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Mike Preston’s Ravens observations on Zay Flowers, Lamar Jackson, players bulking up and more | COMMENTARY

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

It’s early and the Ravens have only had a few voluntary workouts, but rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers looks explosive.The first-round draft pick out of Boston College has shown great acceleration going in and out of his breaks and appears tough for a 5-foot-9, 182-pound receiver. He can play inside in the slot or outside as a vertical threat.In his senior season in college, Flowers had 78 catches for 1,077 yards and 12 touchdowns. It’s easy to see why the Ravens put so much faith in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native.Veteran receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has yet to practice with the team, but Flowers and third-year wideout Rashod Bateman looked good in the practice that was open to the media Wednesday.After those two, there was a drop-off, including free agent addition Nelson Agholor. Maybe he’ll show more in training camp.There’s only one ballNow that the Ravens have weapons like Beckham, Flowers and Bateman, I wonder how tight end Mark Andrews will react wh...

Lamar Jackson returns to Ravens OTAs, says he’s loving Todd Monken’s offense: ‘Running can only take you so far’

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

Lamar Jackson’s reasons for being at the Ravens’ voluntary organized team activities Wednesday were simple.“Just wanted to learn the new offense and get with my guys,” he said, adding that he plans to attend the other sessions that will take place over the next three weeks in Owings Mills. He found humor in the fervor over when or if his arrival would take place during the voluntary portion of the offseason.Participation in the practices, after all, isn’t required and not every player was there, though attendance was high for Wednesday’s portion that was open to the media.But the appearance of Jackson, who arrived ahead of Tuesday’s practice, also marked an important step forward for the 26-year-old quarterback and the organization. It was his first time participating in football activities with the team since he suffered a knee injury against the Denver Broncos on Dec. 4 and was his first appearance at the team’s facility since signin...

Boston University and Travis Roy Foundation create fund for scholars studying paralysis, spinal cord injuries

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

Boston University and the Travis Roy Foundation have created a scholarship fund that honors the life and legacy of the late Travis Roy, providing awards to BU scholars studying paralysis and spinal cord injuries.Roy, a promising freshman BU hockey player, was paralyzed 11 seconds into the first hockey game of his college career.With the help of rehab professionals, he returned to the university 10 months after his injury, earned a degree in communications, and began a career as a motivational speaker while helping others living with paralysis. In 2020, Roy died after being a quadriplegic for 25 years.Now, BU’s Sargent College and the Travis Roy Foundation — which Roy launched in 1996 — have created the Travis M. Roy Endowed Scholarship Fund, established through a $1 million gift from the foundation.“This is a tangible living legacy to Trav’s life and impact, pursuing his quest for ‘how good can I be’ and enabling Sargent’s programs and...

Advocates want to unlink MCAS scores from high school graduation requirements

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

Linking standardized test scores to the ability to graduate from public high schools in Massachusetts is “punitive and destructive” for students, an organization backing a proposal to scrap the MCAS from student graduation requirements said Wednesday.Advocates with the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance argue there is no correlation between a state having a graduation exam requirement and overall academic performance. And the group wants state lawmakers to pass a bill that instead requires local school districts to certify tenth graders’ mastery of math, science and technology, and English.“If you are going to test us, help us, give us the resources and the tools,” Vatsady Sivongxay, executive director of the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, said at a press conference. “Don’t just take the data and run with it”The alliance  — which is backed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Boston Teachers Union, and American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts ...

Yankees Notebook: Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson nearing rehab assignments

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

If all goes according to plan, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson will play in rehab games this weekend after sustaining hamstring injuries earlier this season.Donaldson is actually expected to begin his assignment at Triple-A on Thursday, on the condition that all went well with the third baseman on Wednesday. The plan is for him to play in the field on Thursday and Sunday, DH on Friday and get a day off Saturday, according to Aaron Boone.The manager added that Donaldson, out since April 5, could rejoin the Yankees on their upcoming West Coast trip. It’s possible he returns during the first leg of that trip in Seattle, though Boone called the second part, in Los Angeles, “more likely.”“We’ll kind of evaluate at the end of Sunday, assuming we get there and everything’s going well,” the skipper said. Boone added Tuesday that he expects Donaldson to be an everyday player when he returns.Stanton, meanwhile, will have imaging done on Thursday....

