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Vondrousova pulls Czechs level 1-1 with United States at Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova pulled the Czech Republic level at 1-1 with the United States to send their Billie Jean King Cup Finals group-stage meeting to a decisive doubles match on Friday.The seventh-ranked Vondrousova brushed aside Sofia Kenin 6-1, 6-1 in the second singles match after Danielle Collins gave the U.S. the lead by beating Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-2.The winner will advance as the top team in Group A and play Canada in the semifinals on Saturday. Italy will face Slovenia in the other semifinal on the indoor hard court in Seville.Vondrousova hit five aces and broke Kenin’s serve six times in the lopsided match.Collins broke Siniakova three times, with her opponent double-faulting five times.These are the the two most successful teams in the competition’s history — the U.S. has the most titles with 18 and the Czechs the second most with 11.The Czechs have won their last two meetings with the Americans.The U.S. beat defending...

Undefeated No. 21 James Madison puts focus on football instead of bowl eligibility vs UConn

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

Undefeated James Madison had a lot of swirling issues this week while it prepared to host one-win Connecticut, but coach Curt Cignetti wants a singular focus.The No. 21 Dukes (9-0) petitioned the NCAA for a waiver to be included in bowl eligibility, something NCAA rules deny them as a program transitioning to the highest level of college football. They are also denied a chance to play for the Sun Belt Conference championship, a rule the NCAA put in place to ensure programs making the step up are prepared for better competition.“We would be in those rankings probably somewhere around where we’re ranked,” Cignetti said this week. “But you know, it’s not where you are today, it’s where you finish, and I steadfastly believe we should be a part of those rankings. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be a part of those rankings. … We’ve had the 24-hour rule to kind of think about those kind of things. And now the total focus is on Connecticut.”Huskies coach Jim Mora likes the Dukes’ model...

Woman charged in crash that killed Littleton 7th grader on bike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — A 39-year-old woman has been charged in the death of a middle school student who was hit while riding a bike to school, according to the Littleton Police Department. Police said Beth Ann Hutchinson was charged on Tuesday with careless driving resulting in death.On Oct. 17, Littleton police and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to the intersection of South Elati Street and West Arapahoe Drive near Euclid Middle School on a report of a crash between a bicyclist and a vehicle. A 7th grader was struck and pronounced dead on scene. Friends of 7th grader killed on bike wear his favorite color Police said Hutchinson remained on scene. The student was identified by friends and classmates as Liam Stewart. Liam was on his everyday commute to school with just a little more than a block left when he was hit and killed."Any loss of life is difficult, but the loss of a child is heartbreaking. LPD is grieving with the family and friends of the child and with those impa...

What's on Denver-area K-9's Christmas wish lists?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Arapahoe County's K-9s have their Christmas wishes in order.The school therapy dogs and police dogs need fun things like chew toys, balls, ropes, and treats as well as essentials like shampoo, hearing protection, treats, ballistic vests, leashes, rubber training arms, googly-eye goggles and more. Meet Ru, Castle Rock Middle School’s new therapy dog Each hard-working dog has a unique list, and Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office is asking the community for help fulfilling their wishes.ACSO told FOX31 that the Sheriff's Office budget has to cover all the different specialized units, so they are limited with how much they can spend on this kind of equipment. That's why the organization Back The Blue K-9 Force exists to help pay for police dogs' needs like handler training, medical expenses, ballistic vests, trauma kits and other necessities.Back The Blue K-9 Force put together the doggie wish lists for people to purchase gifts for a local K-9 of their choice.Many of the...

Civil rights complaints allege UPenn and Wellesley allowed antisemitism to ‘run rampant’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

New York (CNN) — A Jewish legal rights advocacy group has alleged that the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College have violated federal civil rights law by allowing for discrimination against Jews.The Brandeis Center, a Jewish civil rights legal organization, filed civil rights complaints with the US Department of Education on Thursday, alleging both schools failed to adequately respond to harassment of Jews.“These colleges and universities have failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in clear violation of well-established federal civil rights law,” Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. “There’s been a lot of talk about rooting out anti-Semitism on campuses, and it’s time to hold these colleges accountable.”Marcus, a former assistant secretary of education, alleged the universities are “letting Jewish discrimination run rampant” and thanked students for having the “courage” to come forward by sharing their statements in ...

