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The Wembanyama sweepstakes and draft lottery has a winner: It’s the Spurs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

By ANDREW SELIGMAN (AP Sports Writer)CHICAGO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama is now set to begin his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, after they won the NBA draft lottery and the No. 1 overall pick on Tuesday night.The Spurs were one of three teams with the best odds — 14% — to land the No. 1 pick, which they’ll almost certainly use on Wembanyama. The 7-foot-3 French 19-year-old is one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history and will be expected to make an immediate impact on the league.And he had a message for San Antonio.“I’m trying to win a ring ASAP,” Wembanyama told ESPN after the lottery results. “So be ready.”It’s the third time the Spurs have won the lottery, and on both previous occasions they made picks that paid off for decades. They chose David Robinson in 1987, Tim Duncan in 1997, and those selections were a major part of how the Spurs became a team that won five NBA titles under coach Gregg Popovich....

North Carolina GOP overrides veto of 12-week abortion limit, allowing it to become law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, GARY D. ROBERTSON and DENISE LAVOIE (Associated Press)RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.The House completed the second and final part of the override vote Tuesday night after a similar three-fifths majority voted for the override earlier Tuesday in the Senate. The outcome represents a major victory for Republican legislative leaders who needed every GOP member on board to enact the law over Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition.Cooper vetoed the measure over the weekend after spending last week traveling around the state to convince at least one Republican to uphold his expected veto.Republicans have pitched the measure as a middle-ground change to state law, which currently bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without except...

Chicago Bulls won’t have a 1st-round pick this year after getting No. 11 — which they must convey to the Orlando Magic — in the NBA draft lottery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

Luck didn’t fall in the Chicago Bulls’ favor Tuesday night in the NBA draft lottery at McCormick Place.The Bulls didn’t land a top-four pick — and as a result, they won’t have a first-round pick at all this year. They must relinquish their first-round selection — which wound up being No. 11 — to the Orlando Magic as the final stipulation in the 2021 trade for center Nikola Vučević. The pick was top-four protected in this year’s draft.The San Antonio Spurs received the No. 1 pick, which they almost certainly will use on highly touted French prospect Victor Wambanyama.The odds were never in the Bulls’ favor — they had only a 2.5% chance of landing the No. 4 pick, a 2.21% chance at No. 3, a 1.98% chance at No. 2 and a 1.8% chance of getting the top pick.The structure of the draft lottery created a wide chasm between victory and defeat for the Bulls. They could not receive any pick between No. 5 and No. 10, limiting t...

Boys volleyball: Undefeated Needham tops powerful Natick again

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

NEEDHAM — It was just five weeks ago that the top-ranked Needham boys volleyball traded blows with fellow Div. 1 contender Natick, and needed clutch performances late in a couple sets to secure a tight sweep.With a stellar serve-receive and another big performance from senior outside hitter Ethan McCarron on Tuesday, the highly-anticipated second round between the two ended much more convincingly for the two-time defending Div. 1 champs.As Natick struggled to build momentum despite trading points early on in each set, the unbeaten Rockets (16-0) surged through the gates en route to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-19) win against another Bay State Conference juggernaut.Owen Ching and Jonathan Ochalla played exceptionally to essentially provide Needham with two top-level liberos, leading the home team to what both head coaches felt was a huge game for the Rockets’ serve-receive.Needham got its typical dose of offensive contributions across the board off of that, led by McCarron’s 16 kills and...

BCL track championships: Latin Academy boys, girls sweep up

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

Ever since she first arrived at Latin Academy, Maia Poremba has continued to establish herself as one of the top track stars in the state, earning one accolade after the next.With Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in attendance Tuesday, she and her fellow teammates made history once again, and did so in dominant fashion. The junior went on to place first in two individual events, earning Mary Grant Girls Athlete of the Meet honors as the Dragons captured their latest Boston City League girls track and field title at White Stadium.“The girls were really strong all season,” said Latin Academy track coach Brian Leussler. “We expected that we’d have a great performance. We had sophomore Ava Gomes, who was having a really great day. She won the 100 (13.17 seconds) and the 200 (27.68). She’s just a great asset to the team. Also, Leanna Lynch, another sophomore standout runner. Then Maia Poremba, a junior who won that Athlete of the Meet, won the mile (6:22.48), the (800) (2:39.27). We have a lot o...

