Missouri out for fourth straight bowl berth as season opens against South Dakota

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Missouri out for fourth straight bowl berth as season opens against South Dakota South Dakota at Missouri, Thursday, 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)Line: None listed by FanDuel Sportsbook.Series record: First meeting.WHAT’S AT STAKE?The pressure is mounting for Missouri to take a step forward under fourth-year coach Eli Drinkwitz, who has qualified the Tigers for three straight bowl games but has yet to win one or finish a season with a winning record. This could be his best chance to change that script with an offense that returns several starters and a defense that was surprisingly stout last season. South Dakota hosted its first playoff game in 35 years in 2021 but slid back to 3-8 in the tough Missouri Valley last season. KEY MATCHUPMissouri QBs against the South Dakota defense. Brady Cook is the incumbent but rode an up-and-down season last year in which he played through a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery. He was listed as an “OR” with redshirt freshman Sam Horn, a star baseball player with a big arm, on the initial depth chart. PLAYERS TO WATCHSout...

Gabon’s mutinous soldiers say that Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will lead country as new head of state

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Gabon’s mutinous soldiers say that Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will lead country as new head of state LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Gabon’s mutinous soldiers say that Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will lead country as new head of state.Source

Prince William Co. police cruiser overturns after crash with DUI suspect

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Prince William Co. police cruiser overturns after crash with DUI suspect A Prince William County police officer is recovering from minor injuries after a collision Sunday with another driver, who is suspected of driving under the influence. (Courtesy Prince William County Police Department)A Prince William County Police Department officer is recovering from minor injuries after a collision Sunday with another driver, who is suspected of driving under the influence.According to a Facebook post from the department, the officer was driving a marked police SUV down the Prince William Parkway at the time of the crash, just before 1:30 a.m. At the intersection with Wellington Road, the officer continued through a green light when another driver in a pickup truck ran a red light and entered the intersection.The other driver crossed in front of the cruiser, and the officer — who police said was driving at speed for the Parkway — crashed the front of the cruiser into the back of the pickup truck.The impact and post-crash maneuvering caused the police SUV to overt...

Portugal midfielder Matheus Nunes set to get his wish and join Man City from Wolves

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Portugal midfielder Matheus Nunes set to get his wish and join Man City from Wolves Wolverhampton midfielder Matheus Nunes is set to get his wish and complete a move to English and European champion Manchester City in the final hours of the transfer window.Nunes has been refusing to train with Wolves in an effort to force a move to City, which had an initial bid for the Portugal international rejected last week.Now, a verbal agreement has reportedly been reached on a fee of 55 million euros ($60 million), though there had been no formal agreement between the teams by late Wednesday.The transfer window closes on Friday, by which time Nunes — who only joined in the 2022 offseason — should be a City player.“He’s not with the group at the moment, his choice,” Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said of Nunes on Tuesday, after the team’s win over Blackpool in the English League Cup. “After the (first) bid from Manchester City, he decided it was best for him to not be with the group. Club policy and how we deal with things like that is set in place.”O’Neil stopped sho...

Hurricane Idalia unleashes fury on Florida and Georgia, swamping a wide stretch of coast

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Hurricane Idalia unleashes fury on Florida and Georgia, swamping a wide stretch of coast PERRY, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday in Florida as a Category 3 storm and unleashed devastation along a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast, submerging homes and vehicles, turning streets into rivers, unmooring small boats and downing power lines before sweeping into Georgia.Almost 438,000 customers in Florida and Georgia lost power while rushing water covered streets near the coast. As the eye moved inland, high winds shredded signs, sent sheet metal flying and snapped tall trees.Idalia came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. It made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. as a high-end Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph).As of midday Wednesday, there were no confirmed storm deaths in Florida, although fatal traffic accidents in two counties may end up being storm-related, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.A 59-year-old man driving a pickup t...

