News
Gulliver again stymies Pine Crest girls volleyball in 3A regional final
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Pine Crest girls volleyball team fell short in their quest toward a regional title as the host Panthers dropped a hard-fought match in four sets to Gulliver Prep (25-23, 23-25, 20-25, 21-25) in a Class 3A regional final on Tuesday night.
Pine Crest fell on the road to Gulliver Prep in four sets in the regional final last season. Gulliver Prep had captured the Class 4A state championship last year. The Raiders have won 15 of their past 17 matches.
Pine Crest (17-8) trailed 21-20 in the first set before closing with a 5-2 spurt for a two-point win to seize momentum.
Gulliver Prep (18-7) won a tightly contested second set. The two teams were locked in a 23-23 tie before the Raiders recorded the final two points in the set.
Gulliver Prep controlled the third set and were able to build a 22-19 advantage as they held on for a five-point win.
The Panthers trailed 16-10 in the fourth set before answering back with a 10-5 run to cut the deficit to 21-20, but the Raiders went on a 4-1 run to pull away for the victory.
“We had our chances and didn’t take care of our opportunities,” Pine Crest coach Eric Rivera said. “The second set is a game-changer. We tried our best to rally. We played a team with a good defense and they played clean and had an amazing serve and receive.”
Pine Crest junior outside hitter Mia Gold and junior middle hitter Isabella Sangha were both among the team leaders in kills in the loss.
Gold delivered another strong season to lead the Panthers on a playoff run. Pine Crest previously swept Downtown Doral in the regional quarterfinal and they held off Calvary Christian Academy in four sets in the regional semifinal.
“We have a really good team and our girls played their hearts out,” Rivera said. “We did not reach our goal of getting to states. We competed hard. It was an enjoyable and fun season.”
The Panthers were also led throughout the season by senior setter Isabella Medeiros and senior libero Alison Natt, a Boston College commit.
“They were both super special players and a big part of our success,” Rivera said.
Daily Horoscope for October 30, 2024
General Daily Insight for October 30, 2024
Expanding our minds can usher in healing. The vulnerable Moon is at odds with pained Chiron, making it difficult to stop aggravating our wounds as emotional reactivity drives us further from healing. As nervous Mercury stands off against erratic Uranus at 6:15 pm EDT, shocks and surprises will potentially make it harder to think and communicate clearly. Finally, the Moon comforts expansive Jupiter to let positivity and forgiveness break through the dark clouds. Let go of burdens and grudges as much as possible.
AriesMarch 21 – April 19
You can’t control how others view you. Accepting that someone in your life sees you in a way that you don’t perceive yourself may be tough, but this is their viewpoint and their truth. There are better ways to spend your time than struggling to convince them otherwise! In contrast, working through an interpersonal problem is wonderful — if they’ll meet you in good faith. If not, release any concerns about their perception. Be yourself and allow your soul to guide your path.
TaurusApril 20 – May 20
Your security can trigger the insecurity of others. There may be people in your life who are focused on you and pushing your buttons to see if you’re truly as stable as you seem. When you don’t waver, it may ignite their issues. They could even end up actively attempting to set off insecurity within you. They don’t deserve to get to you — their foundation is not yours to create or destroy, and vice versa. Feel free to ignore any jabs.
GeminiMay 21 – June 20
Creativity can heal where words could not. There might be an emotional wound from your past that still pains you, even as you struggle to put the details into words. Writing things down or talking about your worries with someone else may not be helping, because you can’t express your soul as it feels inside. Instead of laying things out literally, consider engaging your creativity to make art that reflects how you’re feeling. This simple act may even spark the words you’re searching for.
CancerJune 21 – July 22
An authority figure in your life might be acting in worrying ways. Perhaps you’re concerned that you haven’t accomplished enough, are too far behind to catch up, or aren’t talented enough to get where you want to go. While their experience might have been one that had these requirements, there are a million different ways to reach the goals you have for yourself. Don’t put an unnecessary time limit on your ability to follow your soul’s calling. Give yourself some grace.
LeoJuly 23 – August 22
Regrets may be on your mind today. It’s possible that reminders of missed past opportunities are complicating the process of figuring out where to go from here. While it can be painful to acknowledge that you didn’t do something that you had felt intuitively called to, either because you were blocked or you didn’t understand what was being given to you, it’s vital to avoid lingering here. Each day holds countless new prospects for you, so make sure that you’re actively looking for them.