Explosion in Tijuana injures 20, three in critical condition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) -- Late Tuesday morning, an explosion ripped through the heart of downtown Tijuana injuring 20 people.According to the Tijuana Fire Department, the blast happened at a multipurpose building with several businesses on the ground floor and apartment units on the second story.Initially, one person was reportedly killed, but we're now told no fatalities took place.Six people did require medical care, three are said to be hospitalized in critical condition.The Tijuana Fire Department says it is still looking for a few residents who have been reported missing. Visit BorderReport.com for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

Woman killed in two-vehicle South Bay crash identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- An 86-year-old woman who was killed in a Chula Vista crash Monday has been identified, authorities said.Erlinda Young, the driver of the Honda Odyssey, was announced as the deceased, Sgt. Anthony Molina said in a news release Tuesday. The two-vehicle collision occurred Monday afternoon when a Ford F-150 traveling eastbound on Telegraph Canyon Road collided with the Honda Odyssey making a left turn from Old Telegraph Canyon Road, according to police. Family of sisters killed in Mother’s Day hit-and-run crash speaks out The impact caused the Ford F-150 to flip on its side while the Honda Odyssey was found crashed onto a sidewalk.Young, as well as an 83-year-old female passenger in the Honda Odyssey, were taken to a hospital, where Young died from her injuries, Molina confirmed. The other passenger remains in the hospital in critical condition. The Ford F-150 driver, a 24-year-old man, was also hospitalized, police said. Driving under the influence is not susp...

Trump-backed Daniel Cameron to face Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in November

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Daniel Cameron won the Republican primary for Kentucky governor on Tuesday, becoming the first major-party Black nominee for governor in the state’s history and setting up a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear.Cameron, the state’s attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, emerged victorious from a 12-candidate field that included Kelly Craft, who served as United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration, and state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Beshear easily dispatched two under-the-radar Democratic challengers in his own primary.Cameron, the state’s first Black attorney general, would be the state’s first Black governor if elected.The race now shifts to the general election, which will be one of November’s most closely watched contests and could provide clues heading into next year’s presidential race. Beshear, a popular Democratic governor, will face a tough reelection bid in a R...

New directive requires CSIS to tell MPs, public safety minister about foreign threats

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has formally directed Canada’s spy agency to investigate and disclose any foreign threats against parliamentarians, their families, their staff members or Parliament itself, as the MP who was targeted by a Chinese diplomat urged his colleagues to go even further. Conservative MP Michael Chong was invited to testify before the House affairs committee on Tuesday evening. He recommended his fellow MPs obtain documents and records related to his case to better understand the “systemic failure” that led to him learning about threats against his family through the media nearly two years after they were being tracked by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.Chong said he was briefed this month on the contents of the 2021 CSIS intelligence assessment that alleges Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was collecting information about his family members in Hong Kong in order to sanction them.But he said he first learned...

Court rejects Elizabeth Holmes’ motion to stay out of prison while on appeal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:53 GMT

Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has once again lost her bid to stay out of prison while she appeals her fraud conviction tied to a blood-testing hoax that bilked investors.In a one-page ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that Holmes’ appeal did not show that she would have received a shorter sentence or have her conviction reversed due to errors made during her trial. Holmes’ 11-year prison sentence is scheduled to start roughly 20 years after she dropped out of Stanford University when she was 19 years old to start Theranos in Palo Alto, California — the same city where William Hewlett and David Packard founded a company bearing their surnames in a small garage and planted the seeds of what grew into Silicon Valley.Holmes has been free on bail since a jury convicted her on four counts of fraud and conspiracy in January 2022. The verdict followed a four-month trial revolving around her downfall from a rising Silicon Valley star to...