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Darlington Preview: Ross Chastain learning to handle role as NASCAR villain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Ross Chastain thinks things went too far last week in punching Noah Gragson in the pits at Kansas.However, the NASCAR points leader says he feels more comfortable in his growing role as the Cup series’ reigning bad boy. Gragson confronted Chastain after a late-race incident and took a punch from Chastain before personnel broke it up. “I feel security stepped in about 10 seconds too quick,” Kyle Busch said Saturday. Expect blood pressure to rise this week at Darlington Raceway where the Goodyear 400 takes place Sunday. The track “Too Tough To Tame” has traditionally gotten drivers sideways both during and after the checkered flag waves. Chastain would prefer to talk out issues with rival drivers, but stood by his actions at Kansas. “I’m not saying that every time in a little bit different situation (I’m) going to react like that,” he said. “I want to talk to guys and have conversations, but last week was too far.” Chastain cleared...

Young refugees look to make move to Kingston

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

A pair of Afghani boys are hoping to call Kingston home with the help of local sponsors and the Anglican Diocese. Hadi and Hassan met each other at 12 and 13 respectively at a small refugee learning centre in Indonesia, resettling there after life in Afghanistan became dangerous for themselves and their families. The boys are both from the Hazara ethnic minority which puts them in danger of routine attacks from members of the Taliban, and the journey that has taken them to Indonesia has largely been undertaken to try to escape that danger. They’ve been living in a youth shelter since arriving in Indonesia in 2017 but now, as they turn 18, they are “aging out” of the shelter and left with virtually no future prospects available to them in the country. For the time being, they have been taken in by “Ms. Kailyn and Mr. Butch”, two teachers from Canada and USA respectively who have tutored the boys over the years and come to know them. While Indonesia as a ...

Russia appears to lose 4 military aircraft in Russian territory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

Moscow appears to have lost four military aircraft in downings on Saturday in the Bryansk region of Russia, some 50 kilometers northeast of the border with Ukraine.Two Mi-8 military helicopters and two fighter jets — an Su-34 and an Su-35 — suffered crashes on Saturday, according to reports by Russian state media and pro-Kremlin bloggers. All crew members of the aircraft died, according to the reports.“Two Mi-8s, one Su-34, and one Su-25 were lost. Tragedy,” Russian propagandist Andrei Rudenko reported. “They were hit near the border of the Russian Federation and most likely with air-to-air missiles,” he said. The cause of the downings could not be confirmed. Russian authorities confirmed only one aircraft downing, of an Mi-8 helicopter near the village of Klintsy in the Bryansk region, and did not give a cause for the crash. Russian media outlet Readovka reported that the aircraft were shot down from the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.Numerous videos posted to soc...

Yankees Notebook: Aaron Boone assesses rule changes at quarter mark of the season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

Baseball has typically been a sport that has rejected major alterations.But sometimes change is for the better.The 2023 season marked the beginning of a new era within America’s national pastime with a series of rule changes — the pitch clock, shift ban and others — that were meant to speed up the game and provide an overall better product on the field.Yankees manager Aaron Boone has loved almost all the changes introduced to MLB this season as his club reached the quarter mark of the 162-game season Saturday against the Rays.“I love the [pitch] clock for the game just first and foremost,” Boone said Saturday. “I think it’s been good for the game, I think it’s been good for the sport. I would have expected maybe a little more of an adjustment phase. I think that adjustment’s been fairly seamless [for us].“And I felt that way very early in spring training that guys got used to it probably quicker across the board than I woul...

Migrants shipped to the Vineyard push back on moving lawsuit against Ron DeSantis to Florida

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

Attorneys representing migrants who were shipped to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are pushing back against an effort to move a lawsuit against the Republican and his top deputies out of Massachusetts and into Florida.Lawyers for the roughly 50 South American migrants who were shipped north in the fall with no notice to locals on the Vineyard argue a judge should reject changing the venue of the lawsuit, which accuses DeSantis of facilitating a “fraudulent and illegal scheme,” breaking federal law, and violating Constitutional rights.The migrants, their lawyers wrote in court documents filed this week, did not choose where legal action would take place — the DeSantis administration did.“Defendants chose to send class plaintiffs to Massachusetts, and Martha’s Vineyard specifically, because they believed it presented the ideal conditions to abandon the individual plaintiffs, catch a small community off guard, generate the most media coverage, and harm their political o...

