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Wildlife filmmaker supersizes animal adventure with ‘Giants’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

“Giants” on Curiosity Stream Thursday, goes ‘round the world to “find, film, measure and find out how to protect” the largest animals on the planet: elephants, lions, sharks, anacondas and saltwater crocodiles.Dan O’Neill, a field biologist and conservationist, is its history-making guide. He knows observing life in the jungle or on the savannah can at times be truly scary.“There was one moment filming lions, the biggest man-eating cat on the planet, in Kenya. We’d found one and I stood up in the back of the Jeep as the truck was running around in the high grass,” O’Neill, 31, said in a phone interview from the UK.“You’re just there. I mean, there’s no protection. You’re not in a box with bars protecting you. There’s not even sides to the Jeep. I was looking at the sleeping lion and suddenly he woke up, stood up, looked me dead in the eyes and took a step forward.“Honestly, it was probably the scariest moment of my entire life. I felt my soul leave my body be...

Aaron Judge homers twice in Yankees’ win as wandering eyes draw suspicion from Blue Jays skipper, broadcasters

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

TORONTO — While the Yankees’ early-inning pitching plans created conversation prior to Monday’s game, it was Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah who struggled in the opening frame.Aaron Judge, who hit his record-tying 61st home run at Rogers Centre last September, laced a solo shot off the righty in his return to the ballpark. The home run foreshadowed an erratic night for Manoah, who didn’t escape the first before also surrendering a two-run homer to Willie Calhoun.The Yankees tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning when Anthony Volpe doubled and later scored on a single from Kyle Higashioka. Judge then walked with the bases loaded to make it 5-0, a nice cushion in what became a 7-4 Yankees win.“Everyone’s chipping in,” Aaron Boone said afterward, adding that he’s like the Yankees’ approach at the plate lately.The damage could’ve been worse for Manoah, as he walked seven batters, thus continuing the 2022 Cy Young finalist’...

Editorial: Millionaires tax takes bite out of the Bay State

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

The voices of reason who warned Massachusetts lawmakers that spiking taxes on wealthier Bay Staters would end in a beeline for the exits can point to the latest IRS data and say “we told you so.”That doesn’t help the state, but it does underscore that the relentless push for a millionaires tax and other hikes on high-earners is ultimately undermining the goal of “fair share” proponents: boosting revenue to pay for Massachusetts programs.The Pioneer Institute crunched 2021 data from the IRS, and its analysis revealed that net out-migration from Massachusetts is speeding up and is greatest among affluent residents who pay the most in state taxes. Between 2019 and 2021, Massachusetts rose from ninth to fourth among all states in net out-migration of wealth, behind only California, New York, and Illinois.We were warned. In the runup last year to the passage of the Millionaires Tax, opponents outlined the consequences: David Tuerck with the Beacon Hill Insti...

McCaughey: Making homelessness a lifestyle choice is wrong

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

Americans must not surrender to the new normal of squalor and urban chaos — of tent encampments, public defecation, panhandling and shouting schizophrenics.In the aftermath of Jordan Neely’s tragic death on a New York subway, advocates for the homeless and most Democratic politicians are demanding unfettered freedom for the homeless to live on the streets, even with mental illness.Advocates are taking over subway stations and dominating the mainstream media with their demands. Too little is being said about the needs of the quiet majority. People who go to a job every day or operate a business or take their kids to school need safe sidewalks and public transportation.Yet Democrats in the Oregon state legislature are pushing a bill to guarantee the homeless the right to sue for $1,000 if they are harassed or removed from a public space.Democratic lawmakers in California recently defeated a ban on homeless encampments within 500 feet of a school, playground or youth center.Even ...

Dear Abby: Wife sees chance to exit unhappy marriage

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been married for 16 years, but after the birth of my first child, our marriage went downhill. My husband withdrew and went out with friends often. When my brother was in the hospital, I traveled three hours with my newborn baby to visit him. My husband drove up separately, stayed a few hours, then left to go to a concert with a female friend.Our sex life dwindled down to nothing, and I felt like we were roommates. I became depressed and started having manic episodes. I’m on medication now and taking care of myself. I have always resented my husband for this. We have two kids now, and I’m afraid if I leave him it will hurt the children. I tried three different marriage counselors with him, but he wasn’t interested.I now spend my time doing everything with the kids and focusing on my well-being. I met an old high school acquaintance on Facebook, and our friendship has turned romantic. I don’t see him often, but when I do, I want to be with him...

