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Ogunbowale scores 29 as the Wings knock the Mercury out of playoff contention with 77-74 win

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored 29 points to rally the Dallas Wings to a 77-74 victory over Phoenix on Sunday, eliminating the Mercury from playoff contention.Dallas (19-16), which currently sits in fourth place, will have to wait at least one more game before clinching a homecourt advantage in the first round after the Chicago Sky beat the Seattle Storm 90-85 on Sunday.Phoenix lost its fifth straight game and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. That run was the longest active streak in the WNBA, according to ESPN.Ogunbowale made 8 of 22 shots from the floor for the Wings, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range. She was 9 for 9 at the free-throw line. Kalani Brown added 12 points off the bench. Natasha Howard totaled 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.Moriah Jefferson had 20 points, five assists and four rebounds to pace the last-place Mercury (9-25). Brittney Griner scored 19, while Megan Gustafson pitched in with 11 points, three rebounds and...

Williams, Copper rally Sky to 90-85 victory, eliminate Storm from playoff contention

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Elizabeth Williams scored 23 points, Kahleah Copper added a double-double and the Chicago Sky rallied in the second half to beat the Seattle Storm 90-85 on Sunday.Chicago (14-21) stayed in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs with the victory. The Sky trail the Los Angeles Sparks by 1.5 games for the eighth and final berth. Chicago is two games behind seventh-place Atlanta with five games left to play.Seattle (10-25) lost its third straight game and was eliminated from the playoffs. The four-time WNBA champion Storm had qualified for the playoffs from 2016 to 2022, according to ESPN. Seattle won the title in 2004, 2010, 2018, and 2020.Williams buried 10 of 15 shots from the floor for the Sky, adding five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block. Copper finished with 18 points and 12 boards for her first double-double of the season. She also had five steals and four assists. Marina Mabrey scored 15 on 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Courtney Williams total...

Motorcyclist killed in CHP pursuit crash

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- A 22-year-old motorcyclist of Lake Elsinore was killed in a crash Sunday during a pursuit involving multiple agencies in North County, authorities said.The pursuit started around 12:04 p.m. after California Highway Patrol tried to pull over a motorcyclist speeding on southbound Interstate 15 at State Route 76, Lt. Suzanne Baeder with the Escondido Police Department said in a news release.The suspect traveled into Valley Center and then west into Escondido, where CHP officers lost track of him at Valley Parkway and Ash Street, forcing them to stop their pursuit, according to law enforcement.An Escondido police officer then saw the motorcyclist traveling at a high rate of speed on Washington Avenue, when he ran a red light on eastbound Washington Ave at Harding Street. He then collided with the front bumper of a vehicle that had a green light driving north on Harding Avenue, Baeder said. Motorcyclist killed on SR-78 identified The motorcyclist lost control and w...

Could excessive heat mean more snakes indoors? Snakes need shade too

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Weather officials are warning of dangerously hot conditions to begin the week in some areas. An excessive heat warning will be in effect Monday at 10 a.m. - Tuesday at 8 p.m. for areas including Poway, Escondido, Santee, San Marcos and El Cajon. During the same time frame, a heat advisory will be in effect for areas including the mountains and deserts, such as Julian and Borrego Springs, which is expected to reach the 110s. While people are trying to beat the heat, snakes are trying to do the same.“When it gets really hot in the heat of the day just like us, they seek shade, which could be inside homes," said Bruce Ireland, The Snake Wrangler.He said when the weather gets warmer, they see more snakes going into homes, solely to seek shade.“A lot of homes don’t have air conditioning, so their only option is to leave doors and windows open, and snakes aren’t necessarily looking to come into homes, they are looking for shade and shelter," Ireland said. These San Diego-ar...

8 US Marines remain in a hospital after a fiery aircraft crash killed 3 during drills in Australia

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Eight U.S. Marines remained in a hospital in the Australian north coast city of Darwin on Monday after they were injured in a fiery crash of a tiltrotor aircraft that killed three of their colleagues on an island.All 20 survivors were flown from Melville Island 80 kilometers (50 miles) south to Darwin within hours of the Marine V-22 Osprey crashing at 9:30 a.m. Sunday during a multinational training exercise, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said.All were taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital, and 12 had been discharged by Monday, she said. The first five Marines to arrive at the city’s main hospital were critically injured and one underwent emergency surgery.Fyles said she would not detail the conditions of eight who remained in the hospital out of respect for them and their families.“It’s … a credit to everyone involved that we were able to get 20 patients from an extremely remote location on an island into our tertiary hospital within ...

