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Anchorage’s oldest building, a Russian Orthodox church, gets new life in restoration project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

EKLUTNA, Alaska (AP) — The Russian Orthodox church on the outskirts of Alaska’s biggest city is packed with treasures for the Christian faithful: religious icons gifted by Romanov czars, panels of oil paintings and jewel-studded incense burners. But outside the hand-hewn log sanctuary, dozens of miniature Alaska Native spirit houses sit by aging gravesites alongside Orthodox crosses poking from the cemetery grounds.The narrow church with white-framed windows near Anchorage is a vestige of Russia’s nearly 150-year attempt to colonize Alaska and the Indigenous people who lived here. But over time, St. Nicholas Church became an important touchstone for Alaska Natives as well. The church lies within the Alaska Native village of Eklutna, and many are buried there. Now, an extensive, three-year restoration project that began this month is bringing more attention to the tiny church that is a window into a complex, and often-forgotten, chapter of Alaska’s unique history. T...

Boys graduate high school at lower rates than girls, with lifelong consequences

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — They attend the same classes with access to the same programs, and even come from the same families. But girls consistently are outperforming boys, graduating at higher rates at public high schools around the country. The gap between them is wide, often as wide as the achievement gap between students from affluent and low-income families, a problem that officials have tracked closely for years. But the reasons why boys are falling short are not as clear. Interviews with students, educators and researchers point to several factors. Men generally can earn the same wages as women with less education. But boys also are more likely to face suspensions or other discipline knocking them off track, and they don’t pursue help as often when they face mental health challenges. Some boys are fine when they first drop out, landing jobs providing steady incomes. But over the long term, lacking a high school degree can hold men back. Studies show young men who drop out o...

Moms for Liberty unexpectedly finds itself at the center of a heated suburban Indiana mayoral race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

CARMEL, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana Moms for Liberty chapter has followed the conservative group’s national playbook, challenging diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in school districts as part of its “parental rights” mission. But the chapter’s aims and use of a quote from Adolf Hitler in its inaugural newsletter unexpectedly spilled over this fall into a mayor’s race previously defined by local development.The polarizing nature of Moms for Liberty, which has gained name recognition for its push to pack school boards with its endorsements, has spurred some left-leaning candidates to capitalize on opposition to the group and stir voters against their conservative opponents. In Carmel, Indiana, the Democratic candidate for mayor has repeatedly used the group when attacking his opponent, even though the mayor’s office has no administrative power over school districts, and the local chapter has publicly remained silent on the race outside of its traditional battleground.Democratic...

The Loop Fantasy Football Update Week 8: Last-minute moves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

UPDATE: 11:01 p.m. SaturdayWe’ve gotten a bit more clarity tonight on a couple of questionable quarterbacks.San Francisco’s Brock Purdy and Las Vegas’ Jimmy Garoppolo have both been cleared to play tomorrow. But considering this is a bye-free week, only Purdy should be considered by fantasy mavens for a start this week.UPDATE: 12:41 p.m. SaturdayToday has been pretty light on fantasy news so far. The biggest news, probably, is that Carolina running back Miles Sanders is expected to return tomorrow against Houston after being sidelined by a shoulder injury.Miami WR Tyreek Hill (hip) has been cleared to play as he continues his pursuit of the NFL’s first 2,000-yard receiving season. Considered likely to play Sunday are 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Seattle wideout Tyler Lockett.Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has been ruled out again, which means it’s another week for Tyrod Taylor. And standouts listed as questionable include Giants TE Darren Waller and Cleveland RB Jerome Ford.OR...

UCLA defense posts 7 sacks in 28-16 victory over Colorado

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — UCLA's defense sacked Colorado's Shedeur Sanders seven times and the 23rd-ranked Bruins broke open a close game at halftime with three second-half touchdowns in a 28-16 victory over the Buffaloes.UCLA coach Chip Kelly had a simple message for his team at halftime — get in the holiday spirit. In this case, the one on Tuesday and not looking ahead to the one two months from now. There is another Sanders at CU: Deion’s daughter, Shelomi, plays hoops and goes by ‘Bossy’ "I had to remind our kids that this was Halloween, not Christmas. We need to stop giving away gifts. And let's just make sure that it's Halloween, so let's put your scary masks on and go play," Kelly said.After committing four turnovers in the first half, the 23rd-ranked Bruins broke open a close game with three second-half touchdowns and haunted Colorado's Shedeur Sanders all night en route to a 28-16 victory over the Buffaloes on Saturday night.UCLA (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12) led 7-6 at halftime, but s...

