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Suspect ‘stands silent’ in slayings of 4 Idaho college students; judge enters not guilty pleas

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

By REBECCA BOONE (Associated Press)BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The suspect in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students opted Monday to “stand silent” to murder charges, prompting the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf ahead of a trial in which he could face the death penalty.The Nov. 13, 2022, killings stunned the rural community of Moscow, Idaho, and prompted many students to leave campus early, switching to remote learning for the remainder of the semester.Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested late last year and charged with burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in connection with with the slayings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus.Kohberger declined to enter pleas in Latah County District Court, with his defense attorney Anne Taylor telling the judge that they were going to “stand silent” at this time. In response, 2nd District Judge John Ju...

Malcolm Brogdon: Celtics still searching to find identity with season on brink of elimination

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

MIAMI — As he processed the Celtics’ gutless Game 3 loss a day later, surrounded by a throng of media inside a ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel early Monday afternoon, Malcolm Brogdon agreed with the characterization that the defeat was “stunning.”But the warning signs that something like this could be coming have been there for weeks, at least. They struggled to put away the Hawks. They barely managed to get by the 76ers. Now, they’re being exposed by the Heat in embarrassing fashion.“I think we’ve taken a few steps back, I think, in these playoffs overall,” Brogdon said. “I think it’s showing because we’re playing a very disciplined, consistent, well-coached team. But I think in the Atlanta series, I think in the Philly series, I think we got away with things that now are biting us. So that’s definitely troubling.”Truthfully, those red flags were there before the playoffs. After a hot start to the regular season, the Celtics’ flaws were exposed in several...

‘White Men Can’t Jump’ review: Hustling and hoop dreams, remade

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune (TNS)When it comes to shaggy dog sports movies of the late 20th century, few did it better than Ron Shelton. As a writer and director, he understood the appeal of semi-ridiculous, semi-charming men past their prime looking for one last shot at greatness — or at least a half-baked redemption. Sandwiched between the soulful minor league romance of “Bull Durham” and dusty pro golfing dreams of “Tin Cup,” Shelton turned to the high-spirited pickup basketballs games of Los Angeles for 1992′s “White Men Can’t Jump,” a buddy film starring Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as an unlikely pair who team up to hustle any takers.But “White Men Can’t Jump” no longer exists to be fondly remembered and rewatched, but as a library title to be reimagined. Shelton is credited as a co-writer here with Kenya Barris and Doug Hall, and that should be the good news. But like so much else that Hollywood endlessly recycles, the question hovering around the edges of the movie is s...

Meta hit with mega fine: EU slaps Zuckerberg firm with $1.3B charge for shipping user data to US

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. was hit by a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) European Union privacy fine and given a deadline to stop shipping users’ data to the US after regulators said it failed to protect personal information from the American security services.The social network giant’s continued data transfers to the US didn’t address “the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of people whose data was being transfered across the Atlantic, the Irish Data Protection Commission said on Monday.On top of the fine, which eclipses a 746 million euros EU privacy penalty previously doled out to Amazon.com Inc., Meta was given five months to “suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US” and six months to stop “the unlawful processing, including storage, in the US” of transferred personal EU data.Shares in Meta gained 1% Monday, closing at $248.32.The ban on data transfers was widely expected and once prompted the US firm to threaten a total withdrawal from t...

‘We’re going to need so many seedlings’ for reforestation push

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

Over the next few years, state tree nurseries across the country will build new greenhouses, expand irrigation systems, upgrade seeding equipment and bring on staff.They’re hoping to turn millions of new federal dollars into millions of new seedlings — part of a collaborative effort to reforest landscapes threatened by climate change.“We’re going to need so many seedlings,” Homer Wilkes, undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told Stateline. “Helping states get where they need to be is going to be cheaper and more efficient and is going to meet our goals and needs faster, than if the Forest Service tried to build these nurseries ourselves.”Earlier this year, the department announced $10 million to support reforestation work, funded by the infrastructure law that passed in 2021. That law will provide more money for states in the years to come, as well as for federal nursery programs.About $4.5 million of the $10 million went to 29 ...

