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Bridge: Dec. 9, 2023

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

On Simple Saturday, I focus on basic technique and logical thinking.An actuary who plays at my club says that if at first you don’t succeed … try a few more times so your failure will be statistically significant.A common theme in dummy play is combining chances. If you have several chances for your contract, try them all. At today’s 3NT, declarer takes the ace of spades and counts seven top tricks: a spade, two hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. He needs two extra tricks in a minor suit.PERCENTAGEDeclarer could finesse in one minor or the other; with eight or fewer cards, to finesse for the queen is the correct percentage play. But his best approach is a combination shot.South should take the A-K of diamonds. He has eight diamonds but only seven clubs, so the queen of diamonds is more likely to fall. When no queen appears, South leads a club to dummy’s king and a club to his jack. He goes to the king of hearts and returns a club to his ten to make the game....

Word Game: Dec. 9, 2023

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — CHECKMATE (CHECKMATE: CHEK-mate: To arrest, thwart or counter.)Average mark 33 wordsTime limit 40 minutesCan you find 44 or more words in CHECKMATE? The list will be published Monday.YESTERDAY’S WORD — YEARNING yarn year yearn earing earn earning eying aery ager airy anger angry rage rain rainy rang range rangy rani regain reign rein ring nary near nearing nine inane inner gain gainer gayer gear gnar grain grainy granny gray grey grin gyreTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not all...

Ask Amy: My husband can’t see why these houseguests disturb me

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

Dear Amy: How can I politely say no when friends are passing through town or vacationing here and ask if they can spend a couple of nights with us?Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: My neighbors want money because the leaves fall in their yard Advice | Ask Amy: My wife objects to my strategy for mellow shopping with our 3-year-olds Advice | Ask Amy: After this man’s behavior at my wedding, I want my best friend to dump him Advice | Ask Amy: Now I realize what stay-at-home spouses are complaining about Advice | Ask Amy: Now we’re feeling weird about our daughter’s favorite toy I have never said no to anyone and have always been gracious to anyone staying in our home, but I find I really don’t enjoy it. I have extreme stress and anxiety days before they arrive, and also while they are here.My husband doesn’t understand my tirades over this. He welcomes anyone who wants to stay with us.I ju...

Why Does the Chicago Police Department Tolerate Abusive Racists in Its Ranks?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

I first encountered officer Raymond Piwnicki in the summer of 2001. At the time, the citywide demolition of high-rise public housing was gathering momentum in Chicago. Having recently regained control of the Chicago Housing Authority after a period of federal receivership, the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley was making a concerted effort to replace its high-rise public housing developments with “mixed income communities.” Among its first actions was to disband the CHA police force, established a decade earlier by the housing authority in an effort to offset the Chicago Police Department’s neglect of its tenants. That, in turn, required beefing up the CPD’s Public Housing Section. While the public housing unit was ramping up, members of the Special Operations Section — an elite unit charged with rooting out, as Daley often put it, “gangs, drugs, and guns” — were deployed to public housing developments. Piwnicki was among them.The heat in Chicago on July 9, 2001, was blisteri...

Warmer Weather Ahead this Weekend

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

Following a cloudy day with typical temperatures on Friday, more sunshine and warmer temperatures will return this weekend until another front arrives Sunday night.Expect partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies this Saturday paired with a beach breeze out of the southeast, moderate humidity levels and above average high temperatures into the low to mid 80s.Then by Sunday, temperatures should increase by another degree or two as winds veer more out of the south. This will draw in more moisture, leading to a mix of sun and clouds and an isolated rain chance.Earlier in the week, it appeared that Sunday would be wetter but the forecast has trended drier ahead of this next front, and therefore rain chances are down to a 30% chance. The best chance for seeing any rain will be late in the day on Sunday and into the overnight hours.Behind this front, there will be another dose of cooling but it won’t be as significant as the one we had this week. Instead, highs will drop from the mid 80s ...

