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Projecting the (Karlsson-less) Sharks’ 23-man roster: Better team or better lottery odds?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

The San Jose Sharks have added seven new forwards with NHL experience since the end of last season. They’ve also changed the look of their defense corps and didn’t re-sign the goalie who appeared in 91 games over the past two years.So, are they any better, or did they give themselves a better chance at winning next year’s draft lottery?Certainly, the Sharks are a long shot to make the 2024 playoffs, given the question marks they have on defense and in net. The forward group is deeper and has a chance to be more dynamic than it was in 2022-23, although it could be a few more years before another prolific goal-scorer like Timo Meier is on the roster.rRight now, the only expectation Sharks general manager Mike Grier has for his group is to compete hard and build on the culture he feels they started to establish last season, even as they finished with a 22-44-16 record for 60 points — fourth-fewest in the NHL — with a 9.5 percent chance of winning the draft lottery.The...

High school football 2023 preview: DAL Foothill Division

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

DIABLO ATHLETIC LEAGUE FOOTHILL DIVISION(Predicted order of finish)No. 1 CAMPOLINDO Coach: Kevin MacyRecord in 2022: 12-1What to expect: Despite losing QB Dashiell Weaver and receiver Robbie Mascheroni to graduation, the Cougars remain the pick to win another DAL Foothill title. After that, things get dicey. Because of the NCS’s competitive equity model, Campo moves up to D-I this season – with big boys De La Salle, Pittsburg and Clayton Valley – after winning the D-II title in 2021 and reaching the D-II final last season. Longtime Campo coach Kevin Macy hopes the NCS rethinks the model, noting that his small-school program is being punished for its success. Leading Macy’s team this season will be players such as senior S James Giordani, senior WR Scott Lyon and senior WR/DB Tim Daugherty. Senior LB/FB James Erickson and senior CB Jake Spencer are two others expected to have an important presence. “Last year’s team lacked depth,” Macy said. “This year’s team will have no...

East Bay warned of smoke from wildfire training

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

(KRON) -- East Bay fire crews will be conducting a wildfire training Friday morning at the Painted Rock Land Trust and the Moraga Geological Hazard Abatement District.Groups from more than a dozen fire agencies are expected to participate. Around 150 acres will be burned during the training. Mountain lions seen eating deer outside Peninsula home The fire burning will start at 9 a.m. Residents in Moraga, Orinda, Lafayette and portions of Walnut Creek will likely see and smell smoke.

Filippa Angeldal scores as Sweden reaches Women’s World Cup semifinals by topping Japan 2-1

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Sweden first knocked off the United States and then bounced Japan to snag a spot in the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup. The Swedes, the World Cup runners-up in 2003 and three-time third-place finishers, eliminated previously unbeaten Japan 2-1 in Friday’s quarterfinal. With Japan out of the tournament, this year’s World Cup will crown a first-time winner. The sold-out crowd at Eden Park, where Sweden will play in the semifinals on Tuesday against Spain, danced to songs by Swedish rock band Abba as it was played throughout the stadium after the win. Amanda Ilestedt scored a first-half goal and Filippa Angeldal converted a second-half penalty to give Sweden the mild upset and send the Swedes to the semifinals for the fifth time.“Obviously we were very happy with the win against the U.S., but we knew we had to recharge and think about Japan,” midfielder Kosovare Asllani said. “We knew we were going to play a very skilled and technical...

Celebrity hair, makeup and nail stylists: How the Hollywood strikes have affected glam squads

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Film, television, fashion: You name it and Kim Kimble has done it in her 30-plus years as a hair stylist in Hollywood — but even through the good times, she never gave up her backup plan.Until the pandemic.“I had a salon where I could work if I had to, and I closed it,” she said. “So now I don’t even have that.”Kimble and a world of Hollywood hair stylists, makeup artists and manicurists have been idled by the actors and screenwriters strikes, in an era of declining rates as they were still rebuilding their livelihoods from the painful months of the coronavirus shutdowns. They aren’t alone, of course, as writers and actors walk picket lines in their contract disputes with studios and streaming services. Crew and support staff on all sides of the entertainment equation — production, promotion, assistants — are also out of work from coast to coast.“For three, four, five months before the writers went out, studios weren’t willing to greenlight projects, so many of...

Insurers won’t cover new Alzheimer’s treatment for some customers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

Some private insurers are balking at paying for the first drug fully approved to slow mental decline in Alzheimer’s patients.Insurers selling coverage in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York, among other states, told The Associated Press they won’t cover Leqembi with insurance offered on the individual market and through employers because they still see the $26,000-a-year drug as experimental. Their decision stands in contrast to Medicare, which will wind up covering most patients who take the drug. The federal coverage program mainly for people ages 65 and older announced shortly after Leqembi received full approval last month that it will cover the treatment while still tracking its safety and effectiveness.Leqembi is the first medicine that’s been convincingly shown to slow the cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease, though only modestly. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the IV drug for patients with mild dementia and other symptoms caused by early Alz...

Sports on TV for August 12 -13

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

(All times Eastern)Schedule subject to change and/or blackoutsSaturday, August 123ICE HOCKEY1 p.m.CBS — Playoffs: Team Murphy vs. Team Johnston, Team Patrick vs. Team Bourque, Consolation, Final, PhiladelphiaAUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL5:15 a.m.FS2 — AFL: Melbourne at CarltonAUTO RACING2:30 p.m.USA — NTT IndyCar Series: The Gallagher Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Indianapolis3 p.m.NBC — Pro Motocross Championship: The Unadilla National, New Berlin, N.Y.5:30 p.m.USA — NASCAR Xfinity Series: The Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis7 p.m.FS1 — NHRA: Qualifying, Heartland Motorsports Park, Topeka, Kan. (Taped)BASKETBALL8 p.m.NBATV — 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony: From Springfield, Mass.BOXING9 p.m.SHO — Showtime Championship Main Card: Emmanuel Rodriguez vs. Melvin Lopez (Bantamweights), Oxon Hill, Md.10 p.m.ESPN — Top Rank Main Card: Emanuel Navarrete vs. Oscar Valdez (Junior-Welterweigh...

Stock market today: Wall Street edges lower after pickup in wholesale inflation

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

Stocks are slightly lower on Wall Street in early trading Friday after the government reported a slight increase in wholesale prices last month, suggesting that the Federal Reserve’s work on bringing inflation to heel isn’t done.The S&P 500 was down 0.1%, on pace for its second losing week in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 57 points, or 0.1%, at 35,146, as of 10:04 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.Big tech companies were among the biggest losers in the early going. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices fell 2%. The Labor Department reported Friday that its producer price index, which measures inflation before it hits consumers, rose 0.8% last month from July 2022. The latest figure followed a 0.2% year-over-year increase in June, which had been the smallest annual rise since August 2020.“Not surprisingly, today’s report offers the hawkish wing of the Fed more ammunition to advocate for another rate hike before the Fed is convinced it’...

Belgium is celebrating flowers and surrealism. And nothing is what it seems

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — If elephants are really known for their sense of direction, what are nine of them doing in the heart of Brussels, seemingly lost between the gothic and baroque houses lining the UNESCO-protected Grand Place? As of Friday, nothing is quite what it seems as the Belgian capital celebrates the nation’s love of surrealism. The nine life-sized wooden elephants were brought in from the Verbeke art center about an hour’s drive north of Brussels to be the prime attraction of Flowertime, a biennial festival highlighting the nation’s fling with flowers. Only this time, surrealism adds a twist. And no symbol more potent than Rene Magritte’s pipe, subtitled, “This is not a pipe.” It is a painting of a pipe, after all — and it has come to define Belgian surrealism ever since.Now a similar non-pipe — a sculpture of a pipe — graces the interior yard of City Hall, which for the occasion has been renamed, “This is not a city hall.” On the pipe sculpture, flower...

Poland’s ruling party seeks referendum on privatization as it steps up attacks on opposition leader

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:20:51 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s ruling party leader said Friday that Polish voters will be asked to decide whether they support the sell-off of state-owned enterprises in a referendum, saying it would be about “whether the wealth of generations will remain in Polish hands.”The move came as the conservative ruling party, Law and Justice, stepped up its attacks on the main opposition leader, Donald Tusk, ahead of parliamentary elections in the fall, which the president scheduled this week for Oct. 15.Law and Justice has for some time expressed a wish to hold a referendum on the topic of migration alongside the election. Critics view the plans to hold referendums on such emotional issues as an effort by the ruling party to mobilize its conservative base as its seeks an unprecedented third straight term. The party is leading in the polls but cannot be assured of an outright majority.Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Friday that the party now plans more than one r...