Star Tribune
Waconia now requires cat owners to keep their pets on a leash
Cat owners must now keep their pet on a leash in Waconia after the city council updated an ordinance that, prior to Monday’s vote, only applied to dogs. The city council ordinance requires cat owners to keep their pets on their property with a fence or a leash and clean up their waste in parks and on other residents’ yards.
City Administrator Shane Fineran told Fox 9 the ordinance was a response to “concerns residents have.”
The new statute requires cat owners to either microchip or keep identification tags on their feline friends. Cat owners must also clean up their pets’ droppings on their own property within seven days.
Violating the cat leash law is a petty misdemeanor under city law.
Alley Cat Allies, a Maryland-based nonprofit that advocates for low-cost spaying and neutering policies, warned Waconia City Council members that the leash law would unfairly target residents who care for strays and other neighborhood cats.
“We want Waconia to know that dogs and cats are very different animals with very different relationships to people and our communities,” the organization’s leaders wrote. “Cats cannot be slapdash inserted into laws tailored to dog-related concerns.”
The group asked the city council to instead consider a trap-neuter-return operation if its members were concerned about growing populations of cats outdoors. That way, Alley Cat Allies leaders say, the city can head off any unexpected boom in stray cats and more easily control the animals already within its limits.
WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee voted in secret to release the long-awaited ethics report into ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, raising the possibility that the allegations against the Florida Republican who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general could be made public in the coming days.
The decision by the bipartisan committee was made earlier this month, according to a person familiar with the vote who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday. CNN first reported the vote.
It’s a stunning turnaround for the often secretive panel of five Republicans and five Democrats. Just last month, members voted along party lines to not release the findings of their nearly four-year investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with minors and use of illicit drugs while Gaetz was in office.
Democrats had pressing to make the report public even though Gaetz was no longer in Congress and had withdrew as Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department. A vote on the House floor this to force the report’s release failed; all but one Republican vote against it.
Gaetz lashed out Wedneday on social media against the latest development, again denying any wrongdoing. He criticized the committee for its move after he had left Congress, saying he would have ”no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”
”It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,” Gaetz posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. ”I live a different life now.”
Most Republicans have argued that any congressional investigation into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent.
While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare.
Officials on Wednesday identified the two women who died in a fiery crash when their vehicle collided with another at north Minneapolis intersection.
Esther Jean Fulks, 53, and Rose Elaine Reece, 57, both of Minneapolis, died soon after the wreck late Monday morning at the intersection of N. 26th and Emerson avenues, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said. Fulks died at the scene, while Reece was declared dead at North Memorial Health Hospital.
Two people in the other vehicle were hospitalized with critical injuries, while a 17-year-old boy waiting at a bus shelter to be picked up for school was hit and taken HCMC with noncritical injuries, police said. Their identities have yet to be released.
Fulks was “a mother of four and very loved in her community!” daughter D’Nia Fulks posted on an online fundraising page started on behalf of the family.
Esther Fulks (With permission from GoFundMe)
A northbound vehicle on Emerson struck the women’s vehicle as it headed east on 26th, police said. The impact sent the eastbound vehicle into the bus shelter, where it caught fire.
Police said they believe excessive speed played a role in the crash, but they have yet to say which driver was suspected of speeding.
Star Tribune
Supreme Court will hear arguments over the law that could ban TikTok in the US if it’s not sold
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.
The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. The popular social media platform has more than 170 million users in the U.S.
It’s unclear how quickly the high court might issue a decision.
