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Purdue and Fairleigh Dickinson square off in opening round of NCAA Tournament

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (20-15, 10-6 NEC) vs. Purdue Boilermakers (29-5, 15-5 Big Ten)Columbus, Ohio; Friday, 6:50 p.m. EDTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Purdue -23; over/under is 145BOTTOM LINE: The No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers play in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights.The Boilermakers have gone 15-5 against Big Ten opponents, with a 14-0 record in non-conference play. Purdue is second in the Big Ten with 15.5 assists per game led by Braden Smith averaging 4.3.The Knights are 10-6 against NEC teams. Fairleigh Dickinson is 2-0 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 11.2 turnovers per game.TOP PERFORMERS: Smith is averaging 9.8 points and 4.3 assists for the Boilermakers. Zach Edey is averaging 22.0 points over the last 10 games for Purdue.Demetre Roberts is scoring 16.6 points per game with 3.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists for the Knights. Ansley Almonor is averaging 14.2 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 43.6% ov...

Phillies bring 3-1 NLCS lead into Game 5 against Padres

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

San Diego Padres (89-73, second in the NL West during the regular season) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (87-75, third in the NL East during the regular season)Philadelphia; Sunday, 2:37 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Padres: Yu Darvish (16-8, 3.10 ERA, .95 WHIP, 197 strikeouts); Phillies: Zack Wheeler (12-7, 2.82 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 163 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Phillies -140, Padres +118; over/under is 6 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Philadelphia Phillies square off against the San Diego Padres on Sunday in Game 5 of the NLCS. The Phillies lead the series 3-1 and will move on to the World Series with a victory.Philadelphia is 87-75 overall and 47-34 in home games. The Phillies have a 54-21 record in games when they did not allow a home run.San Diego is 89-73 overall and 45-36 in road games. The Padres are 70-19 in games when they out-hit their opponents.The teams meet Sunday for the 12th time this season. The Phillies lead the season series 7-4.TOP PERFORMERS: Alec Bohm is fifth on the P...

Steamy Sunshine and Storms this Weekend

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

Big changes are ahead to our weather forecast beginning this weekend following a beaitufiful, mostly dry and warm stretch this week. Slow-moving fronts and areas of low pressure riding these fronts across the eastern US is slowly sagging to the south and east and will reach South Florida by the end of this weekend, leading to a rising rain risk.Before we get there, much of Saturday will be salvageable with plenty of dry time. Most areas will enjoy a dry day with sunshine and a stray shower. The best chance for seeing any rain today will be across inland areas and during the evening hours when winds weaken. Highs this Saturday will be warmer into the mid to upper 80s.A few showers will be possible along with more clouds into the first half of tonight, then skies should clear out with lows dipping down into the low to mid 70s with a southwest to westerly wind.Due to the veering land breeze, that is going to put us in place for warmer temperatures on Sunday along with a higher rain cha...

Germany, France join EU lawsuit against Hungary’s anti-LGBTQI+ law

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

France and Germany have joined more than a dozen other EU countries in backing legal action brought by the European Commission against Hungary at the European Court of Justice over a 2021 law discriminating against LGBTQI+ minorities.“Germany has joined the ECJ proceedings of [the European Commission] against anti-queer laws in #Hungary,” the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a tweet on Saturday. The move demonstrates that “we stand by the side of the #LGBTQI community. The common values of the EU are the DNA of our free & open society. Diversity is our strength,” the ministry said. Besides France and Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the European Parliament have also applied to join the proceedings.“France and Germany join the Commission, together with about 15 other states and the Parliament, to counter the Hungarian ‘anti-propagand...

Battenfeld: Maura Healey must take action to protect vulnerable children

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

As police intensify their search for the body of Harmony Montgomery, Gov. Maura Healey should be a catalyst for change in the way the state protects and often fails our most vulnerable citizens — children.HarmonyA new report by the Office of the Child Advocate concludes Massachusetts has not done enough to protect children in the wake of Montgomery’s tragic murder.How many more Harmonys must there be before the state takes action? How many more task forces or study groups do we have to have before another kid dies in custody?Now is the time for the new governor to intervene and appoint an independent special counsel to oversee reform at the Department of Children and Families and state judicial system, including the Committee for Public Counsel Services.The entire child protection system, including courts and court-appointed lawyers, which now favors biological parents over the safety of children, should be Healey’s focus. Give the special counsel the power to investigate and ...

