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CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Mitch Mascari's 22 points helped Drake defeat Florida Atlantic 75-63 on Friday. Mascari shot 6 for 9 (6 for 8 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line for the Bulldogs (5-0). Bennett Stirtz scored 17 points and added six assists. Tavion Banks had 12 points and shot 2 of 5 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. The Owls (4-3) were led in scoring by Leland Walker, who finished with 14 points and five assists. Matas Vokietaitis and Tre Carroll each scored 10 points. Drake entered halftime up 32-28. Mascari paced the team in scoring in the first half with 11 points. Drake took the lead for what would be the final time on Banks' free throw with 14:22 left in the second half. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .EVs top the safest cars list for 2025President-elect Donald Trump announced he created a new role for his administration, White House Artificial Intelligence and Crypto Czar. Filling the role will be tech entrepreneur and podcast host David Sacks. Sacks "will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas," Trump said in his announcement. "He will safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship. He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S.," Trump continued" "David will also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology," the president-elect said. Sacks is a longtime Silicon Valley ally of Elon Musk and invested in SpaceX. They worked together at PayPal, a company in which Sacks is a co-founder of and later became the COO. During that time, Musk was the CEO until 2000 when Confinity went through a rebrand and became PayPal. Sacks held major fundraisers for the Trump-Vance ticket, including one at his home for Trump in San Francisco, California in June. Trump did an interview with Sacks on his "All In" podcast earlier this year, in which he advocated for "automatically" giving noncitizens in the U.S. green cards when they graduate from college -- not just people who go through the vetting process. " [ What ] I want to do, and what I will do, is you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country. That includes junior colleges, too," Trump said during the episode. Trump's response came after one of the hosts, Jason Calacanis, asked Trump if he could promise to "give us more ability to import the best and brightest around the world to America."
Here's some gift ideas for the outdoorsmen -- and women -- on your listHere's some gift ideas for the outdoorsmen -- and women -- on your listWASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request. The airline said in an email that the problem was caused by trouble with vendor technology that maintains its flight operating system. An American Airlines employee wearing looks toward quiet check-in counters Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the system known as FOS. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. Some components of FOS have gone down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 37% leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of the 3,901 domestic and international American Airlines flights scheduled for Tuesday, 19 were canceled. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 36% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 3,712 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed Tuesday, with 55 flights canceled. It did not show any flights from American Airlines. Cirium said Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Travelers wait in line for security checks Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. Any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. An American Airlines employee wearing a Santa Claus hat walks through the American terminal Tuesday at Miami International Airport in Miami. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. Finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. American Airlines employees check in travelers Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. "Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation's highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. "It's not the destination, it's the journey," said American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph clearly was not among the travellers on one of more than 350 cancelled or 1,400 delayed flights after a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software in July of 2023. U.S. airlines carried nearly 863 million travellers in 2023, with Canadian carriers accounting for another 150 million, many of whom experienced lost luggage, flight delays, cancellations, or were bumped off their flights. It's unclear how many of them were compensated for these inconveniences. Suffice it to say, posting a crabby rant on social media might temporarily soothe anger, but it won't put wasted money back in pockets. Money.ca shares what to know in order to be compensated for the three most common air travel headaches. Bags elected to go on a vacay without you? Check off the following: If you expect a large payout, think again. Tariffs (air carrier contracts) limit the compensation amounts for "loss of, damage to, or the delay in delivery of baggage or other personal property." In the case of Air Canada, the maximum payout is $1,500 per passenger in the currency of the country where the baggage was processed. To raise that limit, purchase a Declaration of Higher Value for each leg of the trip. The charge is $0.50 for each $100, in which case the payout limit is $2,500. For Delta Air Lines, passengers are entitled to up to $3,800 in baggage compensation, though how much you'll receive depends on your flight. Delta will pay up to $2,080 for delayed, lost, and damaged baggage for international travellers, almost half of what U.S. domestic passengers can claim. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Different air carriers and jurisdictions have their own compensation policies when flights are delayed or cancelled. For example, under European Union rules, passengers may receive up to 600 Euros, even when travelling on a non-EU carrier. Similarly, the DOT states that travellers are entitled to a refund "if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." However, US rules regarding delays are complicated. Some air carriers, such as Air Canada, do not guarantee their flight schedules. They're also not liable for cancellations or changes due to "force majeure" such as weather conditions or labour disruptions. If the delay is overnight, only out-of-town passengers will be offered hotel accommodation. Nevertheless, many airlines do offer some compensation for the inconvenience. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. In terms of cash compensation, what you'll get can differ significantly based on things like departure location, time, carrier, and ticket class. The DOT offers a helpful delay and cancellations dashboard designed to keep travellers informed about their compensation rights. The dashboard is particularly helpful because, as the DOT states on its website, "whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors—such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances." The Canadian Transportation Agency is proposing air passenger protection regulations that guarantee financial compensation to travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations, with the level of compensation varying depending on the situation and how much control the air carrier had. The proposed regulations include the following: The airline is obligated to complete the passenger's itinerary. If the new ticket is for a lower class of service, the air carrier would have to refund the cost difference; if the booking is in a higher class of service, passengers cannot be charged extra. If the passenger declines the ticket, the airline must give a full refund, in addition to the prescribed compensation. For overnight delays, the air carrier needs to provide hotel accommodation and transportation free-of-charge. Again, if you are unsatisfied, the Canadian Transportation Agency or Department of Transportation may advocate on your behalf. Passengers get bumped because airlines overbook. When this happens, the air carrier must compensate you. For international flights in the US, the rate is 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination, with a $675 maximum. If the airline does not make travel arrangements for you, the payout is 400% of your one-way fare to a maximum of $1,350. To qualify, you must check-in by the stated deadline, which on international flights can be up to 3 hours ahead. Keep in mind that if you accept the cash, you are no longer entitled to any further compensation, nor are you guaranteed to be rebooked on a direct flight or similar type of seat. Don't be too quick to give up your boarding pass. Negotiate for the best compensation deal that would include cash, food and hotel vouchers, flight upgrade, lounge passes, as well as mileage points. But avoid being too greedy—if the gate attendant is requesting volunteers and you wait too long, you'll miss the offer. According to Air Canada's tariff, if a passenger is involuntarily bumped, they'll receive $200, in cash or bank draft, for up to a two-hour delay; $400 for a 2-6 hours delay; and $800 if the delay is over six hours. (Air Canada was forced to raise its payouts in 2013 due to passenger complaints.) The new rules would raise the payout significantly: $900 for up to six hours; $1,800 for 6-9; and $2,400 for more than nine hours, all to be paid within 48 hours. Statistically speaking, Delta Airlines is the carrier most likely to bump. A few years ago, Delta raised its payout maximum to $9,950, while United Airlines tops out at $10,000. This story was produced by Money.ca and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
The declaration made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake that his Government will reopen all cases of murders of journalists that have hitherto gone unresolved, is a matter for gratification. This will gladden the hearts of not just the journalistic fraternity in the country but also of all citizens who are thirsting for justice and fair play. “Killing the messenger” had been quite a common practice in other countries too, even in advanced Western democracies. Sri Lanka too appears to have caught on, given the number of journalists killed over the past few decades. These were mostly journalists who exposed the corrupt deals and other misdemeanors, including acts of murder and abductions committed, allegedly, at the behest of the country’s past rulers or their minions. These scribes were killed in cold blood by hit squads. A standout victim in this connection was Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga who took on the Government of the day and their rulers with boldness and with no let or hindrance. Needless to say, the accusing finger for the cold-blooded broad daylight murder was pointed directly at the top echelons of the ruling party at the time. However, after the initial brouhaha and agitations by local and international journalists’ bodies and the public to bring to book the person or persons responsible, the matter eventually petered out tamely and without a whimper. At one time, several men were arrested and then released without any explanation. For all intents and purposes, Lasantha remains a forgotten person today. Only the members of his extended family and close journalistic colleagues may be feeling the loss. Even to this day Ahimsa, the daughter of Wickrematunga who lives in Australia has been appealing to all Governments to ascertain the truth behind the murder of her father, and, more importantly, who was really behind the killing. The same fate befell well-known columnist Sivaram a.k.a. Taraki who was abducted while having dinner at a hotel in Bambalapitiya and whose body was found in the vicinity of Parliament in Kotte, the following day. The disappearance of political cartoonist and journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda on the eve of the 2010 Presidential Election still remains a mystery. There are several journalists belonging to Tamil publications in the North including Nirmalarajan of the Uthayan who suffered the same fate, after expsosing the doings of a well-known Northern politician. All political leaders who were elected as the President since, have offered to probe the killings of journalists but hardly any headway was made which, no doubt, buttressed the claims of the involvement of politicians. No doubt, President Dissanayake will want to be different. He should leave no stone unturned to find out who the perpetrators were and dispense justice against them. After all, he received a lot of support from the journalist fraternity on the road to his election to the highest office in the land. This, no doubt, should give him that added impetus to do justice by the slain journalists. President Dissanayake also mentioned that he would also launch a probe into rugby star Wasim Thajudeen’s murder which had all the hallmarks of a political killing. He should also ascertain the course the Police investigations took into these murders and if there was any indifference or foot dragging on the part of any officers, and ascertain at whose behest. If so, action should also be taken against all such officers for attempting to stifle the cause of justice so that this would send a clear message to all those men in khaki who have been working to the dictates of politicians all this while. The President should also ensure openness and transparency in all Police investigations that are being conducted under his watch. The general public has lost all trust and confidence in the Police who are widely seen as doing the bidding of politicians, or bought over by interested parties. He should do everything in his power to repose the public faith and trust in the country’s premier law enforcement agency. It is only through this means that public cooperation will be forthcoming to Police that would make its job easier. The decision taken by the President to re-open all the bribery cases that were closed is also another move in the right direction. All cases involving mostly politicians and those with political links were inexplicably suspended even while they were being argued in the Courts or rejected on flimsy technical grounds. Needless to say, the Attorney General’s Department which is an arm of the Government with all its officers receiving their salaries from the Government did not exactly put its heart and soul in effectively prosecuting the culprits , thus allowing them to creep through the loopholes that were more or less deliberately created. Hence, it is only right that the President revisits all such cases and take a fresh look at all these cases and do the needful where necessary. After all, the Bribery Commission is maintained with public funds and ought to function effectively to justify this expense. It should be made to function effectively rather than simply exist in name only.
