South Florida Local News

General Daily Insight for March 09, 2025

What starts as a quiet and intuitive day will go out with a bang! The Moon begins in sensitive Cancer, where it will square sore Chiron before trining mystical Neptune, inspiring us to tend to our needs and do what we can to make ourselves feel better about the state of things. We can take on a more active role once the Moon trots into garrulous Leo at 6:59 pm EDT. Luna in Leo will strengthen us all to stand up for ourselves and our desires.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

There’s no need to keep a lid on things right now. The Moon is bounding into your expressive 5th house, so you’ve got cosmic clearance to do as you please. This area is all about pursuing the things that make you happy, whether that involves creative expression, indulgent romance, or playful messing around with pals. Leave your work and less urgent tasks for your future self. This is your day, and you deserve the chance to make it whatever you choose.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Settle down and take a load off. It’s the perfect moment to get comfortable as the Moon enters your introverted 4th house, turning your attention to all matters of home and hearth. This can be a great time to spend with family, biological or chosen. You may instead (or in addition) decide to turn your eye for aesthetics onto your space and do a little sprucing up. Feather your nest today, so you’ll have a safe place to land after future adventures.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Time to circulate, Gemini. The Moon is leaping into your 3rd House of Exchanges, where your clever sign is right at home. With you in your element like this, it’ll be hard to go wrong. Seize the day and start planning an exciting project or setting up a get-together with friends! Whatever you do, be sure to express yourself with fairness and dignity. This area of your chart encourages buddying up, so don’t think you need to handle the day all by yourself.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Take stock of your situation ASAP. There is an emphasis on crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s as the Moon enters your grounded 2nd house, making it the perfect time to go over the basics of your life and certify that everything is on the up-and-up. Since this is decidedly financial territory, start by examining your spending. While you could find a few ways to save yourself a nice chunk of change, you could also find new ways to earn it.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

It’s all about you today, Leo — within reason, that is. The Moon is touching down in your passionate sign, clearing any excess fog around the issues most important to you on a personal level. This is a great opportunity to sit down and think about what changes you would like to see in your life over the next month, big or small. With a bit of effort, you can surely make them happen. A little careful strategizing can take you far.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Let your imagination take the wheel. There is no need to dive into anything or rush off your feet as the Moon drifts into your contemplative 12th house. This transit marks an excellent time to move into the slow lane and coast along for a bit. Creativity is everywhere you look, so it doesn’t matter if you’re of an artistic persuasion or merely looking for an unusual solution to an outstanding problem. The best ideas can arrive when you let your mind float freely.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Time to get the band back together — metaphorically speaking. Scheduling is complicated, but why not reach out and simply see who’s free? As the Moon enters your 11th House of Altruism, you’re encouraged to connect with like-minded friends as well as any fascinating fresh faces. Either way, you can gain a lot from the experience. With this house’s humanitarian, community-oriented energy, there will also be chances to do all sorts of good deeds. Don’t let them pass you by.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

This is no time to rest on your laurels! The Moon is marching into your 10th House of Success, highlighting your ambitions to let you focus on them and get started on whatever needs doing. If you’ve been spinning your wheels while waiting for a sign, consider this a galactic green light to start officially moving toward the finish line. That isn’t to say you need to win first place (or even reach the finish line just yet), but you can certainly still make progress.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

The world is calling your name more loudly than usual. It’s the perfect astrological weather to go off on an adventure, literally or metaphorically, as the Moon zooms into your 9th House of Education. This sector is all about opening your life to unknown possibilities and ways of being. If you’ve been stuck in a rut, this is the perfect chance to shake things up. Dive into the possibilities and opportunities on offer and let them reinvigorate your entire world with excitement!

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

This is no time to get sloppy. The Moon is entering your 8th House of Legacies, a decidedly serious sector of your chart that deals with a lot of important relationship and financial issues, so don’t start slacking. If you do, you could miss details or say things that come back to bite you because you weren’t keeping your eye on the ball. As intense as this sounds, know that you can experience wonderful success as long as you do tend to your responsibilities.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

You can accomplish a lot more if you let people help out. There is a strong emphasis on dynamic duos as the Moon enters your 7th House of Partnerships, regardless of the details of the connection. This may involve a partner already in your life, or perhaps you’ll meet someone new who has a lot to offer you — and you have many ways to return the favor. Remember that opposites really can attract, so keep an open mind while you’re interacting with others.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

You can be your most productive self at present. The Moon is springing into your 6th House of Routine, giving you the burst of energy needed to look around your life and get everything sorted to the best of your ability. Don’t let anything stop you from things like scheduling an appointment you’ve been putting off, hopping back on the workout wagon, or tackling your to-do list. You can plow through these tasks once you get cracking! You’ll likely be done before you know it.

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 114-109 loss to the Chicago Bulls:

– No, one night does not change an outlook on the season.

– So this didn’t.

– It only magnified a reality.

– This Miami Heat roster, as constructed, is a middling team.

– There comes a point where you are what your record says you are.

– And what your blown leads say you are.

– This was not a shorthanded roster.

– Health largely restored.

– This is a team that can’t get out of its own way with a game on the line.

– Losing in overtime to the Knicks is one thing.

– Fighting to the finish in Cleveland another.

– Even a home loss to the Timberwolves can be excused.

– But to these Bulls?

– These shorthanded Bulls?

– The Bulls seemingly have been locked into the play-in round for weeks.

– Now, almost assuredly with the company of the Heat in that bracket.

– Simply not good enough for another level.

– And if the slide continues, with the Heat at No. 9 or No. 10, are they capable of the two wins needed to advance to the playoffs?

– Can they beat the Bulls in the play-in?

– Or the Hawks?

– As in two teams that recently have topped Erik Spoelstra’s team.

– For that matter, can anything be assumed against the Magic?

– For all the conjecture about the Heat not having a chance in the playoffs against the Cavaliers or Celtics, can they even compete in the play-in?

– The low point of the season?

– Welcome to it.

– With Andrew Wiggins back from his ankle sprain and Kel’el Ware back from his knee sprain, the Heat got back to their preferred post-trade lineup of Ware, Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell. That lineup is now 2-4.

– Saturday was the 200th career regular-season start for Herro.

– Haywood Highsmith and Duncan Robinson entered together first off the Heat bench.

– Terry Rozier remained in the rotation, entering third off the bench.

– Followed by Jaime Jaquez Jr.

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– That had Kyle Anderson and Pelle Larsson out of the primary mix.

– With Alec Burks again out with lower-back pain.

– Before the game, Spoelstra addressed the NBA’s $50,000 fine to Adebayo for a referee interaction with official Kevin Cutler after Friday night’s loss to the Timberwolves.

– “And then what can we do? Can we appeal? I don’t know,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t think he was out of control. Bam has a great reputation, very respectful. He was trying to get Kevin’s attention and, you know, I think he was trying to make his case.”

– Spoelstra then offered a shrugging aside motion.

– “I think Kevin kind of ignited it, like this,” he said. “That was unnecessary. Bam was not being aggressive. That was more of an aggressive response to Bam trying to have a discussion. But, look, you’re not winning that with the league, so we have to move on.”

