MOORHEAD, Minn. — Cheers broke out — and were quickly stifled by Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson — as the Moorhead City Council approved a ceasfire resolution in the war between Israel and Hamas.

A packed auditorium of community members held their breath Monday as council members cast a tied vote on the resolution, with four council members voting in support, two in opposition and two abstaining. Carlson cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the resolution.

“I will be voting for this resolution because that is where my heart lies. This is not speaking on behalf of the citizens, because there were a number of citizens, specifically, a number of them came forward and said that they do not agree with this,” Carlson said. “So we’re speaking as individuals who happen to be holding positions of power within the city.”

Council members Laura Caroon, Heather Nesemeier, Deb White and Larry Seljevold voted in favor of the resolution. Members Matthew Gilbertson and Sebastian McDougall voted against it. Members Ryan Nelson and Chuck Hendrickson abstained from voting, both saying that Moorhead City Council should not weigh in on international conflicts.

Several other local governments in Minnesota, including Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hastings and Columbia Heights, have also approved ceasefire resolutions recently.

War in Gaza broke out on Oct. 7 last year when Hamas — which governs Palestinians in the Gaza Strip — killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and captured another 250. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada and the European Union.

Since then, over 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict, The Hill reported. A majority of the dead were Palestinian women and children. Over 71,000 Palestinians have been injured in the fighting, and over 7,000 people are currently reported missing, the BBC reported.

Israel intends to continue the war until Hamas is eliminated, Israeli Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat said, according to Reuters.

The vote came after 45 minutes of comments about the ceasefire resolution from Moorhead residents and another 30 minutes of debate among City Council members.

Community members on both sides of the issue came to and spoke at the meeting, but those supporting the cease-fire resolution far outnumbered those against it. Many in support of the resolution brought signs and banners calling for a cease-fire. People who could not find a chair to sit stood in the back of the auditorium, filling the room to the back wall.

Amanda and Sajid Ghauri spoke together in support of the cease-fire resolution. Amanda Ghauri began speaking, and Sajid Ghauri took over for her when she became too emotional to continue. The couple asked the council not to choose a side in the conflict.

“It is not your job to be political or to choose a side,” Amanda Ghauri said. “I ask you to choose peace. I ask you to use your voice to help those in need, especially given the extreme, dire situation where children are starving now.”

Moorhead residents also spoke against the ceasefire resolution. Joan Muehler said the City Council should not be telling another nation how to act in a war.

“Maybe it’s because I’m an American — I don’t want interference from Canada, France, Italy, Germany,” she said. “We are out of line telling how Israel should be defending itself.”

Residents of Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead have been petitioning their elected officials during public comment periods at meetings for weeks asking for a ceasefire resolution.

The Moorhead resolution came from the Moorhead Human Rights Commission, which unanimously voted in favor of the cease-fire resolution on Feb. 29.

A little over an hour after the Moorhead Human Rights Commission meeting ended on Feb. 29, the city of Fargo released a mayoral proclamation signed by both Carlson and Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney.

The Fargo Human Rights Commission also gave its support to a ceasefire resolution, passing it unanimously on Feb. 15. The Fargo City Commission has yet to discuss a cease-fire resolution.

According to the resolution passed by Moorhead City Council, Moorhead joins at least 48 other U.S. cities in calling for a ceasefire resolution in the Israel-Hamas war.

A copy of Moorhead’s resolution will be provided to the Minnesota Legislature, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota’s elected officials in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and the office of President Joe Biden.

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Text of the Gaza ceasefire resolution passed by the St. Paul City Council

By ANDREW DALTON (AP Entertainment Writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman has sued director Roman Polanski, alleging he raped her in his home when she was a minor in 1973.

The woman aired the allegations, which the 90-year-old Polanski has denied, in a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, on Tuesday.

The account is similar to the still-unresolved Los Angeles criminal sexual assault case that prompted Polanski in 1978 to flee to Europe, where he has remained since.

The woman who filed the civil lawsuit said she went to dinner with Polanski, who knew she was under 18, in 1973, months after she had met him at a party. She said Polanski gave her tequila shots at his home beforehand and at the restaurant.

She said she became groggy, and Polanski drove her home. She next remembers lying next to him in his bed.

“He told her that he wanted to have sex with her,” the lawsuit says. “Plaintiff, though groggy, told Defendant ‘No.’ She told him, ‘Please don’t do this.’ He ignored her pleas. Defendant Polanski removed Plaintiff’s clothes and he proceeded to rape her causing her tremendous physical and emotional pain and suffering.”

