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Player of the Week: Fauquier’s Cassidy Scott

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

Each week, WTOP is picking one student athlete to be featured on-air and online as our Player of the Week. This week’s WTOP Player of the Week is junior Cassidy Scott of Fauquier High School in Warrenton, Virginia.Cassidy’s record-breaking run in track and cross country at Fauquier High School includes a state championship in the 800 and 1600 meter races last spring and a state runner-up at the Division Four Cross Country Championship in the fall.In February, Cassidy became the state champ in the 1000- and 1600-meter indoor meet. Not only did she win and become state champion, she broke the meet record in both 1600 meter races as well.Cassidy has also been chosen as one of 15 females to run the 1600-meter race at the Penn Relays on Friday.In the classroom, Cassidy is a model student athlete with an A+ average while taking a challenging academic curriculum and competing in high school sports at the highest level. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Student Coun...

Saints take Clemson DT Bresee with 29th pick in NFL draft

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Saints coach Dennis Allen highlighted Bryan Bresee’s perspective, personality and physical attributes when explaining why the former Clemson defensive tackle could help solidify a run defense that slid down the NFL rankings last season.The Saints selected Bresee — who has overcome a major knee injury and lists the memory of his late younger sister as his primary source of inspiration — with the No. 29 overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night. “It says a lot about the kid to overcome a lot of the adversity he’s gone through over the last 18 months,” Allen said of Bresee, whose sister, Ella, died of brain cancer last fall. “He’s shown a lot of fortitude.”Bresee, 21, spent draft night wearing a pink T-shirt reading, “Ella Strong,” across the front.“She’d be glowing,” Bresee said while imagining how his sister, who was 15, might have reacted to his first-round selection. “She loved watching me play. She loved being around just the atmosphere...

NYC transit agency ends Twitter alerts, says it’s unreliable

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Agency, which for 14 years has provided real-time information on service outages, delays and other important transit updates for its 1.3 million Twitter followers, will no longer do so. The NYC MTA said Thursday that “Twitter is no longer reliable for providing the consistent updates riders expect.” For this reason, the agency tweeted, it will no longer use the platform for service alerts and information. The MTA also listed other ways subway, train and bus riders can get reliable transit information, including through its mta.info site, text alerts and its Weekender newsletter for weekend advisories. Twitter has long been a way for people to keep track of train delays, news and weather alerts or the latest crime warnings from their local police department.But when the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification check marks this month from accounts that don’t pay a monthly fee, it left public agencies and other organizations arou...

Perú moviliza cerca de 400 policías más a Tacna para reforzar frontera con Chile

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

(CNN Español) — El Ministerio de Interior de Perú informó este jueves a través de un comunicado el despliegue de cerca de 400 policías a fin de reforzar la zona fronteriza entre Perú y Chile.Según el Ministerio del Interior, la Policía Nacional del Perú está reforzando con estos efectivos, de distintas unidades, la zona fronteriza de Tacna debido a la presencia de ciudadanos extranjeros que tratan de ingresar a Perú en forma irregular.Migrantes intentan cruzar a la fuerza la frontera entre Perú y Chile, reporta la televisión estatal peruanaLas autoridades añadieron que el Comando Policial dispuso el traslado de 150 agentes de las comisarías de Arequipa, 50 de las comisarías de Moquegua, 50 de la Unidad de Servicios Especiales (USE), de la Dirección de Seguridad Integral, de la Dirección de Seguridad del Estado, personal de inteligencia y dependencia policiales de la Macro Región Policial Tacna.El comunicado también indica que se movilizó un contingente de 50 policías de la Dir...

Golden Knights knock out Jets, head to second round

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chandler Stephenson scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets from their Western Conference opening-round series with a 4-1 victory on Thursday night.The Golden Knights became the first team to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.Mark Stone added a goal and two assists and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights. Goaltender Laurent Brossoit made 30 saves.Vezina Trophy candidate Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves for the Jets and Kyle Connor scored late in the third period to ruin Brossoit’s shutout bid.DEVILS 4, RANGERS 0NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Erik Haula had two goals and an assist, Akira Schmid stopped 23 shots, and New Jersey beat New York to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist, and Ondrej Palat also scored to help New Jersey move one win away from advancing with their third straight win after losing the first two games at home. It was the first win by a home team...

