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NightGarden’s 5th year at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden features more lights, new installations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Dua Lipa once said, “Baby, you can find me under the lights,” and those are words I took to heart. Some people out there are already putting their Christmas lights up, but tonight, Deco’s looking to deck the halls in a different way. The NightGarden is back, and we’re dashing off to SoFlo’s own whimsical wonderland.When the sun goes down in SoFlo, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables…Archie the Talking Tree: “Welcome to the NightGarden. I’ve always wanted to say that on Deco Drive.”…comes alive! The NightGarden is back for its fifth year.Nannette Zapata: “When you step into NightGarden at Fairchild, you’re stepping into a wonderland. You’re stepping into an experience, an immersive experience.”And it’s brighter than ever before.Daniel Wu: “This year we have over two to three thousand different types of lights. And fun fact, this is the most lights there’s ever been for a NightGarde...

Friday’s high school roundup/scores: Jackson Belsan, Scituate knocked off second-seeded Holliston

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Jackson Belsan threw for 360 yards and four touchdowns as No. 7 Scituate (7-3) eliminated second-seeded Holliston, 27-24 in a Div. 4 state quarterfinal. Lawson Foley was the prime target as he hauled in five passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns.Alex Barlow ran for two touchdowns as No. 1 Duxbury (8-1) coasted to a 31-0 victory over No. 8 Somerset Berkley. … Vincent Ciancio threw a 30-yard TD pass to Cam Kearney with less than two minutes remaining to give No. 4 Tewksbury (7-3) a 28-21 win over 12th-seeded Burlington.In the Div. 7 quarterfinals, Matt Phillips found the end zone three times on the ground for fifth-seeded Clinton (6-4) in a 49-6 victory over fourth-ranked Rockland (6-4). … Mike Wildfire tossed three touchdown passes for No. 2 Cohasset (6-3) in a 35-8 win over No. 7 Mashpee (6-4). … Max Sanchez (191 yards, two touchdowns) and Michael Sanchez (101 yards, two touchdowns) were terrors on the ground off a combined 31 carries, pacing sixth-seeded Amesbury (8-1) toward a 3...

Tyler Lennox, Helms brothers carry Carver into Division 8 semifinal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

CARVER – The last time Carver even sniffed a significant Super Bowl run was back in 2000 when the Crusaders made the finals only to lose.Now, 23 years later, the undefeated Crusaders rolled to a 49-27 victory over No. 7 KIPP Academy, last year’s Division 8 Super Bowl runner-up, to earn a chance at the Final Four in Division 8.Sophomore Nathan Helms hauled in five catches for 72 yards and scored three first-half touchdowns, while his senior captain brother, Jameson, scored twice on rushing touchdowns, with both coming in the second half.With the Helms brothers compiling five touchdowns, it overshadowed the amazing work again from senior quarterback Tyler Lennox. Lennox threw for 353 yards on 22-of-32 passing as the senior captain connected on 68% of his passing attempts with five touchdowns through the air.“It was a big game and it just felt good,” said the younger Helms. “Tyler is a great player, and he just throws dimes and it’s great having him as my quarterback. It’s not a bad th...

Xaverian gets over the hump, knocks off Springfield Central

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

WESTWOOD — The last three games between Xaverian and Springfield Central — all Central wins — were about offensive fireworks, and explosive plays.On Friday night in a Division 1 quarterfinal, Xaverian was happy to make it about defense.The No. 2 Hawks made the biggest plays of the game on that side of the ball, and just enough on the other, to earn a 21-20 win over No. 7 Central.Xaverian (8-2) moves to the Final Four, where it will play Needham. Central falls to 8-2.“I don’t want to get in a track meet with anybody,” Xaverian coach Al Fornaro said. “We got some dudes who can run, but not as many as they do. Keep the ball away from their playmakers. It’s simple. I didn’t invent that stuff. It was invented many years ago.”A few plays stood out the most for Xaverian. The Hawks stuffed a Central two-point conversion rush to account for the final margin. Sophomore Dave Chiavegato made an interception, and a pass breakup, the latter to force a tur...