A lonely nation: Has the notion of the ‘American way’ promoted isolation across history?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — At the end of “The Searchers,” one of John Wayne’s most renowned Westerns, a kidnapped girl has been rescued and a family reunited. As the closing music swells, Wayne’s character looks around at his kin — people who have other people to lean on — and then walks off toward the dusty West Texas horizon, lonesome and alone.It’s a classic example of a fundamental American tall tale — that of a nation built on notions of individualism, a male-dominated story filled with loners and “rugged individualists” who suck it up, do what needs to be done, ride off into the sunset and like it that way.In reality, loneliness in America can be deadly. This month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared it an American epidemic, saying that it takes as deadly a toll as smoking upon the population of the United States. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows,” he said, “and that’s not right.”He cited some potent forces: the gradual withering of l...

Stars edge Kraken 2-1 in Game 7, advance to West final

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston is no longer a teenager, not that he’s played like one at all during his rookie season with a Dallas Stars team that is headed to the Western Conference final.A day after his 20th birthday, Johnston scored a crucial goal for the Stars off a hard ricochet in their 2-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken in Game 7 in the second-round NHL playoff series Monday night. “It’s a world-class play by one of the youngest players in the league,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s been fantastic all year. He’s a big part of our group. It feels like the deeper we get, the more we rely on him, the more responsibility he wants.”Roope Hintz also scored for the Stars and 24-year-old goalie Jake Oettinger had 22 saves while again bouncing back after a loss. Dallas moves on to play first-year Stars coach DeBoer’s former team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Game 1 of the West final is Friday night in Las Vegas. DeBoer improved to 7-0 in Game 7s, this being the fourth di...

Why a drug decriminalization crisis looms for Washington state lawmakers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — After voting down a bill last month to keep drug possession illegal and boost services for people struggling with addiction, Washington lawmakers are entering a special legislative session to find a compromise before a temporary law keeping the possession of small amounts of drugs outlawed expires. If a new law is not passed, Washington would become the second state in the U.S., after Oregon, to decriminalize possession of personal-use amounts of drugs, even as widely available and cheap fentanyl worsens an opioid crisis defined by open drug use and soaring overdose deaths.Here’s what to know about the crisis.HOW WE GOT HEREThe Washington Supreme Court in 2021 struck down a state law making drug possession a felony. It was unconstitutional, the court said, because it did not require prosecutors to prove that someone knowingly had the drugs. Washington was the only state in the country without that requirement.In response, lawmakers passed a temporary measure giv...

Stock market today: Asian shares advance though China economic data weaker than expected

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

NEW YORK — Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday even though the latest data showed China’s economy is weaker than expected, with domestic demand failing to bounce back as much as hoped for after the pandemic. Benchmarks advanced in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul but fell in Shanghai and Sydney.China’s industrial output rose 5.6% year-on-year in April while investment crept up 4.7% from the year before in January-April. But those increases also reflected a big gap from the slow activity at the height of China’s “zero-COVID” restrictions, which Beijing abandoned late in 2022. “While the boost from reopening should still underpin a further recovery in the near-term, the bulk of China’s rebound is now behind us,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report. He said the post-pandemic recovery was likely to “fizzle out” in the second half of the year. “Meanwhile, the challenging global picture will prevent much pick-up in Chinese exports,” he said. Tokyo’s N...

Cannes Film Festival kicks off Tuesday with Johnny Depp and ‘Jeanne du Barry’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:21 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — The Cannes red carpet springs to life again Tuesday as the 76th Cannes Film Festival gets underway with the premiere of the Louis XV period drama “Jeanne du Barry,” with Johnny Depp. This year’s festival promises a Cote d’Azur buffet of spectacle, scandal and cinema set to be served over the next 12 days. It’s unspooling against the backdrop of labor unrest. Protests that have roiled France in recent months over changes to its pension system are planned to run during the festival, albeit at a distance from the festival’s main hub. Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by screenwriters in Hollywood could have unpredictable effects on the French Riviera festival. But with a festival lined with some much-anticipated big-budget films, including James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the party is sure to go on, regardless. Stars set to hit Cannes’ red carp...