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Bill O’Brien: Blame me for Patriots’ offensive failures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

Mac Jones may be the face of the Patriots’ ongoing offensive woes, but Bill O’Brien is the brains.For that, O’Brien says blame him.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Two Patriots legends named Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalists for 2024 Class New England Patriots | Patriots-Giants film review: Bill Belichick is out of options on offense New England Patriots | Mac Jones currently focused on ‘process’ of becoming Patriots starting QB New England Patriots | Patriots extra points: Devin McCourty says he would want new quarterback for Patriots defense New England Patriots | Bill Belichick won’t rule out Patriots signing QB, kicker help “Things haven’t gone great for (Jones) this year. I don’t think that he’s the No. 1 guy to blame. If you want to blame anyone, blame me,” O’Brien said Tuesday during a video conference. “I’m the one who designs it, and it...

Celtics’ Al Horford reacts to blocking shot into son Ean’s lap during win over Hawks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

When Al Horford blocks a shot into the crowd, occasionally the Celtics big man will follow it in case he can save it. But he certainly wasn’t expecting what happened when he made a block late in Sunday’s win over the Hawks.With less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Horford swatted Trae Young’s layup attempt with his left hand into the first row of the stands under the basket. The ball landed, by a wild chance, in his son Ean’s lap.“When I looked, I saw that it was him,” Horford said on Tuesday.Al Horford on his blocked shot that went to his son in the first row during Sunday’s win: “It was a cool moment. He was a little surprised, needless to say, but that was a cool moment.” pic.twitter.com/v1jwwPlzBj— Steve Hewitt (@steve_hewitt) November 28, 2023Horford immediately rushed over to make sure his son was OK before returning to the court. For a moment, he went into dad mode.“It kind of takes you off everything,” Horford said. “It definitely shifts your mind. You l...

Rosalynn Carter honored by family, friends, first ladies and presidents — including husband Jimmy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

By BILL BARROW (Associated Press)ATLANTA (AP) — Rosalynn Carter was being memorialized Tuesday with classical music and beloved hymns, some of her favorite Biblical passages, and a rare gathering of all living U.S. first ladies and multiple presidents, including her 99-year-old husband Jimmy Carter in the front row.The tribute service at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta marked the second day of a three-day schedule of public events celebrating the former first lady and global humanitarian who died Nov. 19 at home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96. Tributes began Monday in the Carters’ native Sumter County and continued in Atlanta.The former president, who is 10 months into home hospice care and hadn’t been seen in public since September, stayed Monday night at The Carter Center, CEO Paige Alexander said, steps from where the former first lady lay in repose. “He never wants to be very far from her,” she said. “He had a good night. He’s res...

Ontario court upholds mandatory math test for new teachers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

Ontario’s top court has upheld the validity of a mandatory math test for new teachers.The Appeal Court decision released Tuesday quashes a lower court ruling that found the test was unconstitutional because it had a disproportionate impact on racialized teachers, infringing on equality provisions in the charter.The Ontario government fought that ruling and the Appeal Court sided with the province, saying that decision was based on preliminary and incomplete data.Education Minister Stephen Lecce says he is pleased with the decision and wants to assure parents that the people educating students have fundamental math skills. Related: New Ontario teachers will have to score at least 70% on math tests Premier Doug Ford’s government introduced the test as part of an effort – including a new curriculum – to improve students’ scores on standardized math tests.Teachers’ unions objected to the test being applied broadly to all teachers, que...

