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Can competition elevate deep Giants WR room with no obvious No. 1?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

Saquon Barkley won’t be at the Giants’ first open OTA practice on Thursday and likely not at any other practice until he receives a new contract.So while Daniel Jones’ top running back bides his time, it will be worthwhile to evaluate the quarterback’s increasingly deep stable of targets in the passing game and determine who will rise to the top.Even though a star No. 1 receiver continues to elude the Giants, Jones appears to have more options due not only to free agency and the draft but players returning from injury, as well.Tight end Darren Waller and wide receiver Parris Campbell are the obvious apparent free agency upgrades in the pass game, added to a receiving corps steadied by returning Giants Isaiah Hodgins and Darius Slayton.And third-round pick Jalin Hyatt and undrafted free agent Bryce Ford-Wheaton provide different combinations of speed, size and intrigue.But the return of Collin Johnson (Achilles) to this week’s practices is also a breath ...

Boston Arts Academy building renamed for Boston arts educator and icon Elma Lewis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

The Boston Art Academy building will now be named for Dr. Elma Lewis, city officials heralded Wednesday, celebrating a trailblazing educator and Boston cultural icon.“(Dr. Lewis) encouraged and demanded us to be the best we could and pushed us to excellence,” said School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson, a former student of the building’s namesake. “She encouraged to be curious, disciplined and to go after our dreams. It’s a surreal moment to stand in front of the school, knowing the letters on this building speak about a past that is familiar to me and a future that is so great for our students.”Robinson attended a celebration of the renaming at the BAA building along with the mayor, other city officials and members of the school community Wednesday morning. The new upgraded BAA building relocated the school next to Fenway Park and opened for the 2022-23 school year.Elma Lewis was born in Boston in 1921 and died in 2004, spending much of her life as...

Michael Kopech ‘in complete control’ for the Chicago White Sox: 3 hits, 19 strikeouts over 15 straight scoreless innings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

Michael Kopech had quite the encore.In his first start since taking a perfect game into the sixth inning, the Chicago White Sox right-hander retired the first 12 batters he faced Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians.Josh Naylor singled to left-center leading off the fifth for the Guardians’ first hit. Kopech allowed two hits and one walk and struck out nine in seven innings, pitching the Sox to a 6-0 victory in front of 17,767 at Progressive Field.“I’m back to trusting my stuff,” Kopech said. “The first few starts of the season I was kind of searching, trying to feel what it felt like to throw my stuff with confidence again. Now I feel everything working out front. I have good life on my stuff. The results are showing up.”Kopech and relievers Reynaldo López and Jimmy Lambert combined for a four-hitter.“He was in complete control of himself,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “He was focused, he was controlling the strike z...

ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza hopes other teams regret not signing Masataka Yoshida, and other Red Sox thoughts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

Nearly two months into the regular season, the 2023 Red Sox are somewhat mystifying.They’re 26-23, which ties them for last in their division, but is still one of the better records in baseball. After winning their series in San Diego, they’ve fallen into a three-game slump, and have only scored one run over their last 32 innings.Who are the 2023 Red Sox? What are they doing, what can they do, and what might happen?Ahead of the west coast trip, the Herald caught up with ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza to hear her thoughts on this roller coaster season.Like many baseball fans, the Olympic gold medalist-turned-sportscaster is intrigued by the Red Sox.“I actually love that Chaim Bloom’s priority wasn’t exactly what fans wanted,” she says. “It felt like (the bullpen) was one of their best focuses in the offseason, but at the time, you looked at what they were doing and it was like, ‘Really? That guy?’ ”She points out that expectat...

DeSantis 2024 launch marred by technical glitches

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday declared his presidential bid on Twitter — though the launch did not go off without a hitch.Hours after he filed paperwork declaring his candidacy, DeSantis made his intentions clear by launching an official campaign video on Twitter ahead of a live chat with the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk. “We need the courage to lead and the strength to win,” DeSantis said in his launch video. “I’m Ron DeSantis and I’m running for president to lead our great American comeback.”The filing — and DeSantis’s video announcement — confirmed months, if not years, of speculation that the Florida governor is eyeing the White House. It also amounted to one of the most significant developments in the 2024 Republican presidential contest since November, when former President Donald Trump announced that he would once again seek the party’s nomination.But the Florida governor’s Twitter launch was rife with technical problems, with hundreds of thousand...

