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March Madness 2023: Set your brackets! Tide the No. 1 seed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

March Madness is here! Here is what to know, including the favorites and underdogs as well as key games and how to watch the NCAA Tournament:TOP SEEDS The top four seeds in the tournament are Alabama, Houston, Kansas, and Purdue. Each is in a region, some tougher than others (on paper). We break them down for you: EAST REGION: The Boilermakers got a No. 1 seed for the fourth time after edging Penn State 67-65 in the Big Ten championship game, but they face potential hurdles in Memphis and surging Duke. Memphis (26-8) is fresh from a big upset of top-ranked Houston and led by Kendric Davis. Duke (26-8) shut down Virginia in a 59-49 ACC title game win. SOUTH REGION: Alabama is a No. 1 seed for the first time after sweeping the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles behind league player of the year Brandon Miller, capped by an 82-63 romp over Texas A&M. They will open the tourney not far from home, in Birmingham, Alabama. Potential hurdles for the Crimson Tide...

Bridges, Nets withstand Jokic's triple-double, beat Nuggets

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

DENVER (AP) -- Mikal Bridges scored 25 points and the Brooklyn Nets withstood a late rally and another triple-double by Nikola Jokic to beat the Denver Nuggets 122-120 on Sunday.Nic Claxton had 20 points and Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie added 15 points each for Brooklyn, which has won five of its last six games.Bridges and Dinwiddie, acquired in trades last month that sent Kevin Durant to Phoenix and Kyrie Irving to Dallas, have played a key part in Brooklyn’s resurgence even as they’re still adjusting to their new team and teammates.“Even if we don’t know what we’re doing sometimes, just scrambling, all five guys help each other,” Bridges said. “Sometimes, it’s not going to be perfect, but I think just the next guy stepping up is the biggest thing.”Jokic had 35 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists for his league-leading 27th triple-double of the season but missed a contested 14-foot jumper with 5 seconds left that would have given the Nuggets the lead.Michael Porter Jr. ...

Man crushed to death while allegedly attempting to steal catalytic converter, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

(CNN) — A man was crushed to death while allegedly attempting to steal a catalytic converter from vehicle at a Savannah, Georgia, car lot, police said.Officers were called on March 7 after the man, Matthew Eric Smith, 32, was found dead under a car, the Chatham County Police Department said in a release.“Evidence at the scene indicates that the man was killed while he was illegally removing a catalytic converter from the vehicle, and the vehicle fell on top of him,” the release read.Catalytic converter theft has skyrocketed around the nation in recent years, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, surging more than 1,200% since 2019.The converters, which reduce pollution and toxic gas from a vehicle’s emissions, are relatively easy to steal and contain valuable precious metals such as palladium, platinum and rhodium.Last year, federal, state and local law enforcement carried out a “coordinated takedown” of a multimillion-dollar netw...

US regulators say SVB customers will be made whole as second bank fails

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

(CNN) — In an extraordinary action to restore confidence in America’s banking system, the Biden administration on Sunday guaranteed that customers of the failed Silicon Valley Bank will have access to all their money starting Monday.In a related action, the government shut down Signature Bank, an SVB rival that was teetering on the brink of collapse in recent days. Signature’s customers will receive a similar deal, ensuring that even uninsured deposits will be returned to them Monday.In a joint statement Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said the FDIC will make SVB and Signature’s customers whole. By guaranteeing all deposits — even the uninsured money that customers kept with the failed banks — the government aimed to prevent more bank runs and to help companies that deposited large sums with the banks to continue to make pa...

Speed restrictions remain on Red, Orange, Blue, Green, and Mattapan Lines amid inspections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

The MBTA is advising riders to plan for additional travel time and longer headways on the Red, Orange, Blue, Green, and Mattapan Lines this week as MBTA engineers continue to perform repair validations and speed verifications following a Department of Public Utilities site visit last week. Riders are encouraged to use the T’s Trip Planner tool at mbta.com/trip-planner for a list of travel options, including bus routes that run parallel to subway service.On Friday, the T replaced the global speed restrictions on the Red, Blue, and Orange Lines with targeted block speed restrictions between 10-25 mph in areas that still needed to be inspected or where track conditions do not permit normal speeds. The Green and Mattapan Lines remain under a global speed restriction of 10-25 mph while inspections continue.“We understand that riders are frustrated, and we thank them for their patience as we work hard to deliver the reliable system they expect and deserve,” said MBTA Interim General Manag...

