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Washington Capitals, coach Laviolette part ways after missing playoffs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

The Washington Capitals and coach Peter Laviolette have decided to part ways after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.General manager Brian MacLellan announced the decision, which he described as mutual, on Friday, less than 24 hours after the Capitals’ season ended. Laviolette’s contract was set to expire.“We are grateful for Peter’s leadership and dedication to our organization for the last three seasons,” MacLellan said in a statement. “Peter is a first-class individual who has represented our club with integrity and guided our team through many difficult circumstances in his tenure as our head coach. We wish him all the best moving forward.”Laviolette, 58, coached the Capitals for the past three seasons, making the playoffs in each of the first two to extend the organization’s postseason streak to eight years. They lost in the first round each time and have not won a series since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2018 under Barry Trotz...

Knicks’ Randle could return from ankle injury to face Cavs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — The New York Knicks could have star forward Julius Randle back for their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers after he missed the final two weeks of the regular season with a sprained left ankle.Randle has been undergoing treatment and showing steady improvement. On Friday, the Knicks said that he’s questionable for Saturday’s Game 1 in Cleveland.Randle played in New York’s first 77 games before rolling his ankle against Miami on March 29. He sat out of the final five games, including a win over Cleveland on March 31.The 28-year-old averaged a career-high 25.1 points and 10.0 rebounds in his fourth season with New York.The Cavs prepared all week as if Randle will be active. It’s not yet known if he’ll start or how long he’ll be able to play.Randle will get some extra time to rest with Game 2 not scheduled until Tuesday night.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

NHL playoffs: Devils-Rangers, Bolts-Leafs highlight openers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

After six weeks of hopeful excitement that his New Jersey Devils would face the New York Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs, Erik Haula had a simple, sarcastic take: “Here we are.” And the playoffs are finally here, too.Devils vs. Rangers in another chapter of their bitter Hudson River rivalry is one of the juiciest of the eight first-round matchups, six of which were set on the penultimate day of the regular season. Two more awaited the result of Colorado’s game Friday night at Nashville.The Eastern Conference is set, featuring the NHL-best Boston Bruins against the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division bracket, along with Rangers-Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes against the New York Islanders on the Metropolitan side.In the West, MVP favorite Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers face the Los Angeles Kings, and the Pacific Division champion Vegas Golden Knights go up against the Winnipeg Jets. The d...

Peter Laviolette out as Washington Capitals’ head coach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

Peter Laviolette will not return as the head coach of the Washington Capitals next season, the team announced Friday. The Capitals and Laviolette, whose contract expires June 30, mutually agreed to part ways.NEWS | The Washington Capitals and head coach Peter Laviolette have agreed to mutually part ways.https://t.co/gb9IHQu1Ol— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 14, 2023This story is developing. Check back with WTOP for updates. Source

Indiana plastics fire raises worries about health dangers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

A fire at a scrap plastics business in Indiana raises numerous health concerns for people in the area — particularly with the discovery of asbestos in debris, experts said Friday.An evacuation order for about 1,500 residents of the town of Richmond near the Ohio line remained in effect as firefighters doused hot spots while federal, state and local agencies monitored air and water for contamination. It might take weeks for the fire to be fully extinguished, officials said.Plans are being developed to deal with asbestos fragments in nearby neighborhoods, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. Inhaling asbestos can cause lung diseases, including cancer.“Probably the worst thing you can do if you have debris in your yard would be to mow and break up that material” and possibly inhale it, EPA on-scene coordinator Jason Sewell said.Crews were taking air measurements at 34 sites, he said, with some samples being sent for laboratory analysis. Monitors in the evacuation zone detecte...

City breaks ground on Veterans’ Village

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

Representatives from the Governments of Canada and Ontario were in Kingston on Friday to celebrate officially breaking ground on the Homes for Heroes Kingston Veterans’ Village.The project was initially announced in 2020 along with $200,000 in funding, with the provincial and federal governments later announcing they’d each be kicking in $2 million.Homes For Heroes started the initiative in response to the growing number of military veterans who return to Canada and find themselves on the path to homelessness. Kingston’s village will be the third in Canada, and the first in Ontario. The village is located at 730 King Street West and will include 20 homes, a resource centre, social service offices, community gardens, and a community recreation space. Home for Heroes Foundation CEO David Howard says since the announcement was made the team has been hard at work fundraising for the project and continuing to keep November 1, 2023 in mind for move in day. “Our tea...

Dinger's assault suspect turns himself in, gets citation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The Denver Police Department located the man caught on video allegedly committing an assault on the Colorado Rockies mascot Dinger on Monday night. Police released a photo of the suspect and the public helped to identify him, police said. DPD said Kenneth Sonley, 45, turned himself in on Friday just before 3 p.m. He was cited for assault and disturbing the peace but was not taken into custody or arrested. Rockies mascot Dinger gets tackled by fan A video shot from the stands shows Dinger dancing on the dugout with its back to the crowd when the person in the stands jumps up and tackles the dinosaur.

Denver area flood zones: Are you in one?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- It's a rainy day in Denver, but thankfully most areas of the metro aren't flood-prone. Denver no longer nation’s top city for weed Risk Factor, a natural disaster analytics firm, has a national map tool that charts which properties in the U.S. have a greater than 26% chance of flooding in the next 30 years. About 5% of the properties in Denver have this risk of flooding, but that proportion is predictably much higher for the neighborhoods directly abutting the Interstate 25 corridor that runs parallel to the South Platte River. The Denver neighborhoods with the highest density of properties likely to be flooded in the next 30 years are Sun Valley, Valverde, Athmar Park and Auraria. To see what kind of flood risk your property carries, search Risk Factor's online tool. The Alamo Placita area northwest of the Denver Country Club is the other area with the highest concentration of properties likely to flood.

Residents in Fort Lauderdale frustrated as they assess damage caused by historic floods

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

First responders are still on alert as they answer calls as parts of Fort Lauderdale remain waterlogged, though Friday was finally a day with no rain.“My car has literally floated away,” said a person on a video recording the scene on a cell phone, recorded Wednesday night.An Edgewood neighborhood is still under water Friday afternoon. John Foreman told 7News that he and his friends rescued 20 people from flooded homes in this community.“There was about 4 feet of water in the houses,” Foreman said. “It was above the couches and the beds. There was no place that wasn’t wet, and people were freezing.”With so much water remaining, so does the trauma from that torrential downpour.“Terrible. It’s a nightmare,” said a woman. “We have a flooded house over here, and over here we have no electricity. This whole street is no electricity. I am shaking now.”Those just now coming back to survey the damage are stunned.“This is insa...

Crews working to pump standing water from flooded Dania Beach neighborhood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:59 GMT

Residents in Dania Beach are pumped up about receiving much-needed help in removing standing water from their flooded out neighborhood.7News cameras on Friday captured floodwaters near Southwest 28th Avenue and Griffin Road, where residents are still dealing with the aftermath of relentless downpours that battered the area earlier in the week.“It’s ridiculous,” said a resident.“I’m a little nervous for tomorrow ’cause I’ve got to leave my house way before 5:30 [a.m.]. I’ve got to be to work at 5:30,” said resident Raymond Johnson.This is why Dania Beach city officials said they have crews working around the clock.“Right now, we have six vac trucks and pumps citywide,” said Dania Beach City Manager Ana Garcia.To get the water out faster, Garcia said, she has asked Miami Beach and the South Florida Water Management District for help.“We’re going to be receiving more vac trucks, we’re going to be receiv...