Pope cancels trip to Dubai for UN climate conference on doctors’ orders after getting the flu

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis canceled his trip to Dubai for the U.N. climate conference on doctors’ orders Tuesday, even though he is recovering from the flu and lung inflammation, the Vatican said.The announcement marked the second time the pope’s frail health had forced the cancellation of a foreign trip: He had to postpone a planned trip to Congo and South Sudan in 2022 because of knee inflammation, though he was able to make the trip earlier this year.Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis was improving from the flu and inflammation of his respiratory tract that forced him to cancel his audiences Saturday. But “the doctors have asked the pope not to make the trip planned for the coming days to Dubai.“Pope Francis accepted the doctors’ request with great regret and the trip is therefore canceled,” he added. Francis, who turns 87 next month, had part of one lung removed as a young man.The Associated Press

Why it took 17 days for rescuers in India to get to 41 workers trapped in a mountain tunnel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The rescue mission was expected to last only a few days. Instead, it took 17 days to reach 41 construction workers who were trapped when a landslide collapsed a mountain tunnel in northern India earlier this month. The excruciating wait finally ended at nightfall on Tuesday, as temperatures dropped near the accident site in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand. Everyone was pulled out alive. But beyond the jubilation and relief, questions remain as to why what became one of the most significant and complicated rescue operations in India’s recent history — aided by international tunneling experts and spearheaded by multiple rescue agencies — took so long. HOW THE RESCUE UNFOLDEDNews of the trapped workers spread fast after a Nov. 12 early morning landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) Silkyara Tunnel they were building near the town of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand state to collapse about 200 meters (650 feet) from the entrance. No one was serio...

Four miners die in Poland when pipeline filled with water ruptures deep below ground

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Four miners died after a pipeline filled with water burst in a coal mine deep below ground in southern Poland, Polish media reported on Tuesday.The all-news station TVN24 reported that the fatal accident occurred in the Sobieski mine in Jaworzno, a town in the coal-mining region of Silesia, not far from Poland’s borders with Slovakia and the Czech Republic.TVN24 quoted a spokesman for the mining authority, Piotr Strzoda, as saying the uncontrolled pipeline rupture happened at a depth of 600 meters (1,970 feet) underground. A brigade of six miners were working on flushing the pipeline at the time.He said that four people were killed, one was injured and one was not hurt. The Associated Press

Was the Vermont shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent a hate crime? Under state law it might be

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — As authorities in Vermont push forward with their investigation of the weekend shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent, they are weighing whether to treat the violence as a hate crime.The three young men were shot and seriously injured Saturday while walking near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington. The victims were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, police said. The suspect, a white man in his 40s, fired at them with a handgun, police said.Jason Eaton, 48, was arrested Sunday and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder.The shooting has rocked the local community and comes amid an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities across the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began.But whether it can be declared a hate crime is complicated.Vermont has a hate crimes statute that applies to someone whose crime is motivated “in...

Editorial Roundup: Indiana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. November 22, 2023. Editorial: State Budget Committee keeps questions of Indiana Gaming Commission secretAs part of a new legislative effort to limit the rule-making authority of state agencies, departments critical to government operations justified their fee and penalty schedules before the State Budget Committee last week.Given an opportunity to add more transparency on how such departments raise revenue through fee collections, Republican members of the committee curiously threw a shroud of suspicion over the Indiana Gaming Commission.In the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1623, a measure requiring fee-imposing agencies to first win the State Budget Committee’s approval of fee schedules. Without the go-ahead, state agencies will be unable to impose fines and penalties in the next calendar year.Ten departments presented nearly 50 fees, ranging from penalties for animal-quarantine violations to licensure exam fees for teachers. The ...

Banker involved in big loans to Trump’s company testifies for his defense in civil fraud trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:38 GMT

When Deutsche Bank loaned Donald Trump’s company hundreds of millions of dollars, the bank always followed its own guidelines that include checking out information that would-be borrowers provide, an executive testified Tuesday at the former president’s civil fraud trial. The loans — for projects in Florida, Chicago and Washington, D.C. — are a focus of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit contending that Trump and his company deceived lenders and insurers by giving them financial statements that baldly overstated his asset values and overall net worth. The defendants deny the allegations.Deutsche Bank reviewed the financial statements before making the loans through its department that works with rich individuals — a pathway that allowed for more favorable interest rates than likely available from the commercial real estate division, according to the lawsuit. The deals came with conditions about Trump’s net worth and, sometimes, liquidity, and they oft...