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Xaverian gets over the hump, knocks off Springfield Central

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

WESTWOOD — The last three games between Xaverian and Springfield Central — all Central wins — were about offensive fireworks, and explosive plays.On Friday night in a Division 1 quarterfinal, Xaverian was happy to make it about defense.The No. 2 Hawks made the biggest plays of the game on that side of the ball, and just enough on the other, to earn a 21-20 win over No. 7 Central.Xaverian (8-2) moves to the Final Four, where it will play Needham. Central falls to 8-2.“I don’t want to get in a track meet with anybody,” Xaverian coach Al Fornaro said. “We got some dudes who can run, but not as many as they do. Keep the ball away from their playmakers. It’s simple. I didn’t invent that stuff. It was invented many years ago.”A few plays stood out the most for Xaverian. The Hawks stuffed a Central two-point conversion rush to account for the final margin. Sophomore Dave Chiavegato made an interception, and a pass breakup, the latter to force a tur...

Piroshky Piroshky bringing pop-up back to San Diego

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A famed Seattle-based bakery is bringing its acclaimed Eastern European-inspired pies back to San Diego for a pop-up next month.Piroshky Piroshky will be visiting America's Finest City on Dec. 5 at Elks Lodge — located at 430 Jackson Dr. — as part of its 31st anniversary tour of the U.S.The bakery previously visited San Diego earlier this year, but is returning to Southern California by popular demand."Everywhere we go, it's a pleasure to meet our dedicated piroshky fans and make new friends," Olga Sagan, owner of Piroshky Piroshky, said in a release. "We're elated to connect and share with our ever-growing Piroshky community across the United States – let’s keep celebrating together!" Top 50 places to eat in San Diego: Yelp Founded in the historic Pike Place market, Piroshky Piroshky has offered hand-crafted pastries since 1992. The brick-and-mortar bakery — voted one of the "20 Most Iconic Food Destinations Across America" by Smithsonian Magazine — is known for its p...

Over half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian aid after nearly 7 months of war, UN says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Almost seven months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group have left a wave of destruction with over half the population in need of humanitarian aid and raised fears of a repeat of the deadly ethnic conflict in Darfur 20 years ago. “What is happening is verging on pure evil,” the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the African nation said Friday.Sudan has fallen out of the spotlight since it was engulfed in chaos starting in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.But Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the resident U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, told a United Nations news conference that “the situation is horrific and grim” and “frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening.” She stressed that “the Sudan crisis has few equals.”Fighting i...

John Bailey, who presided over the film academy during the initial #MeToo reckoning, dies at 81

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Bailey, a cinematographer who led the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the initial #MeToo reckoning, died Friday at 81.Bailey died “peacefully in his sleep” in Los Angeles, his wife, Carol Littleton, said in a statement distributed by the film academy.Bailey — who worked on films ranging from “Ordinary People” to “Groundhog Day” to “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” — was the first cinematographer to preside over the Academy, serving two terms that spanned 2017-2019. Those were tumultuous years for the film industry. When Bailey took over, the Oscars alone had been grappling with falling ratings, controversies over the homogeneity of its choices (#OscarsSoWhite) and the infamous envelope flub in 2017 that marred the best picture win for “Moonlight.” Scarcely two months into his presidency, The New York Times and The New Yorker released bombshell reports about sexual assault allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein that ignited an industr...

1 dead, 1 hospitalized after fire in Brighton Park

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

CHICAGO — A fire that broke out at a home on the city's Southwest Side left one person dead and another hospitalized on Friday evening, according to Chicago fire officials.Officials from the Chicago Fire Department confirmed that one person died after the blaze broke out in the 3200 block of West 38th Place in Brighton Park.Officials say one person was taken to the hospital in stable condition for smoke inhalation.Currently, it is unclear what led to the fire and authorities have not yet identified anyone involved.

