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Wembanyama could made summer league debut in Sacramento, not Vegas, after NBA draft

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Victor Wembanyama’s next couple of weeks are now set: He’ll be playing in the French league finals starting this weekend, and then the San Antonio Spurs will almost certainly make him the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on June 22.And if that means the French star’s summer league debut comes in Sacramento instead of Las Vegas in early July, the league is fine with that.NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league doesn’t have a preference regarding the site of Wembanyama’s first game with the Spurs. While the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is the biggest — all 30 teams attend — and commands the most attention, there are smaller summer leagues that precede the Vegas event by a few days. Sacramento plays host to one of those events, and the Spurs are one of six teams headed there this year.“All summer leagues are NBA Summer Leagues,” Silver told The Associated Press. “I’m very supportive of the Sacramento summer league. I remember when (Kings owner Vivek Ranadive) first came...

Douglas County park closes after 4 dogs die

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — A Douglas County park is closed after four dogs died shortly after visiting the park. Newlin Meadows Park in Parker has been closed since May 26 after FOX31 learned four dogs died suddenly after reportedly playing in the park just days before their deaths.According to the Douglas County Public Health Department, the Newlin Meadows HOA immediately closed the park after the deaths were reported. Fort Collins flooding strands hotel guests, damages cars DCPHD worked with the HOA to determine if there was a naturally occurring substance growing in the park that could be harmful to dogs if it was ingested. They were also looking into if the dogs were exposed to something man-made.So far, DCPHD has not said if they found anything that could have led to the dogs' deaths but they do say they have done everything they can to prevent other dogs from getting sick or dying. The HOA has not said when it expects the park to reopen.

Supreme Court to hear ‘Trump too small’ trademark case; man wants to trademark phrase mocking Trump

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a case in which a man tried to trademark a phrase mocking former President Donald Trump as “too small.”The Justice Department is supporting President Joe Biden’s once and possibly future rival in urging the court to deny a trademark for the suggestive phrase “Trump too small” that a California man wants to put on T-shirts.The case will be argued in the fall, one of two disputes on the court’s upcoming agenda that involve Trump or one of his businesses. Government officials said the phrase “Trump too small” could still be used, just not trademarked because Trump had not consented to its use. But a federal appeals court said refusing trademark registration violated free speech rights.The high court has considered a raft of Trump-related cases in recent years. The justices have dealt with cases about Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2000 election and with his efforts to shield his tax records from Congress and to keep oth...

Florida man faces charges after confronting driver with gun for backing up into driveway

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

PALM COAST. Fla (WSVN) – A Florida man is facing charges after he allegedly pointed a gun at a driver who backed into his driveway.Terry Vestch, 60, from Palm Coast was seen on surveillance video running out of his house to confront a driver who was already across the street.“Keep your piece of sh*t out of my *f***ing driveway,” Vestch is heard saying on video. Vestch said the driver was the aggressor, but deputies said the footage showed that the driver was never on his property.“We’ve seen many many times where the anger gets a hold of somebody and they lose control about what they’re supposed to do, the unfortunate thing is sometimes it ends in death,” said a Flagler County Sheriff. No one was hurt.Vestch was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The next big threat hovering over the US economy

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

As the federal government strives to contain financial market turmoil, the next risk looming over the nation’s banks is in plain sight: the $20 trillion commercial real estate market.Some $1.5 trillion in mortgages will come due in the next two years, a potential time bomb as higher interest rates and spiraling office vacancies push down property values.And because 70 percent of bank-held commercial mortgages sit on the balance sheets of regional and smaller lenders, a write-down in commercial loans could spell big trouble for the financial system and spill over into the larger economy just as the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway.With the country careening toward a possible recession, the financial system is especially vulnerable to shocks as the turbulence sparked by the collapse of three regional banks showed. Adding a commercial real estate market slide to the mix would be particularly perilous. It’s a concern that’s top of mind for policymakers in Washington — even as th...

