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Patriots’ offensive line gets good news on roster cutdown day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

FOXBORO — Hours away from the NFL’s roster cut deadline Tuesday, Bill Belichick described the Patriots three times as having “balls in the air.”A more apt description might’ve been offensive linemen in the mix.The Patriots executed dozens of transactions in the final hours before the league’s 4 p.m. deadline that helped sort out an offensive line steeped in injuries and inexperience. The Pats’ first move was to activate projected swing tackle Calvin Anderson off the Non-Football Illness List. Anderson missed all of training camp with an illness he developed sometime between June’s mandatory minicamp and late July.During Tuesday’s shorts-and-shells practice, Anderson took warmup reps at both offensive tackle spots. Speaking to reporters hours later, Anderson declined to offer many specifics on the illness that sidelined him.“We agreed we’re not gonna talk in depth about what actually happened just yet,” Anderson ...

Forecast: Clear skies over Boston for the Super Blue Moon Wednesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

You’ll only get to see this super display once in a blue moon.And that time is Wednesday night, when the moon reaches its perigee in its elliptical orbit around Earth — the closest it will come to our planet all year, at around 226,000 miles away, according to NASA, some 13,000 miles closer than its average of 238,855 miles distance.It’s the second supermoon this month, making it a blue moon by the modern definition, which NASA said was established in Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946.The moon should appear about 17% bigger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, which itself appears when the moon is the furthest distance from us.To celebrate the occasion, the planet Saturn has joined in on the fun, the space agency says. The planet, nearing its closest and brightest appearance from earth for the year, will appear about 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at about 8:42 p.m. and can be seen swinging, clockwise, around the rocky satellite.Bostonians worried about ...

State awards $18M for clean energy job training

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

Training people from underserved and underrepresented communities for the clean energy jobs of tomorrow is a prerequisite for the state to meet its legally enshrined climate goals, according to the governor.Toward that end, the Healey Administration announced Tuesday they had awarded $18 million in grants to dozens of organizations which focus on training women and minorities looking to enter the green job market.“Strengthening a dynamic and inclusive clean energy workforce is vitally important to reaching our state’s climate targets. These awards stand at the intersection of the climate crisis, environmental justice, and economic development,” Gov. Maura Healey said along with the grant announcement.Provided through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, grants were awarded to 44 organizations from across the state. Grants are given to small businesses, trade schools, community colleges, non-profits, and neighborhood organizations which are “introducing young people to clean energy...

Patriots cut Bailey Zappe, Malik Cunningham, leaving Mac Jones as lone QB

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

FOXBORO — NFL teams, collectively, were forced to make over 1,000 roster moves Tuesday to trim their 90-man rosters down to 53. The Patriots made one of the most surprising cuts of the day.The Patriots waived backup quarterback Bailey Zappe on Tuesday, a source confirmed. Mac Jones is now the only quarterback on the Patriots roster after Trace McSorely was released Monday and quarterback/wide receiver Malik Cunningham was also waived Tuesday.Waiving Zappe comes as a major surprise after head coach Bill Belichick entertained the possibility of a quarterback competition as recently as this summer. The Patriots must now find a new backup quarterback behind Jones unless Zappe clears waivers and returns to the team’s practice squad as the team’s No. 2 option for their season opener against the Eagles. That remains a possibility, according to a source.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots’ offensive line gets good news on roster cutdown day New ...

US says a smuggler with terrorist ties helped get migrants from Uzbekistan into the country

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it detected and stopped a network attempting to smuggle people from Uzbekistan into the United States and that at least one member of the network had links to a foreign terrorist group.U.S. officials do not believe the Uzbek nationals who used the smuggling network had any terrorist ties or were planning a terrorist attack, said a statement from National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. The statement did not specify the foreign terrorist group, but a U.S. official told The Associated Press that it was the Islamic State. The official was not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.The U.S. worked with governments overseas to detain key members of the smuggling network, including the person with the foreign terrorism links, the NSC said. The statement did not specify how the person was linked to the terrorist group or what governments the U.S. worked with to a...

