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March Madness bets could top $200 million after mobile betting goes live Friday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

With just days to take bets before March Madness begins, the state’s licensed sportsbooks are looking at a potential wagering windfall in the hundreds of millions after mobile betting goes live tomorrow.“The difference between states with mobile and states with just in person is gigantic; at least 10 to one and maybe more so,” Professor Victor Matheson, an economist at the College of the Holy Cross, told the Herald. “It was fun when we opened up gaming at the casinos, but the real sports betting in Massachusetts happens on Friday when we open mobile gaming.”After years of waiting, sports fans in Bay State will soon have over half-a-dozen ways to legally place a wager on professional and college contests from the comfort of their couches.Betting in person at the state’s three licensed casinos launched at the end of January. Betting on mobile apps operated by sportsbooks Barstool, Betr, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel and WynnBet is scheduled to commence Friday, with more compani...

The next No. 1 MLB prospect? Jackson Holliday’s first Orioles camp offers shades of Gunnar Henderson.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

The similarities are unmistakable: The blond hair flowing from the back of a helmet that has trouble staying on. The boyish face underneath it. The left-handed swing belonging to one of baseball’s premier young shortstops.In Jackson Holliday’s first major league spring training with the Orioles, he’s sure looking a lot like Gunnar Henderson, baseball’s top overall prospect and a favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year.“He wants to be the best player and wants to make it to the big leagues; I feel like I was the same way,” Henderson said. “I can really put myself in his shoes. I can provide that experience for him in any way that I can help.“He doesn’t really look like he needs any right now.”By this time next year, Holliday, 19, could be in Henderson’s place as the game’s No. 1 prospect. Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias called Henderson, 21, who was Baltimore’s second-roun...

The Patriots’ 18 best defensive fits in NFL free agency

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

From Kyle Dugger to Josh Uche, the Patriots’ young talent may be enough to ensure another top-10 defensive ranking next season.But if Bill Belichick wants his pride and joy to crack the top five, and join the ranks of the NFL’s elite, it’s time to spend some money.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | How the Patriots can fix their offense in free agency New England Patriots | Long football careers linked to impulsive behavior, less white matter in the brain: Boston University CTE study New England Patriots | The risk and reward of the Patriots re-signing Jakobi Meyers New England Patriots | NFL Draft: Patriots bolster offense with top 3 picks in 7-round mock draft New England Patriots | Predicting the Patriots’ draft, Bill Belichick’s activity, and more intel from the NFL Combine The Patriots have a pending hole at outside cornerback, where Jonathan Jones is set to hit the...

North Korea fires ballistic missile toward sea, Seoul says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military said it detected that North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile toward waters off its western coast on Thursday.The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapon was fired at around 6:20 p.m. from an area around the western coastal city of Nampo. It did not immediately release an assessment of how far the missile flew.The launch came after the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Tuesday that her country is ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the United States and South Korea as the allies expand their military training to cope with a growing North Korean nuclear threat.Coming off a record year in missile testing, North Korea has conducted more weapons demonstrations to 2023 including test launches of an intercontinental ballistic missile, short-range missiles and a purported long-range cruise missile system in recent weeks. Experts say North Korea’s weapons push is aimed at forcing...

German woman risks tougher sentence over Yazidi girl’s death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German appeals court on Thursday ordered a new sentencing hearing for a German convert to Islam who was given 10 years in prison on charges that, as a member of the Islamic State group in Iraq, she allowed a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave to die of thirst in the sun.The 31-year-old defendant now risks a higher sentence.The Federal Court of Justice threw out an appeal by the woman, who has been identified only as Jennifer W. in line with German privacy rules, but partly approved an appeal by prosecutors. It overturned the sentence, though not the rest of the verdict, and sent the case back to the Munich state court for a new decision.The woman was convicted in October 2021 of, among other things, two counts of crimes against humanity through enslavement, in one case resulting in death, being an accessory to attempted murder and membership in a terrorist organization abroad. The federal court found that Munich judges erred in sentencing the ...

