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Deaths and tragedy from 1973 Indy 500 opened the door for safety evolution in racing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Johnny Rutherford and Gordon Johncock delivered spectacular results at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that were overshadowed by perhaps the worst month in the history of the storied race.Rutherford won the pole with a record-breaking, four-lap average speed of 198.413 mph and Johncock wound up with the first of his two Indy wins, but it was a grim across the rest of Gasoline Alley.Art Pollard was killed in a pole day crash. David Savage died from injuries sustained in a terrifying race-day crash. In the chaos after Savage’s wreck, pit-sign board holder Armando Teran was fatally struck by a safety truck. And roughly a dozen spectators were burned when Salt Walther’s fuel tanks ruptured as his spinning car destroyed part of the catch fence.“I don’t know what the rest of the guys thought, but I thought, ‘Let’s just get this damn thing over, you know, this has not been good,’” Rutherford recalled. “That was the way the business was. You know,...

UK police free man involved in Downing Street collision — then arrest him on unrelated charge

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A man who was taken into custody after his car crashed into the gates of the British prime minister’s residence in central London was released in that case — but then immediately rearrested on charges of making indecent images of children, police said Saturday.The 43-year-old suspect was arrested for the unrelated offense shortly after he was released pending further investigation into the crash, the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. The collision Thursday afternoon outside the prime minister’s official residence and offices at 10 Downing St. set off an intense security response.Authorities later said the incident wasn’t believed to be terror-related. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and criminal damage.It wasn’t immediately clear whether the crash was deliberate. Video posted on social media showed a silver hatchback car heading straight for the gates at low speed across Whitehall, the main thoroughfare in London’s government d...

US, EU allies scold Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

Europe’s largest economies and the U.S. slammed Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia after Pristina used force to secure access to municipal buildings in the north of the Balkan country near the Serbian border.Police used tear gas in the town of Zvecan to disband a crowd of ethnic Serbs on Friday who were trying to block a newly elected Albanian mayor from entering his office building.The violence triggered an immediate backlash from Serbia, whose President Aleksandr Vučić placed his army on full combat alert and told military units to move closer to the border with Kosovo.Washington was quick to condemn Pristina for using violence and worsening relations with Serbia. Tensions between the two countries persist since the brutal Balkan war in the late 1990s after Kosovo’s bid to break away from Serbia. Kosovo secured its independence in 2008, but many Serbs in the northern regions of the country still see Belgrade as their home capital, complicating relations between t...

Soccer legend Briana Scurry offers words of encouragement to UMass Amherst grads

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

Hall of fame soccer player Briana Scurry returned to her alma mater University of Massachusetts Amherst to speak at graduation on Friday. She encouraged students to draw strength from life’s hardships.Scurry, a trailblazer for Black women in sports, retired from soccer due to concussions but has since advocated for concussion awareness. The goalkeeper is considered one of the first Black women and openly-gay professional women’s soccer players and appeared 173 times internationally for Team USA. Scurry received an honorary doctorate from UMass Amherst.

Fantastic Memorial Day Weekend forecast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

7Weather – We lucked out with a beautiful weekend to ring in the unofficial start to summer! It’ll be dry, sunny and warm – especially away from the coast line.High pressure is in control of our forecast. There’s an area of low pressure spinning to our south along the Carolina coast. That system is packing a punch bringing heavy rain, gusty wind, strong surf and rip currents to the southeast. That will stay to our south.Bright sunshine today with a light northwest wind. Temperatures inland rebound to the upper 70s/low 80s. Sea breezes will develop this afternoon so it will be cooler along the coast.A blanket on the sand will be better than getting in the water if you’re heading to the beach. Water temperatures are still around 55-60°, so it’s cold! Nice sailing weather with more of a breeze this afternoon.Tomorrow will be the warmest day of our Memorial Day Weekend. Warmer air above us, plenty of sun and a southwest breeze will boost temperatures ...

Mike Lupica: Even with all the hype over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, this is still a Giants town

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

It is always worth noting, and remembering, that the Giants remain the big game in town when it comes to pro football and sometimes everything else. That means even when Aaron Rodgers is playing for the other team in town, even though “town” really means Jersey.There have been times, you bet, when the Giants have been the Other Team. But not many, and not for long. It was that way, of course, for the brief, shining moment of Joe Namath. And it felt that way when Rex Ryan got the Jets, and got them to two straight AFC championship games, as close as that all was to the Giants not letting the Patriots get to 19-0 that night in Glendale, Ariz.It’s also worth nothing, and remembering, that after the second Super Bowl win against the Patriots, the Giants showed that they could drive straight into a ditch as well as the Jets could. Then both of them felt like the Other Team, one dreary losing season after another.But all of that was before Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll arr...

Ukraine claims Russia is plotting ‘a provocation’ at nuclear plant, offers no evidence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed, without offering evidence, that Russia is plotting a “large-scale provocation” at a nuclear power plant it occupies in the southeast of the country with the aim of disrupting a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive. A statement released Friday by the intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces would strike the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, and then report a radioactive leak in order to trigger an international probe that would pause the hostilities and give the Russian forces the respite they need to regroup ahead of the counteroffensive. In order to make that happen, Russia “disrupted the rotation of personnel of the permanent monitoring mission” of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency that was scheduled for Saturday, the statement said. It didn’t offer evidence to back up any of the claims. The IAEA said in an emailed res...

Quebec toddler dies after falling into grain mixer in farm accident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

SAINT-LIN-LAURENTIDES, Que. — Quebec provincial police say a two-year-old girl has died after falling into a grain mixer on a farm north of Montreal.They say the accident occurred Friday at a family farm in St-Lin-Laurentides, about 85 kilometres from the city. Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau says emergency services were called at about 3:30 p.m. after the child fell into an industrial mixer.The girl’s parents also intervened quickly but she had already died.The young victims relatives were transported to hospital to be treated for shock.Police are investigating the death as is the case when a child is involved, but authorities say there is no indication of negligence.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2023.The Canadian Press

Clashes between Senegal’s police and supporters of opposition leader leave one dead, others hurt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Clashes between police and supporters of the opposition leader in Senegal left one person dead and several injured, friends of the victim told The Associated Press on Saturday. Aliou Bodian was killed Friday in the city of Kolda in the country’s south, said friend Boubacar Balde. “It’s a sad atmosphere that has overtaken the family,” he said. Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko had called on his supporters to follow him in a “freedom caravan” from his hometown of Ziguinchor, in the south and where he is the mayor, to the capital, Dakar — some 750 kilometers (465 miles) away — where a verdict is expected next week on the charges that he is facing. Sonko is being tried for rape and death threats against a woman working at a massage parlor, and could face up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, he would would be barred from running in next year’s presidential elections. Sonko did not attend the trial last week and was judged in absentia. He said he is prot...

Biden: Debt deal ‘very close’ even as two sides far apart on work requirements for food aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:53:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Work requirements for federal food aid recipients have emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations over the looming debt crisis, even as President Joe Biden said a deal is “very close.”Biden’s optimism, in comments to reporters as he left the White House on Friday evening, came as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling into another frustrating week. House negotiators departed the Capitol after 2 a.m. Saturday without a deal. They were expected to return hours later in hopes of reaching agreement with the White House over the holiday weekend.Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to expand existing work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed.Even as they came closer to a framework on spe...