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Bridge: April 9, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

“Don’t listen to my cousin the Queen of Diamonds,” the Queen of Hearts said menacingly to Alice. “She says that losing a trick can be better than winning one. What nonsense.”At the game at the Mad Hatter’s, the Red Queens had bickered about who was greater.“I’m the most powerful card in Wonderland,” the Queen of Hearts insisted. “No ace or king dares capture me.”“Of course, your majesty,” Alice sighed.“Let’s have another deal and I’ll show you.”The Dormouse, East, dealt and opened four clubs, and after two passes, North, the Hatter, doubled. Alice took out to four hearts, passed out. West, the March Hare, led the ace of clubs, next the jack of diamonds.Alice won and cashed the A-K of trumps.“Off with her head!” the Queen of Hearts roared. “She let my card be captured.”Alice next led a spade to her queen, and West won and led another diamond to dummy. Alice th...

Elon Musk Wants to Cut Your Social Security Because He Doesn’t Understand Math

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., departs court in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 24, 2023.Photo: Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesIf there’s one thing you can say for sure about Elon Musk, it’s that he has a huge number of opinions and loves to share them at high volume with the world. The problem here is that his opinions are often stunningly wrong.Generally, these stunningly wrong opinions are the conventional wisdom among the ultra-right and ultra-rich.In particular, like most of the ultra-right ultra-rich, Musk is desperately concerned that the U.S. is about to be overwhelmed by the costs of Social Security and Medicare.He’s previously tweeted — in response to the Christian evangelical humor site Babylon Bee — that “True national debt, including unfunded entitlements, is at least $60 trillion.” On the one hand, this is arguably true. On the other hand, you will understand it’s not a problem if you are familiar with 1) this subject and 2) b...

Germany: Hamburg fire smoke halts trains, generates warning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Police warned people in Hamburg, Germany, to close their windows early Sunday after a large fire that engulfed several warehouses sent black, chemical-laden smoke drifting over the city.German news agency dpa said the fire broke out around 4:30 a.m. in the Rothenburgsort district, located in the eastern part of Germany’s second-largest city. The smoke drifted from there toward the city center, halting long-distance trains between Hamburg and Berlin and other cities. A public safety alert conveyed through a mobile phone app advised people in Hamburg to close windows, turn off ventilation and air conditioning, and to avoid the area. No injuries were reported.Public broadcaster NDR said the fire involved containers with hydrogen sulfide, a toxic and foul-smelling substance, forcing firefighters and police officers in the area to wear breathing apparatus.Source

DC region’s Easter Sunday morning starts off with frost advisory, freeze warning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

D.C.-area residents should brace for a cold start to Easter Sunday but warmer temperatures are in store. Here’s what you need to know about the forecast.The D.C. metro area is under a frost advisory from 2 a.m. until 10 a.m. as temperatures fall to the low 30s.Additionally, the National Weather Service said a freeze warning will stretch across parts of Loudoun and Prince William counties in Virginia, and Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery counties in Maryland. Temperatures falling near or slightly below freezing from 2 a.m. until 10 a.m.After a week of strong winds, then severe storms and record breaking heat, the freeze may seem like more out of the ordinary weather.7News Meteorologist Mark Peña said the cold snap would be brief, and the area will warm up to the mid-60s during the day — which is around average.“Not only will it be dry on Sunday for Easter, but it looks to be fairly comfortable,” Peña told WTOP.A warming trend continues into the w...

Fire officials investigating Hopkinton house fire that left man dead, woman hospitalized

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

Fire officials are investigating an early morning fire in Hopkinton that left a man dead and a woman hospitalized.Crews responding to a reported fire on Hayward Street around 1:15 a.m. found heavy fire coming from the house and immediately requested mutual aid, according to Hopkinton Fire Chief William Miller.When they learned that there were still two people in the house, crews made an aggressive internal search and found a senior man in a hallway and a senior female in a bedroom, Miller said. The man was pronounced dead at Milford Regional Medical Center. His name has not been released.The woman was taken to a Boston hospital to be treated for her injuries.A dog also died in the fire.No operating smoke detectors were found in the home.The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Hopkinton Fire Department, State Police assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online f...

