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ASK IRA: Is Heat’s Oladipo too much sizzle when Spoelstra is seeking stability?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

Q: The fact is — it’s an important part of the season and Victor Oladipo is a liability on both ends. The Heat are better off with him on the bench when the game/season is on the line . – P.M.T.A: What Victor Oladipo has shown this season is the ability to produce the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. At this point, especially from his supporting cast, Erik Spoelstra seemingly is seeking something closer to stability. In last season’s playoffs, Victor appeared content to play as a complementary piece. This season, amid his comeback, he has been trying to do more to the degree that, at times, he tries to do too much. The consistency of Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry appears to be the play at the moment. No, not nearly as flashy as Victor, but also not as harrowing.Q: Hopefully this Gabe Vincent experiment ends soon – Paolo.A: At this point, it’s more about Kyle Lowry than Gabe Vincent when it comes to who starts at point guard. But Kyle wonR...

Westbound SR-78 closure to last into weekend for emergency sinkhole repairs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- The westbound lanes of State Route 78 in Oceanside are closed Thursday for emergency repairs to a sinkhole that formed after heavy flooding.All lanes are expected to be closed until Saturday, according to Caltrans.Drivers will be detoured to the College Blvd./ Vista Way off-ramp, then go west on Vista Way and then to the SR-78 on-ramp at El Camino Real.The California Department of Transportation says they are working with local partners to address the flooding issue on SR-78 from College Boulevard to El Camino Real. The agency is working to temporarily repair a gaping hole underneath two lanes on westbound SR-78 to make it safe for drivers. However, the agency said they are waiting for a permanent fix.On Wednesday, SR-78 westbound was initially reduced to one lane. Recent rainstorms caused undermining of the shoulder, according to Caltrans. The agency said a metal pipe culvert underneath the freeway is collapsing, leading to a dip in the road of two lanes. The t...

Motorcyclist killed in crash on I-805 identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A motorcyclist who was killed Sunday after crashing on Interstate 805 has been identified by authorities.According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office, 23-year-old Marcel Herrra was driving a motorcycle northbound on Interstate 805 when the rear of his vehicle began to wobble as it approached the southbound State Route 15 undercrossing. These San Diego County roads are closed due to inclement weather conditions Officials say Herrra was ejected from the motorcycle over the center divider and landed in an embankment. The medical examiner's office said responding paramedics pronounced his death at the scene. His cause of death was listed as multiple blunt force injuries. Herrra resided in the city of Tijuana, Mexico, according to officials.No other vehicles were involved in this incident.

Poland to be 1st NATO member to give Ukraine fighter jets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s president said Thursday that his country plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, which would make it the first NATO member to fulfill the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent requests for warplanes.President Andrzej Duda said Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes “within the next few days” and that the rest needed servicing and would be supplied later. The Polish word he used to describe their number can mean between 11 and 19.“They are in the last years of their functioning but they are in good working condition,” Duda said of the aircraft.Duda did not say whether other countries would be making the same move, although Slovakia has said it would send its disused MiGs to Ukraine.On Wednesday, Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller said some other countries with MiGs also had pledged them to Kyiv, but he did not name them.While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for Western supporters ...

Scholz voices concern on Israel overhaul as Netanyahu visits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced concern about the Israeli government’s planned overhaul of the country’s judicial system as he hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, offering praise for efforts by Israel’s president to seek a “broad basic consensus.”Netanyahu met with German leaders in Berlin the day after Israeli President Isaac Herzog unveiled a compromise proposal for overhauling the legal system, an approach that Netanyahu rejected.Lower-level German officials already had voiced concern about the Israeli government’s plan, which would allow parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions and give Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. Germany is a close ally of Israel in Europe and has tended to refrain from strong public criticism of its government.“As close friends of Israel with shared democratic values, we are following this debate very closely, and I cannot hide the fac...

