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Kyle Busch ahead of Richmond: Parity keeps it interesting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Kyle Busch is off to a solid start for Richard Childress Racing with a victory, two top-10 finishes and sitting fourth in points through six races. Now comes Richmond Raceway, where Busch leads all active drivers with six career victories, to start a stretch of three consecutive short-track events.Ford driver Joey Logano and Toyota driver Tyler Reddick have won the last two races after Chevrolet drivers won the first four, and Busch said that’s a good thing.“Parity is always good, right?” he said Saturday. “Last year we had 19 different winners, every manufacturer, obviously. … it’s been a while since it’s been that few of races won by the top winner of the series,” he said. Chase Elliott led all drivers with five wins last season, one year after Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson won 10 and two years after Kevin Harvick won nine. NASCAR’s top series has had five different winners already, with William Byron the only two-time winne...

Bucks’ Thanasis Antetokounmpo gets one-game suspension

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo has been suspended one game without pay for head-butting Boston Celtics forward Blake Griffin on Thursday night.Antetokounmpo was ejected from the game after the incident, which occurred with 1:25 remaining in the Bucks’ 140-99 blowout loss. Antetokounmpo will serve his suspension Sunday when the Bucks host the Philadelphia 76ers.The 6-foot-7 Antetokounmpo was going up for a shot from under the basket when he took a hard foul from Griffin, which resulted in a flagrant-1 foul on the Celtics forward. Antetokounmpo responded by head-butting him.Antetokounmpo is the older brother of Bucks teammate and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. He has appeared in 33 games and is averaging 0.8 points, 0.9 rebounds and 4.2 minutes. ___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Vote now for Colorado's best burger: 8 remain in Round 4 of Big Burger Bracket

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- More than 1,500 people have shared their votes in the Big Burger Bracket, with more than 15,000 votes tallied through three rounds. We're now down to eight restaurants and bars in the quest to find Colorado's best burger.>> Vote now: Big Burger BracketFourth-round voting runs through Sunday at noon, with voting for the winner beginning Monday at noon.The remaining matchups are: Crown Burgers in Denver vs. Westbound & Down Brewing in Idaho Springs, Bob's Atomic Burgers in Golden vs. My Brother's Bar in Denver, Rosie's Diner in Monument vs. Bud's Cafe & Bar in Sedalia, and The Cherry Cricket vs. Bunk House Burgers in Canon City.The initial 64 places were selected through Google reviews in early March. A search was done for the highest rated burgers in each Colorado county. Any location which had at least 4.5 stars and 900 total reviews was included in the bracket. Any restaurants with more than one location were included once on the bracket, using the hi...

Yankees Notebook: Estevan Florial designated for assignment, Luis Severino begins throwing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

A once-promising future in pinstripes may have come to an end on Saturday afternoon.The Yankees designated former top prospect Estevan Florial for assignment. The 25-year-old was out of minor-league options as the Yankees had to clear the way to have an even 13 position players and 13 pitchers on the 26-man roster.Florial was the odd man out.“[The conversation with Florial was] difficult,” said manager Aaron Boone before Saturday afternoon’s game against the Giants at the Stadium. “In some ways [it was] a little sad. We’ve been through a lot with Flo, such a great kid. The one thing that I tried to remind him and encourage him of is he’s still a young man with a ton of talent.“Whatever happens here over the next few days moving forward, we’ll see, but yeah, tough conversation.”The Dominican native can be traded within the next seven days and if he’s not he will be placed on waivers for any team to pick him up. If he clears ...

Chris Sale’s first Fenway start since 2021 ALCS is worth savoring

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

It’s been 528 days since Chris Sale last pitched in a home game.Game 5 of the 2021 ALCS.Since the 2021 postseason, Sale has suffered a rib stress fracture, fractured a pinky in the second game back (off a line-drive comebacker), and broken his wrist in a bicycle accident while recovering from the pinky injury. The Florida native also weathered one of the worst hurricanes in global history last September.The seemingly endless parade of afflictions over the last 17 months has been so relentless that last summer, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom wondered if someone had a voodoo doll of the pitcher.Charlie Brown standing on the mound under his own personal storm cloud is another apt comparison.So, who is Chris Sale now?He’s no longer the 29-year-old with a seven-year All-Star streak who brought Manny Machado to his knees to clinch the organization’s fourth championship of the century.Maybe he will be again, but at this point, having a healthy spring training and being ready for the st...

Fundraiser set to finish ‘Emily’s Hike’ in New Hampshire

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

Hikers will honor a young Westford woman who died in New Hampshire by climbing multiple peaks this summer and raising funds for a foundation created by her family.The event, dubbed “Emily’s Hike To Save a Life” is set for July 29, with proceeds going to the Emily M. Sotelo Persistence and Safety Charitable Foundation, hiking safety initiatives and search and rescue teams. It’s being organized by Hiking Buddies NH 48, a nonprofit group that connects people interested in hiking the 48 mountains taller than 4,000 feet in New Hampshire.Sotelo, of Westford, Mass., disappeared on Mount Lafayette on Nov. 20. Her body was found three days later, on what would have been her 20th birthday. Though she had nearly completed her quest to summit all 48 peaks, she had almost no experience with winter hiking, and officials say she was woefully unprepared for the brutal conditions that killed her.In a video to promote the fundraiser, Sotelo’s mother said the outpouring of support from the hiking comm...

Pronoun change proposed for state constitution, ‘his’ no longer applies

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

The state’s constitution needs to get with the times, according to lawmakers who are proposing a change to the official manner of address for His Excellency the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, now that the duly elected executive is a “her.”“History has blown by the Massachusetts constitution,” 8th Essex state Rep. Jenny Armini said during a hearing before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary this week. “Clearly, the Constitution’s existing language had little impact on the recent electoral fortunes of women. But words matter.”According to the state’s founding document, as written by John Adams, the Governor of Massachusetts should be referred to as “His Excellency” and the Lt. Governor as “His Honor.”This has worked, mostly, over the hundreds of years since the state’s constitution was adopted, but it has grown a bit cumbersome in the era of Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll.The pair are the first two women to lead the state, and so f...

China can’t get US data under TikTok plan, ByteDance attorney says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

Under intense scrutiny from Washington that could lead to a potential ban, the top attorney for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance defended the social media platform’s plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China.“The basic approach that we’re following is to make it physically impossible for any government, including the Chinese government, to get access to U.S. user data,” said general counsel Erich Andersen during a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press at a cybersecurity conference in Sausalito, Calif., on Friday.ByteDance will continue to develop its new app called Lemon8, Andersen said.“We’re obviously going to do our best with the Lemon8 app to comply with U.S. law and to make sure we do the right thing here,” Andersen said, referring to the new social app that resembles Instagram and Pinterest. “But I think we got a long way to go with that application — it’s pretty much a startup phase.”ByteDance’s best-known app, TikTok, is under intense scrutiny ove...

Ukrainian court puts Orthodox leader under house arrest

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraine’s top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian agression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraine’s most revered Orthodox site, has denied the charges and resisted the authorities’ order to vacate the complex. After the court’s ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it.“I am accepting this,” he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. “Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldn’t I accept this?”In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russia’s invasion was politically driven.“I have never been on the side of ...

Israelis still protest legal overhaul despite suspension

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday against a controversial plan to revamp the country’s legal system, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suspension of the changes earlier in the week.The protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub on the Mediterranean, for the 13th weekly demonstration, raising Israeli flags and banners against what they said were plans to weaken the Supreme Court. Several smaller rallies took place in other towns and cities.The protests have been going on since Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in the country’s history, introduced the changes.But on Monday, Netanyahu delayed the overhaul plan that deeply divided the Israelis, saying he wanted “to avoid civil war” by making time to seek a compromise with political opponents. Protest organizers, however, vowed to keep up the pressure, calling for the plans to be scrapped.The proposal has plunged Israel into its worst domestic crisis in decades. ...