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Colorado funeral home owner, wife arrested on charges linked to mishandling of at least 189 bodies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The owner of a Colorado funeral home and his wife were arrested Wednesday after the decaying remains of at least 189 people were recently found at his facility. Jon and Carrie Hallford were arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma, on suspicion of four felonies: abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery, District Attorney Michael Allen said in a news release after at least some of the aggrieved families were told.Jon Hallford was being held at the Muskogee County, Oklahoma, jail, though there aren’t any records showing that his wife might also be there, according to a man who answered a call to the jail but refused to give his name.The Hallfords couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. Neither has a listed personal phone number and the funeral home’s number no longer works.Jon Hallford owns Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, a small town about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Denver. The remains were found Oct. 4 by authoriti...

NCAA putting renewed emphasis on sportsmanship in women’s hoops after technical fouls soar last year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

After a season that saw over a 33% increase in technical fouls, women’s college basketball is putting a renewed emphasis on sportsmanship this year.Last season, there were 830 total technical fouls called, up from 606 the season before, according to the NCAA. That included a 77% increase on techs given to head coaches and a whopping 193% increase on technical fouls assessed to personnel on the bench.Fighting was also a problem last year, including incidents in a game between George Washington and TCU as well one between Georgia and VCU. There was a 400% increase in bench personnel ejections as a result.The Associated Press obtained a copy of an email sent out to coaches, officials and coordinators last week that reiterates longstanding rules on bench decorum and the coaching box rule. “We have a mutual responsibility to serve as leaders and role models in this regard. Basketball is a competitive game, which, by its very nature, may lead to adversarial relationships between opp...

The officiating in the title game between LSU and Iowa was below expectations, NCAA review finds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

The national championship game in women’s basketball last spring was unforgettable for a lot of good reasons. LSU beating Iowa for its first title. A record television audience of nearly 10 million viewers. The spicy intensity between star players Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.The game will also be remembered for its controversial officiating and The Associated Press has learned that an NCAA review concluded the refereeing did not meet expectations.The organization had planned a review of NCAA Tournament officiating after the 2024 championship concludes next April, but it was sped up by a year after criticism of the LSU-Iowa showdown. NCAA vice president for women’s basketball Lynn Holzman said the officials were graded on the accuracy of their calls and the overall accuracy number fell short.“In the championship game itself, for example, we typically have a performance that I think is 91% historically,” she said. “In that game, the percentage of correct calls was ...

Local Md. election unofficial results: Rockville selects new mayor, Greenbelt approves votes for noncitizens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

All eyes were on Virginia races during Election Day; but in Maryland, voters also headed to the polls to decide several important issues, including allowing noncitizens and young residents to vote in local elections.Here are some of the unofficial results in Maryland races WTOP has been monitoring. Leading candidates and results are in bold.More election newsVirginia general election resultsVirginia local general election resultsPHOTOS: Virginia Election Day 2023Voters in Virginia cast ballots in pivotal state electionMajor races to watch in the USRockvilleVoters in the City of Rockville decided on whether to allow noncitizens and residents as young as 16 to vote in local elections, among other referendums.In the unofficial results, on the question, “should Rockville allow 16-17-year-olds to vote in city elections,” the answer “No” received 69.39% of votes, while “Yes” received 28.6% of votes.On the question, “should Rockville allow resident...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts again in mixed trading as oil prices stay weighed down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are still largely stuck in place Wednesday as Wall Street continues to recalibrate following its sharp recent swings.The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged and on track for a third straight day of quiet, mixed trading. Its movements have become much calmer after the index screamed to its best week of the year last week, which itself came after months of painful losses.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 29 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were all flying at least 3% higher at the front of the market as oil prices continue to drop and ease the pressure on fuel costs. Warner Brothers Discovery tumbled 16% after it reported a worse loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also lost more streaming subscribers than forecast. The reporting season for summertime profits is winding down, and the majority of companies has been topping Wa...

Texas officials issue shelter-in-place order after chemical plant explosion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

SHEPHERD, TEXAS (AP) — Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order for Texas residents within a one-mile radius of a chemical plant fire Wednesday.A large plume of smoke could be seen in video captured by residents as the plant caught fire in Shepherd, Texas.San Jacinto County Office of Emergency Management said in a statement that a private school in the area had been evacuated and that Highway 59 was closed due to the fire.Shepherd is a mainly rural area about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Houston.Local authorities warned residents to shelter in place and to shut off their HVAC air conditioning systems. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook that the plume could be heading toward the Livingston area.“At this time, the effects of the chemical in the air are unknown,” the Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.

NBA takes rebound away from Miami’s Bam Adebayo, denying him rare 20-rebound triple-double

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Bam Adebayo had Miami’s first 20-rebound triple-double in team history. Until he didn’t.The NBA, which reviews every stat from every game and often makes changes during and even after contests, took away one of the rebounds Adebayo was credited with in Miami’s 108-107 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.That means Adebayo’s final line was 22 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists. Still a triple-double, the sixth of his regular-season career and seventh when including playoff games — just not one of the 20-rebound variety.The only other player in Heat history to grab 19 rebounds as part of a triple-double was Lamar Odom, who had 30 points, 19 rebounds and 11 assists in Miami’s 102-96 win over Sacramento on March 6, 2004.

Miami got too expensive so she moved to Colombia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

(CNN) — She’d been living in Miami for around three decades and had built a life that she loved.But Julie Balzano, originally from Long Island, found herself struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living in the “Magic City,” recently ranked as the 10th most expensive city in the world on Swiss private bank Julius Baer’s annual Lifestyle Index.After selling her home in 2021 with the intention of downsizing, Balzano couldn’t find anything within her price range and decided to rent a townhouse for a year in order to “let the market stabilize” and eventually “buy back in.”However, as time went on, the 60-year-old, who is divorced with two grown-up children, realized that this was unlikely to happen anytime soon, and she’d need to come up with a different plan for her future.‘Falling behind’“Property prices were rising exponentially,” Balzano tells CNN Travel. “My income was not keeping up, and I was slowly but surely falling behind.”With her rent “creeping up and up,” B...

Don’t trust the data: France insists it’s pulling its weight on arms to Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

PARIS — The numbers showing that France is the military skinflint among European countries when it comes to donating weapons and ammunition to Ukraine don’t paint the full picture, French lawmakers argue in a report presented Wednesday. The MPs want to “deconstruct what may have been said or written about France’s aid that would not live up to our ambitions,” Lionel Royer-Perreaut, a deputy from French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party and the report’s co-author, told reporters. “Some have a vested interest in letting things flourish on social networks to destabilize the Western bloc, others because of intra-European competition,” he added when asked what’s driving criticism of France. France and Ukraine did start on the wrong foot. In the war’s early days, Macron insisted Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be humiliated and suggested that Moscow deserved “security guarantees,” infuriating Kyi...

Rishi Sunak accepts ‘disrespectful’ London Gaza rally will go ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:52 GMT

LONDON – Rishi Sunak backed the “right to peacefully protest” even as he branded a controversial pro-Palestine rally due to take place in London this weekend “disrespectful” to the U.K.’s war veterans.After hauling in the capital’s top police officer to discuss the demo, the British prime minister issued a statement Wednesday evening saying the country could “survive the discomfort and frustration” it might cause this coming Saturday.The solidarity march coincides with Armistice Day, which commemorates the end of World War I. Organizers the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have stressed it will avoid any remembrance activity and focus on calls for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.But the planned demo has sparked a heated debate in the U.K. about the trade-offs between free speech and security amid renewed Middle East conflict.Sunak’s statement came just after he quizzed Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley to quiz him on the f...