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How NBA play-in tournament results affect the Magic

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

Even though they aren’t taking part in postseason play, the Orlando Magic and their draft-day plans will be impacted by how the play-in tournament ends.The Chicago Bulls, who may owe the Magic a first-round pick in June’s draft, will match up against the Heat in Miami while the Minnesota Timberwolves host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday to close out the tournament.The winners of each game will become the No. 8 seed for their conferences in the playoffs.The Bulls owe the Magic a first-round pick as part of the March 2021 trade that sent Nikola Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu to Chicago for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., a 2021 first-round pick (Franz Wagner, at No. 8) and a first-round pick that’s protected for selections Nos. 1-4 in 2023 and 1-3 in 2024.If the pick hasn’t been conveyed to the Magic by 2024, the Bulls instead will send their 2026 second-round pick and 2027 second-round pick to Orlando.Friday will bring clarity to what happens with that f...

Julius Randle still not cleared for contact as Game 1 looms

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

Two days before Game 1, the Knicks said Julius Randle still wasn’t cleared for contact and his status was up in the air.The team violated league access rules Thursday by not allowing media to view any parts of Thursday’s practice, adding further mystery to Randle’s sprained ankle.But according to Tom Thibodeau, the power forward was again a limited participant in Thursday’s session. He’s running at full speed, the coach said, who added that all recovery timelines and meaningful updates will be settled by the player and medical staff.Randle, who sprained his ankle on March 29, hasn’t spoken to the media since the injury. The Knicks play Game 1 in Cleveland on Saturday, and Thibodeau didn’t know if he’d feel comfortable playing Randle without a full practice.“That’s where you have to trust the medical staff and you trust Julius. So, between what they think, they’re the experts, and Julius knows his body,” Thibodea...

Trump answers questions for 7 hours in NY fraud lawsuit

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

By MICHAEL R. SISAK (ASSOCIATED PRESS)NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York’s attorney general over his company’s business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent.The Republican met all day with lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump last year. Her lawsuit claims Trump and his family misled banks and business associates by giving them false information about his net worth and the value of assets such as hotels and golf courses.Shortly after Trump entered the Manhattan skyscraper that houses James’ offices, his attorney, Alina Habba, said he was “not only willing but also eager to testify.”“He remains resolute in his stance that he has nothing to conceal, and he looks forward to educating the Attorney General about the ...

Yankees Notebook: Harrison Bader nearing rehab assignment

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

The injury bug hasn’t been kind to the Yankees in the early going this season. But their center fielder is trending in the right direction.If all goes well, Harrison Bader will begin a minor league rehab assignment sometime next week, according to the outfielder and Aaron Boone. Bader has been out with a left oblique strain, but he hasn’t felt any pain there since sustaining the injury early in spring training.“I feel really close,” Bader said Thursday, his first full day of baseball activities. That included running the bases, fielding and throwing from the outfield and taking batting practice on the field at Yankee Stadium. Bader said he prepared as if he were playing Thursday night.“He’s doing great,” Boone said. “Now it’s full bore the next several days.”The Yankees will evaluate where Bader is at on their off day Monday, but the plan is for him to get into games soon. Boone noted that Bader will require a decent number...

School districts’ lobbying firm says ‘we’re still talking’ to Bears about planned complex in Arlington Heights

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

A lobbying firm hired by a trio of school districts that tax the former Arlington International Racecourse site recently purchased by the Chicago Bears has begun providing updates on the firm’s work, telling Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15 officials Wednesday night there’s nothing substantial to report — right now.“So far, we haven’t had any conversations that have resulted in an agreement, but we’re still talking to the Bears and we’re trying to set up a more formal meeting with the Bears,” John Dunn, of the Philadelphia-based Cozen O’Connor law firm, told board members as part of a legislative update during the meeting.Lobbyists for the Chicago Bears and the one for a trio of school districts that pull funding from the former horse racing venue have met informally about Senate Bill 1350, a massive property tax incentive bill that could divert billions in tax dollars away from school districts to encourage the...

