Whales’ endangered status may change
HONOLULU – The federal government on Monday proposed removing most of the world’s humpback whales from the endangered species list, saying the massive mammals have rebounded after 45 years of protection and restoration efforts.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries officials want to reclassify humpbacks into 14 distinct populations, and remove 10 of those from the list. The last time the agency delisted a species because of recovery was more than two decades ago.
Approval of the proposal would not mean there will be an open hunting season on humpbacks.
All the whales remain protected under the Marine Mammals Protection Act, and the United States is still an active member of the International Whaling Commission, which banned commercial whaling in 1966, said Angela Somma, chief of NOAA Fisheries endangered species division.
6 Minnesotans hit with terror charges
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Six Minnesota men of Somali descent were charged with terrorism-related offenses in a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. They are the latest Westerners accused of traveling or attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, which has carried out a host of attacks including beheading Americans.
The Minnesota men charged on Monday were identified as Guled Ali Omar, 20; brothers Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21, and Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 19; Abdurahman Yasin Daud, 21; Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19; and Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19.
Even while under investigation, authorities say, the men kept trying to make their way to Syria, coming up with a plot to secure false passports.
CU professor wins Pulitzer in history
BOULDER – Elizabeth Fenn, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was working in her office Monday when she learned that she had won the Pulitzer Prize in history.
“I’m still processing it,” Fenn said in a telephone interview. “I’m just so pleased that the Mandans are getting the historical recognition they are due.”
Fenn’s book, Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People, profiles the group that lives in what today is North Dakota, and among whom the Lewis and Clark expedition camped in its first winter of 1804-1805. The Mandans numbered about 15,000 in the year 1500, Fenn said, and her work profiles them through a terrible smallpox epidemic in 1837-38 and up to the year 1845.
Fenn, whose work focuses on the American West and Native American history, has a doctorate and a master’s degree in history from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Duke University.
Willie Nelson to hawk legal marijuana
SPOKANE, Wash. – Country music star Willie Nelson announced plans Monday to roll out his own brand of marijuana, capitalizing on his association with pot and the unofficial stoner holiday, 4/20.
The move makes the 81-year-old “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” singer the latest celebrity to jump into the marijuana marketplace.
“Willie’s Reserve” will be grown and sold in Colorado and Washington, where recreational pot is legal. Nelson said in a statement that he’s “looking forward to working with the best growers in Colorado and Washington to make sure our product is the best on the market.”
Nelson joins other famous pot personalities, including rapper Snoop Dogg, who endorses vaporizing products; singer Melissa Etheridge, developing marijuana-infused wine; and reality TV star and self-help guru Bethenny Frankel, who is working on a strain of Skinnygirl weed that wouldn’t leave users with the munchies.
Associated Press
