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Having been there, lost that, Kevin Love warns Heat about perils of life in NBA play-in round

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

Miami Heat newcomer Kevin Love has lived the NBA play-in tournament. He doesn’t want to go back. With good reason.While for some lower seeds, the play-in round, where one or two victories can secure a spot in the first round, is a second chance at making things right, it also can be a path fraught with peril for teams that under the NBA’s previous format would have advanced directly to the best-of-seven opening round.“We certainly have an uphill climb to get to where we need to be,” Love said, with the Heat at No. 7 in the East headed into Friday night’s rematch against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami-Dade Arena, “and, more than anything, that’s just not to be in the play-in.“We’re right there, and we feel like we can’t keep setting ourselves back. We need to start winning these next several games in order to put ourselves in a good spot and able to not have to be in the play-in.”Love speaks from experience.Last seas...

Lonzo Ball could face a 3rd knee surgery, raising questions about his return to Chicago Bulls for the 2023-24 season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

The end of a lengthy recovery still isn’t in sight for Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball, who reportedly could require a third surgery on his right knee.ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday that Ball could require a third procedure, which would result in at least six months of additional recovery. The report did not specify what the procedure would entail, but the surgery would most likely occur by the end of March.If the procedure requires a six-month recovery window, it could raise questions already for Ball’s availability for the start of the 2023-24 season.Ball underwent a meniscus surgery last January and an arthroscopic debridement on Sept. 28 as he attempted to recover from a baffling knee injury that has sidelined him for nearly 14 months. The last time he played basketball was Jan. 14, 2022, and he has not been able to run or jump without pain since.The Bulls medical staff has worked in tandem with Ball’s representative team, which has allo...

Jets feeling more optimistic about landing star QB Aaron Rodgers: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

On Tuesday, Jets brass flew out to California to meet with Aaron Rodgers after receiving permission from the Packers to talk to the star quarterback. Jets owner Woody Johnson, general manager Joe Douglas, coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett traveled to the west coast with the hopes of acquiring the former four-time MVP.Now it appears Gang Green is closer to landing the 39-year-old quarterback.The Jets are “optimistic” that they will land Rodgers in a trade, according to ESPN’s Dianna Russini.Rodgers is scheduled to make $59.5 million guaranteed if he plays in 2023, part of the three-year, $150 million contract extension he signed last year.While the Packers and Jets will continue to engage in trade compensation conversations, they could also restructure Rodgers’ contract to allow for an easier cap hit. But Rodgers’ salary cap hit is only $15.8 million in 2023 and $32.5 million in 2024.Currently, the Jets are $1.7 million over ...

Police say Oshawa man assaulted snowplow driver for blocking driveway with snow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

The stresses of cleaning up after a major winter storm apparently reached a boiling point in Oshawa last weekend, where police allege a homeowner assaulted a snowplow driver who blocked his driveway with a mountain of snow.It happened on Saturday night in the Wilson Road and Greenhill Avenue area at around 9:30 p.m. following a storm that dropped up to 30 centimeters of snow on parts of the Greater Toronto Area.Durham Regional Police officers responded to calls for an altercation between a homeowner and snowplow driver.“A pile of snow blocked the male’s driveway after last week’s snowstorm causing him to become upset and assault the snowplow driver,” police said in a release Friday.Police have charged Scott Patton, 32, of Oshawa, with a single count of assault.

Liberals to amend Criminal Code terrorism provisions that block aid to Afghanistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberal government introduced a bill today to alter terrorism provisions of the Criminal Code that block humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is proposing amendments to the Criminal Code that provide a carveout for Canadian aid workers to carry out duties in areas controlled by terrorists without being prosecuted.Humanitarian groups say Global Affairs Canada has told them for more than a year that purchasing goods or hiring locals in Afghanistan would involve paying taxes to the Taliban, which would mean contributing to a terror group.Canada’s allies moved much more swiftly to alter national laws and issue exemptions after the August 2021 Taliban takeover of Kabul to ensure aid workers could keep working in Afghanistan.Groups such as World Vision Canada say they’ve held back on launching donation appeals because of the rules, despite Afghanistan being one of the countries for which Canadians are most likely to pledge money.T...

