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Heather Walker, longtime Celtics executive, dies after battling rare brain cancer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

Heather Walker, a longtime Celtics executive and the team’s vice president of public relations, died on Wednesday following a nearly two-year battle with cancer. She was 52 years old.“Heather Walker was a boundlessly charismatic, giving, and selfless soul,” the Celtics said in a statement. “Every room she entered was brighter for her presence. As anyone who knew her could attest, her abundant positive energy and kindness should not be mistaken for any lack of fortitude or determination when such qualities were required. “She thrived in chaos, always able to recognize the humor that the adventures of her life brought her. Each of these attributes were on display through the best days of her life, and remained intact, sharpened even, when she encountered her cruel diagnosis.”Walker, who had worked with the Celtics since 2006, was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma in July 2021. Since then, she had been working relentlessly to raise awareness and money to research the rare and aggress...

Yankees Notebook: With offense reeling, Jake Bauers strong start at Triple-A has Bombers’ attention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees could use some offense right now, and Jake Bauers has produced plenty of it at Triple-A.The lefty swinger has been raking for the RailRiders, tallying four doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 20 RBI and a .333/.481/.883 slash line over his first 19 games. With the Yankees struggling to score, Aaron Boone has noticed Bauer’s early-season surge.“He’s definitely caught our eye,” the manager said Wednesday morning. “Certainly got a lot of us paying attention to that. We’ll see what happens.”Bauers has 328 games of big league experience with Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Seattle. He totaled 23 home runs over 213 games from 2018-2019, but he hasn’t played in the majors since 2021.The 27-year-old played for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season and hit well this past spring. Bauers has split his time fairly evenly between first base, designated hitter and the corner outfield spots this year.Bauers is not on the Yankees...

Bruins notebook: Taylor Hall’s game clicking for various reasons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

In the overall scheme of the Bruins’ Game 2 loss to the Florida Panthers, Taylor Hall’s goal was the ultimate nothing burger. The B’s were getting blown out by the Cats and Hall’s goal that made it 6-3 only made the final score look more respectable than it deserved to be.Hall originally thought so, too. But in hindsight, it might have been just the thing to get the speedy winger going. Riding a four-point day in Game 4, Hall went into Wednesday’s Game 5 at the Garden as the B’s leading scoring in this playoff run with 4-3-7 totals in the first four games.Before he scored that late goal, Hall had not gotten on the scoreboard in the first playoff game nor did he notch a point in the final three games of the regular season when he came back from the injury that knocked him out of the lineup on February 25.“It was a nothing goal, for sure. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but maybe that did allow me to (think) ‘OK, at least I’...

Oklahoma board denies clemency for death row inmate Glossip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s state parole board voted Wednesday not to recommend clemency for death row inmate Richard Glossip, even though the state attorney general said he doesn’t think the condemned man whose case has drawn interest from Kim Kardashian and others received a fair trial.The board voted 2-2 to not recommend that Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt grant clemency to Glossip, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 18. One board member recused himself because his spouse is a prosecutor who had previous involvement in Glossip’s case.There is no way to appeal the board’s decision, and Stitt would have needed the board’s recommendation in order to grant clemency, according to the board’s website.The vote came despite the state’s new Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, taking the unusual step of arguing on behalf of granting clemency — his office typically asks the board to allow executions to proceed. Drummond said that although ...

Striking federal workers want Trudeau to step in on negotiations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

The president of Canada’s largest federal public service union says the government isn’t budging on a contract offer that would grant striking federal workers a nine per cent wage increase over three years.Public Service Alliance of Canada National President Chris Aylward says the government told the union by email Tuesday night that it would not move from its latest offer, signalling a stalemate in the negotiations.He’s calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step in.“If the prime minister can turn his back on these striking members, he will turn his back on every single worker in this country,” Aylward said Wednesday.More than 150,000 public servants walked off the job on April 19 to back their demands for higher wages and work-from-home provisions, among other things.PSAC head Chris Aylward at a rally on Parliament Hill today. Negotiations between the federal government and striking federal workers seem to be hitting a snag. Listen to @CityNewsTO...

