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From the Avalanche down, there’s ‘never an easy night’ in the NHL’s Central Division

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

Nathan MacKinnon didn’t feel right about how last season went for the Colorado Avalanche. Sure, they shook off their Stanley Cup hangover and won the Central Division but something was off. “I just don’t think we had the team to win last year,” MacKinnon said. “Just didn’t really feel like we really had it.”With extra rest from a first-round exit and the additions of Ryan Johansen, Miles Wood and Tomas Tatar filling some major voids, the Avalanche go into the season as favorites to win the Cup again. Just to get out of the Central, they will have to fend off Dallas coming off a trip to the Western Conference final and retooled Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg — and handle games against Chicago and Arizona that won’t be as easy as they were last year.“There’s never an easy night at the Central,” Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “It’s a tough division to play. It’s always a grind. The games are physical.”The Avalanche are more physical with Wood, deeper down the middl...

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman wows some Conservatives and alarms others with hardline stance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Britain’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman railed against unauthorized migrants, human-rights laws and “woke” critics of her hardline policies Tuesday as she tried to secure her place as the flag-bearer of the Conservative Party’s law-and-order right wing.In her keynote speech to the governing party’s annual conference, Braverman called migration a “hurricane” that would bring “millions more immigrants to these shores, uncontrolled and unmanageable.”She said British governments had been “far too squeamish about being smeared as racist to properly bring order to the chaos.” But the Conservatives, she said, would give Britain “strong borders.”Braverman hailed the government’s moves to make it harder for migrants to seek asylum in Britain, including a law that requires anyone arriving in small boats across the English Channel to be detained and then deported permanently to their home nation or third countries.Despite being passed by Parliament earl...

Plans to accommodate transgender swimmers at a World Cup meet scrapped because of lack of entries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Plans for the first “open category” swimming races to accommodate transgender competitors at a World Cup this weekend have been scrapped because of a lack of entries.World Aquatics said Tuesday it had received “no entries” for the open category events scheduled to take place at a World Cup starting Friday in Berlin.Swimming’s governing body, formerly known as FINA, had previously banned transgender competitors from major events like the Olympics and world championships, but said it was committed to creating an open category for all swimmers when it first adopted its “gender inclusion policy” last year during the worlds in Budapest, Hungary.The open category was supposed to make its debut on a pilot basis with 50-meter and 100-meter races in Berlin. Those races will not now take place.World Aquatics said its open category working group will continue its work.“Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility ...

Life after Udonis Haslem begins for the Heat as the Eastern Conference champions open training camp

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Perhaps the biggest void for the Miami Heat to fill during their training camp that started Tuesday is replacing a player who averaged 3.9 points and 1.6 rebounds last season and went scoreless in his two playoff appearances.Sounds easy. It won’t be.For the first time since 2002 — 1,605 games and three championships ago — the reigning Eastern Conference champion Heat are entering a season without Udonis Haslem on the roster. Last season was his 20th and final before retirement, and the Heat know there’s a serious leadership gap without the Miami native in the room anymore.“An adjustment, for sure, probably more so for me than everybody else in the locker room,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Teams transition. The guys are used to it, that you have different players. UD’s presence was so unique that you can’t compare it to any other situation in the league. I’ve always known him to be in our locker rooms.”It’s not like the Heat don’t have other leaders: Kevi...

Florida bill filed to designate A1A as ‘Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

(CNN) — Soon, you may be able to cruise down a Florida highway named after singer Jimmy Buffett while listening to his A1A album named after the road.A Florida lawmaker filed a bill Friday to rename State Road A1A, a coastal highway that spans from Key West in the south to Fernandina Beach in the north, in honor of Buffett.The singer, who blended the sounds of the tropics with country, died a month ago from Merkel cell cancer. The 76-year-old entertained audiences for more than five decades with his tales of the people and places he encountered on the road.His audiences subscribed to his vision of a life filled with flip-flops, beaches, boats and booze.State Rep. Chuck Clemons, a Republican, filed House Bill 91 on Friday to give “honorary designation” of certain portions of State Road A1A in specified counties, according to the bill.If the bill gets passed, the state road will be renamed “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway” in all Florida counties on the East Coast.“All of those po...