Column: Manager Bruce Bochy’s return to the game with the Texas Rangers is another win for the ‘old dudes’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

Few managers in the game have the star power to draw reporters to the visitors’ dugout like Bruce Bochy, who returned to lead the Texas Rangers this season three years after leaving the game.A plain-spoken old-school type, Bochy looks as if he could just as well be a Texas Ranger as manage a team that goes by the nickname. And a week shy of his 68th birthday, Bochy was back doing the thing he loves most.The sun was out Friday at Wrigley, making it feel 10-degrees warmer on the field than in the back of the dugout. Bochy found a seat in the sun near the dugout rail and asked the media scrum if it was OK with everyone.Everyone nodded. If it was OK with Bochy, it was OK.“Not too bad out here, is it?” Bochy asked.Everyone nodded. It was a great day, Chicago-wise.Bochy answered the usual pregame questions about his players’ health, lineup decisions and the new pitch-clock rules. Music blared over the speakers as he spoke because the notion of ballpark sounds being...

Chicago Cubs minor-league preview: Who to watch at each affiliate — including Brennen Davis, Matt Mervis and PCA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

Throughout spring training, Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer and manager David Ross reiterated that the team would need more than just the 26 players on the opening-day roster to contribute over the course of the season.The 162-game schedule can test an organization’s depth and talent. As the minor-league season gets underway, the Cubs believe their farm system — rated between No. 10 and 16 in baseball by publications — continues to take steps in producing the type of big-league talent the organization needs to build a sustaining, winning team.“We’re not satisfied, we’re still hungry,” vice president of player development Jared Banner told the Tribune. “We’re still looking to get better. We think we can be even better than we are and we’re going to go out and try to prove it.”Triple-A IowaTop prospects: OF Brennen Davis, 1B Matt Mervis, RHP Caleb Kilian, RHP Cam Sanders, RHP Jeremiah Estrada, RHP Riley ThompsonNotable...

Before the play-in, Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vučević has another goal in mind: his 1st 82-game NBA season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

When the Chicago Bulls took the court for their penultimate regular-season matchup Friday, only one veteran was on the court to start the game: center Nikola Vučević.Vučević was matter of fact about the decision to face the Mavericks in Dallas while most other veterans rested, saying the opportunity to play with younger teammates and square off against fellow European Luka Dončić was plenty of appeal to skip a rest game.“I’m not a big fan of sitting out,” Vučević said.But there was another goal for Vučević: a first opportunity to play all 82 games of a season.Vučević has averaged 67.4 games in his 11-year career. And he logged 80 games in 2018-19 during his first All-Star season. In his first full year with the Bulls in 2021-22, a bout with COVID-19 sidelined him for seven games in the second month of the season.If he plays Sunday in the season finale against the Detroit Pistons at the United Center, Vu...

More than 130,000 still without power in Quebec following deadly ice storm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

More than 130,000 customers in Quebec are still without power as Hydro-Québec makes repairs to its energy grid after last week’s deadly ice storm.Most of the remaining outages are in the Montreal region.Hydro-Québec says some of the roughly 3,000 remaining outages are in hard-to-access areas or are trickier to resolve, slowing the progress.The province has announced some grocery stores can remain open on Easter Sunday — a statutory holiday — to help residents running low on food after the blackout.The temporary measure applies to stores in six particularly hard-hit regions: Montreal, Monteregie, Laval, Outaouais, Laurentides and Lanaudiere.More than a million people were without power at the peak of the outages caused by Wednesday’s storm, which left large swaths of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario under a coat of ice and is being linked to three deaths.This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2023.The Canadian Press

Pope at Easter: Pray for Ukrainian, Russian people, refugees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:24:56 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations which welcome refugees, and called on Israelis and Palestinians wracked by the latest surge in deadly violence to forge a “climate of trust.” Francis, along with dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of faithful, marked Christianity’s most joyful day with Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter’s Square. Easter proclaims the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after crucifixion.The 86-year-old pontiff topped the celebration with a traditional speech about troubled places in the world. Encouraging “trust among individuals, peoples and nations,” Francis said the joyful expression of Easter “illumines the darkness and gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.”The pope’s Easter message is known by its Latin name, ”Urbi et Orbi,” which means “to the city and the world.”Since Russia i...