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No. 25 Florida hopes to maintain its edge and sustain momentum for the first time in years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida hasn’t won three consecutive games since Marco Wilson’s infamous shoe toss.The Gators have been on a roller coaster of sorts since that foggy night in the Swamp in December 2020. Win one, lose one. Win two, lose three. Up and down with no noticeable progress or sustained momentum.It’s been a head-scratching, stomach-churning three years for a fan base accustomed to winning and competing for championships. Coach Billy Napier might be on the verge of providing some relief.Coming off a 29-16 upset of then-No. 11 Tennessee, the now-25th-ranked Gators (2-1, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) hope to handle success better than they have in recent years. For Napier, it’s as simple as keeping his players on edge as they prepare for Charlotte (1-2) and a potential three-game winning streak Saturday night.“When you get beat and you go to the locker room and you’re on the bus after the game, you got zero text messages, right?” Napier said. “When you win and you...

McNeil’s tiebreaking homer in the 9th inning lifts the Mets to a 2-1 win over the Marlins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Jeff McNeil hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the ninth inning and the New York Mets knocked the Miami Marlins out of playoff position with a 2-1 victory Monday night.Mark Vientos had an RBI single and José Butto pitched six stingy innings to help the fourth-place Mets play spoiler again with their second consecutive win over a postseason contender. New York also beat the Cincinnati Reds at home on Sunday.“We have to show up every single day and play good baseball no matter who we’re playing,” McNeil said. “But when you have a team that’s competing for a wild-card spot, you want to play well and you want to win those games.”Miami fell a half-game behind the idle Chicago Cubs for the third and final National League wild card. Cincinnati is also a half-game in front of the Marlins after defeating Minnesota on Monday night.McNeil pulled a slider from closer Tanner Scott (8-5) over the right-field wall for his 10th homer. That snapped a string of seven straight scoreless ...

Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara throws second bullpen session, confident of 2023 return

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Injured Miami Marlins ace right-hander Sandy Alcantara feels confident of returning this season after throwing his second bullpen session on Monday.The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner has been sidelined since Sept. 6 because of a right forearm flexor strain. Alcantara felt discomfort while pitching against Washington on Sept. 3.“Everything was great,” Alcantara said of his approximately 20-pitch session before a series opener against the New York Mets. “I used all my pitches like I would in a game.”The 28-year-old Alcantara has been one of the most durable starting pitchers in the major leagues the last four years. He led the majors in innings and complete games last season while becoming Miami’s first Cy Young winner.Before going on the injured list with the first arm-related issue of his big league career, Alcantara had thrown 184 2/3 innings and three complete games, going 7-12 with a 4.14 ERA and 151 strikeouts.“I just have to trust the process,” Alcantara said. “...

MCAS results still lag pre-pandemic, but improving

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

Results of statewide standardized tests from last school year show that students are still performing well below pre-pandemic levels, though education department officials say the scores show that the “achievement slide” from COVID-19 “has halted and recovery is underway.”In English and math, students in grades three through eight are still about 10 percentage points behind where they were in 2019, prior to learning losses from the pandemic, though overall achievement went up from last year.These results from the 2022-2023 school year represent the first time since before COVID-19 that students in all tested grades took the full MCAS exam.Compared to 2022, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math increased by 2 percentage points in third through eighth grade, at 41 percent. Exactly half of all tenth graders met or exceeded expectations in math this year, the same percentage as the year before.Students in tenth grade also remained s...

Bruins release training camp roster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

The Bruins released their training camp roster on Tuesday. Players will report to Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday for testing and physicals and the first on-ice session will be on Thursday at 10 am.Thursday at BOSTON BRUINS 2023 TRAINING CAMP ROSTERForwards: Joey Abate, Vincent Arseneau, John Beecher, Jesper Boqvist, Justin Brazeau, Patrick Brown,  Alex Chiasson, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, John Farinacci, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, A.J. Greer, Curtis Hall, Brett Harrison, Danton Heinen, Trevor Kuntar, Jakub Lauko, Milan Lucic, Fabian Lysell, Brad Marchand, Marc McLaughlin, Jayson Megna, Georgii Merkulov, David Pastrnak, Owen Pederson, Matt Poitras, Anthony Richard, Oskar Steen, Luke Toporowski, James van Riemsdyk, Pavel ZachaDefensemen: Frederic Brunet, Michael Callahan, Brandon Carlo, Jackson Edward, Derek Forbort, Matthew Grzelcyk, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Ryan Mast, Charlie McAvoy, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Dan Renouf, Ethan Ritchie, Kevin Shattenkirk, Reilly Walsh, P...