– Spoelstra also was asked pregame about Mitchell’s solid assist-to-turnover ratio in recent games.

– “He’s getting more comfortable making those miscellaneous plays for us, which are important,” Spoelstra said. “Davion is a solid decision-maker. And he gets into the paint. And we want to encourage him to work for a handful more of those. His intentions are pure. He wants to get guys the ball. He wants to set up the main guys.”

– Spoelstra added, “So if we can find more ways to help him to get into the paint I think that would be a good thing for us.”

MIAMI — For weeks, actually over a month, Erik Spoelstra has spoken of the Miami Heat building habits in their attempted recovery from the Jimmy Butler mess.

He hasn’t been wrong.

Because one habit has been trumping all others — blowing leads.

Early. Late. Often.

This time the lead was 17 early and 11 at the start of the fourth quarter.

And then both were gone.

This, undeniably, is who the Heat are.

This is what they do.

And they did it again Saturday night at Kaseya Center.

Pain. No gain.

Just a 114-109 loss to a Chicago Bulls roster lacking Lonzo Ball, Nikola Vucevic and Patrick Williams.

Frankly, no excuses.

“Today was a regression. For one night,” Spoelstra acknowledged. “We have a competitive character. We’re going to bounce back. But we had some of these things bubble up again.”

So, yes, 22 points apiece from Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins, as well as 21 from Tyler Herro and 15 from Terry Rozier, even 12 rebounds from Kel’el Ware.

Didn’t matter. Just more losing.

“This is an opportunity for all of us to face our demons to get past this,” Spoelstra said after his team fell to No. 9 in the East. “This is not something that’s comfortable for any of us. But I see something amazing on the other side.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s game:

1. Closing time: The Heat led 36-24 at the end of the opening period and 55-48 at halftime.

“At halftime we didn’t come out ready,” Spoelstra said. “And I felt like that was behind us.’

Rozier nonetheless then beat the third-period buzzer to give the Heat an 89-78 lead going into the fourth, capping an 8-0 run to close the quarter.

Herro then returned with 7:56 to play and the Heat up 94-91, only to see the Bulls move all the way back from a 17-point deficit to a 97-94 lead with 5:52 to play, their first lead since 8-6.

Later it was tied 107-107 with 1:45 to play

But with consecutive three-point plays by Coby White, the Bulls stood ahead 110-107 with 1:25 to play.

A Wiggins driving layup got the Heat within 110-109 with 1:12 to play, only to see Josh Giddey convert a 3-pointer as part of his triple-double night  for a 113-109 Chicago lead with 15.8 seconds to play.

“I felt like there was some fatigue in the fourth quarter,” Spoelstra said, questioning himself on not keeping his leading men fresh enough to finish. “My ownership part of it would be if we had some fresher bodies.”

2. Rozier revival: After being dropped to a 10th-man role in Friday night’s loss to the Timberwolves, Rozier this time was third off the Heat bench, providing relief points with 3-pointers.

That Rozier retained such a role with the roster largely healthy indicates he has regained a spot in the primary rotation.

Rozier’s minutes came with Alec Burks missing a second consecutive game with lower-back pain.

“We just got to figure it out,” Rozier said of the team’s four-game slide. “We’ve got to fix it now.”

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3. Welcome back: After missing the previous five games with a sprained right ankle, Wiggins was cleared to return an hour prior to tipoff.

He then scored nine points in his opening 7:23 stint, with a team-high seven shots to that stage.

With Herro in the midst of an uneven night, it was Wiggins who often got the primary looks during his minutes.

4. Also back: The Heat also got Ware back after he had missed the previous three games with a sprained left knee.

Ware was up to double figures in rebounds by the opening minutes of the third period.

Yet for all of Ware’s work on the boards, uneven defense and smallball lineups for the Bulls left him again as a spectator at the close.

Of Wiggins and Ware returning, Spoelstra said, “They both looked great our there physically.”

5. Three more: The Heat’s five-game homestand continues with a Monday night game against the Charlotte Hornets, a Wednesday night game against the Los Angeles Clippers and then a Friday night game against the Boston Celtics.

“We’re all sick of losing,” Adebayo said. “It’s up to us to dig ourselves out of this hole.

“We’re going to keep fighting.”

By ALANIS THAMES

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Vitek Vanecek stopped all 21 shots he faced in his Florida debut, and the Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Saturday night.

A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett all scored as the Panthers won their sixth-straight game. Vanecek, acquired from San Jose on Wednesday, got his first shutout of the season and 10th of his career.

Captain Aleksander Barkov had an assist, giving him six points in his past two games. Nate Schmidt added two assists.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, made 32 saves for the Sabres, who lost their sixth straight game.

Takeaways

Sabres: Buffalo could not get much going on offense despite entering the game with the the 11th-ranked offense in the NHL at 3.18 goals per game. The Sabres have been outscored 28-14 during their losing streak.

Panthers: Florida has outscored opponents 20-5 during its winning streak. The Panthers have not trailed in a game in two weeks and have killed off 19 straight penalties.

Key moment

With under three minutes left in the second, Lundell made it 3-0 when he put home Schmidt’s rebound for his 15th goal of the season.

Key stat

Aaron Ekblad’s assist on Verhaeghe’s goal extended his assist streak to six games, which ties the longest assist streak by a Panthers defenseman in franchise history. The other blueliners to record a six-game streak with the Panthers: Brandon Montour (2022-23), MacKenzie Weegar (2020-21), Jay Bouwmeester (2005-06) and Robert Svehla (1995-96).

Up next

Sabres host Edmonton on Monday, and Panthers play at Boston on Tuesday to begin a six-game trip.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Miami Dolphins, on Saturday, announced they placed the right-of-first-refusal tender on cornerback Kader Kohou.

Kohou is set for restricted free agency this offseason, and tendering him essentially keeps it that way.

The former undrafted cornerback out of Texas A&M-Commerce who has played three NFL seasons in Miami can sign an offer sheet with another team, but the Dolphins can then match said offer to retain Kohou on the 2025 roster.

The value of the right-of-first-refusal tender in 2025 is $3,263,000. Kohou has now locked in at least that much pay next season with the Dolphins, as that’s what he will earn if no other team comes forward with an offer sheet.

Had Kohou not had the right-of-first-refusal tender placed on him, the cornerback would’ve become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. That would’ve allowed him to sign with any other team without an opportunity for the Dolphins to match the offer sheet.

There were other restricted free agent tender options available to Miami, but those are more expensive.

A first-round tender this offseason is worth $7,458,000 and a second-rounder tender is valued at $5,346,000. If the Dolphins placed one of those on Kohou and another team offered him more money, Miami would then stand to receive either a first- or second-round draft pick if it chose not to match that offer.

Kohou has played above his original undrafted status in his first three seasons, but he hasn’t quite risen to the level of warranting the more high-priced tenders.

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In his three seasons for the Dolphins, Kohou has mostly been a reliable nickel cornerback, covering the opposing slot receiver, but he also presents enough versatility to move outside and play the boundary.

He has played in 47 games with 38 starts in his three-year NFL career, hauling in three interceptions — two last season.

Kohou also has recorded 180 tackles, 13 for loss, a sack, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 28 pass deflections in his three seasons.

It’s important for the Dolphins to bring Kohou back, assuming his price tag doesn’t get out of hand. They are in the midst of a bit of an overhaul in the secondary around star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, with last year’s starting safeties, Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer, free agents and fellow cornerback Kendall Fuller released earlier this offseason.

Miami is also developing cornerbacks of the likes of 2023 second-round pick Cam Smith and Storm Duck, a 2024 undrafted free agent heading into his second season.

The Dolphins have already placed exclusive rights free agent tenders on offensive lineman Kion Smith and outside linebacker Cameron Goode, bringing them back for 2025. They are not tendering outside linebacker Quinton Bell, leaving him to be a free agent.

Here are some of the best moments from Spring Break 2025 as college and high school students flock to Fort Lauderdale Beach.

CORAL GABLES — Brandon Johnson’s putback slam with 1 second remaining lifted Miami to a 72-70 victory over N.C. State on Saturday in likely the last game of the season for both teams.

The Hurricanes led twice: when they scored first and when they scored last.

Although Miami hadn’t led since it was 2-1 and trailed by 13 early in the second half, the Hurricanes got 3-pointers from Matthew Cleveland and A.J. Stanton-McCray to tie the score at 70 with 1:53 remaining.

Neither team scored again until Cleveland missed a well-contested layup and Johnson flushed the rebound with both hands to give Miami the lead with 1 second remaining.

Cleveland matched his season- and career-high with 32 points, Johnson had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Jalil Bethea scored 10 points for Miami.

Dontrez Styles scored 24 points, Paul McNeil Jr. 14, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield 10 for N.C. State.

A four-point run by Marcus Hill helped the Wolfpack take a 19-10. They led 41-31 at the break and by 13 when Styles opened the second half with a 3-pointer. The Wolfpack led by single digits for about 14 minutes in the second half before going scoreless over the final 3 1/2 minutes.

The dramatic win comes just two days after Jai Lucas was hired to coach the Hurricanes. He comes to Miami after spending the past three seasons at Duke, where he served as associate head coach for two seasons and as an assistant coach for one. He will be introduced at a press conference on Monday.

Neither team qualified for the 15-team ACC Tournament. N.C. State (12-19, 5-15 ACC) finished in no better than a tie for 16th and Miami (7-24, 3-17 ACC) finished last in the 18-team conference.

“The world’s #1 musical” is the at-first-impression rather boastful tagline for the stage musical version of “Disney’s The Lion King.”

But if the national Broadway tour of the show now at the Broward Center for a four-week run is any evidence, then the slogan is well earned.

Here are the “The Lion King’s” roars:

• Since its Great White Way premiere in 1997, there have been 28 global productions seen by over 120 million people.
• Over the last 22 years, the tours in North America alone have entertained over 23 million theatergoers.
• “The Lion King” is an awards magnet with the stage musical taking six Tony Awards when it bowed on Broadway. The original Broadway cast album won a Grammy in 1999. The original source, the 1994 animated movie, won two Academy Awards, four Grammys and three Golden Globes.
• The stage musical has been performed in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Dutch, Spanish, Mandarin and Portuguese, and there are currently seven productions around the world.
• The show has been staged in 28 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
• The entertainment franchise has generated video sequels, two spinoff TV series, computer games, theme park attractions as well as two star-filled computer animated follow-ups: a remake in 2019 and a subsequent 2024 film that pulled off being a prequel and a sequel of that 2019 remake.

Yeah, but what about this tour here in SoFlo? After all, that’s the mane thing right now.

Comported with that Disney discipline (we all know it when we see it), the production is visually stunning enough to keep toddlers to the timeworn engaged for two and a half hours including a 15 minute intermission.

Shakespearean undercurrents provide the pulse of the narrative, a cat fight for the throne of a pride of lions on an African savanna alongside a coming-of-age cat tale.

Matthew Murphy for DisneThe cast of “Disney’s The Lion King” performing “Circle of Life,” composed by Elton John and Hans Zimmer with lyrics by Tim Rice. The Broadway national tour runs March 6-30 at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale. (Matthew Murphy for Disney/Courtesy)

The cast performs the music — much of which is composed by Elton John and Tim Rice — with in-the-moment nowness that puts a little voltage into the songs we all know so well from the original 1994 animated movie: “Hakuna Matata,” “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life.”

And the stagecraft, from the original director/designer Julie Taymor’s emblematic puppets and masks to the choreography’s blend of classical and contemporary styles, remains effortlessly engaging. The special effects are still wow-worthy.

Now all is not purr-fect. This tour seems to have a smaller number of cast members than previous productions that have made their way here, making the promenades ever so slightly less pageantry-impressive. The sound mix can be a little fuzzy wuzzy at times, dropping whole stretches of lyrics into almost indecipherable murkiness.

But those are quibbles. The lion’s share of “Disney’s The Lion King” is still a triumph.

IF YOU GO INFO

WHEN: Through March 30. (Note that, with the exception of Sundays, the evening curtain is at 7:30 p.m. instead of the traditional 8 p.m.)

WHERE: The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 S.W. Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale.

COST: $85 to $160

INFORMATION: Call 954-468-0222 or visit browardcenter.org.

Matthew Murphy for DisneyMukelisiwe Goba as Rafiki in the Broadway national tour of “Disney’s The Lion King.” (Matthew Murphy for Disney/Courtesy)

 

 

Emails. Phone calls. They come almost every day full of hope and hunger and grass-roots basketball curiosity. They want not just a piece of Jim Crutchfield’s mind, which he can offer, but a chunk of his time, too.

“There’s no time right now,” he said.

Still, a junior-high coach in New Mexico wants to talk. A high-school coach in Oregon has a pressing question. The Division II and youth league AAU coaches want tutorials on how the Nova Southeastern basketball system works.

This is the daily proof of Crutchfield’s impact, of how his Division II program without much office space and a 2,300-seat arena affects the larger game. The easier way to measure that impact is by noting Nova can set he Division II record with an 81st consecutive home win in Sunday’s 1 p.m. game on the Davie campus against rival Florida Southern.

That streak stretches back to 2021. It covers a national championship and a No. 2 finish the past two years. It’s interwoven with such piles of continued, consequential winning that, when asked what the streak means, Crutchfield says, “I’d put it third in importance for this game.”

Sunday’s most important stake is the Sunshine State Conference championship. The second consequence is how it will affect national rankings for No. 2 Nova, considering that affects seeding for the coming NCAA tournament.

“I’m sure someday when I look back on it, this streak will mean something,” he said. “Right now we just want to win this game.”

Florida’s innovative football coach Steve Spurrier said you can succeed by either outworking your opponent or thinking differently. Crutchfield thinks differently. He started down that route as a 23-year-old, high school basketball coach in Cameron, West Va., when he sat on his couch and watched Rick Pitino’s 1980s Providence teams play a fast, pressing style.

“I said, ‘We can do that,’ ” said Crutchfield, 69. “I didn’t need to call up and talk to Rick Pitino. I looked at game tape. We figured out drills. We put in a similar style.”