Stephen Sondheim’s last musical finds a New York City stage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The late Stephen Sondheim’s last stage musical — an adaptation of two films by Spanish surrealist director Luis Buñuel — will be given an off-Broadway stage this year, offering theatergoers a chance to see a new work by musical theater’s most venerated composer. “Here We Are” — once known as “Square One” — will begin performances this September at The Shed’s Griffin Theater with a book by David Ives, best known for the play “Venus in Fur.” Joe Mantello, who helmed “Wicked” and Sondheim’s “Assassins,” will direct.The show — based on the films “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel” — was initially workshopped in 2016 with plans for a production at The Public Theater, which did not happen.The two source films have a connective tissue: In “The Exterminating Angel,” a group of guests arrive for a dinner party and cannot leave, while “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” is about guests who constantly arrive for dinner but...

‘Tragic loss’: Two Edmonton police officers killed while responding to call

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

Edmonton police say two patrol officers have been killed while responding to a call.The force did not immediately release details about what happened.Police Chief Dale McFee and other dignitaries were scheduled to make statements later Thursday.The force said further details would be released once they could be confirmed. About a dozen police cars were parked around a northwest Edmonton apartment complex, a large series of brick three-storey walkups. A forensics truck was parked outside one of the buildings.The scene was taped off and a road leading into the complex was blocked. Police also set up two command posts in the area. In response to the deaths, the Edmonton Police Commission cancelled a public meeting that had been planned for Thursday.Police services in Calgary, Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area and Halifax were among those expressing condolences on Twitter. “This is a tragic loss and one that is shared among law enforcement including our team. We are here to offe...

Stocks flip to gains on Wall Street, Treasury yields swing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks flipped to gains Thursday amid hopes for help for a bank at the center of Wall Street’s hunt for what’s next to crack in the struggling industry.The S&P 500 was 0.8% higher in midday trading after erasing an earlier loss of nearly that much following reports that First Republic Bank could receive financial assistance or sell itself to another bank.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 103 points, or 0.3%, at 31,978, as of 11:20 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher. This week has been a whirlwind for markets globally on worries about banks that may be bending under the weight of the fastest set of hikes to interest rates in decades. The crisis of confidence has been flaring since Friday’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.Since then, Wall Street has tried to root out banks with similar traits, such as lots of depositors with more than the $250,000 limit that’s insured ...

Empire reports $125.7M net earnings as it rebounds from Sobeys cyberattack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

Empire Company Ltd. said its net earnings hit $125.7 million in its latest quarter as its Sobeys supermarket chain rebounded from a November cyberattack.The results reported Thursday for the grocery store operator’s third quarter compared with $203.4 million in net earnings during the same period the year before.Its earnings for the period ended Feb. 4 amounted to 49 cents per share, down from 77 cents per share in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year, when Empire said it incurred “unusually large” lease termination income and higher property sales from Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust.Its adjusted net earnings totalled $164.8 million, down from $203.4 million a year earlier.Sales, which were driven by the expansion of FreshCo in Western Canada, higher food inflation and increased fuel sales, reached $7.49 billion compared with $7.38 billion in the prior quarter.Empire’s earnings report came as the Stellarton, N.S.-based company recovers from a cybe...

Thai police to get mental health checks after fatal standoff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:43:14 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand will be subject to random checks of their physical and mental health, officials said Thursday, after a 27-hour standoff in which a senior officer holed up and fired a gun into the air until he was subdued by fellow officers.Police Lt. Col. Kitikarn Sangbun died in a hospital Wednesday night of multiple gunshot wounds sustained during the standoff at his home on the fringes of the capital Bangkok, said police Col. Rangsan Sornsing, superintendent of the police station in the Sai Mai neighborhood where the standoff took place. Kitikarn had been suffering from mental health issues and stress in his work and personal life, police said, without elaborating.Thai media reported that the police Inspector General’s Office has ordered random health checks be carried out on officers nationwide to help avoid similar situations. Members of the public are also encouraged to report cases where they are concerned about officers’ mental health.Kitikarn h...