VirgoAugust 23 – September 22
Stagnancy can be difficult to escape — particularly if other people are involved as friends or co-workers. When you’re all stuck in a rut, whether they’re relying on you or vice versa, you risk reinforcing each other’s unhealthy patterns. Perhaps your responsibilities to others are preventing you from making independent choices. It’s important to step into your power and remember that you don’t have to put yourself last! Loved ones can even benefit from you taking a leap of faith, so don’t hold back.
LibraSeptember 23 – October 22
Set yourself free from unrealistic expectations. You may have believed that you were “supposed” to be someone in a way that demanded you force yourself to continuously chase a dream that you quickly stopped relating to. Even if it genuinely motivated you in the past, ask yourself if there’s still a spark here. If you aren’t excited for what this dream could manifest into, you can change gears. The shift may feel like free-falling at first, but soon, you’ll be able to fly.
ScorpioOctober 23 – November 21
Hidden emotions might be having a stronger effect on you than you realize. Perhaps you believed that your heart was holding you back, and so you tried to stuff it down to deal with at a later time. Be careful — too much repression and not enough acknowledgment of your feelings could have created an emotional time bomb that is ticking down to an explosion. Disengage the outburst before it begins by spending time honoring your feelings, indulging in self-care, and getting some rest.
SagittariusNovember 22 – December 21
Hurt may incite rash behavior. You may feel like you’ve been cornered by your emotional wounds and the people or events that caused them, and that taking random action is better than doing nothing. Unfortunately, this could hurt more than it helps as it drives you further into confusion or reactivity! Sit back and take a deep breath. Where is this pain truly coming from? Don’t act just to act — move with purpose, and you’ll be able to gain impressive insights.
CapricornDecember 22 – January 19
Long-standing emotional wounds may still be affecting you. You might have thought that you had fully left these feelings in the past, but this won’t be the case if you decided to ignore them. It’s important to ensure that you’re not living in the past — you’re living in the present. That said, you can still forgive yourself for the past and absolve others as well. Even if they never asked for it, forgiving them should allow you to move forward with more freedom.
AquariusJanuary 20 – February 18
Sometimes you have to insist on moving on. There may be other people who want to constantly revisit the past, and when you’re with them, they bring up all sorts of things that you thought you had set down already. It’s understandable that they might still be in that old place, but your duty to yourself is to move forward and avoid ruminating on issues you’ve worked through before. Maybe you can make fresh memories that will encourage bonding over something more joyful.
PiscesFebruary 19 – March 20
Comparison might be setting you back. You might have a past or current peer, and as you’ve begun to grow in diverging directions or experience different levels of success, you might be scrutinizing yourself and wondering what you’re doing differently. Whether you’re surpassing them or vice versa, everyone has unique public and private struggles. Details aside, it’s not a good idea to live in constant comparison. You’re you, and they’re them — both worthy of success and on your own paths. Keep doing you!
‘Generational talent’ Barnes dominates as Boca Christian cruises into 1A girls volleyball final four
BOCA RATON — Senior Tekoa Barnes banged out a team-leading 20 kills and added in some key serves and blocks to lift host Boca Raton Christian to a 25-20, 25-17, 25-7 win over Sagemont in the Region 4-1A girls volleyball final on Tuesday night.
“This year I feel we are ready,” said Barnes, an Oklahoma commit. “I think we are ready to dominate. We are going to do what we have to do to win, and we are ready for anything. I think we matured as players; we’ve been working hard, and we believe in ourselves.”
The state’s top-seeded Blazers (22-3) extended their winning streak to 18 games and punched their ticket to a third straight state final four on Monday at Polk State College in Winter Haven. Their last loss came in the Nike tournament in Gainesville on Aug. 31 when they dropped three out of four matches.
Boca Raton Christian is on a collision course with three-time defending state champion Naples Seacrest Country Day. The Blazers have lost the past two Class 1A state finals to Seacrest, at 18-5 seeded second in the state this year, in three sets in 2022 and five sets last year.
