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Despite widespread protest, Reddit CEO says company is ‘not negotiating’ on changes to data access

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — If you hopped on Reddit to scroll through your favorite forums this week, you may have encountered “private” or “restricted” messages. That’s because thousands of subreddits chose to go dark in an ongoing protest of some controversial changes announced by the online discussion network.The blackout, which began Monday, emerged out of outrage over Reddit’s upcoming changes to its application programming interface (API) access — notably the company’s plan to start charging high usage third-party apps, who have long-used the Reddit data at no cost to build resources for users not available through the official site or app.Organizers of the protest say that Reddit’s new policy threatens to end key ways of historically customizing the platform, which relies heavily on the volunteer labor of subreddit moderators. Many users currently rely on third-party apps to access features that are unavailable in the official Reddit app, particularly for content mode...

Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder dies after falling down a ravine in the Tour de Suisse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder died Friday, one day after crashing and falling down a ravine during a descent at the Tour de Suisse.The 26-year-old Mäder crashed after a left-hand turn on a fast downhill road approaching the end of the mountainous fifth stage into La Punt. His fall of about 30 meters was stopped by a stream. “Gino lost his battle to recover from the severe injuries he sustained,” his Bahrain-Victorious team said in a statement. “Despite the best efforts of the phenomenal staff at Chur hospital, Gino couldn’t make it through this, his final and biggest challenge, and at 11:30 a.m. we said goodbye to one of the shining lights of our team.”Medical staff who reached Mäder found him motionless in the water, race organizers said Thursday. CPR was performed on him before he was airlifted to the hospital.“Our entire team is devastated by this tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with Gino’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult ti...

Donald Triplett, the 1st person diagnosed with autism, dies at 89

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

FOREST, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi man known as “Case 1,” the first person to be diagnosed with autism, has died.Donald G. Triplett was the subject of a book titled “In a Different Key,” a PBS documentary film, BBC news magazine installment and countless medical journal articles.But to employees at the Bank of Forest, in a small city about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Jackson, he was simply “Don,” WLBT-TV reported.Triplett died Thursday, confirmed Lesa Davis, the bank’s senior vice president. He was 89.Triplett worked for 65 years at the bank where his father Beamon Triplett was a primary shareholder.“Don was a remarkable individual,” CEO Allen Breland said of Triplett, who was known as a fiercely independent savant. “And he kept things interesting.”Triplett, a 1958 graduate of Millsaps College, enjoyed golf and travel and was frequently flying to exotic locales, Breland said. “He was in his own world, but if you gave him two, three-digit numbers, he could multiply...

NCAA medical committee recommendations include removal of marijuana from banned drug list

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An NCAA medical committee wants to remove marijuana from the banned drug list and consider whether testing should be limited to performance-enhancing drugs.The legislation must still be introduced and approved by all three NCAA divisions. Administrators from Division II and Division III asked the committee to look into the marijuana issue and a final decision is expected this fall. The NCAA’s committee on safeguards and medical aspects of sports also recommended suspending marijuana testing at NCAA championship events until a final judgment about the proposal is made, establishing a trace-level threshold for a banned hormone and metabolic modulator and updates to the governing body’s best practices on mental health.But the marijuana proposal will likely be the most pivotal change.Last December, at a summit on marijuana use among college athletes, it was determined the drug is not performance enhancing and that NCAA schools should focus more on educating ath...

RCMP say no critical injuries in crash of bus with 30 aboard near Prince George, B.C.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

PRINCE GEORGE — Mounties say no critical injuries have been reported among 30 people on a charter bus that crashed on a forest service road north of Prince George, B.C.RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Cooper says numerous ambulances and police officers have been dispatched to the site.Cooper says the bus was carrying pipeline workers when it went off the road and Emergency Health Services says 17 patients have been taken to hospital. Cooper say the cause of the crash is still unclear, but early morning rain on the gravel road made the conditions “quite poor.”She says initial reports indicate there were no critical injuries, but the distance from Prince George is hampering communications as radio coverage is minimal in that area.Northern Health spokesperson Eryn Collins said the University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George has activated a “code orange,” used in cases where an influx of patients is expected that could overwhelm the hospital.This report by The Canadian Press was first...

