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Better QB health brought Baltimore and Miami to the top of the AFC entering this weekend’s showdown

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — When Tua Tagovailoa outdueled Lamar Jackson early last season — with both quarterbacks playing like MVP candidates — it showed how much potential the Dolphins and Ravens might have.Those teams both had to wait a year, but now they’re sitting at the top of the AFC. They just needed their star passers to stay healthy.“I got a lot of respect for Lamar, the things that he’s done throughout his career,” Tagovailoa said. “I can vividly remember when I was in college, I think he was in the NFL, and he reached out to me. He told me I was balling, and I thought that was the one of the coolest things. I think that was the year he won the MVP.”Jackson is now the favorite to win his second MVP after leading the Ravens to a big victory Monday night at San Francisco. Baltimore (12-3) has the top record in the NFL and can clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a victory over Miami on Sunday. If the Dolphins (11-4) win at Baltimore, they would control their own path to the top...

Harvard faces Friday deadline to respond to House on plagiarism scandal

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

New York (CNN) — Harvard is due to respond by Friday to a demand from lawmakers for wide-ranging documents linked to the plagiarism controversy swirling around embattled President Claudine Gay.The university’s expected response to the House Education and Workforce Committee could provide new details on the allegations and on how Harvard officials have responded.Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the committee, wrote a letter on December 20 to Penny Pritzker, the senior fellow of the powerful Harvard Corporation, the university’s top governing board, demanding information on Harvard’s response to “credible allegations of plagiarism” by Gay over a 24-year period.Foxx’s letter requested a “written response” by December 29 to produce a series of documents such as “all documents and communications concerning the initial allegations of plagiarism and the ‘independent review’” of Gay’s scholarship, including “all meeting minutes, transcripts, notes, coordi...

Spending fights, supply chain delays slow mobile health boom

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

Lauren Clason |  CQ-Roll Call (TNS)Nan’s Donuts, located in the central Pennsylvania region of Sugar Valley, is only open Wednesdays and Saturdays. That’s why Don Lynch parks Evangelical Community Hospital’s mobile health clinic in the parking lot of the adjoining Amish grocery on the first Wednesday of each month.Nan’s Amish bakery offers more than 40 types of donuts, including rotating seasonal flavors — like pumpkin streusel — that tempt the sweet tooth of valley residents from well beyond the town borders of Loganton.Loganton is home to only 463 people. But Nan’s has around 1,600 followers on Facebook.Lynch, a paramedic and the hospital’s mobile coordinator, piggybacks on Nan’s foot traffic to draw in rural residents for free preventive blood screenings. The hospital itself is located 30 miles east — a tough trip for the elderly and those traveling by horse and buggy.The use of mobile health clinics exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the need to reach patients in o...

Georgii Merkulov gets his shot with Bruins

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

Georgii Merkulov can score goals. That much we know.The 23-year-old Russian centerman demonstrated that in his one season at Ohio State and in Providence the last two seasons. And it’s a trait the Boston Bruins can certainly use, considering their paltry output lately at 5-on-5 scoring.But Merkulov, officially called up by the B’s on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Garden tilt against the New Jersey Devils, needed to make improvements to his overall game before he was considered a legitimate candidate for NHL duty.Whether or not that work is done remains to be seen, but he’s played well enough that the B’s couldn’t keep him down on the farm any longer without taking a look at him. That fact, coupled with the need for more scoring in Boston contributed to what is an interesting NHL debut on Saturday.“It’s probably a combination of those both,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “We want to score. But we don’t want to score more by sacrificing our te...

Column: Rick Armstrong’s Aurora-Elgin area top 10 sports stories of the year for 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

So many choices and so little space.Limiting a year’s worth of work to my personal top 10 is never an easy task.The list could easily number 20 or 25, but the assignment calls for 10.Candidates for the top spot were many as well.From a West Aurora graduate pitching her team to the College World Series to players of the year in football, boys basketball and softball, we have those bases covered.There’s also an NFL player from the Aurora-Elgin area aiming for the Hall of Fame, the revival of a high school football powerhouse and a basketball play you don’t see every day.And that leads us to something we haven’t seen in 40 years.So, without further ado, here goes. Let’s count them down:10. A career for the agesI didn’t get to witness Hannah Beatus pitch during a six-year college career extended by injuries and the pandemic at Grand Valley State, but the former West Aurora standout was worthy of the follow-up I wrote and them some. Called “Grand...