Reported Israeli strike damages Aleppo airport and puts it out of service

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

DAMASCUS (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hit the international airport in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria early on Monday, damaging a runway and putting it out of service, Syrian state media said. State news agency SANA, citing a military official, said Israeli planes coming from the Mediterranean Sea carried out the attack at around 4:30 a.m. There were no casualties reported.The airport has been targeted several times this year, including two attacks in March that also put it out of service.There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. Often the strikes target Syrian military forces or Iranian-backed groups.Israel has targeted airports and sea ports in the government-held parts of Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to mi...

Illegal logging thrives in Mexico City’s forest-covered boroughs, as locals strive to plant trees

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — It’s a strange scene: in the forest-covered mountains of Mexico City — which most people outside Mexico don’t know exist — a brigade of farmers and forest rangers plant inches-high pine saplings in a recently cut stand of trees, even as the sound of chainsaws can be heard nearby.Illegal logging has taken a huge toll in recent years on the forest-covered southern half of the city of 9 million inhabitants.“They have finished off the forest,” Alfredo Gutiérrez, 43, said with sadness. The extent of the devastation is astonishing. Just a year ago, “it was always dark, even if the sun was shining, because of all the trees that were here,” Gutiérrez said of the grove near his town of San Miguel Topilejo — on the edge of the encroaching urban sprawl.While most people associate Mexico City with traffic jams and polluted air, actually about one-half of the city’s territory is rural, almost all of it in the southern boroughs of Milpa Alta and Tlalpan. About 20% are protected...

Denmark to ban burning of holy texts, Sweden to follow?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard (pictured) told reporters:"The proposal will thus make it punishable to, for example, in public burn a Quran, bible or Torah. I fundamentally believe there are more civilized ways to express one's views than burning things.'' Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association, applauded Denmark’s move and urged "all European Countries, especially Sweden, to follow Denmark’s example and ban such flagrant abuses of constitutional rights and privileges by those who want to provoke, insult and divide”, writes Yossi Lempkowicz.The government has rejected objections put forward by Danish opposition parties saying such a prohibition would infringe on free speech. The Danish  government plans to criminalize the public burning of holy texts, including the Quran, the Bible or the Torah, the country’s Justice Minister said on Friday.A bill that is to be presented would “prohibit the inappropriate treatment of objects of significant re...

Simone Biles wins record 8th U.S. Gymnastics title a full decade after her 1st

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

Simone Biles is not going to explain herself. Part of this is by design. Part of this is because she simply can't.When the gymnastics star is at her best, as she was on Sunday night while winning her record eighth U.S. championship, she feels like she's in a “fever dream.” It's not autopilot exactly. It's more of a vibe. A flow. It's in those moments that the doubts that still plague her almost daily even now, a decade into a run of unprecedented excellence, fade away. El Segundo wins Little League World Series with dramatic walk-off HR There is no thinking. No overanalyzing. No “ twisties.” All of it recedes into the background. Her coach Laurent Landi calls it a skill. Biles, even at 26, won't go that far. Maybe because she simply doesn't want to.She spent a long time, far too long, getting caught up in her head. She's intent on not doing it this around. So yeah, she was smiling midway through a floor routine that made almost every other competitor on the floor stop what they we...

Top US and Chinese commerce officials express support for easier trade, but deep differences remain

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and her Chinese counterpart expressed a desire to improve trade conditions on Monday, as Raimondo began a visit to Beijing aimed at warming chilly relations, but neither side appeared willing to make concessions on the other’s main demands.Raimondo joined American officials including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in July who have visited China in the past three months. They expressed optimism about improving communication but have announced no progress on technology, security, human rights and other disputes that have plunged relations to their lowest level in decades.For its part, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government wants to revive foreign investor interest in China as it tries to reverse a deepening economic slump.Beijing is ready to work together to “foster a more favorable policy environment for stronger cooperation” and “bolster bilateral trade and investment,” Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told Raimondo. Wang gave no details...