The Blazers fell behind early in the first set, trailing 13-9 before rallying to take a 15-14 lead on a kill by Barnes. Sagemont’s Adriana Powers-Hadley tied the game at 15 on a powerful crosscourt kill before Barnes served up back-to-back aces to give the Blazers the lead for good at 17-15 as they finished the first set on a 16-7 run.
Tekoa Barnes, center, celebrates with her teammates as host Boca Raton Christian downed Sagemont, 25-20, 25-17, 25-7 in the Region 4-1A girls volleyball final on Tuesday night. (Gary Curreri/Contributor)Sophomore Caitlin Crino opened the second game with five straight points off serves, and after a side out, freshman Natalia Marciante added three service points, including an ace to stake the Blazers to a comfortable margin.
Sagemont (19-8), the number four seed in the Class 1A state rankings, was able to get within 15-9 in the second before Crino had four more service points to essentially put the game away as Boca Raton Christian closed out the second game on a 10-1 run.
Senior Gabby Irizarry, a Palm Beach Atlantic commit, had 14 service points, including eighth straight in the third to break open a tight game as the Blazers rolled to a 12-3 lead en route to the win.
“I think coming into this game we were a little nervous,” Irizarry, said. “When T (Tekoa) gets on a run, no one can stop her and when she’s on her game we want to play better for her.”
Fellow Blazers senior Grace Vanzwieten, a Tusculum University in Tennessee commit, also started at the school with Barnes in the eighth grade.
“It’s been amazing here,” Vanzwieten said. “We all love each other, and we have gotten so much better since the Nike tournament. As the season has gone on, we have been running a lot of up-tempo sets.”
“Our goal was to improve on last year, win the district and make it to the regional final,” said Sagemont coach Shane Marcey, whose team was making on its second trip to the regionals in school history. They fell in 2017 to Benjamin. “Obviously the end result wasn’t what we wanted, but we have a lot of youth and that was one of our concerns.
“We have one eighth grader and seven sophomores,” he continued. “We lacked the experience in a big game and a tough environment. We are not going anywhere. We’ll be back. I am proud of the way we fought back especially in that second set.”
Sagemont coach Shane Marcey called Barnes a “generational talent.”
“We had one game plan for her, and she figured it out,” Marcey said. “We had another game plan, and she figured that out. She’s super smart, well-coached and they’ve been here. We haven’t in a long time.”
“That’s amazing and it’s a really huge compliment,” said Barnes, who leads the Blazers with 437 kills for the year. “If it wasn’t for my team, I wouldn’t be what I am today.”
Boca Christian coach Len Visser believes this is the best team he has had in his 23rd season at the helm.
“We played against some quick, up-tempo setting in the Nike tournament and our middle had to react to that,” Visser said. “We started doing it on our side, so we could get better at it. These girls have so much confidence and when you have a player at every single position like we do, everybody we have can do just as good a job as anyone. I think we prepared and ready. They have such a high volleyball IQ; I think they will all be coaches someday.”
Tekoa Barnes, center, goes up for a kill over three Sagemont blockers as Boca Raton Christian downed Sagemont, 25-20, 25-17, 25-7 in the Region 4-1A girls volleyball final on Tuesday night. (Gary Curreri/Contributor)Israel must step in if it bans the UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza, UN says
By EDITH M. LEDERER and JAMEY KEATEN
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations stressed Tuesday that if Israel puts in place new laws cutting ties with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli government will have to meet their needs under international law.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there is no other U.N. alternative to the agency, known as UNRWA. It has been a lifeline during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and the Israeli legislation “will have a devastating impact on the humanitarian situation” in the Palestinian territories, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The U.N. agencies for children, health and migration also stressed that UNRWA is the “backbone” of the world body’s operations in Gaza, where people rely on emergency food aid during the more than yearlong war , which has killed tens of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins.
The United Nations is heartened by statements of support for UNRWA from all quarters and countries that often disagree with one another, Dujarric said, and “we would very much appreciate efforts by any member state to help us get over this hurdle.”
Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff members in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza. It also has accused hundreds of UNRWA staff of having terrorist ties and said it has found Hamas military assets in or under the agency’s facilities.
Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and European Union.
Israel passed two laws Monday that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its work, which isolated it among the U.N.’s 193 member nations. Even the United States, its closest ally, joined many governments and humanitarian organizations in opposing the Israeli legislation, which doesn’t take effect for three months.
