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Fans to crowd downtown streets, bars as Maple Leafs host plucky Panthers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

Fans will pack downtown streets and bars across the GTA as the Toronto Maple Leafs embark on the next leg of their journey to the Stanley Cup.An expanded Maple Leafs Square will allow more fans to crowd around Scotiabank Arena ahead of puck drop against the visiting Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, bar and restaurant owners in the city are happily bracing for a continued business boom as euphoric hockey fans celebrate the team’s longest playoff run in nearly two decades.Here’s what you need to know ahead of round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Toronto favoured by most to move onIt may be uncharted territory for this particular group of Leafs players, but that isn’t stopping most pundits from picking Toronto as the favourites in the second round series against the Panthers.The Leafs dispelled of the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games despite getting outplayed through large stretches of the series. Will the team look different in round two with the pressu...

B.C. high-schooler cut from American Idol top 8, calls experience ‘an honour’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

The last Canadian singer standing in this season’s “American Idol” has been cut from the reality TV show after making it to the top 10.Tyson Venegas, a 17-year-old high-school student from Port Moody, B.C., received praise from the judges Monday night for his rendition of Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved.”But of the 23-million votes cast by viewers, Venegas found himself among the lowest vote-getters as the field of contenders was pared down to eight. In a post on Facebook, Venegas thanked fans for their love and support, saying his American Idol journey has come to an end, “but what an honour it has been.”Another Canadian, 20-year-old Emma Busse from Burnaby, B.C., was sent home by the judges last month when they shortened the list to 20.Venegas made headlines early this year when he impressed judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan enough to get the season’s first Platinum Ticket for his cover of Billy Joel and Tony B...

Thomson Reuters reports first-quarter revenue up from year ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

TORONTO — Thomson Reuters Corp. says it earned a first-quarter profit of US$756 million as its revenue rose four per cent compared with a year ago.The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says the profit amounted to US$1.59 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, down from nearly US$1.01 billion or US$2.06 per diluted share a year earlier when it benefited from a significantly higher increase in the value of the company’s investment in London Stock Exchange Group.Revenue totalled nearly US$1.74 billion, up from US$1.67 billion in the first three months of 2022.On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 82 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 66 cents per share a year earlier.Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 80 cents per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.In its outlook for 2023, the company says it now expects total revenue growth between 3.0 and 3.5 per cent down with e...

Supreme Court Justice Stevens’ private papers open to public

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A wide-ranging selection of papers that belonged to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is opening to researchers Tuesday at the Library of Congress, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the justices’ deliberations in important cases including Bush v. Gore, the 2000 decision that essentially decided the presidential election.Stevens, who died in 2019, served on the Supreme Court for nearly 35 years. In that time, the court decided cases on issues including abortion, affirmative action, presidential power, gun rights and the rights of prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center. The papers being made public contain Stevens’ notes from the justices’ private conferences about cases, drafts of opinions and communications between the justices. The collection’s opening comes as the current court has recently ruled or is weighing some of the same major issues. Last year, the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v...

Oprah Winfrey chooses new Verghese novel for her book club

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, “The Covenant of Water,” is Oprah Winfrey’s latest book club pick.“The Covenant of Water,” published Tuesday, is Verghese’s first work of fiction since his million-selling “Cutting for Stone” came out in 2009. Verghese’s current book is a multigenerational saga set in India from 1900-1977.“This is one of the top five books I’ve read in my lifetime. And I’ve been reading since I was 3,” Winfrey said in a statement. “It’s epic. It’s transportive. Many moments during the read I had to stop and remember to breathe. I couldn’t put the book down until the very last page — it was unputdownable!”Verghese said in a statement that receiving the call from Winfrey, the dream of countless authors, felt like a “miracle.” “My thoughts were racing back through the decade-plus of writing ‘The Covenant of Water,’ during which time my mother died, and Covid had descended on us,” he said. “After we hung up I r...

Ugandan lawmakers pass new version of tough anti-gay bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday passed a new version of an anti-gay bill that removes a clause which appeared to criminalize identifying as LGBTQ.President Yoweri Museveni last month returned the bill back to the national assembly, asking for changes that differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ and actually engaging in homosexual acts. Homosexuality is already illegal in the East African country under a colonial-era law criminalizing sex acts “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.The new law prescribes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people.A suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” can be jailed for 14 years and the offense of “attempted homosexuality” is punishable by up to 10 years, according to the bill.Although the law would no longer cri...

Body of missing MMA fighter found in Schaumburg

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The body of a missing MMA fighter was found Monday night in Schaumburg.Trevon Lawson, of Aurora, was found dead at around 7:15 p.m. near a hotel in the 1500 block of North Roselle Road.He was reported missing to the media on Monday and was last seen in Schaumburg on April 16. Lawson did not report to work the next day.He was a member of the Carlson Gracie Team and was recently named The Ignite MMA 155 pound champion, family said.Lawson also went by Tre or his stage name "The Last Shinobi."

Woman finds newlyweds in candid wedding pictures outside of Bucktown bar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago woman was able to find newlyweds after snapping candid pictures of them kissing while taking their wedding pictures outside of Map Room.On Saturday afternoon during a rainy day, Kate Byrne noticed her dog reacted to bagpipes going off outside and she thought to herself "what's going on?"After throwing open the window shade, she was delighted to find a wedding party, complete with an entire bagpipe procession, walking toward the Bucktown bar and café Map Room."The song ended and I noticed them take a bunch of photos and I was like 'I better take some pics," Byrne recalled.One of them catches the couple mid-kiss.What seemed like an obstacle at the time turned out to be a cool effect as Byrne snapped the pictures, which took place at 12:56 p.m., through her window screen. Courtesy Kate ByrneCourtesy Kate Byrne"At first I thought 'oh this is kind of blurry,'" Byrne said. "But the more I looked at it, I thought 'this is kinda 'vintage-y.''"Byrne assumed the newlyweds ...

Northern lights could appear again in some US states, forecast shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - Residents living in northern U.S. states may have a chance to see the northern lights Tuesday night, according to current forecasts. It marks yet another night in less than two weeks that the northern states could spot the auroras, though they likely won't be as strong as those caused by a geomagnetic storm last week. That event was sparked by a coronal mass ejection and a minor solar flare that activated a geomagnetic storm watch. It also sent the northern lights flowing across the night skies as far south as Alabama and northern California. Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are explosions of plasma and magnetic material from the sun that can reach Earth in as little as 15 to 18 hours, NOAA explains. Solar flares and CMEs (which can occur at the same time) can impact navigation, communication and radio signals on Earth, and CMEs are able to create a stunning show in the night sky. According to NASA, CMEs can create currents in Earth’s magnetic fields that send particles ...

White House to end COVID-19 vaccine requirement for international travelers, others next week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:46:14 GMT

(The Hill) -- The Biden administration will end its COVID-19 vaccine requirements for international travelers and various workplaces next week, the White House announced Monday, a move that will coincide with the end of the public health emergency related to the coronavirus.The decision to wind down the requirements comes roughly two years after the administration first announced the mandates for international travelers and federal employees and contractors. The move may ultimately have minimal impact once it is enacted. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week announced that international travelers who had received a single dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine would fulfill the testing requirement.Meanwhile, federal courts had blocked the vaccine mandate for federal workers since January 2022.An appeals court in December ruled the White House could not require federal contractors to mandate that their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19. Loneliness decl...