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White man charged with shooting of Ralph Yarl at front door

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

By MARGARET STAFFORD and JIM SALTER (Associated Press)KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An 85-year-old white man who shot a Black teen that approached the wrong house in Kansas City, Missouri, while trying to pick up his younger brothers has been charged with first-degree assault, the Clay County prosecutor said Monday.Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said at a news conference that there was a “racial component” to the incident Thursday night in which Andrew Lester twice shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, who is recovering at home after being released from the hospital on Sunday. But nothing in the charging documents says the shooting was racially motivated, Thompson clarified.“We understand how frustrating this has been but I can assure you the criminal justice system is working and will continue to work,” Thompson said at a news conference.The shooting outraged many in Kansas City and across the country. Civic and political leaders demanded justice and some, inc...

Kristian Winfield: Nets need to play Finney-Smith more playoff minutes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

PHILADELPHIA — The Nets need to find a way to play Dorian Finney-Smith more playoff minutes, and fast — even if it requires solving a math problem.Finney-Smith is one of the team’s most physical players, and his extended court presence is needed for a Nets team struggling with the 76ers’ physicality in their first-round playoff matchup against the Sixers.The issue? The Nets also need size to match up against superstar big man Joel Embiid. The biggest player on Brooklyn’s roster is reserve big man Day’Ron Sharpe.Vaughn says Finney-Smith and Sharpe are splitting the same minutes, a development since Finney-Smith plays both the four and small-ball five while Sharpe plays backup five exclusively.“You’ve got the full question of, ‘Do you play Day’Ron?’” head coach Jacque Vaughn said ahead of tipoff in Game 2 against the Sixers on Monday. “Day’Ron is supposedly one of our bigger dudes also.”Finney-Sm...

MBTA Green Line has delays on busy Marathon Monday, stranding exhausted runners who are faster than the T

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

What’s more Boston than T delays on Marathon Monday?As marathoners from around the world finished in Copley Square Monday afternoon, the MBTA terminated Green Line service at Arlington, leading to delays on one of the city’s busiest days of the year.Exhausted and drenched runners who just finished the grueling 26.2 miles were stranded on trains and platforms. Some marathon spectators along the route had held signs that read, “You’re faster than the T,” which was especially true on Monday.“Probably should have just kept running back to Somerville. #mbta,” a marathon finisher tweeted as he waited for a Green Line train with throngs of people at Prudential station.Related ArticlesLocal News | MBTA to shut down parts of Red and Blue Lines to address slow zones Local News | Green Line speed restrictions adjusted The MBTA said a “mechanical failure” was to blame.At about 2:50 p.m., an eastbound Green Lin...

‘It’s a beautiful thing’ Thousands unite, run and cheer during a rainy, cool marathon

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

Even on a cool, rainy Marathon Monday, a beautiful scene played out in Copley Square as 30,239 runners from all over the country and world finished their 26.2-mile run from Hopkinton.Hugs, smiles, fist pumps and loud cheers rang out as weary runners who had endured the course crossed the finish line, joyous, haggard, and grateful, one after another.But for Henry Richard, who’s younger brother Martin was killed and sister Jane lost a leg in the terrorist bombing of the marathon ten years ago, Monday’s race brought a special joy.“It’s a beautiful thing seeing familiar faces, new faces come out, run under Martin, just unify as one,” Richard said. “No matter what we do in the future, we are going to keep doing that.”On Monday, Richard crossed the finish line with a group of friends who ran with him as members of Team MR8, raising funds for the Martin Richard Foundation, which his parents Denise and Bill created within a year of the tragedy to help turn pain into healing.Former Bruins ca...

Veteran Susannah Scaroni victorious in women’s wheelchair race

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

Susannah Scaroni enjoyed her breakthrough moment in the women’s wheelchair race in Monday’s running of the Boston Marathon.Scaroni was a serious contender in her previous eight Boston Marathons that included second-place runs in 2018 and 2022, three third-place finishes and a fifth.Scaroni broke the tape with a winning time of 1:41:45, followed by Australian Madison De Rozano (1:46:55) and Wakako Tsuchida (1:47:04) of Japan.“It feels really amazing because I love Boston,” said Scaroni, a 31-year-old from Urbana, Ill. “I really love hilly courses and the crowds here are always incredible but today there was an extra spirit.“I train this way where I try to maintain a pace as fast as I can but kind of comfortably. I have noticed in the past the women’s field is very competitive but I don’t always feel like the speed is as fast as maybe it can be.“It is more position wise. I was trying to be very economical and tried to maintain a high pace and sort of wondering if the women behind me a...