Would your documents survive a disaster? What to protect and how

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

By Kate Ashford | NerdWalletFloods, fires, historic storms — severe weather events are on the rise. If your home was hit by high water or a wildfire, would your important papers be safe?“Unfortunately, I’ve had clients who’ve been victims of fires, flooding, hurricanes,” says Sev Tamayo, an agent with Goosehead Insurance in Palm Coast, Florida. “Some of them were prepared and some of them weren’t.”Don’t be unprepared. Here’s what you need to do to protect your important documents.What you should keep safeThe most important items to keep in a safe place are things that are difficult to replicate, which includes documents that prove identity, legal process or ownership. If you’d have to call a government agency to process a replacement, you probably want to store it somewhere where it can stay damage-free. You should also consider what you’d need to access if a disaster strikes.Here are some items to consider, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency:Birth, adoption, death...

2024 first-quarter housing trends: Rates begin to thaw

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

Erik J. Martin |  Bankrate (TNS)We may be in the thick of winter, but many homebuyers and sellers are starting to have warm thoughts about the housing market. That’s because, looking ahead, market indicators suggest we’ll see increased activity thanks to lower mortgage rates. Yet home prices remain high and inventory levels are tight in many markets.How will the first quarter of 2024 shake out when it comes to rates, prices, sales activity and more? We asked top real estate experts to identify upcoming trends and offer their predictions.What to expect in Q1 2024The first quarter of the year is often a slower one for real estate due to colder weather and the inclination among buyers and sellers to wait things out until closer to spring.“We typically see housing inventory remaining low until February and then ramping up from March onward,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. “Homebuying and open house visits also ramp up starting in March.”Rick...

Myth or reality? Bigfoot sightings tracked over past century

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

You may be surprised to learn that, since 1926, Bigfoot has been spotted stomping through Colorado 130 times.That’s according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, based in Dana Point, Calif. It may also be surprising to learn that a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization actually exists.Then again, polling has shown that more than 1 in 5 Americans believe the big guy is out there, just out of sight. That’s roughly the same number who believe the universe began with the big bang.The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization is headed by Matt Moneymaker — a researcher featured in Animal Planet Channel’s reality documentary TV series “Finding Bigfoot” — who’s pursued the hairy, large creature, also referred to as Sasquatch, since the 1980s.In Colorado, sighting reports typically come from the mountains. Bigfoot apparently isn’t a fan of the Eastern Plains, and tends to avoid the big city traffic, too.“If you live in the city, you might not know what people who live in the mounta...

South Africa launches case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South Africa launched a case Friday at the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks. Israel swiftly rejected the filing “with disgust.”South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice alleges that “acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character” as they are committed with the intent “to destroy Palestinians in Gaza” as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.It also asks the Hague-based court to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza. A hearing into that request is likely in the coming days or weeks. The case, if it goes ahead, will take years.The Israeli government “rejected with disgust” the South African genocide accusations, calling it a “blood libel.” A Foreign Minis...

White rhino gives birth to calf at Toronto Zoo after 11 years in the facility

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:16:30 GMT

A white rhino calf was born at the Toronto Zoo this week.Zoo officials say a rhino named Sabi gave birth to a healthy calf just before 8 a.m. on Thursday.This is the 15-year-old rhino’s second calf — her first calf Theo was born in 2017 and left Toronto in late 2021.The zoo says Sabi arrived there in 2012 and her long reproductive cycles made conception a challenge.The zoo staff made adjustments to Sabi’s daily care and diet, and her behaviour suggested that her hormonal cycles had switched to the typical length of 30 days in the spring of last year.Officials say the breeding introduction of Sabi with white rhino male Tom in the summer of 2022 was successful.White rhinos in the wild are listed as “near threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.There are fewer than 16,000 left in the wild, with numbers declining due to habitat loss and the continued increase in poaching for their horns in the...