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Melville's first youth council sparks change in the cityLSU outlasts UCF 109-102 in triple-OT affair
Boston College 81, Holy Cross 55
Mass. Gov. Maura Healey doesn’t think her summertime political flex on the Legislature was ‘pressure’There are a few misconceptions that First, he’s fine with his place in the NBA “I don’t know if y’all noticed, but last year I didn’t look really engaged, or not a lot of energy ... with other teams, because I was playing on one leg,” Brown said after at the team’s practice facility Saturday. “I want that to be addressed. I know a lot of fans didn’t think I played with a lot of energy and I didn’t want to be here — that’s on social media — but I do want to be here, I do want to play with these guys. It’s a great bunch of guys, great coaches, great organization.” Second, he reiterates that the Brown who struggled through half of last season with the Raptors — after — was a shell of himself. Despite 2-12 start, the young team has kept a positive atmosphere, understanding where they are in the development stage. Despite 2-12 start, the young team has kept a positive atmosphere, understanding where they are in the development stage. “I was literally playing on one leg,” he said. “It was tough for me mentally. I couldn’t move the way I wanted, play defence the way I wanted to, so it was tough.” Oh, and he’s ready to make an impact — as soon as Sunday night, when the Raptors begin a four-game road trip in Cleveland against the Cavaliers. “Just wait and see,” he cautioned. “I’m ready to hoop.” Brown took care of his physical issues with late-summer surgery to clean up a problem with his right knee. He tried to rehab it with rest and treatment in the off-season, but it didn’t get better. When the same pain and mobility issues resurfaced in September, it was time for the surgeon’s knife. It kept the 28-year-old NBA veteran out of Toronto’s first 16 games, but he’s ready now. And the Raptors are ready to use him. “I’m a big fan of Bruce,” “(A) couple years ago, I was studying the best cutters in the league and Bruce was on the top of that list — just the way he cuts, his offensive IQ, defensive disruption, active hands. “I think there is a lot of that he can bring to the team when he’s fully healthy, and when he’s right.” Who would you rather be: the team paying a mercurial and injury-plagued Embiid $193 million and Paul George another $154 million, or these Raptors? Who would you rather be: the team paying a mercurial and injury-plagued Embiid $193 million and Paul George another $154 million, or these Raptors? Brown would seem to possess the attributes the Raptors want. He’s a good off-the-ball scoring threat, a career 34 per cent shooter from three-point distance and a versatile defender able to guard several positions. Most important? He knows how to fill a complementary role after spending the 2022-23 season working off “Since I got in the league I’ve played with all-NBA guys every year, so I’m pretty much playing off them,” he said. “Went to Denver, an elite offence playing with Nikola Jokic, just learning different ways to score without the ball. Because everyone likes to score and I’m playing with all-NBA guys, so I’m not going to have the ball in my hands much.” Brown’s biggest contribution so far this season has been off the court. He gifted everyone in the organization with a pair of cowboy boots — it goes with his Cowboy Bruce persona — and said he “just wanted to give them something and welcome them into my world a little bit.” Somehow, he convinced to don a cowboy hat on the bench when both were injured. From merchandise giveaways to jackpots, no Raptors promotion has been more popular — and divisive — than Pizza Pizza’s Score a Slice. From merchandise giveaways to jackpots, no Raptors promotion has been more popular — and divisive — than Pizza Pizza’s Score a Slice. Barnes, according to Brown, has some work to do on the look. “Bad hat — it was not a good hat,” Brown said. “Everything else was pretty fine. I corrected a little thing — the belt has to match the boots and all that — but the hat was not good.”LSU outlasts UCF 109-102 in triple-OT affair
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! presenters Ant and Dec announced there is a huge twist in store for the campmates. At the end of Friday night's show (November 23), the ITV hosts headed down to the camp to reveal that all of the celebrities would be taking part in the trial. However, during an appearance on the ITV2 spin-off show, I'm A Celebrity Unpacked, Ant admitted this is far from the truth. The 49-year-old revealed that only late arrivals Richard Coles and Maura Higgins will be taking part in the upcoming challenge, which will be the highly-anticipated eating trial, shown in Saturday night's (November 24) show. Speaking to presenter Joel Dommett, Ant said: "Today's trial we get all of them down to the trials area and they're doing the eating trial - the one we all love!" Dec added: "But there's only two people taking it on... Richard and Maura." Since arriving in camp, Richard and Maura have been living a life of luxury in the jungle junkyward which features a luxurious double bed, a hidden large sofa, and a bathtub with hot water. They were also treated to a hidden gas cooker as well as a fridge, stocked with smoothies and a fruit platter. But, the pair have been tasked with a number of missions in order to win food at the Jungle Junkyard buffet. One included swindling the main camp into sacrificing one of their beds. As they succeeded, Richard and Maura won the first three portions of the buffet. Their second mission was to convince Danny Jones and Dean McCullough that they had won no stars in the trial, compelling the other campmates to hand over some of their own food that evening. Despite Coleen Rooney raising suspicions that something wasn't quite right, they earned three more portions of the buffet. On Unpacked, Dec revealed: "The eating trial is their final challenge for the junk food buffet." Ant added: "And they need to do well in this one because let's face it, they were nearly rumbled here." Joel, who was joined by Sam Thompson and Kemi Rogers, shared his excitement over Maura finally having to do a trial. Dec agreed, pointing out their easy jungle journey since arriving. "The worst thing