4-year-old child is 'OK' after being dropped from high border wall in San Diego

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 4-year-old child was dropped into the United States from a high border wall with Mexico in a surveillance video that captures a routine — and highly risky — occurrence.“Remarkably, the child is ok!” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz tweeted in his caption to the agency's one-minute, 37-second video, which was posted on Twitter on Monday. “Do not trust smugglers!"The jerky, black-and-white images appear to show the child and one adult being aided by another adult over the wall, which rises as high 30 feet (9.1 meters) between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California. Ortiz said agents heard gunfire while tending to the child.The child came with two adults, all of whom were in Border Patrol custody, agency spokesman Michael Scappechio said Tuesday. It had not been confirmed if the adults were the child's parents or what nationality they were. It was also unclear if they would be released in the United States to pursue immigration cases or deported.Attempts to get ove...

Kentucky man accused of shooting roommate who ate last Hot Pocket, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A man in Kentucky’s largest city is facing criminal charges after allegedly shooting his roommate during a dispute over a Hot Pocket, authorities say. Clifton Williams, 64, was arrested on assault charges Sunday after he accused his roommate of eating their last Hot Pocket and attacked him, shooting him in the buttocks, Louisville Metro Police Department officials told WLKY-TV. According to police, Williams started throwing tiles at the man after he realized the last microwaveable turnover was gone. He then shot him in the buttocks as he tried to escape, the TV station reported.Williams is prohibited from contacting the victim, who was taken to UofL Hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. His bond was set at $7,500.The Associated Press

Pastor says Alberta premier lied about nature of phone call before his criminal trial

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

EDMONTON — The Calgary street pastor at the centre of an investigation that concluded Premier Danielle Smith interfered in Alberta’s justice system says she is lying about the nature of their pivotal phone conversation.Smith has said publicly her conversation with Artur Pawlowski was supposed to be about politics and not his criminal trial relating to a COVID-19 protest at Coutts, Alta., which blocked the United States border-crossing for more than two weeks.However, Pawlowski told reporters Wednesday the discussion was never supposed to be about anything but his trial and about whether Smith would follow through on her public promise to pardon those charged with offences related to violating health restrictions.Audio of the 11-minute call, which prompted an investigation by Alberta’s ethics commissioner, focuses on charges Pawlowski was facing and his subsequent trial. There was no discussion of him in his role as then-leader of the fringe Alberta Independence Party.Smith is heard ...

Police: Teenager dies during media stunt on Los Angeles bridge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 17-year-old boy fell to his death this weekend while climbing a Los Angeles bridge in an apparent social media stunt, police said.Police were sent to the 6th Street Viaduct around 2 a.m. Saturday and found the boy, who was pronounced dead at a hospital. His name wasn’t immediately released.The teen slipped and fell “when climbing upon one of the arches, in order to post, apparently, a social media broadcast,” Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission.The bridge opened last July. The $588-million span, which replaced an 84-year-old Art Deco span, runs 3,500 feet (1,066.80 meters) over the concrete-lined Los Angeles River and connects downtown to the historic Eastside. The bridge, which has thousands of LED lights and views of LA’s skyline, is the largest and most expensive span ever built in the city. It was designed to become a city landmark.But police closed the bridge several times after it quickly...

Registration opens for annual Florida Python Challenge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:03:40 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Registration opened Wednesday for the 2023 Florida Python Challenge, giving participants a chance to win a share of more than $30,000 in prizes while removing invasive Burmese pythons from the wild.The 10-day competition runs Aug. 4–13 and is open to both professional and novice snake hunters. A grand prize of $10,000 goes to the participant who removes the most pythons, plus smaller prizes for additional categories.“There is nowhere in the world like America’s Everglades, and we need to continue to protect and restore this national treasure,” South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Member “Alligator Ron” Bergeron said in a statement. “Removing invasive pythons from across the Greater Everglades Ecosystem is absolutely critical, and we must do everything we can to combat this invasive species.”Participants in last year’s competition removed 231 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades, an increase from the 2021 number and more than double...