Guterres sent a letter Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlining his concerns and “the issues of international law that have been raised,” Dujarric said.
As an occupying power, under international humanitarian law, Israel is required to ensure the needs of the Palestinians are met, including for food, health care and education, the U.N. spokesman said. And if Israel isn’t in a position to meet those needs, “it has an obligation to allow and to facilitate the activities of the U.N., including UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies, to meet those needs.”
“Should UNRWA cease to operate — and for us there is no alternative — Israel would have to fill the vacuum,” Dujarric said. “Otherwise, it would be in violation of international law.”
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon responded to the secretary-general’s letter to Netanyahu by saying, “Rather than condemning UNRWA for turning a blind eye to terrorism and in some cases participating in terrorism, the U.N. instead condemns Israel.”
He claimed in a statement that UNRWA isn’t interested in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it “nothing but an arm of Hamas operating under the guise of the United Nations.”
“Israel will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza according to international law,” Danon said, “but UNRWA has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job.”
World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said UNRWA health workers have provided over 6 million medical consultations over the past year. They also have offered immunizations, disease surveillance and screening for malnutrition, and UNRWA’s work “couldn’t be matched by any agency — including WHO,” he said.
Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the U.N. human rights office, said that “without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter, health care, education, amongst other things, to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt.”
UNRWA was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment, as well as their descendants.
At the U.N.’s regular Security Council meeting on the Middle East — this month open to all U.N. members — speakers supported UNRWA and denounced Israel’s wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, virtually all calling for immediate cease-fires.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed deep concern at the Israeli legislation, saying, “right now there is no alternative to UNRWA when it comes to delivering food and other life-saving aid in Gaza.”
Related Articles
- World News | Today in History: October 30, Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle”
- World News | Israeli strikes in northern Gaza kill at least 88, officials say
- World News | Today in History: October 29, Houston Texans take a knee
- World News | Israel approves two bills that could halt UNRWA’s aid delivery to Gaza. What does that mean?
- World News | North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight in Ukraine, Pentagon says
U.N. spokesman Dujarric, asked about this request, said the U.N.’s internal watchdog is working on these issues. He said a letter from the Israeli government last week raising specific undisclosed issues is also being looked at “extremely seriously.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller went further, warning that the Israeli legislation “poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services.”
Miller reiterated that the U.S. opposes the legislation and will be discussing it with Israel in the days ahead. He says there may be consequences under U.S. law and policy if it takes effect, referencing a letter that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent to their Israeli counterparts saying humanitarian aid must increase or the country risks losing military assistance.
Keaten reported from Geneva. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.
GATORS PODCAST: Florida looks to end Georgia’s dominance behind DJ Lagway (Ep. 252)
The Gators are coming off their best performance behind their true freshman quarterback, DJ Lagway. Billy Napier’s team, led by Lagway, will need to be even better to have a chance against Kirby Smart’s No. 2 Bulldogs, who are 16.5-point favorites and winners of three straight meetings. During the latest Swamp Things, Mark and Edgar discuss the Gators’ toughest test to date as they enter a daunting November.
- November gauntlet starts with Georgia (0:00)
- Reason for optimism (7:23)
- Reason for pessimism (9:59)
- Offensive matchup (13:32)
- Defensive matchup (16:34)
- Who has your attention? (19:34)
- On the spot (24:15)
- Final thought (28:06)
- Who is winning? (36:39)
- Jeremy Foley’s Corner (37:17)
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
Judge in case of attempted Trump assassination in Florida declines to step aside
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the criminal case of a man charged with trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump declined Tuesday to recuse herself, saying a defense request that she do so was without merit.
Lawyers for Ryan Wesley Routh had urged U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to step aside, saying her handling of Trump’s classified documents prosecution created at least the appearance of bias in favor of the former president and current Republican nominee. They cited the fact that she was appointed to the bench by Trump and has been repeatedly praised by him for her rulings in the documents case, including her dismissal in July of the prosecution — a decision now being appealed by special counsel Jack Smith.
Cannon rejected the recusal request, writing Tuesday that she has “no control over what private citizens, members of the media, or public officials or candidates elect to say about me or my judicial rulings” and was not concerned about the political consequences of her rulings.
