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Robin Lod was ‘the guy in the middle’ of Teemu Pukki’s move to Minnesota United

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

After his first training session with Minnesota United last Friday, Teemu Pukki strolled off the field and gravitated toward Robin Lod.It was a casual movement, yet seemed intentional. And it was completely fitting.Pukki is in Minnesota because of Lod, his compatriot on the Finland national team since 2015. Lod joined MNUFC in 2019 and told the Pioneer Press this week he started to lobby for Pukki to join the Loons in 2021.“I spoke with the gaffer (Adrian Heath), asking if we’re going to be interested in him coming to the MLS and everything,” Lod said. “And I think just now it was the right time.”But it’s not perfect.While Pukki scored his first MLS goal in his second appearance in the Loons’ 3-0 victory at Houston on Wednesday, he had to do it without Lod, who is out for the season with a torn meniscus in his right knee.At Pukki’s introductory news conference, he said Lod played a “huge” role in him moving from Norwich City in England to MNUFC on a high-priced Designated Play...

Driver in St. Paul fatal pedestrian crash released from jail as investigation continues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

A 19-year-old was released from jail Friday, pending further investigation, after police say he fatally struck a pedestrian in St. Paul Tuesday night.The Ramsey County attorney’s office says they are awaiting information from blood testing and crash reconstruction.“These investigations are very detailed and it takes time to determine speed and toxicology” of the driver, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.The driver, who lives in St. Paul, was headed east on Concordia Avenue in the Dale Street area about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday when his vehicle collided with Tashawn Burks, who was a pedestrian. Burks, a 31-year-old from St. Paul, died at the scene.Police arrested the driver because “investigation revealed that driving conduct and speed played a role in this crash,” police said in a Wednesday statement. Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | Architect identified as suspect in Long Island serial killings, AP source says Crime &...

UnitedHealth shares rally as health care giant beats 2Q forecasts, eases care use concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

By TOM MURPHY (AP Health Writer)UnitedHealth beat second-quarter expectations as an acquisition and more Medicare Advantage customers helped balance a jump in care use.The health care giant also raised the low end of its 2023 earnings forecast range on Friday after its profit jumped 8% to $5.47 billion in the quarter.UnitedHealth runs a health insurance business that covers more than 50 million people, mostly in the United States. It also has an Optum business that provides care and runs one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers.Optum revenue jumped 25% to more than $56 billion in the quarter, helped partly by UnitedHealth’s roughly $8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare.The company also said it squeezed more revenue out of customers served through its Optum Health business, which runs clinics, outpatient surgery centers and provides home care. That business has been treating more people through value-based care arrangements, which base care provider pay...

Amsterdam's first cannabis dispensary looking to open in August

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The City of Amsterdam is getting its first legal cannabis dispensary. Amsterdam Cannabis will be located at 1451 Route 5S. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Owners Anthony and Thomas Marcellino are two brothers from Amsterdam. They applied to get their CAURD license in September 2022 and it was granted in April 2023."The process for obtaining the license was tough," said Anthony Marcellino. "We had to track down a lot of paperwork, some from several years ago, and luckily we were able to find it all and get our application submitted to the Office of Cannabis Management." Swimming reopens at Brown’s Beach on Saratoga Lake Amsterdam Cannabis will have smokable cannabis, edibles, vape pens, prerolled joints, concentrates, and other cannabis products. Overall, they plan to carry about 100 different types of cannabis products."We hope that the local community comes to check out the variety of products...

Pittsfield Police looking for missing teen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (NEWS10) -- The Pittsfield Police Department is asking the public for help in finding a missing 16-year-old girl. Police say Jaylynn Sullivan was last seen wearing ripped jeans, a red shirt, and black sandals. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Image via Pittsfield Police DepartmentPolice say Sullivan is approximately 5'4" and approximately 150 pounds. According to police, it is believed she is in the Western Massachusetts area, specifically Berkshire County. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is urged to contact the Pittsfield Police Department at (413) 448-9700.

