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Florida official who criticized DeSantis reaches settlement with education department

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A school superintendent who was criticized by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for infusing “politically charged statements” and “personal views” into his administration has reached an agreement with the state’s Department of Education.Rocky Hanna, superintendent of Leon County Schools, will receive a reprimand as part of the settlement with the education practices commission. The agreement ends an investigation tied to Hanna requiring masks for the district’s 30,000 students and thousands of employees in 2021, after DeSantis banned the mandates.“I have done nothing wrong. I absolutely have no ‘history of defying the law’ nor have I ever suggested to anyone to violate the law or not teach the Florida Standards as established by the Board of Education,” Hanna said in a statement.Hanna said he has “chosen to ignore my personal pride and remain focused on the bigger picture — helping every student in our district prepare for their next step in life.”In Apr...

Man convicted of killing North Dakota student moved from death row to Florida prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a North Dakota student 20 years ago has been moved from death row in Indiana to a Florida prison, according to federal records.Alfonso Rodriguez, 70, was convicted of killing 22-year-old Dru Sjodin in November 2003 after abducting her from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Her body was found in April of the next year in Crookston, Minnesota.Rodriguez has been moved from a death row prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Coleman II, a high-security penitentiary in Sumterville, Florida, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records, The Bismarck Tribune reported.Rodriguez was sentenced to death in 2007. His death sentence was overturned in September 2021 when a federal judge ruled that Rodriguez’s constitutional rights were violated during his trial, citing misleading testimony from the coroner, the failure of lawyers to discuss a possible insanity defense, and evidence of severe post-trau...

Lionel Messi is expected to make his Inter Miami debut July 21

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi is expected to make his Major League Soccer debut with Inter Miami at a July 21 home game, the team confirmed Tuesday.Owner Jorge Mas told selected outlets on Monday that his club and Messi have agreed to terms and are finalizing paperwork and a visa. The team confirmed certain details Tuesday to The Associated Press, including that Messi will be signing a contract through the end of the 2025 season with an option for 2026.Messi’s contract will be worth $50 million to $60 million per year, the team said Tuesday. He cannot sign until sometime in July, after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires.Messi, 35, announced on June 7 that he was joining Miami. The Argentinian great’s first game in Fort Lauderdale would be against Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup.The team also confirmed Tuesday that it is increasing capacity at DRV PNK Stadium by 3,000 to 3,200 seats in the next four weeks by filling in the corners, raising capacity to about 22,000.“I ...

Fishing crew misses out on $3 million prize after 619-pound blue marlin disqualified because of ‘mutilation’ at sea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

(CNN) — A fishing crew lost out on over $3 million in tournament prize money after the 619.4-pound blue marlin they caught was disqualified due to “mutilation” caused by a shark or other marine animal, according to a statement from the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.The crew of Sensation caught the massive marlin as part of the weeklong fishing tournament based in Morehead City, North Carolina. The marlin gave the crew a six-plus hour fight, according to the tournament website, before they boated the beast on Saturday night.The tournament live-streamed the boat’s return to shore, and crowds cheered as the marlin was hoisted into the air and weighed.But a problem quickly became clear.“OK guys, let’s talk about the rules here for a second,” said Tommy Bennett, a Big Rock board member and the host of the livestream. “It would appear that this fish has been bitten by a shark.”Indeed, a photo of the happy crew and the hanging marlin shows the marlin had visible ...

Officials: Man charged in connection with Malden apartment complex shooting, another shooter still missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

A 35-year-old man from Somerville has been charged in connection with a weekend shooting inside an apartment complex in Malden that left both him and a female victim wounded, according to authorities.The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said Mohamed Abdulaziz was charged with armed assault and also faces multiple firearms-related charges after the shooting occurred at the Quarrystone at Overlook Ridge apartment building early Sunday morning.In a joint statement, District Attorney Marian Ryan and Malden Chief of Police Glenn Cronin described how Abdulaziz allegedly entered the building’s lobby around 2:20 a.m. “targeting a male potentially with the intent to rob him.”Based on a preliminary investigation, authorities believe Abdulaziz fired his gun and struck a 33-year-old woman who remains hospitalized as of Tuesday, June 20.“During the altercation the man who was targeted also discharged a firearm,” the statement read. “That man has not ...