Azerbaijan gets nod to host COP29 climate summit 

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Next year’s COP29 climate summit is set to take place in oil-rich Azerbaijan after Eastern European countries resolved a political deadlock on Saturday. Geopolitical tensions had left the 2024 conference in limbo for months, with Russia blocking EU countries from hosting and feuding neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan vetoing each other. But after Armenia and Bulgaria formally withdrew their bids earlier this week, the 23-country Eastern European group backed Azerbaijan during a meeting on Saturday, Bulgarian Environment Minister Julian Popov told POLITICO. Earlier on Saturday, Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology and natural resources, said in a speech that he was “delighted” to announce that there was overall consensus on Azerbaijan’s candidacy to host COP29. “We are very grateful to all countries, in particular to the Eastern European group and the host United Arab Emirates for their support,...

John Kerry warns against carbon capture’s ‘great facade’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Some countries at the COP28 climate talks are lying about the potential for capturing the greenhouse gases fossil fuels emit, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said.Kerry was speaking at an event on Friday evening on the sidelines of the U.N. COP28 climate talks in Dubai, where the nations of the world are wrangling over the draft of a pledge to end fossil fuel use.The deal has been forcefully opposed by fossil fuel-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia. Negotiators from Riyadh argue carbon pollution can be largely captured and buried using scrubbing technology that Kerry said remains largely unproven at the needed scale.“There are people here who want to just continue business as usual. And the great facade is: ‘Oh no, we’ll be able to capture everything,’” said Kerry, his voice hoarse from a chest cold. “No scientist tells me we can capture it all. Can’t do it. Can we capture some? Yes, and by the way, I’m for it.”Kerry said it was...

Football season in review: Memorable fall for Massachusetts teams

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

Perfection is one of the hardest things to attain in high school football.There were more than 250 schools which fielded football programs this past season and only three of them left Gillette Stadium able to make that claim.For all the complaining that the current playoff format hurts the Central Mass. schools, two of three schools who ran the table were CMass entries Uxbridge and West Boylston. Uxbridge capped off a perfect season with a 42-16 win over Amesbury, while West Boylston rolled past Carver, 41-7.King Philip has been knocking on the door of a Div, 2 state title the last two years, but this year the Warriors kicked it in. They posted a perfect 13-0 record, including an impressive 42-14 win over Marshfield.King Philip’s Luke Danson (53) holds up the championship trophy celebrating their Division 2 win over Marshfield in Foxboro. (Photo by Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald)King Philip was one of two Hockomock League teams to win state titles. Foxboro made the most of its five-mi...

Battenfeld: Biden starts crucial part of re-election campaign bogged down by corruption charges

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

President Joe Biden enters a crucial stage of his re-election campaign bogged down by an impeachment inquiry, a potential mutiny in his own party and new questions about corruption related to his son, Hunter.While before he only faced questions of competence, now it goes much deeper with Republicans trying to link him to Hunter’s business dealings.House Republicans formalized their impeachment investigation against Biden this week giving more power to committees seeking subpoenas and testimony from witnesses.“The impeachment inquiry strengthens our hand when we go to court against this administration or anyone who refuses our subpoena,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said.There could be a vote on starting the formal inquiry as soon as next week and if any Democrats join the effort, that would be a signal that it’s looking very bad for Biden. Republicans are trying to tie the president to Hunter Biden’s sketchy consulting contracts to determine if the president somehow financia...

Live updates | Israel strikes north and south Gaza after US vetoes a UN cease-fire resolution

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:48:15 GMT

Israel pounded areas of the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and artillery on Saturday, a day after the United States vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the first time invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, which enables a U.N. chief to raise threats he sees to international peace and security. He warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. But U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said on Friday that halting military action would allow Hamas to continue to rule Gaza and “only plant the seeds for the next war.”The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which militants from Gaza killed about 1,200, most of them civilians and took more than 240 people hostage.The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the territory has surpassed 17,400 over the past two months, with more than 46,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatan...