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Analysis: For Heat, the team’s famed ‘culture’ all starts with Pat Riley

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Maybe the best way to describe Heat Culture would be to consider two ways that Pat Riley has used to define what basically is the backbone of Miami’s franchise.Answer 1: “It’s a shared philosophy with the goal of being great.”Answer 2: “It’s our shared goals, shared vision, shared thoughts.”The first answer was from 2000. The second answer came in 2020. The thinking barely deviated.Times change. Rosters change. But Riley and the culture — a buzzword for the Heat, a punchline for some who disparage what the Heat have done — stay pretty much the same. Out of the last 52 NBA Finals, Riley has been part of 19 of them as either a player, coach or executive. That means, give or take, Riley finds his way to the finals about every three years.Erik Spoelstra is the coach and makes the decisions, but it’s Riley — the team president seeking his 10th championship — who is still at the helm of the Heat ship. The Heat are tied with the Denver Nuggets at a game apiece in these NBA Fin...

Florida dog back home after located through microchip at animal shelter in Arkansans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

A Florida dog was found thousands of miles away from home and the heartwarming reunion was captured on camera.“I was just full of joy. I almost cried, it was really sad but I was sad and happy at the same time,” said dog owner Louis Gonazalez.Gonzalez’s husky named Storm escaped while she was outside. She was nowhere to be found for days.“I called off work and I was a whole day looking for her on the streets, on Facebook to see if anybody had posted her,” said Gonzalez.Days turned into weeks and it turned out she was at an animal shelter in Arkansas almost 20 hours away from her Florida home.The animal shelter scanned the dog’s microchip and it came back registered to Gonzalez.“It was like if you haven’t seen a family member in years,” he said Gonzalez.“1,230 miles is an amazing trip in a week and a half to 2 weeks and we are just thankful and blessed that he was reunited with the animal,” said Lieutenant Leeann Zane...

SEC brings charges against cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — The Securities and Exchange Commission sued cryptocurrency platform Coinbase on Tuesday, charging the company with operating an unregistered securities platform and brokerage service. The lawsuit comes a day after the SEC filed charges against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and its founder Changpeng Zhao are accused of misusing investor funds, operating as an unregistered exchange and violating a slew of U.S. securities laws.Coinbase shares plunged nearly 20% in the early morning trading on the news. In its complaint, the SEC said Coinbase made billions in being the middle man for cryptocurrency buyers and sellers but did not give investors lawful protections while acting as a broker. “Coinbase has for years defied the regulatory structures and evaded the disclosure requirements that Congress and the SEC have constructed for the protection of the national securities markets and investors,”...

5 waterfalls to see in San Diego County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Waterfalls have a gift of offering soothing sounds and sights for outdoor adventurers.The natural flow of water is a sign of hope to those who are lost and looking for a drink or hikers wanting to be in a state of relaxation.If you can't make it to places like Yosemite National Park, here are some waterfalls to check out locally in San Diego County:Los Peñasquitos Falls: Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, which is 7 miles roundtrip, features a waterfall cascading through volcanic rock at the west end of the preserve where the paths meet.Oak Canyon: Following heavy rainfall, two running waterfalls can be seen on the moderate 3.2-mile roundtrip Mission Trails Regional Park trail.Horsethief Canyon: Only a 1.6-mile roundtrip route, the trail guides you to a large pool and small waterfalls in eastern San Diego County's Cleveland National Forest.Cedar Creek Falls: Located in Ramona, the San Diego River Gorge Trail leads to Cedar Creek Falls, which plunges 80 feet into a large pool ...

Comedian Matt Rife set to perform at San Diego Civic Theatre

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Popular internet personality, comedian and actor Matt Rife is headed to San Diego later this year for stand-up comedy show.The fast-rising comedian will be bringing his cheeky, genuine humor to the San Diego Civic Theatre on Sept. 30 as part of his "ProbleMATTic World Tour."Pre-sale tickets will be available starting Tuesday, June 6 a.m. through Ticketmaster, before the general sale opens Friday, June 9 at 10 a.m.The tour spanning North America, Australia and Europe will be his first major performance series, with more than 100 shows throughout 2023 and 2024 after kicking off on Thursday, July 20 in Bend, OR. The full list of tour dates can be found here.“I couldn’t be more thrilled to live out this life long dream! To tour the world, spreading laughter, with some of my best friends, is something I never thought would be possible," Rife said in a press release. "I’ve been working so hard towards this for 12 years and now I’ve surrounded myself with a team who works just...