Robbins: Biden celebrates America with visit to Ireland

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

The late Irish poet Eavan Frances Boland paid famous homage to the daughters and sons of Ireland who, beginning in the early part of the 19th century, endured the trauma of uprooting themselves from their homeland and traveling to the strange, forbidding land that was America. “What they survived we could not even live,” she wrote in her poem “The Emigrant Irish.” “Now it is time to imagine how they stood there, what they stood with. Their hardships parceled in them. Patience. Fortitude. Long-suffering in the bruise-colored dusk of the New World.”“And all the old songs. And nothing to lose.”The bond between America and Ireland is a powerful one. It has been forged in part by the vibrant role Irish Americans have played in the building of this country, and also by the profound connection the 32 million Americans of Irish descent feel in their hearts for the land of their forebears, a connection that has not withered even approaching two centuries since the Irish started arriving in A...

Kenyan Hellen Obiri upsets the elite field in women’s race

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

An accomplished field of marathon world champions and gold medal winners allowed a novice road runner with a track background steal the race.Kenyan Hellen Obiri made a decisive move on Ethiopian burner Amare Beriso at Kenmore Square and held on the break the tape in the women’s professional race in the 127th running of the BAA Boston Marathon.Obiri crossed the finish line with a stellar time of 2:21:38 in her Boston debut despite cold, wet weather conditions and a steady headwind. Obiri finished sixth (2:25:49) at New York on Nov. 6, 2022 in her only other marathon.The majority of Obiri’s spectacular career was spent on cross country paths and indoor and outdoor tracks. She won the silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and is the only women in history to win world titles in indoor and outdoor track and cross country.Obiri, 33, effortlessly transitioned from the oval to the Abbott Marathon Majors and she did it on the sport’s biggest stage and toughest course.“F...

No charges to be laid against officer who shot suspect in Vaughan condo shooting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

No charges will be laid against a police officer who fatally shot a man who went on a shooting rampage at a Vaughan condo building in December.Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), found that the officer was acting in self-defence.The SIU was was called to probe the fatal police interaction with Villi and the circumstances leading to him being shot as they are an independent provincial government agency investigating the conduct of officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and the discharge of a firearm at a person.“When the man refused to drop his pistol, and instead raised the hand holding the pistol as if readying to point it at the officer, the officer discharged his weapon four times,” said the SIU in a release.“The man was struck. Despite officers administering first-aid, the man succumbed to his injuries at the scene.”Villi was met by an officer after he fatally shot five people at the buildin...

Republicans balk at plan to replace Feinstein on Judiciary

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats’ efforts to temporarily replace California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee met quick opposition Monday from Republicans, complicating their plan as some of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees remain on hold during her extended medical absence.Feinstein, 89, last week asked to be temporarily replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee while she recuperates in her home state from a case of the shingles. The statement came shortly after a member of California’s House delegation, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, called on her to resign from the Senate, saying it is “unacceptable” for her to miss votes to confirm judges who could be weighing in on abortion rights, a key Democratic priority. Feinstein has been away from the Senate since February. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that he is moving forward and hopes to put a resolution on the Senate floor this week seeking a temporary substitute on the panel. But it&#...

Alabama officials renew call for clues in birthday shooting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:02 GMT

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Shaunkivia Nicole Smith was so exhilarated at the prospect of graduating from Dadeville High School that she often reminded a neighbor of the exact hour it was supposed to happen. “KeKe,” as she was known, had already shared selfies taken in her cap and gown, writing “almost out.”It was not to be. At 17, Smith was among four young people shot and killed at a Sweet 16 birthday party on Saturday in the small Alabama town of Dadeville, about an hour’s drive northeast of Montgomery.Classmates returned to school Monday without her or fellow senior Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18, of Camp Hill, a star football player who was also fatally shot in the melee that injured 32 in addition to those slain. It happened at the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio off Dadeville’s courthouse square. The school, with 485 students in grades 6-12, is central to life in the community of 3,200, where “Home of the Tigers” is painted on the water tower and local businesses sp...