Sometimes, greatness takes its time getting noticed. Crutchfield was 48 when he took over Division II West Liberty in West Virginia in 2004 and made them a national power. Pitino’s former guard, Billy Donovan, was coaching Florida to a national title at that time.

“They had the same type of random pressure, chasing from behind, trapping,” Crutchfield said. “They had a player, (Corey Brewer), who was trapping on the baseline, then two seconds later at the midcourt. I remember saying to the team, ‘This is the guy you want to play with right here.’ ”

Crutchfield tweaked, personalized and perfected his system through the years. He’s found the right players like MJ Iraldi, who’s the third straight Nova player named SSC Player of the Year. Ryan Cisarik leads the country in shooting percentage (59.7). Pembroke Pines’ Dallas Graziano returned to the program after a season at Samford and leads the country in point-to-assist ratio.

“I don’t know how much this connects to winning and losing, but again, we have a crew of guys that enjoy being around each other,” Crutchfield said. “No factions in the team. No complaining — that’s our No. 1 rule.”

His second rule is, “No foul language.”

“That’s unusual for college athletics,” he said.

He can’t think of a third rule. He pauses here and calls out to Iraldi, “MJ, what other rules do we have?”

“You just make ‘em up, coach,’ ” he said.

Nova leads the country in points scored and margin of victory with its frantic style, but Sunday’s record for consecutive home wins won’t come easy. Florida Southern was the last team to win in Davie in 2021. The teams always play tight games.

“We know how good they are,” Crutchfield said.

The only comparative streak for South Florida was the Miami Hurricanes football team’s 58 consecutive wins in the Orange Bowl between 1983 and 1994. It beat teams by an average 27 points and never gave up more than 23 points. Washington then dominated them, 38-20.

“They’ll have to start another streak,” Washington quarterback Damon Huard said that day.

Maybe that happens Sunday. That’s the great part of sports: You never know what’s next. They’re constantly surprising you. How else to explain the excellence of a Division II coach who you probably don’t know but whose methods are sought by coaches across the country?

MIAMI — Bam Adebayo did not need to wait for the NBA’s officiating report to be released Saturday to find out if a foul should have been called on his errant, buzzer-beating shot that could have given the Heat a victory Friday night over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

His respect is that the officials have a tough enough job in such situations.

Instead, the Heat big man exited the game venting because he was not allowed to vent afterward about what he thought were uneven calls throughout the 106-104 loss.

So after the final buzzer he approached referee Kevin Cutler, upset that could not get his concerns addressed.

“And it wasn’t even about the last play. It was throughout the whole game,” Adebayo said, with the Heat turning their attention to Saturday night’s visit by the Chicago Bulls, the second game of a five-game homestand. “To me, like I said, I don’t really get too confrontational. I really don’t get into it with the refs because it’s like, it’s their job and it’s our job, too, at the end of the day. We got dudes fighting for everything on the line.

“So to me, it’s like have the decency enough to look me in my eyes when I’m having a conversation. Obviously, we lost. I don’t understand like why they think we can’t be emotional. It’s like we’re going to be emotional. Win or lose games, if we have a conversation and it gets heated, it’s not because I just want to go at you.”

It turns out that Adebayo was not an innocent party to the process, however.

Saturday, the NBA released a statement that said, “Miami Heat center-forward Bam Adebayo has been fined $50,000 for making inappropriate contact with and directing profane language toward a game official.”

But in the moment, on Friday night, Adebayo said the lack of response was not appreciated.

“Like I said, man, have the decency enough to look a man in his eye and not walk away,” Adebayo said. “That, to me, is utterly disrespectful in a man’s game.”

With, Adebayo said, respect offered in the opposite direction.

“For me,” he said, “I’m pretty cool with all the referees. That’s the thing. Like I said,  I’m not confrontational, but I am emotional when I’m out there because we’re fighting to get wins. Like everybody does it. I’ve seen dudes really say some crazy stuff to referees and they don’t take them out. So I had the decency enough to wait until after the game to have my conversation because it’s like, ‘I want to have a conversation with you.’ That’s what you’re supposed to do as a man, face to face.

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“But when you’re walking away and stuff like that, that’s just truly disrespectful. And I feel like stuff should happen when they do that. Because when we get emotional and we walk away, we get teched up and we get fined — and I think that’s crazy.”

As for Friday night’s final play, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he had no doubt Adebayo was fouled during his 3-point attempt by Timberwolves forward Julius Randle.

“This is what I’ll say,” Spoelstra said, unprompted, as he opened his postgame media session. “That last baseline out of bounds, we did not execute and get what we wanted to. With that said, Bam got fouled.

“I’m not trying to get fined. League, don’t fine me. I’m not doing histrionics up here. I’m fully in control. At any point during the game, that’s a foul. Did he mean to foul? No. Is that what we wanted? No. But I will tell you this, Bam Adebayo got fouled on that. He got clipped. And if that’s in the first quarter, that’s a foul.”

It turned out the NBA disagreed, with Saturday’s officiating report calling it a correct no call:

“Randle (MIN) rests his left hand on Adebayo’s (MIA) side and marginal contact occurs before Randle makes further incidental ‘high-five’ contact with Adebayo after the release. The ensuing body contact that occurs following the release takes place as a result of Adebayo’s lower body drifting forward toward Randle to initiate it.”

To Randle, it was just straight-up defense.

“We know he likes to pump fake, so stay down on pump fakes,” Randle said of Adebayo’s attempt off an inbounds play with 1.9 seconds remaining. “Two seconds left, I know he didn’t have much time to get a shot off, so I just tried to crowd him a little bit and make it tough on him.”

It turns out, the NBA officiating report said the Heat should not even have been awarded possession prior to Adebayo’s shot, citing an incorrect call with 1.9 seconds to play:

“Possession is awarded to Miami. However, Highsmith (MIA) touches the ball last before it goes out of bounds. Possession should have remained with Minnesota.”

Today is Saturday, March 8, the 67th day of 2025. There are 298 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 8, 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.

Also on this date:

In 1917, protests against food rationing broke out in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), triggering eight days of rioting that resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the end of the Russian monarchy.

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In 1948, the Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down religious education classes during school hours in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.

In 1971, in the first of three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Frazier defeated Ali by unanimous decision in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York.

In 1983, in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Florida, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

In 1988, 17 soldiers were killed when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided in mid-flight during a night training mission.

In 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive and ultimately unsuccessful search.

Today’s birthdays:

• Author John McPhee is 94.
• Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager is 81.
• Actor-musician Micky Dolenz (The Monkees) is 80.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice is 72.
• Singer Gary Numan is 67.
• TV journalist Lester Holt is 66.
• Actor Aidan Quinn is 66.
• Actor Camryn Manheim is 64.
• Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is 49.
• Actor James Van Der Beek is 48.
• Songwriter-producer Benny Blanco is 37.
• Tennis player Petra Kvitová is 35.
• Actor Montana Jordan is 22.
• Actor Kit Connor is 21.

