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ASK IRA: Did Bam Adebayo’s absence open Heat eyes to alternate universes?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

Q: Ira, Bam Adebayo sits out and the offense takes off. Coincidence? Cody Zeller had 20 and Kevin Love had 18, so don’t tell it wasn’t because they didn’t go inside. – Bill.A: Actually, coincidence had a lot to do with it. Dallas’ defense is trash, with shockingly minimal effort on that end. This was a night that anyone and everyone could have had big numbers. But there is something to the reality that Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler often work from the same real estate. With Kevin Love as the backup center, the Heat were playing more five out, freeing Jimmy Butler to have the freedom to probe the lane. And Cody Zeller essentially was working off Jimmy’s cues, rather than trying to create his own actions. But what worked Saturday against the Mavericks won’t necessarily work Thursday against the 76ers.Q: That play-in to the Finals path is gonna hit different – John.A: And likely is going to hit hard. The other three teams in the East play-...

Burundi: At least 13 gold miners killed in flooded pits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An official in Burundi says the bodies of 13 gold miners have been recovered from two pits in which they were trapped by flood water. Nicodème Ndahabonyimana, a district administrator in the northwestern province of Cibitoke, said the miners could not be saved after the pits collapsed Friday night amid torrential rainfall. The bodies of two other miners who were missing and presumed dead have not been recovered, he said, urging artisanal miners to avoid pits during the rainy season.Police and other authorities on Saturday unsuccessfully tried to extract the miners from the pits, flooded with water from the overflowing Rugogo river. Such mining disasters are frequently reported in Burundi’s northwest and northeast, where people mining illegally prefer nighttime work to escape the oversight of authorities. The Associated Press

Ukrainian official offers plan for a Crimea without Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A top Ukrainian official on Sunday outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia.Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, published the plan as Ukraine’s military prepares for a spring counteroffensive in hopes of making new, decisive gains after more than 13 months of war to end Russia’s full-scale invasion.Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, but most of the world does not recognize it as Russian territory. The peninsula’s future status will be a key feature in any negotiations on ending the current fighting. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine recognize Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea and acknowledge other land gains made by Moscow as a condition for peace. Kyiv has ruled out any peace talks with Moscow until Russian troops leave all occ...

New York, city of Trump’s dreams, delivers his comeuppance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — His name has been plastered on this city’s tabloids, bolted to its buildings and cemented to a special breed of brash New York confidence. Now, with Donald Trump due to return to the place that put him on the map, the city he loved is poised to deliver his comeuppance.Rejected by its voters, ostracized by its protesters and now rebuked by its jurors, the people of New York have one more thing to splash Trump’s name on: Indictment No. 71543-23.“He wanted to be in Manhattan. He loved Manhattan. He had a connection to Manhattan,” says Barbara Res, a longtime employee of the former president who was a vice president at the Trump Organization. “I don’t know that he has accepted it and I don’t know that he believes it, but New York turned on him.”None of Trump’s romances have lasted longer than his courtship of New York. No place else could match his blend of ostentatious and outlandish. His love of the city going unrequited is Shakespearean enough,...

Trans people face rhetoric, disinformation after shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

Anti-transgender rhetoric and disinformation in the days following the shooting at a Nashville Christian school that killed six people have heightened the fears of a community already on edge amid a historic push for more restrictions on trans people’s rights this year.Authorities haven’t shared any evidence linking Audrey Hale’s gender identity to the motive for the attack, which killed three children and three adults at The Covenant School last week. Yet right-wing commentators, politicians and other figures have cited the shooting as they’ve shared false claims of a rise in transgender mass shooters and suggested that the fight for trans rights is radicalizing people. Advocates worry the comments are further jeopardizing transgender people by turning them into scapegoats, at a time when they’re speaking out against a wave of bills focused on trans people in statehouses across the country. “We’ve certainly seen the uptick in transphobic rhetoric in th...

Going back to the moon: ‘This is Canada on the world stage, doing big things’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

WASHINGTON — Ask Marc Garneau if he’d go back to space and the first Canadian to ever make the trip doesn’t hesitate: “In a wink.”It’s another matter entirely, of course, whether the now-retired former astronaut and Quebec MP —  at 74, he finally gave up his seat in the House of Commons just three weeks ago — still has the right stuff.“You always wonder, when you reach a certain age, whether you would still have that capability that you had when you were younger,” said Garneau, who flew three Space Shuttle missions between 1984 and 2001.“Having flown three times, I consider myself blessed beyond any reasonable expectation in life.” Now the country’s pre-eminent “elder statesman” of space, Garneau has long waited for the day when he’ll be joined in the pantheon of pioneering explorers by the next astronaut to earn the “first Canadian” honorific. Who will it be? The world finds out Monday. That&#...

12 tornadoes touchdown in Chicago area, NWS confirms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

CHICAGO — NWS Chicago has confirmed 12 total tornadoes in Northern Illinois including one in Belvidere where a roof collapse at the Apollo Theater left one person dead. According to the NWS, one was reported west/southwest of Baileyville and one was reported near Caledonia.On Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed a third tornado, an EF-1, impacted Machesney Park. The fourth tornado was an EF-1 tornado that went across portions of Ogle, Winnebago and Boone counties. The NWS said wind speeds peaked in Belvidere and caused the roof to collapse.Other tornadoes included: EF -1 Machesney Park, ILEF - 1 near Wellington, ILEF - 1 near Stockland, IL EF - Lombard to Addison, IL EF -2 near Oxford, IN EF - 2 near Fowler, IN EF -1 Near RemingtonNWS Chicago stated that these numbers are subject to change. 1 dead, 28 injured after roof collapses at Belvidere theater amid strong storms 57 tornadoes and even more funnel clouds reported across 7 states in the Midwest and ...

Man, 37, fatally stabbed in neck on West Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was fatally stabbed in the neck and chest on the city's West Side late Saturday night. According to police, a 37-year-old man was sitting in the driver's seat of a car near the 3300 block of West Roosevelt Road around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night when he was approached by another man and an altercation ensued. CPD: 15-year-old girl missing from Belmont Cragin The man was stabbed in the neck and three more times in the chest. Police say he self-transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead a short time after. There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.

ATCEMS: 1 dead in overnight auto-pedestrian crash in south Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — One person is dead after an auto-pedestrian crash in south Austin overnight, according to Austin-Travis County EMS. The crash happened around 1 a.m. at the intersection of South Congress Avenue and East Ben White Boulevard. MAP: Where have Austin’s fatal crashes occurred in 2023? An adult was declared dead at the scene, ATCEMS said. No other information was available at the time, but this article will be updated if more details are received.

Apple Valley High School choir students’ next stop? Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:22 GMT

Joel Beyer, center, directs a group of Apple Valley High School choir students as they rehearse for a concert on Oct. 14, 2022. Students in the choir programs will perform April 9, 2023, at Carnegie Hall in New York City. (Paul Allen / Allen Photo Works)High school choir students are traveling from Apple Valley to the Big Apple — to sing at Carnegie Hall.A group of 37 Apple Valley High School choir students, led by director Joel Beyer, will join several other high school- and university-level choirs from around the country for an afternoon performance Sunday, April 9, at New York City’s famous concert hall. They’ll be performing at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, the hall’s flagship venue.Alongside the New England Symphonic Ensemble orchestra, the chorales will perform “The Cry of Jeremiah,” a 2012 work by the acclaimed composer Rosephanye Powell. D’Walla Simmons-Burke, the director of choral and vocal studies at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, will co...