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Wait, the Heat offense doesn’t stink anymore? Offensive optimism on the rise

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

It is an epiphany more than 60 games in the making. But the Miami Heat have discovered the joys of scoring.It is an awakening that not only has taken the scoreboard to the next level, but could well fuel something beyond the middling record the team has carried through most of the season.“Boy, it’s taken a long time. It really has,” coach Erik Spoelstra said in the wake of Wednesday night’s 138-119 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at Miami-Dade Arena, “And sometimes things that you hope or think might happen don’t. You just have to figure it out. And you have to grind. It ultimately is about winning.“So first 45 games of the year, we knew how we could win games, and that’s defending at an incredible high level and keeping games close and have our closers finish it off. But we’ve been diligently working on our offensive efficiency, getting the ball where it needs to go, making sure we have the right shot profile and get to our s...

Rev. Wheeler Parker was there in the bedroom when Emmett Till was abducted. His memoir recounts the 70-year push for federal charges

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

Christopher Borrelli | (TNS) Chicago TribuneThe Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. lives just outside Justice.This has been true his whole life. In the geographic sense, he has lived in Summit (or the subdivision of Argo, annexed long ago into Summit) for most of his 83 years. Summit ambles alongside the Des Plaines River, a bit north of the village of Justice. In a more poetic sense, though, Parker has also lived outside justice since 1955, when he visited Mississippi with his cousin Emmett Till. He is the last witness to the encounter that sealed Till’s fate and the last living witness to Till’s abduction four nights later.Other than Carolyn Bryant, whose accusation unleashed the full wrath of Jim Crow.She’s almost 90 today. Till was murdered at 14.The irony of having lived outside Justice most of his life — not to mention the twin irony of being born in a Mississippi town named Slaughter — is not exactly lost on Parker.“I mean, some things are literally true,” he said, leaning forward in hi...

Hot Property: Newton home picture-perfect

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

We love the anticipation and build-up of a long, circular drive — you just know there’s something special waiting for you at the top. Tucked back from the street behind a crisp front lawn and that aforementioned circular drive, 315 Waverley in Newton is a traditional brick Colonial chock-full of surprises.First, the home sits on nearly an acre and a half — that’s living large even for Newton standards. The estate encompasses the main house, extensive patio and backyard space, an in-ground pool area, and a two-bedroom carriage house above the five-car garage and pool cabana. The sprawling acreage is matched by more than 8,000 square feet of living space. If it’s grand proportions you’re after, 315 Waverley’s got you covered.Period character throughout the home harkens back to its 1915 roots, including lovely millwork, moulding, beams, and paned glass, but the home isn’t stuck in the past. In fact, oversized doorways and picture windows throughout lend a flow and openness to the main ...

Sources: Banks working on rescue plan for First Republic

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A group of Wall Street banks is planning a rescue package of around $30 billion for First Republic Bank, sources told The Associated Press on Thursday.The rescue package comes as San Francisco-based First Republic has been battered by investors and worries have grown that the midsized bank might be the next to fail, after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.Sources familiar with the matter said that JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs are part of the group of banks pulling together the package. It is likely to consist of $30 billion in deposits and capital for First Republic.The list of 11 banks involved also includes Truist, Morgan Stanley, BNY Mellon, State Street, US Bank, PNC and Bank of America, a source said.The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the package was still being developed.A First Republic spokesman declined to comment on the reports.First Republic serves a similar clientele as Silicon Valley Bank, which faile...

Abortion ban injunction upheld by N. Dakota Supreme Court

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a state abortion ban will remain blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds.The ban was designed to take effect once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But a district judge had put it on hold this summer while the Red River Women’s Clinic (RRWC) pursued a lawsuit arguing the state constitution protected a right to an abortion.“While the regulation of abortion is within the authority of the legislature under the North Dakota Constitution, RRWC has demonstrated likely success on the merits that there is a fundamental right to an abortion in the limited instances of life-saving and health-preserving circumstances, and the statute is not narrowly tailored to satisfy strict scrutiny,” Chief Justice Jon J. Jensen wrote in the ruling.The law — one of many abortion-restricting measures passed by state legislatures in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Roe — includes ...

Biden climate legacy tested by backlash over Willow project

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Elise Joshi was at the White House last year, her eyes welled with happy tears as President Joe Biden hosted thousands of supporters to celebrate groundbreaking legislation targeting climate change. “In that moment, I felt a lot of hope that the administration was listening to us,” said Joshi, a California college student who is a leader of Gen-Z for Change, a coalition of young activists on social media.Now Joshi is planning to return to Washington, but for a very different reason. She’s outraged that administration officials approved the Willow project, a large-scale oil drilling proposal in Alaska, and she’s organizing demonstrations with compatriots from around the country.Joshi’s pivot underscores the political fallout that Biden is facing over Willow and the tension between honoring his promises on climate change and the nation’s energy needs. The president made fighting global warming a central part of his agenda, and White...

S&P/TSX composite rises Thursday, U.S. markets gain with Nasdaq up 2.5 per cent

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

TORONTO — Markets in Canada and the U.S. climbed steadily Thursday in yet another reversal during a volatile week, with tech helping drive strength as well as some signs of recovery in embattled financial stocks.Investors have been grappling all week with the fallout of two bank closures over the weekend that sparked wider concerns about the financial system.“The banking sector globally has really been the key reason we’ve seen so much volatility in all kinds of markets, not just equity markets,” said Steve Locke, chief investment officer for fixed income and multi-asset strategies at Mackenzie Investments.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 160.17 points to 19,539.01. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 371.98 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 32,246.55. The S&P 500 index was up 68.35 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 3,960.28, while the Nasdaq composite was up 283.33 points, or 2.5 per cent, to 11,717.28.With the next U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decision looming...

‘Constant’ fear in my house, U.S. woman testifies about impact of Quebec abduction

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

MONTREAL — A U.S. woman who was kidnapped along with her husband and smuggled into Quebec in October 2020 says she lives in constant fear she will fall victim to another crime.Sandra Helm delivered a victim impact statement Thursday at a sentencing hearing for Gary Arnold, 54.“What happened to us has changed our lives in every way imaginable,” Helm told Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Pennou. “At the time of the events, I was afraid I was going to be killed. My husband and I thought we would never make it home to see our family again.”A jury found Arnold guilty in February of five charges, including kidnapping, extortion and conspiracy to kidnap, for being part of a plot to abduct Sandra Helm and her husband James of Moira, N.Y. James Helm died in 2021.The Crown has told the court previously it will seek a 17-year sentence for Arnold, while the defence has countered with a sentence recommendation in the 10-year range. Four other men arrested with Arnold received sentences of b...

Vatican unveils new ethnographic display of Rwanda screens

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican Museums officially reopened its African and American ethnographic collections Thursday by showcasing intricately restored Rwandan raffia screens that were sent by Catholic missionaries to the Vatican for a 1925 exhibit.The display at the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum featured a scientific presentation of the restoration process as well as the research that preceded it, with consultations with Rwanda’s own ethnographic museum, a UCLA graduate student and Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa. It came as ethnographic museums in Europe and North America are grappling with demands from Indigenous groups and former colonies to return artifacts dating from colonial times.The Rev. Nicola Mappelli, curator of the Anima Mundi museum, declined to comment on calls for restitution of the Vatican’s own ethnographic holdings, saying these were questions for the museum leadership. Speaking to The Associated Press during a visit to the new exhibit, he noted tha...

3 dead in rioting blamed on gangs in Brazil’s northeast

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:28:59 GMT

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — National guard troops patrolled northeastern Brazil on Thursday after three nights of rioting allegedly ordered by imprisoned gang members left windows smashed, buses ablaze and at least three people dead.Most of the violence was in Rio Grande do Norte state where a couple dozen cities have seen gun attacks on public buildings and arson attacks on buses and gas stations since Monday night. The owner of a supermarket was among those killed in the violence. Also, a rioter in Rio Grande do Norte and another one in neighboring Paraiba state were killed in shootouts with police, authorities said.Schools in both states canceled school classes Thursday for fear that school buses might be targeted, and some regular bus services were suspended.Rio Grande do Norte’s public security secretary, Francisco Araújo, said Wednesday that the attacks were being ordered from within the state’s biggest prison, after wardens declined to grant prisoners’ demands for televisions, co...