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Morant returns, scores 17 coming off the bench for Grizzlies

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two-time All-Star guard Ja Morant was welcomed back Wednesday night with a standing ovation and cheers throughout the arena in his first action after missing nine games — eight because of an NBA suspension.Morant, who was not in the starting lineup against the Houston Rockets, entered the game after a timeout with 3:05 left in the first quarter, replacing starter Tyus Jones. The cheers began to build as Morant rose from the bench and made his way to the scorer’s table, adjusting the specially fit mask from a previous nasal fracture.The standing ovation and the cheers reached their peak even before Morant was announced as entering the game.Morant ended up playing 24 minutes and finished with 17 points on 6-for-13 shooting overall and 5 for 6 from the line as the Grizzlies beat the Rockets 130-125. Morant added five assists and four rebounds.The first cheers came when Morant emerged from the locker room for pregame warmups.Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said ...

Police: 2 dead after shooting in Southeast DC

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

Two men are dead after being shot in Southeast D.C. Wednesday night.D.C. police said it happened in the 4300 block of 3rd Street Southeast just before 7:30 p.m.More DC NewsMore Crime NewsBoth men are in their early 20s, police said. Police said they do not have a lead on a possible suspect.Police ask anyone with more information to call 202-727-9099 or text 50411.Alert: Shooting Investigation in the 4300 block of 3rd Street SE. No LookoutDO NOT TAKE ACTION CALL 911Have info? Call 202-727-9099/text 50411.— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) March 22, 2023Below is where police said the shooting happened. Source

Jimmy Butler scores 35, Heat hold off Knicks 127-120

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler stepped back onto the court in his usual time slot, midway through the fourth quarter, with the Miami Heat clinging to a one-point lead.Not even three minutes later, the lead was 12 — and the Heat were on their way to a needed win.Butler finished with 35 points and nine assists, Tyler Herro scored 14 of his 22 in the pivotal final quarter and the Heat moved closer to escaping play-in tournament range by beating the New York Knicks 127-120 on Wednesday night.“Fourth quarter is winning time,” Herro said. “That’s when my scoring is needed most.”Herro made four 3-pointers in the fourth for the Heat, who led by 11 in the third, lost the lead briefly, then took the lead back for good with a 16-2 run midway through the final quarter.Herro and Max Strus each had a pair of 3’s during the clinching run for Miami (40-34), which is now just percentage points behind Brooklyn (39-33) in the race for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Eastern Confere...

Raducanu, Stephens, Murray lose in 1st round at Miami Open

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Former U.S. Open champions Emma Raducanu and Sloane Stephens were knocked out of the Miami Open on Wednesday, hours after No. 1-ranked and defending champion Iga Swiatek pulled out of the tournament because of a rib injury.Bianca Andreescu — the 2019 U.S. Open champ — defeated Raducanu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Andreescu improved to 2-0 lifetime against Raducanu, the 2021 winner at Flushing Meadows.“Miami has a special place in my heart,” Andreescu said. “I’ve been coming here since I was I think 12 years old, whether it’s for vacation or training or, yeah, Orange Bowl. I love that tournament very much. Yeah, coming back here, I think it’s just good vibes overall.” Andreescu moves on to face 10th-ranked Maria Sakkari, who had a first-round bye.Shelby Rogers beat Stephens 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Stephens has six hard-court titles, including the U.S. Open in 2017 and Miami in 2018.Rogers will face Australian Open champion and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Rogers in the ...

Video shows defacing of tombstone, decorations at Miami gravesite of 2 killed in 2021 crash

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

Newly surfaced cellphone video captured an act of vandalism at a Miami cemetery concerning the gravesite of two of four people who were killed in a New Year’s Day crash in West Miami-Dade back in 2021.The video shows someone defacing a gravestone with black spray paint. Moments later, the vandal is seen spray-painting the flowers and a memorial honoring the victims. The subject then kicking everything placed over the grave repeatedly.7News has learned this latest incident happened at the Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Cemetery in Miami.Authorities said Yuhlia Barzaga, Christian Mohip, Andres Zacarias and Jenser Salazar lost their lives when they were struck by a man driving under the influence in the area of West Flagler Street and 79th Avenue.The vandalism caught on video comes nearly two years after another similar incident aimed at the crash victims.Previous cellphone videos posted to social media showed someone damaging the West Miami-Dade memorial the families had set up...

