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National Spelling Bee champ Dev Shah goes from ‘despondent’ to soaking up the moment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Fifteen months ago, Dev Shah spent a miserable five hours spelling outdoors in chilly, windy, damp conditions at a supersize regional competition in Orlando, Florida, only to fall short of his dream of returning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.“Despondent is the right word,” Dev said. “I just didn’t know if I wanted to keep continuing.”Look at him now.Soft-spoken but brimming with confidence, Dev asked precise questions about obscure Greek roots, rushed through his second-to-last word and rolled to the National Spelling Bee title Thursday night.Dev, a 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area, first competed at the national bee in 2019, then had his spelling career interrupted. The 2020 bee was canceled because of COVID-19, and in the mostly virtual 2021 bee, he didn’t make it to the in-person finals, held in his home state on ESPN’s campus at Walt Disney World.Then came the disaster of last year, when he was forced to compete in t...

US, Taiwan sign trade deal over China’s opposition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States signed a trade agreement Thursday with Taiwan over opposition from China, which claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory.The two governments say the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade will strengthen commercial relations by improving customs, investment and other regulation.The measure was signed by employees of the unofficial entities that maintain relations between the United States and Taiwan, a center for high-tech industry. They have no formal diplomatic ties but maintain unofficial relations and have billions of dollars in annual trade.The agreement is intended to “strengthen and deepen the economic and trade relationship,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement. The deputy USTR, Sarah Bianchi, attended the signing.The Chinese government accused Washington of violating agreements on Taiwan’s status and demanded the U.S. government stop official contact with the island’s el...

Authorities in western Mexico find dozens of bags with human remains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in western Mexico have told families of eight missing youths that among the human remains found in dozens of bags in a gorge on the outskirts of Guadalajara, were some that preliminarily appeared to match characteristics of some of the missing young people.The Jalisco state prosecutor’s office said in a statement late Thursday that the recovery of remains in the gorge continues, as does the identification.The bags were found this week below a forest overlook, the state prosecutor’s office said. Firefighters and civil defense worked with a helicopter to recover remains from the gorge and planned to continue during the coming days.Authorities had been looking for eight young people who had been reported missing last week when they found the site, but it was still unknown if they were among the remains found. The state prosecutor’s office said it investigated the site after receiving a report of possible body parts there.There are more than 11...

Jokic gets triple-double, Murray drops 26 as Nuggets beat Heat in Game 1 of Finals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets were facing some questions going into their first NBA Finals, and their answers came in resounding fashion.No, a week and a half off didn’t hurt them.And no, the NBA’s biggest stage isn’t too big, either.Jokic got a triple-double in his finals debut, Jamal Murray scored 26 points and the Nuggets had little trouble with the cold-shooting Miami Heat on the way to a 104-93 win in Game 1 on Thursday night.Murray, a product of Kitchener, Ont., scored 25 points or more for a sixth consecutive game. He also pitched in 10 assists.“I think that’s what the beauty of this team is,” Murray said. “We have so many different weapons and so many different looks. You’ve got to guard everybody. … Free-flowing, and it’s a lot of fun.”The Heat had been 3-0 in openers so far in these playoffs, all on the road, but Denver is still unbeaten at home. Game 1 winners in the finals go on to win the title nearly 70 per cent of the time.A...

Stock market today: Asia follows Wall St up on hopes Fed will ease off rate hikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher Friday ahead of an update on the U.S. jobs market after Federal Reserve officials reignited hopes another interest rate hike might be postponed and lawmakers gave final approval to a deal to avert a government debt default.Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Oil prices strengthened.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rallied 1% on Thursday after data showed manufacturing and retail activity weakening. That added to hopes the Fed might decide upward pressure on prices is easing and more rate hikes can be postponed or scaled down.“Skipping a rate hike” at this month’s Fed meeting would let policymakers “see more data before making decisions,” said a board member, Philip Jefferson. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker, made similar comments.The statements “reignited the prospect of skipping a hike” after strong jobs data last week fed fears of more incr...

