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Grading The Week: Don’t poke The Moose! Do Avs fans have Artturi Lehkonen’s dad to thank for Mikko Rantanen’s scoring surge?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

So, um, do we give Ismo Lehkonen … an assist? No?Lordy, you should’ve seen the cringes and awkward glances traded around the Grading The Week offices after we saw what Lehkonen, father of Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen, told the Yle media outlet in Finland about Mikko Rantanen, his son’s very large and very good teammate, this past Monday.With the Avs having dropped five of six, the elder Lehknonen, an analyst in Finland, his homeland as well as Rantanen’s, said the Colorado forward “didn’t have a very good summer” and had basically hit a wall in December, and that “frustration and pain have started to show in Rantanen’s game.”Given how the Moose responded, any chance Papa Lehkonen would like to chuck a few more Avs under the bussi — that’s “bus” or “shuttle” in Finnish — now that he’s talking roskat (“trash”)?Mikko Rantanen — A-After a stretch of nine straight goalless ga...

Hickenlooper: With the PUEBLO Act, the old Chemical Depot is primed to get cleaned up and revitalized

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

Puebloans: rest easy. Congress is about to pass our bill to finally bring certainty to the future of the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Our Promoting Utilization and Economic Benefits from Land Optimization (PUEBLO) Act has been included in the final version of the annual defense authorization bill, which will pass into law this month.What does this bill mean for Pueblo? The PUEBLO Act directs the Army to close the Pueblo Chemical Depot no later than one year after the completion of the chemical demilitarization mission using the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.The Depot hit this milestone in June. Passage of this legislation means a seamless transfer of Department of Defense land to the local economic redevelopment authority, PuebloPlex, which will reimagine the property to serve Pueblo for decades to come.The Pueblo Chemical Depot was one of two remaining military sites in the United States that safely stored chemical weapons. The weapons held at these facilities were incredib...

El papa Francisco celebra su cumpleaños 87

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

(CNN) — El papa Francisco cumple 87 años y celebrará en el Vaticano con niños desfavorecidos y sus familias ayudados por el “Dispensario de Santa Marta”, una organización caritativa del Vaticano.Más tarde, tiene previsto rezar el Ángelus al mediodía desde el palacio apostólico del Vaticano y dar una reflexión, como lo hace todos los domingos.El papa, que se recuperó recientemente de un ataque de bronquitis, continúa manteniendo una apretada agenda de reuniones con funcionarios y líderes mundiales, con un viaje al extranjero a Bélgica previsto para 2024 y visitas a su tierra natal, Argentina y Polinesia, bajo consideración.Si bien el papa Francisco es uno de los pontífices más antiguos en la historia de la iglesia, todavía está unos años por detrás de León XIII, quien ocupó el cargo hasta los 93 años.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.Source

Trump confronts ‘scheduling nightmare’ as court cases collide with campaign

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

DURHAM, New Hampshire — Donald Trump’s upcoming court calendar is creating a logistical headache for his presidential campaign.“It’s a scheduling nightmare,” Trump senior adviser Susie Wiles told reporters Saturday. “There’s no way to sugarcoat that.”Already ricocheting from the courtroom to the campaign trail, Trump’s bid for a second term is now on a collision course with court dates for the myriad legal challenges he’s facing.Testimony in Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York wrapped Wednesday. Lawyers on both sides will have until Jan. 5 to submit written statements before they return to court Jan. 11, just four days ahead of the Iowa caucuses Jan. 15. The civil trial for writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit is scheduled to start the same day as the caucuses.And the trial in his federal election interference case is slated to start the day before Super Tuesday, though a judge put the case on hold as Trump’s team argues for its dismissal.Wiles said Trump’s campaign is frontlo...

Timing out our next storm

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

Good morning! It’s a cool to chilly start. Today will be mild with a lot of clouds. Scattered showers arrive later today ahead of a storm that will bring us heavy rain and strong wind.Here’s a look a the timing of the rain and potential wind gusts.

