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Political cartoons: Who’s naughty and who’s nice this Christmas?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

As we reach Christmas 2023, cartoonists across the country have drawn clear conclusions about who has been naughty and nice at a time when Americans face angst about issues such as the upcoming presidential election, high interest rates, war in the Middle East and Ukraine, an ethically challenged Supreme Court and large influxes of undocumented immigrants.David Horsey/The Seattle TimesRivers/CagleCartoons.comLisa Benson/Counterpoint MediaChris Britt/Creators.comClay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free PressDana Summers/Tribune Content AgencyClay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free PressFrank Hansen/PoliticalCartoons.comDave Whamond/PoliticalCartoons.comMike Luckovich/Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionClay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free PressClay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free PressDana Summers/Tribune Content AgencyDana Summers/Tribune Content AgencyGary Markstein/Creators SyndicateJoel Pett/Tribune Content AgencyLiam Simonelli/Counterpoint MediaLisa Benson/Counterpoint MediaMichael Ramirez/Las Veg...

Pass-happy Salesian boys carve up Ygnacio Valley zone as Pride stay perfect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

ALBANY – There are two ways to nullify a zone defense in basketball. The first, more popular method, is to shoot the lights out of the gym and force the defenders to creep out to the perimeter. The second option, which is far more difficult and requires all five offensive players to be in-sync, is to pass the ball into the middle of the court, and then hit another quick pass or two to cutters. Salesian went with the latter of the two methods – and made it look easy – in the Pride’s 65-45 victory over Ygnacio Valley at Albany High. Salesian led 32-19 at halftime and although Ygnacio Valley kept things interesting well into the second half, it was never in jeopardy of losing the lead. “Tonight, we weren’t shooting the ball great, but we did a really good job of attacking the middle of their zone and going high-low with interior passing,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. ALBANY – Salesian wing Alvin Loving IV goes through pregame introductions. Salesian and Ygnacio Valley played ...

Maryland tenant advocates push state leaders for $15M in 2024 housing aid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

The state capital dome in Annapolis, Maryland. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/pabradyphoto) The state capital dome in Annapolis, Maryland. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/pabradyphoto) Two dozen tenant activists were stamping their feet in the cold at People’s Park in downtown Annapolis on Wednesday. The weather was an annoyance, but it also illustrated a point: That apartment dwellers are being put out on the street every day in Maryland, and that struggling tenants need help — especially in winter.Magdalena Escobar, a Greenbelt resident, said she had to quit her job as a restaurant cook a few years ago to care for her ailing son. Without renters’ assistance, which was arranged by the immigrants’ rights or...

Una breve historia del fin del mundo: cada extinción masiva, incluida la próxima que se avecina, explicada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

(CNN) — Ninguna especie dura para siempre: la extinción es parte de la evolución de la vida.Pero al menos cinco veces, una catástrofe biológica ha envuelto al planeta, acabando con la gran mayoría de las especies del agua y la tierra en un intervalo geológico relativamente corto.El más famoso de estos eventos de extinción masiva (cuando un asteroide chocó contra la Tierra hace 66 millones de años, condenando a los dinosaurios y muchas otras especies) es también el más reciente. Pero los científicos dicen que no será el último.Muchos investigadores sostienen que estamos en medio de una sexta extinción masiva, causada no por una roca espacial del tamaño de una ciudad sino por el crecimiento excesivo y el comportamiento transformador de una sola especie: el Homo sapiens. Los humanos han destruido hábitats y desatado una crisis climática.Cómo es el plan de “des-extinción” para reintroducir el ave dodo en MauricioLos cálculos de un estudio publicado en septiembre en la ...

Tesla llama a revisión 120,000 vehículos porque sus puertas podrían abrirse durante un accidente

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

Tesla está llamando a revisión a más de 120,000 vehículos por unas puertas que no cumplen la normativa del gobierno estadounidense.En una carta publicada en el sitio web de la Administración Nacional de Seguridad del Transporte por Carretera el jueves, Tesla reconoció que las puertas afectadas pueden desbloquearse durante un accidente, lo que podría hacer que la puerta se desenganche y se abra, aumentando el riesgo de lesiones.Los vehículos afectados incluyen los modelos S y X de Tesla fabricados entre los años 2021 y 2023. Tesla dijo que no tenía conocimiento de ninguna lesión como resultado de la cuestión a partir del 14 de diciembre.Como medida correctiva, Tesla está lanzando una actualización de software over-the-air (OTA) de forma gratuita. Se espera que las cartas de notificación a los propietarios se envíen el 17 de febrero. Conductores de Tesla tienen la mayor tasa de accidentes; los de BMW, la de DUI, según un estudio Tesla llama a t...

