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MIAA state boys basketball finals preview and picks

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

When Mansfield and Malden Catholic face off on Friday night for the Division 2 state title, it will be a battle between two of the winningest coaches of the last decade.Mike Vaughan is looking to lead No. 2 Mansfield to its second championship in program history as the Hornets play in their third state final. The Hornets have overcome injuries to a pair of starters in impressive fashion by winning each of their tournament games by 20 plus points. Eddie McCoy has been the star during the postseason run alongside 6-foot-7 stretch forward JT Veiking. Chris Hill has been at the center of the Hornets’ success all season long.On the other side will be John Walsh, who coached the Lancers to a state championship a year ago to add to his previous collection of three at Danvers High School. Top seed Malden Catholic has also overcome its share of seemingly killer injuries. Catholic Conference co-MVP Nick Martinez is one of the premier defensive players in Eastern Mass., while sophomore g...

Russian fighter jet dumps fuel on US drone before hitting propeller, Pentagon video shows; Seth Moulton calls it ‘reckless’ behavior from Putin’s military

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

A Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on a U.S. drone before hitting its propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea, according to a new declassified video released by the Pentagon, as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Moscow.This latest incident of Russian fighter pilots harassing U.S. aircraft happened between two Russian Su-27s and a $32 million U.S. Air Force surveillance MQ-9 Reaper drone — which ended up getting damaged and crashing into the sea.This was the first time since the Cold War that a U.S. aircraft went down during a confrontation with Russia.“By targeting an unarmed, unmanned U.S. plane in international airspace, Putin’s military knowingly and deliberately violated the law,” Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton said in a statement.“This type of behavior is reckless and will not deter the U.S. from continuing to conduct its security missions wherever the law allows,” added Moulton, a military veteran.Several...

Heat’s Kevin Love deals with jolt after Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane goes nuts | Video

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

It might not have been intentional, but that didn’t necessarily matter to Miami Heat forward Kevin Love when Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane went nuts Wednesday night.So even after the Heat’s rout was completed, their fifth victory in seven games, Love still took a moment to gather his thoughts on the moment that left Bane with his first career ejection.With 6:44 to play in what turned into the Heat’s 138-119 victory, Bane was charged with an offensive foul.In this case, offensive was somewhat the operative word.As the officiating staff indicated an initial willingness to continue play with a mere common foul on Bane, the Heat’s in-house video operations almost immediately showed a replay of Bane’s left forearm and elbow swinging directly into Love’s groin, with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and assistant Chris Quinn waving to both lead official Marc Davis and the video board.On the televised replay, Heat analyst John Crotty referred to Bane̵...

Despite Mets closer Edwin Diaz’s knee injury, players quick to say don’t blame the World Baseball Classic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

The World Baseball Classic has reached peak controversy.Mets star closer Edwin Diaz was taken off of the field in a wheelchair Wednesday night in Miami after suffering what appeared to be a serious knee injury during Puerto Rico’s post-game celebration. Diaz had just pitched a perfect ninth inning in a 5-2 win over the Dominican Republic.Diaz is expected to undergo an MRI Thursday afternoon with the results likely available later in the day.Despite outrage from Mets faithful on social media over the thought of possibly losing their All-Star closer for the season due to a freak celebration in an outside competition, Major League players are rallying to defend the international spring tournament.Mets reliever Adam Ottavino — who is pitching in the WBC for Team USA — said it was just a “fluke thing.”“It could’ve happened in any type of situation, regardless,” Ottavino told reporters after Team USA’s victory over Colombia Wednesday n...

Microsoft adds AI tools to Office apps like Outlook, Word

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

NEW YORK — Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its Office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails.The company said Thursday the new feature, named Copilot, is a processing engine that will allow users to do things like summarize long emails, draft stories in Word and animate slides in PowerPoint.Microsoft is marketing the feature as a tool that will allow workers to be more productive by freeing up time they usually spend in their inbox, or allowing them to more easily analyze trends in Excel.The tech giant based in Redmond, Washington, will also add a chat function called Business Chat, which resembles the popular ChatGPT. It takes commands and carries out actions — like summarizing an email about a particular project to co-workers — using user data.“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” Microsoft CE...

Top seed BU takes on Providence in Hockey East semifinal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

The Boston University Terriers are back in an old familiar place under a new head coach.BU will make its 25th appearance in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals when the No. 5 ranked Terriers (25-10-0, 18-6-0) encounter the Providence College Friars (16-13-7, 9-9-6) in the opener (4) on Friday night at the TD Garden.Coach Jay Pandolfo guided the Terriers to the conference regular season title. Pandolfo was recently named the Hockey East Coach of the Year in his first season behind the bench of his alma mater. BU closed out the regular season with a home and home series sweep against the Friars.BU drew the No. 1 seed and advanced with a 7-3 win over Vermont in a quarterfinal match at Agganis Arena on March 11. Providence entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed and advanced with a 2-1 overtime upset win at No. 15 ranked Northeastern on March 11. No. 2 seed Merrimack and No. 5 seed UMass Lowell will face off in the nightcap scheduled for 7:30.“We are looking forward to this weekend,”...

What drove these people to clown school? A need for joy in face of layoffs, cancer and anger.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

In First Presbyterian Church of Englewood’s basement Sunday afternoon, five Coloradans dressed in wacky regalia and big, honkin’ shoes marched before their loved ones — and past a painting of the Last Supper — belting “Pomp and Circumstance” on kazoos.An audience of family, friends and plainclothes clowns squinting to recognize each other without white-painted faces cheered on as the five men, women and teens each leveled up from layperson to professional goofball.It was graduation day for the 2023 cohort of Colorado Clown Alley’s 10-week clown school. The newly-inducted jesters are now not only card-carrying members of a different variety of postsecondary institution, but rising masters of belly laughs, balloon animals and spreading joy in uncertain times.The clown class of 2023 tickled Clown Alley president Isabel Nuanez as there were multiple young members, she said, inspiring hope for a rebound in the clown industry.Whether people were compensating for the bleakness of the pande...

‘A special type of validation’: grassroots grant supports South Asian women creatives

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

Three local grassroots organizations have come together to support South Asian women and gender-diverse artists in their creative endeavours, with an eye toward creating a nurturing and encouraging ecosystem for them to thrive in.The Didihood Creative Fund was launched last year in collaboration with Tamil Women Rising and the South Asian and Tamil Women’s Collective.“We felt this fund was necessary because there aren’t too many funds available specifically for South Asian women in creative industries. So we really wanted to focus in on that niche,” says Didihood co-founder Nikki Gill.Manjula Selvarajah, co-founder of Tamil Women Rising, says they wanted to fill what they feel is a gap in support that needs to be addressed in the South Asian community.“If I can just even speak to the Tamil community as an example — most of the people in the community have been here, I would say about maybe three to four decades, fleeing war. We have a generation that cr...

14-year-old boy arrested in Mexico for murder of 8

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” for the drug-related killing of eight people near Mexico City, the federal Public Safety Department said Thursday.The boy allegedly rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire on a family in the low-income Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan. Another man was also arrested in the Jan. 22 killings, and seven other members of the gang were arrested on drug charges. The victims were holding a party at their house at the time of the attack, which also left five adults and two children wounded. It was reportedly a birthday party.The boy’s name was not released, but his nickname — “Little Chapo” — is an apparent reference to imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The motive in the killings has not been made public, but drug gangs in Mexico frequently dabble in kidnapping and contract killing. They also kill rivals selling drugs on their territory, or people who who them money.Mexico is no stra...

NFL wants judge to send discrimination claims to arbitrator

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:37:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL lawyers are urging a New York judge to change her mind and agree to let racial discrimination claims against the league and its teams go to arbitration rather than trial.In written arguments late Wednesday, the lawyers said Judge Valerie E. Caproni in Manhattan should reverse her recent decision finding that some claims by NFL Coach Brian Flores can go to trial.Flores, the new defense coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, sued the league and three teams last year, saying the NFL was “rife with racism,” particularly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches.Caproni ruled on March 1 that discrimination claims by two other Black coaches, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, must go to arbitration. She let claims Flores made against the Miami Dolphins go to arbitration. Flores made some of his most sensational claims against the team that fired him early last year after he led the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over three years.Earlier this week, lawyers for the coaches asked...