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Mike Lupica: Damian Lillard doesn’t owe the Trail Blazers anything. He’s earned the right to leave

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

If you are choosing up sides here between the Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard, you pick Lillard all day long. You do this unless you are a Knicks fan, because Knicks fans would rather Lillard go anywhere except to the Heat if he leaves Portland, including the moon.Of course, you can go the other way on Lillard.You can say that he has a contract, and a real good one, that nobody forced him to sign a two-year extension with the Trail Blazers last summer, one that runs through the 2026-27 season and will pay him around $120 millions over its final two years. He is one of the best players on the planet and he is being paid that way, one hundred percent. And because the Blazers are paying him that way, they had a right to assume that a year later he wouldn’t want to go play basketball somewhere else.Somewhere else means old Coach Riley’s Heat, a team that a month ago was in the NBA Finals against the Jokic Nuggets. Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin have made it clear that ...

Mets take series opener against Padres after 10th inning outburst gives them 6th straight win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

SAN DIEGO — After five games of stellar pitching, timely hitting and clean defense, the Mets went to San Diego and wobbled and bobbled their way through the first nine innings. The 10th, however, was a different story.Facing the Padres in the final series before the All-Star break, the Mets showed resolve by tying the game in the fifth inning after a rocky start, then finishing the job with a four-run 10th inning to win 7-5 on Friday night at Petco Park.It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win, and it was the Mets’ sixth in a row, a new season-high.“We fought back on that one,” said second baseman Jeff McNeil. “Battled all night and it feels good to get that one.”Facing left-hander Tom Cosgrove (1-2) in the 10th, McNeil, who has struggled all season but even more in recent weeks, drilled a double down the line to lead off the inning and score the ghost runner.“In that situation, I’m just trying to get him over,” McNeil said. R...

An Iowa meteorologist started talking about climate change on newscasts. Then came the harassment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The harassment started to intensify as TV meteorologist Chris Gloninger did more reporting on climate change during local newscasts — outraged emails and even a threat to show up at his house.Gloninger said he had been recruited, in part, to “shake things up” at the Iowa station where he worked, but backlash was building. The man who sent him a series of threatening emails was charged with third-degree harassment. The Des Moines station asked him to dial back his coverage, facing what he called an understandable pressure to maintain ratings.“I started just connecting the dots between extreme weather and climate change, and then the volume of pushback started to increase quite dramatically,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.So, on June 21, he announced that he was leaving KCCI-TV — and his 18-year career in broadcast journalism altogether.Gloninger’s experience is all too common among meteorologists across the country who are encounterin...

South Koreans protest the planned release of Fukushima wastewater during a visit by the head of IAEA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of people marched in South Korea’s capital on Saturday demanding Japan scrap its plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, as the head of the U.N. nuclear agency met with senior officials to discuss public concerns over foods safety.The protests came a day after South Korea’s government formally endorsed the safety of the Japanese plans, saying that the contamination levels of water pumped out from the plant would be within acceptable standards and wouldn’t meaningfully affect South Korean seas as long as the plant’s treatment systems work as designed.The announcement aligned with the views of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which greenlit the Japanese discharge plans this week, saying the treated wastewater would meet international safety standards and pose negligible environmental and health impacts.Braving blistering summer heat and closely watched by police, the protesters walked in long l...

Climate-hit Pakistan to cooperate with Switzerland on ways to manage the risks of natural disaster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday his country looked forward to cooperating with Switzerland on managing the effects of climate change and receiving an advanced weather warning system from the European country.Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and the head of Pakistan’s disaster management authority, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Nathia Gali resort, located some 85 kilometers from Islamabad, to cooperate on ways to manage natural disaster risks. The two countries announced they will “pool resources” to help strengthen Pakistan’s response to such disasters. The Swiss foreign minister, who was on a three-day visit to Pakistan, said the MoU signing was a “vital step” in helping Pakistan overcome the catastrophic effects of climate change. The situation in Pakistan was a “stark reminder” of the urgent need for international cooperation against climate change beyond borders, he added.The Sout...

The Dutch prime minister hands in his resignation as the government collapses over migration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited the king Saturday to turn in the resignation of his four-party coalition and set the deeply divided Netherlands on track for a general election later this year.King Willem-Alexander flew back from a family vacation in Greece to meet with Rutte, who drove to the palace in his Saab station wagon for the meeting to explain the political crisis that toppled his administration.Rutte declined to answer reporters’ questions as he drove away from the meeting that lasted over an hour, saying the talks with the monarch were private.The vexed issue of reining in migration that has troubled countries across Europe for years was the final stumbling block that brought down Rutte’s government Friday night, exposing the deep ideological differences between the four parties that made up the uneasy coalition.Now it is likely to dominate campaigning for an election that is still months away.“We are the party that can ens...

Scotland wants to decriminalize drugs. The UK government just says no

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Scottish government has proposed decriminalizing possession of all drugs for personal use to tackle one of Europe’s highest overdose death rates.The suggestion was almost instantly blocked by the Conservative U.K. government in London, which said it had “no plans” to soften drug laws.The semi-autonomous Edinburgh government, led by the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said Friday that removing criminal penalties for drug possession would “allow for the provision of safe, evidence-based harm reduction services.”Scotland’s death rate from drug overdoses is three times the rate in the U.K. as a whole and the highest in Western Europe. Last year there were almost 1,100 drug-related deaths in Scotland, which has a population of 5.5 million, according to government figures.“The war on drugs has failed,” Scottish drugs minister Elena Whitham said at a news conference alongside former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and ex-Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, bot...

Suspect arrested in TTC subway stabbing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

The suspect in a subway stabbing that sent a man to hospital with life-threatening injuries Thursday afternoon has been arrested.On Friday, Toronto police located the wanted man and took him into custody.Moses Lewin, 25, of no fixed address has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and two counts of failure to comply with release order.Out on bail at the time of the stabbing, the details of his previous legal troubles are not currently known.Lewin allegedly pulled out a knife and used it on another man during a fight on the crowded train that was caught on video.The video shows the suspect appear to stab another man as they fought. As a blood stain spreads through the victim’s shirt, he begins to run, yelling for help.The suspect, knife in hand, chases him down the subway train as commuters scramble and scream. What happens next is not captured on camera, but a woman could be heard yelling, “He’s stabbing him up, he’s killing him.”Police confi...

Authorities search for “dangerous” inmate who escaped from a Pennsylvania jail using sheets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities were searching Saturday for an inmate described by police as “very dangerous” who escaped from a jail in northwestern Pennsylvania using bed sheets, officials said. Michael Burham was last seen wearing a blue denim coat from the jail, white and orange pants, and orange shoes, Warren police said Friday.Burham was being held on arson and burglary charges and was a suspect in a homicide investigation, police said. He was also associated with a prior carjacking and kidnapping of a local couple, police said. “He is considered very dangerous, and the public is asked to be vigilant and report anything out of the ordinary,” police said in a Facebook post. Officials say he escaped by climbing on exercise equipment and using bed sheets tied together. The Associated Press

Weekend Break: Famous Dave's restaurant in Addison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:43 GMT

Check out this Weekend Break at Famous Dave's Restaurant in Addison.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.