New Red Sox boss Craig Breslow striking right tone early

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

Years from now when Craig Breslow’s performance is ultimately judged, it won’t be his words we remember but his actions as Red Sox chief baseball officer.But since right now all we have to go off are his words, Breslow’s first couple of weeks on the job have been highly encouraging.The new Red Sox boss has struck all the right notes since officially taking the reins, projecting a sense of urgency while expressing a willingness to take the kind of bold action that’s been missing from the organization in recent years. He’s also affirmed that the club’s top priority must always be success at the big league level, which doesn’t have to come at the expense of its long-term outlook.“I do think there are ways to meaningfully improve the team in the short term without sacrificing long-term wins,” Breslow told reporters this week at the GM Meetings in Arizona. “I think it’s important not to lose sight that the goal of any organization is to win major...

Travel: Is Hawaii welcoming tourists after the Maui fire?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

Even those who don’t speak a word of Hawaiian can usually figure out when aloha means hello or goodbye. But since Aug. 8, when Maui experienced the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history, mixed messages are causing mainlanders to wonder if the welcome mat is truly waiting for them halfway across the Pacific.To come or not to come? That is the question.One faction of Hawaii residents is telling visitors to stay away so that more resources are available to those recovering from the loss of loved ones and property. Another camp is pleading for tourists to bring much-needed revenue, especially after what is now a one-two punch between the travel-restricting pandemic that lasted roughly two years and the wildfire that only a few months ago ravaged Maui and decimated historic Lahaina Town.Considerate of both these viewpoints is Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Henry Kapono, who in between hard-ticket concerts plays Duke’s at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort on Sundays.“Mixed messag...

Gallery: Veterans Day Celebration at Faneuil Hall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

‘The Buccaneers’ review: What if Edith Wharton, but ‘Gossip Girl’?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago TribuneIn the opening pages of “The Buccaneers,” Edith Wharton’s novel about American heiresses of the 1870s looking to marry Englishmen with titles, Mrs. St. George, the mother of the central character, regards her daughter’s chances. “Nan, though certainly not a beauty like (her sister) Virginia, was going to be fascinating, and by the time her hair was put up, the St. George girls need fear no rivalry.”Still, she worried. There was the daughter of an acquaintance named Lizzy Elmsworth, whose “dark eyebrows had a bolder curve, and Lizzy’s foot — ah, where in the world did an upstart Elmsworth get that arrogant step?”Wharton’s wry sense of humor often defies adaptation, and that’s true of the Apple TV+ version of “The Buccaneers,” which attempts to infuse the series with a modern zestiness along the lines of: What if Edith Wharton, but “Gossip Girl”? It’s pushy at the outset, but gets better as it goes.The show’s creator is Katherine Jakeways, a British actor wi...

Peter Lucas: Massachusetts Legislature auditing plan takes on phase 2

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:29:42 GMT

Attorney General Andrea Campbell may have boxed herself in over the squabble of auditing the Massachusetts Legislature.Campbell ruled last week that State Auditor Diana DiZoglio does not have the authority to audit either branch of the Legislature, a proposal that DiZoglio campaigned on and made a key initiative of her office since she was elected in 2022.DiZoglio served in both the House and Senate before she ran and was elected auditor.Campbell, in her decision, also declined to represent fellow progressive DiZoglio in her effort to sue the Legislature over its “closed door operation” and get it to open its books.Herald file photoDiana DiZoglio (Herald file photo)In a letter to DiZoglio, Campbell said the auditor’s office was created by the Legislature and vested with the authority to audit the state’s various state agencies and departments, but, she wrote, “that authority does not include the power to audit the Legislature itself over the Legislature’s objection.”And ...