AP PHOTOS: How Churchill embraces its title as polar bear capital of the world

CHURCHILL, Manitoba (AP) — When polar bears started coming to Churchill, tourists did too.

And then suddenly, polar bears began to appear everywhere — from artwork to cushion covers and even on beer cans — as residents of this remote Canadian town on Hudson Bay embraced their title as polar bear capital of the world.

Tourists are greeted with bear imagery wherever they go. At one hotel restaurant, a painting of three bears resting on the sea ice hangs high above dining tables. In a hotel room, a cushion features the animals spelling out “polar bear” as they strike various yoga-like poses. At a tour company gift shop, a giant blue sculpture of a bear welcomes customers outside the entrance.

But the bears are not just for tourists: one residential apartment building features a giant mural of a polar bear standing on its hind legs, peering into the town. Another mural, this one on the side of a business, features alternating images of polar bears painted in bright colors and beluga whales swimming in pairs. And readers at the town's public library share their space with a giant sculpture of a grinning bear, displayed prominently between the shelves.

In the town's grocery stores, too, shoppers can enjoy a “bluebeary” ale, with an illustration of a polar bear on the can.

Climate change, caused mostly by people burning coal, oil and gas, means that one day the local population of polar bears could almost disappear.

But as long as there are bears in Churchill, residents and tourists alike will continue to appreciate and memorialize them.

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People start a bonfire at sunset next to a sign warning them of polar bears, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A garage displays a mural of a sleeping polar bear, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A dumpster sits outside of the Tundra Pub, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A sign alerts people to the potential presence of polar bears near a beach along the Hudson Bay, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Tourists sit near a polar bear statue, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A can of beer with a polar bear on its label sits on a shelf, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, at a market in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A pillow sits on a bed, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Polar Inn and Suites in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Water reflects a mural featuring polar bears and beluga whales, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Street signs featuring a polar bear and Indigenous tipis stand on a street corner, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A polar bear sculpture greets patrons, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, at the Churchill Public Library in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A toy polar bear sits on the dashboard of a truck near an abandoned radar station, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Patrons eat lunch below a mural depicting polar bears and other wildlife, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, at the Seaport Hotel in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

The setting sun illuminates a mural of a polar bear on the side of an apartment building, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is staying locked up after a judge Wednesday rejected the hip-hop mogul’s proposal that he await his sex trafficking trial in the luxury of his Florida mansion instead of a grim Brooklyn federal jail.

U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled that Combs' plan — which included a $50 million bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict limitations on visitors — was “insufficient” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.

Carter, agreeing with prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in jail, found that "no condition or set of conditions” governing his release could guard against the risk of him threatening or harming witnesses — a central charge in his case.

Combs' lawyers were making their second attempt in as many days to spring him from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held since pleading not guilty Tuesday to charges he physically and sexually abused women for years.

A federal magistrate on Tuesday rejected Combs' initial request for bail. On Wednesday, he and his lawyers struck out with Carter, the judge who will preside over his trial. Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo says he will next ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Carter's ruling and release Combs.

“I’m not going to let him sit in that jail a day longer than he has to," Agnifilo said.

Combs looked at family members and tapped his heart several times as Wednesday’s hearing began, then sat stoically as he listened to arguments. Afterward, as federal agents led him away, his relatives somberly embraced and exchanged hand slaps.

Combs, 54, is accused in an indictment of using his “power and prestige” to induce female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs” that Combs arranged, participated in and often recorded. The events would sometimes last days, the indictment said.

The indictment alleges he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of a network of associates and employees, while using blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings to keep victims from speaking out.

Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest Monday night at a Manhattan hotel.

Arguing to keep him locked up, prosecutor Emily Johnson told Carter that the once-celebrated rapper has a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse. She cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them into “Freak Offs” and then threatened to leak videos of them engaging in sex acts.

Johnson said Combs' defense team was “minimizing and horrifically understating" Combs' propensity for violence, taking issue with his lawyer's portrayal of a 2016 assault at a Los Angeles hotel as a lovers’ quarrel. Security video of the event showed Combs hitting his then-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in a hotel hallway.

Johnson seized on a text message from a woman who said Combs dragged her down a hallway by her hair. According to Johnson, the woman told the rapper: “I’m not a rag doll, I’m someone’s child.”

Combs is a “danger to the community and poses a serious risk to the integrity” of his case, Johnson argued.

Agnifilo also asked Carter to move Combs to a jail in New Jersey instead of the The Metropolitan Detention Center, which has about 1,200 inmates and has been described by some lawyers and judges as overcrowded, violent and neglected. The judge said Agnifilo would have to file a written request.

Combs’ Florida house is on Star Island, a man-made dollop of land in Biscayne Bay, reachable only by a causeway or boat. It is among the most expensive places to live in the United States. Combs’ request echoes that of a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered to pay multimillion-dollar bails in exchange for home detention in luxurious surroundings.

If he had been granted bail, Combs would have had to stay in that house while awaiting trial, according to the offer from his lawyers. Visits would be restricted to family, property caretakers and friends who are not considered co-conspirators, they said.

Many of the accusations in the indictment parallel allegations contained in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. The suit was settled the following day, but its allegations have followed Combs since.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.

Without naming Ventura but clearly referring to her, Agnifilo argued at Tuesday's arraignment that the entire criminal case is an outgrowth of one long-term, troubled-but-consensual relationship that faltered amid infidelity. The “Freak Offs,” he contended, were an expansion of that relationship, and not coercive.

Prosecutors portrayed the scope as larger. They said they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses.

Like many aging hip-hop figures, Bad Boy Records founder Combs had established a gentler public image. The father of seven children was a respected international businessman, whose annual “White Party” in the Hamptons was once a must-have invitation for the jet-setting elite.

But prosecutors said he used the same companies, people and methods he used to build his business and cultural power to facilitate his crimes. They said they would prove it with financial and travel records, electronic communications and videos of the “Freak Offs."

In March, authorities raided Combs' luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami, seizing narcotics, videos and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors. They said agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers.

A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.

This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Cassie’s legal first name: Casandra, not Cassandra.

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

From right, Justin Dior Combs, Quincy Brown and King Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs appears at the premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

From left, King Combs, Quincy Brown and Justin Dior Combs arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, center, is flanked by his defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Garagos, in Manhattan Federal Court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

FILE -Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in "The Four" panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, seated right, looks at his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, left, as he delivers his bail argument as Combs' family in the gallery, background, raise their hands indicating to Judge Tarnofsky that they are in attendance, to bolster the defense attorney's bail argument, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Manhattan Federal Court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)