Piroshky Piroshky bringing pop-up back to San Diego

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A famed Seattle-based bakery is bringing its acclaimed Eastern European-inspired pies back to San Diego for a pop-up next month.Piroshky Piroshky will be visiting America's Finest City on Dec. 5 at Elks Lodge — located at 430 Jackson Dr. — as part of its 31st anniversary tour of the U.S.The bakery previously visited San Diego earlier this year, but is returning to Southern California by popular demand."Everywhere we go, it's a pleasure to meet our dedicated piroshky fans and make new friends," Olga Sagan, owner of Piroshky Piroshky, said in a release. "We're elated to connect and share with our ever-growing Piroshky community across the United States – let’s keep celebrating together!" Top 50 places to eat in San Diego: Yelp Founded in the historic Pike Place market, Piroshky Piroshky has offered hand-crafted pastries since 1992. The brick-and-mortar bakery — voted one of the "20 Most Iconic Food Destinations Across America" by Smithsonian Magazine — is known for its p...

Over half of Sudan’s population needs humanitarian aid after nearly 7 months of war, UN says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Almost seven months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group have left a wave of destruction with over half the population in need of humanitarian aid and raised fears of a repeat of the deadly ethnic conflict in Darfur 20 years ago. “What is happening is verging on pure evil,” the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the African nation said Friday.Sudan has fallen out of the spotlight since it was engulfed in chaos starting in mid-April, when simmering tensions between military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open warfare.But Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the resident U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, told a United Nations news conference that “the situation is horrific and grim” and “frankly, we are running out of words to describe the horror of what is happening.” She stressed that “the Sudan crisis has few equals.”Fighting i...

John Bailey, who presided over the film academy during the initial #MeToo reckoning, dies at 81

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Bailey, a cinematographer who led the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during the initial #MeToo reckoning, died Friday at 81.Bailey died “peacefully in his sleep” in Los Angeles, his wife, Carol Littleton, said in a statement distributed by the film academy.Bailey — who worked on films ranging from “Ordinary People” to “Groundhog Day” to “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” — was the first cinematographer to preside over the Academy, serving two terms that spanned 2017-2019. Those were tumultuous years for the film industry. When Bailey took over, the Oscars alone had been grappling with falling ratings, controversies over the homogeneity of its choices (#OscarsSoWhite) and the infamous envelope flub in 2017 that marred the best picture win for “Moonlight.” Scarcely two months into his presidency, The New York Times and The New Yorker released bombshell reports about sexual assault allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein that ignited an industr...

1 dead, 1 hospitalized after fire in Brighton Park

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

CHICAGO — A fire that broke out at a home on the city's Southwest Side left one person dead and another hospitalized on Friday evening, according to Chicago fire officials.Officials from the Chicago Fire Department confirmed that one person died after the blaze broke out in the 3200 block of West 38th Place in Brighton Park.Officials say one person was taken to the hospital in stable condition for smoke inhalation.Currently, it is unclear what led to the fire and authorities have not yet identified anyone involved.

Milder Pacific air is on the way; it's to boost temps Sunday and produce a string of 60-degree highs next week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

WGN WEATHER HEADLINESPOSTS FROM MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE DR. BRIAN BRETTSCHNEIDER (https://twitter.com/Climatologist49), ALASKA-BASED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLIMATOLOGISTBrettschneider notes the recent snow fell much like so many of our Lower 48 snows fall — wet and in a near freezing environment, which means the snow had exceptionally high (by Alaska standards) water content.PERHAPS MOST INTERESTING, and information which puts the intensity of recent days' snow in southern Alaska into historic context, are Dr. Brettschneider's comments on the 65" of snow which fell in just 24 hours near Thompson Pass which is east of Anchorage and just north of Valdez, Alaska. THINK OF THAT — 65" of snow in a single day! That's the equivalent of more nearly three Chicago "Blizzard of 1967's" (which yielded 24" of snow here and crippled the city January 26-27, 1967) in a single day!! The 30" of snow which fell on sections of Anchorage's Hillside is MORE SNOW than we received in our benchmark Chicag...

Westlake pulls away from Round Rock 35-3 for bi-district playoff win

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Westlake didn't allow Round Rock to score a touchdown and rolled to a 35-3 bi-district win in the opening round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs Friday at Chaparral Stadium.Round Rock took an early 3-0 lead on a 30-yard field goal by Kai Haruki, but after that, the Chaps defense stood strong and kept Round Rock quarterback Mason Cochran under wraps. REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our website"That was a complete game right there," Westlake head coach Tony Salazar said. "We did a good job running the football and a great job playing defense."Jack Kayser scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground and quarterback Rees Wise added another as Westlake controlled the game. Wise, a sophomore, also threw two touchdown passes to Grady Bartlett.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than...