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US Olympic medalist, world champion Joey Mantia retires from speedskating at age 37

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

Joey Mantia, a three-time world champion who won a bronze medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics, has retired from speedskating at age 37.Mantia announced the end of his career in a post on his new Instagram Threads page. He took last season off to deal with back issues, hoping the time away would allow him to heal, but decided it was time to hang up his skates. “Might as well make my first thread the announcement of my retirement,” he wrote. “It’s been such a good ride, but nothing lasts forever.”Mantia, a native of Ocala, Florida, was a multiple world champion in inline skating who made the switch to ice in 2010. He qualified for the the first of three Olympics at the 2014 Sochi Games and finally earned his first medal, a bronze in men’s team pursuit, at Beijing last year.Mantia came up just short of another medal, finishing two-thousandths of a second behind the third-place finisher in the mass start. Mantia was among a wave of skaters from non-traditional regions who m...

Meat processor agrees to reform hiring after two teens were found at a Minnesota plant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A second company involved in meat processing has agreed to reform its hiring practices after investigators recently discovered teenagers working there.The Labor Department said Friday that Monogram Foods will pay a more than $30,000 fine as part of an agreement reached after a 16-year-old and 17-year-old were found to be working at the Memphis, Tennessee-based company’s Chandler, Minnesota, plant. Officials also ordered the company not to ship any products produced while the teens were employed at the plant that makes a variety of meat snacks, but normal operations resumed once they were fired.Earlier this year, a separate investigation found more than 100 kids working overnight for a company that cleans slaughterhouses, handling dangerous equipment like skull splitters and razor-sharp bone saws. Packers Sanitation Services Inc., or PSSI, agreed earlier this year to pay a $1.5 million fine and update its hiring practices after investigators confirmed at leas...

Arrests made in Key Largo motel; Trio found with stolen credit cards and drugs

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

Three individuals were apprehended at a Key Largo motel on Thursday, following the discovery of a vast collection of stolen credit cards, identification documents, checks, and other items believed to be linked to a significant criminal operation, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.The suspects, identified as Katie Campbell, 42, from Islamorada; Jacob Michael Majewski, 27, from Miami; and Michael George Harvey, 30, also from Miami, face multiple charges related to their alleged involvement in the illicit activities. The charges include criminal use of personal identification information, possession of counterfeit credit cards, theft through fraudulent means, possession of unauthorized driver’s licenses or ID cards, possession of burglary tools, grand theft, possession of controlled substances, and possession of drug paraphernalia.Sheriff Rick Ramsay emphasized the collaboration between law enforcement agencies in this ongoing investigation, which spans across...

Family of child killed by stray bullet on July 4th pleads for justice during tearful vigil

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

TAMPA, Florida (WFTS) — A sweet child who repeatedly told his mother he loved her.That’s how family members remembered Yitzian Torres Garcia during a Thursday night fraught with tears and pleas for justice.“He was just a baby,” one family member said through a translator. “He was just seven years old.”The vigil happened on the south side of the Courtney Campbell Causeway, where Tampa Police say Garcia, 7, was killed on the evening of July 4 during a massive Independence Day celebration. Garcia, from Puerto Rico, was vacationing in Tampa to visit his grandparents.“We are in the news not to become famous,” said Garcia’s grandmother, Marisol Ayala, through a translator. “We are in the news because we want justice. Because he was seven years old.”According to the Tampa Police Department, an argument between two groups of people led to the fatal shooting.Police said one group was upset because the second group was “recklessly” driving their jet skis too close to where k...

Atlanta Police seek suspect in failed nail salon robbery

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

ATLANTA (WSVN) – The Atlanta Police Department is on the lookout for a suspect involved in a botched nail salon robbery. Surveillance footage from Monday captured the suspect entering the salon, pretending to have a gun hidden under his bag.In a bold move, the suspect demanded money from the salon’s customers, but their defiant response left him empty-handed. The suspect did manage to steal someone’s cell phone before making his escape.No one was hurt during the incident and the missing phone was later recovered by police detectives.