Pursuit takes wild turn as stolen vehicle suspect rams police cars, jumps embankment into oncoming traffic on California highway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

Corona, California (KCAL) — A generally calm pursuit took a wild turn Monday evening, when a stolen vehicle suspect originally driving slowly began ramming police vehicles before jumping an embankment onto the 91 Freeway in Corona.The chase began at around 8:20 p.m. in the La Habra area, according to the La Habra Police Department.Police say that the stolen vehicle, some sort of work truck that had “Sysco” written on the side, was unreported, meaning it may have been very recently taken, but they did not disclose further details.The lengthy pursuit continued through Corona and into Norco, with the suspect leading police at a slow pace along surface streets, even using their blinkers when turning and stopping before entering intersections.At around 9:20 p.m., the suspect turned on the southbound 15 Freeway and continued through Corona after merging on the westbound CA-91.After exiting the freeway on S. Maple Street, the suspect stopped in the middle of the intersect...

EU set to announce Ukraine accession talks by December

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

The European Union is gearing up to open negotiations with Ukraine on its future accession to the bloc with a formal announcement expected as soon as December.According to three diplomats with knowledge of the plans, leaders are preparing to give Kyiv the green light to begin formal talks on joining the 27-country bloc before the end of the year. Ukraine is at the heart of a major new push to expand the EU to as many as 35 countries. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual address to Parliament last month that Ukraine’s future was “in the Union.”EU countries granted Kyiv status as a candidate for EU membership in June, and the Commission is due to issue a “progress report” on how well Ukraine and other aspiring members are meeting the bloc’s conditions for joining in November, according to an EU official who spoke to journalists on Tuesday.Once the progress report has been adopted, the Commission will make a statement...

EU’s wannabe climate chiefs made to sweat as MEPs play tug-of-war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

STRASBOURG — The EU’s climate leadership hopefuls failed to impress lawmakers as their confirmation hearings descended into a political tit-for-tat among the Parliament’s two largest groups.After interrogating Wopke Hoekstra and Maroš Šefčovič for more than three hours each, MEPs on Tuesday decided to postpone their confirmations to the European Commission’s top climate jobs until both candidates answer more questions in writing. The fates of Hoekstra, a former foreign minister of the Netherlands who hails from the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), and Šefčovič, a Socialist who is already an executive vice president of the Commission, became entangled after the two groups threatened to vote down each other’s candidates, flexing the limited muscles the Parliament possesses to scrutinize future commissioners. Šefčovič’s future is part of a “political game now,” said the Socialists’ chief negotiator Tiemo Wölken. “After they realized that Hoekstra didn’t perfo...

Trial for man accused of killing New Hampshire couple in 2022 gets underway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

The trial for a man charged in the 2022 shooting deaths of a New Hampshire couple got underway Tuesday morning, a year after authorities tracked down and arrested the suspect.Appearing in court during opening statements, Logan Clegg, 28, faces charges in connection with the deaths of Djeswende and Stephen Reid, who authorities say were shot to death in April of last year while out on a hiking trail.The retired couple were initially reported missing after they left their home in Concord for a walk on April 18. Their bodies were found days later, setting off an investigation that ended when police arrested Clegg in Vermont in October that year.According to an affidavit following his arrest, police honed in on Clegg after reviewing witness statements and other evidence – including a reported encounter officers had with a man named “Arthur Kelly” at a tent site the day before officials found the victims nearby.Police later found the tent torched while “Kelly,” believed to be Clegg givi...

Winchester police investigating after pet dog shot and killed while out on walk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:41 GMT

State and local police are investigating the shooting death of a dog in Winchester after an owner told authorities his pet was shot and killed while out on a walk.The Winchester Police Department told 7NEWS that officers were first alerted Monday night around 6:30 p.m. and responded to a wooded area off of Sussex Road.According to authorities, arriving officers spoke with a pet owner who said he was walking his dog off-leash when he heard a gunshot and found his pet had been hit.He said that while speaking with a concerned neighbor, he then heard another gunshot in the distance, 15-20 minutes after the first round was fired.Winchester PD said officers searched the scene and surrounding area for over two hours, calling in Massachusetts State Police as well.Police continued to monitor the area overnight and were still processing the scene Tuesday afternoon, with additional patrols operating in the area.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest u...