seemed to notice.Is there any way to extricate myself from the “Good mornings”?I love my friends and want to communicate with them – even daily – but not in this forced, intrusive way.I’m worried that if I share my feelings, they&#...

The Press is Falling for Anti-Abortion “Fetal Heartbeat” Propaganda

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

A woman rests next to anti-abortion posters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C.Getty Images“Once a fetal heartbeat could be detected, typically around the sixth week of pregnancy … ” When I read this phrase in the New Yorker, referring to Texas’s first abortion ban, I shot off a letter to the editor. “This is misleading,” I wrote. “There is no heartbeat at six weeks because the fetus does not yet have a heart. As San Francisco OB-GYN Dr. Jennifer Kerns told NPR: ‘What we’re really detecting is a grouping of cells that are initiating some electrical activity. In no way is this detecting a functional cardiovascular system or a functional heart.’” I noted that “a six-week fetus is about the size and shape of a baked bean.”If the vaunted New Yorker copy desk could let this bit of anti-abortion bunk stand without comment, what was going on? I combed the media. Not just the National Review—which calls corrections like Dr. Kerns...

From ashes and debris, iconic Beirut museum reopens 3 years after massive damage from port blast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Sursock Museum has reopened to the public, three years after a deadly explosion in Beirut’s port — set off by tons of improperly stored chemicals — reduced many of its treasured paintings and collections to ashes. The reopening Friday night offered Beirut residents a rare bright spot in a country reeling from a crippling economic crisis that has left around three-quarters of Lebanon’s population of 6 million in poverty.Originally built as a private villa in 1912 on a hilltop overlooking the city’s Achrafieh neighborhood, the opulent residence integrated Venetian and Ottoman styles. Its owner, famed Lebanese art collector Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock, bequeathed his beloved home to his people, to be tuned into a contemporary art museum upon his death in 1952. The museum housed Lebanese art dating back from the late 1800s, including the work of distinguished painter Georges Corm and Fouad Debbas’ library of 30,000 photographs — one of the largest private...

Estadounidense robado cuando era un bebé encuentra a su familia en Chile

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

(CNN) — Scott Lieberman, un estadounidense que vive en San Francisco, siempre supo que era adoptado de Chile. Lo que no sabía era que había sido robado cuando era un bebé.“Viví 42 años de mi vida sin saber que había sido robado, sin saber lo que ocurría en Chile en los años 70 y 80, y quiero que la gente lo sepa (…). Hay familias ahí fuera que aún pueden reunirse”, dijo Lieberman.Durante la dictadura del general Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), muchos bebés fueron entregados a agencias de adopción. Algunos de los niños procedían de familias ricas, y se los llevaban o entregaban para proteger su reputación. Otros bebés de familias más pobres eran directamente robados, como parece que fue el caso de Lieberman.En la última década, CNN ha documentado múltiples casos de bebés chilenos que fueron robados al nacer. Las autoridades del país afirman que sacerdotes, monjas, médicos, enfermeras y otras personas conspiraron para llevar a cabo adopciones ilegales, cuyo princ...

Maryland’s search for a new state elections director is down to 3 finalists

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.The search for a new state elections administrator is now down to three finalists.The five-member Maryland State Board of Elections met Friday to review a tranche of applications for the position and determine which candidates are invited for interviews next week.“Obviously, this is a personnel matter,” said William Voelp, chair of the elections board. “So, we’re trying to be very careful not to use names and things like that just in fairness to the candidates.”The state board is engaged in a fast-moving effort to hire a successor to outgoing state Elections Administrator Linda Lamone.“We had numerous people apply,” Voelp said Friday afternoon following a meeting of the board that was not open to the public. “The board today met and whittled that down to interview three candidates and w...

Un influencer muere tras retransmitir en directo cómo se bebía botellas de licor chino Baijiu

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

(CNN) — Un influencer murió poco después de retransmitir en directo cómo se bebía varias botellas de alcohol de alta graduación en la versión china de TikTok, según informan los medios estatales del país, en un hecho que probablemente renovará el debate sobre cómo regular el sector.El influencer “Sanqiange” (o “Hermano Tres Mil”) fue hallado muerto pocas horas después de retransmitir su participación en una competición con otro influencer que consistía en beber Baijiu, una bebida alcohólica china con una graduación típica de entre el 30% y el 60%, informó Shangyou News.Uno de sus amigos dijo al medio que Sanqiange —identificado por su apellido en la vida real, Wang— había participado en un desafío online conocido como “PK” contra otro influencer en la madrugada del 16 de mayo, y que retransmitió en directo los resultados en su canal Douyin.Los desafíos “PK” consisten en batallas uno contra uno en las que los influencers compiten ...

Not as Stormy for the Memorial Day Weekend

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

The holiday weekend has arrived — Memorial Day Weekend! Often known as the unofficial start to summer, it will sure look and feel like summer in South Florida this weekend. Following days of drenching storms throughout much of this week, our weather pattern will not be as active this weekend and into early next week.Unfortunately, a front that has been near the area over the past few days will remain nearby in a stalled fashion but moisture levels will not be as high and the ingredients will not be as favorable for numerous thunderstorms this time around. Instead, expect sunshine with a morning shower or two, then scattered showers and thunderstorms will become possible once again during the afternoon and evening hours with high temperatures in the mid to upper 80s and a rain chance of 40%.Sunday and Monday are also looking quite similar with the morning sunshine, then the risk for a few showers or storms in the afternoon, which is a very typical situation for this time of the...

Lucas: TikTok … China must have the dirt on Biden clan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

Forget the FBI.If the Republicans in Congress really want to get the goods on Joe Biden, they ought to contact the Ministry of State Security.It knows more about Joe Biden and the Biden family’s business dealing with the Communists in Beijing than the FBI, CIA and the IRS will ever know — or ever tell you.The MSS is the chief intelligence agency of the People’s Republic of China.It is the Chinese Communist Party’s version of the FBI, CIA and IRS combined into one vast investigative bureaucracy that includes counterintelligence, foreign intelligence, and political security.Their Chinese file on Joe Biden and his family — and the payments they received from the Chinese Communists — must be thicker than an old Beijing phone book, if such a phone book ever existed — and deeper than anything compiled on TikTok.This is not to say that the Chinese would cooperate with such a Hail Mary request to turn over information dealing with the Bidens’ questionable fiscal dealings with Ch...

Could a Floating Hospital treat Mass and Cass addicts?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:31 GMT

A South Boston Democrat wants to put money behind a study that could lead to a medical ship in the Harbor to primarily serve Mass and Cass homeless dealing with mental health issues or substance abuse.A floating hospital designed to serve people living in tents addresses what state Sen. Nick Collins calls a medical facilities shortage in the city. A medical ship could provide patients with a higher level of acute care in a setting completely focused on mental health and substance use, Collins said.“We need an interim solution to a facilities problem that doesn’t allow for us right now to intervene on demand,” Collins told the Herald. “What do you do? You need to provide the resources that don’t take over hospitals and communities.”Senators this week approved Collins’ idea as an amendment to their fiscal 2024 budget.Collins wants to give the Department of Mental Health $50,000 to study the feasibility of converting a decommissioned ship or another ...