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‘Ted Lasso’ review: Ted has lost the spring in his step — as has Season 3 of this Apple TV+ comedy

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

Nina Metz | (TNS) Chicago Tribune“Ted Lasso” began as a fish-out-of-water comedy, of the eternally upbeat Ted running headlong into the British skepticism of anyone invested in the Premier League soccer team — sorry, football club — known as AFC Richmond. With his can-do spirit winning over the doubters, Season 2 took a different tack, revealing a more complicated man behind the mustache and a deep well of sadness beneath his sunny facade. With Season 3, it’s too early to tell what the overall theme might be just yet; only four of the 12 episodes were provided to critics. But Ted has noticeably lost a spring in his step.So has the series.Some of that is due to the expanded episode length. The first season stuck pretty close to 30-minute episodes. That inched upward the following season. This time, episodes are in the 44-50 minute range — roughly the equivalent of two half-hour network comedies — and it makes you wonder why they didn’t just slice things up differently and make it a s...

DA: Bedford cold case murder suspect tried to scam his way out of charges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

Prosecutors say that not only did they get their man for the 1971 cold case murder of a Bedford resident, but that they got him again for trying to scam his way out of the rap.“We allege that Arthur Massei took premeditated, purposeful steps to try to obstruct justice by seeking to procure false testimony in his upcoming murder trial,” Middlesex DA Marian Ryan said in a statement. “We take allegations of intimidation and threats very seriously and these additional charges reflect that.”In March of last year, the Middlesex DA’s office announced that a grand jury had indicted Arthur Louis Massei, 77, of Salem, for binding, stabbing and bludgeoning 54-year-old Natalie Scheublin to death in the basement of her Bedford home in 1971.On Wednesday, Massei was arraigned on additional charges of solicitation to suborn perjury in a capital case, attempted extortion, solicitation to commit usury, and threatening to cause physical injury or death.At Massei’s arraignment for the Scheublin murder ...

Veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts leaves Dolphins in free agency

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

Veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts’ time with the Miami Dolphins is up.The seven-year pro who spent the past three seasons in Miami is headed to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a two-year deal, according to NFL Network.Change was likely coming to the Dolphins’ inside linebacker corps when the team reached a deal with David Long, formerly of the Tennessee Titans. Miami is also re-signing linebacker Duke Riley as the defense transitions to being led by Vic Fangio following Josh Boyer’s tenure as defensive coordinator.The sure-tackling Roberts is coming off his first triple-digit tackle season, collecting 107 with a career-high 4 ½ sacks in 2022. Over three years with the Dolphins, he had 251 tackles. Roberts also played his first four seasons with the New England Patriots, where he won two Super Bowls and had former Dolphins coaches Boyer and Brian Flores on the defensive staff.Miami has Long, Jerome Baker, whose contract for 2023 becomes guaranteed on March 19, Rile...

After a tough loss, the Chicago Bulls face a rough final stretch — 14 games in 25 days — to earn a postseason spot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

For the last week, the Chicago Bulls have posted the Eastern Conference standings on the board in their locker room. It’s a prominent focal point for a team that barely controls its destiny.The Bulls are teetering on the edge of contention for the last spot in the play-in tournament, sitting 11th in the Eastern Conference after spending recent weeks bobbing between the 10th and 12th slots. The final brutal stretch of the season — 14 games in 25 days — will be decided by the ninth-hardest schedule in the league as the Bulls face teams with an average winning percentage of .518.And unless the Bulls win all of those games, their playoff hopes would at least be partially decided by the teams surrounding them in the standings.“They know exactly where we’re at, what’s going on,” coach Billy Donovan said. “But we can’t be a group of guys that sits there and looks at the scoreboard all the time, wanting help from somebody else when we...

Proposed 'safe parking lot' for homeless to include live-in-ready campers, city says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The City of San Diego is advancing plans for a designated parking lot that will provide safe and lawful vehicle camping for those experiencing homelessness.On Wednesday, the City Council’s Rules Committee pushed forward a proposal to open a new "safe parking lot" in the Clairemont neighborhood that will include live-in-ready campers. Here’s the next Dump Day event in the San Diego area The committee unanimously voted to amend a contract with Jewish Family Service of San Diego to operate the new lot, which is meant to provide free and safe parking for people who sleep in their vehicles overnight. “Safe parking is a tool that can keep people from losing their home of last resort and winding up on our streets,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. “This program expansion will put to good use the trailers provided to us by the state and give folks more space to live while they work to find permanent housing.”The new lot, if approved, would be located near the Rose Canyon Ope...

