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Magic sit starters, drop final home game to Cavaliers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

Even after being eliminated from postseason contention, the Orlando Magic still had something to play in Thursday’s 118-94 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.The Magic entered the matchup .500 at home, vying for their first winning record at Amway Center in four seasons.Even with that in mind the Magic sat their starters, opting for players who haven’t been in the rotation in the defeat, giving Orlando a losing home record (20-21) for the third consecutive season.Paolo Banchero (back tightness), Wendell Carter Jr. (left hip soreness), Fultz (left knee soreness), Gary Harris (left inner thigh soreness) and Franz Wagner (sprained left ankle) weren’t available. Neither was Jonathan Isaac (season-ending left inner thigh surgery on March 3).Cole Anthony, the team’s leading scorer off the bench, was available according to coach Jamahl Mosley but didn’t play.“The decision really is that it gives these other guys an opportunity,” Mosley said. R...

Boston University falls to Minnesota in Frozen Four semifinal, 6-2

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Minnesota came into Thursday’s Frozen Four semifinal game against Boston University with one of the most potent offenses in the country equipped with a first line loaded with top NHL draft picks.On the power play, they’re even better.Behind three power-play goals and a stubborn defense, the Golden Gophers skated to a 6-2 win over BU at Amalie Arena.Minnesota senior goalie Justen Close made 27 saves as Minnesota earned a spot in Saturday’s national championship game against the University of Michigan and Quinnipiac winner.“We were tied in the third period, but we stuck with it,” said Minnesota coach Bob Motzko. “We had our chances (in the third period) and we finished this thing.”The Terriers ended a memorable first year under new head coach Jay Pandolfo with a 29-11 record in a season that included a Hockey East championship and the appearance in the Frozen Four. Pandolfo, who grew up in Burlington, won a national title as a player for BU in 1995 and ...

Israel stages strikes in Lebanon, blasts reported in Tyre

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said it launched strikes in Lebanon early Friday, and a Lebanese TV station reported explosions in the southern port city of Tyre. The military did not not provide immediate details. The announcement of the strikes came hours after militants from Lebanon fired nearly three dozen rockets at Israel, marking a further escalation in the region following violence at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site.The Israelis also struck targets in the Gaza Strip early Friday following rocket fire into northern Israel. Palestinian militants responded with barrages of rockets.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military struck targets in the Gaza Strip while Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets rockets into southern Israel early Friday, with the region edging closer toward war following two days of unrest at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site and a rare rocket attack from neighboring Lebanon....

Tribe, US officials reach deal to save Colorado River water

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — A Native American tribe in Arizona reached a deal Thursday with the U.S. government not to use some of its Colorado River water rights in return for $150 million and funding for a pipeline project. The $233 million pact with the Gila River Indian Community, announced in Phoenix, was hailed as an example of the kind of cooperation needed to rescue a river crucial to a massive agricultural industry and essential to more than 40 million people in seven Western U.S. states and Mexico. Officials termed it “compensated conservation.”It’s part of a broader effort to get states that rely on the Colorado River to substantially lessen their water use amid an ongoing drought that has dramatically dried up reservoirs including Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam.“Today’s announcements and our partnerships with tribes like the Gila River Indian Community prove that tribes are a key part of the solutions,” Deputy U.S. Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau said. “We don’t have any more ...

Council approves salmon fishing ban for much of West Coast

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal regulatory group voted Thursday to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish, also known as chinook, returned to California’s rivers last year.The Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the closure of the 2023 season for all commercial and most recreational chinook fishing along the coast from Cape Falcon in northern Oregon to the California-Mexico border. Limited recreational salmon fishing will be allowed off southern Oregon in the fall.“The forecasts for Chinook returning to California rivers this year are near record lows,” Council Chair Marc Gorelnik said after the vote in a news release. “The poor conditions in the freshwater environment that contributed to these low forecasted returns are unfortunately not something that the Council can, or has authority to, control.”Biologists say the chinook salmon population has declined dramatically after years of drought. ...

