By MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday urged Congress to “push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day” in his latest dig at the semiannual changing of clocks.

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Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media network, said it would be “Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”

The Republican president’s position calling for more daylight would push the schedule forward, keeping the country on daylight saving time. His post came a day after a Senate panel heard testimony examining whether to set one time all year instead of shifting.

There has been growing interest in states to standardize daylight saving time in recent years.

But daylight saving time, when clocks are set from spring to fall one hour ahead of standard time, is still recognized in most parts of the country. It was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942.

Trump last year called for the Republican Party to eliminate daylight saving time, saying it was “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

But he backed off that call last month, with another post on social media calling it a “50-50 issue.”

The president said some people would like more light later in the day but some want more light early so they don’t have to take their kids to school in the dark.

“When something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said.

The Senate in 2022 unanimously approved a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States, but it did not advance.

By 2028, Woodbury will have a long-term solution to removing PFAS from its drinking water as construction of a new treatment plant is in the works.

“It is the largest capital improvement project in the history of the city of Woodbury,” assistant public works director Jim Westerman said.

The $330 million plant will connect all 20 of Woodbury’s groundwater wells through 17 miles of pipe to a central location for treatment. The plant will treat for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances using granular activated carbon, which can remove PFAS chemicals to ensure safe drinking water, according to Westerman.

The scope of the project means there will be some challenges for residents and visitors during construction.

“This effort is going to have significant disruption to the city of Woodbury and the community at large because of those pipeline projects and the traffic impacts,” Westerman said.

Roads closures from April through June include Dale Road, Interlachen Parkway, Pioneer Drive, Bailey Road and Arbor Drive, according to the city of Woodbury.

PFAS in the wells

Other communities like St. Paul and Minneapolis rely on surface water or a combination of surface water and groundwater, while Woodbury’s municipal water system comes from a 100% groundwater-based system, Westerman said.

Nine of the city’s wells, which have had health advisories placed on them by the Minnesota Department of Public Health, are being treated for PFAS by four temporary plants, the first of which was constructed in 2020 and has since expanded.

The new, 32 million gallon per day treatment plant will add two new wells to the system and is being built on 22 acres of land south of Hargis Parkway and east of Radio Drive. The new system will replace the temporary plants as a long-term solution for addressing water contamination.

More than 90% of funding for the permanent plant and pipelines will come from a 2018 PFAS settlement reached between 3M and the state of Minnesota. Additional funding for the project will come from federal sources and the city’s water utility fees.

New standards

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A number of other cities in the east metro are stepping up efforts to handle the “forever chemicals” after the EPA finalized new standards last year for PFAS in drinking water. While some communities are able to comply by shutting off certain wells or blending water with cleaner wells, others including Hastings, South St. Paul and Stillwater will have to install costly new filtration systems to remove the chemicals.

Westerman said he asks community members to have patience during Woodbury’s construction and understand that the ultimate goal is to provide everyone with high-quality drinking water.

For more information on PFAS and Woodbury’s water treatment program, go to woodburymn.gov and click on “Water Treatment.”

JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Police in Georgia and Florida and searching for a convicted killer who was mistakenly released from a county jail south of Atlanta, authorities said.

Kathan Guzman, who is in his early 20s, admitted strangling his girlfriend, 19-year-old Delila Grayson, who was found dead in a bathtub in August 2022, according to police in Clayton County, Georgia.

Guzman was freed about two weeks ago, when jail workers mistakenly released him after not reading paperwork carefully, Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen told WSB-TV. The employees failed to see that Guzman had been convicted of murder and assault by strangulation and had been sentenced to life in prison, the sheriff said.

Allen said authorities believe he may have gone back to Osceola County, Florida, south of Orlando.

That’s where the victim’s mother, Christina Grayson, lives. She’s terrified that Guzman will come after the family for their role in the trial, WFTV-TV reports. Her family is sleeping in shifts so that someone is awake at all times, she told the Orlando station.

“I feel like I’m a sitting duck,” she said.

Osceola County deputies are patrolling her neighborhood as the search continues, she said.

“Our deputies are aware of the situation and are in contact with Georgia authorities,” the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Our primary goal remains the safety of our community.”

Guzman told someone after his mistaken release that “God is good” and that he believes it was the result of a higher power, the Clayton County sheriff told WSB.

By MARC LEVY, Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected President Donald Trump ‘s effort to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against him filed by the men formerly known as the Central Park Five who were exonerated after spending more than a decade in prison for the 1989 rape and beating of a woman who was jogging.

U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia denied Trump’s motion to dismiss in a brief Thursday night order.

The five men the sued Trump in the midst of last fall’s presidential election campaign, accusing him of making “false and defamatory statements” about them during the Sept. 10 debate in Philadelphia with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Trump misstated key facts of the case when Harris brought up the matter, saying “They admitted, they said, they pled guilty. And I said, ’well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty,’” Trump said.

The men — Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — never pleaded guilty; they were convicted after jury trials. Also, no victim died.

In a statement, their lawyer, Shanin Specter, said they are “gratified by the Court’s ruling and thorough analysis and look forward to discovery, trial and the ultimate vindication of these five fine men.”

Trump’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an inquiry Friday.

The men had asked for compensatory and punitive damages, saying Trump had knowingly defamed them, purposefully made false statements about them and sought to inflict severe emotional distress on them.

Judge Beetlestone’s order dismissed one of the claims, for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In the request to dismiss the case, Trump’s lawyer had said the president’s statements were protected under Pennsylvania laws that grant civil immunity over statements made on a “matter of public concern.”

The request to dismiss also said Trump’s statements were “substantially true,” that he didn’t dispute the men were ultimately exonerated and that he had intended to portray his thinking in 1989 when, following the men having confessed, Trump purchased a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty.

At the time, many in New York believed Trump’s ad was akin to calling for the teens to be executed.

The five men had been teenagers when they were accused of the rape and beating of a white woman jogging in New York City’s Central Park. The five, who are Black and Latino, said they confessed to the crimes under duress. They later recanted, pleading not guilty in court, and were later convicted after jury trials. Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after another person confessed to the crime.

When the lawsuit was filed, Specter said Trump “defamed them in front of 67 million people, which has caused them to seek to clear their names all over again.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson attacked it at the time as a “frivolous election interference lawsuit.”