Massive whale sculpture being assembled in Downtown Crossing

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

The installation of a 52-foot whale sculpture is underway in Downtown Crossing, at the corner of Washington and Franklin streets.The interactive sound-and-light artwork by artist Mathias Gmachl, titled “Echoes – a voice from uncharted waters,” asks viewers to consider human impact on nature and the environment, according to the Boston BID.The sculpture will be installed over the course of the weekend. On Saturday, cranes moved pieces of the 11,000-pound whale into place. On Sunday, sound and lighting aspects will be finalized.

Column: Will the Chicago Cubs have to do more with less under Craig Counsell? Takeaways from a lukewarm hot stove league.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

Hot stove takeaways for a lukewarm holiday season.When Craig Counsell talked about “solving for wins” at the MLB winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., I thought I had misheard him.Then I realized the new Chicago Cubs manager was simply speaking a different language, like Theo Epstein when the former Cubs president arrived on the scene in 2011 and began using terms such as “parallel tracks” and teams “evolving” like “Galápagos Islands — that type of thing.”“If you can get one player that adds up to a lot of wins, that’s helpful,” Counsell said. “There’s no question about it. But you’re solving for wins and that’s a puzzle you’re putting together. That’s the hard part about roster building, and it’s the challenge that every team faces in an offseason with player movement.”That puzzle-solving ability is what helped make Counsell one of the game’s most respec...

Critics caution against plan to expand medical assistance in dying to those with mental illness

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

Hope is what kept Laurel Walker alive as thoughts of suicide overwhelmed her, and that is exactly what she says would be stripped from people battling the same darkness if Canada forges ahead with plans to expand medical assistance in dying to those with a mental disorder.Proponents of the expansion, set for March 17, maintain that providing MAID to people with an incurable physical illness without giving the same right to those with an irremediable mental illness amounts to discrimination on the basis of a disability. Critics counter that there is insufficient evidence to predict whether or not someone will recover from a mental illness. Recent comments out of Ottawa suggest expansion is not a certainty. Justice Minister Arif Virani said Wednesday that cabinet will consider the input of a joint parliamentary committee, medical experts and other stakeholders in deciding “whether we move ahead on March 17, or whether we pause.” Related: 'Weighing our ...

Convent-made delicacies, a Christmas favorite, help monks and nuns win fans and pay the bills

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — It’s the fortnight before Christmas and all through the world’s Catholic convents, nuns and monks are extra busy preparing the traditional delicacies they sell to a loyal fan base even in rapidly secularizing countries. For many monastic communities, especially those devoted to contemplative life and with vows of poverty, producing cookies, fruitcakes, even beer for sale is the only means to keep the lights on.But it’s also an enticing way to strengthen their ties with lay people who flock to their doors — and in some cases their websites — in the holiday season. “Our kitchen is a witness to God’s love to those outside,” said Sister Abigail, one of the 10 cloistered nuns of the Perpetual Adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Mexico City.“We are in the Lord’s presence, and we’re always thinking that it will make someone happy, the person who will eat this, or they will gift it and someone will receive it with joy,” added the sister, whose convent makes swe...

‘Smoke screen’: Canadian airlines use NDAs to keep a lid on passenger settlements

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:39:01 GMT

Colleen Dafoe was at the Halifax airport last December with her husband and daughter when WestJet told her their trip was cancelled.The airline suggested rescheduling them on a flight more than 10 days later, she said — well after the end of their planned vacation to the Dominican Republic to celebrate Dafoe’s 50th birthday with extended family. They never left Nova Scotia.Dafoe said she asked for a refund from WestJet, which refused and instead offered a vacation voucher valid for one year. Eventually, she turned to small claims court for the $1,200 in compensation she believed her family was owed under Canada’s passenger rights charter.Only after she launched the legal action did a WestJet lawyer offer to pay them the full amount — if they signed a non-disclosure agreement barring them from discussing the matter.“My husband and I hemmed and hawed about this. Part of us wanted to stand our ground and not accept the confidentiality clause, because airlines should not silence pe...