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Taylor Hendricks set to become UCF’s first one-and-done, declares for NBA Draft

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

UCF men’s basketball star Taylor Hendricks declared for the 2023 NBA draft on Wednesday, he told ESPN.Hendricks, a freshman who quickly rose in projected mock drafts throughout the season, has signed with attorney Raymond Brothers, the president of Roc Nation basketball, the report said.“I want to thank my mom and brothers Tyler and Jamal,” Hendricks said. “Also, UCF and coach Johnny Dawkins for pushing me to develop my game and help get me where I am now.”By deciding to forgo his remaining three years of eligibility, Hendricks becomes the first one-and-done NBA draft prospect in UCF’s program history.The 6-foot-9 forward started all 34 games and led the team in scoring, rebounds and blocks for the Knights (19-15), whose season ended in the second round of the NIT in a loss Sunday at Oregon.Versatile on both ends of the court, Hendricks was the only player in the country with 60 or more made 3-pointers, 55-plus blocks and at least 35 dunks.“...

Yankees Notebook: Scott Effross takes day-by-day approach to Tommy John rehab

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

TAMPA — Scott Effross doesn’t have a definitive timeline for his return from Tommy John surgery, but the Yankees reliever has been throwing for a couple of weeks now.The side-arming righty is up to 60 feet in distance, and he’ll continue to incrementally increase that number. But Effross is not thinking about when he’ll be back pitching for the Yankees. Instead, “I’m just trying to look day-to-day,” he told the Daily News at the team’s spring training complex on Wednesday.The Yanks acquired Effross from the Cubs last August in exchange for pitching prospect Hayden Wesneski. The 29-year-old pitched well over 13 games, recording a 2.13 ERA while picking up three saves. He finished the season with a 2.54 ERA over 60 total outings.The Yankees planned on making Effross an integral part of their postseason bullpen, but news that he needed surgery broke just after the team revealed a playoff roster that didn’t include him on Oct. 11.On ...

Amid bank turmoil, Fed hikes key rate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve extended its year-long fight against high inflation by raising its key interest rate by a quarter-point despite concerns that higher costs could worsen the turmoil that has gripped the banking system.“The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient,” the Fed said in a statement after its latest policy meeting ended.At the same time, the Fed warned that the upheaval stemming from the fall of two major banks is “likely to result in tighter credit conditions” and “weigh on economic activity, hiring and inflation.”The central bank also signaled that it’s likely nearing the end of its aggressive streak of rate hikes. In its statement, it removed language that had previously said it would keep raising rates at future meetings. The statement now says “some additional policy firming may be appropriate” — a weaker commitment to future hikes.In its latest quarterly projections, the policymakers forecast that...

Ticker: Newsmax returns to DirecTV; More deaths linked to recalled eyedrops

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

Newsmax is returning to DirecTV after a dispute between the parties saw the conservative network removed from the satellite carrier.The duo were initially unable to agree to financial terms on an agreement, which led to DirecTV losing the rights to distribute Newsmax programming on Jan. 25.The companies said Wednesday they’ve reached a multiyear distribution deal that will see the Newsmax channel return to DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse starting on Thursday.Financial terms were not disclosed. And both added the contract dispute was never about politics.“Newsmax recognizes and appreciates that DirecTV clearly supports diverse voices, including conservative ones,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a statement that also credited DirecTV with helping “give Newsmax its start nearly a decade ago.”More deaths linked to recalled eyedropsU.S. officials are reporting two more deaths and additional cases of vision loss linked to eyedrops tainted with a dr...

Abortion debate churns with legislation and lawsuits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

Nine months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a nationwide right to an abortion, the landscape is far from settled, with lawmakers considering broader bans or stronger protections and legal challenges popping up nationwide.It’s been a hectic week for abortion policy with Republican-dominated states seeking to tighten restrictions, Democratic lawmakers trying to protect abortion access — and court fights playing out on multiple fronts.Here’s what’s happening: WHAT’S THE STATUS OF ABORTION PILLS?This question lies at the heart of the most closely watched current abortion-related lawsuit.A combination of two drugs is the nation’s most common method for ending pregnancies.But Alliance Defending Freedom, which opposed abortion, has asked a Texas judge to revoke or suspend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of one of the drugs, mifepristone. The legal question looms as the Biden Administration is working on rules to make the pills more widely av...

