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ASK IRA: Is slow and small any way for Heat to try to win a playoff series?

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

Q: We play small to get slower. That’s pathetic. – Rodney.A: Such is the reality of a roster that is largely unathletic. It’s not as if adding Max Strus or Duncan Robinson to the starting lineup in place of a lumbering big man necessarily makes the Heat any fleeter. Just smaller. Small ball typically means a faster pace, an injection of quickness, steals, transition, scoring. That simply is not the case with the Heat, which tends to be a double whammy, while also playing small. And even other smaller options are sampled, it is with older players such as Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo, who clearly have lost a step over the years.Q: Winning one game this series was our ceiling this season. – Kelly.A: And it well might be, in light of Wednesday night’s thrashing. For now, the focus is on getting one more. The best bet likely will be emulating something close to what the Bucks accomplished in Game 2, and win it over the top, with over-the-top 3-point shootin...

Howie Carr: Liz Warren ‘fighting’ for stone-cold killer

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

The fake Indian – Sen. Elizabeth Warren – doesn’t much like cops, or anybody else who works for a living, for that matter.But boy, does she love murderers! If you doubt me, check out her letters to the guy whose mugshot appears on this page.The bloodstained thug’s name is Julio B. Leiva, and he is currently doing life without parole in the Massachusetts state prison system.Briefly, the fake Indian’s jailbird friend murdered a guy in Springfield in 2013, shot him seven times and then rifled his pockets.Then Leiva took it on the lam for seven months before he was lugged in Tijuana Mexico. (This mugshot was taken by the US Marshals Service.)Back in the Commonwealth, he attacked a guard at MCI-Cedar Junction and was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.No problemo, though, as far as the fake Indian is concerned.On May 8, 2020, at the height of the Panic, she sent Leiva a letter at his new prison in Shirley:“As our country navigates this challenging moment, I am fight...

Driver in life-threatening condition after two-vehicle crash in Vaughan

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

A driver is fighting for their life following a two-vehicle crash in Vaughan.The collision happened around 9 p.m. Thursday at Pine Valley Drive and Major Mackenzie Drive.Police tell CityNews a vehicle was making a turn at the intersection when it was t-boned by an oncoming vehicle.One driver was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Another person was sent to hospital with serious injuries.The intersection was closed for seven hours for the investigation but the roads have since reopened.

Biden 2024 splits Dems but most would back him: AP-NORC poll

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about half of Democrats think President Joe Biden should run again in 2024, a poll shows, but a large majority say they’d be likely to support him if he became the nominee.The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 26% of Americans overall want to see Biden run again — a slight recovery from the 22% who said that in January. Forty-seven percent of Democrats say they want him to run, also up slightly from only 37% who said that in January. The ambivalence among Democratic voters comes as Biden is preparing to formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as next week, according to people briefed on the discussions. The president has been eyeing Tuesday, April 25 — four years to the day since he entered the 2020 race — although no final decisions have been made. Despite the reluctance of many Democrats to see Biden run for another term, 78% of them say they approve of the job he’s doing as president. And a total ...

Elon Musk’s Twitter drops government-funded media labels

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

Twitter has removed labels describing global media organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated, a move that comes after the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification checkmarks from accounts that don’t pay a monthly fee.Among those no longer labeled was National Public Radio in the U.S., which announced last week that it would stop using Twitter after its main account was designated state-affiliated media, a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, such as Russia and China.Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media,” but NPR — which relies on the government for a tiny fraction of its funding — said it was still misleading. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Swedish public radio made similar decisions to quit tweeting. CBC’s government-funded label vanished Friday, along with the state-affiliated tags on media accounts including Sputnik and RT in Russia and Xinhua in...

Unions say rails should forgo buybacks and spend on safety

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Rail unions want railroads to take some of the billions they’re using every year to buy back their stock and spend it to improve safety in the wake of several high-profile derailments and hire more workers.The 12 unions that represent all of the more than 100,000 workers across the industry said Friday that collectively the six biggest freight railroads spent over $165 billion on buybacks — well above the $119 billion they spent on upgrading and maintaining their track and equipment between 2015 and last year. At the same time, their safety record worsened as they cut costs and eliminated nearly one-third of all rail jobs.“I think it has become increasingly apparent that the priorities of the railroads are out of whack,” said Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Division coalition that includes all the rail unions.The fiery Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train that led to evacuations and health fears near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, ...

Brazil’s Lula visits Portugal amid Ukraine tensions with EU

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

LISBON (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was set to arrive in Portugal on Friday amid heightened tensions with the European Union over his position on the war in Ukraine, following statements suggesting the invaded country and the West share responsibility for the conflict. Lula said last weekend while traveling in the United Arab Emirates and China that both Ukraine and Russia had decided to go to war, and that the U.S. was “stimulating” the fighting. Earlier in the month, he irked Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU by suggesting that Ukraine cede Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, to end the current conflict. Lula also welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Brasilia on Monday. The following day, Lula condemned the “violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity” while promoting his proposal for a club of nations, including Brazil, to mediate a peaceful resolution to the war.Lula’s trip to Portugal is an opportunity to repair some of the damage to Bra...

Supreme Court set to decide on abortion pill access

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is facing a self-imposed Friday night deadline to decide whether women’s access to a widely used abortion pill will stay unchanged or be restricted while a legal challenge to its Food and Drug Administration approval goes on.The justices are weighing arguments that allowing restrictions contained in lower-court rulings to take effect would severely disrupt the availability of the drug, mifepristone, which is used in the most common abortion method in the United States.It has repeatedly been found to be safe and effective, and has been used by more than 5 million women in the U.S. since the FDA approved it in 2000.The Supreme Court had initially said it would decide by Wednesday whether the restrictions could take effect while the case continues. A one-sentence order signed by Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday gave the justices two additional days, without explanation.The justices are scheduled to meet for a private conference Friday, where t...

Toyota’s new president vows to step on electrification pedal

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota’s new president Koji Sato has promised what he called an aggressive shift on “electrification,” while acknowledging criticism that Japan’s top automaker has fallen behind in actual volumes of electric vehicles sold compared to its rivals. “We like to see that as people cheering Toyota on,” to play catchup in electric cars, Sato told reporters Friday at Toyota Motor Corp.’s Tokyo headquarters.“If we look at in practical terms of the situation today, we have done a great deal in reducing carbon emissions,” he said, defending the automaker’s record on other gas-sipping technologies. Toyota is a leader in hybrids, which have both a gasoline engine and electric motor, and Sato stressed that different markets have varying powertrain needs, with emerging markets being slower to adopt pure electric vehicles. But he said pure electric vehicles allow for more software functions because of their connectivity and other features, stressing that Toyota’s electric vehicle...

Retired German archbishop gives up honor after abuse report

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:05:04 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A former head of the Catholic German Bishops Conference is giving up the country’s highest honor following scathing criticism this week of his handling of clergy abuse cases during his tenure as archbishop of Freiburg and as a personnel officer in the diocese.A spokesperson for Robert Zollitsch said Friday the 84-year-old informed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that he is handing back the Order of Merit, which was bestowed on him in 2014, German news agency dpa reported. He didn’t specify a reason for the move.An independent report commissioned by the Freiburg archdiocese on the church’s handling of abuse cases over decades was presented on Tuesday — the latest in a string of such reports casting light on church officials’ actions, or lack thereof, in dioceses across Germany. One of its authors, Eugen Endress, said that Zollitsch completely ignored canon law in connection with abuse cases during his time in office. He said that, for ex...