they've been through at the moment was covering themselves in molasses," he said. Asked about having all 12 campmates at the trial area, Ant explained: "It's good for atmosphere. But on the other hand, it can take forever because they just talk." Dec quipped: "It's a celebrity field trip."CHARLOTTE, N.C. , Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America Corporation announced today that it will redeem all outstanding shares of its Fixed-to-Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series MM (CUSIP No. 060505FR0), liquidation preference $25,000 per share (the "Preferred Stock"), and the corresponding depositary shares each representing a 1/25 th interest in a share of the Preferred Stock (CUSIP No. 060505FQ2) (the "Depositary Shares"). The Depositary Shares will be redeemed simultaneously with the Preferred Stock on the upcoming dividend payment date on January 28, 2025 (the "Redemption Date"), at a redemption price of $1,000 per depositary share. Declared dividends of $21.50 per depositary share in respect of the outstanding Depositary Shares for the full current semi-annual dividend period from, and including, July 28, 2024 to, but excluding, January 28, 2025 will be paid separately on January 28, 2025 , to holders of record on January 1, 2025 , in the customary manner. Accordingly, the redemption price of $1,000 per depositary share does not include any accrued and unpaid dividends. Dividends on the redeemed Depositary Shares will cease to accrue on the Redemption Date. The Depositary Shares are held through The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") and will be redeemed in accordance with the applicable procedures of DTC. Payment to DTC for the Depositary Shares will be made by Computershare Inc. and Computershare Trust Company, N.A., collectively, as redemption agent. The address for the redemption agent is as follows: Computershare Trust Company, N.A. Attn: Corporate Actions 150 Royall St. Canton, MA 02021 This press release does not constitute a notice of redemption under the certificate of designation governing the Preferred Stock or the deposit agreement governing the Depositary Shares. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States , serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,700 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States , its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future results or performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions difficult to predict or beyond our control. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider the uncertainties and risks discussed under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 , and in any of our subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts . www.bankofamerica.com Investors May Contact: Lee McEntire , Bank of America Phone: 1.980.388.6780 lee.mcentire@bofa.com Jonathan G. Blum , Bank of America (Fixed Income) Phone: 1.212.449.3112 jonathan.blum@bofa.com Reporters May Contact: Jocelyn Seidenfeld , Bank of America Phone: 1.646.743.3356 jocelyn.seidenfeld@bofa.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bank-of-america-announces-full-redemption-of-its-series-mm-preferred-stock-and-related-depositary-shares-302338391.html SOURCE Bank of America CorporationMantis scores 17 points off the bench as Maine downs Holy Cross 80-55
BEIRUT — Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the militant group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. An Israeli bomb squad policeman carries the remains of a rocket that was fired from Lebanon on Sunday in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the militants. Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups. The Israeli police bomb squad inspects the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area Sunday in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there. In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing. The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors. Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later. Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. A flock of birds flies above the smoke from Israeli airstrikes Sunday in Dahiyeh, Beirut. Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence. Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north. The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to the Lebanese c... The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week. Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group. Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate $208 million to assist the Lebanese military. But Borrell later said that he did not “see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire" and that it seemed Israel was seeking new conditions. He pointed to Israel’s refusal to accept France as a member of the international committee that would oversee the cease-fire's implementation. The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers. With talks for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza stalled, freed hostages and families of those held marked a year since the war's only hostage-release deal. “It’s hard to hold on to hope, certainly after so long and as another winter is about to begin," said Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, who is held along with her husband and two young sons. Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Most of the rest of the 250 who were abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack were released in last year's cease-fire. Talks for another deal recently had several setbacks, including the firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation. Hamas wants Israel to end the war and withdraw all troops from Gaza. Israel has offered only to pause its offensive. The Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 44,000 this week, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. On Sunday, six people were killed in strikes in central Gaza, according to AP journalists at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. How often do you buy something online ? A couple of times a month? A couple of times a week? A couple of times a day? Everybody's answer will be different, but collectively, it's done a lot: Online retail accounted for over $1 trillion of purchases in the U.S. in 2022 and a record $277.6 billion in the second quarter of 2023 alone. Retailers ranging from titans like Amazon and Walmart, down to local small-town shops work very hard to land their share of that business. Sadly and inevitably—so do criminals and scammers. At any given moment, they operate millions of bogus sites. So how can you spot those fake online shopping sites? Spokeo provides a guide. In the early days of the internet , it took some genuine skills to set up a website, but those days are gone. A quick search will show that there are lots of apps and services offering websites on a prefabricated "fill in the blanks" basis, and most web hosts provide those tools as part of the service when someone signs up with them. It's even easier on social media . If you were opening a "side hustle" business tomorrow from your home, you could set up your own Facebook page tonight in under an hour, with exactly zero knowledge of websites. Once that page is set up, you just need to throw a few dollars in the direction of Facebook's advertising department, and they'll start advertising your page to users. It's no harder to promote a website, except in that case, you'd give your advertising dollars to Google. This is a simplified overview, but the main point holds: Establishing a presence online has become a very democratized process, open to anyone with minimal skills and even the smallest budget for advertising. That's been a boon for legitimate entrepreneurs, but it also makes life very easy indeed for scammers. There are multiple types of bogus websites . Some are imposters, created to look very much like a legitimate commercial or government site that you're familiar with, such as Amazon or Netflix. Others don't imitate a specific site, but instead attempt to capture the look and feel of those sites in general (whether that be a retail site, a government or bank page, or even something relatively shady like a gambling or porn site). Next, scammers find ways to drive traffic to their site. Often that's through phishing texts or emails, but deceptive ads on social media or search engines like Google and Bing work just as well. Once a browser arrives at the criminals' site (or, in some cases, downloads their app), any number of bad things can happen. One is that they'll download malware onto your devices, which can capture passwords or steal personal information. A more straightforward risk is that the browser will cheerfully enter their personal and banking/credit card information, thinking they're making a legitimate purchase. That's largely why fake online shopping sites are so dangerous, and so useful to scammers and identity thieves. Most bogus sites share some or all of those characteristics, but shopping sites are a very specific type of bogus site with some quirks of their own. One characteristic to count on—whether the website directly impersonates a major retailer like Amazon, a niche retailer like MEC, or just positions itself as an anonymously general retail site—is that it will offer unusually low pricing on high-demand products. That might be a mass-market item like the latest gaming console, a suddenly in-demand item that's unavailable through normal channels (remember trying to get masks and sanitizing wipes during COVID-19?), or something as mundane as disposable diapers or high-capacity computer drives. Whatever the product, the advertised price will be low enough to get attention. The bogus site will have any number of ways to transfer a browser's money to its coffers, depending on the scammers' intentions and skillset. A few of the most common include: These are all aside from the potential to infect devices or steal payment information . Sites focused on identity theft might consider a faux purchase to be just the added gravy. How common is online shopping fraud? Well, the news is pretty bad. The FTC's 2022 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book recorded over 327,000 online shopping complaints, the fourth-highest category for overall complaints and second among fraud categories. You would expect these sites to be more prevalent during the final quarter of the year, corresponding to the holiday gift-giving season—Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas itself—and they are, but that doesn't mean you can relax during the other nine months of the year. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, or APWG, identified nearly a million fake or phishing websites during the first quarter of 2022 alone (not a busy time of year for shopping), for example. To be clear, only 14.6% of those were eCommerce sites, but that still translates to well over 140,000 bogus shopping sites. The true number is almost certainly higher because the APWG only tracks the ones that use a phishing approach. Many opt to simply buy advertising instead (or as well), and those won't be captured in the APWG's statistics. However you slice it, there's a definite risk of encountering these sites when you shop. The good news is that bogus shopping sites aren't hard to spot, once you're aware of the risk. They aren't built for permanence; scammers pull them together quickly and cheaply and then abandon them once they stop producing.That "just good enough" approach leaves plenty of visible signs you can detect. Below, here's what to look for when recognizing fake online shopping sites. Bad images Bogus sites don't have direct access to the real products' manufacturing images, so they resort to copying and pasting from legitimate sites. \That means bogus sites' product images (and often their fake logos, if they impersonate a legitimate site) are fuzzy and low-res. A URL that's slightly "off" Imposter sites obviously can't have the same URL as the legitimate site, so they'll usually have a URL that looks right, but isn't quite. They might have a typo in the name, or incorporate the real company's name into their URL in a non-standard way ("myfakesite.amazon.com.123xyz.com"), or—sneakiest of all—use a letter from a different language's character set , which looks the same to the eye, but not to the computer. Broken links The scammers may have simply copied and pasted user interface elements from a legitimate site, in which case many links on the site may be broken (or simply not clickable). Lots of missing elements A legitimate retail website will have several pages of legalese, often starting with a pop-up about its cookie policy or privacy policy. You should certainly expect to see a detailed document spelling out shipping policies, return and refund policies, and similar details. If those are missing or brief and vapid, it's probably a fake site. Limited options for payment Sites that plan to take your money and run will often show oddly specific payment options, from wire transfers to gift cards to cryptocurrency. The thing those payment methods have in common is that it's very difficult to get money back once it's spent. Sites geared around capturing your personal or payment information, on the other hand, may insist on getting your credit card. Typos, grammar, and linguistic errors Simple, silly language errors are often a red flag. Scammers may not be native English speakers, and it shows up in awkward or sometimes inappropriate phrasing. Errors in actual product listings aren't necessarily a smoking gun—you'll see them frequently on real Amazon pages—because they come from the manufacturers, who are often not English speakers. Language errors on the rest of the site are more of a concern. HTTP vs. HTTPS In the address bar of your browser, a legitimate retail site's URL will start with HTTPS, rather than HTTP, and will show a closed lock symbol. The majority of fake sites now also have an HTTPS URL and will show the lock (so this isn't as helpful as it used to be), but less-sophisticated scammers may miss that detail. You can automatically rule those ones out. And, of course, the biggest red flag of all is an unrealistically low price on the product you're looking for. We all want to get a really good deal, but that impulse will often lead you astray. If a shopping site fails those basic "eyeball" tests, the smart thing to do is just close that browser tab and walk away. If you want to dig deeper, or if you aren't sure, there are a few quick and easy ways to verify a site's legitimacy. Use a URL/website checker Remember those really sneaky fake URLs that use a letter from another alphabet? The best way to check those (and other problematic elements in a URL) is through a URL verifier/website reputation service, like the ones from URLVoid and Google . Just copy (don't click!) the link, and paste it into the checker. If the site is sketchy, they'll tell you. Look up the site on a registry Domain names all need to be registered and there are several lookup tools to check this, like ICANN's registration lookup (think of it as Spokeo for websites). If a site claims to be Amazon but was registered just a few weeks ago, that's a really big red flag. Similarly, if the site isn't located where it should be, or if the ownership data is obscured, that's grounds for concern. Turn to Google If you have a bad feeling about a particular site, do a quick Google or Bing (or whatever) search that pairs the site's name with keywords like "scam," "fraud," "bogus" or "ripoff" and see what comes up. If you get a lot of hits, that's definitely grounds for concern. Go Forth and Shop (Safely) If a given site fails any or all of those tests, then keeping your wallet in your pocket is definitely the smart choice. Instead of making the purchase, report the site instead to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FTC's Report Fraud website. That will get the investigative wheels turning and may help protect someone less wary from falling victim to the scammers. As always, wariness and skepticism are your friends when it comes to avoiding scams. Don't click on links in emails, texts , or social media messages; instead, go to the company's site by typing the URL directly. If you search a company's page on Google, scroll down through the actual search results until you find it instead of clicking on the sponsored results or advertisements at the top. Most of all, remember the golden rule of scam avoidance: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Keeping those principles in mind, and using the tips given here to screen out dubious sites means you'll be able to shop 'til you drop (safely), despite the vast number of scammers out there. And that—as the credit card ads like to say—is priceless. This story was produced by Spokeo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Dec 27 (AP) Haiti's health minister has been removed from his post following a deadly gang attack on the largest public hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince, government officials have said. According to two government officials Thursday, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject, Health Minister Duckenson Lorthe will be replaced by Justice Minister Patrick Pelissier until a new health minister is found. Two journalists and a police officer were killed Tuesday as gang members burst into the General Hospital and fired indiscriminately at reporters who were there to cover the facility's reopening. It was one of the worst attacks on Haitian media in recent memory. Seven other journalists were wounded. Jean Feguens Regala, a photographer who survived the attack, said journalists had been invited to the hospital by the health ministry but there was little security at the site. “The fact that the minister of health invited us, you feel that preparations have been made already,” Regala told The Associated Press. “When we made contact with a police unit, the police told us they were not aware of the event." The health minister did not show up at the event, for reasons that have not been explained. Shortly after the attack, Johnson “Izo” André — considered Haiti's most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince — posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack. The video said the gang coalition had not authorised the hospital's reopening. Gang violence has worsened in Haiti, with coordinated gang attacks on prisons, police stations and the main international airport crippling the country's capital and plunging Haiti into an unprecedented crisis. Gangs are believed to control 85% of Port-au-Prince. The Caribbean country has struggled to organise an election that will restore democratic rule, and is currently governed by a transitional council made up of representatives of political parties, business groups and civil society organisations. (AP) SCY SCY (This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)