Knicks guard Evan Fournier is anticipating an offseason trade: ‘There’s no way they’re going to keep me’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

MIAMI — Evan Fournier would be shocked if he’s a Knick next season and sounds eager for a change after getting buried on Tom Thibodeau’s bench.“You know I’m not gonna be back,” Fournier said. “There’s no way they’re gonna keep me. I would be very surprised if they do. So, we’ll see. It’s obviously not in my hands though.”The veteran guard, who has one year remaining on his contract, was pulled from the rotation in November and only re-emerged because of injuries or meaningless end-of-season contests.“I mean, wouldn’t you guys be surprised [if i came back?],” Fournier added. “Eleven years in, big contract, they’re obviously trying to develop the young guys. I didn’t play this year, so why would you bring me back?”Fournier enjoyed living in New York City with his young family, commuted to Madison Square Garden on a scooter and was lauded for his professionalism despit...

Remains of World War II soldier to be buried in San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The remains of a soldier killed during World War II will be buried in San Diego later this month. According to the U.S. Army Human Resources Command Public Affairs Office, graveside services will be held on May 23 at Miramar National Cemetery for Army Tech Sgt. Matthew L. McKeon, who they say was a native of California. More migrants arrive at border as donations continue McKeon was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. Army officials say his unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Germany's Hürtgen Forest when he was reported killed in action Nov. 9, 1944. He was 25-years-old at the time of his death.According to Army officials, McKeon's remains could not be recovered during the battle. When the end of the war came, the American Graves Registration Command conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to identify his remains.It wasn't until years later on Jan. 12,...

Traffic advisory: Road closure to impact access to SR-163

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A road closure in Hillcrest is expected to impact access on and off State Route 163 from Sixth Avenue, the City of San Diego announced Friday. The traffic advisory was issued as crews will be working on pedestrian bridge construction starting Saturday at 5 a.m., prompting Sixth Avenue to close in both directions from SR-163 to University Avenue. Warm up on the way through Mother’s Day weekend This road closure is expected to remain in place until Monday, May 15 at 5 a.m., or until construction is completed, the city explained. The city says contractors with Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego will be building a new pedestrian bridge over Sixth Avenue to connect the medical facility to a newly constructed parking structure. This pedestrian bridge will replace one that was removed in January 2022 as part of the same project.  The city says signs has been posted in the area for the past week in an effort to notify travelers ahead of the closure. Motorists are enc...

Israel, Palestinian militants in Gaza trade fire; Palestinian laborer in Israel killed by rocket

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Palestinian militants unleashed salvos of fire for a fifth day on Saturday, with the Islamic Jihad militant group launching dozens more rockets and the Israeli military pounding targets inside the Gaza Strip and vowing to step up its campaign.Shrapnel from a Palestinian rocket that slammed into an agricultural community in Israel’s southern Negev desert killed a Palestinian laborer who had been working inside Israel, Israeli defense officials said. A second Palestinian laborer was badly wounded. There were no immediate reports of casualties Saturday from Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, where so far 34 Palestinians have been killed, at least 14 of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials. Over 147 have been wounded. But residents said homes of people uninvolved in fighting had been struck.In a reminder of the combustible situation in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp near the northern city ...

Slain OPP officer’s funeral set for Thursday at Ottawa hockey arena

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:11:00 GMT

The funeral for an officer shot and killed in eastern Ontario is set for next week.Ontario Provincial Police say Sgt. Eric Mueller will have a police funeral at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Thursday.Mueller died in hospital following the early Thursday shooting at a home in Bourget, Ont.The 42-year-old father of two and two other officers responded to a call for a disturbance at a home around 2 a.m.OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique has said the officers were ambushed and a 39-year-old man faces a first-degree murder charge and two charges of attempted murder.A police procession is set to escort Mueller’s body on Saturday from the Ottawa Hospital to a funeral home in Rockland, Ont.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2023.The Canadian Press<!– Photo: 20230513120528-645fbb56a26adf9507b08e9cjpeg.jpg, Caption: Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Eric Mueller is shown in a handout photo. he funeral for an officer shot and killed in eastern ...