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Heat beat Warriors, Clippers to get No. 18 pick in 2023 NBA draft

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

The Miami Heat secured a victory Monday without even playing a game.In a three-team random draw conducted by the NBA, the Heat beat out the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 18 pick in the June 22 NBA draft.The three teams closed the regular season tied at 44-38, with the No. 19 pick going to the Warriors and the No. 20 pick to the Clippers, who owe the pick to the Houston Rockets.Unlike with playoff seeding, there are no tiebreakers for the NBA’s draft order, instead the random draws Monday were conducted by NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars at the NBA office in Secaucus, N.J. The tiebreaker process was overseen by a partner from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young.Had the Heat lost last Friday’s play-in elimination game to the Chicago Bulls they would have been seeded at No. 14 for the random-but-weighted draft lottery.The Heat own their 2023 first-round pick as well as their 2024 first-round pick. However, b...

All eyes on Brian Daboll as Daniel Jones says Barkley, Lawrence absences won’t divide team

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

Brian Daboll earned the benefit of the doubt with last season’s 6-1 Giants start, and he received it through the 4-7-1 remainder of his rookie year into an award-filled offseason.But the honeymoon is over, and that was clear Monday morning when Saquon Barkley and Dexter Lawrence didn’t show up to the start of the Giants’ offseason program due to their contract situations.In many ways, this marks Daboll’s first true, pressure-packed adversity that could see every move of his scrutinized off the field:How will the second-year head coach manage two of his best players being absent and disgruntled? It could be argued they are his two best players.Monday, Daboll and his players stuck to a tight-lipped script of praising their absent teammates and downplaying any concern.“A lot of respect for those guys,” said Daboll, who noted he has spoken directly to both players. “It’s April 17th here. We’ve got a long way until we get going.”...

Patriots sign restricted free agent DB Myles Bryant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

The Patriots have signed restricted free agent defensive back Myles Bryant, the team announced Monday.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | NFL Draft 2023: Jaxon Smith-Njigba and 9 potential Patriots WR picks to watch New England Patriots | NFL Notes: Robert Kraft expects Patriots to make hay in the draft New England Patriots | Patriots sign ex-Ravens, Cardinals backup QB New England Patriots | Patriots announce Mike Vrabel, Logan Mankins and Bill Parcells as Hall finalists New England Patriots | Guregian: Patriots pre-draft roster projection Bryant is returning on a one-year, non-guaranteed $2.67 million deal. The team tendered Bryant in mid-March to prevent him from hitting the open market. The 25-year-old originally joined the Patriots as an undrafted free agent out of Washington in 2020.Bryant has bounced between nickelback and safety over his three-year career. He made the 53-man roster out of trai...

The Very Best Banana Pudding — EVER? ‘Yes!’ say my colleagues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

Amy Drew Thompson | Orlando SentinelIt wasn’t long after I dropped it off that my phone pinged with an incoming text.“My God, Woman. This banana pudding.”I was driving, so I couldn’t answer right away, but the reaction was natural. I smiled and thought, I know — right?Back in December, I blew out the end of the year with an insanely decadent and equally easy recipe for peanut butter marshmallow squares.“See you in 2023, sensible diet!” I wrote.This no-cook recipe is created almost entirely in your mixer using easily acquired ingredients. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)We’re well into April now. And following last week’s foray into barbecue, a medium where the phrase “sensible diet” registers as gibberish, I’d say it’s time to stick a fork in the last shred of our New Year’s resolutions. Or in this week’s case: a spoon. Because I am about to drop what has to be the world’s best banana pudding recipe — for which you need no cooking skills whatsoever — into your lap ahead of b...

Worcester man arrested after machete road rage assault: Police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

A 40-year-old Worcester man has been charged for a machete road rage incident, allegedly striking a driver in the head with a machete, according to police.Ezekial Santiago, of Charlton Street, has been charged with armed assault to murder and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.Worcester Police officers on Sunday afternoon were dispatched to the area of Millbury and Providence streets for a report of a road rage incident involving a machete.Upon arrival, officers spoke with witnesses who reported that a white Toyota was following a blue Honda. The driver of the Honda got out of his vehicle to ask why he was being followed, and the driver of the Toyota — later identified as Santiago — struck the victim in the head and back with the machete.Officers called for an ambulance for the injured victim.Police put out an alert to track down Santiago’s Toyota, which they found at a red light on McKeon Road. After a brief investigation, officers arreste...