Father of BSFR captain killed in Pompano Beach helicopter crash questions what went wrong

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Father of BSFR captain killed in Pompano Beach helicopter crash questions what went wrong Captain Terryson Jackson’s father proudly spoke about his son who was killed in the fatal helicopter crash-landing in Pompano Beach.“I wish something could bring him back because I mean, I feel like the world needs him,” said Oliver Jackson.Jackson’s father described him as a man who put his children first, a man who sacrificed so much for people who needed him.“That’s what he loved to do, he cared about people a great deal,” he said. “But I mean anybody who is a parent, I mean I love my son and there is no replacement for him.”On Monday morning, Jackson and two other crew members were on their way to respond to an emergency, when they had trouble a minute into their flight.“I’m wondering where did the fire come from?” the father said. “And then the whole helicopter that kept spinning and spinning and falls down.”The Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue helicopter crashed into an apartment community, where Ca...

France’s mayors wade into a crisis zone on Armenia’s border

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

France’s mayors wade into a crisis zone on Armenia’s border KORNIDZOR, Armenia — Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s motorcade tore through the Armenian countryside on Wednesday, escorted by a dozen or so beaten-up cars blaring their horns and flying the French tricolor in appreciation, leaving bemused street dogs and the occasional military outpost in their dust.Her visit, along with a group of French regional leaders, was part of an improbable gambit to draw attention to a burgeoning humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, bringing together politicians more accustomed to dealing with planning permissions and bin collectors’ pensions than tense foreign policy on Europe’s far-flung fringe.Behind the black diplomatic SUVs and the minibuses full of foreign and local press were 10 white trucks filled with humanitarian aid donated from France, each emblazoned with the names of the regions taking part — including Ville de Paris, Île-de-France, Occitanie, Pays de la Loire and Strasbourg. The unusual decision for mayors to wade into an international ...

Ryan Reynolds has transformed Wrexham. Who will save Britain’s other struggling towns?

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

Ryan Reynolds has transformed Wrexham. Who will save Britain’s other struggling towns? WREXHAM, Wales — Sitting in the Royal Oak, a narrow but implausibly long pub in Wrexham’s town center, Gary Tipping is reflecting on the rollercoaster fortunes of his favorite football team.Wrexham Association Football Club (A.F.C.) — a lower-league team barely recognizable since it was bought up by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021 — has just lost its opening game of the season. But little can dampen the enthusiasm of Tipping or his fellow fans.“What they’ve done for this town, it’s beyond what I could have ever dreamed of,” he says.“People want to see the town and breathe in the atmosphere here,” adds his 21-year-old son Sam, who’s been going to the football with Gary since he was five years old. “There’s a hype around the place.”“Hype” was not a word formerly associated with Wrexham. The third-oldest professional football club in the world, it had fallen on hard times and was struggling to stay afloat in t...

American Airlines flight attendants vote to authorize a strike

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

American Airlines flight attendants vote to authorize a strike (CNN) — The latest aviation employees to vote in favor of a strike are American Airlines flight attendants.The union representing them, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, reported a 99.47% vote in favor of a strike authorization vote with 93% of union membership voting.“We’re pushing back and we’re fighting corporate greed, and corporate greed is alive here at American Airlines,” union president Julie Hedrick said Wednesday, which says it represents more than 26,000 workers.“We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in negotiations with the APFA, and we look forward to reaching an agreement that provides our flight attendants with real and meaningful value,” an American Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. “We understand that a strike authorization vote is one of the important ways flight attendants express their desire to get a deal done. The results don’t change our commitment or distract us from working expeditiously to reach an agreement.”The vote does no...

McConnell appears to freeze while speaking with reporters in Kentucky

Published Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:37:32 GMT

McConnell appears to freeze while speaking with reporters in Kentucky (CNN) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze for about 30 seconds on Wednesday while speaking with reporters after a speech in Covington, Kentucky.The incident is similar to an episode McConnell experienced at the US Capitol late last month and is likely to raise additional questions about the fitness of the 81-year-old to lead the Senate Republican caucus.Wednesday’s episode occurred when a reporter asked the Republican leader if he was planning to run for reelection in 2026. McConnell had to ask him to repeat the question several times, chuckled for a moment, and then paused, closing his mouth and staring straight ahead.Someone at his side then asked him, “Did you hear the question, senator, running for reelection in 2026?” McConnell did not respond.“I’m sorry you all, we’re gonna need a minute,” the aide told reporters. A member of the senator’s detail spoke quietly to him for a moment, and McConnell was able to whisper an answer to h...