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AP sources: Falcons to sign Jessie Bates, get Jonnu Smith

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to a four-year, $64 million contract with safety Jessie Bates, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the deal can’t be announced until Wednesday.The Falcons also agreed to acquire tight end Jonnu Smith from the New England Patriots, according to another person familiar with that deal. The Falcons are sending a seventh-round pick to New England, per NFL Network.Atlanta announced that Pro Bowl guard Chris Lindstrom has signed a five-year contract extension, reportedly making him the NFL’s highest-paid guard.ESPN reported the deal, which will keep Lindstrom with the Falcons through the 2028 season, is worth $105 million. It locks up another key member of the offensive line, with left tackle Jake Matthews under contract through 2026.Lindstrom’s average of $21 million per season surpasses Indianapolis guard Quenton Nelson’s $20.2 million annual average.Bates started 79 games in f...

Stocks leap higher on Wall Street, led by beaten down banks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

By STAN CHOE (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are leaping on Wall Street Tuesday, as some of the most breathtaking moves from a manic Monday reverse course. The S&P 500 was 1.9% higher in morning trading after a report showed inflation is still high but heading lower. Stocks of smaller and mid-sized banks recovered some of their prior plunges caused by worries that customers could yank out all their cash. Treasury yields soared to trim their historic drops. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 436 points, or 1.4%, at 32,255, as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 2.2% higher. A week ago, Wall Street was expecting Tuesday’s report on inflation to be the most important data of the week, if not month. The worry at the time was that inflation is staying stubbornly high, which could force the Federal Reserve to pick up the pace again on its hikes to interest rates.Such hikes can drive down inflation by slowing the economy, but they rai...

Jimmy Butler elevating his game amid hair-raising stretch of Heat schedule

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

The game? Arguably never better. The hair? A work in progress.In a typical season, Jimmy Butler might not be paying attention much to either at this stage of the calendar.But this is not a typical season for the Miami Heat since Butler’s 2019 arrival, mired in a slog of a battle for playoff seeding.So there has been a familiar look to the play since the All-Star break, something closer to Playoff Jimmy.“It’s not a real thing,” Butler said of the notion of Playoff Jimmy.His statistics in the postseason, save for that uneven run in the 2021 first round against the Milwaukee Bucks, say otherwise.As does what he has done in the 11 games since the All-Star break: 26.1 points per game on .603 shooting from the field. .851 shooting from the line, .500 shooting on 3-pointers, with 6.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game, leading the Heat in all those categories except for rebounding, where he is tied for second.“It’s the epitome of efficiency,&#...

Jakobi Meyers explains decision to leave Patriots for team-friendly Raiders deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

Why didn’t the Patriots re-sign Jakobi Meyers?After his new 3-year deal with the Raiders was reported Tuesday, Meyers reportedly spoke to NFL reporter Josina Anderson and explained his decision to leave New England, where there was mutual interest in his return.“It’s hard to turn down Las Vegas when you look at their offense, when you look at their coaches. They wanted me, I wanted them,” Meyers said. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out with the Patriots. I put a lot of effort in my time there. I appreciate them, but God works in mysterious ways. I’m blessed.”Meyers’ new contract is reportedly a 3-year, $33 million pact with $21 million guaranteed. The raw numbers are comparable to the 2-year, $22 million deal the Patriots signed Nelson Agholor to in 2021, when the NFL’s salary cap was $42.3 million lower. In Las Vegas, Meyers will reunite with former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, now the Raiders’ head ...

Russian missile hits Ukrainian apartment building, killing 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

By KARL RITTER (Associated Press)KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile struck an apartment building in the center of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding seven others in one of Ukraine’s major city strongholds in its eastern Donetsk region as it fights against Moscow’s invasion, officials said.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video showing gaping holes in the façade of the low-rise building that bore the brunt of the strike.The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office and regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko also reported on the attack, posting photos of the building with mounds of rubble in front of it. The impact damaged nine apartment blocks, a kindergarten, a local bank branch and two cars, Kyrylenko said. The war, which erupted after Russia’s launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has brought heavy civilian casualties. Tuesday’s victims were among at least seven civilians killed and 30 wounde...