Pedestrian stuck by vehicle in Gerrard Street East and Jones Avenue area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

One woman has been transported to hospital after being struck by a vehicle in the Gerrard Street East and Jones Avenue area on Monday.COLLISION:Jones Av + Gerrard St East4:50 p.m.– Reports a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle– Unknown injuries– Police are on scene with MedicsROAD CLOSURE: E/B Gerrard @TTCnotices#GO851315^lb— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) April 17, 2023Police responded to a call just before 5:00 p.m. of a collision where one adult female was struck by a vehicle.Paramedics transported the woman to hospital but injuries to the pedestrian are unknown.Eastbound Gerrard Street has been closed for an investigation.

Twenty-year-old arrested following stabbing death of teen on Surrey, B.C., bus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — Police say they have arrested a 20-year-old man from Burnaby, B.C., in connection with the stabbing of a teenager on a Metro Vancouver transit bus last week.Seventeen-year-old Ethan Bespflug was killed on a bus in Surrey, B.C., last Tuesday. Police say they don’t believe the attack was random and they hope to have an update on possible charges soon.The family has said the teen’s mother realized something was wrong when she tracked her son’s phone to a hospital in New Westminster. When she arrived she was told he had died. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says he has spoken to his federal counterpart, Marco Mendicino, about the issue of violence on public transit, which is occurring across Canada. Farnworth says he expects to see an increased law enforcement presence on transit systems in B.C. after ministry officials met with policing agencies about transit safety. Bespflug’s aunt, Andrea Van Der Gracht, said in an earlier interview that E...

Fugees rapper in political conspiracy trial launches defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Fugees rapper on trial in a multimillion-dollar campaign finance and foreign influence case was trying to reinvent himself as he entered the political arena, not break any laws, defense attorneys said Monday.Prakazrel “Pras” Michel became a best-selling, Grammy-winning artist with the 1990s hip-hop group the Fugees, but in the years after its breakup was looking for his next chapter, attorney David Kenner said as he began making the defense case. Michel surrounded himself with people to help with his transition to politics and eventually entered the orbit of a wealthy Malaysian “playboy” but didn’t engage in “James Bond … cloak and dagger stuff,” he said. “There was no agreement to do anything in an unlawful way,” Kenner said. Michel is charged in political conspiracies under two different U.S. presidents. Federal prosecutors say he funneled money from the fugitive Malaysian financer through straw donors to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. He’s also accus...

US, Japan plant White House cherry tree to mark friendship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stepping gingerly over the lawn in their spiky heels, first lady Jill Biden and Yuko Kishida, the wife of Japan’s prime minister, planted a cherry tree at the White House on Monday to honor decades of friendship between their countries.“This is how you always plant a tree,” Biden said, laughing about their shoes as she and Kishida shoveled soil around the base of a Yoshino cherry tree sapling on the south grounds. She welcomed Kishida to the White House and said, “The planting of this tree is a symbol of the friendship between our two nations forever and ever.”Kishida is on a rare solo visit to the United States. It’s the first time the spouse of the prime minister has traveled alone to the United States, and Kishida visited at Biden’s invitation, according to the Japanese embassy in Washington. She is spending part of the week in Washington to promote friendship between the U.S. and Japan, as well as cultural exchanges, the Japanese governm...

NDP, Bloc accuse Poilievre of threatening French, Quebec culture with stance on CBC

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:13 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Pierre Poilievre’s criticisms of the CBC amount to an attack on Canadian culture by the Conservative leader — and Quebec and francophone culture, in particular. Singh addressed the issue, speaking in French, after Twitter added a label to CBC’s main account on Sunday indicating the broadcaster was “government-funded media.”That move prompted the corporation to announce Monday it was hitting pause on its use of the social-media platform, which described the BBC the same way before changing its own label to “publicly funded media.” CBC receives roughly $1 billion in taxpayer money annually, but it contends the label is inaccurate because it maintains editorial independence and receives its funding through a vote in Parliament. Poilievre regularly promises to slash that funding. And he sent a letter to Twitter last week requesting that the label be applied to accounts associated with CBC News, though the...