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On the rise, Big Ten eyes women’s NCAA tourney breakthrough

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark has looked over the women’s NCAA Tournament bracket, eyed the potential matchups facing her second-seeded Hawkeyes and the rest of their Big Ten brethern, and come to a rather optimistic conclusion.“The Big Ten can certainly place two in the Final Four,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a stretch by any means.”Just one would end a long dry spell.In an almost impossible amalgamation of bad luck, poor draws and underachieving basketball, the Power 5 conference — with its big budgets and high-profile programs — has only advanced a women’s team to the national semifinals once since 2005, and that was league newcomer Maryland in 2015. And it’s been since 1999, when Katie Douglas and Stephanie White-McCarty led Purdue to a national title win over Duke, that the league crowned its only NCAA champion.“Understand, we’ve played some of the best teams in America all year long. The Big Ten is loaded — Maryland, Ohio State, Indiana, all of us t...

Arizona, Virginia add to reputations for March sadness

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

Arizona and Virginia rightfully lay claim to proud college basketball traditions, whether you’re talking about the Wildcats winning the national championship in 1997, the Cavaliers doing it 22 years later or the many stars the programs have sent to the NBA and overseas.They also have developing reputations for NCAA Tournament disappointments.The stunning loss by second-seeded Arizona to No. 15 seed Princeton on Thursday, and fourth-seeded Virginia’s collapse in the closing seconds against Furman, were merely the latest examples of their humiliating March heartbreaks. The Wildcats have been bounced by teams seeded worse than them in five consecutive NCAA tourney trips, while the Cavaliers were bumped by a No. 13 seed for the second straight year and five years to the day since becoming the only No. 1 seed to lose to a 16-seed.“It doesn’t take away from what these guys have done and what we’ve experienced over the years, but you wanted it when you felt like you had it, and...

Denver weather: More sunshine but chilly start to weekend

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Even though sunshine is back for St. Patrick's Day, temperatures will be below average with light winds. Slow warming is expected over the weekend in the Denver weather forecast.Weather today: Abundant sunshineMostly sunny skies are back for Friday with light winds. Highs stay below average in the low 40s with light snow in the central and southern mountains.Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast for March 17. Finally, Denver has its 1st measurable snow of March Weather tonight: Clear and coolDenver will have clear skies overnight Friday as winds become light and variable. Temperatures dip into the upper teens.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast for March 17.Looking ahead: Warming and staying dryThe weekend will see slow warming with dry conditions. Mostly sunny skies are across most of the state on Saturday with cooler highs in the low 40s. Sunday is a bit warmer in Denver with temperatures nearing the 50-degree mark. Sunny skies are across the Front Range with a few ...

Police investigating mobile home fire in Davie; 1 injured

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

A Davie mobile home located along Southwest 16th Street and 86th Avenue was engulfed in flames, sending one man to the hospital. The extent of the man’s injuries is currently unknown, but he was taken to the hospital for medical attention. Fire crews were quick to respond to the scene, working diligently to contain the fire to the one mobile home.The cause of the fire is still under investigation and authorities have yet to determine the exact origin of the flames.

Meloni government backs bridge in earthquake zone

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government has agreed to resuscitate an ancient project to build a suspension bridge connecting Sicily to mainland Italy — which happens to be in the middle of an earthquake zone.Rome aims to “resume as quickly as possible the planning process for the bridge over the Strait of Messina,” a governmental decree issued late Thursday night said. Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, the project’s staunchest advocate, hailed it as “historic day” for Italy.The bridge “has the ambition of becoming the most modern and sustainable in the world,” the far-right League leader tweeted Thursday evening, labeling the project “a model for an Italy which believes in itself.”Plans to build a bridge across the 3.7-kilometer-wide Strait of Messina to connect the island of Sicily to the rest of Italy have been discussed for millennia, going all the way back to the Romans, according to some historians. They were revived...

Boston celebrates Evacuation Day with free parking

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

Boston is celebrating Evacuation Day on Friday with free parking across the city. Evacuation Day commemorates the day during the Revolutionary War when British troops evacuated from Boston. To recognize this historical significance, city leaders have made all parking meters free with no time limits.

FBI offers $20,000 reward in case of missing American woman who was kidnapped from her home in Mexico

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

(CNN) — More than a month after a 63-year-old US citizen was kidnapped from her home in Mexico, the FBI has announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.Maria del Carmen Lopez was kidnapped February 9 in Pueblo Nuevo, a municipality in the southwestern Mexican state of Colima, the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in a release Thursday.Lopez is also a Mexican citizen, according to a statement from the Colima Attorney General’s office, which said it is working with the FBI on the investigation.Though the FBI did not share details on the case, it described Lopez as having blonde hair, brown eyes and tattooed eyeliner.The FBI’s announcement comes nearly two weeks after the violent kidnapping of four Americans in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, two of whom were killed, and three weeks after the disappearance of three women who crossed into Mexico to sell clothes at a flea market.The investig...

Patriots signing Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki in free agency, per report

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

The Patriots are signing former Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki to a free-agent deal, according to reports.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Source: Patriots re-sign LS Joe Cardona to 4-year deal New England Patriots | Patriots host Trey Flowers and an ex-Lions LB on free-agent visits New England Patriots | Patriots reportedly hosting 3 free-agent veterans on visits Thursday New England Patriots | Source: Patriots re-signing LB Mack Wilson to 1-year deal New England Patriots | Source: Patriots signing veteran RB James Robinson to 2-year deal Gesicki played on the franchise tag last season in Miami, where his numbers fell to 32 catches for 362 yards and five touchdowns under new coach Mike McDaniel. In each of the previous two years, Gesicki topped 700 receiving yards. The 27-year-old is a receiving tight end who can run routes out of the slot and out wide, but has rarely been used as an in-line bloc...

Danish prince moves to US for defense industry attache post

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Prince Joachim of Denmark is moving to the United States to take up the post of defense industry attache at the Danish embassy in Washington starting in September, the Danish defense ministry said on Friday.“I am proud that I still get the opportunity to represent Denmark internationally in the area of security and defence” the 53-year-old prince said in a statement. “Transatlantic cooperation is a high-priority area, and I am honored that they have found me qualified for the task.” Prince Joachim is the younger son of Queen Margrethe II, and is the sixth in the line of succession to the Danish throne. He has an extensive military background with the Danish Armed Forces and elsewhere starting from 1987. The prince has held a similar position at the Danish embassy in Paris since 2020 but announced in November that he would leave the position this summer.Last year, a split arose between him and the Danish royal house when Queen Margrethe decided ...

Greece raises minimum wage to pre-bailout levels

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:12 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece announced on Friday an increase in the minimum wage that will restore pay to levels existing before sweeping cuts were imposed more than a decade ago during an international bailout. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the gross minimum monthly salary will go up on April 1 to 780 euros ($830) from 713 euros. “I have no illusions. We know that in our country, wages are still low, and they are being squeezed even more by inflation,” said Mitsotakis, whose center-right government faces a general election in the spring. Under pressure from lenders, Greece imposed severe pay cuts in 2012 during bailout programs funded by a European Union rescue fund and the International Monetary Fund. As the country was on the brink of bankruptcy, the government took control of wage policy ‒ previously set through labor negotiations ‒ and slashed the minimum monthly pay from 751 euros to 586 euros. Greek salaries are paid out over 14 installments annually, to provide ext...