President Biden has awarded eight public safety officers and firefighters with the Medal of Valor, the nation's highest honor for bravery by a public safety officer. Among the eight were three NYPD officers, including a rookie cop who took down a gunman who killed two other officers. During the ceremony at the White House, President Biden said, "Nobody wants to receive an award like this in the kind of tragedy these folks went through, but they acted and they acted heroically."
The Nuggets defeated the Lakers 132-126 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals thanks to a historic triple-double (34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists) from Denver center Nikola Jokic. The Lakers came back from a 21-point deficit but could not complete the rally, despite a 40-point, 10-rebound game from Anthony Davis. Michael Porter Jr scored 15 points and had 10 boards for the Nuggets and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points for the Lakers. Game two is at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday night.
Cincinnati Reds beat Colorado Rockies 3-1 at Coors Field in Denver. The match saw newly-promoted rookie pitcher Brandon Williamson make his major league debut, striking out six in 5 2/3 innings, although he conceded a home run to Ezequiel Tovar in the sixth inning. Williamson was replaced in the seventh inning, before his team fought back to win with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth. Williamson was also one of several players to be promoted from Triple-A Louisville by the Reds following a Covid-19-related outbreak among coaches and a member of staff.
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have overruled a veto by Governor Roy Cooper to pass legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy in the state. Members of the party claimed the limits were a middle ground as the state already bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy without rape or incest caveats. The votes were part of a wider shift on the issue across the US, with lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska also considering new abortion limits. The North Carolina law will include rape or incest exceptions through 20 weeks of pregnancy and exceptions for "life-limiting" fetal anomalies during the first 24 weeks. The bans are possible as in 2020 the US Supreme Court struck down landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade which had established a nationwide right to abortion.
Sayfullo Saipov, the Uzbek man convicted of killing eight people and injuring dozens more in a 2017 attack in New York City, is to be sentenced to life in prison without parole. He drove a rented truck down a bike path crowded with cyclists and pedestrians in what prosecutors described as an attempt to gain membership of Islamic State. The sentence was made automatic after a jury deadlocked on whether he should be given the death penalty. Twenty-five survivors of the attack and family members of those who died will give statements at the sentencing hearing. Most of the speakers will travel from Argentina and Belgium and will have translators if required. The hearing is in New York City, where the attack took place; Saipov will be held in Colorado’s Supermax facility. The case was the first federal death penalty trial since President Joe Biden took office and pledged to end capital punishment.
On election night in America this week, the biggest news was the Republican defeat in mayoral races in Jacksonville, Florida and Colorado Springs, where the Republicans have long been the dominant party. Democrats were upbeat elsewhere in special elections, having begun to over-perform since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade 11 months ago, and this most recent election has confirmed that trend. There were also several state legislative races whose outcomes closely mirrored the results of the 2020 elections when the Democrats had a good year.
Republicans appeared to have been over-performing in special elections prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but the trend flipped quickly on a dime. Since that moment, Democrats overperformed their 2020 margins in all five special congressional elections and they have continued to do so as these recent elections have confirmed.
Although this is still a relatively small quantity of races, the 2023 results thus far indicate that Republicans have failed to correct their issues, while the Democrats have maintained a consistent level of performance. In the 2018 and 2020 elections, and now in 2023, the Democrats have secured some of the best results for a president’s party in the last century, leaving the Republicans with much work to do if they wish to regain lost ground.
North Carolina's Republican-controlled Legislature has successfully overturned the Democratic governor's veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, a major win for Republican legislators. The new limits will take effect on July 1, and state law currently bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest. The Carolinas, Florida, and Virginia are now the primary destinations in the region for those seeking legal abortions. This move is one of several recent efforts to limit access to abortion throughout the US. This week, lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska considered similar bills that would create further restrictions on abortion. Nationally, bans on abortion throughout pregnancy are in effect in 14 states since the Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion. Farther west, women often travel to Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico or Colorado.
Yemi Mobolade has been named the winner in the Colorado Springs mayoral race, becoming the first elected Black mayor in the city. Mobolade, an independent candidate, led Tuesday’s election runoff by double digits ahead of Republican and former Colorado Secretary of State, Wayne Williams. His campaign promises include investments in infrastructure and small businesses among others. The city has seen significant demographic change with over one-third of residents now being non-white. Mobolade will succeed John Suthers, the former Colorado attorney general.
Toronto basketball star Toby Fournier has committed to Duke University. The player, aged 17, who has caught the eye with her skill and dunking ability, drew interest from several top US universities, but announced her decision to join the Blue Devils on Wednesday. Fournier’s announcement came less than a month after former Duke basketball player and top Canadian prospect Shayeann Day-Wilson revealed she was transferring to Miami. Fournier will follow in the footsteps of Day-Wilson, who spent two years with the Blue Devils.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Minnesota Twins 7-3 on Wednesday, thanks in part to a go-ahead grand-slam from James Outman. The Dodgers were trailing 3-2 in the seventh before scoring five runs, all with two outs. The victory keeps the reigning champions on course for another title. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks won their fifth game in six, defeating the Oakland Athletics 5-3, despite their bullpen allowing another late lead. The San Francisco Giants swept the Phillies with a 7-4 win, while the Rockies convincingly defeated the Reds 11-6.
The Colorado Rockies recovered from a five-run deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds 11-6 thanks to a two-inning, 11-run outburst that included three RBIs from Elias Díaz and two each from Kris Bryant, Jurickson Profar and Brenton Doyle. The Rockies scored five times in the fifth inning and again in the sixth, during which the team sent 19 batters to the plate and recorded 10 hits. Backup catcher Luke Maile homered and drove in two runs for the Reds before the visitors lost momentum to slip to a 2-4 trip for the day.
Teens Avery Zweig and Gianna Clemente win US Women’s Amateur 4-Ball
The Toronto Star
23-05-18 03:58
Avery Zweig and Gianna Clemente have won the US Women's Amateur Four-Ball Championship, beating Tiffany Le and Kate Villegas 3-1 at The Home Course. Avery, 16, and Gianna, 15, overcame an early two-hole deficit to win the championship and earned exemptions into the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Girls’ Junior.
The Biden administration is seeking to approve renewable-energy projects on America's public lands in a bid to decarbonise fast enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change. America's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which has long issued permits for oil and gas drilling, manages 245 million acres of America's lands. The BLM's underfunding and staff shortages, as well as land-use conflicts arising from an increasingly difficult mission to balance extraction, recreation and conservation as well as deployments of renewables have made achieving its clean-energy transition goal challenging.
Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic State supporter responsible for the deadliest terror attack in New York since 9/11, has been given 10 consecutive life sentences and 260 years in prison. Saipov killed eight people when he drove a truck at pedestrians and cyclists on a Manhattan street in 2017. Confronted by victims’ families during sentencing, Saipov demonstrated “sheer unrepentant nature”, according to US District Judge Vernon Broderick. Saipov, 35, was hoping the atrocity would earn him membership of the extremist group.
No Canada, but the NHL's final four could still be fun
CBC
23-05-18 20:17
The NHL Conference Finals will open this week and the competing teams have resulted in the league billing it as the "southernmost" final four ever as all of the semifinalists are based in Sun Belt states. These comprise Carolina, Dallas, Las Vegas and Florida. None of these teams have been in their current locations for more than 30 years, and the Golden Knights are just five years old. The four franchises have combined to win only two Stanley Cups.
Emissions from wildfires in 2021 produced more greenhouse gases than the oil and gas sector and heavy industry combined, resulting in a total estimated carbon footprint of 270 million tonnes. However, they weren't included when Canada tallied its total emissions because they are not directly under human control. This has called attention to a growing concern regarding the increased number and intensity of wildfires in a world impacted by climate change. The pollution from wildfires not only impacts climate change but also results in reduced air quality, affecting areas far beyond where the wildfires occur.
Global warming, coupled with society's increasing use of water, is causing a decline in lake sizes by trillions of gallons per year, a new study has revealed. Analysis of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes found they are shrinking at a rate of roughly 5.7 trillion gallons per year — equivalent to the loss of 17 Lake Meads, the US' largest reservoir, in Nevada, between 1992 and 2020. Even lakes in areas receiving more rainfall are shrinking due to water diversion for agriculture, power plants and drinking supplies and changing rainfall patterns and river runoff.
Hailey Van Lith, the LSU women's basketball player, is among eight players who have been announced as members of USA Basketball's 3x3 World Cup team. The tournament is set to take place in Austria at the end of May, and Van Lith will be joined by Stanford's Cameron Brink and Linnae Harper, as well as Cierra Burdick, a three-time 3x3 World Cup player. The USA's men's team, which features four players who won gold at the AmeriCup last November, will be coached by Joe Lewandowski.
Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis and coach Dave Hakstol have received messages from their players that getting to the playoffs and making a run was great, but there was a missed opportunity to do something really special with the season. Making the playoffs was significant for the second-year franchise, but there was a bitter taste left behind from falling to Dallas. "We think we’ve got a good group and we’re headed in the right direction," said Francis. The team has 10 draft picks and is expected to have a chunk of space under the salary cap in the offseason.
Global warming and human activity are the primary reasons why over half of the world's lakes have shrunk, according to a study by an international research team published in the journal Science. The report focused on the need for water management solutions and called for an effort to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Researchers found that some of the world's critical freshwater sources had lost water at a cumulative rate of around 22 gigatonnes per year for nearly three decades. However, the primary reason for this loss was human consumption or indirect human signals through climate warming.
