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Hamrock: To end opioid crisis, transform culture of despair

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

Opioid overdoses killed over 106,000 people in our country last year. This startling number of fatalities now exceed those from all cancer types except lung cancer (which claimed the lives of 134,000). With fentanyl becoming too easily accessible in all our communities, a 16-year-old local high school student afflicted with an opiate use disorder now has a worse prognosis than a classmate would if suffering from leukemia.The high prevalence of suicides, alcohol related illnesses, and overdose deaths are reflective of our societal brokenness and are now identified as “deaths of despair.” There is growing concern that untreated mental health issues, adverse childhood events, and a decline in religious participation may be important contributors. Key indicators of this despair include loneliness, hopelessness, shame, poor self-esteem, and feeling unloved.These deeply rooted pains or significant voids in one’s heart often result in self-medicating behaviors that can lead to addictions. ...

‘James Baldwin Abroad’ a cinematic journey well worth taking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“James Baldwin Abroad”Not Rated. At the Coolidge CornerGrade: A-A towering figure in American cultural history, essayist, novelist, playwright, poet and former Harlem preacher James Baldwin is on camera in three short films presented under the collective title “James Baldwin Abroad.” The author of the landmark 1953 novel “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and the 1955 collected essays “Notes of a Native Son,” Baldwin also wrote “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning a film by Barry Jenkins in 2018. Baldwin was also the subject of the Academy Award-nominated 2016 documentary “I Am Not Your Negro.”Horace Ove’s 46-minute 1968 film, “Baldwin’s (N-word),” the longest of the three films, depicts Baldwin and American actor and comedian Dick Gregory at the West Indian Student Center in London, where Baldwin addresses an audience of mostly Black Londoners on the subject of life as a Black man in America and the legacy of slavery in our...

‘A Good Person’ a great look at life, tragedy & loss

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“A Good Person”Rated R. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square and Coolidge Corner Theater.Grade: BWritten and directed by Zach Braff and starring Florence Pugh when the two were a couple, “A Good Person” is better than that bland title. The film tells the story of a young woman who was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike on the eve of her wedding when an accident occurs that kills her fiance’s sister and her husband, leaving their young daughter an orphan and their family ravaged by grief. The father of her fiance Nathan (Chinaza Uche, “Dickinson”) is a retired, seemingly venerable Newark police officer named Daniel (Morgan Freeman). He blames Allison aka Allie (Pugh) for his loss.A year after the accident, Allie, who was seriously injured in the crash, is addicted to pain killers and a junkie living with her mother Diane (Molly Shannon). Allison’s mother is trying to ween her daughter off her prescribed pain meds. Allison, who is afraid to drive, gets...

Dear Abby: Friend is engaged, but they’re still lovers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

Dear Abby: I lost my husband of 20 years a little over two years ago. Last year, I moved to another state to be close to family. I rented an apartment, and my best friend moved with me. Shortly after, I met a much younger man. He was immediately interested in me. He’s sweet, kind and very handsome. It took me months to realize that I’m also interested in him.We began spending time together, including bedroom fun. He has told me at least twice he loves me, and I told him the same. His demeanor and expressions match his words, and we agreed for the time being to be friends with benefits.Three months ago, he met someone much closer to his age. But even in front of her he holds me close and tells me he loves me. She has now slapped a ring on his finger and is pushing him for marriage. He keeps saying he’s not ready. We feel that until the day he says “I do,” it’s OK for us to continue our bedroom fun. I’m new to the dating world, and he’s ...

Scandal-plagued China soccer hit by new corruption probes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s scandal-plagued official Football Association has been rocked by new corruption probes into its chiefs of discipline and competition. The sports ministry said Friday that Wang Xiaoping, director the association’s Disciplinary Committee, and Huang Song, were both “suspected of serious violations” of law and discipline — the government’s usual bywords for graft. Huang was being investigated by the ruling Communist Party’s corruption watchdog, the sports ministry’s anti-graft body and by authorities in Hebei province outside Beijing where the national team maintains a training camp, the notice said. The single-sentence announcements said Wang and Huang were cooperating with investigators but gave no details about the charges against them. Chinese prosecutors have wide powers to hold suspects for lengthy interrogations if state secrets are believed to be involved. The announcements come barely a month after the head of China’s national soccer body Chen Shuyu...

