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Magic aspiring to become playoff team while knowing more will be required

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

The Orlando Magic set the tone for their 2022-23 campaign at the end of last season when coach Jamahl Mosley said this past year, in part, would be about “leveling up one more.”The Magic lived up to that standard, making several improvements that resulted in a 34-48 record — a 12-win improvement from the previous season.Their objective for 2023-24 already has been set.“Playoffs,” center Wendell Carter Jr. responded when asked what the standard for success will be for next season.He added: “Guys don’t like to look at it as, ‘We got to make the playoffs,’ or ‘We got to win a champion to be successful.’ But we’re at a pretty good point where we can say that now. Guys want to win now. That comes with winning — making it to the playoffs.”The league’s playoffs started Saturday. And for the third consecutive year and ninth time in 11 seasons, they didn’t feature the Magic.Orlando’s focus g...

Boston should hire a rat ‘czar,’ council president says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

Boston could follow New York City’s lead in appointing a rat czar, a high-paying job that would focus on eradicating rodents.This rat bureau chief would oversee all aspects of the city’s pest-control operations, working closely with municipal departments, residents and civic organizations “to hopefully one day eliminate rats in Boston,” said Council President Ed Flynn, who made the recommendation.Flynn said he is still doing research to determine what the job would look like in Boston, which involves studying the rat czar position appointed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams this past Wednesday. He plans to take the train there “sometime in the next 30 days” to observe the Big Apple’s pest-control operation.Prior to selecting anti-rat activist Kathleen Corradi for the $155,000 position, New York sought “bloodthirsty” applicants with “killer instincts” who could commit to the “wholesale slaughter of rats,” the Associated Press reported.“I have followed the work they’re doing closely,”...

Brandon Nimmo plays hero with clutch RBI double as Mets take series from A’s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

OAKLAND — Brandon Nimmo played the hero on Saturday against the Oakland A’s, beating one of his former Mets teammates in a 3-2 win.There appeared to be a hangover effect of sorts for the Mets after a long, eventful game Friday night. The Mets took the series opener 17-6 but it didn’t feel like much of a win with the way the pitching staff was taxed and the elbow injury to Stephen Nogosek.Much of the second game of the series felt like a slog, but once the Mets (9-6) got to the Oakland bullpen they were able to get what they needed for the victory.With two out and one on and the game tied 2-2 in the seventh inning, Nimmo took the first pitch he saw from former Mets’ right-hander Trevor May and pulled it down the line for an RBI double. Tim Locastro came home for the go-ahead run.Carlos Carrasco only allowed two earned runs, with both coming in the second inning, before settling down through the next three.The two runs were almost enough. The Mets had only mana...

Online gaming chats have long been spy risk for US military

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

Step into a U.S. military recreation hall at a base almost anywhere in the world and you’re bound to see it: young troops immersed in the world of online games, using government-funded gaming machines or their own consoles.The enthusiasm military personnel have for gaming — and the risk that carries — is in the spotlight after Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, was charged with illegally taking and posting highly classified material in a geopolitical chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.State secrets can be illegally shared in countless different ways, from whispered conversations and dead drops to myriad social media platforms. But online gaming forums have long been a particular worry of the military because of their lure for young service members. And U.S. officials are limited in how closely they can monitor those forums to make sure nothing on them threatens national security.“The social media world a...

Name-that-tune game Heardle dropped by Spotify after a year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Heardle, the name-that-tune game inspired by the Wordle craze, is being dropped by Spotify less than a year after the music-streaming giant acquired it. “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to say goodbye to Heardle,” Spotify said Saturday in a statement. A similar announcement was posted on the Heardle homepage. First appearing in February 2022 amid a surge of games that used the format of Wordle, which the New York Times bought in January of that year, Heardle plays fleeting moments of a song and challenges users to see how quickly they can guess it. Saturday’s mystery song was (spoiler alert) 1998’s “Why Don’t You Get a Job” by the Offspring. After Spotify bought Heardle in July, users could go from revealing the song to playing it on the app. That sort of music discovery, or rediscovery, was Spotify’s intention in acquiring the game from its creators, according to the blog post announcing the acquisition....

