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Kristaps Porzingis among four Celtics out for matchup vs. Magic

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

The Celtics were without their top three big men for Friday night’s first matchup against the Magic.Kristaps Porzingis (left calf strain), Al Horford (rest) and Luke Kornet (left adductor tightness) were all ruled out Friday, leaving the Celtics severely thin in the frontcourt. Lamar Stevens, a night after playing a surprise role off the bench, got his first start with the Celtics.Jaylen Brown was initially listed as questionable for Friday’s game due to a right knee hyperextension but was cleared to play. Dalano Banton was also out due to a non-COVID illness, leaving four Celtics out.Horford continued to not play in both games of back-to-backs, even though he only played 24 minutes in Thursday’s win over the Cavs. Porzingis is continuing to manage the left calf injury that he suffered on Nov. 24 against the Magic and forced him to miss four games.“I just think we’re being cautious,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “But he’s done a good job of taking care of it and he’s come up wel...

Fire engulfs University City home; Five displaced

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Fire-Rescue crews battled a fire that engulfed a two-story University City home Friday afternoon. Five adults who lived in the home were displaced.The two-alarm fire was reported by a motorist along northbound Interstate 5, near the interchange with State Route 52 shortly after 3:30 p.m., according to California Highway Patrol logs. The motorist said they were able to see smoke from the freeway.SkyFOX was over the two-story home, which is located in the 5400 block of Bloch Street, before 4 p.m. Flames appeared to entirely engulf the home with a heavy plume of smoke coming from all sides.Around 4:30 p.m., crews knocked down the main body of the fire and are performing "overhaul operations to search for hidden fire inside the home."Five adults who have been displaced as a result of the blaze are being assisted by Red Cross, SDFD said. No injuries were reported.No additional details were immediately available about what caused the fire or the extent of damage to t...

San Diego couple killed in Texas small plane crash

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — The West Texas community has been left shaken after a small plane crashed on a Christoval windmill farm Thursday, killing both the pilot and passenger aboard.The Pilatus PC-12, identification number, N188PC, was destroyed after it crashed while attempting to approach runway 36 south of San Angelo Regional Airport (SJT/KSJT) in San Angelo, Texas but communicated to Air Traffic Control, "We overshot it." 11 seconds later the last communication to be heard from the fallen plane - "We have a problem." Plane crashes in Christoval windmill farm, no survivors A little over two minutes after the last transmission from the pilot, Air Traffic Control attempts to locate the plane still assumed to be in the air, stating, "We lost contact." Shortly after, they begin searching for the downed aircraft."Charlie-foxtrot-alpha-delta-Juliet, can I get you to do a little check for me real quick? I just had an aircraft that possibly went down about two-zer...

Arizona’s governor is sending the state’s National Guard to the border to help with a migrant influx

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s governor on Friday ordered the state’s National Guard to the border with Mexico to help federal officials manage an influx of migrants. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she issued the executive order because “the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe.”“I am taking action where the federal government won’t,” Hobbs said.It was unclear when the troops would arrive at the border and exactly how many would be mobilized. Hobbs asked President Joe Biden’s administration a week ago to mobilize 243 Arizona National Guard troops already in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector that includes Lukeville, Arizona, to help federal officers reopen the border crossing that was indefinitely closed Dec. 4.Customs and Border Protection has said shutting down the official crossing was necessary to allow personnel stationed there to help Border Patrol agents manage the hundreds of migrants illegally cro...

Howard Weaver, Pulitzer Prize winner with the Anchorage Daily News, dies at age 73

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Howard Weaver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Anchorage Daily News, has died. He was 73.Weaver died late Thursday at home in California, his wife, Barbara Hodgin said in an email to The Associated Press on Friday. Weaver received treatment for pancreatic cancer for a year before choosing hospice care. He had “38 years of sobriety at his death,” she wrote. “He was public about his alcoholism and sobriety, hoping to help others recover.”He was a reporter and later editor for the Anchorage Daily News, which he helped lead to Pulitzer Prize wins in 1976 and 1989. He later moved to California and worked for McClatchy newspapers, rising to an executive role. He wrote a memoir about the newspaper war in the city between the Anchorage Daily News and the Anchorage Times, which ultimately was shuttered. In an excerpt, writing of his early years, he said: “My affection for the newsroom at the Anchorage Daily News was instantaneous and my devotion never fal...

