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Youth football teams from Dixmoor and Robbins raise funds for Florida trips — and eye national championships

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

When the Robbins Eagles youth football organization was founded in 1983, it was seen as a way to “give kids something to do and to give them the chance we didn’t have,” according to Bernard Ward, who helped start the program.Now, on the 40th anniversary of the team’s founding, the Eagles will play on the national stage as the team advances to the American Youth Football League championship in Naples, Florida.“They are going to represent the whole Midwest,” Ward said at a pep rally Tuesday. “It’s the best investment we ever made.”They will be in Florida at the same time as the Dixmoor Vikings are fielding two teams vying for the title in the Pop Warner Super Bowl in Orlando.Vikings coach Dwayne Tyson will bring a team that came in second at last year’s competition, falling shy of the title primarily because he and some other coaches and players came down with the flu at the last minute.“We had big expectations from the...

Source: Bailey Zappe took majority of Patriots QB reps in first practice of Week 13

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

FOXBORO — Bailey Zappe took most of the Patriots’ practice reps at quarterback Wednesday, a source told the Herald.That’s also what reporters saw during the open period when Zappe took top reps followed by rookie quarterback/wide receiver Malik Cunningham, while Mac Jones, who has started the first 11 games of the season, stood by and watched.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Source: Patriots WR Demario Douglas in concussion protocol New England Patriots | Bailey Zappe leads QBs, Mac Jones sits out at start of Patriots practice Wednesday New England Patriots | Sources: Patriots adding wide receiver depth amid injuries New England Patriots | Bill Belichick explains Patriots rookie Malik Cunningham’s lack of QB reps New England Patriots | Bill Belichick ‘not prepared’ to announce Patriots’ starting quarterback Zappe has not received a starting opportunity yet ...

Ringo Starr’s latest book features never-before-seen photos, era-defining fashion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

Ringo Starr’s latest book is a colorful literary chronicling his music career and standout fashion sensibility.Titled “Beats & Threads,” the 312-page tome features photos of the legendary Beatle’s drum kits and “era-defining” fashion over 70 years.On sale Friday through the publishing division of Julien’s Auctions, the book has a list price of $80 — with autographed limited editions selling upwards to $750.In a press released issued Friday, the Los Angeles-based auction house said the book features “nearly 300 shimmering images capturing iconic and many never-before-seen intimate moments of Ringo’s illustrious life and career, along with the drum icon’s warm memories told in his own words.”Proceeds from “Beats & Threads” will be donated to the Lotus Foundation, a charity founded by Starr and wife Barbara Bach which supports projects connected to “family and child welfare, women’s issues, addiction recovery and education.”During the 2022 Thanksgiving season, the “Yellow Subma...

Pennsylvania is trying to help voters avoid mistakes that would invalidate their mail ballot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is trying anew to help voters using mail-in ballots in the battleground state avoid mistakes that might get their ballot thrown out in 2024’s presidential election and beyond.In a new directive Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration asked counties to start using a standard set of instructions to explain how to complete mail-in ballots, among other steps.Shapiro’s top election official, Secretary of State Al Schmidt, said some counties already use these methods.The effort comes amid a partisan stalemate in Pennsylvania’s Legislature and court battles over provisions in the state’s four-year-old mail-in voting law that have led counties to throw out tens of thousands of mail-in ballots cast by legal voters. Voters completing a mail-in ballot must put their completed ballot into an inner secrecy envelope, insert that into an outer return envelope, and write their name, date and signature on the back of the outer en...

Texas man who set fire to an Austin synagogue sentenced to 10 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who set fire to an Austin synagogue in an antisemitic attack two years ago was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison. Franklin Sechriest, 20, had previously pleaded guilty to arson and a hate crime causing damage to religious property on Halloween 2021. He also was ordered to pay $470,000 in restitution to Congregation Beth Israel, and to serve an additional three years of supervised release once he gets out of prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. Sechriest, who was a member of the Texas State Guard and a student at Texas State University, had written racist and antisemitic journal entries before setting the fire, federal investigators said. Journal entries included “scout a target” on the day of the attack. Several days later, he wrote, “I set a synagogue on fire.”Security footage showed Sechriest’s Jeep at the synagogue just before the blaze started, investigators said. He was seen carrying a 5-gallon (1...

