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There have been 175 sports-betting violations since 2018, 17 active investigations, NCAA head says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NCAA has found 175 infractions of its sports-betting policy since 2018 and there are 17 active investigations, according to a letter from the sports organization’s president that was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.NCAA President Charlie Baker included the numbers in a letter sent this week in response to a query from Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada whose district includes the Strip in Las Vegas.The NCAA does not release details of active investigations and Baker’s letter does not list any schools or athletes. The NCAA told the AP in an email that less than 0.25% of its approximately 13,000 sporting events “are flagged for suspicious betting patterns, and a much smaller percentage have specific, actionable information.” The NCAA pays a company to look for and flag potential betting policy infractions; many college conferences do the same thing.In Baker’s letter to Titus, he said athletes, coaches and administrators comm...

‘Heartless’: Miller criticizes Manitoba government’s decision not to search landfill

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

The federal minister of Crown-Indigenous relations says Manitoba’s government is standing in the way of a search for the remains of two slain Indigenous women believed to be in a landfill. “We are willing to play a role, a very important role in this,” Marc Miller said Wednesday at the Assembly of First Nations general meeting in Halifax. “But the reality of where we’re working is that the Government of Canada can’t nationalize the garbage dump or the waste disposal system of the City of Winnipeg.”Dozens of protesters have blocked the main road of the Brady Road landfill demanding a search of a different landfill north of Winnipeg, called Prairie Green, where it’s believed the remains of two Indigenous women were dumped last year. The blockade began last week after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the province would not support a search of Prairie Green, pointing to a study that said it could cost $184 million, pose safety risks...

Small plane that crashed in rural Alaska, killing 2, apparently struck tree, official says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A small plane that crashed in Alaska last month, killing a bush pilot who was featured on a reality TV show and a hunting guide, apparently struck a tree during takeoff from a rural airstrip, an official said Tuesday.Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief, told Alaska Public Media the apparent strike of a large snag, or dead tree, made the plane’s left horizontal stabilizer inoperative. He said ”the airplane crashed shortly after that.”The agency on Tuesday released a preliminary report on the crash that killed pilot Jim Tweto, 68, of Unalakleet, and Shane Reynolds, 45, of Orofino, Idaho. Tweto’s family-run rural aviation business was featured in three seasons of the Discovery Channel’s “Flying Wild Alaska” series. Tweto was also well known in Alaska’s aviation community. The investigation continues, with a final report expected within a year.The crash occurred near the coastal village of Shaktoolik, w...

Historic Anchor Brewing Co. is closing after 127 years, with beer sales in decline

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco’s 127-year-old Anchor Brewing Co. will shut down and liquidate after years of declining sales, citing tough economic conditions. Anchor was a trailblazer in the U.S., brewing craft beers in the 1970s when most Americans were loyal to a handful of major brands. Its unique brewing techniques ignited demand beyond the city borders of San Francisco, and it quickly became a sought-after prize by beer geeks everywhere. In recent years, however, brewers have faced increasing difficulty turning a profit with a proliferation of canned cocktails, crafted drinks, spirits and wines dinging beer sales. Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic pressured brewers further. Last year, overall beer sales volume slid 3.1% in the U.S., according to the Brewers Association. Craft brewer sales volume ticked 0.1% higher during the period, but imports are rising. “We recognize the importance and historic significance of Anchor to San Francisco and to the craft brewing indust...

Laurentian Bank shares soar after it announced a review of strategic options

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

TORONTO — Shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada soared more than 30 per cent in early trading Wednesday after the bank said it was conducting a review of its strategic options to maximize shareholder value.A strategic review is often seen by investors as a prelude to a sale by a company.In a news release Tuesday, the bank said it does not intend to disclose further developments until the review is concluded.Laurentian says it has a strong capital and liquidity position as well as a strong, stable and diversified funding and deposit base. All of the Big Six banks will probably evaluate buying Laurentian, National Bank analyst Gabriel Dechaine said in a research note, where he put a potential acquisition price of $2.6 billion for the bank.He said some of the most likely buyers would include Scotiabank, since it’s looking to reduce how much its international segment contributes to its bottom line, and TD, which has lots of extra capital around after its deal to buy First Horizon Co...

