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Colorado’s cannabis industry has fallen on hard times. What does the future hold?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

The heyday of marijuana sales in Colorado – back in 2020 when recreational and medical sales topped out at a combined $226 million – is a distant memory, as the state’s dispensaries struggle through an economic downturn, with sales plummeting and small businesses foundering.“The market’s just bad. It’s bad right now,” said 29-year-old Val Tonazzi, who works in cannabis sales. “There’s businesses closing, left and right.”In March, Colorado’s total medical marijuana sales were about $17 million – around $5 million less than last March. Retail marijuana sales racked up to $122 million, but that’s still a $17 million drop from March 2022.It’s an improved outlook from February when medical marijuana sales dipped to their lowest point since retail sales began – around $15 million. And sales for both recreational and medical weed totaled to over $139 million, which is the highest it’s climbed to since last October.But ...

Cornerback Riley Moss overcame odds to make it to Broncos: “This guy had something special”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

On a recent Saturday afternoon in Dove Valley where the forecast instantly went from warm and sunny to windy and needing a jacket, Riley Moss was in his element.Wearing thigh-high shorts and a white No. 37 practice jersey, the cornerback spider crawled across the practice field along with his fellow draft picks, undrafted free agents, and pros, trying to make a good impression in front of Broncos head coach Sean Payton at rookie minicamp.The 6-foot-1,193-pound corner was nowhere near the most intimidating player at practice. That title belonged to rookie linebacker Drew Sanders, who is 6-foot-4, 235 pounds of muscle. However, as Moss glided smoothly on the field, applying tight coverage against receivers, it became clear why Denver traded into the third round of last month’s draft to acquire the former Iowa star.“He can run fast,” Payton said. “He’s also someone that learns pretty quickly. You see some of his athleticism, even in the special teams drills when we watch it on ta...

Rockies rookie Brenton Doyle’s immediate impact no surprise to those who saw him rise: “This kid’s got it”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

On a May morning in 2019, exit interviews for Shepherd University baseball players were scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. sharp in coach Matt McCarty’s office.At 8:30, junior center fielder Brenton Doyle walked in, wearing his workout clothes, dripping with sweat. The Rams had been eliminated from the Mountain East Conference tournament the day before, so Doyle had played his final game for the Division II school in Shepherdstown, W.Va.McCarty was puzzled, but only for a moment.“Brenton was the first one to sign up for a meeting,” McCarty recalled. “Then he knocks on the door, walks in, a half-hour early, and I asked him, ‘Why are you sweating?’“He said to me, ‘I wanted to get a workout in this morning and get this done early so I could take some swings in the cages one last time with the guys before I head out of here.’ ”After the meeting, Doyle said his goodbyes and departed McCarty’s office, leaving one, final, indelibl...

Walters: California’s achievement gap defies billions in school spending

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

When Jerry Brown returned to the governorship in 2011, a quarter-century after his first stint in California’s highest office ended, one of his early goals was changing how the state finances the education of nearly 6 million public school students.Brown had a plan, adapted from the theory of Michael Kirst, a distinguished academic and Brown’s long-time education advisor, to concentrate more money on students who chronically trail in academic achievement, albeit those from poor families and/or don’t speak English at home.Kirst called it a “weighted formula,” and the legislation he and Brown persuaded the Legislature to adopt a decade ago was called “Local Control Funding Formula,” or LCFF. It would give school districts with large numbers of at-risk students in those two categories extra funds on the assumption that they would improve achievement.The legislation lubricated passage by also eliminating most “categorical aids” – money for specific education programs – and t...

Taylor eyes Cameron rematch, questions linger over location, weight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

DUBLIN (AP) — An Irish flag over her shoulders, Katie Taylor descended the steps from the ring in utter dejection.Taylor spent years dreaming of a homecoming bout. Now, she’ll need to figure out how to bounce back from the first loss of her professional career.Chantelle Cameron had spoiled Taylor’s homecoming by earning a majority decision at Dublin’s 3Arena to remain the undisputed super-lightweight champion.The 2012 Olympic gold medalist immediately said she’s “looking forward to the rematch” and can trigger it under terms of the contract for Saturday’s fight.Now come the questions of where, when and at which weight?“Wherever the fight is the biggest but I’m thinking back in Ireland,” Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said when asked about the location for a potential rematch.Taylor and Hearn had looked at 83,000-capacity Croke Park for the homecoming with Amanda Serrano the planned opponent. Cameron stepped in after Serrano pulled out becaus...