NTSB: Pilot error in crash killing diet guru Gwen Shamblin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A small plane crash in Tennessee that killed weight-loss guru Gwen Shamblin Lara and six others likely happened when her husband piloting the plane — actor Joe Lara — became disoriented in heavy clouds, a final report by the National Transportation Safety Board says.Joe Lara, who played Tarzan in the 1990s TV series “Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,” was flying a Cessna C501 on March 29, 2021, when the aircraft plunged into Percy Priest Lake, minutes after takeoff from an airport just outside Nashville. Flight track data found that the plane “made a series of heading changes, along with several climbs and descents, before it entered a steep, descending left turn,” according to the crash report released Wednesday. The maneuvering is consistent with a type of spatial disorientation called somatogravic illusion, and it likely caused the pilot to perceive that the airplane was pitching up even though it was actually in a continuous descent, according to an NTSB...

Otieno family attorneys push back against officers’ defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As a video was released publicly this week showing sheriff’s deputies and employees of a Virginia mental hospital pinning Irvo Otieno to the floor, attorneys for several of the defendants charged with second-degree murder in his death began to weigh in to defend their clients.During bond hearings and through statements, lawyers sought to distinguish their clients from the mass of bodies involved in holding Otieno to the floor for over 10 minutes. One said in court that his client only worked to secure leg irons on Otieno, while another said his client put his body weight on the man for just a short period of time and then tried to position Otieno on his side so he would not have trouble breathing.Some defense attorneys also said their clients were only trying to restrain Otieno and there was no evidence of an intent to kill the 28-year-old Black man as deputies sought to have him admitted to Central State Hospital on March 6.“At no time did he realize that Mr. O...

Judge halts Wyoming abortion ban days after it took effect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Abortion will again be legal in Wyoming — at least for now — after a judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a ban that took effect a few days earlier.Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens’ decision halts the ban amid a challenge in her court to a law that took effect Sunday. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law despite earlier rulings by Owens that had blocked a previous ban since shortly after it took effect last summer.Owens put the new ban on hold after a hearing Wednesday in which abortion-rights supporters said the law harms pregnant women and their doctors. Owens suspended the ban for at least two weeks.The law prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest that’s reported to police, or to save a woman’s life.The judge did not weigh in on another new abortion law that’s also being challenged in her court: Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills. That law, signed by Republican Gov. Ma...

NYC neighborhood carries on during wait for Trump grand jury

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — As the world waits to see whether a grand jury in lower Manhattan indicts former President Donald Trump, neighborhood resident Barbara Malmet decided to give up her front-row seat.While police erected barricades around the courthouse where any criminal case would be brought, the retired New York University professor packed a bag and prepared to leave town.Malmet, 70, lives a few blocks from the city’s civic center and said she is concerned about “a smaller repeat of Jan. 6” if Trump incites “his cult followers into violence.” She wants ”a little more peace of mind not being within walking distance of the courthouse.”So far, Trump’s call for protests has not resulted in any lawlessness, and life has generally gone on as usual in the neighborhood of government buildings and office towers on the edge of Chinatown. Another day passed Wednesday without any decision on possible legal action.Asked if the situation was straining city resources or the New York Police De...

IOC’s Bach defends Russia stance amid pro-Ukraine protest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:40:28 GMT

ESSEN, Germany (AP) — International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach defended his organization’s efforts to create a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to competition in a speech in his home country of Germany which took place amid a pro-Ukraine protest Wednesday.Bach reiterated the IOC’s position that it would be discriminatory to exclude Russians and Belarusians based on citizenship alone and argued the Olympics can help promote dialogue at a tense time. Public broadcaster WDR reported nearly 200 pro-Ukraine protesters gathered outside the venue calling for Russia to be excluded entirely from the Olympics.The IOC recommended excluding Russia and Belarus on safety grounds soon after the invasion last year but now argues for letting the two countries’ athletes compete as neutrals without national symbols ahead of a packed calendar of qualification events for the 2024 Paris Olympics.Bach said he opposed political influence on sports and any...