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Bridge: July 2, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

One of Unlucky Louie’s daughters is in college, studying to be a social worker.“She’s taking a course in psychology,” Louie said. “She told me the instructor was lecturing on Pavlov’s dogs, and the class was laughing about it. And then the bell rang, and they all went to lunch.”The psychological aspect of bridge may be less significant than in a game such as poker. On an internet site such as Bridge Base Online, your opponents may be thousands of miles away, not sitting at your table where their mannerisms or tempo may be revealing. Still, there are opportunities to “play the players.”In today’s deal from a team match, both Souths played at four spades after North — reasonably in my opinion — raised South’s response of one spade to two spades. Both Wests led a low heart. East took the queen and ace and led a third heart, and South’s jack won.At one table, declarer led the queen of trumps next. West&#...

Police investigating apparent break-in at Boston jewelry store

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

Police responded to a smashed window at a jewelry store in Downtown Crossing early Sunday morning.Long’s Jewelers on Summer Street was surrounded by shattered glass and crime scene tape overnight.Within the store, jewelry cases were covered with cloth, and one case was empty. It is unclear if that is related to the smashed window.Police have not confirmed any details about the suspects or if they took any merchandise.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Criminal investigation into Coast Guard Academy revealed years of sexual assault cover-ups, but findings were kept secret

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

(CNN) — A secret investigation into alleged sexual abuse at the US Coast Guard Academy, the training ground for the Coast Guard’s top officers, uncovered a dark history of rapes, assaults and other serious misconduct being ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials.The findings of the probe, dubbed “Operation Fouled Anchor,” were kept confidential by the agency’s top leadership for several years. Coast Guard officials briefed members of Congress this month after inquiries from CNN, which had reviewed internal documents from the probe.Despite credible evidence of assaults dating back to the late 1980s, investigators found that most of the alleged perpetrators were not criminally investigated at the time. Instead, the incidents were handled as administrative violations, and punishments, if they happened at all, were as minor as extra homework or lowered class standings. Sometimes, even those pushed out of the academy were still able to serve in the US military.As...

National Archives concludes review of JFK assassination documents with 99% made public

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

(CNN) — The National Archives has concluded its review of the classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, with 99% of the records having been made publicly available, the White House said Friday.“This action reflects [President Biden’s] instruction that all information related to President Kennedy’s assassination should be released except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.President Joe Biden released a memo Friday certifying that the archivist had completed the review in May and affirmed the remaining documents authorized to be declassified had been released to the public – meeting a previously set June 30 deadline.In 1992, Congress passed the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, in part prompted by furor caused by the conspiratorial Oliver Stone film “JFK.” The act dictated that all assassination records should be publicly di...

Column: Half-full or half-empty? 5 things to watch in July as the Chicago Cubs reach the halfway mark.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

The Chicago Cubs reached the halfway point of the season Saturday night, and whether the glass was half-full or half-empty was in the eye of the beholder.At the start of spring training, PECOTA projections had the Cubs winning 77 games and finishing third in the National League Central behind the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers.After Saturday’s weather-delayed 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, the Cubs are 38-43, on pace for 76 wins and fourth in the division, five games behind the co-leading Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.The half-full crowd could point to a 14-11 record in June as a sign the Cubs have begun to get their act together. The half-empty crowd could suggest a sub-.500 first-half record indicates little progress from the last two losing seasons.Asked about the PECOTA projection in spring training, Cubs President Jed Hoyer said 87 or more wins were within sight.“That has to be our goal, to be a team that’s plus-10 or more, and that’s what...