Patriots defensive back Jack Jones pleads not guilty to 9 gun charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

New England Patriots defensive back Jack Jones pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to nine counts of weapons violations in connection with his arrest at a Logan Airport security checkpoint with two loaded guns in his carry-on bag.Jones was charged with two counts each of unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of a large-capacity magazine and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card. He was also charged with an airport security violation. Jones was released on a $30,000 cash bail pending an Aug. 18 probable cause hearing, his attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, said.Scapicchio said Jones has been cooperative and respectful throughout the process, bristling at media reports that portray him as a “thug” and compare him to “other people.”Asked if she was referring to Aaron Hernandez, the Patriots player who was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013 — and acquitted in a separate double-homicide — Scapicchio declined to elaborate.“A...

Coast Guard says extensive search has yielded no sign of missing sub

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

By BEN FINLEY and HOLLY RAMER (Associated Press)Rescuers in a remote area of the Atlantic Ocean raced against time Tuesday to find a missing submersible before the oxygen supply runs out for five people who were on a mission to document the wreckage of the Titanic.Despite an international rescue effort, U.S. Coast Guard officials said the search covering 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers) had turned up no signs of the lost sub known as the Titan, but they planned to continue looking.Authorities reported the carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Aboard were a pilot, renowned British adventurer Hamish Harding, two members of an iconic Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.The submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it put to sea at roughly 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.That means...

Peter Jensen: Orioles players should be the next ‘Real Housewives’; bring reality TV to the MLB | COMMENTARY

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

My most memorable experience in sports writing, which I’m no expert in, was helping cover Pete Rose when he surpassed Ty Cobb’s career base hits mark in 1985. I was a young reporter working for the now-defunct Cincinnati Post, and it was quite the jaw-dropping moment to walk into a real Major League Baseball locker room and ask questions of a legend like Rose. But I quickly learned something about baseball that everyone involved with the game no doubt takes for granted: The players were a bunch of kids. They acted like kids. They were excited by kid things. They had little awareness of the world around them, just about their game.Oh, they’d straighten up like they were in Sunday school for their on-camera moments with TV reporters or when the ballclub’s public relations staff dragged them to the podium to deal with the rest of the media. And their juvenilia wasn’t about chronological age. Rose was 44 years old on Sept. 11, 1985, when he officially recor...

Adult fraudulently enrolled in multiple BPS high schools, under police investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

A woman enrolled in three BPS high schools in the last school year in a scheme using multiple pseudonyms and transfers and is now being investigated by police, BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a letter to families at the schools Tuesday morning.“I am deeply troubled that an adult would breach the trust of our school communities by posing as a student,” Skipper said in a statement. “This appears to be a case of extremely sophisticated fraud.”The individual attended Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Brighton High School and English High School during the 2022-23 year.A police report from June 14 on the incident lists two female and one male suspects. The only victim listed is the state under the offense “investigate person,” though the report does check off a human trafficking box.A report stated the school staff became concerned when a man came to pick up his “daughter” and announced she would be transferring to St. Columbkille in B...

Warmup expected for San Diego on first day of summer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Summer officially begins Wednesday and the sun is expected to come out for San Diego County to celebrate.According to the National Weather Service, the Summer Solstice will occur at 7:58 a.m. PDT Wednesday.In summery fashion, temperatures across the county are expected to increase from one to three degrees from Tuesday into Wednesday, NWS San Diego said on Twitter.When will El Niño peak?Warmer conditions with better chances of low clouds clearing are expected for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, bringing some sunshine to the region.A brief cooling trend is expected for Thursday and Friday, NWS San Diego said. Gusty southwest to west winds will be felt in the mountain and desert areas on these days.As summer kicks off and with El Niño conditions arriving earlier than anticipated this year, meteorologists have warned that it could be an abnormally warm summer for Southern California and the rest of the country.Here are some of the forecasted high temperatures around San Di...