By Andy Rose, CNN

(CNN) — A Sunday morning church service in the Twin Cities interrupted by anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters is the latest flash point in escalating tensions between the Trump administration and demonstrators in Minnesota.

“Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted to X last Sunday night.

Dozens of people rushed into Cities Church in St. Paul Sunday morning, interrupting the church service and leading to tense confrontations, videos posted by activists and content creators show.

“ICE out!” protesters shouted as they were confronted by the lead pastor and congregants.

The demonstrators said they were there to protest David Easterwood, who is listed as a pastor at the church and appears to be the same David Easterwood who is a top ICE official in the Twin Cities. He was recently named as a defendant in a case brought by protesters who allege immigration agents had violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights.

“David Easterwood, out now!” protesters yelled at one point.

None of the videos show Easterwood in the church, and it’s unclear if he was in the building on Sunday. In response to CNN’s inquiry about his connection to ICE, a DHS spokesperson responded, “DHS will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers.”

Federal investigation promised

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced an investigation within hours, calling the protesters’ actions “desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.”

Dhillon cited the FACE Act, a federal law that “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to … exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”

A surge in immigration enforcement around Minneapolis, known as Operation Metro Surge, brought thousands of additional federal agents to the area and prompted widespread protests, especially after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, on January 7.

The swift promise to investigate the demonstration stood in contrast to the administration’s response to Good’s death, as the Department of Justice quickly quashed an inquiry and refused to cooperate with local law enforcement agencies on their own investigation.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a former president of the local NAACP chapter, told The Associated Press she considered the threat of an official investigation a sham.

“If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and they need to check t

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN

(CNN) — How does a cow scratch an itch on its back? An Austrian cow named Veronika has a solution that could change how we view livestock.

For the past decade, Veronika has been observed by her owner occasionally picking up sticks with her mouth, maneuvering the ends to reach areas of her body she can’t otherwise reach. When a team of animal behavior experts at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna recently saw a video of Veronika in action, they knew her use of sticks was exceptional.

Veronika’s innovative behavior is reported in a new study — the first to describe tool use in a pet cow, according to the researchers. It was published Monday in the journal Current Biology.

“What this tells us is that cows have the potential to innovate tool use, and we have ignored this fact for thousands of years,” lead author Antonio J. Osuna-Mascaró, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, said in an email. “There are around 1.5 billion heads of cattle in the world, and humans have lived with them for at least 10,000 years. It’s shocking that we’re only discovering this now.”

The research paves the way for more cattle to be observed for this trait and could be evidence that cognitive capabilities of farm animals are greater than once thought, Osuna-Mascaró said.

A cow using tools

Veronika, a Swiss Brown cow, lives on a farm in the small Austrian town of Nötsch im Gailtal. It has everything a pet cow could dream of, including a green meadow and plenty of neighbors who greet her in passing.

When the study authors first saw the video of Veronika using a stick to scratch herself, it was clear that the behavior was intentional and not accidental, Osuna-Mascaró said.

To test how far her tool-use capabilities went, the researchers performed a series of controlled trials in which they placed a deck brush in front of the cow in various orientations. Each time Veronika used her long tongue to pick up the stick, they recorded which end she selected and the body region she targeted when scratching herself.

The researchers found that not only was Veronika displaying true tool use — when a tool serves a functional purpose and allows the subject to extend its own bodily limits — but she had a clear preference for how the tool was used. The side of the brush with the bristles was used when Veronika would rub at the thick skin of her upper body, and the blunt handle was used for the areas of her lower body where her skin is more delicate, such as her udder.

“This is extremely surprising because the only other solid example of multipurpose tool use that we know of belongs to the chimpanzees of the Congo Basin. These, sometimes, are observed using a single tool with two different ends, and use one end to open a hole in the termite mounds, and the other end to fish for the termites,” Osuna-Mascaró said. “The spatial relations in Veronika’s case are simpler. Nevertheless, it’s astonishing to find that a cow has the capability to do something like this.”

While chimpanzees have the advantages of hands and opposable thumbs, Veronika still surprised the researchers with the control she had with her mouth; she would readjust her grip depending on what side of the brush she wanted, what part of her body she was targeting and the range of motion she needed for the area. For her upper body, she would maintain a scrubbing motion, whereas the stick end allowed for gentle forward pushes with more precision.

Marc Bekoff, an emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who was not involved with the study, agrees that Veronika’s use of the deck brush is a clear display of tool use.<

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Four people were transported with injuries after a four-vehicle collision Sunday evening on Highway 154.

According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, one person had major injuries, two had moderate injuries, and one person had minor injuries following the collision in the 2200 block of Highway 154 around 5:59 p.m. Sunday.

Highway 154 was closed in both directions as part of the response and the exact cause of the collision remains under investigation noted the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

The post Four people transported after multi-vehicle collision on Highway 154 Sunday evening appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Arit John, Ethan Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — Democrats are kicking off the process of setting their 2028 presidential primary calendar this month, after 12 states submitted applications to lead the process.

