Campus police spokesperson Marc Lovicott said at least a dozen people have been arrested at the University of Wisconsin in Madison as police removed tents erected by protesters. Police pushed into the protesters with shields Wednesday morning, resulting in a scrum. Protesters chanted “students hold your ground” and “long live Palestine.” Police have removed all but one of the tents that protesters erected. The protesters’ tents and belongings were loaded into a dump truck. The university said camping is prohibited under campus policy and state law. Currently: — Police clear pro-Palestinian pro ..read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests, but many of the con ..read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Wednesday she would call a vote next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson, forcing her colleagues to choose sides in a difficult showdown after Democratic leaders announced they would provide the votes to save the Republican speaker’s job. Speaking outside the Capitol, Greene ranted against Republican Party leaders at the highest levels and pushed back against their public entreaties, including from Donald Trump, to avoid another messy political fight so close to the November election. With her was Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., o ..read more

April concluded with a season snowfall total of 38.7″ in Duluth. We’ve all felt the whiplash since last year’s record-setting 140.1″. Interestingly, the average of the two is precisely the normal snowfall for October through April of 89.4″. May’s normal monthly snowfall, bringing our season total normal to 90.2.” May of 2023 did not add any snow to the running total. The 2023-2024 season started quite snowless, and that trend continued through February. Duluth’s season total was only 18.7″ through March 15th. The second half of March then brought Duluth more snow than the fall and winter combi ..read more

ISTANBUL (AP) — Workers, activists and others around the world took to the streets on Wednesday to mark May Day with protests over the pressure of rising prices and calls for greater labor rights. Pro- Palestinian sentiments were also on display. Police in Istanbul used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse thousands of people who tried to break through a barricade and reach the main Taksim square in defiance of a ban on celebrating Labor Day there. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social platform X at least 210 people were detained. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government h ..read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form — a financial aid application that’s supposed to help students go to college, but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through. “I feel overwhelmed and stressed out,” said Bijoux, 19. She came close to tears the last time she tried the form. “I feel like I’m being held back.” Normally a time of celebration for high school seniors, this spring has been marred by the federal government’s botched rollout of the new FAFSA application. B ..read more

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says about 300 people were arrested in police crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University and City College. Adams, a Democrat who was formerly a police captain, insisted that while the people who entered Columbia’s Hamilton Hall included students, “It was led by individuals who were not affiliated with the university.” “There is a movement to radicalize young people. And I’m not going to wait until it is done to acknowledge the existence of it,” Adams said Wednesday morning. Currently: — Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia Univ ..read more

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Months of relentless Russian artillery pounding have devastated a strategic city in eastern Ukraine, new drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows, with barely a building left intact, homes and municipal offices charred and a town that once had a population of 12,000 now all but deserted. The footage shows Chasiv Yar — set amid green fields and woodland — pounded into an apocalyptic vista. The destruction is reminiscent of the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, which Ukraine yielded after months of bombardment and huge losses for both sides. The strategically impor ..read more

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. Hours earlier, police burst into a building at Columbia University that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school while inspiring others. After a couple of hours of scuffles between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators at UCLA, police wearing helmets and face shields formed lines and slowly separated the groups. That quelled the violence, a ..read more

CHICAGO (AP) — For five days, Northwestern University’s Deering Meadow rang with the shouts of student protesters and supporters joining demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses nationwide. But Tuesday morning the grassy meadow on Northwestern’s suburban Chicago campus was silent after student organizers and the school announced an agreement late Monday to curb protest activity — in return for a new advisory committee on university investments and other commitments. On campus Tuesday, two unoccupied tents remained, surrounded by abandoned folding chairs, cases of bottled ..read more