Philippines confronting Chinese diplomats over sea disputes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipino diplomats are expected to unleash a slew of protests over China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, including targeting a Philippine coast guard ship with a powerful military laser, when they meet with Chinese officials Friday, an official said.Territorial disputes in the busy waterway have long loomed as a potential flashpoint in Asia and have become a sensitive front in the regional rivalry between China and the United States.Washington lays no claims on the contested waters but has challenged Beijing’s extensive claims including by deploying its warships and fighter jets and repeatedly warning that it would help defend the Philippines — a treaty ally — if Philippine forces, ships and aircraft are attacked. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the seaway, which sits atop vast deposits of oil and gas.A Chinese delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has been holding two days of talks sta...

GOP sets vote on ‘parents rights’ in clash over schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans will press forward Friday with a midterm campaign promise by voting on legislation to give parents greater say in what is taught in public schools, even as critics decry the “parents’ rights” bill as a burdensome proposal that would fuel a far-right movement that has resulted in book bans, rewrites of history curricula and raucous school board meetings across the country.Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made the bill — labeled the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act — a top priority during the early weeks of his tenure atop the House. It will be an early test of unity for the chamber’s 222 Republicans, who have a thin majority.Even as House Republicans returned this week from a retreat where they insisted they are unified, lawmakers have proposed a score of potential changes to the bill, adding a degree of uncertainty to Friday’s vote.It showed how the adoption of an open amendment process in the House — a concession McC...

What to stream this weekend from ‘Top Gun’ to Lana Del Rey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music and video game platforms this week.MOVIES— The Oscar-nominated “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” was one of the high points in documentary in the past year. In it, Laura Poitras chronicles the pioneering photographer Nan Goldin, juxtaposing an intimate survey of her groundbreaking work in 1970s and 1980s New York and her contemporary crusade against the Sackler family, owners of the Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma. Goldin, who has herself wrestled with addiction, led the campaign to eradicate the Sackler name from many of the world’s top museums. Though the film didn’t win at the Oscars — something Goldin told me she was surprised to find she wanted — it took the top prize of the Venice Film Festival. In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr called the film” a “holistic portrait of an artist’s battle cry.” After debuting Sunday, March 19, “All the Be...

Trudeau, Biden agree to end ‘loophole’ in Safe Third Country Agreement: sources

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada and the United States have agreed to have asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.The U.S. will agree to extend a bilateral treaty known as the Safe Third Country Agreement to apply along the 8,900 kilometres of the shared border, according to an official with the administration of President Joe Biden, who arrived in Ottawa Thursday evening.In exchange, Canada will agree to welcome an additional 15,000 migrants from across the Western Hemisphere over the next year on a humanitarian basis, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.A Canadian government official with knowledge of the talks, granted anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public, also said Thursday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Biden would discuss the issue during a bilateral meeting Friday.The official said details were still being negotiated, but the leaders agreed in principle.The agreement follows talks betwe...

State basketball: Wayzata holds off Lakeville North to set up Class 4A title game rematch

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:10 GMT

With fewer than two minutes to play in a tie game in the Class 4A semifinals, both Lakeville North and Wayzata tried to milk the clock to take the final shot of regulation.The Panthers faltered in their attempt, throwing the ball away with 1 minute, 7 seconds to play. The Trojans would make no such mistake.Wayzata successfully drained the clock down to approximately 10 ticks remaining before star guard Hayden Tibbits made his move. Tibbits knifed into the middle of the paint and drilled a mid-range jumper with 1.1 seconds to play to secure Wayzata’s 79-77 victory and send the Trojans back to the state title game for the third time in as many seasons.The Trojans will meet Park Center in the Class 4A championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday at Target Center in a rematch of last year’s title bout won by the Pirates.“You don’t win at this level in March … without veteran guards,” Wayzata coach Bryan Schnettler said. “You have to have veteran guards. In high school, you’ve got to have junior...