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Opinion: Naughty or nice? Boebert, Coach Prime, Jokić, Casa Bonita and more

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

At the top of Colorado’s naughty list is of course the ever-so-pious U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. Security footage of the then-still-married woman kissing and groping her date while he rubbed her breast at the Buell Theater was enough to make even Colorado’s hardworking strippers blush. Her divorce was finalized a few months later.In an astonishing display of perseverance, Boebert has continued to show up at the U.S. Capitol despite the global humiliation that ensued including a Saturday Night Live skit. A sheer lack of shame, however, doesn’t get anyone out of that kind of trouble. The congresswoman is getting nothing but coal this year, and I don’t mean that as a metaphor for kickbacks from the fossil fuel industry for her unwavering boosterism.And thus, begins my naughty/nice list for 2023, a year when Coloradans of note shone bright as stars or stumbled like a Jerry on the slopes.If Russell and Ciara Wilson are half the saints in real life that they appear to be in their public per...

Man gunned down during altercation in South Los Angeles

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

A search is on Monday for whoever shot and killed a man in the Harvard Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles Sunday night. Police responded to an assault with a deadly weapon call around 11:20 p.m. in a residential neighborhood on 71st Street near Denker Avenue. Police investigate a fatal shooting in South Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 2023. (OnScene.TV)Arriving officers found the victim down on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson confirmed. The victim, believed to be about 30 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said surveillance video shows an apparent altercation between the victim and the suspect, who was sitting in a vehicle. Racist remarks against Mexicans caught on camera in Disneyland bathroom The suspect got out of the vehicle, opened fire on the victim, and then fled the scene in the vehicle. Police did not describe the suspect or the vehicle.

Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You' still dominates the holiday charts

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — If anything about Mariah Carey's “All I Want for Christmas is You” annoys you, best to avoid shopping malls now. Or the radio. Maybe music altogether, for that matter.Her 1994 carol dominates holiday music like nothing else.The Christmas colossus has reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart the past four years in a row — measuring the most popular songs each week by airplay, sales and streaming, not just the holiday-themed — and it's reasonable to assume 2023 will be no different. One expert predicts it will soon exceed $100 million in earnings. Even its ringtone has sold millions.“That song is just embedded in history now,” says David Foster, the 16-time Grammy-winning composer and producer. “It’s embedded in Christmas. When you think of Christmas right now, you think of that song.”Mariah Carey performs at the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, Dec. 31, 2017, in New York. Billboard has posted a list of top seasonal hits since 2010, and Carey's “All I...

This holiday season is expected to be the busiest on record at airports, AAA says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

By Marnie Hunter | CNNPrepare to wait in line, air travelers: The 10-day Christmas and New Year’s travel period is likely to be the busiest ever at US airports, according to AAA’s year-end holiday forecast.AAA is expecting 7.5 million air travelers, topping the previous record in 2019 of 7.3 million, according to the forecast released on Monday. Average airfare prices are slightly lower than last year, AAA said.Overall, 115 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home this holiday season, making it the second-busiest since 2000, when AAA began tracking holiday travel. The busiest year ever was 2019, which was before the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted travel worldwide.AAA’s forecast looks at the period from Saturday, December 23 to Monday, January 1.Holiday road warriorsRelated ArticlesTravel | Holiday getaway: Cut down your own Christmas tree in Plumas National Forest Travel | Disneyland closes 4 rides during busy Christmas season ...

Could Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract actually be a bargain for Dodgers?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

LOS ANGELES — When is $700 million not $700 million?Shohei Ohtani’s record-breaking, baseball world-shaking contract with the Dodgers will pay him $700 million for 10 seasons of work, more than a third of the sales price when the Guggenheim Group bought the franchise in 2012.But the machinations of high finances will make it feel like considerably less for the Dodgers, no doubt a big factor in their willingness to top every other bidder by a large margin.“This is a unique, historic contract for a unique, historic player,” Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, said in announcing the deal Saturday, referring to it as “a partnership.”That was not hyperbole.Ohtani’s deal reportedly includes a significant amount of deferred money – perhaps more than half of the $700 million, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Deferred money is worth less than money paid up front, lowering the real value of the contract and – more importantly – the amount counted against MLB’s Competitive Balance Tax each year.The Do...