ASK IRA: Was Friday hubris or common sense for the Heat ahead of play-in?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

Q: This was ridiculous, considering this team still had something to play for. This team needs players who aren’t looking to be babysat. – Paolo.A: And I agree that it was surprising the Heat sat out so many regulars when there remained a (longshot) chance to move up in the seedings. But I’m sure Erik Spoelstra and his staff also appreciated that the odds were overwhelmingly in favor of the Nets holding on to No. 6. And that, in fact, is how it played out, with Brooklyn defeating Orlando, therefore making the Heat result moot. So look at it the other way: Can you imagine the outrage if, four nights before a win-and-in play-in game on Tuesday night, a key member of the rotation was lost to injury in a relatively insignificant game? That’s the difference with the play-in round, that there is not a weeklong buffer to protect against a late-season injury.Q: Something’s got to change. The end of the NBA regular season is a joke. – Kevin.A: I would say ...

Friday’s high school scores and highlights

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

FRIDAY’S HIGHLIGHTSBASEBALLIn nonleague action, Finn Hydra tossed a no-hitter for Monomoy (1-2) in a 6-0 shutout win over Cape Cod Tech. … Nick Ayres belted a grand slam for Duxbury (2-1) in an 11-5 win over Nauset.Michael DeGagne finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a double to go with a trio of RBI and a run scored, as Westport (1-1) coasted to a 12-4 victory over Case in the South Coast Conference. … Center fielder David Johnson went 3-for-3 and scored three runs, and Dom Pefine got the win on the mound as North Andover (1-0) bested Arlington, 18-3. … Kevin Doyle batted 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI as Bridgewater-Raynham (3-0) defeated Framingham 10-0 in six innings.GIRLS LACROSSEFreshman Kayden Smith scored four goals in her debut, while junior Eva Kelliher netted a hat trick as Hanover (1-0) topped Plymouth North 14-8 in Patriot League play.Abby Pitts found the back of the net three times for Old Colony in a 6-5 Mayflower Athletic Conference win over Tri-County.Lucy Mawn sni...

Lucas: Showdown on Beacon Hill

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

You don’t audit us, and we won’t audit you.That is what House Speaker Ron Mariano should or could be saying to Diana DiZoglio.DiZoglio is the 39-year-old new state auditor who has caused consternation at the State House — and particularly among the legislative leadership — with her vow to audit the Legislature, beginning with the 160-member House and ending with the 40-member Senate.Both branches are controlled by Democrats. DiZoglio also is a Democrat who served in both the House and Senate before being elected auditor in the last election.She promised to audit the Legislature during her campaign and is now planning to do so.Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka maintain that DiZoglio, under the three equal but separate branches of state government — the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive — does not have the authority to conduct such audits.DiZoglio believes she does.“Maybe she thinks she’s uber-powerful,” Mariano said. The Legislature, he and Spilka maint...

Boston gun violence concentrated in four neighborhoods

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

A weeklong workshop aimed at reducing gun violence in Boston concluded that most of the crimes were occurring among a small number of people in four neighborhoods, with primarily Black men harmed.The data, compiled by the Boston Police Department, show serious violence was highly concentrated in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan and Roxbury from 2018 to 2022, according to a presentation provided by the city.Further, 84.6%, or roughly 115 of the city’s 136 homicide victims, and about 78%, or 49 of 63 homicide offenders from 2020-2022 were Black, with the majority of these crimes committed by or killing men in general.“We will not tolerate any neighborhood feeling like residents have to live in fear of violence or experience loss that ripples down, generation after generation,” Mayor Michelle Wu said at a Friday press conference in Roxbury. “We have the resources. We have the expertise. We just have to put it all together.”The data presented at this week’s Violence Reduction Center ...

All the important milestones to track during the 2023 Red Sox season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:00:50 GMT

Baseball is a team sport, but watching players strive for and reach significant milestones can be as thrilling as the season itself.Fans probably don’t remember much about the 2015 Red Sox, who went 78-84 with a finish at the bottom of the division, but David Ortiz’s odyssey to the 500 Club is unforgettable.Rafael Devers has already spent years putting his name all over the pages of the franchise record books, and he’s still only 26 years old. The 2017 ALDS ended in disappointment, but he become the youngest player in MLB history to hit an inside-the-park home run in a postseason game. Amidst the unsatisfactory 2022 campaign, he set a Red Sox record for extra-base hits before turning 26.Of course, the overall, collective results matter. But why not appreciate the parts as well as their sum? Ted Williams was one of the greatest hitters the world has ever known. Does the fact that he never won a ring change that? It shouldn’t.This is a team full of players on t...