Ex-FBI agent John ‘Zip’ Connolly fails in Florida court to clear his name

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

John “Zip” Connolly, the ex-FBI agent convicted over his ties to slain Southie mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, has lost his bid to clear his name.The 3rd District Court of Appeals in Florida denied Connolly’s bid for “postconviction relief” from his second-degree murder conviction. But, as the Herald first reported, he remains free from jail while on a medical release.Still, his Boston lawyer Peter Mullane said Thursday, the aging former G-man wants to resurrect his reputation.“The decision is moot in a street sense, but not moot for John who wants to clear his name,” Mullane told the Herald. “He’s totally and completely innocent.”Connolly argued in a motion that “Florida, violated his due process rights by failing to disclose” witness testimony that he says would have cleared him.He added he was hired by the FBI in 1968 “tasked with cultivating certain government informants, including James J. ...

Drought dwindles to less than 9% of California

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Only remnants of California’s three-year drought remain after winter’s epic storms.The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that areas of drought cover less than 9% of the state, down from more than 99% at the Oct. 1 start of the water year.Those areas, in the far north and southeast, are surrounded by areas of abnormal dryness amounting to just over 25% of the state. The best places to see the superbloom in California California’s winter was marked by numerous atmospheric rivers that dumped enormous amounts of rain and blanketed mountains with an extraordinary snowpack.

Toronto man charged after probe into online threats directed at synagogue

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

A Toronto man is facing charges after police allege he posted hate-motivated online threats toward a synagogue.Police began investigating after the alleged threats were posted online on Sunday, April 9, 2023.Two days later, on April 11, police arrested 29-year-old Thomas Botyrius of Toronto.He’s facing charges of uttering death threats, criminal harassment and indecent communication.It’s the latest in a disturbing series of incidents involving places of worship in the Greater Toronto Area.A 28-year-old man was arrested in Toronto last Friday after he allegedly attended a Markham mosque during morning prayers and tore a copy of the Qur’an while directing racist and Islamophobic rants toward worshippers.Sharan Karunakaran was charged with uttering threats, assault with a weapon, and dangerous driving, in connection to the incident.Police believe Karunakaran also attended a mosque in Scarborough earlier that same day and harassed worshippers.In a separate incident on Sunday...

Nebraska trans care ban for minors advances — with a twist

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors in Nebraska is one final step from passing after lawmakers advanced it Thursday, but not before a promise was made behind closed doors to hammer out a compromise between supporters and opponents of the bill before it’s passed. Opponents of the bill fell one vote short of the 17 they needed to successfully filibuster the bill and kill it for the year. It advanced 33-16. But that vote came only after Speaker of the Legislature Sen. John Arch took the extraordinary move of suspending business on the floor for nearly an hour to hash out the agreement behind closed doors with conservative lawmakers who dominate the unique one-house, officially nonpartisan Legislature.Both Arch and the bill’s author, freshman Sen. Kathleen Kauth, said details of a compromise have yet to be worked out. But Kauth said she expected to sit down with a handful of supporters, opponents and medical experts in the coming days....

Funerals set for most of Louisville’s bank shooting victims

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:20:33 GMT

Funeral arrangements were disclosed Thursday for most of the five bank employees killed this week in Louisville, Kentucky, as the city continues to grieve the victims of one of the latest U.S. mass shootings.As obituaries were posted online, more details surfaced about the lives of the employees killed Monday at Old National Bank. They have been identified as senior vice presidents Tommy Elliott, 63, and Joshua Barrick, 40; executive administrative officer Deana Eckert, 57; loan analyst Juliana Farmer, 45; and commercial real estate market executive Jim Tutt Jr., 64.According to Elliott’s obituary, a funeral service is set for 3 p.m. Friday at Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville, followed by a private burial. The same day, Eckert’s visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. followed by a funeral service at Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, just over the Kentucky border from Louisville, according to her obituary.Barrett’s visitation will be held from 3 p....