Man pleads guilty to robbery-killing of rapper Pop Smoke

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — One of four men charged in the killing of rapper Pop Smoke during a robbery at a Hollywood Hills mansion pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter.The 20-year-old man, who was 17 when the killing occurred, also pleaded guilty in Inglewood juvenile court to home invasion robbery. He was sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility. The judge has barred the public use of his name because he was a minor at the time of the shooting. The 20-year-old New York rapper, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was killed on Feb. 19, 2020, at a rented home where he was staying while on a four-day trip to Los Angeles. A 911 call from a friend of someone in the house reported armed intruders inside the home, police said. The robbers knew the address because a day earlier, Jackson had posted a photograph on social media of a gift bag he had received and the address was on a label, authorities said.Jackson was in the shower when masked robbers ...

Search underway for Chase bank robbery suspect

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

CHICAGO -- Federal agents are looking for a suspect who robbed a Chase Bank in Chicago Thursday afternoon.According to the FBI Chicago Division, law enforcement responded to a bank robbery call at a Chase Bank on 5100 block of North Clark in Chicago around 2 p.m. Thursday. 2 teens shot near Illinois Institute of Technology campus The suspect has been described as a white male in his 20's, thin built, 5-foot-7, wearing black sunglasses, a black beanie, a red flannel sweatshirt, short brown hair but may have had long hair tucked into hat.No injuries were reported. The suspect has yet to be arrested.No further information has been provided at this time.Anyone with information are asked to call (312) 421-6700 or submit tips to tips.fbi.gov.Stay with WGN as this story develops.

Project Connect leaders break down 5 light rail options, future buildout opportunities

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After Project Connect leaders debuted five reduced light rail scope options last month, officials spoke Thursday on how the system will be built out in the future.The two-hour community meeting featured engagement opportunities between the public and program leadership. Some questions from the public highlighted concerns with the narrowed vision behind the light rail scope -- initially presented to voters as two light rail lines, the Blue and Orange lines.Thursday evening, officials said the decisions to come this June won't encompass the totality of all future light rail in Austin; rather, they called it the jumping off point for future buildout.Each of the five options will incorporate opportunities for future connections north, south and east, they added."It will allow us to build out the full vision that you also voted for over time. That's the plan," said Peter Mullan, executive vice president of architecture and urban design for the project. "What we're talkin...

Penguins keep pace in playoff chase with 4-1 win over Wild

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

PITTSBURGH — Tristan Jarry stopped 27 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins kept pace in the race for one of the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference with a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.The Penguins bounced back from a miserable performance in a loss to New Jersey on Tuesday by putting together three complete periods, a rarity for most of the last three months.Kris Letang beat Marc-Andre Fleury, a good friend who won three Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh before leaving in the 2017 expansion draft, over the glove in the first period for his 11th goal of the season. Rickard Rakell, Jason Zucker and Jeff Carter also scored for the Penguins, who are trying to extend their playoff streak to 17 straight years.Fleury is already assured of a 17th consecutive trip to the postseason after the Wild wrapped up a spot earlier this week. Minnesota’s bid to chase down first-place Colorado in the Central Division took a hit when the Wild struggled to generate much in traf...

NCAA hockey: Mittlestadt’s two goals in third period propel Gophers into championship game

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:50:26 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Minnesota men’s hockey team’s coaching staff saw something in game video of Boston University that ended up playing a big role in their Frozen Four semifinal.Luke Mittlestadt scored two goals in a span of 1:49 of the third period to help lead the Gophers to a 6-2 win over the Terriers on Thursday at Amalie Arena. Minnesota (29-9-1) will play the winner of Quinnipiac (32-4-3) and Michigan (26-11-3) for the national title at 7 p.m. Saturday.Mittlestadt, a freshman defenseman from Eden Prairie, had three goals on the season going into the game. He scored twice from the same area in the third period for the game-winning goal and the fourth goal.Mittlestadt scored his first goal at 1:40 on the power play from near the top of the circle to make it 3-2. Then at 3:29, he blasted in a slap shot to make it 4-2.The Gophers added two empty-net goals by freshman center Logan Cooley to put the game away.The goals scored from that spot by Mittlestadt wer...