Dutch government falls as ministers clash over migration

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

The Dutch coalition government collapsed Friday evening after failing to reach a deal on how to handle the number of asylum seekers entering the Netherlands, according to local media. For months, ministers have been discussing new measures to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the country. But tensions came to a head this week when two coalition parties refused to support a push by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative party to make it harder for refugee families to reunite.Rutte has led the Netherlands since October 2010 in four different coalitions, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history.His VVD wanted to create a two-tier system for asylum seekers, with people under threat of persecution granted more rights than those fleeing war zones. It also said the number of family members who could join refugees in the second category should be capped at 200 per year.But the party ran into opposition on the last point from the ChristenUnie, the smallest memb...

Rescuers free dozens trapped on one of world’s highest cable car systems

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

(CNN) — Dozens of people trapped in gondolas on one of the world’s highest cable car systems in Ecuador have been rescued, according to a statement from government officials Friday.Firefighters were alerted around 4 p.m. local time Thursday of a technical failure that affected the Quito Cable Car, with at least 70 people trapped, the Quito municipality said in a statement. They launched a rescue effort in the highlands soon after.“In total, the authorities rescued 27 people who had been suspended in the gondolas when the service was inoperative and 47 people who had been left without transportation on top of the mountain,” the statement said.The mayor of Quito, Pabel Muñoz, said the rescued people do not show signs of hypothermia or injuries.He also ordered to suspend the cable cars’ operation until investigations have been carried out.Photos released by Quito authorities show emergency workers huddled in the dark, with the city mayor on site, as rescue effo...

Orioles outfielder Austin Hays to start All-Star Game in Seattle

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

When Minnesota Twins first baseman Donovan Solano’s knee collided with Austin Hays’ left hip Sunday, the Orioles’ outfielder feared for the worst.Hours after learning he was a first-time All-Star, Hays exited the game with a bruise, saying Thursday the “good news was kind of short-lived.” But despite having not played since Sunday, Hays said the injury won’t keep him from competing in the All-Star Game. In fact, he’ll start it.With fan vote winners Aaron Judge and Mike Trout on the injured list, Hays will be one of the American League’s starting outfielders in Tuesday night’s Midsummer Classic at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park alongside the Texas Rangers’ Adolis García and the Tampa Bay Rays’ Randy Arozarena. The 28-year-old Hays is hitting .312, tied for the second-best average in the AL, with an .843 OPS.Hays will be the Orioles’ second All-Star starter in three years, with Cedric Mullins also serving as a...

UN tech agency rolls out human-looking robots for questions at a Geneva news conference

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A United Nations technology agency assembled a group of robots that physically resembled humans at a news conference Friday, inviting reporters to ask them questions in an event meant to spark discussion about the future of artificial intelligence.The nine robots were seated and posed upright along with some of the people who helped make them at a podium in a Geneva conference center for what the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union billed as the world’s first news conference featuring humanoid social robots.Among them: Sophia, the first robot innovation ambassador for the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP; Grace, described as a health care robot; and Desdemona, a rock star robot. Two, Geminoid and Nadine, resembled their makers.Organizers said the event at the AI for Good Global Summit was meant to showcase the capabilities, but also the limitations, of robotics and how those technologies could help the U.N.’s sustainable development go...

Bruins notebook: Don Sweeney revisits free agency strategy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:56:48 GMT

When Tyler Bertuzzi settled for a one-year deal worth $5.5 million with the Toronto Maple Leafs, many people across the hockey world were a bit surprised. Bertuzzi was considered one of the top free agents available and, though it was a relatively weak class, those guys usually cash in with both term and money.You can count Bruins’ GM Don Sweeney in that group. After talks with Bertuzzi’s camp didn’t produce a deal, Sweeney went out and signed James van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic, Kevin Shattenkirk, Morgan Geekie, and Patrick Brown.Bertuzzi’s agent himself said that they were originally looking for a long term but pivoted after realizing no contenders had space for such a deal.“Probably a little bit (surprised). His goal – and I’ll speak more generally about a player on another team at this point in time – there were players that were looking for longer term deals and my discussions were focused around that,” said Sweeney. “Some teams were in good position t...