General Daily Insight for March 08, 2025

We can make positive progress without getting burnt out in the process. The Sun in Pisces is forming a rare yet harmonious trine to action planet Mars in Cancer at 12:13 am EST, giving our feelings atypical potency and power. The Moon will then conjoin Mars, syncing up their energies in a wonderful way that will assist us as we align our ambitions with our desires. Lastly, a caring lunar trine to the Sun wraps everything up on an open-hearted note.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Letting life’s current carry you can take you somewhere wonderful. A special trine between the Sun in your 12th House of Release and your ruler Mars in your 4th House of Security is urging you to find peace in letting go. If you’ve been feeling a little burnt out, then this aspect is terrific for taking a load off and getting some much-needed rest. Don’t deny yourself this opportunity to refill your tanks. Once they are full again, you can fly away.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

This could be one of the most exciting and social days you’ve experienced in ages. It’s the perfect time to circulate as the Sun in your 11th House of Networking aligns with Mars in your 3rd House of Conversation. This can energize you to meet new people while also improving the connections you’ve already got, so don’t hide yourself away, because that is the last thing you should do right now. Be your friendliest self, and the rewards should come pouring in.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Put your money where your mouth is, Gemini. The Sun is marching through your 10th House of Progress, helping you move in the direction of your biggest goals. At this time, the Sun is trining energizer Mars in your 2nd House of Earnings, ensuring the projects you focus on should be well worth the time and effort. This cheers on your efforts to uncover professional opportunities while also capitalizing on long-standing ventures. Do your best to make the most of this productive vibration.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

This is no time to limit yourself. The Sun is lighting up your 9th House of Learning, encouraging growth through new experiences. You’d be wise to utilize this cosmic hype as the Sun beautifully aligns with Mars in your determined sign, giving you an extra burst of energy. You can climb the tallest mountains, cross the widest oceans, and do it all without even breaking a sweat, thanks to Mars lighting a fire within you! Go far, and you will discover incredible things.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Let go, then see how much you receive in turn. There is a beautiful angle between the Sun in your transformational 8th house and Mars in your meditative 12th house, showing you how the way forward is sometimes found by taking a backseat approach. If there has been anything weighing on or stifling you, don’t try to continue ignoring it. Give it the space to be expressed, and then show it the door. You’ll probably feel like a brand-new person after!

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

A sense of community can be a saving grace. Although you can certainly handle life on your own terms, a lovely angle between the Sun in your connection quadrant and Mars in your group-focused 11th house is inviting you to link up with people from all walks of life. They have a lot to offer you! You have a lot to offer them, too, so you’d do well to keep an open mind and welcome everyone into your world. Give them a chance to improve it.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

A little effort can yield impressive results. Thanks to a lovely trine between the Sun in your responsible 6th house and Mars in your go-getter 10th house, the work you do now can wind up supporting you for a long time to come. Don’t think you need to make major progress or change the world overnight, though. Instead, focus on small, simple steps that add up to something big when they all come together. Soon you’ll see how beneficial this approach can be.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

You ought to enjoy yourself without reserve! The skies are hosting a potent, positive trine between the Sun, currently dancing in your 5th House of Passion, and Mars, marching along your 9th House of Adventure. Take a gamble on yourself and see how much you can win when you’re willing to be on your own abilities. You don’t need to be the star of the show in order to enjoy all the rewards on offer, which will surely be plentiful.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Get comfortable in your skin. The planets want you to focus your energy inward as the Sun in your centered 4th house trines Mars in your intimate 8th house. This signifies the ideal time to keep yourself to yourself by only letting in the people who know you best. That doesn’t mean you need to be anti-social or keep others out, but it’s a good idea to conserve your energy and nurture your spirit. You can get back to everyone else later.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Let people know what is on your mind. This is no time to keep quiet — not during this energizing trine between the Sun in your communication sector and Mars in your relationship sector. The planets are highlighting connections and open conversations. Whether you’re making new friends or dealing with a special person already by your side, don’t hide yourself behind a mask that you think people want to see. Be your authentic self, because that is who people really want to know.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Take everything one step at a time. There is an emphasis on stable and secure action as the Sun in your financial zone braces Mars in your productivity sector, acting as a scaffolding to support your work. Act with clear intention and turn a keen eye toward any important matters, being sure to give them appropriate attention. Even small revelations and changes you make today can yield positive results. There is no need to rush anything at this time, including yourself.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Don’t dim your shine, Pisces. You’ve got a special glow while the Sun is touring your 1st House of Self, and that glow gets majorly amplified as the Sun trines Mars in your 5th House of Inspiration. Even if you tend to play it small, there has rarely been a better time to find the spotlight and show off. The stars are encouraging a bit of self-promotion! There is nothing selfish about sharing your light with the world, so let it gleam freely.

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Friday night’s 106-104 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves:

– There is no escaping this homestand because of where the Heat started it.

– At three games below .500, the only way to get level was at least 4-1 on this homestand.

– A homestand that not only included Friday night’s game against the Timberwolves, but also games next week against the Clippers and Celtics.

– With games in between against the Bulls and Hornets.

– In other words, pull off at least a pair of underdog wins or head back out on the road next weekend with a losing record.

– For games in Memphis and New York.

– So, no, this was not the best way to start things.

– No with no margin of error over this next week.

– Close, but not close enough.

– Again.

– Going in, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “This is the thing, when we’re playing all these tight games and really close, competitive games, this is what I remind the locker room, we have to stay so laser focused into the process, and not just the result.”

– Except the result now matters.

– A lot.

– So Spoelstra also added, “And that’s the lesson. If we want to quiet the noise, we find a way to win. And we have to take all the responsibility if we don’t.”

– That makes this homestand a hard, cold reality.

– Show you are up to the challenge of playing with those above water.

– Or accept the reality of an underwater season.

– Exam time started Friday.

– Graded simply on a pass-fail scale.

– With the Heat not making the needed grade in this one.

– With Tyler Herro back from his one-game illness absence, but with Kel’el Ware, Andrew Wiggins and Alec Burks out, the Heat opened with a lineup of Herro, Bam Adebayo, Davion Mitchell, Kevin Love and Pelle Larsson.

– It was the fifth time in as many games the Heat went with a different starting lineup.

– Friday night’s unit was another one that had yet to play together prior to getting the start.

– The Heat’s 19th starting lineup of the season.

– It was Larsson’s second start of the season.

– It had Spoelstra opting for Larsson over Terry Rozier, who had struggled mightily in Wednesday night’s loss in Cleveland.

– Haywood Highsmith entered first off the Heat bench.

– With Duncan Robinson then following.

– Followed, together by Kyle Anderson and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

– Before Rozier entered as 10th man.

– With Friday night’s opening lineup, it meant having the institutional knowledge of Highsmith and Robinson off the bench.

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– “It is important to have that corporate knowledge,” Spoelstra said. “We don’t have the corporate knowledge all the way through. But the guys really work at it, too.”

– He added, “Those guys are plug and play. They understand what we’re trying to do, how we’re trying to play. And they’ve been really instrumental in our good moments.”

– Spoelstra again then commended his locker room.

– “I love this group,” Spoelstra said. “I love the locker room, to not get discouraged but to feel the process and feel the momentum?

– The Timberwolves, who were without Rudy Gobert, opened with a lineup of Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Naz Reid.