Stock market today: Wall Street returns to highest level in more than a year after inflation cools

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street returned to its highest level in more than a year on Wednesday after a report showed inflation cooled a bit more than expected last month, which hopefully takes some more pressure off the economy.The S&P 500 rose 32.90, or 0.7% to 4,472.16 to reach its strongest closing level since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86.01, or 0.3%, to 34,347.43, and the Nasdaq composite gained 158.26, or 1.2%, to 13,918.96.Most stocks rose on Wall Street, from flashy Big Tech behemoths to staid utility companies, though the gains faded a bit as the day progressed. The U.S. government’s latest update on inflation showed that consumers paid prices for gasoline, food and other items that were 3% higher overall in June than a year earlier. That’s down from 4% inflation in May and a bit more than 9% last summer. Perhaps more importantly, it was a touch lower than economists expected.High inflation has been at the center of Wall Street’s problems because it’s...

Former Minneapolis police officer sentenced to nine months after fatally crashing into a man

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in the county workhouse, with eligibility for electric home monitoring in three months, after the officer pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in a high-speed chase that killed a bystander two years ago. Prosecutors said former officer Brian Cummings was pursuing a suspected car thief on July 6, 2021, when he ran a red light and hit a car driven by Leneal Frazier, 40, of St. Paul, who died at the scene. Frazier, a father of six children, was an uncle of Darnella Frazier, who shot the cellphone video of George Floyd’s death when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck in 2020.Cummings was driving nearly 80 mph (129 kph) in Minneapolis with his siren and lights activated when his squad car slammed into the vehicle, officials said. The crash ended a chase that lasted more than 20 blocks, including through residential neighborhoods where the posted speed l...

Manhattanhenge fans hope cloudy weather won’t obscure NYC’s famed sunset phenomenon

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wednesday and Thursday are the last two days of Manhattanhenge, the biannual alignment of the setting sun with the city’s east-west streets that brings New Yorkers out of their apartments to watch it bathe the urban canyons in a rosy glow. With forecasters predicting gloomy weather, fans of the spectacle will have to hope the clouds part at the right time.“We have had luck in the past when the weather clears,” said Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History whose sold-out lecture on Manhattanhenge on Thursday will be followed by a viewing party. “All we need is for it to be clear at sunset.” It was Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, who coined the term Manhattanhenge to describe the phenomenon. He was inspired by Stonehenge, where tourists and modern-day Druids camp out on the summer solstice to watch the rising sun align with the prehistoric stones.Manhattanhenge attracts its own Druids when...

Drone may have been flying near Pennsylvania jail before homicide suspect’s escape, police say

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

WARREN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities are seeking information about a drone that may have been flying near a northwestern Pennsylvania jail before the escape of a homicide suspect last week, and they say they have increasing concerns that the escaped prisoner may be armed.Michael Burham, 34, fled the Warren County Prison late Thursday by climbing on exercise equipment to gain access to the roof and then used a rope fashioned from jail bedding to get down, authorities said. Prior to his escape, Burham had been held on $1 million bail and was facing numerous charges, including kidnapping and burglary.Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the drone was heard by a couple of people — although he didn’t know whether it was seen — “immediately adjacent to the jail” just before the escape. Surveillance video did not capture any drone, he said.“I’m not a big believer in coincidences,” he said. “There could be a perfec...

Expensive court fight over Aretha Franklin’s will provides cautionary tale

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:00:19 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The long, expensive court fight over the will of soul singer Aretha Franklin provides a cautionary tale for people who want to make sure their wishes are carried out after their death — and for their families.A Michigan jury determined on Tuesday that a handwritten document by Franklin that was found in her couch after her 2018 death was a valid will. It was a critical turn in a dispute that has turned her sons against each other. And it ended in victory for Kecalf and Edward Franklin, whose lawyers had argued that papers dated 2014 should override a 2010 will discovered in a locked cabinet at the Queen of Soul’s home in suburban Detroit.Legal experts say the fight could have been avoided if Franklin had had a formal will drafted by an experienced attorney who could have ensured that it specified what should become of her money, property and other possessions — and that it would hold up in court. And they say that lesson applies to other families, too. Here’...