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Imagine LA Hosts Dance Competition to Help End Family Poverty and Homelessness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

Image Credit: Pretend PhotographyImagine LA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending family poverty, hosted a ballroom dance competition fundraiser featuring celebrities and prominent community members. Dancing with the Imagine LA Stars was held on November 15, 2023, at 7 pm at Say Yes on Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood.Image Credit: Pretend PhotographyProduced by renowned choreographers Allen Walls and Jennifer Berry along with Imagine LA’s Emerging Leaders Advisory Board, the event brought together ten celebrities to compete in showstopping ballroom dance routines including salsa, tango, chacha, hustle, and more. The star performers were a group of actors, pro sports players, singers, and other prominent LA figures. Ciara Riley Wilson and Tricia Fukuharaare actresses who can be seen on Netflix and ABC. Drew Davis is a former pro football player for the Atlanta Falcons and Michael Blanks is a fitness coach for professional athletes. Other performers included country singer Laura Br...

Bay Area couple races to Israel to embrace sister freed from Gaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

It took 58 days for Yael Nidam to hear the news she’d been desperately hoping for since the Hamas terror attacks in Israel.The UC Berkeley doctoral student’s sister-in-law, Rimon Buchshtav Kirsht, was being released — nearly two months after being kidnapped from her southern Israel home.“We didn’t have a long conversation, because it was very obvious that the first thing we needed to do was get on the next plane over,” said Nidam, speaking of the hurried trans-Atlantic call with her mother-in-law in Israel.Within hours, Nidam and her husband, Lotem Kirsht, were catching the next flight from San Francisco to Israel. By Wednesday afternoon, they were holding Kirsht’s sister, Rimon — who’d been relocated to a hospital room in Tel Aviv — in their arms.“We went directly from the airport to the hospital,” Nidam said Thursday in an interview with the Bay Area News Group. “And once I saw her, I gave her the biggest hug I could ever give.”The hug was long,...

Report: LeBron James’ business manager said he bet on NBA games through illegal bookie

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

Maverick Carter, LeBron James’ business partner, told federal investigators he bet on NBA games through an illegal bookie, The Washington Post reported Thursday.Carter made his remarks during an interview as part of an investigation of bookie Wayne Nix, according to the Post’s report. It said that Carter could not remember placing any bets on the Lakers, the team James has played for since 2018.Carter and James, the NBA’s career scoring leader, are friends from Akron, Ohio, who together own SpringHill Company, an entertainment and production company.The Post reported that Carter told investigators he placed approximately 20 bets on football and basketball games over the course of a year, with each bet ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. A spokesman for Carter and James confirmed the interview occurred in 2021.“Mr. Carter was not the target of the investigation, cooperated, was never charged, and never contacted again on the matter,” spokesman Adam Mendelsohn said in a ...

Scotland bids farewell to its giant pandas, who are returning to China after a 12-year stay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Visitors to the Edinburgh Zoo had their final chance to see and bid farewell Thursday to a pair of popular giant pandas who are returning home to China after more than a decade in Scotland. Yang Guang and Tian Tian are leaving in early December after a 12-year stay. They have been a popular attraction since people lined the road outside the zoo to greet them when they arrived in 2011.They are the latest pandas to leave the West after exchange agreements have expired and not been renewed by China.The only U.S. zoo with pandas is in Atlanta and its agreement expires next year. Washington’s National Zoo sent its three pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji — to China earlier in November. The black and white bears at the San Diego Zoo were sent home in 2019 and the remaining panda at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee returned earlier this year. Veteran China-watchers have speculated that the People’s Republic is gradually pulling its bears from Ame...

Jaguars hope to shine against Bengals on ‘Monday Night Football’ after 12-year drought in TV spot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Josh Allen remembers the moment he heard the Jacksonville Jaguars would be playing on “Monday Night Football.” He was working out in Arizona in May and picked up his phone to scroll through highlights of the 2023 schedule.“I screamed,” the pass rusher recalled Thursday.It meant that much to Allen. The primetime showcase might mean even more to the small-market franchise. The Jaguars (8-3) will return to the coveted spot for the first time in a dozen years when they host the reeling Cincinnati Bengals (5-6) to end the Week 13 schedule.Every team in the league has played on “Monday Night Football” at least seven times since Jacksonville’s 38-14 home loss to Philip Rivers and the then-San Diego Chargers on Dec. 5, 2011. Six teams — Chicago, New Orleans, the New York Giants, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle — have each played more than 20 times on “MNF” since.The Jaguars, meanwhile, kept getting overlooked — even after making the AFC title game in the 20...

¿Te dijo un familiar algo grosero? Así debes responder, según los expertos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

(CNN) — La mesa está puesta, los amigos y la familia se acercan y ya sabes qué comentarios o preguntas te van a hacer.Puede que los comentarios se refieran a la comida, el peso, el dinero, las relaciones, la carrera profesional o los hijos… Sea cual sea el tema, la situación en la que te encuentres no es inusual.Para muchas personas, las fiestas no son necesariamente la época más alegre, a menudo porque anticipamos conflictos o interrogatorios inapropiados, dice la Dra. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, psicóloga establecida en Connecticut.¿Por qué salir de compras se siente como una adicción durante las festividades? Expertos lo explicanPero en lugar de enfurecerse en silencio o arremeter contra alguien, recomienda establecer límites.Establecer límites puede parecer el comienzo de una pelea, pero es solo una forma de comunicar cuáles son tus necesidades y con qué estás de acuerdo, dijo Kami Orange, un coach de límites con sede en el sur de Utah.Los límites son difíciles, sin embar...

Bulls stars LaVine, DeRozan miss game against Bucks because of injuries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago stars Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan missed the Bulls’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday because of injuries.LaVine was ruled out because of a sore right foot. DeRozan, who was a game-time decision, sat out with a sprained left ankle, leaving the Bulls without their two best players.LaVine, averaging 21 points, exited Chicago’s blowout loss at Boston on Tuesday. Coach Billy Donovan wasn’t sure how much time the two-time All-Star will miss.“I know he’s going to be out tonight, but that’s really kind of all I have at this point in time,” he said. “It’s just something that I think flared up for him in the Boston game and is still dealing with the soreness.”Guard Alex Caruso was available after being listed as questionable with a strained left toe. Chicago was 5-14 with five straight losses heading into the game. ___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBASource

More Israeli hostages freed and more Palestinian prisoners released under tenuous Gaza truce

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

A man smiles as he is welcomed after being released from prison by Israel, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, early Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. International mediators on Wednesday worked to extend the truce in Gaza, encouraging Hamas militants to keep freeing hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further relief from Israel's air and ground offensive. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)(AP/Nasser Nasser) A man smiles as he is welcomed after being released from prison by Israel, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, early Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. International mediators on Wednesday worked to extend the truce in Gaza, encouraging Hamas militants to keep freeing hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further relief from Israel's...

Bennet: US must disincentivize migrant-smuggling gangs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Hundreds of migrants are currently staying in Denver shelters after nearly 29,000 asylum seekers came to the Mile High City in the last year. The influx has caused the city of Denver to spend more than $32 million in support. The federal government has reimbursed fewer than a million dollars, although it has promised up to $9 million in aid. Polis calls for local property tax relief U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet talked about the issue this week on “Colorado Point of View.”"We will continue to fight as we always have for communities that need that kind of reimbursement," the Democrat said.But he also looked ahead to long-term solutions."We've got to recognize that there is now a billions of dollar enterprise of these mostly Mexican gangs that are smuggling people from all over the world to the southern border of the United States," Bennet said.Bennet: US needs 'rational immigration process'He argues the federal government will need to disincentivize those gangs, adding i...

December brings arts explosion to SoFlo with events in Miami, Opa-locka aiming to draw big crowds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:14:50 GMT

It’s that time of year again, when the art world and everyone associated with it descends upon Miami. Now, it might not be Art Basel, dahling, but there will be tons of events happening over the next few days — and since there are so many choices but so little time, Deco’s got a roundup that will make your choice on where to go a little easier.And the art beat goes on — as in Art Beat Miami.Marie Louissaint: “There’s musical performances, there’s beautiful sculptures, a great art gallery at every location. We’re at Brightline Miami, downtown and Overtown, we’re in Liberty City, we’re at the Caribbean Marketplace in Little Haiti.”And you can get your art, food, fashion and music on for five days.Haitian band Strings can’t wait to entertain the masses.Olivier Ambroise: “We play flamenco tropical. It comes from traditional Haitian rhythms and Spanish flamenco guitars. It’s very guitar heavy, very instru...