234+89

234+89 FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — Nyle Ralph-Beyer's 20 points helped Sacred Heart defeat Division III-member Manhattanville 100-60 on Sunday. Ralph-Beyer also had five rebounds for the Pioneers (5-8, 1-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). Anquan Hill scored 18 points and added seven rebounds. Griffin Barrouk had 16 points and went 5 of 8 from the field (4 for 7 from 3-point range). Andrew Saint-Louis led the Valiants in scoring, finishing with 26 points. John Ranaghan added 10 points for Manhattanville. Don Mays Jr. also had eight points. Sacred Heart hosts Canisius in its next matchup on Sunday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .That bowl berth against Iowa State is a let-down for fans with dreams of a sixth national title in their minds, as well as players hoping to compete for a championship. However, Miami’s trip to Orlando and the lead-up to it are still crucial periods for the Hurricanes for multiple reasons. First, it’s a chance for the program to achieve something it has not done in more than two decades: win 11 games. Although the 11th win won’t get them closer to a championship, it is a good sign of the program’s progress over Mario Cristobal’s tenure. It would also end UM’s five-game losing streak in bowls. “We’re not satisfied,” Cristobal said. “We want to win every single game. We won 10. We were close on the other two, but close isn’t good enough. We want progress. We’re hungry and driven to get better, and so that’s what our focus is on: to improving as a football program, to getting better, to moving into the postseason with an opportunity against a great football team like this and putting our best on the field.” There are signs the Hurricanes will show up at close to full strength for the bowl game. Running back Damien Martinez announced he was going to play, and star quarterback Cam Ward said in a video call posted on social media that he intends to play, as well. “We’re trying to win our first bowl game in 20 years,” Ward said in the video, mistaking the length of UM’s long bowl losing streak. “We’re going hard.” Playing in the bowl game also provides the opportunity for the Hurricanes to get in several practices between now and the game. That means Miami can develop its young players and prepare them for next season during both the practices and the bowl game itself. “It’s extremely valuable,” Cristobal said. “You really don’t have many opportunities throughout the course of the year — time is limited more and more each season with your student-athletes. I want to state this and be very clear: it’s very important, it’s ultra-important for the University of Miami to continue to develop and grow and progress by stressing the importance of offseason opportunities ... You learn a lot about your team and learn a lot about your people and your program when you head to the postseason.” Of course, there are potential negatives. Players can get hurt; Mark Fletcher Jr. suffered a foot injury in the Pinstripe Bowl last year that cost him all of spring practice. A poor performance can also potentially set the tone for next season, like how Florida State, fresh off a playoff snub last year, suffered a devastating loss against Georgia in the Orange Bowl and went on to a dismal 2-10 season this year. “This is the ending of ’24 and the beginning of ’25,” Cristobal said. “This is the last opportunity to be on the field and carry some momentum into the offseason. So it is, in essence, it is the most important game because it’s the next game. “There’s a lot of excitement in the form of opportunity for our guys. Our guys love to play football. The chance to play one more time with this special group — this is a special group of guys now. They’ve worked hard to really change the trajectory of the University of Miami, and they want to continue to elevate the status and the culture at the University of Miami. So certainly a ton to play for.” ____Social Security Prepares a New Year’s Eve Gift for Retirees – A Check of $967 Will Be Paid to Their Accounts

Great news for people who can't get enough of the Kelces -- Jason 's wife, Kylie , is getting into the podcast game ... promising not to hold back with her very own show. The 32-year-old announced the new "Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce" show on Monday ... which was put together by Wave Sports And Entertainment -- the same company that runs Jason and Travis ' popular "New Heights" show that just landed a $100 million payday. In the announcement trailer , Kylie joked about how it took her some time to come up with the name for her show -- saying "Yet Another Kelce Show" and "F*** Around And Find Out" landed on the cutting room floor. The execs over at Wave are pumped to add another Kelce to the roster ... with EVP of Original Content Tunde St. Matthew-Daniel saying, "From social media to commercials to her fan-favorite cameos on 'New Heights,' Kylie's refreshing candor, sharp wit and relatability has consistently resonated with a global audience." "'Not Gonna Lie' will bring more of that Kylie authenticity we all know and love, and we’re beyond thrilled she chose Wave as her home for this series." While the soon-to-be mother of four said she is shocked to be starting a podcast, she explained that with everyone seemingly infatuated with the family as of late ... it's best people hear directly from her. Plenty of people were pumped by the announcement... and that includes her brother-in-law -- as the Chiefs' star tight end said, "We need more!!!!!!