Totally ducked up! Dutch celebrate Dead Duck Day

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

It was the splat heard round the world.On the afternoon of June 5, 1995, an unfortunate male mallard met his untimely end after flying into the newly inaugurated glass façade of Rotterdam’s Natural History Museum.While the duck’s death was unremarkable — billions of birds die flying into windows and other reflective glass surfaces around the world every year — what happened next guaranteed his spot in the history books: Seconds after his corpse hit the ground, another male duck appeared, mounted the deceased waterfowl and proceeded to have sex with it for an impressive 75 minutes.The entire episode was observed by biologist Kees Moeliker, who quickly realized he was witnessing a unique event: The first documented case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard.“I’d never seen anything like this before,” said Moeliker, who currently serves as the director of the museum. “Ducks are notoriously aggressive while reproducing and rape is part of their str...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts after tepid report on economy

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

By STAN CHOE (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting Monday to begin what could be a quiet stretch following its best week since March.The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 81 points, or 0.2%, at 33,681, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.The indexes were listless after a report showed businesses in the accommodation, construction and other U.S. services industries grew in May for a fifth straight month, though by less than economists expected. It’s the latest mixed reading on the U.S. economy, which has begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates but has defied forecasts for a recession so far.More stocks were falling in the S&P 500 than rising, but a gain for market heavyweight Apple helped to steady Wall Street. It rose 1.5% ahead of an event where it’s expected to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users be...

Guatemala’s presidential hopefuls channel heavy-handed tactics of El Salvador’s leader

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Candidates to be Guatemala’s next president are taking a cue from the leader of neighboring El Salvador and promising their voters they will build mega-prisons and hammer criminal gangs into submission.The formula of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has become well-known to citizens across Latin America, and the tough-talking, Bitcoin-loving leader enjoys approval ratings the envy of any world leader — even a year after suspending key rights to wage war against his country’s gangs.“It would be good to adopt his program” in Guatemala, said 48-year-old Lucrecia Salazar, a government worker who lives in a neighborhood in the capital known as a hotspot for gangs and crime. “We have the resources. What we lack is the will.”Now, many top candidates for president in Guatemala are vying to demonstrate such a will, saying ahead of June 25 balloting that, if elected, they would emulate Bukele’s heavy-handed tactics.Former First Lady Sandra Torres of the National Unity o...

Supreme Court rejects case of woman on Alabama death row

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place the sentence of a woman on death row in Alabama who helped her boyfriend kill his two young children.The high court on Monday rejected an appeal from lawyers for Heather Leavell-Keaton. As is typical, the court rejected the case without comment.Leavell-Keaton was convicted of murder in the death of 3-year-old Chase DeBlase and manslaughter in the death of his sister, 4-year-old Natalie DeBlase. Prosecutors said she poisoned the children with antifreeze. There was also evidence the children’s father, John DeBlase, strangled them. The children’s remains were found in the woods in Alabama and Mississippi.Leavell-Keaton was originally sentenced to death in 2015. A new sentencing hearing was ordered, however, after a court found that the judge who sentenced Leavell-Keaton to death erred by failing to give her a chance to speak on her own behalf before sentencing. She was sentenced to death again in 2021.Leavell-Keaton ‘s lawye...

Book Review: ‘Mozart in Motion’ by Patrick Mackie seeks to bring composer to life in new ways

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:21:59 GMT

“Mozart in Motion: His Work and His World in Pieces” by Patrick Mackie (Macmillan Publishers).Writing a biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart nowadays is no easy task. The daunting list of predecessors, which spans centuries, who have already undertaken the assignment complicates any efforts to find unique angles and inroads through which to tell the composer’s story.But Patrick Mackie exploits his background in both poetry and academia in an effort to bring Mozart to life in new ways. In addition to relying on letters and extant accounts for “Mozart in Motion: His Work and His World in Pieces,” Mackie also incorporates academic theory and philosophical reflections on how we collectively experience music today into his thematically organized biography. The result is still a familiar portrait of Mozart, but one that is painted in new colors.His prose betrays a palpable reverence for and familiarity with the musician, an appreciation he takes for granted that readers share.Mackie somet...