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No. 21 Tar Heels aim to contend in the ACC with QB Drake Maye. A step up defensively would help, too

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina didn’t make things easy last year, surviving a shaky defense on a wild ride that reached the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.Mack Brown would love his team to take a steadier route this season as an ACC contender led by a star quarterback in Drake Maye.The 21st-ranked Tar Heels (9-5, 6-2 ACC in 2022) had a six-game winning streak that ultimately helped them claim the final Coastal Division championship before the ACC’s move to a division-less format this season. But UNC lost its last four games, including the ACC title game against Clemson and the Holiday Bowl against Oregon.Brown, in Year 5 of his second stint here, has eight returning offensive starters — including Maye as a possible Heisman Trophy candidate — and seven on defense. That’s enough to have the Tar Heels picked to finish third in the ACC behind ninth-ranked favorite Clemson and No. 8 Florida State.“You want expectations,” Brown said. “And if you don...

World Cup winner Paredes returns to Roma on a 2-year deal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

ROME (AP) — World Cup winner Leandro Paredes returned to Roma on Wednesday, signing a two-year deal with the Serie A club.Paredes joins from Paris Saint-Germain for a fee of around 4 million euros ($4.4 million) and the Argentina midfielder will wear the iconic No. 16 shirt, that previously belonged to retired Roma legend Daniele De Rossi.“I never would’ve allowed it to happen without Daniele’s permission,” Paredes said. “He sent me a message to say he would be thrilled for me to wear that number.”Paredes was teammates with De Rossi during his first spell at Roma.“Coming back to Rome is always a special thing, but doing so now as a Roma player is even more special,” Paredes said. “I’d like to thank the fans for welcoming me and Roma for bringing me back to the club where I launched my career in Europe.“Last year was an incredibly happy one for me with the World Cup, so now I want to keep tasting success and I’m convinced I can do just that with this team.”Having come through the you...

Denver weather: Summer heat is here to stay

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The hot temperatures continue along the Front Range with abundant sunshine on Wednesday in the Denver weather forecast.Weather today: Sunny and hotWith mostly sunny skies on Wednesday, Denver will see highs topping out in the middle 90s, keeping temperatures above average for this time of the year. Colorado man: ‘The post office thinks I’m dead’ Clouds increase in the high country with a few showers in the afternoon.Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on Aug. 16. Weather tonight: Mild and clearThe skies will stay mostly clear Wednesday night with a slower wind. Overnight lows will be mild but still above average as they dip into the low 60s.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on Aug. 16.Looking ahead: Small storm chances and lots of 90sThe heat stays through Thursday afternoon with highs in the low 90s and sunny skies. Friday has a small chance for some late-day showers or storms. Highs will once again reach the middle 90s. Colorado River water cuts eased for 202...

Miami Police asking for public’s help in searching for missing 12-year-old girl

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

The City of Miami Police Department needs the public’s help in searching for a missing 12-year-old girl. According to officials, Jade A. Sotelo has been missing since July 20 and was last seen in the Little Havana area of the city. Sotelo stands at 5 feet, 4 inches, weighs 200 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes. Authorities do not know what she was wearing at the time of her disappearance. Anyone with information on this girl’s whereabouts is asked to call Detective K. Brito or any on-duty detective of the City of Miami of Police Department’s Special Victims Unit at 305-603-6300, 305-579-6111 or [email protected].

Mother drowns trying to save son at NH waterfall and father rescues another son trapped by boulders

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

LINCOLN, N.H. (AP) — A mother drowned trying to rescue her young son who was being pulled by the current at a popular waterfall and another son who jumped in to help became lodged in boulders and was rescued by his father, authorities said.The mother was part of a Massachusetts family of five visiting Franconia Falls in Lincoln along with a friend on Tuesday afternoon, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said.“One of the minor children slipped and fell into one of the pools at the falls,” Sgt. Heidi Murphy said in a news release. “He could not get out of the pool as it was a fast, circulating current. The mother jumped into the river to help her child and began to immediately have trouble.”Two other children jumped into the water to help their brother and mother.“They were able to get their brother out of the water, but in doing so, another brother became lodged in the boulders and could not escape,” Murphy said.At the same time, the father was trying to find the mother. He e...

