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ASK IRA: Are Heat facing a 43-39 reality as their final record?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

Q: I have resigned myself that my Miami Heat are a very poor team. It is going to be a small miracle if they can win 42 games and finish above .500. And even if they do get into the playoffs, somehow, I fear the worst. They are just not playing good. – Roland, Borrego Springs, Calif.A: I could see an ultimate basement of 43-39, figuring they find a way to at least beat Detroit, Washington and Orlando (even though they already have lost to each). Otherwise, figure they will be underdogs in New York and Philadelphia, and who knows how it plays out Saturday against Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks? Kyrie already has beaten them once this season, as has Luka.Q: Gabe Vincent has back spasms and plays. Jimmy Butler has neck spasms and doesn’t. Ira, what’s wrong with this picture? – Ian.A: First, Jimmy Butler had what the Heat listed as “neck soreness.” But beyond that, you can’t compare injuries. And be fair, Jimmy has gone months witho...

Howie Carr: Elizabeth Warren’s reelection bid no surprise

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

How can we miss her when she won’t go away?No surprise that the fake Indian is planning to run for yet another six-year term in the US Senate next year, when she’ll be 75 years old, and does anything seriously believe that will be her swan song?You know, I get that Liewatha doesn’t want to retire. As the late Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden used to say, “Ain’t but one major event left after you retire.”That one major event would be a trip to the Happy Hunting Grounds, as Fauxchahontas’ ancestors, er, non-ancestors, used to say, at least in the Republic Pictures B-movie westerns.But when did careers in Congress become peerages – lifetime appointments, with titles?When Harry S Truman left the presidency in 1953, he drove his own car back to Independence MO. Few politicians stayed in Washington after retirement or defeat. Maybe it was the lack of air conditioning.Then the Congressmen realized that post-retirement, they could make a lot more dough as lobbyists or influence ped...

Maura Healey finds resistance to tax cut proposal among lawmakers, advocates

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

If the state’s Democratic governor thought her proposal to cut taxes would be met with welcome arms during a hearing before the equally liberal Massachusetts Legislature, lawmakers and advocates surely disabused her of that notion this week.“So if we’ve got a renting family of four, with a teenager and a four year old, if they’re in the bottom 80% of earners, which let’s be real is most of us, per year that family would see maybe 700 bucks,” state Sen. Becca Rausch said. “But if the same family falls into the top 1%, they’re looking at much closer to $8,000 per year, plus the transfer of a $182,000 credit when an estate passes through generational wealth.”Gov. Maura Healey on Monday appeared before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Revenue to explain her proposal to follow through on a longstanding campaign promise and cut taxes.Healey’s plan, about $742 million in cuts that includes $100 million in additional revenue neutral adjustments, would combine the Household Dependent Tax...

OBF: Pennant fever? Red Sox begin season amid astounding sense of apathy

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

The Red Sox open the 2023 season Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park.First pitch against Baltimore is at 2:10 p.m.Pregame festivities begin at 12:30 with the ceremonial raising of the White Flag to honorBoston’s 2022 last-place finish.Plenty of good seats are still available.For Opening Day.At list price.Or below.And it isn’t even going to snow.That’s not a throwaway line. It’s a sobering truth. As of this writing, dozens of seats betweenfirst and third base were still available for list price (plus fees) through the Red Sox official ticketwebsite. For Opening Day. The crash in the secondary ticket market rivals that of FTX.And not all these available seats are strategically positioned behind poles. One example:Section 24, Row 9, Seats 1-4. Each seat offers a clear and unobstructed view of the entireplaying field – save for a spot in the deep left-field corner. Nothing but Fenway Park’s pristine,hallowed field, an 80-foot-long MassMutual sign above the big screen, and the alluringBetM...