“I have never spoken to or met former President Trump except in connection with his required presence at an official judicial proceeding, through counsel. I have no ‘relationship to the alleged victim’ in any reasonable sense of the phrase,” Cannon wrote. “I follow my oath to administer justice faithfully and impartially, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of this country.”
She also challenged defense claims that her recusal would remove any public perception that the attempted assassination case was assigned to her in a non-random manner.
“This case, like the prior cited cases involving former President Trump, were randomly assigned to me through the Clerk’s random case assignment system. Period,” Cannon wrote. “I will not be guided by highly inaccurate, uninformed, or speculative opinions to the contrary.”
Authorities say Routh staked out Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida in September and wrote of his desire to kill him. He has been indicted on an attempted assassination charge.
The potential shooting was thwarted when a member of Trump’s Secret Service protective detail spotted a partially obscured man’s face and a rifle barrel protruding through the golf course fence line, ahead of where Trump was playing. The agent fired in the direction of Routh, who sped away and was stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
What’s next for hurricane season: The wild cards to watch in November
There’s currently a low-pressure system brewing in the Caribbean that could grow into a tropical storm or hurricane, but several factors will shape what happens in the coming weeks.
The National Hurricane Center says there’s a 40% chance the system will develop into a tropical cyclone in the next week. But what about after that? What does the month of November hold for hurricane season?
Some of those wild cards could shield the continental U.S. from the potential storm, while others could allow it to slip through later in November.
Gyre and heatFirstly, the atmosphere around Central America at this time of year is loaded with moisture because of what’s called the Central American Gyre, a broad rotating low that spins over the region.
“Essentially you get moisture from the Pacific pulled into the Caribbean, you get Caribbean moisture pulled into the southern Gulf and Gulf moisture pulled into the Pacific,” said meteorologist Eric Burris, of WESH 2, on a weekly tropics chat he does on X with fellow meteorologist Jeremy Nelson, of WJCL News.
“When you’re sharing all of this humid, moist air, you have the opportunity to develop stuff,” Burris said.
Given the high water temperatures in the Caribbean, and lack of wind shear, conditions are good for a storm. “The water (in the Caribbean) is certainly warm enough,” Nelson said.
Tropical depression could develop in Caribbean late this week, forecasters say
Friendly cold frontsIf a system does develop, “it’s wide open as far as where it could go,” said Burris, referring to global ensemble models. It’s likely that classic autumn cold fronts could be the most decisive force in deciding where any system travels.
At this time of year, a storm out of the western Caribbean will typically get pushed around by cold fronts descending from the continental U.S., Burris said.
Those fronts usually block storms from heading to Florida, and push them east over Cuba, the southern Bahamas, then out over the Atlantic.
“But we’ve noticed in the last couple of years fewer cold fronts — timing of cold fronts and tropical development matters,” he said.
The current forecasts for the pulse of cold fronts indicate that a storm in the first week of November would get pushed east, away from the continental U.S. But if the storm develops slowly, into mid-November, there could be a gap in cold fronts that allows the potential storm to track north and west into the Gulf.
As far as the next few weeks look, especially for those on Florida’s west coast, where residents have suffered through Helene and Milton, Burris said, “Tropical anxiety is a big thing.”
“What we’re showing right now is, low pressure is favored to be in this area (western Caribbean). How strong and what it’s going to look like in the end, don’t really know that yet. So if people are cheering for no activity, then you want a stronger cold front,” Nelson said.
Even then, the storm might have a tough time. Water temperatures closer to the U.S. have cooled, and would temper any storm.
Meteorologist and hurricane risk specialist Craig Setzer said on X that the threat to Florida “remains very low at this time. Water temps (which are dropping) are just barely warm enough to support a hurricane in the Gulf, and wind shear remains mostly high over the state.”
He said that if a system were to form and move north from the Caribbean, it would likely be deflected east and be inhibited from strengthening, thanks to wind shear.
The next named storm will be named Patty.
Inspected once, inspected right. ®
LogoUp.com
Thanks LogoUp.com for the best embroidered apparel!
G.E.T. Home Inspections, LLC is a top Coral Springs, FL home inspector on Inspectopia.com!