Kamala Harris rallies as high court eyes abortion pill rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday urged Americans to take action during “a critical point in our nation’s history” as thousands of protesters demonstrated across the country against new limits to abortion rights making their way through the courts.Saturday’s nationwide rallies were sparked by the U.S. Supreme Court’s actions the day before, when the high court intervened to delay rule changes that would have limited the way the abortion drug mifepristone could be used and dispensed. The limits were paused while the court reviews the case more thoroughly.Harris made a surprise stop in Los Angeles at one of the rallies, where she called the latest upheaval over abortion rights a further incursion by conservatives into myriad “fundamental rights” many Americans thought they had.“And so this is a moment that history will show required each of us — based on our collective love of our country — to stand up, and fight for, and protect our ideals. That’s what this ...

Police investigate after body pulled from water along Toronto lakefront

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

Police are investigating the discovery of a body along Toronto’s lakeshore. Police, along with the Marine Unit, were notified just after 6 p.m. Saturday of a body in the water in the area of York Street and Queens Quay, just west of the ferry terminal. “The body will be transported to the Coroners office to determine the identity and cause of death,” police said in a tweet. Police would not say if foul play is suspected at this time.

Women’s World Cup trophy gets quick, guarded visit in Haiti

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy got a whirlwind visit to Haiti on Saturday, but instead of being feted with a parade like in other countries it was only displayed during a small ceremony because of the country’s unrelenting violence.Meant to inspire future female soccer talent, the trophy was surrounded by Haitian authorities, mostly men and a handful of women, including the goalkeeper of the national soccer team and the president of the women’s soccer federation, Monique André.The trophy has special significance in Haiti now because its women’s team qualified in February for the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals for the first time in the country’s history. The team won its historic match a week after a court overturned a lifetime ban against former Haitian soccer federation president Yves Jean-Bart over allegations that he sexually abused female players, including minors. FIFA has appealed the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Goalkeeper Kerl...

Temps to drop 40 degrees by Sunday evening in Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

CHICAGO — A strong cold front will push through the Chicago area Saturday night and into Sunday morning.  Behind the front, temperatures will tumble as strengthening westerly winds usher much colder air into the region.  Saturday to bring fourth consecutive day of 80-degree-plus temps Highs in the 60s will likely occur in the early overnight hours followed by temperatures falling throughout Sunday.  By late afternoon we'll likely see temperatures in the lower 40s and even some upper 30s. A freeze watch for McHenry, Lake, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, Kendall and parts of Cook and Will counties is in effect from 10 p.m. Sunday until 10 a.m. Monday.Latest warnings and watches from the National Weather Service.The frost and freeze conditions could kill crops and other vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.By Monday morning many locations west and north of the Chicago metro are expected to see temperatures near freezing.The extended forecast on Monday calls for a chilly...

'It's gone': Florida family searching for lost urn mistakenly put by curb

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:48 GMT

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida family just closed on their house Friday, but one of their most precious possessions disappeared during the final stages of packing up.Steve Neidig is grieving the loss of his brother-in-law for a second time as the urn with his ashes went missing while he was in the midst of moving out. How much does a wedding cost in your state? “He just died six weeks ago and now his ashes are gone forever,” said Neidig.Neidig is still in disbelief, especially since this happened on the same day he sold his home. Neidig closed on his house Friday morning but had a few more items to pack beforehand.“Someone decided they would clean up the things they left in the house and put it all out at the curb — and someone came along and garbage picked it and it’s gone,” Neidig said.Neidig is still trying to pinpoint who may have moved the urn to the curb by mistake, but he believes it may have caught the attention of someone passing by. The urn is shaped like a s...