Alabama police officer killed, another wounded in shooting

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama police officer has died and another was critically wounded after being shot by a man who was captured after barricading himself inside an apartment, authorities said.A woman called 911 on Tuesday afternoon and reported that she had been shot, Huntsville Deputy Police Chief Michael Johnson told news outlets. Officers arriving at the scene found the shooting victim, whose injuries were not life-threatening. The suspect fired at the two officers, hitting them both, and barricaded himself inside an apartment. The officers were transported to a hospital, where one died from his injuries and the other underwent emergency surgery and was in critical condition, city officials said in a news release.The suspect was apprehended a little more than an hour later and transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the city said.“This is a devastating loss for our department, the Huntsville community and the state of Alabama,” Huntsville Police C...

Police: Man who jumped to death in UAE killed wife, 2 kids

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A man in the United Arab Emirates’ sheikhdom of Sharjah jumped off a balcony to his death after killing his wife and two children, police said Wednesday. Officers found the man, whom police only described as an Asian in his 30s, with a paper in his clothing that contained an apparent confession that he committed the slayings, Sharjah police said. Investigators entered his apartment and discovered “that the information in the letter was correct,” police said. They did not elaborate. Sharjah is a neighboring emirate to Dubai. The Associated Press

Spanish judge releases fugitive Catalan Euro MP

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

Madrid (AP) — A Spanish Supreme Court judge on Wednesday ordered the release of Clara Ponsatí, a Euro MP and a former regional Catalan government Cabinet member who fled Spain five years ago after a failed independence bid for Catalonia. Ponsatí, who is a member of the Together for Catalonia party, was released after being detained a day earlier when she entered Spain and held a press conference in Barcelona. She faces charges of disobeying the law for helping stage Catalonia´s illegal independence referendum in 2017. Hours after her release, Ponsatí flew to Brussel for a European Parliament meeting but must appear before court on April 24 and be constantly trackable by Spanish authorities. If convicted of disobeying explicit court injunctions not to proceed with the breakaway referendum, Ponsatí could face a fine and be barred from public office for up to two years but will not face prison.She previously faced charges of sedition, which would have meant time in prison, but a recent...

Germany’s high court orders amendment of child marriage ban

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s constitutional court ruled Wednesday that a law banning child marriages needs to be amended because it removes the possibility of continuing a marriage once both spouses become adults. The German government passed the law in 2017 with the stated purpose of protecting girls who were married abroad. A large number of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrived in Germany in 2015.The Federal Constitutional Court said marriages of individuals under age 16 conducted in other countries still may be declared null and void without an examination of the circumstances of the case. But the justices said there should be a way for such unions to remain legal if both people have since reached adulthood. The court also ruled that the law needs to be amended to provide for spousal support after a divorce.The court instructed the government and lawmakers to revise the law by mid-2024.The Associated Press

Sweden summons Russian envoy over ‘retaliation’ remark

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s Foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned the Russian ambassador after Moscow’s diplomatic mission to Stockholm posted on its website that the Scandinavian country would become a “legitimate target for Russia’s retaliatory measures” if it joins NATO. Foreign Minister Tobias Billström decried what he called an ”obvious attempt at influence.” Billström told Swedish news agency TT that the country’s security policy is determined by its government and no one else. It’s unclear when the Russian ambassador will appear at the Foreign Ministry.In May, Sweden and neighboring Finland angered Moscow after jointly applying for NATO membership, abandoning decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Sweden’s bid has stalled due to opposition from Turkey whose president has said his country wouldn’t ratify membership before disputes between Ankara and Stockholm are resolved. The Turkish government has accused Sweden ...

Reparations for Black Californians could top $800 billion

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:05:37 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It could cost California more than $800 billion to compensate Black residents for generations of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination, economists have told a state panel considering reparations.The preliminary estimate is more than 2.5 times California’s $300 billion annual budget, and does not include a recommended $1 million per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span. Nor does the figure count compensating people for property unjustly taken by the government or devaluing Black businesses, two other harms the task force says the state perpetuated. Black residents may not receive cash payments anytime soon, if ever, because the state may never adopt the economists’ calculations. The reparations task force is scheduled to discuss the numbers Wednesday and can vote to adopt the suggestions or come up with its own figures. The proposed number comes from a consulting tea...