Prince Harry testifies the tabloids destroyed his childhood, but fails to recall specific stories

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry stepped into courtroom witness box Tuesday to hold Britain’s tabloid press accountable for its “destructive” role throughout his life. But he soon found himself being held to account by a newspaper’s lawyer for how he could blame his anguish on articles he couldn’t remember reading.The Duke of Sussex became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in over a century as he held a Bible in his right hand and, in a soft voice, swore to tell the “whole truth and nothing but the truth” in the High Court in London.Harry accuses the publisher of the Daily Mirror of using unlawful techniques on an “industrial scale” to score front-page scoops on his life. Sitting in the witness box, dressed in a dark suit and tie, Harry told Mirror Group Newspapers attorney Andrew Green that he had “experienced hostility from the press since I was born.” The prince accused the tabloids of playing “a destructive role in my growing-up.”Harry was ...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens lower; Coinbase tanks on SEC charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting amid a vacuum of market-moving data, while crypto prices were lower after regulators filed charges against another mega player in the industry. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% early Tuesday, though it remains near the edge of exiting its latest bear market. The Dow fell 44 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%. Crypto prices sank after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Coinbase with operating as an unregistered securities exchange. Shares in parent copmany Coinbase Global sank 20%. A day earlier, the SEC filed charges against another huge crypto trading platform, Binance, and its founder.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street crept modestly lower for a second straight day Tuesday, following a weekslong rally that carried markets to an 10-month high.Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off less than 0.1% in premarket trading.With earnings season winding down and few m...

Maria Sherman appointed AP’s music writer, based in Los Angeles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Maria Sherman has been named The Associated Press’ music writer, a key position responsible for delivering news on a beat of global significance for the news cooperative.Sherman, whose first day was Monday, will lead music coverage for the AP’s entertainment and lifestyles department, which boasts video, photo and text journalists on three continents. She will also work closely with colleagues in AP’s U.S. and international bureaus and across its global beat teams.“Our readers and our customers will discover new music and be better informed and gain a better understanding of the rapidly evolving music landscape through Maria’s coverage,” Anthony McCartney, global entertainment and lifestyles editor, said.Sherman, 31, is based in Los Angeles. An accomplished music and culture journalist, she has previously worked as a culture writer at Netflix, senior writer at Jezebel, managing editor at Gizmodo Media Group, senior correspondent at Fuse TV and co...

Search for unclaimed $70M Scarborough lottery winner ongoing as deadline draws near

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) says the search for an unclaimed $70-million Lotto Max jackpot winner in Scarborough drags on as the deadline draws near.In late May, the OLG said no one had claimed the jackpot draw from June 28, 2022, and it will expire exactly one year from that date. The $70 million winning ticket was purchased at an authorized lottery retailer in Scarborough.In an update, an OLG spokesperson said on Tuesday that the life-changing amount of money is still waiting for the rightful owner.“The winning numbers for the June 28, 2022, Lotto Max draw are — 8, 19, 22, 41, 42, 46, 47 [and] Bonus 10,” the OLG wrote in a news release.RELATED: ‘Just imagine’ losing $70M lotto ticket? Here’s how the OLG says you could still collect“We ask OLG lottery players to check places where they usually store their tickets, such as in clothing pockets, personal accessories (i.e. handbags, backpacks, wallets, computer bags), your ...

World Bank offers dim outlook for the global economy in face of higher interest rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The global economy is likely slowing sharply this year, hobbled by high interest rates, the repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic.That’s the latest outlook of the World Bank, a 189-country anti-poverty agency, which estimates that the international economy will expand just 2.1% in 2023 after growing 3.1% in 2022. Still, the bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report, which it issued Tuesday, marks an upgrade from its previous forecast in January. That estimate had envisioned worldwide growth of just 1.7% this year.The Federal Reserve and other major central banks have been aggressively raising interest rates to combat a resurgence of inflation, set off by a stronger-than-expected rebound from the pandemic recession, persistent supply shortages and energy and food price shocks caused by the Ukraine war.But the global economy has proved surprisingly resilient in the face of higher borrowing...