– Spoelstra went in acknowledging there are no easy answers against Edwards.

– “He’s the number-one trapped player in the league,” Spoelstra said, “so he’s not even going to blink if you bring a second defender to him. He’s used to that. That’s his world, that’s his life.”

– Having worked with Edwards with USA Basketball, Spoelstra added, “Probably the biggest improvement he’s made in the last couple of years is his shooting.”

– Highsmith’s second 3-point attempt was the 500th of his career.

– Herro made it 84 consecutive regular-season games scoring in double figures.

MIAMI — Playing close games against good teams? That the Miami Heat have shown that they can do.

Closing close games against good teams? The lack thereof has become the story of their 2024-25 season.

And it was again on Friday night at Kaseya Center, this time Erik Spoelstra’s team good enough to hold a five-point lead in the fourth quarter and good enough for a shot at the win at the buzzer.

The difference in the matchup of teams that entered in seventh place in their respective conferences was the Minnesota Timberwolves entered six games over .500, the Heat three below.

So, as has been the case with so many of these close Heat games this season, the better team won, this time a 106-104 decision for the Timberwolves, just as the Heat fell in the closing ticks of overtime last Sunday to the New York Knicks, just as the Heat fell in the final ticks Wednesday night to the league-best Cleveland Cavaliers.

“Even with this result, I hope Heat Nation and the fans can really appreciate how hard our guys are competing,” Spoelstra said when it was over. “And we ain’t going anywhere. We’re going to get this right.

“I know it seems like we’re constantly saying that after the game, but these experiences are going to harden us, steel us until we get this breakthrough that I feel like our locker room deserves.”

Playing in the injury absences of Kel’el Ware, Andrew Wiggins and Alec Burks, the Heat got 29 points and 13 rebounds from center Bam Adebayo and 22 points from guard Tyler Herro.

But that’s where the substantive contributions stopped, save for 10 assists from Heat point guard Davion Mitchell and 15 points from Duncan Robinson, with better balance carrying Minnesota to the victory.

The game ended on a wayward 3-pointer from Adebayo, an attempt that left Spoelstra fuming postgame about the lack of a foul call.

“It’s one of those things,” Adebayo said. “We were right there at the end.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:

1. Spoelstra fumes: As for that last play, Spoelstra acknowledged it was a wild scramble, but still said the upshot is that, from his perspective, Adebayo was fouled and should have had the opportunity to tie or win the game for the Heat from the line.

“This is what I’ll say,” Spoelstra said in a measured tone as he started his postgame media session, “That last baseline out of bounds, we did not execute and get what we wanted to. With that said, Bam got fouled.

“I’m not trying to get fined. League, don’t fine me. I’m not doing histrionics up here. I’m totally in control. At any point during the game, that’s a foul. Did he mean to foul? No. Is that we wanted? No. But I will tell you this — Bam Adebayo got fouled on that. He got clipped. And if that’s in the first quarter that’s a foul.”

Adebayo was more disappointed in the way he was officiated the rest of the game when asked if he was fouled on the final play.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked if he was fouled. “I was too busy shooting the ball.”

2. Closing time: The Timberwolves led 33-25 at the end of the first period, with it tied 52-52 at halftime.

The Heat then fell behind by 11 in the third period before scoring eight points in 22 seconds with fullcourt pressure, ultimately going into the fourth quarter tied 80-80.

Herro then returned with 9:04 to play and the Heat up 86-85, with Adebayo returning to close with 6:45 left and the Heat up 92-89.

But the Timberwolves then rallied to a 100-95 lead, forcing Spoelstra to call time with 3:55 to play.

Late 3-point misses by Herro and Duncan Robinson ultimately proved too much for the Heat to overcome.

Still, the Heat had a chance after a Robinson 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds to play and then a Minnesota turnover. But that’s when Adebayo was off on a 26-foot heave at the buzzer.

“Some of these shots you just have to make,” Spoelstra said. “But the process was better. And defensively, I really commend our guys. They were really laying it out there, really competing, making great efforts.”

3. Back at it: Two nights after scoring a season-high 34 points in the loss in Cleveland and four nights after setting the Heat career record for double-doubles in the Heat’s previous home game, Adebayo this time was up to 15 points and nine rebounds at halftime.

He then stood with 25 points and 10 rebounds going into the fourth.

He closed 11 of 21 from the field and 6 of 7 from the line.

“He’s doing it on both ends,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo. “He was anchoring the defense and he’s doing such a tremendous job for us offensively,”

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4. Back at it, too: After missing Wednesday night’s loss in Cleveland with a head cold, Herro was visibly still feeling the effects in the locker room pregame.

He then opened 1 of 5 from the field, struggling with his wind in transition, before regaining his stride to move to 10 points by halftime.

“The first four minutes of the game, I thought I was going to have to take him out,” Spoelstra said. “I thought he was going to play 20 minutes tonight.”

Herro was up to 17 points before going to the bench late in the third period.

He closed 9 of 21 from the field but 4 of 8 on 3-pointers.

“I started out pretty rough,” Herro said. “Then I caught my wind.”

With that, he said he was off to get an IV.

5. Rozier slides: After starting the previous two games, and after struggling mightily in the loss to the Cavaliers, Terry Rozier was replaced in the starting lineup by Pelle Larsson.

Rozier then slid down to 10th man, entering at the start of the second period after Spoelstra first played Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, Kyle Anderson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. off the bench,

Rozier played just 3:52 in the first half, but came back to have his moments in the second half.

Before the game, Spoelstra said criticism of Rozier was misguided.

“I don’t want Terry to be a target right now,” he said.

Rozier played 12:29, closing with five points on 2-of-3 shooting.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Women across the world will call for equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice and decision-making jobs during demonstrations marking International Women’s Day on Saturday.

Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women’s Day is commemorated in different ways and to varying degrees in places around the world. Protests are often political — and at times violent — rooted in women’s efforts to improve their rights as workers.

Women watch a concert while they participate in the flash mob “Beautiful secular outing” by wearing hats to a performance at the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella celebrating upcoming International Women’s Day, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Demonstrations are planned from Tokyo to Mexico City, and this year’s global theme is “Accelerate Action,” coming at a moment where many activists worry that the current political environment may result in a backsliding on many of the rights they’ve long fought for. One in four countries reported a backlash against women’s rights last year, according to U.N. data.

Here is what to know about the March 8 global event:

What is International Women’s Day?

International Women’s Day is a global celebration — and a call to action — marked by demonstrations, mostly of women, around the world, ranging from combative protests to charity runs. Some celebrate the economic, social and political achievements of women, while others urge governments to guarantee equal pay, access to health care, justice for victims of gender-based violence and education for girls.

Women sing and dance during the International Women’s Day celebration at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, March. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

It is an official holiday in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Russia and Cuba, the only one in the Americas.

As in other aspects of life, social media plays an important role during International Women’s Day, particularly by amplifying attention to demonstrations held in countries with repressive governments toward women and dissent in general.

When did it start and why does it fall on March 8?

While the idea behind a women’s day originated in the U.S. with the American Socialist Party in 1909, it was a German feminist who pushed for a global commemoration during an international conference of socialist women held in 1910 in Copenhagen. The following year, events across Europe marked the day, and during World War I, women used it to protest the armed conflict, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.

