Author: rpnadmin

Two former Fordham basketball players were permanently banned by the NCAA on Tuesday for their roles in a point-shaving scheme that was the subject of a sprawling federal indictment unsealed in January. According to the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions, Elijah Gray and Will Richardson each agreed with a bettor to throw a game against Duquesne on Feb. 23, 2024, in exchange for $10,000 to $15,000. Gray cooperated with NCAA investigators, while Richardson did not, the NCAA said. Gray was one of more than two dozen people accused by federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania of conspiring to fix games. He…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The spacecraft that flew four astronauts around the moon is back where its record-breaking journey began. NASA’s Artemis II capsule returned to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, almost a month after blasting off on humanity’s first lunar trip in more than a half-century. Following its splashdown in the Pacific on April 10, the Orion capsule was trucked from San Diego to Cape Canaveral. Engineers will examine the capsule’s heat shield in more detail along with everything else in preparation for next year’s Artemis III docking demo in orbit around Earth. The capsule’s electronic boxes will…

More than 3 out of 4 Americans plan to dine out this Mother’s Day, making it the busiest day of the year for restaurants. Behind that staggering number is a holiday tradition that has become more stressful, more expensive and less meaningful than the occasion deserves. The appeal is understandable. Mother’s Day comes with one unwritten rule: Mom does not cook. Restaurants have been cashing in on that rule for decades. The problem is that millions of families showing up for brunch during the same four-hour window does not produce the relaxed, celebratory morning anyone had in mind. The numbers…

Florida wildlife researchers have found an unlikely ally in the battle against invasive Burmese pythons: the opossum. Opossums are a key food source for Burmese pythons, which are top predators in the Everglades and have established a permanent breeding population in South Florida, severely harming the ecosystem by wiping out native animals, according to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. The technique was discovered accidentally in 2022 while researchers were studying the movements and behaviors of small mammals. The team had fitted GPS collars to opossums and raccoons on Florida’s southern coast and found an unexpected bonus — they could also…

The FBI on Tuesday raided nearly two dozen childcare centers in Minnesota as part of a larger investigation into fraud schemes in the Twin Cities area. Officials said law enforcement teams executed 22 search warrants at childcare and daycare centers throughout Minneapolis beginning early Tuesday. “Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation,” the Justice Department said in a statement. Childcare fraud in the state has frequently been connected to Minnesota’s Somali community, which came into focus last year following a video report from…

A Wyoming judge has blocked a new state law that bans abortions beyond the earliest stages of pregnancy while a lawsuit challenging the provision moves ahead. It’s the first court ruling affecting the legal status of abortion in Wyoming since the state Supreme Court struck down sweeping abortion and abortion pill bans in January, finding that the laws violated the state constitution. The new law, which would ban abortion after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, is likely to be overturned on similar grounds, Natrona County District Judge Dan Forgey wrote in granting a temporary restraining order against it Friday.…

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fast-moving storms pummeled parts of the Midwest with hail, strong wind and heavy rain Monday, flooding streets and leading to stranded commuters who needed to be rescued, with more storms on the way, authorities said. More than 64 million people in the Midwest were at risk of severe storms into the afternoon and evening, with the St. Louis region at moderate risk for multiple long-track tornadoes and large hail, the National Weather Service said. “The greatest area of concern is across central Missouri into southern Illinois and into southeast Missouri,” Evan Bentley, a meteorologist with the…

United Airlines’ CEO confirmed Monday that he approached rival American Airlines about a potential merger – his first public acknowledgment of his proposal – saying it would benefit travelers despite American’s refusal to engage in talks. “I was confident that this combination, which would have been about adding and not subtracting, creating a truly great airline that customers love, could get regulatory approval,” Scott Kirby wrote in a statement released Monday. “I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door.” Kirby’s confirmation comes after weeks of public…

Prosecutors in Utah are seeking the extradition of a man from California on murder charges in connection with a deadly shooting in January at a church parking lot in Salt Lake City that left two people dead, according to court documents unsealed Monday. Law enforcement took 32-year-old John Vea Uasike Jr. into custody on April 14 in connection with six felony charges including two counts of murder and weapons violations, the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office said in a news release. It was unclear if Uasike has an attorney who could comment on his behalf. The shooting took place…

NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge has tossed the murder conviction of a man who spent 25 years in prison after a review of his case revealed new evidence that may have been withheld by prosecutors, including thousands of dollars in payments made to the mother of their key eyewitness. The man, Harry Ruiz, has maintained his innocence since his 1994 conviction for the fatal shooting of Emmanuel Felix, an alleged drug dealer in Harlem. Ruiz, now 58, was released on parole in 2019. “I feel like I can finally breathe again,” he said on Monday, leaving the courthouse flanked…