Legendary Minnesota hockey broadcaster Al Shaver dies

The legendary “voice of hockey” in Minnesota has died.

KSTP Sports confirmed Wednesday that Al Shaver has died. He was 96.

Shaver worked in many roles during his 48-year broadcasting career but is most commonly known as the voice of the Minnesota North Stars.

He came to the Twin Cities in 1967 to call North Stars games, which he did for 26 years until the team moved to Dallas in 1993. He then broadcast Gophers hockey games until his retirement in 1996. His son, Wally, is now the voice of Gophers hockey.

Shaver is a 10-time Minnesota Sportscaster of the Year and received numerous awards over his career. He’s also in the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Biden’s planned commencement speech sparks concern at Morehouse College


A commencement speech that President Joe Biden is expected to deliver at Morehouse College next month has sparked some concern among the school’s faculty amid heightened tensions on college campuses across the country over the US’ continued support for Israel in its war in Gaza.

The White House on Tuesday formally announced that Biden will deliver the May 19 commencement at Morehouse, but faculty at the school – one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black colleges – expressed concerns about Biden’s presence on campus after hearing rumors that he would deliver the commencement earlier this week, according to an email from Morehouse Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Kendrick Brown, which was obtained by CNN.

In the email, Brown writes that the concerns “prompted me to consult with elected faculty leaders” and those leaders “expressed clearly that providing such a forum for discussion would be valued by many faculty.”

The forum is scheduled for April 25, according to the email and will just be for faculty, though Brown notes “students also will engage” with college President David Thomas on the issue.

U of M pro-Palestinian encampment dispersed by police, 9 arrested

Nine people were arrested Tuesday morning after a group of students set up a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Minnesota campus.

Social media posts showed several tents were set up outside Walter Library, located on the East Bank campus. Police arrived at the scene and appeared to start taking down signs as students were chanting. The protesters later dispersed after authorities arrived, and the tents were taken down just before 8 a.m.

A University of Minnesota spokesperson said the group was asked to disperse by 7 a.m., but nine people chose to stay and were arrested.

The protest is similar to what has been seen at college campuses across the country. At campuses like NYU and Yale, protests have led to arrests or canceled classes. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's daughter was one of more than 100 demonstrators who were arrested on Thursday at Columbia University during a pro-Palestinian protest encampment.

The City Without Jews (German: Die Stadt ohne Juden) is a 1924 Austrian Expressionist film by Hans Karl Breslauer, based on the novel of the same title by Hugo Bettauer. The film is one of the few surviving Expressionist films from Austria and has therefore been well researched.[2] The film was first shown on 25 July 1924 in Vienna.[

Haiti's death toll rises as international support lags, UN report says

More than 2,500 people were killed or injured in gang violence in Haiti from January through March, up 53% from the last three months of 2023, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said on Friday.

At least 590 were killed during police operations, BINUH said in a report. Several were apparently not involved in gang violence, some had impaired mobility, and at least 141 were killed by vigilante justice groups.

Most of the violence took place in the capital of Port-au-Prince, while at least 438 people were kidnapped across the wider West Department and agricultural Artibonite region. The capital's port-side La Saline and Cite Soleil areas had the longest large-scale attacks.

Gang members continued to perpetrate rapes against women and girls in rival neighborhoods, as well as in prisons and displacement camps, the report found.

US will veto Palestinian request for full UN membership at security council vote

The US has said it will veto a Palestinian request to the United Nations security council for full UN membership, blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

US officials had been hoping Washington could avoid use of its veto if other states objected to a draft resolution before the council recommending the “State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations”. But with the resolution due to go to a vote on Thursday evening, it had the support of up to 13 of the other 15 members.

The only confirmed abstention was the UK. Diplomats said the US mission was trying to convince one or two other council members to abstain, to mitigate Washington’s isolation on the issue, but American officials said they were resigned to having to wield the US veto once more in support of Israel.

Washington’s position is that the emergence of a Palestinian state had to be the outcome of negotiations on all aspects of a Middle East peace settlement.

“We completely believe in the two-state solution and a state for the Palestinian people. We believe the best and the most sustainable way to do that is through direct negotiations between the parties,” the White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters on board Air Force One on Thursday.

FBI on alert for threats to the Jewish community ahead of Passover, director says


Federal law enforcement is on alert for any potential threats to the US Jewish community ahead of the start of the Passover holiday, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a group of nationwide security officials Wednesday.

“We at the bureau remain particularly concerned that lone actors could target large gatherings, high profile events, or symbolic or religious locations for violence – particularly a concern, of course, as we look to the start of Passover on Monday evening,” Wray said.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Secure Community Network, a Jewish community nonprofit safety and training organization, Wray said threats to the US Jewish community had already been elevated before Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, but the number of FBI hate crime cases tripled in the wake of the incident.

“Between October 7 and January 30 of this year, we opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the four months before October 7,” said Wray, who noted raw statistics about investigations represent “very real threats to your institutions, to your houses of worship, to your schools and university organizations, and to the individuals in your communities simply for being who you are.”