A Tesla driver to pay $23K in restitution for a 2019 Los Angeles crash that killed 2 people

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Tesla driver will pay more than $23,000 in restitution for the deaths of two people during a 2019 car crash in a Los Angeles suburb, a decision announced the same day that the automaker recalled nearly all vehicles sold in the U.S.Wednesday’s court hearing wrapped up a case believed to be the first time in the U.S. prosecutors brought felony charges against a motorist who was using a partially automated driving system. It was among a series of deadly crashes investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that led to this week’s recall.The recall affects more than 2 million Tesla vehicles and will update software and fix a defective system that’s supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when using Autopilot. It came after a two-year federal investigation into crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use.The Tesla driver in the Los Angeles case, Kevin Aziz Riad, pleaded no contest to...

A Georgia teacher is accused of threatening a student in a dispute over an Israeli flag

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) — A middle school teacher in Georgia was arrested after witnesses told a sheriff’s investigator he threatened to cut off the head of a student who objected to an Israeli flag in his classroom.Benjamin Reese, a teacher at Warner Robins Middle School, was taken into custody on Dec. 8 on charges of making terroristic threats and cruelty to children, according to Houston County jail records. He was released on bond two days later.A message to his school email address was not immediately returned. Calls to possible phone listings for Reese, 51, were also not immediately returned or went unanswered. Houston County District Attorney William Kendall said Reese had requested a public defender, but no attorney was listed for him.The student told a sheriff’s investigator she went into Reese’s classroom on Dec. 7 after spotting the flag and told him she found it offensive because Israelis were killing Palestinians. According to the student, Reese said h...

California men charged with running drugs to Australia, New Zealand disguised as car parts, noodles

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four California men have been charged with running a drug ring that sent hundreds of pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea disguised as shipments of everything from car parts to instant noodles, federal prosecutors announced Friday.Hoang Xuan Le, 42, of Tustin and Tri Cao Buinguyen, 38, of Garden Grove were arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty on Friday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Trung Buinguyen, 40, of Lakewood and Narongsak Champy, 28, of Long Beach are fugitives, prosecutors said.All are charged with conspiracy to export and distribute controlled substances while Le and Tri Buinguyen also are charged with distributing methamphatamine.They could face up to life in prison if convicted.Prosecutors contend that from at least 2017 to last year, the men shipped drugs overseas by air, sea and the U.S. Mail. The drugs were hidden in “commercial products such as instant noodle packets, car parts, em...

Judge blocks Arkansas law that took away board’s ability to fire state corrections secretary

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas judge on Friday blocked a new law that took away the Board of Corrections’ authority over the state corrections secretary and other top officials, the latest in an escalating feud between the panel and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders over the prison system. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James granted the board’s request for a temporary restraining order the day after the panel filed a lawsuit and suspended Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri with pay. The board argued that the law violated the state’s constitution by usurping its authority and giving the governor hiring and firing authority over the corrections secretary. Sanders appointed Profiri to the post, and he was confirmed by the panel earlier this year. The move follows the Sanders’ administration’s plans to move forward with opening hundreds of new temporary prison beds that the board had not approved. Members of the board have said opening the temporary beds would j...

Federal judge rejects request from Oregon senators who boycotted Legislature seeking to run in 2024

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:13:47 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a request from Oregon Republican state senators who boycotted the Legislature to be allowed on the ballot after their terms end. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken issued the decision Wednesday.State Sens. Dennis Linthicum, Brian Boquist and Cedric Hayden were among the plaintiffs who filed the federal lawsuit to challenge their disqualification from running for reelection under Measure 113. The voter-approved constitutional amendment, which passed by a wide margin last year, bars legislators from seeking reelection after 10 or more unexcused absences. Each of the three senators racked up more than 10 absences during a record six-week walkout that paralyzed the 2023 legislative session. The boycott stemmed from bills on abortion, transgender health care and guns.The lawmakers sought, among other things, a preliminary injunction to prevent the secretary of state’s office from enforcing their disqualification from the ballot. The off...