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Pat Leonard’s NFL Notes: Stefon Diggs Bills drama is as much about Sean McDermott as his wide receiver

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

Discord is threatening to dethrone one of the AFC’s titans.The Buffalo Bills have a 37-12 record the past three regular seasons. They’ve won three straight AFC East titles. They played in one conference championship game and were 13 seconds away from reaching another.But head coach Sean McDermott can kiss that run goodbye if he doesn’t fix the underlying issues behind this week’s Stefon Diggs drama that all started, it appears, because of McDermott’s own rhetoric about his star wide receiver.One day, Diggs was absent from the Bills’ minicamp practice and McDermott was confirming: “Stef is not here. Everybody else is here at the current time.”Asked if he was concerned, McDermott said: “Very concerned. yeah. Very concerned.”Only Diggs was there, apparently.His agent released a statement to ESPN after McDermott’s press conference saying that “Diggs has been in Buffalo since yesterday morning, took his physical, met...

Knicks enter NBA draft with no picks but plenty of opportunities

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

It feels like piling on Phil Jackson at this point, but we must when it comes to the NBA draft.The Zen Master had three first and second-round choices during his tenure, and he missed the following players — Nikola Jokic, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo — by within nine picks.Multiple GMs passed on those top talents, to be fair, but we bring these up to underscore a point ahead of Thursday’s NBA draft: contending teams are still built first with the draft, then with trades and free agency.Look at the last three champions. The Nuggets drafted Jokic and Jamal Murray; the Warriors drafted Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green; the Bucks drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo.None of those players were picked in the top-6. Three of them — Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Green — fell out of the lottery. So you have to be smart and lucky in the NBA. The best place for that combo is the draft.The Knicks, unfortunately, don’t have a pick this year. At le...

West Virginia’s Bob Huggins arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Pittsburgh

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, a month after the university suspended him for three games for using an anti-gay slur while also denigrating Catholics during a radio interview.Huggins, 69, of Morgantown, West Virginia, was pulled over by police in Pittsburgh on Friday night. He was charged with driving under the influence, was released from custody and will appear at a later date for a preliminary hearing, according to a police report.It was Huggins’ second such arrest. The other occurred in 2004 when he was the head coach at Cincinnati.In a statement, West Virginia’s athletic department said it was aware of Friday’s incident. “We are gathering more information and will take appropriate action once the review is complete,” the statement said.Officers observed a black SUV in the middle of a road blocking traffic just before 8:30 p.m. The vehicle had a flat and shredded tire, and the driver’s side do...

TD Bank says direct deposit, debit card issues resolved

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

TD Bank says the technical issue that affected customers’ direct deposit transfers and debit card payments has now been resolved. Following questions and complaints on social media Friday, the bank acknowledged customers in Western and Eastern regions did not receive their direct deposits but did not provide an explanation for the issue except that their support teams were “engaged and are investigating the issue.” Customers also reported being unable to use their debit cards to purchase goods and services or transfer money between their accounts.In a statement Saturday morning, TD Bank again apologized for the disruption adding that customers should now have full access to most bank services, including delayed direct deposits.“We know that some customers experienced significant stress and we sincerely apologize for this experience,” said Toni-Lynn Raponi, associate vice president for corporate and public affairs. “Please be assured that any customers ...

Virginia officer fatally shot during struggle with assault suspect in woods

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

WINTERGREEN, Va. (AP) — A police officer was fatally shot during a struggle with an assault suspect in the woods in a Virginia mountain town, authorities said Saturday.Wintergreen Police Department Officer Mark Christopher Wagner II was killed Friday night, Chief Dennis Russell said in a Facebook post. Wintergreen police received a call about a man assaulting two other men at a home, Virginia State Police said in a news release. The two injured men had run away from the home by the time police arrived, and they were treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries that were not life-threatening, state police said.Wagner found the assault suspect in nearby woods, and they got into a struggle. Wagner was shot during the confrontation and he died there, state police said. The suspect was taken into custody and was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries that were not life-threatening, state police said. He was not immediately identified. It was not immediately clear what charges h...