For presidents, July Fourth is a day to chill or strut or get an earful of red, white and boo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Through history, the Fourth of July has been a day for some presidents to declare their independence from the public. They’ve bailed to the beach, the mountains, the golf course, the farm, the ranch. In the middle of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt was sailing to Hawaii on a fishing and working vacation.It’s also been a day for some presidents to insert themselves front and center in the fabric of it all. Teddy Roosevelt drew hundreds of thousands for his July Fourth oratory. In 2019, Donald Trump marshaled tanks, bombers and other war machinery for a celebration that typically avoids military muscle.Richard Nixon enraged the anti-war masses without even showing up. As the anti-Nixon demonstrations of 1970 showed, Independence Day in the capital isn’t always just fun and games. It has a tradition of red, white and boo, too.In modern times, though, presidents have tended to stand back and let the people party. George W. Bush had a ceremony welcoming immigrants as...

Russia launches first drone strike on Kyiv in 12 days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After a relative lull, Russia launched a drone attack early Sunday on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, officials said. It was the first such attack of the war in 12 days.All of the Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones were detected and shot down, according to Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv city administration. In addition to the city itself, the surrounding Kyiv region was targeted. Kyiv regional Gov. Ruslan Kravchenko reported that one person was wounded by falling debris from a destroyed drone.Officials in the Ukrainian capital didn’t provide an exact number of drones that attacked the city. But Ukraine’s air force said that across the country, eight Shaheds and three Kalibr cruise missiles were launched by the Russians.Further south, a 13-year-old boy was wounded in overnight shelling of Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Kherson province, said Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, spokesman for the Ukrainian administration of the province. The child was w...

City of Toronto set to begin 5-month construction project on Broadview Avenue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

For those who live or visit Toronto’s Riverdale neighbourhood, be prepared for it to be a little more difficult to get around as construction crews will be shutting down part of Broadview Avenue for five months.Beginning on Tuesday, the southbound lanes of Broadview Avenue will be closed between Danforth Avenue and Gerrard Street East. On the same stretch of road, there will just be one narrow northbound lane open for vehicles. Also, there will be lane closures on Broadview Avenue between Erindale and Danforth Avenues between September and November.“Our infrastructure is aging and there is no question that there is a need for replacement and updating of this infrastructure,” Mo Pannu, the City of Toronto’s director of roadways design and construction, said Friday morning while acknowledging the difficulty the project will mean.“Obviously this will bring a lot of challenges and we are hoping that we will have patience from our area residents, businesses as wel...

Sneakers of the House: Canada’s MPs embrace comfort, style in office footwear trend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

OTTAWA, Ill. — You won’t catch Omar Alghabra in a pair of Jordans. The federal transport minister has been loyal to the Adidas brand ever since he was a kid playing soccer in Saudi Arabia.“Adidas was the shoe of choice for kids in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” Alghabra said. The ones known as the “originals” — black with three thick white stripes down the sides — were “a big deal.”That nostalgia is what drives his current sneaker collection, which often turns heads when strolls through the corridors on Parliament Hill, or attends a G7 meeting, where his counterparts comment on his kicks.“Positively of course,” he said.He also wants to make one thing clear: he’s not a sneakerhead, but an “Adidas-head,” which is the kind of thing only a sneakerhead would say.This fascination with the history and specific models of sneakers has driven what is now a multibillion-dollar reselling industry, and created a ...

Montreal wants more affordable housing, developers want to make a profit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:11 GMT

MONTREAL — For six years, the City of Montreal has been sitting on a vast piece of land that could help relieve a housing shortage, but private developers, whom the city needs to realize its vision for an affordable “eco neighbourhood,” have so far expressed little interest.Montreal has an ambitious plan for the site, a former horse racing track turned into a vacant wasteland more than twice the size of the Chinatown neighbourhood downtown. But Montreal’s ambitions are expensive, says Pierre Boivin, CEO of investment firm Claridge, who co-leads a city-appointed group drafting a new development model for the property.The initial development framework pushed by the administration of Mayor Valérie Plante made it impossible to turn a profit, he said. “At the current market price for land and construction costs and regulations around subsidized housing, the economic model doesn’t stand.”As a housing shortage grips the city, critics say Montreal’s...