Indonesia landslide death toll hits 30; dozens still missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescue workers recovered more bodies buried under tons of mud following a landslide that crashed onto a hilly village on Indonesia’s remote Natuna islands, bringing the death toll to 30, officials said Thursday.The landslide, triggered by torrential downpours, plunged down surrounding hills on Monday, burying 30 houses in Genting village on a tiny remote island in the Natuna archipelago at the edge of the South China Sea, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.Authorities have deployed nearly 700 rescuers, including police and military with heavy equipment to search for 24 people still missing who were apparently trapped in houses that were buried under the landslide, which was 4 meters (13 feet) deep, said Abdul Rahman, who heads Natuna’s search and rescue agency.“Improved weather allowed us to recover more bodies,” Rahman said in a video statement.Eight people were pulled out alive with injuries, three of whom are in critical cond...

Fred VanVleet eviscerates officials as frustrations run high for Raptors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

Another night, another strong effort against a quality opponent and another loss. It’s been a frustrating season and a frustrating 1-3 road trip for the Toronto Raptors and safe to say, emotions are running high.On Wednesday night Fred VanVleet wanted the world to know he’d had enough — with the way he thinks the Raptors have been officiated at least.After Toronto’s 108-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Raptors point guard paused for moment, and said “I don’t mind, I’ll take a fine, I don’t really care.”The fine will be substantial as the calm, measured and forthright veteran proceeded to eviscerate referee Ben Taylor in particular and the state of NBA officiating in general in a manner unlike you’ll ever hear again.“I thought Ben Taylor was f—–g terrible tonight,” he began. “I think that most nights, you know out of the three [referees] there’s one or two that just f–k the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row. Denver was tough, obv...

AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

Major Russian missile barrage slams targets across UkraineKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed “a massive rocket attack” that hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 regions of Ukraine, the country’s president said Thursday, with officials reporting at least six deaths in the largest such night-time attack in three weeks.Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the barrage that came while many people slept as an attempt by Moscow “to intimidate Ukrainians again.”“The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do,” Zelenskyy said in an online statement.The war has largely ground to a battlefield stalemate over the winter. The Kremlin’s forces started targeting Ukraine’s power supply last October in an apparent attempt to demoralize the civilian population. The barrages later became less frequent, with analysts speculating Russia may have been running low on ammunition. The last massive barrage took place on Feb. 16. U.S. intelligence doesn’t believe R...

Business backlash pushing GOP to weaken anti-ESG proposals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republicans who want to thwart socially and environmentally conscious investing are now being pushed to water down their proposals after backlash from powerful business groups and fears that state pension systems could see huge losses.In both Kansas and Indiana, where the GOP has legislative supermajorities, bankers associations and state chambers of commerce criticized the strongest versions of anti-ESG legislation currently under consideration as anti-free market.In Kansas, their opposition prompted a Senate committee’s chair to drop the toughest version of its bill — applying anti-ESG rules to firms handling private investments — before hearings began this week. The Kansas committee was slated to vote Thursday but could postpone action on a milder version of an anti-ESG bill after the head of the state pension system for teachers and government workers warned that it could see $3.6 billion in losses over 10 years if the bill were passed. And...

1 dead in Vaughan shooting, 2 found shot in North York; police investigating possible connection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:39 GMT

Police are investigating whether two separate shootings, one fatal, are connected after the victims were found in two different locations, in North York and Vaughan.York Regional Police officers initially responded to the Dufferin Street and Summeridge Drive area near Highway 7 in Vaughan for a weapons call just after 3:30 a.m. on Thursday.Police told CityNews officers found a man at the side of a road with gunshot wounds. He was rushed to hospital, where he later died.A short time later, around 4 a.m., Toronto police say a man and a woman were found with gunshot wounds on Skipton Court, near Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue West, in North York. However, the shooting occurred in York Region.Paramedics transported the two victims to hospital with serious injuries, which police say are not believed to be life-threatening.It is not yet known if the weapons call in Vaughan is connected to the victims found near Keele and Sheppard. However, police confirm those victims were initially inj...