Man accused in deaths of 22 elderly women in Texas killed in prison by his cellmate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

By JAMIE STENGLE (Associated Press)DALLAS (AP) — A man accused of killing nearly two dozen older women and who was convicted last year in the slayings of two was killed Tuesday morning by his cellmate at a Texas prison, an official said.Billy Chemirmir, 50, was found dead in his cell, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Hannah Haney. She said that Chemirmir’s cellmate, who is serving a sentence for murder, was identified as the assailant, but said she couldn’t release the cellmate’s identity or how Chemirmir was killed.Authorities said Chemirmir preyed on older women in the Dallas area over a two-year span, killing them and stealing their valuables. Time after time, their deaths were initially determined to be from natural causes, even as family members raised alarm bells about missing jewelry. He was caught after a 91-year-old woman survived an attack in 2018 and told police Chemirmir had forced his way into her apartment at an independent ...

Former U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana sentenced to 22 months in prison for insider trading

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former U.S. congressman from Indiana was sentenced Tuesday to 22 months in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information while working as a consultant and lobbyist after he left office.Former U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, 64, a House Republican from 1993 to 2011, was also ordered to forfeit $354,027, representing the amount of illegal gains, and to pay a $10,000 fine.Buyer, a lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran, once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and was a House prosecutor at ex-President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.Buyer was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.Defense lawyers had requested home confinement and community service as a punishment while prosecutors urged a three-year p...

California may limit how much company behind Arrowhead bottled water can draw from mountain springs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials may vote Tuesday to slash how much water the company that makes Arrowhead bottled water can pull from a watershed in the San Bernardino National Forest, the latest action in a yearslong dispute.The State Water Resources Control Board will consider whether to issue a cease-and-desist order against BlueTriton, the company that produces the widely-known Arrowhead water.For more than a century, the company has drawn water from certain points in the San Bernardino National Forest. The water board’s order wouldn’t bar BlueTriton entirely from taking water from the mountains but would restrict it.The proposal comes after years of fighting between the bottling company and residents who want to protect the watershed and see it restored to its natural state.The controversy began years ago after residents of nearby communities raised questions about the drying habitat in places that once had springs supporting wildlife including fish. ...

Zelenskyy: Russia is weaponizing food, energy and children in its war against Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told world leaders Tuesday that Russia is “weaponizing” everything from food and energy to abducted children in its war against Ukraine.While the world has various agreements that restrict arms themselves, “There are no real restrictions on weaponization,” he said at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual top-level meeting.Zelenskyy took to the world stage at a sensitive point in his country’s campaign to maintain international support for its fight. Nearly 19 months after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces are three months into a counteroffensive that has not gone as fast or as well as initially hoped.Ukraine and its allies cast the country’s cause as a battle for the rule of international law, for the sovereignty of every country with a powerful and potentially expansionist neighbor, and for the stability of global food, fuel and other supplies that have been rocked by the war. The commodity upheaval ha...

B.C. human rights commissioner calls out anti-LGBTQ rallies planned across Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:51:50 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Kasari Govender, says she is disturbed about “hate-fuelled marches” planned in several communities around the province and across Canada on Wednesday.Posters created by a group called “1MillionMarch4Children” says participants are “standing together against gender ideology in schools,” which is a reference to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity programs being taught in B.C.’s public schools.The statement from Govender says peaceful demonstration protects democracy and generates debate, but the human rights of the trans and LGBTQ community “is not up for debate.”She says an inquiry by her office showed almost two-thirds of LGBTQ students don’t feel safe at school, compared with 11 per cent of heterosexual students, and attempts to erase them from school curriculums are hateful.A statement from the City of Whitehorse says it is aware of a march planned for Sept...