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AFC East Preview: Can the Patriots, Dolphins or Aaron Rodgers’ Jets upset the Bills?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

No one can accuse the Patriots of having a cupcake schedule this season.The AFC East has undergone a makeover since Tom Brady retired and the Patriots stopped dominating the division. The Buffalo Bills are the new powerhouse, having won the AFC East each of the last three years. The Miami Dolphins and New York Jets have made recent pushes to unseat the Bills, however.The Dolphins went 9-8 and made the playoffs under new head coach Mike McDaniel last season and should be even better on defense with two key additions. The Jets replaced draft bust Zach Wilson with four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers in the league’s biggest offseason upgrade at quarterback.The Patriots should be better too after hiring adept offensive coaches, though the division is so tough, that might not be reflected in their record at season’s end.The Herald’s Patriots beat writers preview the division.Buffalo BillsOffense: Josh Allen has almost single-handedly carried the Bills offense over its most pivot...

Nobel Foundation retracts invite to Russia, Belarus and Iran representatives to attend ceremonies

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Foundation on Saturday retracted its invitation for representatives of Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies after the controversial decision “provoked strong reactions”.Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries to attend.Some of the lawmakers cited Russia’s war on Ukraine and the crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott.The Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told media outlets Friday that he wouldn’t allow Russian representatives to attend the ceremony to attend Nobel award ceremonies this year if given the choice.“The basis for the decision is that we believe that it is important and right to reach out as widely as possible with the value...

India launches a spacecraft to study the sun after successful landing near the moon’s south pole

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India launched its first space mission to study the sun on Saturday, less than two weeks after a successful uncrewed landing near the south polar region of the moon.The Aditya-L1 spacecraft took off on board a satellite launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space center in southern India on a quest to study the sun from a point about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth. The point, known as L1, affords an uninterrupted view of the sun. The spacecraft is equipped with seven payloads to study the sun’s corona, chromosphere, photosphere and solar wind, the Indian Space Research Organization said.After over an hour, the ISRO said the launch was “accomplished successfully.” “The vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit. India’s first solar observatory has begun its journey to the destination of Sun-Earth L1 point,” ISRO posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.The satellite is scheduled to take 125 days to reach the L1 poin...

President Biden heads to Florida to see Idalia’s destruction. But he won’t be seeing Gov. DeSantis

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is heading to Florida on Saturday for a firsthand look at Hurricane Idalia’s destruction, but he won’t be seeing the state’s Republican governor and 2024 presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis, who suggested such a meeting could hinder disaster response efforts.“We don’t have any plans for the governor to meet with the president,” DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said in a statement. “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.” Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning along Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region as a Category 3 storm, causing widespread flooding and damage before moving north to drench Georgia and the Carolinas. But Biden’s visit to see its effects threatened to be engulfed by political clashes since DeSantis’ statement came hours after the president himself earlie...

Jimmy Buffett’s laid-back party vibe created adoring ‘Parrotheads’ and success beyond music

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

Jimmy Buffett celebrated slackers before the word existed, even though he was hardly one himself.“Wasting away in Margaritaville,” went the chorus to his most famous song, which became an international singalong. But Buffett was actually an astute, ambitious, aggressive businessman. A statement posted to Buffett’s official website and social media pages announced his passing on Friday at age 76. The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause. He rescheduled concerts in May and acknowledged he had been hospitalized for an unspecified illness.Buffett built an empire based largely on Caribbean-flavored pop that celebrated the Florida Keys, sunshine and nightlife. His name became synonymous with a laid-back subtropical party vibe, and his fans were known as Parrotheads.But behind the laid-back exterior, Buffett was an admitted workaholic. He expanded into novels, nightclubs and many other ventures. At one time his estimated annual income was more than $40 million, and his ...

Maine resident captures nature in action in N.B. as shark snacks on whale carcass

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

Paul Keller was sitting on the back porch of his rented cottage by the Bay of Fundy, sipping his morning coffee, when he spotted some commotion in the water. Perhaps the splash of a flipper, he figured, or something washing up against a rock.Through his binoculars he realized he had spotted a rare scene of ocean carnage — a great white shark feeding on a whale carcass.“That was kind of an odd, strange sensation to see,” said the bi-vocational pastor, who lives in China, Maine.“At first I thought it was some sort of flipper or something rubbing against the rock. Then I saw the fin of what became the shark. Then I thought, ‘Wow, OK, this is something you don’t see every day.’ At least I’ve never seen.”Keller and his wife usually spend at least a week every year in the summer by Campobello Island. This year, they were in New Brunswick from Aug. 26 to 31.The morbid Monday morning scene about 7 1/2 metres from the shore showed the shark taking bi...

Dozens injured in a protest by asylum-seekers outside Eritrean Embassy in Israel

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Violent protests have erupted between hundreds of Eritrean asylum-seekers and Israeli police in Tel Aviv on Saturday during a protest against an event organized by the Eritrean Embassy. The Israeli police said 27 officers were injured in the clashes, and at least three protesters were shot by police firing live rounds after they felt “real danger to their lives.”Israeli police in riot gear and on horses tried to corral the protesters, who broke through barricades and hurled chunks of sidewalk, batteries and rocks at the police.Similarly violent protests have popped up all over the world as Eritrea, one of the world’s most repressive countries, marks 30 years of independence with festivals held by Eritrea’s diaspora across Europe and North America. Earlier this year, Eritrea called anti-government protesters marching against these events “asylum scum.”Eritreans make up the majority of the more than 30,000 African asylum-seekers in Israel. They say they fled da...

'Margaritaville' singer Jimmy Buffett, who turned beach-bum life into an empire, dies at 76

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76. “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett's official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death. Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized, but provided no specifics.“Margaritaville,” released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those ”wastin’ away,” an excuse for a life of low-key fun and escapism for those “growi...

'Margaritaville' singer Jimmy Buffett dies at 76

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76.“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett's official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.”The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death. Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized, but provided no specifics. Joe the Plumber, made famous during Obama’s 2008 campaign, dead at 49 “Margaritaville,” released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those ”wastin’ a...

Public input process gets underway for replacing Upper Sioux Agency State Park recreation

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:57:19 GMT

GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — The process to identify possible recreational opportunities for the replacement of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park got underway with the first public outreach meeting on Aug. 30 in Granite Falls.“It’s a community effort,” Jeremy Losinski, regional parks and trails director for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said as he opened the first of two outreach sessions held that day.Legislation authored by State Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, and State Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, calls for the state to transfer the roughly 1,300-acre park to the Upper Sioux Community. The DNR must submit a report to legislators on the barriers to the transfer in January 2024.The legislation allocated $5 million for the transfer process as well as for developing recreational opportunities to replace the park. Since the parklands were originally acquired with federal Lands, Waters and Conservation Lands funding, the state must provide a replacement “recre...