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Target becomes latest company to suffer backlash for LGBTQ+ support, pulls some Pride month clothing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO (AP Retail Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Target is removing some items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month after intense backlash from some customers who confronted workers and tipped over displays.“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said in a statement Tuesday. ”Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores. Target declined to specify Wednesday which items it was removing but among the ones that garnered the most attention were “tuck frien...

Patriots announce new jersey numbers for JuJu-Smith Schuster, Mike Gesicki and other vets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

The Patriots released a batch of new jersey numbers for their veteran additions on Wednesday.Among the most notable players, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster will wear No. 7, while new running back James Robinson dons No. 3 and tight end Mike Gesicki takes over No. 88.  The Patriots also released the temporary jersey numbers for their rookies this spring and summer.Both lists of new jersey numbers are below.Veteran numbersRB James Robinson – 3DB Jabrill Peppers – 5WR JuJu Smith-Schuster – 7P Corliss Waitman – 15TE Scotty Washington – 17QB Trace McSorley – 19DB Tae Hayes – 37DB – Rodney Randle – 49LB Chris Board – 45LB Olakunle Fatukasi – 47OT Riley Reiff – 74OT Calvin Anderson – 76TE Mike Gesicki – 88Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Former Patriots captain Devin McCourty lands primetime NFL analyst job New England Patriots | Patriots-Steelers regular-season game coul...

Jimmy Butler shows signs of mortality and now the Celtics have life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

Jimmy Butler is human after all — and he couldn’t have become mortal at a better time for the Celtics.Thanks to a rare underwhelming performance by Butler, who was on a heater before Games 3 and 4 of this very Eastern Conference Finals series, the Celtics forced a Game 5 with a 116-99 victory on the road in Miami on Tuesday.The Heat star still finished with 29 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field, but Miami was outscored by 20 points in his 39 minutes on the floor, and he coughed up two costly turnovers as the Celtics ultimately ran up a double-digit lead and never let go in the second half.In Game 3, he scored 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting, but that game ended in a blowout victory.Game 4 was different. Butler didn’t have the same bark or bite. It was the first time Boston looked like a team that belonged in the hunt for the NBA title this series after three embarrassing losses to start the conference finals — including a deflating, 25-point walloping th...

Owners of San Diego restaurants charged with COVID-relief fraud

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Two San Diego restaurant owners were charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with an alleged scheme to falsify applications for COVID-relief funds.That's according to U.S. attorney Randy Grossman's office Tuesday, which announced the indictment of Leronce Suel, 46, and RaVae Smith, 45, who owned Rockstar Dough LLC and Chicken Feed LLC. DEA agent attacked by dog during search warrant in East County From March 2020 to June 2022, the U.S. attorney's office says Suel and Smith allegedly conspired to underreport over $1.7 million in gross receipts on Rockstar Dough LLC’s 2020 corporate tax return filed with the IRS in order to qualify for pandemic relief funds through the Paycheck Protection Program and Restaurant Revitalization Funding loans.According to the U.S. attorney's office, Suel and Smith also allegedly made materially false certifications on loan applications regarding the use of the money. The indictment states that the pair made "substantial...

UC San Diego ranked 7th best public university in US: CWUR

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The University of California San Diego has been ranked 7th among the best U.S. public universities, according to the latest Center for World University Rankings (CWUR). This is a notch up from last year's ranking.The 2023 rankings were determined based on four key factors: quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty and research performance. Top 10 degrees among SDSU’s 2023 spring graduates UC San Diego achieved high marks for its faculty rank and research rank, the university announced in a news release. These scores were measured by factors like the number of faculty members who have won prestigious academic distinctions and the number of research papers appearing in top-tier journals.Some of the most recent research efforts from UC San Diego, according to the university, include examining how advances in artificial intelligence assistants such as ChatGPT could be used in medicine. Another example includes a new report led by a UC San...

Head of Russian private army Wagner says more than 20,000 of his troops died in Bakhmut battle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 men in the drawn-out battle for Bakhmut, with about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city being Russian convicts recruited to fight in the 15-month-old war. The figure stood in stark contrast to the widely disputed claims from Moscow that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.Ukraine hasn’t said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.Analysts believe the nine-month fight for Bakhmut alone has killed tens of thousands of soldiers, among them Russian convicts who reportedly received little training before being sent to the front.Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also said Russia’s invasion goal of “demilitarizing” Ukraine has backfired because Kyiv’s military has become stronger with the supply of...

Cirque du Soleil and Gamefan to launch online experience on Roblox in summer 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

MONTREAL — Cirque de Soleil Entertainment Group is joining forces with metaverse game developer Gamefam to create an online gaming experience on Roblox.The company says in Cirque du Soleil Tycoon, held on the online game platform, users can build their own Cirque de Soleil universe.It says users can create their own Cirque du Soleil performance complete with performers and crowds, in an experience inspired by its new touring show, “ECHO.”Cirque du Soleil says this supports the company’s newly defined mission to diversify its offerings beyond live shows. The company says it hopes to tap into some of the more than 66 million daily active Roblox users and attract a new fan base. Cirque du Soleil Tycoon will be available for free in summer 2023. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2023.The Canadian Press

Bloc joins Conservatives in rejecting Johnston report briefing on election meddling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

OTTAWA — Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is joining Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in refusing to take a look at secret information that led a watchdog to recommend against a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference. Blanchet told reporters in Ottawa today that the briefing is “a dumb trap,” saying it is a way for the Liberal government to smooth the issue over by bringing opposition leaders into the loop — then restricting what they can say about what they learned.Special rapporteur David Johnston recommended the government provide the necessary security clearances for other leaders to have a full look at his first report released Tuesday, including a confidential annex of materials he used to arrive at his conclusions. The former governor general said in the report that the intelligence he reviewed must be kept secret, and while he understands opposition leaders do not want to be constrained by security laws, the issue is too important...

Kenneth Anger, influential avant-garde filmmaker and author, dies at 96

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

Kenneth Anger, the shocking and influential avant-garde artist who defied sexual and religious taboos in such short films as “Scorpio Rising” and “Fireworks” and dished the most lurid movie star gossip in his underground classic “Hollywood Babylon,” has died. He was 96.Anger died of natural causes on May 11 in Yucca Valley, California, his artist liaison, Spencer Glesby, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.Few so boldly and imaginatively mined the forbidden depths of culture and consciousness as Anger, whose admirers ranged from filmmakers Martin Scorsese and David Lynch to rock stars such as the Clash and the Rolling Stones. He was among the first openly gay filmmakers and a pioneer in using soundtracks as counterpoints to moving pictures. Well before the rise of punk and heavy metal, Anger was juxtaposing music with bikers, sadomasochism, occultism and Nazi imagery. When the Sex Pistols and the Clash appeared on the same bill at a 1976 concert, clips from Anger’s movies were sc...

China defends ban on US chipmaker Micron, accuses Washington of ‘economic coercion’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:49 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government on Wednesday defended its ban on products from U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. in some computer systems after Washington expressed concern, adding to strains over technology and security.The security review of Micron products was “conducted in accordance with the law,” said a foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning.The Cyberspace Administration of China on Sunday said Micron products have unspecified security risks but gave no details. It banned them from computers that handle sensitive information.That came after Washington, Japan and the Netherlands blocked Chinese access to technology to make advanced processor chips on security grounds at a time when the ruling Communist Party is threatening to attack Taiwan and is more assertive toward its other Asian neighbors.“China’s cybersecurity review does not target specific countries or regions,” Mao said. “We do not exclude technologies and products from any country.”Companies on...