Ukrainian ambassador denies German pressure for peace talks with Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

BERLIN — Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany on Saturday rejected claims that Berlin may be pressuring Kyiv behind closed doors to reach a peace deal with Russia.The speculation has been fueled by a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday about a secret “Russia dinner” in the German embassy in Washington in late October, during which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s closest aide, the head of the chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt, reportedly “euphorically praised” a proposal by U.S. think tanker Samuel Charap to end the war in Ukraine through an imposed negotiated settlement with Moscow.In a podcast interview with the German public broadcaster RRB, Oleksii Makeiev, the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, denied the German government was pushing Kyiv to accept peace talks with Russia that could lead to a permanent loss of Ukrainian territory. The pressure was “also not” happening behind closed doors, Makeiev added.An official from the Germ...

Contrary to politicians’ claims, offshore wind farms don’t kill whales. Here’s what to know.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Unfounded claims about offshore wind threatening whales have surfaced as a flashpoint in the fight over the future of renewable energy.In recent months, conservatives including former President Donald Trump have claimed construction of offshore wind turbines is killing the giant animals.Scientists say there is no credible evidence linking offshore wind farms to whale deaths. But that hasn’t stopped conservative groups and ad hoc “not in my back yard”-style anti-development groups from making the connection.The Associated Press sorts fact from fiction when it comes to whales and wind power as the rare North Atlantic right whale’s migration season gets underway:WHERE ARE U.S. OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS?To date, two commercial offshore wind farms are under construction in the United States. Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource are building South Fork Wind, located 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York. Ørs...

Vatican to publish never-before-seen homilies by Pope Benedict XVI during his 10-year retirement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

ROME (AP) — The Vatican next year will publish a collection of never-before-seen homilies delivered by the late Pope Benedict XVI during his private Sunday Masses, most of them penned during his 10-year retirement, officials said Saturday.The consecrated women who tended to Benedict during his pontificate and retirement recorded the homilies as he delivered them, and have now transcribed them for publication by the Vatican’s publishing house.Thirty of the homilies date from Benedict’s pontificate, while around 100 more are from his retirement, said a statement from the publisher, the Joseph Ratzinger Foundation and the Vatican’s communications office. All are in Italian, the German-born theologian’s adopted language.The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, in conjunction with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag, published the first of the homilies Saturday. It is a meditation on the figure of Joseph that Benedict delivered on Dec. 22, 2013, just a few months after he became the...

US tensions with China are fraying long-cultivated academic ties. Will the chill hurt US interests?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the 1980s, Fu Xiangdong was a young Chinese virology student who came to the United States to study biochemistry. More than three decades later, he had a prestigious professorship in California and was conducting promising research on Parkinson’s disease.But now Fu is doing his research at a Chinese university. His American career was derailed as U.S.-China relations unraveled, putting his collaborations with a Chinese university under scrutiny. He ended up resigning.Fu’s story mirrors the rise and fall of U.S.-China academic engagement. Beginning in 1978, such cooperation expanded for decades, largely insulated from the fluctuations in relations between the two countries. Today, it’s in decline, with Washington viewing Beijing as a strategic rival and there are growing fears about Chinese spying. The number of Chinese students in the United States is down, and U.S.-Chinese research collaboration is shrinking. Academics are shying away from potential China...

About 300 Indian travelers are sequestered in a French airport in a human trafficking probe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:51 GMT

VATRY, France (AP) — About 300 Indian citizens heading to Central America were sequestered in a French airport for a third day Saturday after a dramatic police operation prompted by a tip that those aboard might be victims of human trafficking, authorities said.Those aboard included children and families. The local civil protection agency told regional broadcaster France-3 that the youngest passenger is a toddler of 21 months, and that among the children are 13 unaccompanied minors.Local authorities hung white tarps across the soaring bay windows of the small Vatry Airport in Champagne country to ensure privacy for the passengers inside. An unmarked plane near the terminal appeared to be the aircraft grounded since Thursday. Other flights were canceled or rerouted as the airport was transformed into the hub of a vast trafficking investigation.The 15 crew members of the Legend Airlines charter flight — en route from Fujairah airport in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua —...