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Referee shortage forcing Medford HS to move Friday night football to Thursdays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

The lights are out at the stadium where the Medford High School Mustangs usually play Friday night football.A referee shortage forcing the team to play on Thursdays instead. Bob Prestera of the Association of New England Football Officials says there are a number of reasons for the drop in available referees. “We’re losing probably 50 percent of the officials who take the course after three years,” he said. Rule changes to the game, retirements during the pandemic, and hefty time demands have been among the factors contributing to the shortage.Medford High School’s Athletic Director, Robert Maloney, Jr., said the school had to be flexible to make it work. “You have a choice, you can either try to play a Friday night and not have a full crew or if you walk into Thursday nights you’re going to get a full crew.” Prestera says some games have even been moved from a Saturday to a Friday, something he’s never seen in his 42-year career. It w...

Thanks to Make-A-Wish Foundation, Stow Fire Department welcomes newest firefighter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

It was a big day in Stow for the town’s newest firefighter, who got a very special gift from the department. Diagnosed when he was less than a year old with a rare auto-immune disorder, Brayden Ginthwain has spent much of his 4 years of life in and out of the hospital, completing multiple rounds of marrow transplants and a life-saving stem cell treatment.“Since then it’s been a lot of frequent appointments, back-and-forth through the city, and he’s had a bunch of different stem cell infusions since then, so it’s been a lot,” said his dad, Erik Gunthwait. His mom, Angela Ginthwait, said her son is always putting on a brave face.“When he got the diagnosis, it was just unimaginably hard, it was our first child. But him being so brave and so courageous and so kind and loving life has just made it way easier to cope with how difficult his disorder is,” she said.But Friday, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Brayden was at the Stow Fire D...

Chris Sale throws five scoreless, Red Sox rally in eighth to beat White Sox 3-2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

Last time out for Chris Sale, less was more. The veteran left-hander didn’t have his best stuff but still found a way to dominate in what should have been a win at Toronto.This time, Sale was working with his full deck of cards.With his fastball velocity back up to its usual average, Sale was in full control throughout his outing Friday. The 34-year-old tied his former team in knots over five scoreless innings, and though the Chicago White Sox took the lead against Boston’s bullpen, the Red Sox rallied for two runs in the eighth to pick up the 3-2 victory.Adam Duvall tied the game with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, and Masataka Yoshida drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single immediately afterwards.Though his command wasn’t as sharp as last time out, Sale was never seriously threatened. All three of his hits allowed were singles, and though he allowed two on with no outs to start the second, he responded by striking the ne...

Springfield Central nips Xaverian in 44-41 thriller

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

WESTWOOD — In past meetings with Springfield Central, Xaverian played well early, but when the former answered, the Hawks simply could not keep up.Well, in Friday night’s nonleague game at the Hawk Bowl, Xaverian answered each Central flurry with one of its own.In the end, Central was too much — but just barely — in a 44-41 shootout victory for the state power from Western Mass.“There’s no moral victories, but it’s always good when your team does not quit against what seemingly may be insurmountable odds, one play at a time, one series at a time,” Xaverian coach Al Fornaro said. “Offense played very well this evening. (Quarterback) Henry (Hasselbeck) played very well, and that’s always a good thing.”Fornaro wasn’t kidding. Hasselbeck may have played his best game as a Hawk, as the Michigan State-bound quarterback completed 22 of 34 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. L...

Duxbury rolls over Franklin, 42-13

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

DUXBURY – For the second year in a row, Duxbury picked up a non-league win over Franklin in a rout out of the gates.The Dragons (2-1) were victorious in a 42-13 win over the Panthers (2-1) in a game where the Panthers seemed uncharacteristically out of sync throughout.Duxbury quarterback Trevor Jones finished with 123 yards rushing on only 11 carries. The junior signal-caller added another 150 yards passing and finished with four touchdowns, two each rushing and passing to lead the way.Captain Alex Barlow had 103 yards on only nine carries and scored the opening touchdown of the 3rd quarter to give the Dragons a 35-7 lead with 6:35 remaining.“Jones, Barlow, and our offensive line did a tremendous job. Our running game is what we try to rely on, and we try to lure them in,” said Duxbury head coach Matt Landolfi. “It was overall a great team win, the coaching staff and the game plan these guys put in was unbelievable and the kids are really starting to practice hard and it’s starting ...