Kelly dominates after Korea detour as Diamondbacks rout Rangers 9-1 to tie World Series 1-all

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Merrill Kelly called his four-season detour to South Korea a “Lost in Translation” experience. When he made his World Series debut, it was Texas Rangers batters who were disoriented.The 35-year-old right-hander pitched three-hit ball over seven innings, Ketel Marte extended his postseason hitting streak to a record 18 games and the Arizona Diamondbacks routed Texas 9-1 on Saturday night to even the World Series at one game apiece.“At this point in my career, nothing is going to shock me,” Kelly said. “I think going over to Korea as a 26-year-old is way scarier than pitching in the big leagues or even in the World Series.”Kelly struck out nine, walked none and allowed his only run on Mitch Garver’s leadoff homer in the fifth on a sinker at the bottom of the strike zone. His 22 called strikes were the most for a Series pitcher since Stephen Strasburg in Game 6 for the 2019 Washington Nationals.“I thought he might go nine innings today at one point,” Diamondback...

King Charles III seeks to look ahead in a visit to Kenya. But he’ll have history to contend with

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III wants to look to the future when his state visit to Kenya starts on Tuesday. But first he will have to confront the past.As Charles prepares for the four-day trip to Kenya, he is facing calls to address the legacy of eight decades of British colonial rule, as well as complaints that foreigners still own large swaths of rich farmland, and that the U.K. has failed to accept responsibility for the crimes of British soldiers stationed in Kenya.The trip will also be closely watched around the world, because it’s the king’s first state visit to an African nation and his first to a Commonwealth member since he ascended the throne last year. It comes at a time when the U.K. and the royal family is under pressure to reexamine the history of colonialism and apologize for its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.Behind the history and symbolism, Britain is keen to buttress its modern relationship with Kenya, which includes cooperation on counterterrorism ...

More help arrives in Acapulco, and hurricane’s death toll rises to 39 as searchers comb debris

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — More resources are arriving on Mexico’s battered Pacific coast, and the death toll from Hurricane Otis is growing as searchers recover more bodies from Acapulco’s harbor and under fallen trees and other storm debris.President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Saturday that his opponents are trying to inflate the toll to damage him politically, but few expect the latest mark of 39 dead to be where it stops. Hundreds of families are still awaiting word from loved ones.Otis roared ashore early Wednesday with devastating 165 mph (266 kph) winds after strengthening so rapidly that people had little time to prepare.Kristian Vera stood on an Acapulco beach Saturday looking out toward dozens of sunken boats, including three of her own, all marked by floating buoys or just poking out of the water.Despite losing her livelihood in Otis’ brutal pass through Mexico’s over Pacific coast, the 44-year-old fisher felt fortunate. Earlier in the day, she watched a bo...

In Benin, Voodoo’s birthplace, believers bemoan steady shrinkage of forests they revere as sacred

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

PORTO-NOVO, Benin (AP) — For many people in Benin, the forests empowered them before they were born, or in the first months of their lives.Barren women performed Voodoo rituals by sacred trees to get pregnant. Others were brought as newborns by parents seeking to ward off evil spirits. Some entered at a crossroads as adults, asking for guidance. In the cradle of Voodoo, the forests were places of hope. Yet as the woodlands shrank, due to economic development and other factors, it has dealt a blow to communities struggling to protect the spirits believed to live within them.In many cases, according to believers, the spirits fought back.When residents in the village of Houeyogbe agreed to let the government destroy much of its forest to build roads and install electricity, locals say the spirits unleashed a plague, with inexplicable deaths and mounting illnesses. In Ouidah, Benin’s epicenter of Voodoo, a gas station that replaced the Aveleketezou forest years ago has not turned a pro...

Erdogan opts for a low-key celebration of Turkey’s 100th anniversary as a secular republic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:00 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is marking the 100th anniversary of the creation of the modern, secular republic from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire on Sunday, but expect no grand pageantry or gala reception to memorialize the important milestone.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has opted for a low-key celebration of the centennial, which comes months after a devastating earthquake that killed 50,000 people and coincides with the Israeli-Hamas war that has roiled the Middle East. The subdued affair, however, has caused dismay among many in Turkey who feel that the legacy of the republic’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is under attack by Erdogan’s government. They see the lack of pomp and fanfare an as attempt by the government, which finds its roots in Turkey’s Islamic movement, to erase Ataturk’s memory.Erdogan will observe the traditional protocol of laying a wreath at Ataturk’s mausoleum in the capital and shake hands with a procession of ambassadors and ...