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Griner scores 22, Mercury beat Fever 85-63 to snap their six-game losing streak

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Brittney Griner scored 22 points, Diana Taurasi had 17 points and six assists, and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Indiana Fever 85-63 on Thursday night to snap a six-game losing streak.It was the first win for interim coach Nikki Blue, who took over after Phoenix fired Vanessa Nygaard on Sunday. The Mercury only scored 62 points against Dallas on Tuesday in Blue’s debut.Brianna Turner added a season-high 11 points for Phoenix (3-11). The Mercury had a season-high 28 assists on 34 made field goals. Sophie Cunningham (concussion evaluation) and Moriah Jefferson (ankle) did not play in the fourth quarter.Phoenix led 31-23 after its highest-scoring first quarter of the season, and it was 52-35 at the break behind Griner’s 15 points.Taurasi made a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions late in the third quarter to help the Mercury lead 72-51 entering the fourth.Kelsey Mitchell scored 15 points for Indiana (5-10), which lost its third straight after back-to-back lo...

Aces rout Liberty 98-81 in a matchup of marquee WNBA teams for their seventh straight win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kelsey Plum scored 18 points and the Las Vegas Aces routed the New York Liberty 98-81 on Thursday night in the first meeting between two of the top teams in the WNBA.It was the seventh consecutive win for the Aces (14-1), who have been nearly unstoppable this season on offense, averaging nearly 93 points a game. All five of the Aces starters scored in double figures, with A’ja Wilson putting in 16 while Jackie Young and Candace Parker each added 15. Chelsea Gray had 14 points and six assists, including a few highlight reel ones.The Aces pulled away in the second half to run away with the much-hyped first matchup between the teams who made the biggest moves in the offseason, with the defending champion Aces signing Parker and Alysha Clark. The Liberty added Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Courtney Vandersloot and Kayla Thornton.The teams came into the game ranked first and second in points per game and both play an unselfish brand of basketball, with the Libert...

Delayed United Airlines passengers wait days for luggage in Denver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — United Airlines travelers have dealt with flight delays and baggage issues across the country. Some of them, at Denver International Airport, told FOX31 they have waited days to get their bags.United said the situation is improving, but folks were waiting on their luggage at the baggage claim area, which has piled up at DIA.Some travelers shared their stories of delayed flights, staying at a hotel another night and waiting hours — even days — for their luggage when they finally got home.For their part, United told FOX31 there's been an "overnight effort to further repair schedules and match separated crews with aircraft." Colorado’s fireworks laws have a wide range. Here’s what you need to know "I got a friend waiting outside for the past 30 minutes just doing laps so debating if I go home or stay," Perry Fitz, a holiday traveler, said."We are just waiting on our luggage. We're hoping to get it because we really just want to go home," Sarah, another traveler, said....

Tennessee law changes starting July 1 will restrict trans health care and fund more school safety

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Months after Tennessee lawmakers finished a chaotic legislative session, many of the most hotly contested laws are poised to take effect Saturday, including measures on health care for transgender children, police oversight, school safety and teacher pay.The new fiscal year begins July 1 in Tennessee, meaning the latest state spending plan and a slew of new statutes will be implemented.This year, hundreds of laws were passed by the state’s GOP-controlled General Assembly and signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who has yet to veto a bill.But the most hectic portion of the monthslong legislative session occurred in the spring, when two Democratic lawmakers were expelled — and another avoided expulsion by just one vote — for participating in a protest seeking stronger gun control laws on the state House floor. After a shooting in March that killed six people at a Nashville school, protesters renewed their call for lawmakers to limit gun access.Ultimately, Republ...

Fiery protests grip France for 3rd night over deadly police shooting of a teenager

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

NANTERRE, France (AP) — French protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in the streets of some French cities overnight as tensions mounted over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation.Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen, who is only being identified by his first name, Nahel. On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. The French capital also saw garbage bins set ablaze and some store windows smashed.In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city center, regional authorities said.Tens of thousands of police officers were deployed to quell the protests, which have gripped the country three nights in a row. More than 400 people were arrested overnight around the country ...

Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed after China reports weaker manufacturing in June

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed Friday in Asia after China reported slower factory activity in June due to weaker consumer spending and export demand. Tokyo and Sydney declined while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced. U.S. futures are little changed and oil prices ticked higher. Adding to signs that an economic rebound following the end of anti-virus controls is cooling, an official survey showed China’s factory activity contracted for another month in June as export orders decreased.The world’s second-largest economy revived following the end in December of pandemic controls on travel and business activity. But that revival has faded due to lackluster consumer spending at home and weak demand for exports following interest rate hikes in the United States and Europe to cool inflation.“Looking forward, policy support will be key to preventing a further deceleration in growth. Aside from some token rate cuts, officials have so far been slow to announce meaningful stimulus,” Juli...

A Vermont museum is gifted a more than 200-piece collection of Native American art

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

SHELBURNE, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont museum has acquired a more than 200-piece collection of Native American art and is planning to construct a $12.6 million facility to house the pieces that make up a rare national collection in the Northeast. The collection donated to the Shelburne Museum is comprised of late 19th and early 20th century pottery, beadwork, clothing and weavings predominantly from Plains and Southwest communities, and combined with its existing Native American collection represents nearly 80 tribes, the museum said. “Together, the two collections are over 500 items and that’s a center of gravity, which is fairly important for northern New England,” said museum director and CEO Thomas Denenberg. The 9,750-square-foot (906-square-meter) building — called the Perry Center for Native American Art — will be designed by Adjaye Associates, an internationally known firm that designed the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Was...

Georgia launches Medicaid expansion in closely watched test of work requirements

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia is offering a new bargain to some adults without health insurance beginning Saturday: Go to work or school and the state will cover you.But advocates decry the plan, which will insure far fewer people than a full expansion of the state-federal Medicaid program, as needlessly restrictive and expensive.The program is likely to be closely watched as Republicans in Congress push to let states require work from some current Medicaid enrollees. Madeline Guth, a senior policy analyst with the Kaiser Family Foundation, said Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration is unlikely to approve work requirements, but a future Republican president could.“I think there will be a lot of eyes on Georgia,” Guth said.Georgia is one of 10 remaining states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid eligibility to include individuals and families earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line, or $20,120 annually for a single person and $41,400 for a family of four. Medicaid exp...

Dodgers pummel Rockies 14-3 as Colorado remains winless in divisional series, on track for franchise-worst record against NL West

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

The Rockies are lost in the West.Colorado continued to beeline to a third straight last-place finish in its division, as the Dodgers romped Colorado 14-3 in Thursday’s series finale. It was a defeat that further emphasized the gap between LoDo’s team and the other four clubs in the National League West.With the pummeling at the hands of their big bro from L.A., the Rockies are now 0-6-1 in seven divisional series this year. Their 5-17 mark (.227) against the West is on pace to top the franchise-low of .361 from ’97, and it’s the third-lowest winning percentage of any team within divisional play since the West was founded in 1969.Thursday’s game, delayed one hour and 50 minutes by a hailstorm that pummeled the city a few hours before scheduled first pitch, again exposed the Rockies’ patchwork rotation.Chase Anderson, whose nine earned runs in his last start helped uncork the worst loss in franchise history, wasn’t sharp again as L.A. tagged h...

Keeler: Hail, Rockies ground crew! If Dick Monfort hustled as hard as Colorado staff did during Thursday’s storm, Denver could be great baseball town again.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:00 GMT

If Dick Monfort hustled as hard as the guys with the shovels and leaf blowers did Thursday night at Coors Field, the Rockies might be telling Arizona to eat their dust instead of the other way ‘round.“Yeah, we were on The Rooftop (bar) and we were like, ‘There’s no way they’re playing this thing,’” Jordan Francies told me from the cheap seats up in Section 402 while the Rox grounds crew somehow made Coors playable for Colorado-Dodgers after the mother of all hail storms had blitzed LoDo just a few hours earlier.The home dugout at Coors with 2 hours to first pitch … #Rockies #MLB pic.twitter.com/g5dn7kAt8i— Sean Keeler (@SeanKeeler) June 29, 2023“There was this giant pile of hail in right field. (We were like), ‘There’s no way’. We saw some grounds crew guy running through the outfield, and it was just splashing.”Francies and his old college roomie Fernando Careaga watched those grounds guys grind for hours with empathy. And more than a little sympathy.See, a ...