Mexico pledges to set up checkpoints to ‘dissuade’ migrants from hopping freight trains to US border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials pledged Friday to set up checkpoints to “dissuade” migrants from hopping freight trains to the U.S. border. The announcement came Friday at a meeting that Mexican security and immigration officials had with a representative of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. So many migrants are climbing aboard trains that Mexico’s largest railway company said earlier this week it was suspending 60 freight train runs because of safety concerns, citing a series of injuries and deaths.Mexico’s National Immigration Institute did not say where the checkpoints would be established or how migrants would be dissuaded or detained. In 2014, Mexican authorities briefly took to stopping trains to pull migrants off, but it was unclear if the government was planning to resume the raids.The institute said its officers have been detaining about 9,000 migrants per day this month, a significant increase over the daily of average of about 6,...

Zelenskyy, accompanied by PM Trudeau, greets large crowd of supporters in Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is greeting a large crowd of supporters at a Canadian Armed Forces facility in Toronto.About 1,000 people have gathered in the Fort York Armoury to show support for Zelenskyy, who is visiting Canada for the first time since Russian troops began a full-scale assault on Ukraine in February 2022.Zelenskyy arrived at the venue accompanied by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland.The Ukrainian president thanked Canada and Canadians earlier today during an address to Parliament in Ottawa for standing with his country and his people in the war against Russia.“During our talks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and I reaffirmed the strong Ukrainian-Canadian partnership. Canada will train our pilots on F-16s and provide additional air defense missiles,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Today’s new military aid package includes armored vehicles and medevacs.”In my today’s addres...

Paul Lisnek on government shutdown, Incoming CPD superintendent, & more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

WGN Political Analyst Paul Lisnek joined WGN Evening News to discuss several big stories from the week.The topics include the latest on a potential government shutdown, incoming CPD superintendent Larry Snelling, tipping in Chicago, and much more.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesTune in on Sunday’s for WGN-TV Political Report with Paul Lisnek.

Animal hoarding cases cause struggles for Hill Country Humane Society

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

BUCHANAN DAM, Texas (KXAN) —The Hill Country Humane Society has taken in nearly 70 dogs this week after back-to-back seizures from animal hoarding cases. The influx of animals has caused staff to rush to find fosters and homes for adoptable animals.Paighton Corley, executive director of HCHS, said 19 animals were seized from a home in Granite Shoals Monday. Nearly 50 more were seized from a Bertram home days later Wednesday.Corley said this sudden intake of animals has presented spatial challenges for the humane society as it now has twice as many dogs as it does kennels."All of our kennels are full and doubled up and we have other kennels spread across the entire shelter," Corley said.In an effort to find homes and free up kennel space, HCHS is hosting a free adoption event 11am-2pm Saturday at the Petco, located at 5001 183A Building M, Suite 100, in Cedar Park.Staff have even moved stand-alone kennels into office spaces for individual dogs as space becomes more tight. Corley said...

High school football: Savion Hart runs for five scores as St. Thomas Academy downs Mahtomedi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:37 GMT

Savion Hart is proving to be a rather difficult riddle for opposing defenses to solve.No one this season has found a solution for the St. Thomas Academy senior running back — Mahtomedi now included. Hart ran 14 times for 149 yards and three scores in the first half alone Friday en route to the Cadets’ 42-14 road victory over the Zephyrs.The senior finished with 18 carries for 188 yards and five touchdowns. On his final rushing score of the night — a 22-yard run to put the Cadets up 42-7 late in the third — Hart executed roughly five different cutbacks to evade potential tacklers and find open space.The impressive performance simply kept pace with what Hart did through the season’s first three contests. His game log reads as the following:— 21 carries for 164 yards and four touchdowns in a loss to Andover.— 18 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Waconia.— 14 carries for 174 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Cretin-Derham Hal...