Team USA needed Tim Anderson’s bat in the lineup — so the shortstop switched to second base in win over Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

Mark DeRosa needed Tim Anderson’s bat in the lineup.Canada started a left-hander in Monday’s World Baseball Classic matchup and the Team USA manager wanted to play both Anderson and Trea Turner.The only issue? Both are shortstops — Anderson for the Chicago White Sox and Turner for the Philadelphia Phillies.DeRosa asked Anderson if he’d shift to second base.“I was open for it,” Anderson said. “It’s a matter of just getting comfortable and I got comfortable as the game went on. And I was able to complete the task.”Anderson showed he’s very comfortable on the big stage too, going 2-for-3 with a triple, one RBI, one walk and two runs in a 12-1 victory in a crucial Pool C game at Chase Field. With a lead of at least 10 runs, the contest was called in the seventh per the rules of the first round of the tournament.Anderson has excelled in the postseason and has collected a hit as a starter in the All-Star Game. He ended the inaugu...

Patriots WR Jakobi Meyers leaving for 3-year deal with AFC West team, per report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

For the first time in four seasons, the Patriots will have a new leading receiver in 2023.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Retired Patriots captain Devin McCourty buys 37 billboards to thank fans New England Patriots | Source: Patriots expected to re-sign DT Carl Davis to 1-year deal New England Patriots | Patriots re-signing CB Jonathan Jones, one of their top free agents New England Patriots | Patriots trading TE Jonnu Smith to Falcons for late-round pick New England Patriots | Patriots free agency tracker and grades: Jets pursuing potential Pats WR target, two defenders re-sign The Raiders have signed Pats wideout Jakobi Meyers to a 3-year, $33 million deal with $21 million guaranteed, according to reports. Meyers was viewed as the best receiver in free agency. The 26-year-old led the Pats in receiving yards every year since his rookie season of 2019.Last season, Meyers caught 67 passes for 804 ...

Storm watch: Radar and Massachusetts power outage map

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

Weather watchers in the Central Massachusetts are already reporting snow totals in excess of 9 inches in Fitchburg and 13 inches in Ashby.Meanwhile, power outages total over 66,000 statewide with the majority of issues in the central and western parts of the state.The Massachusetts Department of Transportation said in a 10 a.m. update that it had over 900 pieces of equipment out on the road and that speed restrictions were in place on the Mass Pike from the New  York border to Millbury.Keep track of the storm on the National weather Service radar below. Utility maps tracking local outages are also embedded below. National Grid outage mapEversource outage map Unitil outage map   

DA proposes app to find shelter beds for homeless

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A proposed app by San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan would locate open shelter beds for homeless people.The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the proposal Tuesday, which would allocate $300,000 dollars to develop the app.More details on the plan will be revealed during an 8 a.m. joint news conference Tuesday with officials from the DA's office, the Board of Supervisors, the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness and the San Diego Rescue Mission.The news conference will "announce a game-changing new initiative that’s addressing the intersection of homelessness and crime through the development of an app that can quickly locate suitable shelter beds for individuals experiencing homelessness, improving on the process that’s currently in place," said the DA's office.The proposed app would follow a similar model that the DA has utilized to find beds for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.In a letter sent to the board...

Assault on archaeologist triggers protests in Greece

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:08 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — State-employed archaeologists in Greece launched strike action Tuesday to protest an assault on an archaeologist responsible for the resort island of Mykonos, an attack they say may have been linked to commercial pressure to extend tourism development.Archaeologist Manolis Psarros was beaten by an unidentified man with a possible accomplice in Athens last week and was left unconscious and bleeding in the street. The 53-year-old was taken to a state hospital in the Greek capital.Archaeologists employed by the Culture Ministry staged a five-hour work stoppage to protest what their association described as a “mafia-style attack.”“Our colleague’s … personal life does not justify any such criminal attack and we directly relate it to the cases that he handled on the island of Mykonos,” Despina Koutsoumba, the head of the protesting archaeologists’ association told an online news conference Monday.“In the course of his duties he had dealt with serious cases of v...