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Volleyball year in review: Needham writes chapter in record books

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Preaching his famous “corner our performance” response throughout, what’s proved almost as rare as Needham’s 73-game win streak is head coach Dave Powell acknowledging it – let alone opening up about it to reporters.Yet, in the moments after the Rockets realized a third straight perfect season by beating Newton North in the Div. 1 state final at Worcester State, becoming just the third MIAA boys volleyball program to three-peat, he had much more to say in reflection of a challenging year.The picture that opposing coaches painted in the preseason suggested that this season – of all three since the pandemic – presented the best chance for a different team to raise the championship trophy. They said the Div. 1 state tournament was wide open for the first time since 2019, and they weren’t wrong.In turn, the target on Needham’s back was larger than ever. Constant updates of the growing historic mark served as a daily reminder of exactly what the Rockets tried not to focus on. Every set o...

Baseball/softball year in review: Taunton builds a juggernaut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Once again, Taunton is the rule of the roost.For the third time in four years Taunton captured the Div. 1 state championship as it rolled past BC High, St. John’s Shrewsbury, and Hockomock Kelley-Rex league rival Franklin to capture the title.The Tigers are just the fourth Div. 1 team since 1990 to win three state titles joining New Bedford, BC High, and Xaverian.While Taunton won the crown, Methuen stole a lot of hearts and minds as the No. 21 seeded Rangers defeated No. 12 Andover, No. 5 Xaverian, and No. 4 Central Catholic to reach the state semifinals. Matt Pappalardo asserted himself as one of the state’s best.Brendan Morrissey’s Milton crew won their second straight title, again defeating King Philip in the season finale. Owen McHugh and Scott Longo formed one of the premier 1-2 combinations in the state while Tommy Mitchell provided key relief in the postseason.Whitman-Hanson showed it may be primed for contention for the foreseeable future. The young Panthe...

One year later, the Supreme Court’s abortion decision is both scorned and praised

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Activists and politicians are marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a nationwide right to abortion by both bashing and celebrating it.Rallies on both sides were scheduled for Saturday in Washington and across the country.In a statement, President Joe Biden pledged to protect access and decried the court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The court’s conservative majority on June 24, 2022, overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had been in place for nearly a half-century.“States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide,” Biden said.Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel praised the ruling, which was made possible by former President Donald Trump&...

Indian Prime Minister Modi arrives in Egypt on a two-day visit to strengthen ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a two-day visit to Egypt on Saturday, a trip that underscores the growing ties between the two countries.Modi’s flight landed at Cairo’s international airport Saturday afternoon, coming from a four-day trip to the United States where he held talks with President Joe Biden, delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress, and met with top American and Indian executives.It’s the first state visit to Egypt by an Indian prime minister since 1997. Modi was received by Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, and the two inspected an honor guard and listened to the national anthems. Modi took to Twitter to thank Madboubly for “the special gesture of welcoming me at the airport,” and added, “May India-Egypt ties flourish and benefit the people of our nations.”Modi is scheduled to hold talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday. The two countries would also sign a set of memorandums aiming at solidifying their ties, accor...

Israeli military kills Palestinian gunman as settlers rampage through Palestinian town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian assailant opened fire at an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank on Saturday before being shot and killed, Israeli police said. Elsewhere in the occupied territory, settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village, hurling stones, spraying bullets and setting fire to homes. The Palestinian gunman approached Israeli troops stationed at the Qalandiya checkpoint outside Jerusalem early in the morning, pulled out an M16 rifle and opened fire, the Israeli police said.Israeli security forces said they shot back, killing the suspected assailant. According to the Israeli rescue service, two security guards in their 20s were hospitalized with minor wounds — at least one from bullet fragments. There was no immediate word on the attacker’s identity.Later on Saturday, residents of the Palestinian village of Umm Safa said that some 50 Israeli settlers armed with rifles and flammable liquid stormed through the streets and tried to set fire to at least f...

Pakistan accuses Indian troops of killing 2 civilians in cross-border incident in Kashmir

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Indian troops fired without provocation across the Line of Control separating Indian and Pakistani Kashmir on Saturday, killing two civilians and injuring another, Pakistan’s military said. The Indian troops fired indiscriminately on a group of shepherds around noon killing one of them on the spot and critically wounding two others, the military said in a statement. It said one of the wounded later died at a hospital.The Indian army said in a tweet that a team of its soldiers and police intercepted three infiltrators from the Pakistani side in the Krishna Ghati sector. It said they “engaged” the infiltrators, who were seen “falling down” near the border. The Indian army said one Indian soldier suffered a gunshot wound.The conflicting details given by the two sides could not immediately be reconciled.The Pakistani military said it issued a strong protest with Indian officials and said Pakistan reserves the right to respond in a manner of its choosin...

Three San Antonio police officers are charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Three San Antonio police officers have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was experiencing what the city’s police chief said was a “mental health crisis.” Sgt. Alfred Flores and Officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos were suspended without pay and later arrested on murder warrants in the shooting death of Melissa Perez, 46, when she refused police orders to come out of her apartment, Police Chief William McManus said Friday.“The officers’ actions were not consistent with SAPD’s policy and training,” McManus said during a Friday night news conference.“They placed themselves in a situation where they used deadly force which was not reasonable given all the circumstances as we now understand them,” McManus said.One of the three charged officers opened fire, McManus said, after Perez first threw a glass candlestick at the officers then swung a hammer at them. All three officers then fired when Perez approached them again with the...

Prigozhin, the mercenary chief urging an uprising against Russia's generals, has long ties to Putin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Once a low-profile businessman who benefited from having President Vladimir Putin as a powerful patron, Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight with Russia’s war in Ukraine.As the leader of a mercenary force who depicts himself as fighting many of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine, the 62-year-old Prigozhin has now moved into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against the leadership of the country's military.Prigozhin, owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, has escalated what have been months of scathing criticism of Russia’s conduct of the war by calling Friday for an armed uprising to oust the defense minister. Russian security services reacted immediately, opening a criminal investigation and urging Prigozhin’s arrest.In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infra...

One year later, the Supreme Court's abortion decision is both scorned and praised

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

Activists and politicians are marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a nationwide right to abortion by both bashing and celebrating it.Rallies on both sides were scheduled for Saturday in Washington and across the country.In a statement, President Joe Biden pledged to protect access and decried the court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The court's conservative majority on June 24, 2022, overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had been in place for nearly a half-century.“States have imposed extreme and dangerous abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that they are trained to provide,” Biden said.Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel praised the ruling, which was made possible by former President Donald Trump's adding three con...

Cause of death for Adam Rich, former 'Eight is Enough' child star, revealed in report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:21 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – The effects of fentanyl were said to be the cause of death for Adam Rich, the actor best known for his role as the youngest child on TV’s “Eight Is Enough.”Rich, 54, was found “lifeless” in his Los Angeles-area home in January, law enforcement sources told TMZ at the time. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner later said no foul play had been suspected.The medical examiner’s office ultimately ruled his death an accident, according to an online report.The cast of "Eight Is Enough" is seen in a promotional photo from the ABC series. Adam Rich (center, front row), who played the youngest child of the Bradford family, was found dead in his Los Angeles-area home in January at the age of 54. (Jim Britt/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)As a child actor, Rich played Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of the Bradfords in ABC’s “Eight Is Enough,” which aired from 1977 to 1981.Rich is also credited for roles in the ‘80s animated “Dungeons &...