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Ira Winderman: In metrics of misery, this Heat season one for the ages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

To the Miami Heat’s credit, there at least has been candor about just how trying a season this has been.Expectations have not been met. Opportunities have been squandered. Disappointment often carried the day.Which led to a question this past week to those in and around the organization, many who have been around from the start or close to the start:Has this been the most disappointing/frustrating season of the franchise’s 35?No, not the worst. Not with a pair of 15-67 clunkers in the mix. But that was with Ron Rothstein asked to drive an Edsel in the augural 1988-89 go-round and then the Heat in full tank-a-thon mode in 2007-08, when the closing-night rotation featured the likes of Stephane Lasme, Kasib Powell, Earl Barron and Mark Blount.Those were times when you could see it coming, as it was with other trying seasons, when from the outset it was clear there either was not enough in place to contend or a goal of building toward something better for future seasons.But ...

California's largest reservoirs close to total capacity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

(KTXL) -- As March comes to a close and California gets another month packed with winter storms the state's largest reservoirs are nearing their storage limit. - Video above: California Drought Monitor Shows Vast ImprovementOn Thursday, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released the most recent hydro data from eight of the state's reservoirs. California's two largest reservoirs, Shasta and Oroville, are both sitting at 82% of their total capacity and are well over 100% of their average storage for the date. This 1955 dam still produces needed power for Sacramento Water levels at Oroville Reservoir, coming storms and snow water runoff caused dam operators to use the dam's main spillway on March 10 for the first time in four years.California Department of Water ResourcesThe peak water release of 35,000 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) began flowing on March 17 and would continue through March 20 when the release was released to 27,500 cfs. As of Friday, the rel...

Syria’s FM visits Egypt in step toward restoring ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Syria’s chief diplomat was in Egypt on Saturday in a step toward normalizing ties between the two countries. It was the first trip to the capital of Cairo for a Syrian foreign minister in over a decade.Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, according to Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesperson for the Egyptian foreign ministry.Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported that Mekdad would discuss bilateral ties and the latest developments in the region and the world.Mekdad’s visit comes as the two countries inch toward re-establishing ties. It’s been more than a decade since Syria was globally isolated after President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on mass protests against his rule in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. The unrest quickly descended into protracted civil war.For years, many public figures in Egypt have urged the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to restore ties with Assad’s government. They also pushed for Damascus...

Gas prices increase in NJ, around nation amid higher demand

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gas prices increased in New Jersey and around the nation at large amid increased demand as warmer spring weather lures motorists back out onto the roads, analysts said.AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey on Friday was $3.25, an increase of two cents from last week. Drivers were paying $4.19 a gallon on average a year ago at this time.The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.50, up six cents from last week. Drivers were paying $4.22 a gallon on average a year ago at this time.Analysts say tightening gasoline supplies and signs of slowing inflation have pushed oil prices above the $70 per barrel mark, and that and robust gas demand are likely to send prices at the pump higher for the time being. The Associated Press

Wisconsin Supreme Court control, abortion access at stake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and likely the future of abortion access, Republican-drawn legislative maps and years of GOP policies in the key swing state rests with the outcome an election Tuesday that has seen record campaign spending.The winner of the high-stakes contest between Republican-backed Dan Kelly and Democratic-supported Janet Protasiewicz will determine majority control of the court headed into the 2024 presidential election. The court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in 2020, and both sides expect another close race in 2024.It’s the latest election where abortion rights has been the central issue since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. It’s also an example of how officially nonpartisan court races have grown into political battles as major legal fights play out at the state level.All of it has fueled spending that will double, and likely triple or more, the previous high o...

Flying for spring break? Here are the faces behind MSP voices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

Have you ever caught a critical piece of information from the amplified voice of a stranger at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport? You’re not alone and now, you know who to thank.MSP announced the new voices of nine employees that can be heard throughout the terminals welcoming and informing passengers. From an animal ambassador to an aircraft load agent, these folks will tell you what you need to know.The Voices of MSP is an annual program where employees deliver public announcements to travelers. This year’s chosen voices include employees from Delta Air Lines, Endeavor Air, Sun Country Airlines, Airport Foundation MSP and the Metropolitan Airports Commission.Employees from Minneapolis-St. Paul airport have been selected as this year’s Voices of MSP and can be heard making public announcements throughout the airport. (Courtesy of The Metropolitan Airports Commission)“I was quite surprised when I was selected,” said Kristen Murphy, a pilot recruiter with Endeavo...

Working Strategies: Talking yourself in or out of an opportunity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

Amy LindgrenThree years of tuition-free law school; a leadership promotion; a year’s salary in exchange for leaving a job — are these opportunities or are they traps?Naturally, the answer depends on your situation, and on the circumstances of the offer. What I find interesting is that most of my clients have responded to these situations as if they were traps, looking for what could go wrong before imagining what the better outcome might be.Perhaps that’s just human instinct. Or it could be that my clients are a self-selecting group of individuals who seek counsel only when they think something is suspicious.Whatever the reasons, these conversations have given me plenty of practice with a situation I call “talking yourself out of an opportunity.” If you’re prone to saying no before you say yes, you might benefit from running your next opportunity/trap through this list of questions:1. What are you afraid of? In the case of the college senior who’d been offered a full-ride law ...

Late-night visit to Van Nuys home leaves 1 dead, 1 wounded

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

Two men were shot, one of them fatally, by a late-night visitor to a Van Nuys home early Saturday morning, according to officials. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a man approached at home in the 15100 block of Gilmore Street at about 1:40 a.m. and knocked on the door of a home containing two Armenian men.When one man inside the house opened the door, the visitor spoke to that man and another inside the home in Armenian, then opened fire, striking both men, police said. One victim, believed to be about 50 years old, was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.The other victim, 44, was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.The shooter, who is also Armenian, remains at large, police said. His identity and age remain unknown, though he was last seen wearing a dark sweatshirt and black baseball cap.Investigators said they are unsure of the relationship between the shooter and victims, but the attack was not gang-related."Both victims, they're rela...

House party shooting in Lancaster kills 1, wounds another

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

A shooting at a house party in Lancaster early Saturday morning left one man dead and another in critical condition.The shooting at a home in the 44000 block of Cerisa Street unfolded at about 1:30 a.m., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a news release. When deputies arrived, they found two men who had been shot in the upper body. One was declared dead at the scene, while the other was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.No information about the suspect has been released, and the investigation is ongoing.Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. To provide information anonymously, call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or visit lacrimestoppers.org.

California’s housing bubble pops as Fed shuts the pump

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:47 GMT

California’s latest homebuying debacle is a pumped-up storyline we’ve seen before – even if each housing bubble has its own shape and size.California housing has never been cheap and buyers must heavily rely on generous financing. And if the market looked bubbly – when values exceed economic logic – there’s usually an aggressive monetary benefactor helping to overinflate it.This tenuous relationship with mortgage money also creates volatility. When that monetary pump disappears, bubbles burst and the market takes an ugly reset.The latest example comes courtesy of the Federal Reserve, which morphed from benefactor (the creator of historically cheap mortgages) to the villain (an economy-icing hiker of interest rates) in just two years.The loss of that Fed pump chilled the pandemic era’s California homebuying binge. By November 2022, statewide home sales fell to their third-lowest level in Realtor data dating to 1990.The median price of an existing, single-famil...