Construction companies in fined connection with worker’s death at Lambeau Field, Packers stadium

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Federal labor inspectors have levied fines against two construction companies in connection with a worker’s death at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, earlier this year.Joshua Shaw, a 27-year-old carpenter with Mavid Construction, died in June after he was struck by a dumbwaiter car while working inside one of the football stadium’s video scoreboards, WLUK-TV reported Tuesday. The work was part of a project to replace the stadium’s two video scoreboards and renovate concession stands.WLUK reported that it obtained documents that show the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations against Mavid and the project’s general contractor, Miron Construction on Nov. 15. The citations call for fines of more than $15,000 against Mavid and almost $19,000 against Miron.According to OSHA, the companies’ employees and subcontractors were exposed to “pinch-point hazards” associated ...

‘First of its kind’: Dow invests $9 billion on Alberta net-zero petrochemical project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

FORT SASKATCHEWAN, Alta. — Dow Chemical has announced plans to invest nearly $9 billion in a net-zero petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton.Dow’s Path2Zero facility is being billed as the world’s first net-zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions-integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives site. “This is a first-of-its-kind-in-the-world net zero petrochemicals facility and it will be the very first announced major project in Canada that is getting off the ground thanks to support from our investment tax credit for carbon capture storage and utilization, as well as our investment tax credit for clean hydrogen,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Wednesday in Fort Saskatchewan.The project aims to convert cracker off-gas into hydrogen as a clean fuel to be used in ethylene production. Carbon dioxide is to be captured on-site and then transported to be stored by adjacent partners. The project is expected to increase the U.S. chemical company̵...

Lawsuit alleges negligence in train derailment and chemical fire that forced residents from homes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court alleges negligence by CSX Transportation caused a train derailment and ensuing chemical fire that forced residents of a small Kentucky town out of their homes for more than a day, including most of Thanksgiving.The train derailed on Nov. 22 around 2:30 p.m. that Wednesday near the remote town of Livingston. Residents were advised to evacuate just a day before the Thanksgiving holiday and were only cleared to return to their homes that Thursday after the fire was put out. An investigation by the railroad company found that the derailment occurred after a wheel bearing on a train car failed.Morgan & Morgan filed the lawsuit seeking class-action status on behalf of the town’s affected residents, saying the derailment could have been prevented if CSX had monitored the train’s wheel bearings more closely and had placed trackside detectors that sound an alarm when wheel bearings overheat closer together. “Because of CSX...

Woman found guilty of 1st-degree murder in 2019 Aurora house fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

A woman from Aurora has been found guilty of first-degree murder and arson in a deadly house fire more than four years ago.At around 2 a.m. on July 27, 2019, York Region firefighters discovered the body of 38-year-old Troy Stephen Oakley inside a house on Edward Street after the building was fully engulfed in flames.He was pronounced dead at the scene, and authorities deemed the death as suspicious.38-year-old Troy Stephen Oakley was found dead inside the home on July 27, 2019. Photo: York Regional Police handout.Melissa Galea, now 41, of Aurora, was arrested and charged that same day with second-degree murder, which was later upgraded to first-degree murder. Galea was convicted of first-degree murder and arson on Nov. 24, 2023. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Jan. 5, 2024.

Indigenous signage aims to make B.C. legislature more inclusive, accepting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:00 GMT

VICTORIA — The Speaker of British Columbia’s legislature says the unveiling of Indigenous-themed signs outside the building is a necessary step toward opening doors that have been historically closed.Raj Chouhan says the B.C. legislature is the province’s largest symbol of colonialism, but it’s his priority to make the building a more welcoming and inclusive place.He says a ceremony today where engraved Indigenous language signs were permanently attached to the stone sidewalk perimeter of the building represent symbols of progress that would not have been welcome years ago.Hereditary Chief Edward Thomas Sr. says the presence of Indigenous language signs at the legislature, the former site of a village for the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, is a show of respect to the past and an open door to the future.He says he can see more Indigenous people coming to the legislature now that the signs are there to acknowledge their history and contributions.Chouhan says the signs i...