An elusive group targets Klobuchar as election nears

MINNEAPOLIS — Mailers attacking Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar for not being left-wing enough are arriving in Minneapolis mailboxes weeks before the Nov. 3 general election for governor.

One of the mailers criticizes Klobuchar’s handling of deaths involving police as Hennepin County Attorney. Another criticizes her support for arms to Israel and demands “justice for Palestine,” while a third mailer sent in recent days attacks her for not supporting a single-payer healthcare plan backed by progressives.

But the group behind them remains a mystery. Its return address points to a northern Minnesota property in Trump country, where the owner says the group has no office.

Whether the sender is a progressive group or someone posing as one remains unclear, but the mailers target sources of friction between Klobuchar and voters on the left. Her handling of police killings and brutality cases drew scrutiny from fellow Democrats during her 2020 presidential campaign. U.S. military support for Israel has become another dividing line within the party, with activists pressing lawmakers to stop sending weapons over Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

On the brink of extinction, the African penguin is getting more help from Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — The African penguin is on the brink of extinction in the wild and the National Aviary is increasing its efforts to save the critically endangered bird.

A conservation scientist at the North Side bird zoo, which has a growing community of African penguins, is leading short- and long-term plans for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, including recently rolling out “first responder” training for rangers in Africa to rescue ill and distressed penguins.

“It’s a dire situation. There are various ways a species can survive — move, change food, change its distribution or they can die out,” said Patty McGill, a senior conservation scientist at the National Aviary who leads the AZA’s Saving Animals from Extinction program for African penguins.

“If we let the birds die and not breed, populations will decline faster,” she said in an interview with the Post-Gazette. “That is why we are all hands on deck now.”

—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

NYC high school students walk out of class to demand a freeze on AI

NEW YORK — Nearly 100 students at LaGuardia High School, the Manhattan arts school that inspired the movie “Fame,” walked out of class on Tuesday to demand a freeze on artificial intelligence, driven by concerns that the new technology could threaten their future careers.

The walkout was part of a day of anti-AI high school and college protests across the country, including at Fordham University, SUNY Purchase and Stony Brook in New York. LaGuardia students left the Upper West Side building at noon and marched across 65th Street to Lincoln Center, while chanting: “Who’s future? Our future!”

“I think it’s pretty telling that the people who have to protest against AI are the children, the students,” said Mieke Nievergelt, a senior at LaGuardia. “And the adults, the administrators, are the ones who are perpetuating the use of AI in the education system. Because adults don’t understand the effect that AI has on young minds. And the effect that it’s going to have on our future. Adults don’t understand because they had the time to form their minds — without having something to do it for them.”

“It’s important that we are here — LaGuardia arts students,” she added. “If you want to make art, it doesn’t have to be good. It just has to be yours.” In New York City, Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Kamar Samuels recently implemented a one-year pause on generative AI through eighth grade.

—New York Daily News

French unrest tapers off after security measures imposed

French protests largely died down after authorities rolled out tougher security measures, including targeted curfews, following cost-of-living protests over the weekend that degenerated into violence, vandalism and looting.

An 11 p.m. curfew was put in place in a few areas of Paris on Monday night, along with restrictions in other cities. Curfews will be reimposed where needed on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a post on X, lauding the measures for having “contributed to the overnight calm.”

Unrest on the margins of social movements isn’t unusual in France, with comparable rioting and opportunistic looting seen in 2023 and in 2018 with the Yellow Vests movement. Yet the violence and scale of the weekend’s events took authorities by surprise, coming at a moment of peak political and financial tension just six months before an election to choose President Emmanuel Macron’s successor.

Protests drew more than half a million people on Saturday across the country, but the demonstrations over cost-of-living concerns soon deteriorated as fast-moving groups targeted hundreds of shops. Some 2,397 people were arrested on Saturday, according to Interior Ministry figures. Vandalism continued on Sunday night, with looted stores and another 108 arrests in Paris.

—Bloomberg News