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Avalanche Journal: Way-too-early NHL Central Division power rankings for 2023-24

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

There will be good teams in the NHL’s Eastern Conference that don’t make the playoffs in 2023-24, and it stands to reason that at least one not-so-good team in the Western Conference will qualify for the postseason.Even after a Stanley Cup champion was crowned out of the Pacific, the current disparity between the East and West has been affirmed this offseason. And there might not be a worse division than the Central as a new NHL calendar nears.That’s good news for the Avalanche, a consensus Cup contender recently named the best team in the league by Sportsnet.How exactly does the Central project at this point? Here is our way-too-early power ranking.8. Arizona CoyotesThe ‘Yotes have a handful of exciting young talents and could very well finish above Chicago in the division standings, but they’ll still be the Central’s biggest losers. Playing at a college rink in Tempe while a future in Arizona appears uncertain at best, times are hard right now. ...

Letters: Colorado Buffs moving back to Big 12 — Realign college conferences to make geographical sense

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

Realign college conferences to make geographical senseRe:  “Buffs return to different Big 12 than they left behind in 2011,” July 28 sports analysisBig 12, Big 10, Pac-12, SEC. Once upon a time, back when traveling by airplanes was new, college football conferences made geographic sense. But now, conference maps resemble a drunken game of cat’s cradle.Competitors are spread across the country as universities jockey to optimize television receipts. Bleary-eyed athletes cross time zones to satisfy the marketplace. With a nod to competitive status, let’s organize the leagues to minimize inter-city distances, thereby reducing travel costs and, more importantly, reducing the amount of carbon emitted in a sports season. In the new age of global warming, is this too much to ask of a university athletic department?DIA to Seattle, about 1,024 miles; DIA to Austin, 775 miles; DIA to Lincoln, 423 miles … you get the idea. A new algorithm is needed for a new era. I’ll bet “AI”...

‘First Descendant’ crossplay beta delayed until September but will be open to all

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

Nexon announced that it’s delaying the crossplay beta for its anticipated free-to-play looter shooter “The First Descendant,” but the news isn’t all bad for fans.When it comes out Sept. 19 to 25, the crossplay beta will be open to all players on PC and PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Producer Beomjun Lee and director Minseok Joo said the during development, the team made so many improvements and wanted to polish new aspects of it that they wanted to create a more complete version for players to experience.In the process, they shifted from a closed beta to an open one in order to get more people in the game. They pointed to a framerate performance and the option for performance or quality modes on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series.They took player feedback into account from the first beta on Steam and revamped how the grappling hook worked and added a few parkour movements. Now, players can use momentum and swing around objects with the traversal g...

Opinion: Trump indictment initiates the most important case in U.S. history

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

The indictment of Donald Trump handed up in federal court in Washington Tuesday initiates the most important case in the country’s history.The document lays out a flagrant series of attacks on the peaceful transfer of power and on constitutional rule itself.The four counts against the former president include obstruction of an official proceeding — namely, Congress’ Jan. 6, 2021, certification of Joe Biden’s election — and three conspiracies: to defraud the United States, obstruct an official proceeding and deny voting rights.Who were Trump’s alleged co-conspirators? Following Justice Department custom, the indictment does not name them because they haven’t been charged, but it isn’t hard to discern some of their identities from their descriptions in the document, including Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.Charges may well follow against the co-conspirators, some of whom could choose to part company with Trump and cooperate with the government. But the decision to begin ...

Opinion: School choice was doomed when it became a cover for segregation

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

Camille Edelman is doing the best she can.Even with her and her husband working, the Phoenix-area couple cannot afford to send their three special needs children to the specialized school best suited for them without financial assistance. And for more than a decade, that assistance was Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.So why would Katie Hobbs, the state’s Democratic governor, want to take that away? She wouldn’t. But she might have to. She said last week that the program is on track to be about 50% over budget, costing taxpayers $1 billion. Republicans in the state predictably rushed to frame this fact as Hobbs ghoulishly preying on families in need.The reality is that families like the Edelmans are caught in a decades-long political tug of war that’s barely about education, sort of in the way that the Civil War was about “states’ rights.” This nationwide struggle is really about race, and it’s coming to a head in certain pla...

Review: Ira Sachs’ ‘Passages’ is passionate and messy

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

By Lindsey Bahr | Associated PressIf you’ve been wondering where all the sex has gone from the movies, you’re in luck: The new film “Passages” does not hold back in depicting the fresh passion of a love affair.But “Passages” should really come with a warning, and not because of its realistic illustrations of queer and heterosexual intimacy, which got the film slapped with an NC-17 rating. (Its distributor, MUBI, opted instead to release it in theaters as unrated.) No, “Passages” should come with a warning for its brutal honesty about the intoxicating haze of a new relationship and all its casualties.At least it’s fun and dangerous at the start (aren’t they all, though). Directed by Ira Sachs, working again with his co-writer Mauricio Zacharias, “Passages” is centered on Tomas (Franz Rogowski), a German living in France with his English husband Martin (Ben Whishaw), who begins an affair with a French woman, Agath...

2-mile closure of Highway 1 remains in effect on Big Sur coast due to recent slide activity

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

BIG SUR – A two-mile closure of Highway 1 remains in effect between Lucia and Limekiln State Park on the Big Sur coast due to recent slide activity at Paul’s Slide that has suspended the repair effort at that location for now.Highway 1 on the Big Sur coast remains open in the north from Monterey to Lucia, and in the south from Cambria to Limekiln.The continued movement of the hillside has paused slide removal efforts at Paul’s Slide, Highway 1 postmile marker 21.7, according to Caltrans. The result of current Geotech studies will help determine specific next steps for repair efforts.“The Santa Lucia Mountains are a geologically active range as travelers on Highway 1 on the Big Sur coast can attest,” said Kevin Drabinski, Caltrans District 5 public information officer in an email. “This is an area prone to slide activity both in the winter when the ground is lubricated and often, in months after the rains, when the soil is drying out.”Slides are a common occurrence as a consequence o...

Santa Cruz County implements new guidelines for COVID death counts

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — Those still monitoring COVID-19 metrics in Santa Cruz County even after the local health emergency entered the rear-view mirror earlier this year may have recently noticed a dramatic jump in one of county’s most crucial data points.An additional 44 COVID-19-related deaths were added July 27 to the county’s dashboard now hosted on the California Department of Public Health’s website after more than seven months of no changes in the category. That brings the county’s total to 320 COVID-related deaths since the onset of the virus in 2020.But Santa Cruz County Deputy Health Officer David Ghilarducci explained that the sharp increase came as part of an effort by state authorities to create alignment around a standard definition created by a national group of epidemiologists.RELATED: ‘We may be the last maskers’: California COVID cases are rising. Here’s why health experts are masking indoors“It boils down to an accounting issue, if you will,” said Ghilarducci. “We have not s...

California high court says Monterey County can’t enforce oil well ban as state debates future of fossil fuels

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

By SOPHIE AUSTIN | Associated Press/Report for AmericaSACRAMENTO — The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Monterey County cannot enforce a voter-approved ban on new oil and gas wells, a decision that comes amid an ongoing battle over how the state should address the health and climate impacts of fossil fuel extraction.The ruling comes a day after environmental advocates announced a plan to try to enshrine a state law banning new gas and oil wells near homes, schools and hospitals as the oil industry vies for voters to overturn it. Voters could face dueling measures on the November 2024 ballot.The court’s decision dealt a blow to local advocates, who have been fighting for years to change the practices of the oil industry. Voters in the county first approved the ban in 2016, shortly after which Chevron sued. The state Supreme Court said the state, not the county, has the authority to regulate certain methods of oil production that would have been banned by the measure.Laura...

Hyundai, Kia warn drivers of 90,000 vehicles to park outside due to fire risk

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:13:02 GMT

Hyundai and Kia are recalling about 90,000 cars and SUVs in the United States and warning owners to park them outside and away from structures and other vehicles because they could catch fire.The recall is just the latest in a long and large series of other fire-related recalls of Hyundai and Kia vehicles in the past few years for a number of reasons.This recall, affecting several different models, stems from an issue with the electronics in a transmission oil pump, a part of the vehicle’s “Idle Stop and Go” system. The system shuts the engine down whenever the vehicle comes to a stop, then starts again when the driver lifts their foot off the brake. It’s a feature common in many newer models from different automakers.But in the recalled Hyundais and Kias some electronic components can overheat, causing damage that increases the risk of “localized melting,” the automaker said, and of fire.Hyundai is aware of at least 4 “thermal incidents” related to this issue but no confirmed crash...