Ultrasound technician accused of sexually assaulting woman at Oshawa clinic

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

Durham Regional Police have charged an ultrasound technician with sexual assault after investigators said a woman came forward alleging she was touched in an inappropriate sexual manner during a medical procedure.The alleged incident took place in May 2022 at an ultrasound and X-ray clinic in Oshawa.Fifty-eight-year-old Igor Ivanov, of Thornhill, is facing a single count of sexual assault and has been released on an undertaking.Police say Ivanov has worked at numerous clinics throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

Elizabeth Holmes delays going to prison with another appeal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has avoided starting her more than 11-year prison sentence on Thursday by deploying the same legal maneuver that enabled her co-conspirator in a blood-testing hoax to remain free for an additional month.Holmes’ lawyers on Wednesday informed U.S. District Judge Edward Davila that she won’t be reporting to prison as scheduled because she had filed an appeal of a decision that he issued earlier this month ordering her to begin her sentence on April 27. The appeal, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday, automatically delays her reporting date because she has been free on bail since a jury convicted her on four counts of fraud and conspiracy in January following a four-month trial revolving around her downfall from a rising Silicon Valley star to an alleged scam artist chasing fame and fortune while fleecing investors and endangering the health of patients relying on Theranos’ flawed blood...

Kenya cult death toll rises to 95 as government sets curfew

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The latest death toll in Kenya’s cult investigation has risen to 95 as the government announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the ranch owned by a pastor who is accused of ordering his followers to fast to death.Journalists and human rights activists on Wednesday were barred from accessing the 800-acre (320-hectare) ranch, which has been declared a “disturbed area and an operation zone.”Pastor Paul Makenzi, who was arrested for allegedly directing his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus, remains in police custody until at least May 2. He heads the Good News International Church.Police say they took 22 people into custody during Wednesday’s search and rescue operation. Authorities have rescued 34 people from the property, which is near the town of Malindi, since police raided the ranch earlier this month.The Kenya Red Cross Society said that 314 is the latest missing persons figure. Movement will now be restricted on the ranch for 30 days.“Curfew orders...

Missouri judge to weigh transgender health care rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Whether a first-of-its-kind rule placing strict regulations on gender-affirming care in Missouri kicks in Thursday is in the hands of a judge.Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office is set to defend his unusual emergency rule before St. Louis County Circuit Judge Kristine Kerr on Wednesday.Transgender Missourians and health care providers sued Monday, asking Kerr to block the rule. Bailey has touted the emergency restrictions as a way to shield minors from what he describes as experimental medical treatments, although the regulations apply to health care for adults as well. Those suing argue Bailey sidestepped the GOP-led Legislature and acted beyond his authority in attempting to regulate gender-affirming health care under the state’s consumer-protection laws.The rule would “essentially outlaw, on less than two weeks’ notice, virtually all medically-necessary treatment for gender dysphoria in Missouri, treatment that is supported by every major ...

Bank of Canada considered raising interest rates at its last meeting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:51:58 GMT

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada considered raising interest rates earlier this month, as it feared being too slow to react to sticky inflation.In its summary of deliberations released Wednesday, the central bank says its governing council contemplated another rate hike. The main arguments in favour of another rate hike were resilience in economic growth, potential challenges bringing inflation down from three to two per cent and the risk of waiting too long to respond to stubborn inflation.While the central bank appears confident that inflation will fall to three per cent by mid-year, it remains concerned that the return to two per cent inflation may take longer as the cost of services remains elevated.Ultimately, the Bank of Canada maintained its key interest rate at 4.5 per cent on April 12 and decided in favour of waiting for more economic data to determine whether rates need to rise further. “Governing council agreed at this decision to maintain the target for the overnight ra...