Ravens take Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers with No. 22 pick in NFL draft: ‘It’s gonna be fun’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Thursday night that his new offensive coordinator Todd Monken “had a good day today.”That was an understatement. First, the Ravens locked up quarterback Lamar Jackson to a lucrative long-term deal in the afternoon, then six hours later they gave him another weapon for an offense that suddenly has the potential to be one of the most explosive in the NFL.Harbaugh said last month that the Ravens would draft a wide receiver and they followed through, selecting Zay Flowers out of Boston College with the 22nd overall pick of the NFL draft.“That was probably my best visit,” Flowers said of his predraft visit with the Ravens earlier this month. “I knew if I reached [pick] 22, I had a feeling they were going to pick me. So, it worked out perfect.”Though the Ravens had already bolstered their receiving corps this offseason with the free agent additions of two-time All-Pro Odell Beckham Jr. and veteran Nelson Agholor, it was c...

Citizens weigh in on 'Smart Streetlights' program

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Police Department's Smart Streetlights program was pitched to the privacy advisory board Thursday. In a vote 6-2, the Board recommended studying the surveillance program for an extra 90 days before making a recommendation. The program is looking to place 500 street light cameras in areas with the most crime costing roughly $4 million. Concerned citizens lined up to lodge their complaints about what they see as a major invasion of privacy. "Where I currently live, there is a street light on either side of the exit on the complex, so I have no way of exiting my house without passing by a camera,” said Erin Grassi, a concerned citizen.   Rules of the Road: Are tinted windows legal in California? Police officers say a similar camera system assisted them in arresting dozens of violent criminals, but community members are still worried about the unintended consequences. “These spy streetlights generate massive amounts of data that allow for the tracking o...

Russian missile and drone attack in Ukraine kills 8 people

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early Friday, killing at least eight people and striking a residential building in central Ukraine, officials said.Air raid sirens sounded around the capital in the first attack against the city in nearly two months and Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kyiv, according to the Kyiv City Administration. There were no immediate reports of any missiles hitting targets in Kyiv but fragments from intercepted missiles or drones damaged power lines and a road in one neighborhood. No casualties were reported.But in Uman, around 215 kilometers (134 miles) south of Kyiv, two cruise missiles hit a nine-story residential building, killing at least six people and wounding 17, according to Ukrainian national police. Three children were rescued from the rubble, police said.One of the people killed was a 75-year-old who was in h...

Stock market today: Asia shares gain as BOJ stands pat

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

Shares advanced in Asia on Friday after Wall Street rallied to its best day since January and the Bank of Japan kept its ultra-lax monetary policy unchanged. In its first policy meeting under its new governor, Kazuo Ueda, the BOJ kept its key policy rate at minus 0.1% even as Japan reported inflation excluding volatile fresh food costs was at 3.5% in March. Japan’s central bank has overshot its inflation target of 2%, but expects conditions to worsen since the U.S. and other major economies are thought to be headed for recession. “With extremely high uncertainties surrounding economies and financial markets at home and abroad, the bank will patiently continue with monetary easing while nimbly responding to developments,” the BOJ said in a statement. The central bank did remove its “forward guidance” that pledged to keep key policy interest rates at current or lower levels. It said it would needs up to 18 months to to conduct a review of monetary policy guidance.The dollar rose...

Death sentence upheld for Thai gold robber who killed 3

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:31:13 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence for an ex-elementary school principal convicted of killing three people, including a toddler, during an armed gold shop robbery in 2020.The court ruled Wednesday that Prasitthichai Khaewkao did not deserve a reduction in his original sentence, calling the shooting in a shopping mall in Lopburi province “outrageously, ruthlessly inhuman” in a statement released Friday. Four people were injured in the attack and a salesclerk, a security guard and a 2-year-old boy were killed.Prasitthichai was found guilty in August 2020 and given a death sentence on charges including first-degree murder, killing in commission of another crime and illegally carrying a gun. The Appeal Court also upheld the death penalty in 2021.The Supreme Court said the defendant, as a teacher and a headmaster, should have behaved as a good role model for students, but instead committed a serious crime. Therefore, it said there was not enough grounds...