Contestants take part in traditional-suit round during Miss Yangon competition to mark International Women Day at Myanmar Convention Center (MCC) in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 after a massive protest in Russia on Feb. 23, 1917, that led to the country’s eventual withdrawal from the war. At the time, Russia had not adopted the Gregorian calendar and still used the Julian calendar.

“On Feb. 23 in Russia, which was March 8 in Western Europe, women went out on the streets and protested for bread and peace,” said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “The authorities weren’t able to stop them, and then, once the men saw that the women were out on the streets, all of the workers started coming and joining the women.”

The U.N. began commemorating the holiday in 1975, which was International Women’s Year, and its General Assembly officially recognized the day two years later.

How is it celebrated across the world?

Women in Eastern Europe have long received flowers on March 8 — and sometimes even gotten the day off from work. But chocolates and candy can come across as a belittling gestures, showing a lack of understanding of the struggles driving women to protest, particularly in regions where protests have been combative.

Demonstrations are planned from Tokyo to Mexico City.

People go down the escalator in the subway with bunches of flowers purchased from the flower market on the eve of an International Women’s Day, in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In Turkey, women in 2023 braved an official ban on an International Women’s Day march in Istanbul, and protested for about two hours before police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and detain dozens of people.

In Mexico, which hosts one of the region’s biggest marches, celebrations this year are marked by sharp contrasts. While the country celebrates its first female president, many also mourn victims of stark violence against women — including femicide. In Mexico and Latin America, soaring rates of violence against women and persistent machismo often leave tension simmering on March 8 as protesters demand justice.

Globally, a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a family member or partner, according to U.N. figures, and women being exposed to conflict has significantly jumped over the past decade.

What does the future hold for March 8?

Ghodsee said commemorating International Women’s Day is now more important than ever, as women have lost gains made in the last century, chief among them the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a nationwide right to abortion, which ended constitutional protections that had been in place nearly 50 years.

The U.S. decision on abortion has reverberated across Europe’s political landscape, forcing the issue back into public debate in some countries at a time when far-right nationalist parties are gaining influence.

New Hurricanes defensive backs coaches Zac Etheridge and Will Harris got their first recruiting win at UM.

Four-star cornerback Jaelen Waters committed to Miami on Friday night, announcing his decision on social media. Waters had previously committed to Florida, where Harris coached before leaving for Miami, and Florida State.

Waters, a standout at Seffner Armwood, is listed as the No. 15 cornerback and No. 150 player in the class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. He also had offers from Alabama, Georgia and Notre Dame, among others.

Waters, who is 6-1 and 170 pounds, is a former teammate of UM freshman running Girard Pringle Jr. and freshman linebacker Kellen Wiley. Waters had 20 tackles and two interceptions as a junior.

The Hurricanes like Waters’ length, physicality and ability to shut down his side of the field, a UM source told the Sun Sentinel.

Waters originally committed to FSU in April 2024 but backed off that pledge about a month later. He then picked the Gators in June 2024 and stuck with UF until this February.

Waters, who has an official visit to UM scheduled for June 6-8, is the second cornerback in the Hurricanes’ 2026 class, joining four-star prospect Camdin Portis. Miami has five players in the class, which is currently ranked 26th nationally.

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has issued new guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 now require approval from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The guidance, issued this week, escalates the role that the new efficiency group, known as DOGE, plays in EPA operations.

“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction (valued at) $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,″ the EPA guidance says, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

To facilitate the DOGE team review, EPA staff members have been directed to submit a brief, one-page explanation of each funding action each day between 3 and 6 p.m. Eastern time, the guidance says. Other relevant forms also must be completed.

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President Donald Trump has tasked DOGE with digging up what he and Musk call waste, fraud and abuse. The Republican president suggested Thursday that Cabinet members and agency leaders would take the lead on spending and staffing cuts, but he said Musk could push harder down the line.

“If they can cut, it’s better,” Trump said of agency leaders. “And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”

The EPA did not respond to a request Friday for comment.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the new directive “troubling,” adding that it means agency actions, including routine contracts and grant awards, “now face unnecessary bureaucratic delays.”

Routine expenditures such as grants for air and water quality monitoring, laboratory equipment purchases, hazardous waste disposal at federal sites and money for municipal recycling programs are among spending that likely will be affected, he said.

Whitehouse, an outspoken critic of Musk and Trump, said the involvement of Musk’s “unvetted, inexperienced team raises serious concerns about improper external influence on specialized agency decision-making.”

In a letter Friday to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Whitehouse said spending actions greater than $50,000 are often complex and require specialized knowledge of environmental science, policy and regulations. “Allowing unskilled, self-proclaimed ‘experts,’ not vetted for conflicts of interest, to have veto power over funding determinations is inappropriate and risks compromising the agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment,” Whitehouse wrote.

An EPA directive says the new guidance is intended to comply with executive orders issued by Trump that seek to restrict federal spending.

Whitehouse called those orders illegal, adding: “It is already established by court order that it is Congress that authorizes and appropriates funds for specific purposes, not the Office of Management and Budget or the president via executive order or DOGE.”

The dispute over the spending guidelines comes as Zeldin has pledged sharp spending cuts as high as 65% at the agency.

“We don’t need to be spending all that money that went through the EPA last year,” Zeldin said last week. “We don’t want it. We don’t need it. The American public needs it and we need to balance the budget.”

President Joe Biden requested about $10.9 billion for the EPA in the current budget year, an increase of 8.5% over the previous one, but Zeldin said the agency needs far less money to do its work. He also criticized EPA grants authorized under the 2022 climate law, including $20 billion for a so-called green bank to pay for climate and clean-energy programs.

Zeldin has vowed to revoke contracts for the still-emerging bank program that is set to fund tens of thousands of projects to fight climate change and promote environmental justice.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said last week that Trump, DOGE and Zeldin are all “committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.”

A 65% reduction in spending would be devastating to the EPA and its mission, said Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238. Core actions such as monitoring air and water quality, responding to natural disasters and lead abatement, among other agency functions, are at risk, she said.

MIAMI (AP) — A company owned by President Donald Trump sued Capital One on Friday, claiming the bank unjustifiably terminated over 300 of the Trump Organization’s accounts without cause in 2021, shortly after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The suit was filed by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and Eric Trump in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The Trump Organization claims the decision by Capital One to close the accounts was an attack on free speech and free enterprise. The suit also claims the decision was a response to Trump’s political views.

“Capital One has not and does not close customer accounts for political reasons,” the company said in a statement.

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The Trump Organization claims it suffered considerable financial harm and losses when Capital One notified them in March 2021 that accounts holding millions of dollars would be closed in three months. The lawsuit claims Capital One violated the law and the Trump Organization is seeking damages.

The account closures were announced about two months after Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of several thousand Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election results, which named President Joe Biden as the winner.

Other banks also stopped doing business with the Trump Organization around the same time, while the business and Trump family members were facing civil and criminal investigations.

