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AP PHOTOS: Marseille carnival melds resistance with revelry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — On a sunny afternoon in the center of Marseille in southern France, traffic was stopped as the sound of drumming and a swarm of rollicking beasts filled the streets.The city’s unofficial yet infamous Carnaval de la Plaine had arrived — right on the precipice of a week filled with violent protests and discontent over French President Emmanuel Macron’s move to force through an unpopular bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.Organized by neighborhood residents, the independent carnival is rooted in the local community’s activism against gentrification and all forms of oppression. Residents of this ancient and diverse Mediterranean city take to the streets in the most wacky and elaborate costumes they can come up with, and exercise free rein to throw flour at anyone not in the know — or brave enough to show up in normal clothes.Most editions in recent memory end with riot police dispersing the feisty crowd with tear gas, making police interve...

Denver paramedic struck by drunk driver, saved by co-workers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver Health paramedic is recovering after being hit by a drunk driver last week while biking home in Denver. As a paramedic, Jacob Oldefest drives and rides the streets of Denver every day.  “The last four years I’ve been able to help so many people and be a part of saving so many lives, helping so many folks,” Oldefest said. He usually bikes to and from work. “I’ve been bicycle commuting for four years and been having a great time,” Oldefest said. Wednesday night, things took a turn for the worse.  Pueblo mom shot twice, survived attempted carjacking “I remember seeing her windshield and being on the ground," Oldefest said. A drunk driver plowed into Oldefest at the corner of Colfax and Sherman, taking off and leaving him with a broken femur, lacerated kidney and liver, a hematoma and lots of scrapes and bruises.  “You always want to go over the car, never under the car,” Oldefest said. "So apparently I stood up on my pedals and t...

World Baseball Classic final: Japan wins third title with 3-2 victory over Team USA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

(CNN) — Japan won the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday night, downing Team USA 3-2 in the championship game at loanDepot Park in Miami.The game ended in dramatic fashion with Japan’s Shohei Ohtani striking out his MLB teammate Mike Trout with a full-count slider to seal Japan’s third title. Ohtani, who batted .435 and pitched to a 1.86 ERA, was also named the tournament’s most valuable player.Ohtani pitching to Trout was something special — not only will the pair go down alongside baseball’s all-time greats, but they are also Los Angeles Angels teammates.“It was the greatest situation facing the greatest hitter, so it was great,” Ohtani told ESPN.The 28-year-old added: “I’ve seen Japan winning, and I just wanted to be part of it,” when speaking to MLB.“I really appreciate that I was able to have the great experience. As I say, the next generation, the kids who are playing...

Chillier Coast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

What a day we had for ourselves yesterday as temps pushed to near 60 and sunshine kept it nice and dry. Today, we’ll keep the dry trend going, but more mid to high level clouds mix in. Additionally, the biggest difference today will be the onshore wind at the coast that’ll keep it chillier across far eastern Massachusetts. Inland, temps rival yesterday’s highs and the numbers drift up to near 60 degrees. Tomorrow is milder at the coast as most locations warm to 55-60. It’ll be a bit unsettled at times with scattered showers and a gusty winds. While we don’t get a lot of rain, it’ll be enough to keep the umbrella handy and expect some slow downs and puddles on the road from time to time. Rain totals generally run near or under 0.25″. Friday will be dry before Saturday afternoon and Saturday night turn cold and wet. We’ll likely see a mixed bag of precip across the northern Worcester Hills as sleet and snow mixed in. Across Ski Country, ...

Trump and his advisers await potential indictment in hush money case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

(CNN) — Behind the gilded doors of Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump and his advisers are preparing for several different potential scenarios related to a possible indictment from the Manhattan grand jury probing a hush money scheme.Already a 2024 candidate for the White House, Trump has both celebrated how an indictment would help him politically and complained about how “unfair” it would be. He’s toyed with the idea of trying to create a media spectacle around it and, at times, he’s ignored the prospect of criminal charges altogether, sources close to him told CNN.Two advisers said that the former president appears to have resigned himself to the likelihood of an indictment, with one close adviser calling his perceived distancing from the matter “compartmentalization.”Even as there are signs the investigation into Trump’s alleged role in the scheme to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels&n...