Un gran tiburón blanco de más de 500 kg nada frente a la costa de Carolina del Sur

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

(CNN) — Un tiburón blanco de 3,6 metros fue avistado esta semana frente a las costas de Carolina del Sur, aproximadamente un año después de que fuera detectado cerca de la costa de Nueva Jersey.Ironbound, un tiburón blanco adulto de unos 539 kilos, fue registrado dos veces cerca de Carolina del Sur el jueves por la mañana, según OCEARCH, un grupo de investigación marina sin ánimo de lucro que proporciona datos de código abierto sobre la migración de los tiburones.(Crédito: OCEARCH)El tiburón fue marcado por primera vez el 3 de octubre de 2019 en las aguas que rodean Nueva Escocia y bautizado con el nombre de la isla canadiense West Ironbound.OCEARCH captura y coloca a los tiburones un rastreador que emite pitidos cada vez que emergen a la superficie del océano, un esfuerzo destinado a mejorar la recopilación de datos.El año pasado, a finales de abril, Ironbound fue detectado frente a las costas de Nueva Jersey. En aquel momento, el tiburón tenía unos 20 años, explica Bob Huete...

Sunak ranks China as top challenge to global security

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described China as the biggest challenge to the world on Sunday at the end of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.“China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity,” Sunak told reporters at the G7 meeting, which ends on Sunday. “They are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad.”The British prime minister stopped short of calling for a “de-coupling” between China and the West, but supported “de-risking,” the expression used by G7 leaders in their joint communique on Saturday.“We will work together as the G7 and other countries to make sure that we can de-risk ourselves and the vulnerability of supply chains that we have seen from China, take the steps necessary to protect ourselves against hostile investment and do so in a way that doesn’t damage each other,” Sunak said.G7 leaders issued a tough statement towards Beijing, in which they agree...

Ukraine says it still has toe-hold in Bakhmut despite Putin’s ‘liberation’ claim

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

KYIV — Ukraine said its forces still control a small part of Bakhmut despite Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hailing the “liberation” of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city by Russian forces.Asked on Sunday if Russians had taken Bakhmut, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded “I think no,” at a press conference at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. Russia’s Wagner mercenary force on Saturday claimed the capture of the industrial city in the Donbas region, which has been at the center of some of the fiercest fighting in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Putin on Sunday congratulated the Wagner paramilitary group and the Russian army “on the completion of the operation to liberate” Bakhmut, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website.But Ukrainian officials said several buildings in the southwestern part of the city remain under Kyiv’s control.“It is a small area tha...

After another ugly start, Jameson Taillon and the Chicago Cubs must find a way to get the veteran on track

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

Jameson Taillon is searching for answers.The right-hander’s Chicago Cubs career continues to get off to a rocky start. This time Citizens Bank Park served as the backdrop for Taillon’s struggles. One inning doomed Taillon, a common theme in his four starts since returning from the injured list.A six-run first inning by the Philadelphia Phillies put the Cubs in a hole they couldn’t recover from in a 12-3 loss Saturday. Kyle Schwarber’s grand slam on a hanging curveball represented the first blow. Taillon surrendered eight runs (six earned) in 2⅓ innings.Through seven starts, Taillon, who signed a four-year, $68 million contract in December, owns an 8.10 ERA. Taillon said he physically feels great with no lingering issues from his groin strain. Reoccurring struggles to put away hitters and inconsistent command keep putting Taillon in a bad spot.“I have to clean it up,” Taillon said. “I feel like the stuff’s there, just comes down t...

Hezbollah stages wargames for media, asserts readiness to confront Israel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:59 GMT

AARAMTA, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise.Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel.The exercise came ahead of “Liberation Day,” the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers and Hezbollah have had long-standing ties.The recent heightened tensions also come months after Lebanon and Israel signed a landmark U.S.-brokered maritime border agreement, which many analysts predicted would lower the risk of a future military confrontation between the two countries.The Israeli militar...