Gisèle Benoit still gets goosebumps when she remembers the first time she saw a family of eastern wolves emerge from the forests of the Mauricie National Park, under the backdrop of a rising moon. It was 1984 and Benoit, then in her early 20s, had been using a horn to try to call a bull moose when she instead heard a long howl, followed by an adult wolf stepping out to a rocky shore accompanied by a half-grown youth and four pups. “I will never forget that,” she said of the magical moment. “It’s anchored in my heart forever.” It was only later that Benoit, an artist and documentary filmmaker, learned that the wolves she saw weren’t grey wolves but rather rare eastern wolves. The species, whose population is estimated at fewer than 1,000 mature adults, could soon be further protected by new measures that are raising hopes among conservationists that attitudes toward a once-feared and maligned animal are shifting. In July, the federal government upgraded the eastern wolf’s threat level from “status of special concern” to “threatened,” based on a 2015 report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. That report found the population count may be as low as 236 mature individuals in its central Ontario and southern Quebec habitat. The eastern wolf is described as medium-sized canid with reddish-tawny fur that lives in family groups of a breeding pair and their offspring. Also known as the Algonquin wolf, it is largely restricted to existing protected areas, including Algonquin Park in Ontario. The federal Environment Department said in an email that development of a recovery strategy is underway, adding it would be “written in collaboration with provincial governments, federal departments responsible for the federal lands where the eastern wolf is found as well as First Nations groups and Indigenous organizations.” The order triggers protection for the species on federal lands and forces Ottawa to prepare a recovery plan. However, the fight for protection could be an uphill battle in Quebec, which does not even recognize the eastern wolf as a distinct species. A spokesperson for Quebec’s Environment Department said Quebec considers the eastern wolf a “genetic group” rather than its own species. “Recent study shows that the eastern wolf is a distinct entity, even if it comes from several crosses between the grey wolf and the coyote,” Daniel Labonté wrote in an email. “However, scientific knowledge does not demonstrate that this genetic grouping constitutes a species in its own right.” Labonté added that this lack of recognition was not a barrier to protecting the animal, since the law also allows for protection of subspecies or wildlife populations. In October, Quebec launched a program to collect samples to improve knowledge on the distribution of large canines, including the eastern wolf. The government said it is currently “impossible to assert that there is an established population” in Quebec due to low numbers — amounting to three per cent of analyzed samples — and the “strong hybridization that exists among large canids.” Véronique Armstrong, co-founder of a Quebec wildlife protection association, says she’s feeling positive about both the Canadian and Quebec governments’ attitudes. While wolves were once “stigmatized, even persecuted,” she said, “we seem to be heading in the direction of more protection.” Her group, the Association québécoise pour la protection et l’observation de la faune, has submitted a proposal for a conservation area to protect southern Quebec wolves that has already received signs of support from three of the regional municipalities that would be covered, she said. While it’s far from settled, she’s hopeful that the battle to protect wolves might be easier than for some other species, such as caribou, because the wolves are adaptable and can tolerate some human activity, including forestry. John Theberge, a retired professor of ecology and conservation biology from the University of Waterloo and a wolf researcher, spent several years along with his wife studying and radio-collaring eastern wolves around Algonquin Park. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, they faced a “huge political battle” to try to expand wolf protection outside park boundaries after realizing that the far-ranging animals were being hunted and trapped in large numbers once they left the protected lands. Conservationists, he said, faced resistance from powerful hunter and trapper lobbies opposed to protecting the animals but in the end succeeded in permanently closing the zones outside the park to hunting and trapping in 2004. Theberge says people who want to save wolves today still face some of that same opposition — especially when governments including Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia kill wolves to protect endangered caribou. But he believes the public support for protecting wolves has increased from when his career began in the 1960s, when they were treated with fear and suspicion. “Nobody wore T-shirts with wolves on them back then,” he said. Over the years, there have been questions about whether the eastern wolf may be a grey wolf subspecies or a coyote-wolf hybrid. But in the order protecting the wolves, the federal government says genetic analyses have resolved that debate, showing that it is a “distinct species.” Benoit, Theberge and Armstrong all believe that while it’s important to protect the eastern wolf from a genetic diversity perspective, there is value in protecting all wolves, regardless of their DNA. Wolves, they say, are an umbrella species, meaning that protecting them helps protect a variety of other species. They kill off weak and sick animals, ensuring strong populations. They’re also “highly developed, sentient social species, with a division of labour, and strong family alliances,” Theberge said. Benoit agrees. After years spent watching wolves, she has developed great respect for how they live in close-knit families, with older offspring helping raise new pups. “It’s extraordinary to see how their way of life is a little like humans’,” she said. Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press