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St. Mary’s Joel Maggs excited to tackle challenge of repeating as state champ

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

LYNN  — The St. Mary’s football team came into the 2022 season with expectations of making a trip to Gillette Stadium and winning a Super Bowl championship.And with talented seniors like David Brown, Derick Coulanges, Tommy Falasca and Jack Marks, the Spartans rolled to the program’s second Super Bowl title.But head coach Sean Driscoll says the Spartans wouldn’t have been in position to take home the Agganis Trophy without junior middle linebacker/fullback Joel Maggs.The quarterback of a defense that stymied teams for most of the regular and postseason, Maggs also made huge contributions offensively when Brown had to miss time because of injuries.Turn the calendar to 2023 and Maggs is back for his senior season and is expected to play an even bigger role for the Spartans, who look to defend their championship and prove they weren’t a one hit wonder.“We lost a lot of key players and we’re fortunate enough to have a kid like him playing the way he has for...

Howie Carr: The weaponization of the common cold

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

I have a modest proposal.Can we rename the COVID virus something more accurate, closer to what it really is?My suggestion is that we start calling COVID… the common cold.Or maybe “the flu.”So now Labor Day has come and gone and the Bidens have wrapped up their month-long vacation. And wouldn’t you know it, on Monday evening, “Dr.” Jill tests positive for… the common cold, also known as COVID.According to the White House, she is suffering from “mild symptoms.”Again, a name change would seem to be in order. Instead of mild symptoms, can we call them “the sniffles?”How convenient that now Dementia Joe is supposed to be back at work, he now has the opportunity to dodge even more public appearances, because he doesn’t want to expose anyone else to… his cold.To repeat, the First Lady’s name is “Dr.” Jill. Physician, heal thyself. Oh that’s right, despite what Whoopi Goldberg may believe, Dr. Jill is not an M.D. She can’t write you a script for some Oxys. She’s not even a Ph.D. – Piled Hig...

Six pitching questions facing the Orioles before the playoffs, from John Means’ role to Shintaro Fujinami’s reliability

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

The Orioles are guaranteed to make the playoffs. At least, that’s what FanGraphs says.The website’s projections give the Orioles a 100% chance to make the postseason with 24 games remaining. At 87-51, Baltimore is atop the American League and on pace to win 102 games.But manager Brandon Hyde still isn’t willing to talk about the postseason yet. He’s dodged playoff questions this month, as his team’s likelihood of making it became a virtual guarantee.The fifth-year skipper, however, did acknowledge he’s looking for more than just regular-season success. After winning his 300th game Monday, Hyde was asked whether he received any “hardware” for the milestone.“No, I’m hoping that I’ll get some other hardware that’s a little bit more important sometime,” Hyde quipped.While the playoffs are a near-lock, winning the AL East and being the top seed in the circuit aren’t. To do so, and to advance in the postse...

This summer’s swelter was a global record breaker for high heat ever measured, meteorologists say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Earth has sweltered through its hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever measured, with a record warm August capping a season of brutal and deadly temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization.Last month was not only the hottest August scientists ever recorded by far with modern equipment, it was also the second hottest month measured, behind only July 2023, WMO and the European climate service Copernicus announced Wednesday.August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial averages. That is the threshold that the world is trying not to pass, though scientists are more concerned about rises in temperatures over decades, not merely a blip over a month’s time.The world’s oceans — more than 70% of the Earth’s surface — were the hottest ever recorded, nearly 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit), and have set high temperature marks for three consecutive months, the WMO and Copernicus said.“Th...

Armenia will hold exercises with US in a period of tensions with Russia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Armenia announced Wednesday that its forces will hold military exercises this month with the United States as tensions rose with longtime ally Russia. Armenia’s Defense Ministry said the exercises that begin Monday are aimed at preparing units for international peacekeeping operations. It did not say how many troops would take part or specify activities in the exercises. Landlocked Armenia has close military ties with Russia, including hosting a Russian military base and participating in the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization alliance. However, Armenia has become increasingly disillusioned with Russia since the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. The armistice that ended the war called for a Russian peacekeeping force to ensure passage on the road leading from Armenia to the Nagorno-Karabakh ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijan has blocked that road, called the Lachin Corridor, since late December and Armenia repeatedly has co...