Missouri Powerball player credits lucky lightning for $50,000 win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

ST. CLAIR, Mo. -- A Missouri Powerball player won $50,000 in the July 1st drawing. She credits two lightning strikes for her good luck.“There were two lightning bolts that both hit at the same time right next to me,” the player tells the Missouri Lottery. “I told my husband, ‘I don’t want to drive into that storm.’" Defendant who was serving life for murder gets unusual deal She pulled in to the On the Run gas station on Main Street in St. Clair and purchased a Powerball ticket while waiting for the storm to pass. It ended up matching five white-ball numbers and the Powerball. She plans on spending the money on her grandchildren.The Powerball jackpot is reaching record levels. This Saturday's jackpot is for $875 million.The chances of winning any Powerball jackpot are small, at around one in 292,201,338. The chances of taking home $50,000 are around one in 913,129.

Opinion: Devastating allegations against House leaders, force the question of Colorado’s open meetings law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

Colorado state Representatives Elisabeth Epps (D-Denver) and Bob Marshall (D-Highlands Ranch) filed a lawsuit against House leadership and the House itself alleging both legislative caucuses were meeting in violation of the Colorado open meeting law.Taken at face value, the allegations are devastating. Among other things, Epps and Marshall allege the caucus meetings violated the law because they were held without any public notice; deliberately concealed those meetings from the public; and members conducted legislative business using encrypted group texts.Conflicts between rank-and-file members and legislative leadership are not unusual. However, it is highly unusual for members to sue the leadership over those conflicts, especially over meetings that have existed in some form for generations of Colorado legislators. As a former speaker of the House, I’m no stranger to internal conflicts and I also understand the importance of caucus meetings to the General Assembly. In fact, one of...

UCG Takes Center Stage in Central Asia's Infrastructure Boom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

Further afield in the riskier frontier lands, Kazakhstan’s KazMuniGas, an integrated oil and gas company, has been selling shares to foreign investors in the country’s privatization program. Foreign investors are still waiting for this IPO, estimated to be valued at around $6.5 billion.Their neighbour, Uzbekistan, is thinking the same thing as a means to capture local and global investor interest in infrastructure investments.“As one of the directors of United Cement Group (in Uzbekistan), I would like the company to develop further, including through an IPO,” said Andreas Kern, Member of the Board of Directors, of UCG.United Cement Group has a total production capacity of just over 10 million tons of cement per year. Cemex’s installed capacity is 80 million tons.An example of what UCGs corner of the world looks like: The large infrastructure project "New Tashkent", presented by the President of Uzbekistan. Smart city in Tashkent, with a total city area of 20,000 hectares. It will b...

Hollywood film festival lets athletes tell their own story Uninterrupted

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

Some of the biggest names in sports were in Hollywood Thursday night, but it wasn't just because the ESPY Awards were in Los Angeles the day before.Stars like Summer and Winter Olympian Lolo Jones, NFL player Kayvon Thibodeaux and four-time NBA champion Draymond Green were on hand for the inaugural Uninterrupted Film Festival to discuss not only their athletic accomplishments, but also the changing media landscape for athletes.In the past few years, high school and college athletes have been allowed to be compensated for their name, image and likeness — a rapid about-face from the stiff penalties for such payments in the past — and stars can skip the press entirely and reach their fans directly on social media or through a podcast. To highlight these trends and others for sports stars, the festival showed off what it called "a whole new ball game in storytelling." Uninterrupted, the athlete-empowerment brand of the SpringHill Company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, high...

China's Shein hit with lawsuit citing RICO violations, a law originally used against organized crime

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:17 GMT

China's fast fashion retailer Shein is facing a lawsuit that claims the clothing maker's copyright infringement is so aggressive, it amounts to racketeering.The filing this week claims that Shein is in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, a law originally crafted to prosecute organized crime. “Shein has grown rich by committing individual infringements over and over again, as part of a long and continuous pattern of racketeering, which shows no sign of abating,” the filing says.In an organized effort to create as many as 6,000 new items per day, Shein uses a “byzantine shell game of a corporate structure” to rip off designers, a coordinated illegal operation that can best be combated through the use of RICO statutes, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit is just the latest in a series of difficulties Shein has faced. In May a bipartisan group of two dozen lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to put the brakes on...