For decades, Democrats closely mirrored Republicans with their primary schedule, with the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries leading the race to the nomination. In the wake of the botched 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses and growing calls for diversity in the early states, Democrats adopted a new schedule selected by President Joe Biden that made South Carolina the first-in-the-nation primary, demoted New Hampshire, elevated Michigan and Georgia and booted Iowa from the early window.

Now, there’s no Democratic president in Washington and a wide-open primary for 2028, with dozens of potential candidates ready to game out their strategies based on which states get picked first.

The Democratic National Committee’s rules and bylaws panel has said it will judge states based on three criteria: rigorousness, fairness and efficiency. In applications reviewed by CNN, state Democratic parties sought to answer how an early primary in their state would test and prepare candidates to win over a diverse range of voters; whether the size of the state or cost of media markets would be fair to smaller campaigns; and whether they would be able to work with their state elected leaders to move their primaries.

The party is still early in the selection process. Members of the DNC’s rules and bylaws panel will meet at the end of this month to begin consideration of the applications.

Here’s how the 12 early-state hopefuls are making their cases:

East region

New Hampshire Democrats led the nominating calendar for a century and have made it clear that they’re seeking to regain their official first-in-the-nation status. The party argued it should be first not for the sake of tradition, but because New Hampshire is a small, purple state that tests candidates’ performance with independents.

“Every general election candidate in New Hampshire knows, you have to win Independents to win your election,” the party wrote. “And each primary candidate knows, attracting Independents to vote in the Democratic primary is just as important as attracting steadfast and devoted Democrats.”

Granite State Democrats also argued that while they are not a racially diverse state – about 87.6% of the state is White, they said – the state’s Black, Latino and Asian American communities are driving population growth in the state.

Delaware Democrats argued in their application that they have a more diverse and representative population than New Hampshire, including a sizable Black population and growing Asian American and Latino communities.

Midwest region

After losing their early window slot in 2024, Iowa Democrats are making the case that they played a key role in boosting lesser-known candidates including former presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. They also argued that hosting their caucuses during the early window would help the state become

Por Sebastián Jiménez Valencia, CNN Español

El empresario colombiano Alex Saab, colaborador cercano del derrocado presidente de Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, fue desplazado del Gobierno por la mandataria encargada, Delcy Rodríguez, en otro capítulo de la nueva relación entre Caracas y Washington, por la que se detuvo, extraditó y luego liberó al hombre acusado de ser “financista” y “testaferro” del líder chavista.

Rodríguez anunció la decisión después de conversar con el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, y con el director del FBI. Agradeció al empresario por “su labor al servicio de la Patria” y aseguró que “asumirá nuevas responsabilidades”, sin mayores precisiones.

Saab nació el 21 de diciembre de 1971 en Barranquilla, según la biografía publicada en la página del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Venezuela, que lo describe como un diplomático vinculado a este país desde el año 2000, primero con negocios de construcción y luego como partícipe de la misión de los Comités Locales de Abastecimiento y Producción (CLAP). La Cancillería dice que Saab “logró importantes acuerdos con empresas mexicanas, turcas, colombianas y de otros países” para ese programa y que en 2018 lo nombraron “enviado especial de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, lo que lo convirtió en un funcionario diplomático para realizar labores humanitarias”.

Según Washington, Alex Saab aprovechó el control cambiario vigente en Venezuela para obtener dólares subsidiados mediante documentos de importación falsos y fraudulentos para artículos y materiales de construcción que nunca llegaron al país, mediante sobornos a funcionarios venezolanos con dinero depositado en cuentas bancarias de EE.UU.

Según la acusación, Saab había obtenido en 2011 un contrato gubernamental para construir viviendas de bajos recursos.

El empresario colombiano Alex Saab, que también tiene la ciudadanía venezolana concedida por el Gobierno de Maduro, fue detenido el 12 de junio de 2020 en Cabo Verde, a petición de EE.UU., donde enfrentaba acusaciones de sobornos y lavado de dinero en Venezuela.

Fue arrestado cuando su avión realizaba una escala técnica en la ruta de Venezuela a Irán. Según el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Venezuela, Saab fue enviado por Maduro en “misiones humanitarias (…) con el objetivo de traer alimentos, medicamentos y gestionar el ingreso a Venezuela de buques con millones de barriles de combustibles provenientes de Irán” en medio de la pandemia de covid-19.

Su avión se detuvo en la isla caboverdiana de Sal para recargar combustible y las autoridades de allí lo capturaron en el acto.

En una carta enviada a CNN entonces, Saab negó estos delitos y describió su detención como un “secuestro” y un “conflicto diplomático excepcionalmente grave”.

El entonces canciller de Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, denunció la “detención arbitraria e ilegal del ciudadano venezolano”.

EE.UU. sostiene que Saab está detrás de una vasta red de corrupción que involucra sobreprecio en cajas de alimentos subsidiadas por el Gobierno de Venezuela, y el Departamento del Tesoro lo ha sancionado.

Estos delitos, de acuerdo con Washington, le han permitido al cuestionado presidente Nicolás Maduro y a sus aliados robar cientos de millones de dólares al pueblo venezolano.

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