MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz is asking officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop deportation proceedings for a woman he says will be in grave danger if she is returned to her native Ethiopia.
Amreya Shefa was convicted of manslaughter for fatally stabbing her husband in 2013 in an act that she described as self-defense after she said he held her prisoner in her home and repeatedly raped her. On the night of Habibi Tesema’s death, court records show Shefa had been beaten and raped. A murder charge was dismissed but she was convicted of manslaughter after a judge found she used excessive force to defend herself.
Shefa sought a pardon, which Walz supported, but it was not granted. The Supreme Court has since upheld state law that says Board of Pardons decisions must be unanimous to award clemency.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation at the wholesale level rose 8.6% in September compared to a year ago, the largest advance since the 12-month change was first calculated in 2010.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the monthly increase in its producer price index, which measures inflationary pressures before they reach consumers, was 0.5% for September compared to a 0.7% gain in August.
The 8.6% rise for the 12 months ending in September compared to an 8.3% increase for the 12 months ending in August, which had been the previous record 12-month gain.
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — At least 46 people were killed and another 41 injured after a fire broke out early Thursday in a decades-old mixed commercial and residential building in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials said.
Neighborhood residents said the 13-story building was home to many poor, elderly and disabled people and it wasn’t clear how many of the 120 units were occupied.
Witnesses said they heard something that sounded like an explosion at about 3 a.m. when the blaze erupted in the building’s lower floors, which housed a closed movie theater, abandoned restaurants and karaoke clubs.
Isabel Crosby can be reached at ircrosby@stthomas.edu.