5 Apr 2024

St. Paul man charged with manslaughter after single punch sent man to ground

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Prosecutors charged a man with manslaughter Friday after surveillance video showed a 30-year-old man died after a single punch sent him to the ground in St. Paul.

Peter Nguyen, of Coon Rapids, was found unresponsive on the sidewalk outside the Far East Bar & Restaurant in Payne-Phalen on March 23 about 12:55 a.m. He died soon after at Regions Hospital.

Pheng Vang. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office determined Nguyen died of a closed-head injury and ruled his death a homicide.

A witness told police that Nguyen “had some kind of issue with people who had been attending a birthday party at the bar” and was “squaring up to fight” with another man outside the bar at Arcade Street and Case Avenue, according to a criminal complaint.

Another man came up along the side of the man who Nguyen was going to fight and struck Nguyen with his fist, causing Nguyen to fall to the ground.

Through additional witnesses and surveillance video, police identified the man who delivered the punch as Pheng Vang, 38, of St. Paul, according to the complaint against Vang.

Police interviewed Vang on Thursday and he said he was starting to leave the bar when “an argument began to escalate” on the corner and he walked up to defuse the situation, the complaint said.

Nguyen reached down to pick up his shot glass and Vang punched him once, striking him in the shoulder and face, the complaint continued. Vang said he believed he was defending the man, who is a relative of his and who Nguyen was going to fight.

After Nguyen fell to the ground, Vang left the area.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Vang with first-degree manslaughter while committing fifth-degree assault.

An attorney wasn’t listed for Vang in his court file as of Friday morning.

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5 Apr 2024

Wild’s Marco Rossi vows he’s just getting started

by | posted in: Adventure, All news, News | 0

Three years ago, Marco Rossi was waiting to be cleared to skate. Diagnosed with myocarditis after what appeared to be a mild bout of COVID-19, he did exactly what doctors told him to do.

Nothing.

“I couldn’t even go for a walk,” he told the Pioneer Press in 2021.

Rossi appears to finally be on his way, and although he’s still only 22 years old, the Wild center has fought more than his share of adversity to get here. After making the NHL roster out of camp for the second time, Rossi has not only stuck, he’s having one of the best rookie seasons in franchise history.

“There’s no quit in myself,” Rossi said this week.

It’s for this reason that the Twin Cities chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association has nominated Rossi for the 2023-24 Masterton Trophy, the honor named for former North Stars center Bill Masterton presented annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

The Wild’s first-round pick in the 2020 entry draft, ninth overall, Rossi was diagnosed with myocarditis during his first training camp physical and wondered if his NHL career was over before it had a chance to begin. Because of the inflammation in his heart, any strenuous activity could cause a cardiac arrest.

It was a lot to take in for a 19-year-old who had experienced little but success.

“When your doctor tells you, ‘We don’t know if you’re going to play hockey anymore,’ then of course you start to think, ‘Can I really play hockey again?’ ” Rossi said. “On the other side, it gives you motivation, too, because you want to prove everyone wrong and you want to make it.”

After convalescing in his native Austria, Rossi was cleared to skate in May 2021, and made the NHL roster out of camp. It lasted only 16 games, and he was sent back to the American Hockey League for more seasoning. So, after the season, Rossi remained in Minnesota for the first time, working with teammates and putting on 15 pounds of muscle.

Rossi made the team out of camp, and he’s been in St. Paul ever since.

His 20 goals this season are the second-most in Wild history for a rookie, two more than Marian Gaborik and, so far, seven fewer than teammate Kirill Kaprizov, for whom Rossi dropped the gloves on Dec. 21 in his first, and so far only, NHL fight. He also earned a goal and assist, and a lot of respect from teammates.

Rossi’s 20 goals this season have him second in NHL rookie scoring, one behind Chicago phenom Connor Bedard, and his 37 points this season rank fourth all time for a Wild rookie.

“That first two years was maybe a grind in the AHL, but I think that makes me as a person, as a player, who I am right now,” he said.

Rossi plans to return to Austria this summer, and he’ll be a part of the national team’s hunt for a spot in the 2026 Olympics in Northern Italy — another goal on his list.

Asked this week about his ceiling as a player, Rossi said, “I think it’s just the beginning because I know how good I am.”

“Deep down, I’m the best who knows myself the best, and I know. I know much more,” he added. “Of course 20 goals is nice, but next year I want to get more — 30 goals, even more. That’s my goal, (to) always keep climbing, getting better.”

Briefly

The Wild have signed goaltender Samuel Hlavaj, 22, to a two-year, entry-level contract starting next season. The 6-foot-4, 193-pound native of Martin, Slovakia, posted a 3.10 goals-against average and .902 save percentage in 28 games with HC Škoda Plzeň of the Czech Extraliga this season.

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5 Apr 2024

Israel dismisses 2 officers after deadly aid convoy strike

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Galit Altstein | Bloomberg News (TNS)

The Israeli army dismissed two officers over a missile strike on a World Central Kitchen vehicle convoy this week that killed seven aid workers.

Monday’s assault was “a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Friday, concluding an investigation into the incident. It was “due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to standard operating procedures.”