Canada to drop COVID test requirement for travellers from China

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

The Canadian government is ending the mandatory COVID-19 test requirement for anyone travelling to Canada from China, Hong Kong or Macao as of Friday. The government mandated pre-boarding tests for people coming from those places back in January after China removed long-standing public health restrictions, causing a countrywide outbreak of the virus.The government said it was concerned about reports of a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in China, and a lack of data available about potential variants that could be spreading through the country.At the time the Public Health Agency of Canada indicated the test requirement would remain in place until at least April 5. “Since Canada and other countries put in place temporary border measures in January 2023, data from China, the international community, and wastewater sampling conducted in Canada, have not detected any new variants of concern,” read a statement released by Canadian officials. The move to harden border restr...

NDP praises David Johnston as Tories, Bloc bemoan interference watchdog appointment

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal opposition parties continued to call for a public inquiry into foreign interference Thursday, as the NDP welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s choice of a special rapporteur.On Wednesday, Trudeau announced that former governor general David Johnston will look into allegations of foreign meddling in Canada’s last two federal elections and recommend what the Liberal government should do about it.“Get real,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in a Thursday statement.“Trudeau must end his cover up,” he charged, noting that Trudeau referred to Johnston as a “family friend” in 2017 and that the former viceregal was a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said those ties show that Johnston is “close” to Trudeau, and he said Johnstonhas been “chummy” with China.“I don’t want to make out of that any personal character accusatio...

Stocks rally after battered First Republic gets a lifeline

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rallying Thursday after a group of big banks offered a lifeline to the bank Wall Street had zeroed in on in its hunt for the next victim in the industry’s struggles. The S&P 500 was 1.7% higher in late trading after erasing earlier losses following reports that First Republic Bank could receive financial assistance or sell itself to another bank.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 355 points, or 1.1%, at 32,2229, as of 3:29 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 2.6% higher. This week has been a whirlwind for markets globally on worries that banks may be bending under the weight of the fastest set of hikes to interest rates in decades. The concerns have been flaring since Friday’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.Since then, Wall Street has tried to root out banks with similar traits, such as lots of depositors with more than the $250,000 limit that’s insured by the Fe...

Biden climate legacy at stake after backlash over Willow

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Elise Joshi was at the White House last year, her eyes welled with happy tears as President Joe Biden hosted thousands of supporters to celebrate groundbreaking legislation targeting climate change. “In that moment, I felt a lot of hope that the administration was listening to us,” said Joshi, a California college student who is a leader of Gen-Z for Change, a coalition of young activists on social media.Now Joshi is planning to return to Washington, but for a very different reason. She’s outraged that administration officials approved the Willow project, a large-scale oil drilling proposal in Alaska, and she’s organizing a protest with compatriots from around the country.Joshi’s pivot underscores the political fallout that Biden is facing over Willow and the tension between honoring his promises on climate change and the nation’s energy needs. The president made fighting global warming a central part of his agenda, and White Hous...

Cyprus to speed up repairs to high-rises amid quake worries

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:20:02 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriot authorities will spend more than 100 million euros ($106 million) to repair dozens of dilapidated high-rise housing units built decades ago for refugees from the island’s 1974 Turkish invasion, officials said Thursday.Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the plan foresees immediate repairs or complete reconstruction of 43 buildings deemed to be most at risk. He spoke after a meeting with lawmakers, engineers, municipal officials and representatives of thousands of displaced persons.Repairs will eventually be carried out to 315 other apartment buildings erected in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, which was triggered by a coup aimed at union with Greece and has left the island divided along ethnic lines.The buildings were among dozens of housing estates hastily constructed throughout the southern part of the island to shelter 160,000 Greek Cypriots who fled their homes amid fighting in the north where the Turkish army invaded.Renovat...