Defense attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs said in an email Tuesday that Polanski “strenuously denies the allegations made against him in the lawsuit and believes that the proper place to try this case is in the courts.”

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in June under a California law that temporarily allowed people to file claims of childhood sexual abuse after the statute of limitations had expired. Under the law, Polanski also could not be named initially, so the lawsuit was not reported on by media outlets. It seeks damages to be determined at trial.

A judge has since given the plaintiff approval to use his name in the case. The judge on Friday set a 2025 trial date.

In his legal response to the lawsuit, Polanski’s attorney denies all of its allegations and asserts that the lawsuit is unconstitutional because it relies on a law not passed until 1990.

The woman first came forward with her story in 2017, after the woman in Polanski’s criminal case asked a judge to dismiss the charges, which he declined to do.

At the time, the woman who has now filed the civil lawsuit gave her first name and middle initial and said she was 16 at the time of the assault.

In the lawsuit and at Tuesday’s news conference, she did not give her name and said only that she was a minor at the time. She spoke only briefly.

“It took me a really long time to decide to file this suit against Mr. Polanski, but I finally did make that decision,” she said. “I want to file it to obtain justice and accountability.”

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused.

At least three other women have come forward with stories of Polanski sexually abusing them.

A major figure in the New Hollywood film renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s, Polanski directed movies including “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown.”

In 1977, he was charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. He reached an agreement with prosecutors that he would plead guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse and would not have to go to prison beyond the jail time he had already served.

But Polanski feared that the judge was going to renege on the agreement before it was finalized and in 1978 fled to Europe. According to transcripts unsealed in 2022, a prosecutor testified that the judge had in fact planned to reject the deal.

Polanski’s lawyers have been fighting for years to end the case and lift an international arrest warrant that confined him to his native France, Switzerland and Poland, where authorities have rejected U.S. requests for his extradition.

He continued making films and won an Oscar for best director for “The Pianist” in 2003. But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him in 2018 after the #MeToo movement gained momentum.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Another day, another round of cuts.

The Twins trimmed their roster again on Tuesday, a day after sending four pitchers — Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, Brent Headrick and Matt Canterino — to the minors. Tuesday’s cuts were all position players.

The Twins optioned outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez, one of their top prospects, to Double-A, and infielder Yunior Severino, infielder/outfielder Austin Martin and catcher Jair Camargo to Triple-A. The moves leave the Twins with 44 players left in major-league camp with two weeks left before they pack things up and head north for the season.

None of the moves does much to clarify the roster picture because there’s not much left that needs to be clarified. The roster, as long as everybody remains healthy, has seemed relatively set for some time now.

While the Twins have had a couple of health issues crop up this spring — namely starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani was dealing with some elbow soreness, and Caleb Thielbar suffered a hamstring strain — neither of those issues seem as if they will affect the Opening Day roster at this point.

Coming into camp, it appeared as if there was one available spot for a position player and one open slot in the bullpen. The Twins filled one of those when they executed a trade for outfielder Manny Margot last month.

That left Martin, whose skill set would have fit what the Twins were looking for — a right-handed-hitting outfielder — on the outside looking in, headed back to Triple-A where he will serve as important depth for the Twins and will likely debut in the majors later this season.

“He’s very focused. He works very hard. There’s no nonsense that follows him around,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Martin. “It’s just that he’s a ballplayer, and you love working with guys like that because you know what you’re going to get from them every single day. … He’s put himself in a nice spot.”

As for the final spot in the bullpen, the Twins appear to have a number of candidates who can and will pitch throughout the season.

The Twins have a number of relievers with a minor-league option — Josh Staumont, Jorge Alcala, Cole Sands and Kody Funderburk, among them — who could fill that spot out of camp and then be optioned down as the Twins cycle through fresh arms.

If the Twins choose to carry a long reliever, the path got a little clearer for Sands, who threw two scoreless innings on Tuesday against the Tigers, after Headrick was optioned. Funderburk and Alcala both have throw multiple innings in outings, as well, while Staumont would fill a one-inning role.

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The Gophers football program will have two open spring practices, but will not hold a public spring game this year.

The U said Tuesday it will open spring workouts, with the March 23 session open to members of the Dinkytown Athletes NIL collective and the April 11 session open to the general public.

Minnesota has not had a traditional spring game open to the public since 2017 due to weather and the pandemic interrupting the schedule and location every year since.

The Gophers said they will host a public fan event during fall preseason camp.

The Gophers’ practice on March 23 will start at 11 a.m. at Huntington Bank Stadium. The April 11 session will start at 4:30 at the Athletes Village. Fans are encouraged to bring diapers to help families in need. Both practice times and locations are subject to change.

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