FORT LAUDERDALE — The technical hockey term I uttered was what any South Floridian with a pulse said when news of the Florida Panthers trade for Brad Marchand came Friday afternoon:

Oh, baby!

It’s on now. And not just the Florida Panthers’ push to repeat as Stanley Cup champs. That was already on with the manner they’re playing this season and the earlier trade for star defenseman Seth Jones.

Jones filled their biggest need.

Marchand cemented their hockey-wide identity.

They’ll be universally hated now in the respected manner the best teams with swaggering skill set are. When’s the last time South Florida had a winner like that? The Big Three of the Heat? The University of Miami football dynasty before that?

Can the Panthers reach that level in the hockey world?

Do you see what fun this can be?

There’s some waiting to do, as Marchand is out with injury for maybe two weeks, Panthers president of hockey operations Bill Zito said. There’s some book-keeping to follow, too, as the cost as a second-round pick that becomes a first-rounder if Marchand plays half the playoff games, Zito said (Boston also picked up half his remaining salary).

Still, it’s a wonderfully odd, cats-joining-dogs stuff, how the Panthers trade for the exact name who personified the other, wicked side of dramatic playoffs series the past two springs. That’s part of why this trade is such a stunning move. The other part: Marchand’s respected skill set.

“He needs no introduction,’’ said Bill Zito, the Panthers president of hockey operations.

Give a cheer for Zito, who keeps running a master class on running a team, in adding talent to a championship team trying to repeat as champs. Give another cheer for Marchand, who at 36 waived his no-trade clause to come to the rival Panthers and a crack at the Stanley Cup.

Those are the last cheers any Panther will hear outside the home arena this season. They’ve gone from ignored to champs to awesomely hated in the Zito era. Friday’ trade just under the 3 p.m. deadline completed the transition

You don’t have to know Marchand, or even understand hockey, to grasp his reputation. Just look at his listed nicknames on HockeyReference.com:

Little Ball of Hate.

Nose Face Killah.

Squirrel.

Rat.

Tomahawk.

Brat.

Bad Brad.

He’s not just a directed temper. He’s a top-line producer as his 21 goals and 26 assists this season show. He has the nasty grace of Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett as those rare players who don’t just score but prowl the violent areas of the ice — the places where elbows and fists can be delivered with professional malice and unmistakable intent.

Every great team has a player like that. The Panthers now have three on one line, if they want. That’s the next question here. Does coach Paul Maurice want Marchand’s scoring and nastiness to add something to the top line of Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart (and move Carter Verhaeghe to the second line)

Or does Marchand eventually get paired with Bennett and Tkachuk in the kind of threesome no one would want to play. They know their styles most of all. Bennett even knocked Marchand out of their last spring’s playoff series for a while in a defining moment of the Panthers advancing by Boston.

Bennett and Marchand then played on the same line for Canada in the recent 4 Nations Face-Off. Bygones weren’t just bygones. It’d be surprising if some words didn’t pass about Marchand joining the Panthers, as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James once discussed becoming Heat teammates while playing for Team USA.

And now the Boston captain is a Panthers veteran. Now he’s gone from an aging star on a struggling team to a veteran presence of a team trying to repeat. Now he won’t have to help carry a team, as he did for Boston to have a chance.

Marchand will just have to play his game in the manner defenseman Jones does for this team. They’re just two more stars in a lineup of them.

Zito has built out this roster to that regard. It doesn’t mean the Panthers repeat as champs. It just gives them the best chance to do so.

Zito didn’t just add stars. He traded for a veteran goalie in Vitek Vanecek for some regular-season work and postseason insurance policy for starter Sergei Bobrovsky. He got Nico Sturm, the league’s top face-off man in winning 62.7 percent (with 50 qualifying face-offs).

Jones becomes part of this team’s long-term fabric with five years left on his contract. Marchand is a rental.

“I haven’t even spoken to him yet,’’ Zito said early Friday evening. “But his record speaks for itself. We’re happy to have him on board.”

Happy. And hated. What a spring this should be.

By JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man convicted of murder was executed by firing squad Friday, the first U.S. prisoner to die by that method in 15 years.

Three volunteer prison employees used rifles to carry out the execution of Brad Sigmon, 67, who was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m.

Sigmon killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. He told police he planned to take her for a romantic weekend, then kill her and himself.

Sigmon’s lawyers said he chose the firing squad because the electric chair would “cook him alive,” and he feared that a lethal injection of pentobarbital into his veins would send a rush of fluid and blood into his lungs and drown him.

Vivian Lovingood protests the scheduled execution of South Carolina inmate Brad Sigmon, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. For the first time in 15 years a death row inmate in the U.S. will be executed by a firing squad. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

The details of South Carolina’s lethal injection method are kept secret in South Carolina, and Sigmon unsuccessfully asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to pause his execution because of that.

On Friday, Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bullseye over his chest.

The armed prison employees stood 15 feet from where he sat in the state’s death chamber — the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the state’s unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.

The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired.

Randy Gardner holds the ashes of his brother Ronnie the last death row inmate to be executed by firing squad during a protest outside the execution of South Carolina inmate Brad Sigmon, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

The shots, which sounded like they were fired at the same time, made a loud, jarring bang that caused witnesses to flinch. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths.

A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.

Witnesses included three family members of the victims, David and Gladys Larke. Also present were Sigmon’s attorney and spiritual advisor, a representative from the prosecuting solicitor’s office, a sheriff’s investigator and three members of the news media.

Sigmon delivered a closing statement that he said was “one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”

FILE – Capital punishment protesters pray on the grounds of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the scheduled execution of inmate Oscar Smith, Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

The firing squad is an execution method with a long and violent history in the U.S. and around the world. Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America’s Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Since 1977 only three other prisoners in the U.S. have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Another Utah man, Ralph Menzies, could be next; he is awaiting the result of a hearing in which his lawyers argued that his dementia makes him unfit for execution.

This undated image provided by shows Brad Sigmon, convicted of beating to death his estranged girlfriend’s parents in Greenville County in 2001. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)

In South Carolina on Friday, a group of protesters holding signs with messages such as “All life is precious” and “Execute justice not people” gathered outside the prison before Sigmon’s execution.

Supporters and lawyers for Sigmon asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. They said he was a model prisoner trusted by guards and worked every day to atone for the killings and also that he committed the killings after succumbing to severe mental illness.

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But McMaster denied the clemency plea. No governor has ever commuted a death sentence in the state, where 46 other prisoners have been executed since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976. Seven have died in the electric chair and 39 others by lethal injection.

In the early 2000s, South Carolina was among the busiest death penalty states, carrying out an average of three executions a year. But officials suspended executions for 13 years, in part because they were unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.

The state Supreme Court cleared the way to resume them in July. Freddie Owens was the first to be put to death, on Sept. 20, after McMaster denied him clemency. Richard Moore was executed on Nov. 1 and Marion Bowman Jr. on Jan. 31.

Going forward the court will allow an execution every five weeks.

South Carolina now has 28 inmates on its death row including two who have exhausted their appeals and are awaiting execution, most likely this spring. Just one man has been added to death row in the past decade.

Before executions were paused, more than 60 people faced death sentences. Many of those have either had their sentences reduced to life or died in prison.