The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Payton Sparks scored 20 points off of the bench to lead Ball State past Evansville 80-43 on Saturday. Sparks had five rebounds for the Cardinals (5-6). Jermahri Hill added 13 points while going 5 of 14 (1 for 5 from 3-point range) while he also had eight rebounds and four steals. Jeremiah Hernandez had 12 points and shot 3 of 9 from the field, including 2 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 5 from the line. Michael Day led the Purple Aces (3-9) in scoring, finishing with 13 points. Evansville also got 11 points and seven rebounds from Tanner Cuff. Gui Tesch also recorded five points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
Character.ai is being sued for encouraging kids to self-harmArsenal make Mikel Arteta proud after smashing Sporting LisbonVirginia lawmakers will soon consider a bill that could help to bring larger airlines to smaller airports and support the growth of regional airports in the commonwealth. Last session, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and lawmakers settled on a biennium budget that included several transportation investments, including $1 million to establish an "advanced air aviation test site" from the Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund and $350,000 to study implementing “emerging technologies,” including "advanced air mobility." With the significant investments, Del. Wren Williams, a Patrick County Republican, said he decided to carry his bill that would redirect tax revenues from vehicle rentals to support aviation laws and construction, maintenance and improvement of airports in the commonwealth in the upcoming session. Currently, the tax revenues from vehicle rentals go from the Commonwealth Transportation Fund to the Aviation Special Fund. Williams said the revenue amount is small, but it could help the commonwealth when it has to fully fund aviation projects and match grants from the federal government. “There’s always the need to help improve the infrastructure of airports and aviation in Virginia, especially with our current administration and Boeing and others that have come into Virginia as an aviation hub,” Williams said. While Virginia’s heavily used airports, such as Dulles, receive much attention, Williams said it’s important to support smaller airports, which lack necessary facilities such as runway extensions, hangar spaces and control towers. Williams said the bill also considers the future of uncrewed aerial vehicles and the need for dedicated infrastructure. In October, aviation and economic experts briefed House and Senate Transportation Committee members about “advanced air mobility” at the state’s annual transportation conference. Advanced air mobility has grown in popularity as a way to offer travel and delivery services and, at the same time, promise to reduce greenhouse gases. However, because the technologies are new, regulations and infrastructure are still under development. According to the nonprofit group Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, the advanced air mobility industry, as it is known, could generate $16 billion in new business activity in the commonwealth. The opportunity is “huge,” House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney, a Fairfax Democrat, told the Virginia Mercury at last month’s transportation conference, adding that it is vital for lawmakers to begin discussing now some of the regulatory considerations and incentives that will be needed “because the future is here.” John Campbell Jr., deputy director for the Virginia Department of Aviation, said if the bill were to become law, the money would go into the Aviation Fund, which provides funding for planning and engineering projects that focus on airport facility development. “In general,” Campbell said, “these projects include master plan and airport layout plan studies; environmental studies; land acquisition; airside facility design and construction; and terminal building design and construction.” This story was originally published in the Virginia Mercury . Nathaniel Cline is a reporter for the Virginia Mercury covering policy. Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.Pelicans Have No Interest In Trading Herb Jones
The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . SOUTH EASTON, Mass. (AP) — Louie Semona’s 22 points helped Stonehill defeat New Hampshire 90-83 on Sunday. Semona also added six rebounds for the Skyhawks (7-7). Chas Stinson scored 16 points while going 6 of 10 and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line and added five assists and three steals. Josh Morgan shot 4 of 8 from the field, including 0 for 3 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 4 from the line to finish with 12 points. Sami Pissis finished with 20 points for the Wildcats (2-12). Khalil Badru added 15 points for New Hampshire. Giancarlo Bastianoni also put up 14 points and 12 rebounds. The loss was the Wildcats’ sixth in a row. Stonehill’s next game is Sunday against Lafayette on the road, and New Hampshire visits Iowa on Monday. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Arsenal delivered the statement Champions League win Mikel Arteta had demanded as they swept aside Sporting Lisbon 5-1. Arteta wanted his team to prove their European credentials following some underwhelming displays away from home, and the Gunners manager got exactly what he asked for. Goals from Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Magalhaes, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard got their continental campaign back on track in style following the 1-0 defeat at Inter Milan last time out. A memorable victory also ended Sporting’s unbeaten start to the season, a streak of 17 wins and one draw, the vast majority of which prompted Manchester United to prise away head coach Ruben Amorim. The Gunners had failed to win or score in their two away games in the competition so far this season, but they made a blistering start in the Portuguese capital and took the lead after only seven minutes. Declan Rice fed overlapping full-back Jurrien Timber, who curled a low cross in behind the home defence for Martinelli to finish at the far post. Arsenal doubled their lead in the 20th minute thanks to a glorious ball over the top from Thomas Partey. Saka escaped the clutches of his marker Maximiliano Araujo to beat the offside trap and poke the ball past advancing goalkeeper Franco Israel for Havertz to tap home. It was a scintillating first-half display which completely overshadowed the presence of Viktor Gyokeres in Sporting’s attack. The prolific Sweden striker, formerly of Coventry, has been turning the heads of Europe’s top clubs with his 24 goals in 17 games this season – including a hat-trick against Manchester City earlier this month. But the only time he got a sniff of a run at goal after an optimistic long ball, he was marshalled out of harm’s way by Gabriel. David Raya was forced into one save, tipping a fierce Geovany Quenda drive over the crossbar. But Arsenal added a third on the stroke of half-time, Gabriel charging in to head Rice’s corner into the back of the net. To rub salt in the wound, the Brazilian defender mimicked Gyokeres’ hands-over-his-face goal celebration. That may have wound Sporting up as they came out after the interval meaning business, and they pulled one back after Raya tipped Hidemasa Morita’s shot behind, with Goncalo Inacio netting at the near post from the corner. Former Tottenham winger Marcus Edwards fired over, as did Gyokeres, with Arsenal temporarily on the back foot. But when Martin Odegaard’s darting run into the area was halted by Ousmane Diomande’s foul, Saka tucked away the penalty. Substitute Trossard added the fifth with eight minutes remaining, heading in the rebound after Mikel Merino’s shot was saved, and Gyokeres’ miserable night was summed up when his late shot crashed back off the post.
Nova Scotia's child welfare social workers devalued and burned out: report
The United Kingdom on Wednesday indefinitely banned new prescriptions of puberty blockers to treat minors for gender dysphoria. The announcement comes a week after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving state bans on puberty-suppressing medication and other forms of transition-related care for minors. Puberty blockers are commonly prescribed to transgender children in countries throughout the Western world to delay the onset of puberty or pause it as it is transpiring. The medication is prescribed with the goal of giving children who are experiencing gender dysphoria more time to decide if they want to take more permanent steps to transition genders. Puberty resumes when the medication is no longer taken. The indefinite ban on the medication in Britain comes several months after an independent study commissioned by England’s National Health Service concluded that the medical evidence around transition-related care for minors is “remarkably weak” and that more research is needed. “Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led,” British Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said in a press release . “The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people.” Dr. Hilary Cass, the author of the independent study, known as the “Cass report,” said she supported the ban, according to the same release. “Puberty blockers are powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks, and that is why I recommended that they should only be prescribed following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol,” she said. Transgender activists around the world condemned the ban. “I wouldn’t wish medical negligence on my worst enemy. Labour activists just wished it on my entire community,” Iris Duane, a former candidate for Britain’s Parliament, wrote on X . “To friends, family and community, many of us will survive, and we will remind them that hell is calling.” Trans minors in the U.K. who are already taking the medication can continue doing so, according to the government, and cisgender minors who experience puberty at an abnormally early age will still be able to receive new prescriptions for the medication. A temporary ban on new puberty-blocker prescriptions for British minors experiencing gender dysphoria was already put in place over the summer. Wednesday’s announcement extends the ban indefinitely as the government begins clinical trials on the medications starting next year. The ban will be revisited in 2027. The U.K. ban comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Tennessee is one of more than two dozen states that restrict such care in the U.S.