Zelenskyy urges African leaders to press Putin on release of political prisoners

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to a group of African leaders to ask his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to free political prisoners from Crimea and beyond — saying it would be an “important step” in their trip to Russia on Saturday.Seven African leaders — presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda — visited Ukraine on Friday as part of a self-styled “peace mission” to both Ukraine and Russia to try to help end their nearly 16-month-old war. The African leaders were traveling to meet with Putin on Saturday in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.The mission to Ukraine, the first of its kind by African leaders, comes in the wake of other peace initiatives such as one by China, and it carried extra importance for the African countries: They rely in varying degrees on food and fertilizer deliveries from Russia and Ukraine, whose war has jeopardiz...

Q&A: Carlos Santana: ‘My guitar is my best lover, ever’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — “Take no prisoners — peacefully,” Carlos Santana sometimes tells his bandmates before taking the stage. “I don’t like to coast. I don’t like to rope-a-dope,” Santana says. “I want to get in the middle of the ring and knock the sucker out. That way the referee can’t steal the fight from me.”Santana, 75, can still whip a crowd into a frenzy like few others. He’s been doing it since he stormed onto the San Francisco scene in the late ’60s. He left the Woodstock audience dazed and stunned before the first Santana record came out. The new documentary by Rudy Valdez, “Carlos,” which is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be released this fall in theaters by Sony Pictures Classics, chronicles the meteoric rise of one of the most singular guitar players in rock history. The critic Robert Christgau once wrote: “He is less a man of style than of sound, a clear, loud, fluent sound that cleanses with the same motion no matter how often that motion is repeated.”Santa...

Carlos Santana: ‘My guitar is my best lover, ever’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — “Take no prisoners — peacefully,” Carlos Santana sometimes tells his bandmates before taking the stage.“I don’t like to coast. I don’t like to rope-a-dope,” Santana says. “I want to get in the middle of the ring and knock the sucker out. That way the referee can’t steal the fight from me.”Santana, 75, can still whip a crowd into a frenzy like few others. He’s been doing it since he stormed onto the San Francisco scene in the late ’60s. He left the Woodstock audience dazed and stunned before the first Santana record came out.The new documentary by Rudy Valdez, “Carlos,” which is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be released this fall in theaters by Sony Pictures Classics, chronicles the meteoric rise of one of the most singular guitar players in rock history. The critic Robert Christgau once wrote: “He is less a man of style than of sound, a clear, loud, fluent sound that cleanses with the same motion no matter how often that motion is repea...

Georgia and New Hampshire’s places in limbo as Democrats hammer out 2024 primary order

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s plan to overhaul his party’s 2024 presidential primary schedule remained unsettled Friday, after a Democratic rules committee gave New Hampshire more time to comply with new rules that leaders there fiercely oppose, but opted not to immediately offer such an extension to another battleground state, Georgia. The Democratic National Committee rules panel voted to let New Hampshire have until Sept. 1 to continue working on its plans for the 2024 Democratic primary. But that is unlikely to quell an ongoing feud between the national party and the state’s Democrats. The same panel didn’t extend more time to Georgia, which hasn’t set its date for next year’s primary either. Though the party could still offer Georgia an extension later this year, the state’s place on Democrats’ 2024 primary calendar is in limbo, at least for now. At issue is Biden’s plan to strip Iowa’s caucus of its traditional po...

Some reaction to the highway crash that killed 15 in Manitoba

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:04:29 GMT

DAUPHIN, MAN. — Health authorities say six of 10 seniors who survived a bus crash in southern Manitoba that killed 15 others were listed in critical condition in hospital.They were among a group of seniors from Dauphin, Man., on a day-trip to a casino when their minibus crashed with a semi while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.Here is some of Friday’s reaction: —“I know that all of Canadians stand with people during this very, very difficult time. There are lots of questions, but mostly there are lots of tears right now and we will be there for each other.” — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. —“You plan for this but you hope to not experience it, so it’s been a blur of stuff going on. It’s been an unending flurry of activity. Everyone’s on the same page and we’re connecting. We’ve received tremendous support.” — Dauphin, Man., Mayor David Bosiak. —“This is an elderly cohort of patients, so recoveries will be long and, of course, can be complicated....