‘Overperforming’ snowy mix stuns DC region, causing slippery roads for early commute

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

Listen to WTOP online and on the radio at 103.5 FM or 107.7 FM.A surprise wintry mix arrived in the D.C. region early Monday morning, causing roads to be slick for commuters heading into work. Here’s what you need to know.What was expected to be more of a rain-heavy mix turned into a snow event that “overperformed” in several spots in the area, WTOP meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts said. She added that the storm made “snow-covered roads” and some stickage on roads.“We got enough snow at a heavy clip,” Ricketts said, adding that drivers should “just be careful” on the roads.Despite the warmer weather, snow did stick in parts of the region with Stafford County, Virginia, reporting over an inch of snow while Herndon recorded .9 of an inch.Yup, big wet snowflakes coming down early this morning, as promised @wtop ⁦@WTOPtraffic⁩ pic.twitter.com/MXPBjQesBD— John Aaron (@JohnAaronWTOP) December 11, 2023The stormy weather arrived hours after...

Ben Stokes expected to be fit for start of England’s test series in India but will not bowl

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

England test captain Ben Stokes is expected to be fit for the start of the five-test tour of India beginning Jan. 25 after being selected in a 16-man squad less than two weeks after undergoing left knee surgery.Stokes will not bowl in the series, England director of cricket Rob Key said in a video call on Monday, though that was never the plan in the wake of his Nov. 29 operation.Key said Stokes’ surgery was a “success” and that the captain was on course to be ready for the first test in Hyderabad from Jan. 25-29.Stokes barely bowled in the Ashes series against Australia this year and was only a batter in the recent 50-over World Cup also held in India.It will be England’s first test series since the retirement of veteran pacer Stuart Broad while Chris Woakes, one of the team’s best fast bowlers in the Ashes, was left out. Instead, England will have four seamers in Jimmy Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and uncapped Gus Atkinson.Four spinners were se...

Liz Weston: Investing for retirement — Why you might want to reconsider that 403(b)

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

Like many other educators, high school science teacher Robert Curtiss of Dearborn, Michigan, thought he was doing the right thing by investing in his school district’s 403(b) retirement plan. Then federal regulators charged the company handling Curtiss’ investments with fraud.In July 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. had misled investors — mostly public school employees — about what their investments cost. Equitable often issued quarterly statements showing $0 in fees, when in reality the expenses were much higher, according to the SEC. Equitable agreed to pay a $50 million civil penalty to harmed investors.After hearing about the fine, Curtiss learned that his retirement investments were costing him two to three times what a typical 401(k) investor would pay. Getting his money out would cost even more: the investments, known as variable annuities, had surrender charges of 5% to 6%.“I felt so frustrated,” Curtiss says. “If I wou...

UN officials and activists ramp up the urgency as “difficult” climate talks enter final days

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Visibly tired and frustrated top United Nations officials urged climate talks to push harder for an end to fossil fuels. Time seems to be running out both in the talks in Dubai and for action that could keep warming at or below the internationally agreed-upon threshold.U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to the summit on Monday and said it was “time to go into overdrive, to negotiate in good faith, and rise to the challenge.” He said negotiators at the COP28 summit in particular must focus on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and climate justice.He said the global stocktake — the part of talks that assesses where the world is at with its climate goals and how it can reach them — should “phase out all fossil fuels” in order to reach the goal of limiting the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times. That phase-out was, he said, ”a central aspect” for the ...

Tornados mortales desplazan a cientos de habitantes de Tennessee que ahora enfrentan un largo camino hacia la recuperación

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:22:13 GMT

(CNN) — Cientos de habitantes de Tennessee están desplazados o enfrentan cortes prolongados de energía después de que una serie de poderosos tornados y tormentas azotaran el estado durante el fin de semana, destruyendo cientos de hogares y matando al menos a seis personas, entre ellas una madre y su hijo pequeño.La destrucción causada por las tormentas en Tennessee, donde al menos dos tornados tocaron tierra este sábado, ha llevado a los funcionarios en algunas de las áreas más afectadas a declarar estados locales de emergencia, abrir refugios para familias desplazadas y anunciar el cierre de varias escuelas el lunes.Más de 34.000 personas se quedaron sin electricidad en el estado este lunes por la mañana. En Nashville, una empresa de servicios públicos local estima que podría llevar días restaurar el suministro eléctrico a algunas personas, mientras que a los residentes de Clarksville se les ha dicho que podría llevar semanas.Partes de Hendersonville y el suburbio de Nashvill...