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Charlie Baker’s start with the NCAA not sitting well with Charles Barkley, others

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

NCAA President Charlie Baker wants to seek help from the feds in figuring out how to regulate name, image and likeness compensation for collegiate athletes.The approach is not giving NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley a positive first impression of the former Massachusetts governor, just three weeks into his new gig leading the NCAA.“Did he say we’re gonna ask the politicians to help us? That pisses me off already,” said Barkley, a longtime basketball commentator for Turner Sports. “Our politicians are awful people.”Barkley’s in-studio comments came after an interview between Baker and March Madness commentators Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellog aired Thursday night. The segment highlighted how Baker plans on tackling his top priority of adding consumer protection around NIL for athletes and their families.“One of the ADs (said) the only thing true about it at this point is that everybody lies,” Baker said about the NIL market. “I would love to create some transparency and accountability ...

Scherzer named Mets Opening Day starter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — One of the game’s biggest big-game pitchers will be on the mound for the Mets on Opening Day.MLB Network announced the Opening Day starters for all 30 clubs Friday, with the Mets revealing Max Scherzer as their choice to start March 30 in Miami against the Marlins. He’ll oppose Sandy Alcantara at LoanDepot Park.“It’s awesome. It’s a heck of a day to pitch on,” Scherzer said after taking the win in the Mets’ 10-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. “The atmospheres are crazy at every single venue that you’re in. It’s going to be a great day and it’s really fun to go out there and get the ball in that situation.”This will be Scherzer’s first Opening Day start for the Mets but the seventh of the veteran ace’s career. Scherzer made six Opening Day starts for the Washington Nationals, including four straight Opening Day starts from 2018-2021.The Mets have long planned t...

Boston bus driver reported punched in face by parent, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

A Boston bus driver in his 70s said a parent whose daughter claimed she got hurt on the vehicle earlier in the week hopped onto the bus and punched him in the face, according to police.The origins of the bus brouhaha trace back to Monday, when a 1st grader at the Charles H. Taylor Elementary School in Mattapan came home complaining to her parents that the bus driver had pushed her, hurting her, according to police reports.The girl’s mother called the cops and told them her daughter “came off the bus holding her stomach and visibly upset.” The girl told the cops that the bus driver pushed her backward, hurting her.The bus driver, who’s in his 70s, told a different story. According to police reports, he said the girl was standing next to him near the front of the bus while he was driving and when he came to a stop, she “fell forward and he caught her with his right hand and prevented her from falling head first.”He added that he “has to consta...

Celtics notebook: Robert Williams talks recent hamstring injury, potential bench role as playoffs near

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

This has not been the season Robert Williams envisioned.The Celtics center’s sudden knee surgery on the eve of training camp cost him the first 29 games of the season. A recent hamstring injury forced him out for eight. Williams has shown flashes of his irreplaceable ability, but hasn’t gained a consistent rhythm. But asked Friday how he’s viewed his season to date, he wasn’t quite in the mood for reflection yet.“Ask me at the end of the summer and I can answer that a little bit better,” Williams said with a smile.Williams certainly isn’t done with the story of his season yet. He’s back healthy, and though he’s missed 44 games, knows the most important games are ahead. His return in Tuesday’s win at Sacramento was a reminder of how dominant the Celtics can be when they’re whole, and why they’re such a championship threat. With Williams in and out of the lineup all year – as well as others – it’s been hard for the C’s to find that form consistently.Now is the time for the Celti...

Sexually violent predator to be placed in Borrego Springs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. -- A sexually violent predator will be placed in Borrego Springs, a judge ruled Friday, months after protests broke out last year about the possibility of the man living in the area, a San Diego County official said.Supervisor Jim Desmond, District 5, reacted to the judge's decision Friday to place Douglas Badger, who has served five separate prison terms for convictions including child molestation, kidnapping and forcible oral copulation, in the East County desert community."I’m extremely disappointed in the judge’s decision. There’s no place in Borrego Springs, or anywhere, for these abominable criminals to be placed. I’m going to look at every option to continue to fight this placement, and to ensure these placements are stopped," Desmond said. Alpine community calling attention to damage done by draining of Loveland Reservoir The San Diego County supervisor called sexually violent predators "the worst of the worst," adding the decision is "d...

Man hit on SR-163 while trying to flag help after crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man was hit by a car along state Route 163 while attempting to seek help from passing drivers after a crash Friday afternoon, California Highway Patrol said in a release.Around 12:55 p.m., the man, described as a 28-year-old from San Diego, was driving a Nissan sedan northbound on SR-163, south of Genesee Avenue when he veered left and struck the center median wall on the highway. According to CHP, the Nissan was disabled within traffic lanes.The man then got out of the car to attempt to flag down a passing car for assistance. While the man was outside his car, a Toyota Camry ran him over. Suspects sought in series of San Diego home burglaries The 28-year-old sustained injuries described by authorities as "major" and was transported to a nearby hospital. It is unclear if the injuries are considered life-threatening.Authorities said that the driver of the Toyota, a 26-year-old man, was unharmed and remained on scene. Neither driver has been identified by CHP at this ...

California jailbreak mastermind sentenced for daring escape

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A man serving a life sentence for kidnapping and mutilating a marijuana dispensary owner was given an additional sentence Friday for masterminding a daring, elaborate escape from a Southern California jail.Hossein Nayeri, 44, was sentenced to the maximum of two years and eight months in state prison for the Jan. 22, 2016, escape from the Orange County Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana and for stealing a van while on the run.Nayeri and two other men used smuggled tools to cut through the half-inch bars on a metal grate in their maximum-security dorm cell, then climbed through plumbing shafts within the walls to reach the roof, where they rappelled down five stories using a rope made of bed linens, according to authorities and a cellphone video shot by Nayeri.The men then kidnapped a 72-year-old unlicensed tax driver at gunpoint and forced him to drive them away at gunpoint, prosecutors said.Over five days, the man drove the fugitives around as they fled, ...

Ice cream and chocolate: U.S. President Joe Biden’s food adventure in Ottawa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

OTTAWA — When former president Barack Obama first visited Ottawa in 2009 he went home with souvenir cookies for his daughters bought during his unannounced visit to the famed ByWard Market, which local residents have been talking about ever since.When President Joe Biden departs after about 27 hours in the Canadian capital Friday night, he will carry with him a Canadian bar of chocolate.“I love chocolate,” Biden said, after being handed a yellow-wrapped bar with the word “Peace” written on it by Green Leader Elizabeth May.Biden’s visit was surrounded by heavy levels of security — much of downtown Ottawa was shut down for the day, civil servants who just recently returned to work in person were urged to stay home, and sniper teams, drones and helicopters dotted the sky around the parliamentary precinct.But it did not draw the same fanfare as Obama did in 2009, when a couple of thousand people crowded onto Parliament Hill to await his arrival, hoping to g...

Woman accused of homicide, dismemberment ruled fit for trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A woman accused of killing and dismembering a man in Wisconsin is competent to stand trial, a court ruled Friday.Judge Thomas Walsh issued the ruling and set a July 21 start date for Taylor Schabusiness’ trial in Brown County Circuit Court, WLUK-TV reported.Schabusiness, 25, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault in the killing of Shad Thyrion, 25, in February 2022. Authorities say she strangled Thyrion at a home in Green Bay, sexually abused him and dismembered his body, leaving parts of him throughout the house and in a vehicle. Schabusiness has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. She is being held on a $2 million cash bond.A competency report commissioned by prosecutors that was completed last fall deemed Schabusiness fit for trial.In February, she attacked her attorney during a hearing moments after Walsh agreed to her lawyer’s request for an ad...

Minnesota nuclear plant shuts down for leak; residents worry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:30:11 GMT

MONTICELLO, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota utility began shutting down a nuclear power plant near Minneapolis on Friday after discovering water containing a low level of radioactive material was leaking from a pipe for the second time. While the utility and health officials say it is not dangerous, the issue has prompted concerns among nearby residents and raised questions about aging pipelines.Xcel Energy discovered in November that about 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of water containing tritium had leaked. The utility made a temporary fix but learned this week that hundreds more gallons of tritium-laced water leaked, leading to the shutdown decision.After the plant cools over the next few days, workers will cut out the leaking pipe, which is over 50 years old, said Chris Clark, Xcel Energy’s president. The utility will then have the pipe analyzed in hopes of preventing future leaks, he said.“We could have continued to safely operate the plant and simply repair the catchment...