Michigan governor signs red flag gun law as questions linger over enforcement

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave final approval Monday afternoon to a red flag law that aims to keep firearms away from those at risk of harming themselves or others as the state grapples with ways to slow gun violence in the wake of its second mass school shooting.Michigan joined Minnesota as the second state in under a week to implement a red flag law after Democrats in both states won control of both chambers and the governor’s office in November. New Mexico previously was the last state to pass a red flag law in 2020. Whitmer signed the legislation just outside of Detroit, flanked by state lawmakers and individuals affected by gun violence. Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who began campaigning for gun safety after she was shot in the head in 2011, was also in attendance.“We have heard too many times from those who knew a mass shooter who had expressed concern in advance about that mass shooter’s intentions,” Whitmer said Monday. “Wit...

Rick Hoyt, who became a Boston Marathon fixture with father pushing wheelchair, has died at 61

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Rick Hoyt, who with his father pushing his wheelchair became a fixture at the Boston Marathon and other races for decades, has died. He was 61.Hoyt died of complications with his respiratory system, his family announced on Monday.“Rick along with our father, Dick, were icons in the road race and triathlon worlds for over 40 years and inspired millions of people with disabilities to believe in themselves, set goals and accomplish extraordinary things,” the Hoyt family said in a statement.Rick Hoyt had cerebral palsy, which left him a quadriplegic, but he and his father became as much a part of the Boston Marathon as sore feet or Heartbreak Hill. With Dick Hoyt pushing, the two completed the course 32 times.The Boston Athletic Association presents a Rick & Dick Hoyt Award each April to someone who exhibits their spirit through advocacy and inclusion.“Rick Hoyt will always be remembered as a Boston Marathon icon and for personifying the ‘Yes You Can’ mentality that de...

North Carolina governor says GOP teacher pay, voucher plans a public education ‘disaster’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper launched a campaign Monday to try to beat back education and tax legislation from the Republican-controlled General Assembly that he said if enacted would crush North Carolina’s public schools and wobble the state’s economic future. “It’s clear that the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education,” Cooper said in a recorded speech released Monday. He urged voters to “take immediate action and tell them to stop the damage that will set back our schools for a generation.”In his video address, Cooper said he’s “declaring this a state of emergency” for public education but pointed out it was not an official order. He called on residents to encourage their legislators to reject a spate of GOP-backed education bills in the final weeks of the chief work period for this year’s legislative session. The legislature’s agenda for the coming weeks includes passing a state budget for the year st...

Rick Hummel, esteemed St Louis-based baseball writer, dies at 77

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rick Hummel, an esteemed writer who covered the St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball for five decades for the Post-Dispatch until his retirement last year, has died. He was 77.Hummel died in his sleep at his St. Louis-area home early Saturday after a short, aggressive illness, the Post-Dispatch said Monday.“St Louis lost a legend in Rick Hummel,” Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said on Twitter. “Always fair. Always in a good mood. Always wearing some kind of goofy hat and mismatched pants that made me smile. The respect and trust he earned from players is a rare thing in our world. … Still taking hand written notes that are impossible to read, and never misquoting. Still looking for the best in people and writing the truth.”Hummel was nicknamed “The Commish” for running an American Professional Baseball Association board game with colleagues, and the moniker became so widespread throughout baseball that even baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred a...

UN urges Sudan’s warring parties to honor 7-day cease-fire that began Monday night

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:33:49 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy for Sudan urged the country’s warring generals to honor a seven-day cease-fire that began Monday night, warning the growing ethnic dimension to the fighting risks engulfing Sudan in a prolonged conflict.Volker Perthes told the U.N. Security Council that the conflict, which began April 15, has shown no signs of slowing down despite six previous declarations of cease-fires by both sides. All the previous truces have been violated.Monday’s cease-fire is the seventh to be announced since the conflict between the Sudanese army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out last month. Speaking hours before the cease-fire began, Perthes called on both sides to stop the fighting so that desperately needed humanitarian aid can get to those in need and civilians caught in the fighting can leave safely.The violence has been most severe in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, where the ...