The discharged officers were a colonel and a major. The IDF’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, also formally reprimanded the head of the Southern Command, which includes Gaza, for his overall responsibility.

World Central Kitchen, a disaster-relief group founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, said in response that although the IDF has acknowledged responsibility, it still wants “the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues.”

“The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza,” WCK said in a statement.

Three British nationals were killed in the attack along with a Palestinian, a Pole, an Australian and a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration is reviewing Israel’s report on the incident as part of a broader evaluation of efforts to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza and prevent more civilian deaths.

“It’s very important that Israel is taking full responsibility for this incident,” Blinken told reporters Friday before departing Brussels. “It’s also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable. Even more important, is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again.”

The fatal incident was front-page news across the world and angered Israel’s allies. U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday that U.S. support for Israel’s campaign in Gaza depends on new steps to protect civilians.

Following the call between the two leaders, Israel said that it would help boost the flow of aid to “prevent a humanitarian crisis.”

Israel will allow the delivery of aid into Gaza through the previously closed Erez checkpoint in the north of the enclave, and increase the amount of goods entering via Kerem Shalom in the south. Still, Israel has said distribution of aid once it gets into Gaza is a significant problem.

Mistaken identity

The IDF said its forces recognized two gunmen and that Monday’s attack was approved after one of the commanders mistakenly assumed they were in the convoy. The forces did not identify the vehicles as being associated with WCK.

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Israel’s war in Gaza, triggered by the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 abducted, will enter it’s seventh month next week. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the number of Palestinians killed now exceeds 32,000.

Recent negotiations for a cease-fire in return for the release of hostages have stalled.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.

(With assistance from Courtney McBride.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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5 Apr 2024

An earthquake centered near New York City rattles much of the Northeast

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By JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — An earthquake shook the densely populated New York City metropolitan area Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, with residents across the Northeast reporting rumbling in a region where people are unaccustomed to feeling the ground move.

The agency reported a quake at 10:23 a.m. with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Lebanon, New Jersey, or about 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philadelphia. U.S.G.S. figures indicated that the quake might have been felt by more than 42 million people.

New York City’s emergency notification system said in a social media post more than 30 minutes after the quake that it had no reports of damage or injuries in the city. The Fire Department of New York said on social media about an hour after the quake that it was “responding to calls and evaluating structural stability” but that there are “no major incidents at this time.”

Amtrak said it was inspecting its tracks and had speed restrictions in place throughout the busy Northeast Corridor. New Jersey Transit posted on X that its train system was subject to delays caused by bridge inspections. The Philadelphia area’s PATCO rail line suspended service out of what it said was “an abundance of caution.”

People in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Connecticut and other areas of the Northeast reported shaking. Tremors lasting for several seconds were felt over 200 miles away near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. In midtown Manhattan, traffic grew louder as motorists blared their horns on shuddering streets. Some Brooklyn residents heard a boom and their building shaking.

In New York City’s Astoria neighborhood, Cassondra Kurtz was giving her 14-year-old Chihuahua, Chiki, a cocoa-butter rubdown for her dry skin. Kurtz was recording the moment on video, as an everyday memory of the dog’s older years, when her apartment started shaking hard enough that a large mirror banged audibly against a wall.

Kurtz assumed at first it was a big truck going by. The video captured her looking around, perplexed. Chiki, however, “was completely unbothered.”

Attorney Finn Dusenbery was in a law office in midtown Manhattan. “The building shook and I thought that the ceiling above me was going to collapse,” Dusenbery said. “I did think that maybe the building was going to fall down for a second, and I wanted to get out of the building when I felt that.”

Solomon Byron was sitting on a park bench in Manhattan’s East Village. “I felt this vibration, and I was just like, where is that vibration coming from,” Byron said. “There’s no trains nowhere close by here or anything like that.” Byron said he didn’t realize there had been an earthquake until he got the alert on his cellphone.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, the shaking interrupted the chief executive of Save The Children, Janti Soeripto, as she briefed an emergency Security Council session on the threat of famine in Gaza and the Israeli drone strikes that killed aid workers there. In short order, diplomats’ phones blared with earthquake alerts.

The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the earthquake and was “in touch with federal, state, and local officials as we learn more.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X that the quake was felt throughout the state. “My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day,” Hochul said.

Philadelphia police asked people not to call 911 about seismic activity unless they were reporting an emergency. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said state officials were monitoring the situation. A spokesperson for Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont was unaware of any reports of damage in that state.

The shaking stirred memories of the Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake that jolted tens of millions of people from Georgia to Canada. Registering magnitude 5.8, it was the strongest quake to hit the East Coast since World War II. The epicenter was in Virginia.

That earthquake left cracks in the Washington Monument, spurred the evacuation of the White House and Capitol and rattled New Yorkers three weeks before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Earthquakes are less common on this side of the U.S. because the East Coast does not lie on a boundary of tectonic plates. But East Coast quakes can still pack a punch — its rocks are better at spreading earthquake energy across far distances.

“If we had the same magnitude quake in California, it probably wouldn’t be felt nearly as far away,” said U.S.G.S. geophysicist Paul Caruso.

___

Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Jake Offenhartz, Bobby Caina Calvan and Karen Matthews in New York City, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Seth Borenstein in Washington, Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut.