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Reynolds, McElhenney make audacious Wrexham offer to Bale

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

WREXHAM, Wales (AP) — Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are making an audacious — and very public — bid to entice Gareth Bale out of retirement to play a season at Wrexham.Bale, a Wales great who retired after the World Cup at age 33, offered his congratulations to Wrexham’s celebrity owners following the team’s promotion to the fourth tier of English soccer at the weekend.In a response to Bale’s video message, McElhenney wrote on Twitter: “Hey Gareth Bale let’s play golf, where I totally won’t spend 4 hours trying to convince you to un-retire for one last magical season.”Bale, a passionate golfer in his spare time, replied “Depends what course…” He also tagged in the R&A, which organizes the British Open from its base at the home of golf in St. Andrews, Scotland.Reynolds weighed in on Wednesday, tweeting: “I will shave a professional-grade golf course into Rob’s back if you’ll give Wrexham a season.”The pursuit of Bale looks a long shot, given he is three months into retir...

Long-serving New Carrollton police chief dismissed

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

The city of New Carrollton, Maryland, has fired its longtime police chief, David Rice. Rice had led the small police department for nearly 18 years as the city’s first police chief.Mayor Phelecia Nembhard confirmed with WTOP that Rice was dismissed Tuesday for personnel reasons. The mayor declined to provide details about the dismissal, saying that city attorneys advised her not to discuss the personnel matter.Problems for Rice began late last year when the chief was prohibited from entering the police department building because of a confrontation with a city employee, who filed a restraining order against him.Mayor Nembhard said that the city would immediately advertise the open position in a search for a qualified candidate to become New Carrollton’s new police chief.Source

NHL players shrug off concerns after Barron’s skate to face

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

Morgan Barron’s stitched-up face courtesy of a skate blade in an NHL playoff game sent a shudder across the league. That doesn’t mean his fellow players are ready to cover up.Barron is currently playing with a full face cage on his helmet after he needed 75 stitches in Game 1 of his Winnipeg Jets playoff series against Vegas. Golden Knights’ goalie Laurent Brossoit’s skate blade became jammed into the space between Barron’s face and his half-visor during a scramble.The stitches run from the top of Barron’s forehead to the corner of his right eye. He came back to play in that game and has played in the three since then, too.While many players use cut-resistance socks and wristbands, they have historically met any changes to head gear with resistance. “Freak accident” was a common refrain from players when asked about Barron’s face.“Super-unfortunate event and glad the guy’s OK because that was really scary,” Edmonton captain Connor McDavid told The Canadian Press. “Any ti...

Coalition taps DOJ in fight over possible historic cemetery in Prince William Co.

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

The Department of Justice is being asked to step into a battle over land that one organization says is home to the final resting place of people who lived in the Broad Run, Virginia, community of Thoroughfare.Frank Washington said his family was buried in a cemetery on the land now owned by a brewery. In a letter to the DOJ’s civil rights division claims, Washington said the continued development of the land and Prince William County not stepping in to halt the building rises to the level of a hate crime.“I feel like if this had been any other cemetery in a white community or confederate cemetery, and these things are happening, we would not be at this point two years later. There would be an outrage,” Washington said.In addition to calling for a federal probe, Washington and his organization, The Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare, is suing the brewery and the county after the property was sold in a tax sale two years ago.According to Washington and Qasim Ras...

Commercial lunar lander presumed lost after historic moon landing attempt

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

(CNN) — A Japanese lunar lander, carrying a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates, attempted to find its footing on the moon’s surface Tuesday — and potentially mark the world’s first lunar landing for a commercially developed spacecraft. But flight controllers on the ground were not immediately able to regain contact, prompting the company to presume the spacecraft was lost.The lander, built by Japanese firm Ispace, launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 11. The spacecraft then made a three-month trek to enter orbit around the moon, which lies about 239,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Earth, using a low-energy trajectory. Overall, the journey took the lander about 870,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) through space.Touchdown was expected to occur Tuesday at 12:40 p.m. ET, which is Wednesday at 1:40 a.m. Japan Standard Time.Minutes passed as the mission control team worked to regain contact with the vehicle after an expec...

China sends top wolf warrior Lu Shaye to the dog house

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

PARIS — With friends like this, who needs enemies. Less than three weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron returned from a three-day visit to China, where he hailed “common ambitions” with Beijing, China’s top Paris-based wolf warrior lashed out — again. The outrageous diplomatic faux pas from Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, where he questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet states on French television last week, was just the latest in a series of provocations. The Chinese ambassador has built a reputation for an at times flagrant disregard of diplomatic protocol, spreading disinformation and going a bit rogue on Twitter.Among the pack of China’s wolf warriors, named after nationalistic action movies depicting a Chinese army hero fighting villains, Lu was known as an alpha operator. The provocateur’s remarks on ex-Soviet states that came in response to a question on whether he considered Crimea — which was annexed by Russia in 2014 — part of Ukraine un...

Boston school to be renamed to honor civil rights icon Mel King

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

Boston will honor civil rights icon and trailblazing politician Mel King by naming a school after him. City officials will gather at 90 Warren Avenue at 10 a.m. to celebrate the renaming of the McKinley Schools to the Melvin H. King South End Academy.Mayor Wu, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper, School Leader Cindie Neilson, and Joyce King are all expected to attend the event. King was a longtime community activist, educator, and lawmaker who made history as the first Black person to make it on the ballot for Boston mayor in 1983. He died last month at the age of 94. A mural depicting King and his famous words, “Love is the question and the answer” is painted on one of the McKinley Schools’ buildings.

Rinse & Repeat

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

The pattern hasn’t changed all that much the last several days as cool air aloft has sparked an occasional shower popping up. Today, the pattern is similar with just a few isolated showers popping up across the interior. That means much of the day is dry, but with an east wind prevailing, it’ll be a bit cooler today vs. the last couple of days and clouds are more stubborn at times. Highs range from near 50 at the coast to mid to upper 50s inland. Tomorrow, the pop-up shower chance is farther east, as anywhere will be fair game for a passing shower or two in the afternoon. It’ll be cool and mostly cloudy as highs hold in the low to mid 50s. Not a washout of a day, but certainly chilly and a bit dreary at times. Friday is the pick of the week. Highs head for the mid 60s inland and run in the 50s along the coast under a mostly sunny sky. Showers arrive by Saturday afternoon as temps hold in the 50s. Those showers linger through the night but taper early Sunday. Sunda...

Lawmakers to hold hearing on Boston Marathon bombings following 10th anniversary of attack

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will hold a Senate hearing Wednesday morning on how the Boston Marathon bombings changed terrorist prevention and response efforts. The hearing is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. and will be led by Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chair of the Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee, and Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member.Titled “Lessons Learned: 10 Years Since the Boston Marathon Bombings,” the hearing will feature former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, former Deputy FEMA Administrator and Chief of Boston Emergency Medical Services Rich Serino, and former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Kerry Sleeper – all of whom held these positions at the time of the 2013 bombings“New England will never forget the day that two terrorists detonated bombs during the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring hundreds,” Hassan said in a statement. “Ten years after this horrific tragedy, we must examine how that att...

ASK IRA: Is the Heat’s 3-point shooting sustainable this postseason?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:31:28 GMT

Q; Jimmy Butler has been sublime, but this series also has highlighted what this season’s biggest frustration was: poor shooting. When they shoot well, especially from 3, this is a totally different team. Do you think this stretch is a fluke, or are they finally returning to last year’s form? – Ruben, Davie.A: That’s the issue going forward. Is this shooting a progression to the mean from what was abysmal regular-season shooting? Or will there be a regression to the mean of how they shot during the regular season? The fact that there now is more Duncan Robinson and less Victor Oladipo could keep the percentage higher (with all due respect to what Vic is going through). And it could be that Jimmy Butler is Dwyane Wade 2.0 when it comes to playoff 3-point shooting rising to another level. (Guess we’ll have to ask Purple Shirt Guy in Charlotte about that one.)Q: Ira, You said Jimmy Butler’s Game 4 performance was unprecedented in Heat history, how ab...