EU targets Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft in next phase of digital crackdown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday targeted Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies.The six companies were classed as online “gatekeepers” that must face the highest level of scrutiny under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act.The act amounts to a list of do’s and don’ts that seeks to prevent tech giants from cornering new digital markets, with the threat of whopping fines or even the possibility of a company breakup. It’s part of a sweeping update to the EU’s digital rulebook that’s starting to take force this year, and comes weeks after a companion package of rules aimed at keeping internet users safe, the Digital Services Act, started kicking in.It’s “time to turn the tables and ensure that no online platform behaves as if it was ‘too big to care,’” European Commissioner Thierry Breton, ...

Suspect in the explosives attack on Japan’s prime minister is indicted on attempted murder charge

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prosecutors formally indicted a 24-year-old man Wednesday on attempted murder and other charges in the explosives attack on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in April, court officials said. Kishida was campaigning for elections in a small fishing port in Wakayama in western Japan when a man at the speech venue suddenly threw a homemade pipe bomb at him. Kishida was unhurt, but two people had minor injuries. Suspect Ryuji Kimura, 24, was arrested on the spot and had been on a three-month psychiatric evaluation sought by the local prosecutors to determine if he is mentally fit for trial. Police and prosecutors also determined that the bomb used in the attack was lethal, according to local media reports.Prosecutors formally indicted Kimura on an attempted murder charge and four others, including violation of the gun and swords control law and the explosives control law, according to the Wakayama District Court, which accepted the indictment. Trial dates have yet to be ...

More than 5 million people have been displaced by monthslong conflict in Sudan, UN agency says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — More than 5 million people have now been displaced by the monthslong fighting in Sudan, the United Nations’ migration agency said Wednesday as clashes between the country’s military and a rival paramilitary force showing no sign of easing. According to the International Organization for Migration, over 4 million people have been internally displaced since the conflicted erupted in mid-April while another 1.1 million have fled to neighboring countries. More than 750,000 have travelled to either Egypt or Chad, the agency said. International efforts to mediate the conflict have so far failed. There have been at least nine cease-fire agreements since the outbreak and all have broken down. Sudan was plunged into chaos almost five months ago when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, escalated into open warfare.The fighting has reduced Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to an ur...

Toronto home sales little changed from July to August — but expect volatility: board

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

TORONTO — The Greater Toronto Area housing market saw home sales and prices barely shift between July and August, but the leader of the region’s housing board is expecting more volatility on the way.The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board revealed Wednesday that last month brought 5,294 sales, almost one per cent more than July’s sales. However, August’s sales amounted to a 5.2 per cent drop from the previous year.They were matched with an average home price of $1,082,496, three per cent lower than in July and a 0.3 per cent increase from last August.The numbers reflect higher borrowing costs and uncertainty about the economy and the Bank of Canada’s decision making, which has resulted in ten interest rate hikes over the last 18 months. The bank was due to make another interest rate announcement Wednesday morning. The quick succession of rate hikes has so far pushed many prospective homebuyers to pause their purchasing plans and sellers to hold off listing the...

Carbon markets are ‘bogus solutions’ as rich world keeps polluting, African Climate Summit is told

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:45:57 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Nigerian environmental activist declared Wednesday at the first African Climate Summit that carbon markets are “bogus solutions,” providing a sharp reminder that not all of Africa’s 1.3 billion people support richer countries using the continent’s green spaces to offset continued polluting at home.The summit has sought to reframe the African continent, which has enormous amounts of clean energy minerals and renewable energy sources, as less of a victim of climate change driven by the world’s biggest economies and more of the solution.But investment in the continent in exchange for the ability to keep polluting elsewhere has angered some in Africa who prefer to see China, the United States, India, the European Union and others rein in their emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.“We reject forced solutions on our land,” Priscilla Achakpa, founder of the Nigeria-based Women Environmental Programme, told summit participants on the event’s final...