Credit card debt up 15 per cent in Q4, younger Canadians feel hardest pinch: Equifax

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

TORONTO — Canadian credit card debt soared in the last three months of 2022 amid rising interest rates and stubbornly high inflation with younger Canadians in particular relying on credit to make ends meet.Canadians’ credit card debt increased by more than 15 per cent from the same period a year earlier and totalled more than $100 billion for the first time, according to credit monitoring agency Equifax.Overall consumer debt rose in the fourth quarter of 2022, with total debt at $2.37 trillion, up more than six per cent from the same period in 2021, the agency said in its latest quarterly credit trends report.Equifax said the effects of higher interest rates are yet to be fully felt on homeowners as many have not yet renewed their mortgages, but younger Canadians are feeling the pinch of inflation particularly hard. The financial stress on Canadians is apparent in the latest data, especially for non-homeowners, said Rebecca Oakes, vice-president of advanced analytics at Equifax Cana...

Federal environment minister says Alberta silence over oilsands spill ‘worrisome’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says Alberta’s nine-month silence over two releases of toxic oilsands tailings water is worrisome.He says Alberta is supposed to notify the federal government over such releases within 24 hours.In this case, Alberta government agencies seem to have known about seepage from Imperial Oil’s Kearl oilsand tailings pond for nine months before making a public statement on it.Environmental incidents in Alberta are normally first reported to a government call centre run by Alberta Transportation, which then notifies the provincial regulator. Environment Canada, in a timeline released Wednesday, says it had to learn about the seepage and a second, 5.3-million-litre spill from area First Nations, who themselves were kept in the dark about the extent and nature of the seepage. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has blamed Imperial for the slow communications around the releases. This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9...

S&P/TSX composite down in late-morning trading, U.S. stock markets higher

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

TORONTO — Losses in the base metals sector led Canada’s main stock index lower in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets climbed higher.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 16.44 points at 20,330.09.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 57.22 points at 32,855.62. The S&P 500 index was up 6.73 points at 3,998.74, while the Nasdaq composite was up 49.22 points at 11,625.22.The Canadian dollar traded for 72.63 cents US compared with 72.54 cents US on Wednesday.The April crude contract was up 39 cents at US$77.05 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was down a penny at US$2.54 per mmBTU.The April gold contract was up US$11.60 at US$1,830.20 an ounce and the May copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.03 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Mexican gang said to apologize over deaths of Americans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — Someone claiming to be the Mexican drug cartel allegedly responsible for the abduction of four Americans and the killing of two of them has condemned the violence and purportedly turned over its own members who were involved to authorities.In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement source, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel allegedly responsible for abducting the Americans apologized to the residents of Matamoros, the Mexican woman who died in the shooting and the four Americans and their families.Drug cartels have been known to issue communiques to intimidate rivals and authorities, but also at times like these to do some public relations work to try to smooth over situations that could affect their business.“We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads...

Biden budget with deficit cuts, tax hikes won’t fly with GOP

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As political gridlock puts the government at risk of defaulting, President Joe Biden on Thursday is making an opening offer with a budget plan that would cut deficits by $2.9 trillion over the next decade — a proposal that Republicans already intend to reject.It’s part of a broader attempt by the president to call out House Republicans who are demanding severe cuts to spending in return for lifting the government’s legal borrowing limit. But the GOP has no counteroffer so far, other than a flat “no” to a Biden blueprint with tax increases on the wealthy that could form the policy backbone of Biden’s yet-to-be-declared campaign for reelection in 2024.“We see this as a value statement,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. “This is something that shows the American people that we take this very seriously when we think about the fiscal responsibility, when we think about how do we move forward.”Biden’s package of t...