👏🏽👏🏽" Kylie is no stranger to the microphone ... as she appeared on an episode of "New Heights" back in 2023 ... which has 8.2 million views. There is no word on any potential guests ... but one can imagine the Kelce bros will swing by eventually -- and maybe even Taylor Swift ? 👀17 photos from Alex Salmond Edinburgh memorial as The Proclamiers and Elaine C Smith attendReactions to Daniel Perry’s acquittal Monday in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard an F train last year were sharply divided, with some calling the former Marine a hero who intervened to save fearful straphangers and others saying he was a vigilante who killed a vulnerable Black man in the throes of a mental health crisis. During the trial, prosecutors said Penny perhaps initially acted with good intent, but that he crossed the line by holding Neely in a chokehold for far too long. Penny’s lawyers, on the other hand, portrayed him as a good Samaritan being unfairly punished for trying to help fellow passengers through a frightening moment when the homeless man entered the train in what several said was a threatening manner. “There’s a desire of New Yorkers to always respond when they believe it’s necessary, and I don’t believe that’s going to change in any way,” Mayor Adams said at his weekly press briefing Monday. “This is not the first time and I’m sure it’s not going to be the last time that individuals take action that people are going to question. “We should have been standing up for those passengers,” the mayor said. “That’s what we should have done for the city, and standing up for those passengers means addressing the mental health crisis we have in the city, and not just waiting until incidents like this happen.” Adams also reiterated the need for help from city and state lawmakers to fix the “broken” mental health system . “We need help in Albany and in the City Council, we can’t sit back and mourn the loss of someone that is caught up in the system, and we’re not taking the action every day,” Adams said. “But a jury of his peers heard the case, all the facts and all the evidence and made a decision, and I join DA [Alvin] Bragg in stating that I respect the process.” A Manhattan jury found Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Neely on Monday morning after days of deliberations, following the dismissal of a manslaughter charge on Friday after jurors said they couldn’t come to an agreement. Moments after the jury’s verdict was read, protesters gathered outside Manhattan Supreme Court. Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, said outside the courthouse that America “has failed” Neely and his supporters. “This system protects every other group except for the very group that built this country,” Newsome said. “Every group that comes here gets benefits, gets privileges except for the very people whose fingerprints are on the bricks that built this country. There is no love for Black people. There’s no love in the system. How can you make a moral appeal to a people that have no moral code? How can you preach love to racists?” For Eric Garner’s mother , Gwen Carr, the verdict was a reminder of past injustices against Black victims. “It’s two justice systems, and we have to stop this, and the only way we can stop is to stand together, those of us who are against what happened, we have to speak up,” said Carr, whose son died after being placed in an illegal chokehold by a Staten Island cop in 2014. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, took to social media following Monday’s verdict. “Great news for Daniel and America,” he wrote. “He’s a hero who saved lives. That trial should’ve NEVER HAPPENED in the first place.” City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams called the not guilty verdict a “stain to a city and to people who look like Jordan.” “You cannot be allowed to choke people to death, and you shouldn’t be allowed to do that with absolutely no consequences, and that’s what occurred here, and everybody should be worried about that,” Williams told the Daily News at City Hall. Williams laid some blame for the verdict on politicians who have defended Penny — and took particular aim at the mayor over remarks last week that Penny was “doing what we should have done as a city.” “Based on those comments, I’m sure [Adams] is excited for this devaluing of someone’s life that had a lot of value and who literally said he was hungry,” Williams said, calling that comment “disgusting.” City Council Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan, Bronx), chairwoman of the committee that oversees the city’s homeless shelter system, slammed the not guilty verdict as a “miscarriage of justice” and criticized the mayor and other politicians for standing up for Penny. “They tainted that conversation,” Ayala said of other politicians. “It was never a fair trial.” “We have a mental health crisis in the city, and it’s not a nice feeling to be on the receiving end of those encounters,” Ayala said. “Sometimes they can be really scary and I get that and I think that he was heroic in attempting to be helpful, but what he did was involuntary manslaughter and he should have been held accountable for that.” Assemblyman and mayoral challenger Zohran Mamdani, in a statement, also called out the city’s mental health system. “Today’s verdict is not justice – nor was his killer a hero. This tragedy lays bare decades of policy failure that can no longer be tolerated,” Mamdani (D-Queens) said, calling for more crisis intervention programs, community-based mental health services and housing.

Men lose 17 minutes of life with every cigarette they smoke while a woman’s life is cut short by 22 minutes with each cigarette, experts have estimated. This is more than previous estimates, which suggest that each cigarette shortens a smoker’s life by 11 minutes. The new estimates, which suggest that each cigarette leads to 20 minutes loss of live on average across both genders, are based on more up-to-date figures from long-term studies tracking the health of the population. Researchers from University College London said that the harm caused by smoking is “cumulative” and the sooner a person stops smoking, and the more cigarettes they avoid smoking, the longer they live. The new analysis, commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care, suggests that if a 10-cigarettes-a-day smoker quits on January 1, then by January 8 they could “prevent loss of a full day of life”. By February 20, their lives could be extended by a whole week. And if their quitting is successful until August 5, they will likely live for a whole month longer than if they had continued to smoke. The authors added: “Studies suggest that smokers typically lose about the same number of healthy years as they do total years of life. Make 2025 the year you quit smoking for good. There’s lots of free support available to help you. Find out more 🔽 https://t.co/J0ehnoRM1D pic.twitter.com/LQpUp6HJBm — WHH 🏥 (@WHHNHS) December 27, 2024 “Thus smoking primarily eats into the relatively healthy middle years rather than shortening the period at the end of life, which is often marked by chronic illness or disability. “So a 60-year-old smoker will typically have the health profile of a 70-year-old non-smoker.” The analysis, to be published in the Journal of Addiction, concludes: “We estimate that on average, smokers in Britain who do not quit lose approximately 20 minutes of life expectancy for each cigarette they smoke. “This is time that would likely be spent in relatively good health. “Stopping smoking at every age is beneficial but the sooner smokers get off this escalator of death the longer and healthier they can expect their lives to be.” Dr Sarah Jackson, principal research fellow from the UCL Alcohol and Tobacco Research Group, said: “It is vital that people understand just how harmful smoking is and how much quitting can improve their health and life expectancy. “The evidence suggests people lose, on average, around 20 minutes of life for each cigarette they smoke. “The sooner a person stops smoking, the longer they live. “Quitting at any age substantially improves health and the benefits start almost immediately. “It’s never too late to make a positive change for your health and there are a range of effective products and treatments that can help smokers quit for good.” There are so many reasons to quit smoking this New Year – for your health, for more money, and for your family. Make a fresh quit for 2025 – find tips and support at https://t.co/GyLk65o8kS or https://t.co/iW6WLxTL00 pic.twitter.com/KxPZ5N378y — North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (@NTeesHpoolNHSFT) December 27, 2024 Health officials have said that smokers can find advice, support and resources with the NHS Quit Smoking app, as well as the online Personal Quit Plan. Public health minister Andrew Gwynne said: “Smoking is an expensive and deadly habit and these findings reveal the shocking reality of this addiction, highlighting how important it is to quit. “The new year offers a perfect chance for smokers to make a new resolution and take that step.” Commenting on the paper, Professor Sanjay Agrawal, special adviser on tobacco at the Royal College of Physicians, said: “Every cigarette smoked costs precious minutes of life, and the cumulative impact is devastating, not only for individuals but also for our healthcare system and economy. “This research is a powerful reminder of the urgent need to address cigarette smoking as the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the UK.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday he had an “excellent conversation” with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club after the president-elect's threat to impose significant tariffs on two of America’s leading trade partners raised alarms in Ottawa and Mexico City . It was unclear, as Trudeau headed back to Canada from Florida, whether the conversation had alleviated Trump’s concerns. A person familiar with the details of the leaders' hastily arranged meeting Friday night said it was a “positive wide-ranging dinner that lasted three hours.” The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said topics included trade, border security, fentanyl, defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast and pipelines, as well as the the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year. The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January. As he was leaving his West Palm Beach hotel, Trudeau stopped briefly to answer a reporter’s question about the dinner meeting, saying it was "an excellent conversation." Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions about what the leaders had discussed. Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election. "Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold move was in order. Perhaps it was a risk, but a risk worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. Among those at the dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for commerce secretary; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, in line to lead the Interior Department; and Mike Waltz, Trump's choice to be his national security adviser. Accompanying Trudeau were Canada's public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, and Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff. Trudeau had said earlier Friday that he would resolve the tariffs issue by talking to Trump. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said a day earlier after speaking with Trump that she is confident a tariff war with the United States will be averted. Trudeau said Trump got elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now he's talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada. “It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said before his leaving for Florida. “Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added. To Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, Trump "doesn’t need convincing that new tariffs on Canadian products would not be in U.S. interests. He knows that, but cannot say it because it would detract from what he has said publicly. His goal is to project the image that he gets action when he talks.” Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries. Trump made the tariff threat Monday while citing an influx of migrants entering the country illegally, even though the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to those at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also spoke about fentanyl from Mexico and Canada, even though seizures from the Canadian border are few in comparison to the Mexican border. Canadian officials say lumping Canada in with Mexico is unfair but say they are ready to make new investments in border security. When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. ___ Gillies reported from Toronto.

LONDON (AP) — West Ham players showed their support for seriously injured teammate Michail Antonio before and during their Premier League home win against Wolverhampton on Monday, two days after his car crash. The players warmed up in “Antonio 9” jerseys and walked on to the field in tops adorning his name. The club will put the walk-out tops up for auction along with every match jersey worn against Wolves, with the proceeds going to medical charities and matched by the club’s board. West Ham fans stood in London Stadium and applauded for Antonio in the ninth, and when captain Jarrod Bowen scored the 2-1 winner in the second half, he approached supporters behind the goal carrying an Antonio jersey. “To share that moment, he's not here with us but I'm sure (Antonio) was watching and the fans, you heard them,” Bowen told broadcaster Sky Sports. “An emotional couple of days.” Before the game, Bowen said, “Everyone loves Mic, he is a big character. “He is not just a teammate, he is a friend and has been for many years. A dad as well to beautiful children. It is one of those things where life is bigger than football. The main thing is Mic is safe and well and here to tell the story. Saturday was a really difficult time. He is a warrior and a fighter, he always has been, and I know he will be back stronger for this." Antonio, a 34-year-old Jamaica international, was recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery on what West Ham described as a “lower limb fracture.” He was involved in a one-car incident outside London on Saturday, after which he was hospitalized and kept under close supervision. He wished the team well by video before the match. Antonio has made more than 300 appearances for West Ham since joining the club from Nottingham Forest in 2015, and played in all 14 games this season before the incident. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer The Associated Press