College student accused of setting fire to Wyoming’s only abortion clinic to enter plea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A college student who authorities say admitted setting fire to a building slated to become Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic was scheduled to appear in federal court Friday to enter a plea to an arson charge.Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, told investigators that she opposes abortion and was experiencing anxiety and having nightmares over the Wellspring Health Access clinic that was to open in Casper, Wyoming, last year, so she decided to burn it, according to court documents. She broke a window, filled aluminum baking pans with gasoline and set it ablaze on May 25, 2022, investigators say. The clinic, which had drawn anti-abortion protesters, was scheduled to open a few weeks later but was not able to begin seeing patients until March because of the fire damage. The facility is Wyoming’s only dedicated clinic in at least a decade to offer surgical abortions. It also offers abortion pills, women’s health care, family planning and gender-affirming...

Iowa officials expected to detail demolition plans for partially collapsed building

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Plans to demolish a partially collapsed six-story apartment building in Iowa could become clearer Friday, five days after much of the structure crumbled and left three tenants missing and feared dead.Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said Thursday he expected to announce a company “to do a very systematic approach to this building, on how to remove things at certain times.”It is a difficult task because officials have said the remains of the building have continued to shift since part of the structure sheared off on Sunday, leaving an unstable building that eventually will collapse on its own. Adding to the challenge is a giant pile of brick and steel at the base of the building that is helping to hold up the structure but also may contain the remains of people killed in the collapse.Matson has said the debris pile “could be a place of rest for some of the unaccounted” and insisted the city would be sensitive about those remains, comparing work at the site to...

Royce Lewis’ clutch homer, Willi Castro’s winning sac fly cap Twins’ madcap victory over Guardians in series opener

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

The Twins were staring down the barrel of a loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday night at Target Field, and a demoralizing one at that.One of their top starters, Pablo Lopez, had been roughed up in a five-run sixth inning that had the Twins down 6-3, and three players — Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Max Kepler — had left the game due to injury or illness.With one swing, Royce Lewis turned the game on its head.Lewis’ two-run home run in the eighth inning tied the game at 6-6, before a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Willi Castro — one of the late injury replacements — won it in the ninth as the Twins beat the Guardians 7-6.Lewis, who returned to the lineup on Monday after being sidelined for a year due to a second ACL surgery, was the hero in his season debut and one of many on this night that could prove to have a long-lasting impact on the Twins’ quest for a division title.Lewis’ homer went to straightaway center field and traveled 421 feet.“He takes a good, adult hack when ...

Kiszla: Nuggets won’t be denied first championship. This series is over. Book the victory parade route.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

Fire up the fire trucks and clear the parade route. After 47 years, the first NBA championship is Nuggets history is guaranteed.The rest of the Finals is a mere formality, requiring nothing more than three more victories and 1,000 mea culpas from every knucklehead who doubted Denver.“Three more to go,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told me Thursday as he walked back to the Denver locker room after a 104-93 victory against Miami in a game not as close as the score would indicate.If this dominating performance was any indication, all the Nuggets need to do is keep chips on their shoulders and competitive snarls on their faces, and those three W’s will be a foregone conclusion.Game knows game. In defeat, Heat president Pat Riley, who has won nine NBA championships as a player, coach or executive, sought out Malone in the hallway of Ball Arena to offer a warm handshake, paying the respect to the Nuggets that knuckleheads like Nick Wright from Fox and Kendrick Perkins fr...

Felony sexual assault suspect arrested in Temecula

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:54 GMT

A 30-year-old man has been arrested and faces charges for felony sexual assault of a victim in Temecula, authorities announced Thursday.  The alleged assault occurred on May 20 in the 44000 block of Pechanga Parkway just before 9 p.m. When deputies with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the location, the suspect, now identified as Joseph Edward Labastida, of Temecula, had already fled the scene.  “The Southwest Station Investigations Bureau continued this investigation and gathered several leads from the community,” according to a RCSD news release.   Sherman Oaks middle school teacher charged with sexually assaulting 2 students On Thursday, Labastida was spotted in the area of Temecula Parkway and La Paz Road and was taken into custody. The 30-year-old was booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center on felony sexual assault charges.  Authorities added that Labastida was wanted for sexual assault charges out of Mojave County, Arizona as well. ...