Milder Pacific air is on the way; it's to boost temps Sunday and produce a string of 60-degree highs next week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

WGN WEATHER HEADLINESPOSTS FROM MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE DR. BRIAN BRETTSCHNEIDER (https://twitter.com/Climatologist49), ALASKA-BASED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLIMATOLOGISTBrettschneider notes the recent snow fell much like so many of our Lower 48 snows fall — wet and in a near freezing environment, which means the snow had exceptionally high (by Alaska standards) water content.PERHAPS MOST INTERESTING, and information which puts the intensity of recent days' snow in southern Alaska into historic context, are Dr. Brettschneider's comments on the 65" of snow which fell in just 24 hours near Thompson Pass which is east of Anchorage and just north of Valdez, Alaska. THINK OF THAT — 65" of snow in a single day! That's the equivalent of more nearly three Chicago "Blizzard of 1967's" (which yielded 24" of snow here and crippled the city January 26-27, 1967) in a single day!! The 30" of snow which fell on sections of Anchorage's Hillside is MORE SNOW than we received in our benchmark Chicag...

Westlake pulls away from Round Rock 35-3 for bi-district playoff win

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Westlake didn't allow Round Rock to score a touchdown and rolled to a 35-3 bi-district win in the opening round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs Friday at Chaparral Stadium.Round Rock took an early 3-0 lead on a 30-yard field goal by Kai Haruki, but after that, the Chaps defense stood strong and kept Round Rock quarterback Mason Cochran under wraps. REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our website"That was a complete game right there," Westlake head coach Tony Salazar said. "We did a good job running the football and a great job playing defense."Jack Kayser scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground and quarterback Rees Wise added another as Westlake controlled the game. Wise, a sophomore, also threw two touchdown passes to Grady Bartlett.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than...

Lake Travis upsets undefeated Vandegrift on late field goal 13-10 in bi-district round

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Don't let people tell you the bi-district playoff round in Texas high school football doesn't produce any drama. Lake Travis sophomore kicker Braydon Doane nailed a 34-yard field goal with 0:01 remaining to lift the Cavaliers to a 13-10 win over previously undefeated Vandegrift on Friday at Monroe Stadium.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our website"He does this every day in practice," Cavaliers head coach Hank Carter said. "I'm incredibly proud of him. We played hard and I thought we were the more physical team tonight."Lake Travis, the No. 2 team out of 6A-Lake Travis, the No. 2 seed out of 6A-District 26, played outstanding defense against a Vandegrift team that averaged 44.3 points per game. The Cavaliers kept the Vipers out of the end zone and took a 7-3 lead into halftime. Kadyn Leon, playing receiver after taking the snaps a...

Jared Spurgeon returns, but Wild can’t shift narrative in Buffalo setback

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Wild got captain Jared Spurgeon back on Friday, but no one player is going to change the narrative for Minnesota, which did a lot of things well against the Sabres and lost anyway.J.J. Peterka had a goal and assist, and his steal at the Buffalo line led to Jeff Skinner’s go-ahead goal on a breakaway early in the third period as the Sabres held off the Wild, 3-2, at KeyBank Center.“We had our chances, obviously. We need to bury some,” Spurgeon said after playing 21 minutes, 52 seconds in his first regular season game. “A couple of mistakes end up in our net that don’t need to be made, and that’s what happens when you aren’t scoring on the other end. Those mistakes seem to pile up on you.”Spurgeon nearly tied the game in the final seconds when he redirected a shot into the post, but Buffalo goaltender Devon Levi stood strong and the Sabres improved to 6-1-1 in their past eight games against Minnesota.“It sucks to say we have to take a lot of positives from this hoc...

Gary Sinise shares special connection to St. Louis veterans

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:02 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Actor Gary Sinise has starred in a number of hit films. But in real life, his greatest role is to support our nation’s veterans and first responders.Sinise spoke with Fox 2’s Jasmine Huda about his plans for Veterans Day, plus his special connection to supporting heroes from the St. Louis area through the Gary Sinise Foundation.