Ticker: Small businesses wary of minimum wage ballot; Fed split on rate hike ahead of June meet

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

Restaurateurs and small business owners are wary of a looming “threat” of a 2024 ballot question that could raise the state’s minimum wage beyond the $15 rate that took effect in January.Profitability for restaurants is down in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the biggest impacts stemming from inflation and labor costs, said Stephen Clark, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.Lifting the minimum wage by $1 per hour can translate into a $1,000 increase per employee, which sparks a cascading effect for all workers throughout the industry, Clark warned at a small business advocacy day event.“Truthfully speaking, I don’t think the minimum wage fight is something that’s going to happen this year. I think if we look at the legislative calendar, it’s probably more of a conversation for 2024,” said Clark, as he implored small business owners gathered at the University of Massachusetts Club to discuss the is...

DeSantis launches 2024 bid against Trump

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running for president.Hours after he filed paperwork declaring his candidacy, DeSantis made his intentions clear by launching an official campaign video on Twitter ahead of a live chat with the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk. The filing — and DeSantis’s video announcement — confirmed months, if not years, of speculation that the Florida governor is eyeing the White House. It also amounted to one of the most significant developments in the 2024 Republican presidential contest since November, when former President Donald Trump announced that he would once again seek the party’s nomination.DeSantis’s formal entrance into the race sets off a new, more volatile phase of the primary season, putting the Florida governor in direct contention with Trump, who has attacked DeSantis relentlessly for months in hopes of stalling any perceived momentum.Early polling in the nascent GOP presidential primary has shown DeSantis as the clearest threat to Trump...

Police make 3rd arrest in San Ysidro deadly shooting

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Police have made a third arrest in a San Ysidro shooting that left a 20-year-old man dead last month.On April 7, Carlos Arvizu was fatally shot in front of a home in the 100 block of East Park Avenue, according to San Diego police. Officers say a suspect or suspects in a vehicle confronted Arvizu before he was shot. The vehicle then drove off.Police on Tuesday booked 18-year-old Adrian Rodriguez -- who was already in San Diego County Jail -- on suspicion of murder. Rodriguez was the third arrest police made in the case. Surveillance video shows armed man run from downtown shooting Earlier this month, on May 10, authorities arrested Jacob Kozik, 18, in San Bernardino with assistance from the local sheriff’s department, police said.Two days later, officers arrested a second suspect, 20-year-old Marcos Carbajal, who was also already in custody, according to SDPD.

Alleged rental scammer assaulted victim who asked for money back: police

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

Toronto police have charged a man accused of not only defrauding numerous people out of rental apartment deposits, but beating up one of the hopeful renters when they asked for their money back. Police say the alleged rental scam took place between January and May 2023. Investigators say the suspect posted a room for rent on Facebook Marketplace located at 1818 Weston Road.The man allegedly posed as the owner of the unit, using the name “Diamond Dallas Taylor.”When potential renters showed up to view the apartment, the suspect would request $800 deposits to secure the unit. But once they forked over their deposits, police say the man would cease all contact and refuse requests for refunds. “When one of the potential tenants confronted the man for not returning the ‘deposit’ the man threatened and assaulted the potential tenant,” police said in a release Wednesday. On Tuesday, May 23, police arrested Hindy Taylor, 47, of Toronto. He’s charged...

What makes a storm a typhoon? What’s a super typhoon?

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:58:44 GMT

A powerful typhoon churned over the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and lashed the island with wind and rain. Typhoon Mawar is the strongest to hit the U.S. territory of roughly 150,000 people since 2002. The typhoon briefly made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 4 storm at Andersen Air Force Base on the northern tip of the island. A few commonly used weather terms and their definitions, which rely on material from the National Weather Service:atmospheric river — Long and wide plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and flow through the sky over land.blizzard — Wind speeds of 35 mph (56 kph) or more and considerable falling and/or blowing of snow with visibility of less than one-quarter mile (0.40 kilometer) for three or more hours. cyclone — A storm with strong winds rotating about a moving center of low atmospheric pressure. The word sometimes is used in the United States to mean tornado and in the Indian Ocean area to mean hurricane.derecho — A widespread and usually fast-...