Lightning sparks about 40 new B.C. wildfires, but rain may bring relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

Lightning strikes have sparked dozens of new wildfires in British Columbia, as thunderstorms brought mixed blessings to the province’s battle against its worst fire season on record.A forecast of rain promised relief for some wildfire zones in the south and Interior, but lightning associated with the storms triggered most of the 47 new blazes recorded in the past day, pushing the total number of fires in the province above 400 on Tuesday.Thirty-seven lightning-caused fires started in the Coastal fire region, including Vancouver Island, but there were also new lightning-related blazes in the Kamloops and Prince George regions.Some much-needed rain fell on the island, with almost two millimetres recorded at Victoria’s airport, but the BC Wildfire Service had warned on social media that lightning associated with a severe thunderstorm event over the island Monday night risked setting fires.Meanwhile, crews battling a destructive wildfire in the Shuswap region in the Interior...

Trades dominate the day as NFL teams trim rosters to 53 players

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

A slew of trades highlighted roster cutdown day in the NFL on Tuesday.Kicker Wil Lutz is reuniting with coach Sean Payton in Denver. The Eagles got tight end Albert Okwuegbunam from the Broncos. Veteran kicker Nick Folk went from New England to Tennessee.Defensive end Boogie Bashum, defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr., cornerbacks Noah Igbinoghene and Kelvin Joseph, offensive lineman Dan Feeney and Kendrick Green and wide receiver/returner Ihmir Smith-Marsette are among the players on the move in trades.Jonathan Taylor isn’t going anywhere, however. The Indianapolis Colts didn’t trade the disgruntled star running back, but they’re keeping Taylor on the physically unable to perform list. That means he will miss the first four games, even if he’s traded.The most surprising cut came from New England, which let second-year quarterback Bailey Zappe go. Zappe was 2-0 as a starter last year filling in for Mac Jones but struggled in the preseason. The Patriots currently don’t have a backup be...

‘Like Snoop Dogg’s living room’: Smell of pot wafts over notorious U.S. Open court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s become a stink at the U.S. Open: a pungent marijuana smell that wafted over an outer court, clouded the concentration of one of the world’s top players and left the impression there’s no place left to escape the unofficial scent of the city.While the exact source of the smell remained a mystery Tuesday, one thing was clear: Court 17, where eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari complained about an overwhelming whiff of pot during her first-round loss, has become notorious among players in recent years for its distinctive, unmistakable odor.“Court 17 definitely smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room,” Alexander Zverev, the world’s 12th-seeded man who won his opening match on the court Tuesday. “Oh my God, it’s everywhere. The whole court smells like weed.”Stung by stories in the wake of Sakkari’s match Monday that made it appear the U.S. Open’s stands are the sporting equivalent of a Phish concert, the United States Tennis Association conducted its own investigation, of...

Biden talks immigration and trade with Costa Rican President Chaves at the White House

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden hosted his Costa Rican counterpart, Rodrigo Chaves, at the White House on Tuesday, discussing ways to strengthen an agreement between the two countries on possible legal pathways for the increasing numbers of Central American migrants arriving to the U.S. southern border.The two talked about deepening U.S.-Costa Rica trade tries, creating new jobs and advancing democracy in addition to promoting a more orderly immigration process. Chaves’ nation has emerged as an immigration hotspot, as migrants increasingly travel through the dangerous Darien Gap from Colombia into Central America and north into Costa Rica. Sitting down for the meeting in the Oval Office, Biden thanked Chaves for his leadership in helping meet “migration challenges that we face every single day,” and said that one of his key objectives was “deepening security cooperation” between their countries, including on organized crime.“Our nations are not only united by the challenges we...

Judge delays deciding whether prosecution of man charged in Colorado supermarket shooting can resume

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:20 GMT

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday granted a defense request to hold a hearing with experts to determine if a mentally ill man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 is mentally competent to be prosecuted for the mass shooting.Prosecutors revealed last week that experts at the state mental hospital determined that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is now mentally competent to proceed in the case. However, his lawyer, Kathryn Herold, exercising the defense’s right to challenge the finding, requested a hearing with testimony from both prosecutors and the defense to be held before Judge Ingrid Bakke rules on whether she believes he is competent. Bakke was required to schedule the hearing under the law but she denied Herold’s request for another evaluation to be done. Herold told Bakke that all the evaluations done on Alissa — including the most recent one that found him competent — say he is “profoundly mentally ill.” She also said she does not believe h...