Stephen Smith’s case is now being investigated as a homicide, South Carolina law enforcement says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

(CNN) — The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating the death of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old nursing student whose body was found in the middle of a South Carolina road in 2015, as a homicide, an agency spokesperson told CNN.A SLED spokesperson also confirmed there were no indications in the investigation that Smith’s death was a hit-and-run — which is what an initial incident report deemed the death to be.Smith’s body was discovered in Hampton County on July 8, 2015.SLED announced in June 2021 it was opening the investigation into Smith’s death based on information learned while probing the murders of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and her son Paul Murdaugh earlier that month. It has not given any details into what was found.Authorities have not announced a connection between Smith’s death and the Murdaugh family, whose patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, was found guilty earlier this month and sentenced to life in ...

Captain Consistent: Orioles infield prospect Jordan Westburg’s ‘morbid’ mentality pushing him toward majors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

Jordan Westburg recognizes it’s not a great analogy. After all, it implies he’s dead.Baseball is a game of highs and lows, hots and colds, peaks and valleys. That up-and-down nature, the Orioles’ infield prospect said, prompts thoughts of a heart rate monitor.“It’s a little morbid,” Westburg said, “but I want to be that flatline as much as I can.“If you can ride that flatline, that consistency, man, I feel like that’s when your potential is maximized.”To those who have witnessed the 24-year-old’s climb up Baltimore’s minor league system, he frequents that space often. They call him a “gamer” and a “grinder.” He’s “dependable,” “scrappy” and “professional.” But no word better defines Jordan Westburg than consistent.“The ‘C word’ in baseball is the most important word,” fellow infield prospect Connor Norby said. “That&#...

Howie Carr: Be careful what you wish for, Dems

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

So yesterday wasn’t the day, but a state indictment of Donald J. Trump still seems to be in the cards in New York. So the question remains, what’s the end game here for the Democrats?Are they just so consumed with Stage 4 Trump Derangement Syndrome that they can’t help themselves? Obviously, the answer to that question is yes.But is there more going on here with the Democrats than this fatal attraction-type obsession? Is there some method to their madness? Do they have some larger game plan here than a quick fix for their anti-Trump jones, and if so, what is it?Are George Soros et al. seriously trying to take Trump off the board for 2024? Or, conversely, is this a ploy to get Trump the nomination, as a martyr to the GOP base, because they think he would be easier to beat?And if that’s the scenario, are they sure that they’d be better off with Trump as the nominee against the senile corrupt vegetable now installed in the White House? Or would 44-year-old Ron DeSantis be easier pickin...

OBF: Online betting in Massachusetts off to wild start

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

“March Madness?”Nope.Try “absolute insanity.”That’s how one top executive in the online sports betting industry described the start of mobile betting in Massachusetts to me the other day.Welcome to Problem Gambling Awareness Month.The “insanity” is everywhere.It exists in a tsunami of advertising not seen since the push to pass the Millionaire’s Tax in 2022.It lives in online accounts where players see $2,000 deposits balloon into $10,000 worth of bonus bets.It breathes in odds boosts that pay even money on a $50 bet if the Celtics score one point, or the Bruins get one shot on goal.In addition to this being “absolute insanity,” it’s also “unsustainable.”Again, his words, not mine.No matter how many times the house always wins – and it usually does – no house is big enough to sustain itself by giving away $50 or $100 to potentially 400,000+ mobile betting customers in Massachusetts every time the Bruins or Celtics play.That equates to potentially $40,000,000 a whack. Times two.The h...

Nikki Haley signals Ukraine support, splitting with many Republicans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:49 GMT

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is setting a strikingly different tone regarding the war in Ukraine than her fellow Republican presidential hopefuls.“Everyone knows it, yet President Biden and some Republicans are failing to realize a corresponding truth: If Russia wins in Ukraine, China wins too,” the former South Carolina governor wrote in a Tuesday morning Wall Street Journal op-ed.According to Haley, if Russia’s full-scale invasion of democratic neighbor Ukraine is allowed to succeed, the result will be an emboldened Chinese Communist Party.“Beijing has set its sights on overtaking the U.S. militarily, economically and culturally. Mr. Xi is in Moscow now because supporting Mr. Putin advances his dark vision. He wants Russia to conquer Ukraine so it’s easier for China to invade Taiwan,” she wrote.So far, Haley is the only prominent Republican to throw themselves into the race for the party nomination against former President Donald Trump, though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has s...