Special needs dog in need of new home after owner no longer able to provide care

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

A special needs dog is in desperate need of a new home, two years after he was found in poor shape in Hollywood.Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, Susan Jorquera Perez, who is with Suzie Q Rescue, is hoping a responsible and committed person opens up their home to 7-year-old Tucker.“We really are hoping we can find a foster, or better yet, a loving home,” she said.Tucker was found severely emaciated nearly two years ago in a Hollywood neighborhood.Those who cared for the canine believe that he was used as a bait dog, an innocent dog used in the illegal business of dog fighting to train dogs to attack.The folks at Suzie Q Rescue took Tucker in and nursed him back to health so that he could be fostered.“As anybody, we always try to figure out what to do and take the few steps to find a home or get them the help they need,” said Jorquera Perez.They did just that. Shortly after his recovery, the rescue team was able to find Tucker a loving home.“The person who agr...

Republicans split on Iraq war repeal

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

It’s not just Russia’s war in Ukraine dividing the GOP: Republicans are openly split over whether to cut off approval for the Iraq war, two decades after it began.As party lawmakers debate the authorization for a conflict whose combat operations started winding down two administrations ago, they’re also hashing out bigger questions about the Republican identity heading into the 2024 presidential primary. A GOP that looked uniformly hawkish when George W. Bush first won Congress’ approval to go to war in Iraq is now routinely split on major foreign policy matters.And a new breed of non-interventionist Republicans says they’re winning the battle of ideas.“Voters are tired of wars that don’t have any justification or basis,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has supported advancing the repeal of 1991 and 2002 authorizations for war in Iraq. “The Iraq thing, that was not justifiable … And that’s hard for my party to admit. Because they pushed it, they carried the water f...

The end of Boris Johnson

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

Tanya Gold is a freelance journalist.Boris Johnson’s political career ended on Wednesday, with stuttering and fake politesse. Seated before a U.K. House of Commons committee poised to rule on whether he lied to parliament about Partygate, Johnson was far from his element. Beneath the ghost of his famous bonhomie and the half-conceived rhetoric, I saw anger segueing to bafflement: A man who has been forgiven all his life, now unforgiven. He should rewatch the original “House of Cards”: nothing lasts forever.If Johnson once coasted on the times, now he is cursed by them. Britain has a new seriousness and a new PM: In politics, a bookie is followed by a bishop, to borrow the journalist Malcolm Muggeridge’s famous phrase. (I’m not including Liz Truss, who is owed a special category of her own.) Johnson may be suspended from parliament if the committee finds against him, and he may then lose his seat. The classicist in him will understand: He is most in danger from his ...

Defense lobbyists send their big guns to Brussels

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

BRUSSELS — For a peace project, the European Union is building a pretty generous war chest — and lobbyists are gearing up to pry it open.With EU leaders set to give their final sign-off this week on a plan to lock arms and buy arms together, the bloc is speeding toward a new stage of defense integration. In the leadup, weapons-makers from both sides of the Atlantic have been clamoring for facetime with key commissioners and EU lawmakers, while lobbying firms are drafting military experts for their Brussels office.“In 20 years in public affairs, I’ve never seen so much development on a policy area as on defense in the last five years,” said Benoît Chaucheprat, a co-founder of C&V Consulting, a three-year-old boutique firm that’s unique in Brussels for its focus on defense policy.It would be a mistake, however, to solely credit Vladimir Putin’s war on the EU’s border for the bloc’s shifting perspective. “We can’t say that the invasion of Ukraine is a g...

Ammo for Ukraine? EU might not be up to the task

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:45:03 GMT

Paul Taylor is a contributing editor at POLITICO.PARIS — The European Union is breaking new ground with an ambitious plan to jointly procure urgently needed ammunition for Ukraine and to ramp up European defense industries for a new era of confrontation with Russia.This has become a crucial test for the credibility of common European defense efforts — but it’s a daunting challenge for an organization that was born as an economic peace project without a military bone in its body.And some EU members aren’t sure Brussels is up to the job.With Ukraine burning munitions faster than the entire Western world’s arms factories can churn them out, expanding manufacturing capacity that’s shrunk for 30 years is now the bloc’s top priority. Thus, the EU has agreed to spend €1 billion to transfer more of its members’ existing munitions stocks to Kyiv, and another billion to jointly order the most frequently used 155-millimeter NATO standard artillery shells from European industry. Eighteen c...