N. Korea tests sub-launched missile

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Monday it has conducted submarine-launched cruise missile tests, days after its leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to be ready to repel its rivals’ “frantic war preparation moves.”The test on Sunday came a day before the U.S. and South Korean militaries begin large-scale joint military drills that North Korea views as a rehearsal for invasion.North Korea’s official news outlet, the Korean Central News Agency, said Monday that the missile launches showed the North’s resolve to respond with “overwhelming powerful forces” to the intensifying military maneuvers by the “the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces.”KCNA also implied that the North aims to arm the cruise missiles tested with nuclear warheads.It said the missiles flew for more than two hours, drawing figure-eight-shaped patterns in waters off the country’s eastern coast, and hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 mil...

Illness sidelines Springsteen, 3 concerts postponed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

SOUTH AMBOY, N.J. — Bruce Springsteen’s planned performance Tuesday in Albany has become the third concert in a week postponed by the New Jersey rocker, who cited illness as the reason in a tweet Sunday but did not give specifics.The postponements come a month into Springsteen’s first major tour in six years.“The Boss,” as he is known to his fans, also gave himself and his E Street Band sick days last Thursday when they were to have performed in Columbus, Ohio, and again for a scheduled concert Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.Details were lacking in Springsteen’s social media posts. Though the Twitter feed blamed the latest postponement on illness, it did not specify who was ill or what kind of illness was involved.It merely said: “Due to illness, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s concert at MVP Arena in Albany on Tuesday, March 14 has been postponed. We are working on rescheduling the date so please hold on to...

Splashing for a cause

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

It was a Shamrock shiver for a colorful crew of beach lovers who took the plunge at Constitution Beach Sunday to raise money Save the Harbor’s Better Beaches Program Partnership.The so-called “Shamrock Splashers” have already raised more than $45,000 of their $50,000 goal to protect the beaches of Boston Harbor.Since it’s founding in 2008, the Save the Harbor program has invested over $2 million to clean and protect the beaches from Nahant to Nantasket, according to organizers. Shamrock splashers race into the water during the Save the Harbor Save the Bay Shamrock Splash on Constitution Beach on Sunday. (Staff Photo By Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald) Eliza Cerveira and Erica Maymi run out of the water during the Save the Harbor Save the Bay Shamrock Splash on Constitution Beach on Sunday in East Boston. (Staff Photo By Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)Shamrock splashers race into the water during the Save the Harbor Save the Bay Shamrock...

Julius Randle keeps perfect attendance as struggles mount

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

On the day Julius Randle took the lead for most minutes played in the NBA this season, he looked frustrated and, frankly, exhausted.This was Saturday afternoon against the Clippers, a game lowlighted by Randle’s 19 missed shots and a tantrum that was first directed at the referees and spilled to the Knicks bench.It had been trending this way for Randle since his strong performance in the double-OT victory over the Celtics, when he sat in front of his locker on March 5 and joked that he’s finally contemplating load management.But as Randle outlined in a more serious moment earlier that same day in Boston, he doesn’t believe in planned rest. The strategy, as Randle said, is akin to “cheating myself.”So even after his three consecutive duds, there was no sitting in the second game of a back-to-back Sunday against the Lakers. Randle maintained his perfect attendance this season.Coach Tom Thibodeau wasn’t buying fatigue as an excuse.“If Julius ne...

Blake Griffin continuing to boost Celtics in reduced role: ‘Everything that he brings, he lifts our group’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 01:00:55 GMT

Blake Griffin has been everything the Celtics wanted when they signed him during training camp in October. That continued to be on display in the Celtics’ victory over the Hawks on Saturday night.But one play that stands out that exemplifies what Griffin means to this group, and what this opportunity has meant for the former superstar turned role player, came a month ago.It didn’t even really show up in the box score, either. On Feb. 15, as the Celtics were running away from the Pistons late in the fourth quarter, Griffin put in a layup to put the C’s up 17. He got a little busy celebrating with the bench, but made up for it. As the Pistons were coming back up the floor, Griffin deflected a pass, and as the ball traveled out of bounds, he didn’t give up on it.It didn’t matter that it was the last game before the All-Star break, and that he was just a few minutes away from going on vacation. Or that it was a lopsided game, with the result nearly sealed. Griffin dove head-first for th...