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High-speed DUI stop ends in violent confrontation, woman’s arrest in St. Petersburg

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WSVN) — An alleged drunk driver’s attempt to evade a speeding ticket resulted in a high-speed chase, violent confrontation, and ultimately, a one-way trip to jail.The incident began when a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) trooper clocked a Mercedes speeding at an astonishing 120 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone while crossing the Gandy Bridge in St. Petersburg. The trooper then initiated a traffic stop.Upon approaching the driver, 31-year-old Brittany Bianchi, the trooper detected a strong odor of alcohol and noted slurred speech. The situation escalated when the trooper attempted to arrest her for DUI. Bianchi objected, insisting she had “zero reasons to perform any sobriety” and argued against being arrested for speeding. “You’re not arresting me for speeding. If you’re arresting me for speeding, that’s unlawful. You need to write me a ticket,” said Bianchi, captured on the trooper’s dash-cam.Things took ...

Israel slams UN chief for saying Hamas attack ‘did not happen in a vacuum,’ calls for his resignation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations is calling for the resignation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres after he said the Hamas attack on October 7 in which 1,400 people were killed “did not happen in a vacuum.”“The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” Guterres said, according to Israeli outlet Haaretz, to the 15-member U.N. Security Council Tuesday after the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza reported more than 700 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours of Israeli airstrikes, the highest daily death toll since the bombardment began. “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”The Palestinian territories — which are the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to East Jerusalem — are widely recognized as occupied by Israel.After the statement, Israel’...

Report: Red Sox narrow head of baseball ops search, Craig Breslow a top candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

The Red Sox search for a new head of baseball operations appears to be edging closer to the finish line.According to multiple reports the Red Sox have narrowed their pool of targets and informed candidates whether or not they’ll move on to the second round of interviews. It is unknown how many candidates are still under consideration or if there will be additional rounds after the next one, but according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, Chicago Cubs assistant general manager and former Red Sox pitcher Craig Breslow is considered a frontrunner for the job.If Breslow ends up landing the position, it will cap off a rapid ascent through the front office ranks since his retirement from baseball.After 12 seasons pitching in the big leagues, including five with the Red Sox, Breslow joined the Cubs front office in 2019 and became deeply involved in the organization’s pitching development efforts. The 43-year-old Yale graduate was promoted to director of pitching and then...

Under Armour’s partnership with Texas Tech will end when university jumps to Adidas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

NFL star Patrick Mahomes announced news of Texas Tech University’s impending jump from Baltimore-based Under Armour to rival Adidas on his pregame outfit Sunday.A video the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback posted to Instagram shows him wearing a white T-shirt bearing his alma mater’s logo and the Adidas name, hand scrawled on what appears to be packing tape.Under Armour confirmed Tuesday that its nearly two decade-long partnership with Texas Tech will end next year. The sports apparel and footwear maker signed a deal to outfit the university’s athletes in 2006. In 2020, the university extended the contract another four years, through next June.“We are proud to have been partners with Texas Tech since 2006 and an official apparel outfitter since 2009,” an Under Armour spokesperson said in a email to The Baltimore Sun. “We wish the Red Raiders all the best after many successful years together.”An Instagram post shows the reigning NFL MVP reveali...

In courtroom faceoff, Michael Cohen says he was told to boost Trump’s asset values ‘arbitrarily’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

By Jake Offenhartz and Jennifer Peltz, Associated PressNEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen faced off with him at the former president’s civil fraud trial Tuesday, testifying that he worked to boost asset values to “whatever number Trump told us to.”Five years after turning on a boss that he once pledged to “take a bullet” for, Cohen is a key witness in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit alleging that Trump and his company duped banks, insurers and others by giving them financial statements that inflated his wealth.“I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets, based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” Cohen testified, saying that he and former Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg labored “to reverse-engineer the various different asset classes, increase those assets, in order to achieve a number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.”Asked what that number was, Cohen replied: “Whatever number Trum...

Police investigating school bus crash on Riverway, minor injuries reported

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

Authorities are investigating what caused a crash between a bus driving a pair of Boston Public Schools students and another vehicle on the Riverway Tuesday morning.State Police and Boston EMS responded to the crash between the bus, a 2023 Ford Econoline, and a 2023 Toyota Camry sedan around 7:55 a.m. Three parked and unoccupied vehicles were also involved in the crash, said Dave Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.The crash caused minor injuries to a passenger in the Camry, a 51-year-old Brockton woman who was transported to Beth Israel Hospital for treatment, Procopio said. The driver did not suffer injuries.Two students on the bus, ages 15 and 17, and the driver, a 53-year-old Dorchester woman, were evaluated and medically cleared on scene.The bus and one of the parked vehicles, a Tesla, were towed from the scene which was cleared at 9:30 a.m.The crash remains under investigation.

Padres manager Bob Melvin accepts job with Giants: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin has accepted a job with the San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday, citing sources.Melvin joined the Padres prior to the 2022 season.Check back for updates on this developing story.

West Texas county bans travel on its roads to help someone seeking an abortion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Commissioners in a west Texas county have banned drivers from transporting a person seeking an abortion, making it the largest of five counties, three in Texas, that have approved the measure.Lubbock County commissioners voted 3-0 Monday, with two abstentions, to approve the ban and declare the county a “Sanctuary County for the Unborn,” rejecting County Judge Curtis Parrish and the district attorney’s office request to postpone the vote.The ordinance allows citizens to sue anyone who assists a person in traveling to get an abortion in Lubbock County or even traveling through the area to seek care elsewhere.No violations of the travel prohibition, now approved in four Texas and two New Mexico counties, have been reported and the ordinance does not apply to the person seeking an abortion.“This ordinance as written has many legal problems,” said Parrish, who joined Commissioner Gilbert Flores in abstaining. “This ordinance, however, does not have a problem ...

UN official: Hostilities in Syria have reached the worst point in four years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The head of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said Tuesday that fighting in the country has reached its worst point in years, with devastating consequences for civilians.“We are witnessing the largest escalation of hostilities in Syria in four years,” Paulo Pinheiro told the U.N. General Assembly. “Yet again there appears to be total disregard for civilians’ lives in what are often tit-for-tat reprisals.”A drone strike earlier this month on the Homs Military Academy killed 89 people, including 31 women and five children, and wounded as many as 277. No group claimed responsibility for the attack but the Syrian military accused insurgents “backed by known international forces” of carrying it out and launched a brutal campaign of airstrikes on opposition-held areas of northwest Syria in retaliation.“In just four days of ground shelling… some 200 civilians were killed and injured, and medical facilities, schools and markets were impacted yet again,” Pinhe...

Federal Court approves $23B First Nations child-welfare settlement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:41 GMT

A Federal Court judge has verbally approved a landmark $23-billion settlement that will see Ottawa compensate more than 300,000 First Nations children and their families over chronic underfunding of on-reserve child-welfare services.It comes more than 15 years after the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society launched a joint human rights complaint.The 2007 complaint revolved around allegations that Ottawa’s underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services amounted to discrimination. It also said First Nations children were denied equal access to support like school supplies and medical equipment.More to come.