Small Minnesota town will be without police after chief and officers resign, citing low pay

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

GOODHUE, Minn. (AP) — A small Minnesota town will soon be without a police department, an exodus spurred by low pay for the chief and his officers.Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith and one other officer are still on the force, but only until their resignations become official on Aug. 23, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Smith submitted his resignation at a City Council meeting Aug. 9, while another full-time officer and five part-time employees resigned Friday after learning that Smith was stepping down.“This is heartbreaking to us,” Goodhue Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck said Monday night after an emergency council meeting. Goodhue, in southeastern Minnesota, has about 1,300 residents.The council will seek extra enforcement from the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office while town officials work to rebuild the department.Smith did not respond to calls for comment. He told the council in July that the city wasn’t offering enough money to retain officers when other places were willing...

Offshore drilling rig arrives in Lebanese waters ahead of work near the border with Israel

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — An offshore drilling rig arrived at its destination in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon’s coast and will start operations in the coming weeks to search for gas, cabinet ministers said Wednesday.The rig is expected to begin drilling this month in Lebanese waters near the border with Israel after the two countries reached a deal last year on their maritime border. Lebanon and Israel have formally been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948.Cash-strapped Lebanon hopes that future gas discoveries will help the small Mideast nation pull itself out of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.Caretaker Minister of Transport Ali Hamie wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the rig arrived Wednesday morning at the location where it is scheduled to begin work. The rig faces the southern port city of Tyre.“We hope that Lebanon will become an oil state,” Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyad told reporters in Beirut, adding that the results...

5 French tourists and 1 Swiss arrested for the gang rape of a young British woman in Spain

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Civil Guard police said Wednesday they have arrested five French tourists and one Swiss tourist for allegedly raping an 18-year-old British woman on the island of Mallorca. The rape allegedly happened early Monday in Magaluf, a tourist spot in the town of Calvià, a very popular party destination for young tourists. A judge in Palma, the main city in Mallorca, found there were video clips of the alleged rape on at least one of the suspects’ phones, police said.The police press office in Mallorca cited the alleged victim’s statement as saying she met the suspected rapists Monday night and later went to one of the hotel room of one of the suspects, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by the six.Civil Guard showed up at the hotel after receiving a phone call from the hotel’s security staff who found the young woman crying in desperation. Police detained the suspects shortly after. All of them are over 20 years of age.The alleged victim ...

Federal grants will replace tunnels beneath roads that let water pass but not fish

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced nearly $200 million in federal infrastructure grants to upgrade tunnels that carry streams beneath roads but can be deadly to fish that get stuck trying to pass through.Many of these narrow passages known as culverts, often made from metal or concrete, were built in the 1950s and are blamed in part for declining populations of salmon and other fish that live in the ocean but return to freshwater streams to spawn.By extension, fisheries — including tribal-run operations in the Pacific Northwest — have experienced losses they blame in part on such barriers as culverts and dams.“We inherited a lot of structures that were built in a way that just did not properly contemplate the effect they were having on fish,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You don’t have to be a fish enthusiast or ecologist to care about this. It’s very important for the livelihoods, economies and way of lif...

Indonesia’s leader says it can join leading economies by 2045 if it continues educational reforms

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:11:55 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president on Wednesday urged a continuation of his educational reforms to turn Southeast Asia’s largest economy into one of the world’s biggest by its hundredth anniversary in 2045.President Joko Widodo said in his annual state of the nation speech a day before Indonesia celebrates its 78th year of independence that it has a great chance of joining the globe’s top five economies with a per capital income of $25,000. Indonesia’s per capita income was $4,580 in 2022, according to the World Bank.Indonesia proclaimed its independence from Dutch colonial rule on Aug. 17, 1945. To achieve its goal of “2045 Golden Indonesia” will require a major reform of its education and vocational institutions, Widodo said.National elections are set for Feb. 14 and political speculation and gossip have been swirling ahead of the campaign, which begins in November. Campaigns are often marred by political smearing but are mostly peaceful.“We are now entering a p...