Biden’s rally with union workers marks first big event of his 2024 campaign

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden is promoting his pro-labor record Saturday at his first major political rally of his reelection campaign, appearing alongside union members to make the case that his economic agenda is boosting the middle class. He plans to “lay out the core principles of his economic message” during his remarks at the Philadelphia Convention Center, according to his campaign. He also intends to talk about how a sweeping climate, tax and health care package he signed into law last year has cut the cost of prescription drugs and lowered insurance premiums. It’s part of his administration’s focus on his achievements during his first two years in office — the centerpiece argument for a second term.The event, which organizers said included unions representing 18 million workers nationwide, recalled then-candidate Biden opening his 2020 presidential campaign at a union hall in Pittsburgh. That underscores just how important labor support will be to his...

Saudi foreign minister in Iran as part of restoration of diplomatic ties after a 7-year rift

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat arrived in Iran’s capital on Saturday, the latest step in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two Mideast rivals, Iranian state media reported.Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was officially welcomed by his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran TV said. He carried a message from the Saudi king to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the two were due to meet later Saturday, Iran TV said. The visit comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia earlier in June. In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions.Prince Faisal is expected to officially inaugurate the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran later on Saturday. Until the mission is completed, the employees are working from a Tehran hotel, Iran TV said. Both nations reopened their diplomatic missions in recent weeks.The agreement to reestablish di...

Under court deal, Binance can continue U.S. operations as it battles SEC fraud charges

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Binance have reached an agreement in court that lets the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange continue to operate in the United States as it battles SEC fraud charges.Under a consent order filed Saturday, the defendants in the June 5 lawsuit agreed to repatriate all assets held for the benefit of Binance’s U.S. trading customers.The SEC alleges Binance broke U.S. law by operating as an unregistered securities exchange. It filed similar charges against the world’s other top cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, nearly simultaneously.But Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, face additional charges of diverting customer funds – concealing the fact that it was commingling billions of dollars in investor assets and sending them to a third party that Zhao also owned. As a result, the SEC asked that the assets of Binance’s U.S. platform be frozen.The order signed by Washington, D.C. federal judge Amy Berman Jacks...

6 key points from the scathing report on Minneapolis police after George Floyd’s killing

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

The Justice Department on Friday issued a scathing assessment of Minneapolis police, alleging that racial discrimination and excessive force went unchecked before George Floyd’s killing because of inadequate oversight and an unwieldy process for investigating complaints.The probe began in April 2021, a day after former officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the May 25, 2020, killing of Floyd, a Black man. Floyd, who was in handcuffs, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before going limp as Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes. The killing was recorded by a bystander and sparked months of mass protests as part of a broader national reckoning over racial injustice.Here are six takeaways from the report:WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE INVESTIGATION?The focus of the probe was to examine whether there has been a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing in the Minneapolis Police Department. It examined the use of force...

Wildfire in southern N.S. occurred amid some of driest recorded conditions: scientist

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:12:39 GMT

HALIFAX — A federal scientist with the Canadian Forest Service is pointing to the driest conditions since the Second World War as a key factor behind the largest wildfire in Nova Scotia in the past century. Sylvie Gauthier says she reviewed the records and found the 235-square-kilometre fire in Barrington Lake that swept over bogs, fields and woodlands in southern Nova Scotia had the fourth highest rating for dryness of the woods since 1900, and the highest since 1944.The province’s Department of Natural Resources says the fire, which forced 6,000 evacuations and destroyed 60 houses and cottages, was the largest wildfire since the early 1920s when it began keeping records.Gauthier says the extreme dryness, along with coastal winds, may have enabled the fire to burn through the roughly 17 per cent of Crown lands rated as “wet” trees, and to burn or move across fields and bogs that make up about a quarter of Crown land in the area. Anthony Taylor, a forest ecologist ...