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Florida Panthers bracing to be without Sam Bennett again after another lower-body injury

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

The Florida Panthers started the season without Sam Bennett, and they are bracing to be without him once again.How long this absence will be is still unclear.Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters after the team practiced in Detroit on Wednesday that the reigning Eastern Conference champions aren’t sure on the prognosis for Bennett, Florida’s fourth-leading scorer in last season’s playoffs. Bennett missed the first seven games of this season with a lower-body injury, returned for about 8 minutes of ice time in Monday’s 3-2 loss at Boston, and got hurt again after Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm fell on him in front of the net.Bennett needed to be helped off the ice, unable to put any weight on his left leg.“He’s not day-to-day. He’s going to be a little longer,” Maurice said. “We don’t think it’s as significant as the first one. Have to see how he feels. What happens in the first three days will tell us how long it’s going to be.”Florida plays at Detroi...

Police: Sunny Isles Beach mother arrested for child abuse, video shows her throwing and kicking 3-year-old son

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

Sunny Isles Beach police have arrested a 29-year-old woman, who they describe as a monster, accused of pushing, kicking and throwing her 3-year-old son down a hallway because, she claims, he wasn’t listening. A Blink doorbell camera captured the unthinkable moments when Yulia Storozhuk allegedly abused her own child.“I was very angry, and how can someone do this to a defenseless 3-year-old boy who can’t protect himself,” said Sunny Isles Beach Chief Edward Santiago.The disturbing video was brought to police by a neighbor who captured the evidence on their camera. In the video, Storozhuk enters a room, her 3-year-old son standing at the door. She points toward the hallway, and as he begins to walk toward her, he is pushed down.According to the arrest report, she then, with both hands, lifts the child from the ground and throws him to the floor. While on the ground, he is kicked not once but twice. The little boy tries to get up but is pushed back down and kick...

Former Hialeah Officer convicted of kidnapping homeless man sentenced to 66 months in state prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

A former Hialeah Police officer who was found guilty of kidnapping a homeless man was sentenced to 66 months in state prison, followed by five years of probation.The wife of Rafael Otano was called to the stand during his trial, Wednesday morning. In Spanish, she said that her husband is loving and respectful. Aside from Otano’s wife, a family friend, Placido Rodriguez, also took the stand. “Day one, since I’ve met him, when he met his wife, I was there during the relationship when he first met, and from day one, he’s just been an incredible kid, he’s just something else,” Rodriguez said. “To sit here and find myself in his position, in going through this for the past year, is just incredible. It’s a hard feeling to see him go through this.”Otano was accused of kidnapping and beating Jose Ortega Gutierrez along with former officer Lorenzo Orfila, on Dec. 17, 2022. The two drove Gutierrez miles away from a strip mall where he was ...

Family and friends in mourning after Salem State University freshman and star basketball player killed in shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

Family and friends of a Salem State University student were in mourning Wednesday after authorities said freshman Carl Hens Beliard was shot and killed near campus overnight.The Essex District Attorney’s Office said Beliard, 18, was found inside a vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds around 1:30 a.m. after officers were called to Forest Avenue for a report of a shooting.According to the DA’s office, Beliard was pronounced dead after he was taken to Salem Hospital.“He just graduated high school this year and he’s at Salem State University, so this morning, police came here and they told me that he got shot and he was dead – I couldn’t believe it,” Altagrace Beliard, the victim’s mother, told 7NEWS.Emergency crews spent hours at the scene Wednesday morning, looking over the street and the black sedan Beliard was said to have been driving when shots were fired. Multiple bullet holes were visible on the driver’s s...

Judge rules against group that sued over Massachusetts shelter plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

A judge has ruled against a group that went to court over the state’s plan to handle shelters that are nearing capacity. The group Lawyers for Civil Rights brought the case to court Tuesday as they protested Gov. Maura Healey’s plans to initiate a waitlist when shelters are full. In its case, Lawyers for Civil Rights argued Massachusetts’ right-to-shelter law requires a 90-day notice before making changes proposed by Healey’s administration. In her ruling Wednesday, the judge ruled in favor of Healey’s plan.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Gov. Healey Recalls Meeting With Salem State Athlete Who Was Killed In Overnight Shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

During an event in his hometown of Worcester, Gov. Maura Healey recalled a meeting earlier this year with the Salem State University freshman who was shot and killed near campus early Wednesday morning.Carl-Hens Beliard, a member of Worcester North High School’s state championship-winning basketball team who was just beginning his freshman season on Salem State’s varsity team, was killed while driving his car on Forest Avenue, near the school’s campus, just before 1:30 a.m., the school said.The governor talked about having recently met Beliard when she and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, herself a former Salem State basketball player, had the North High team in to visit.“We met Carl and we took pictures with Carl, and he was the only senior on that state championship team. He leaves a mum and a younger sibling, and it’s incredibly, incredibly sad; heartbreaking, heartbreaking. There’s more to learn about the circumstances, of course, but my heart goes...

Man accused of opening fire in Boston’s North End to be held without bail until May

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

The man accused of opening fire in Boston’s North End earlier this year will be held without bail until at least May of next year following a judge’s ruling.The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said a superior court judge issued the order keeping Patrick Mendoza behind bars on Wednesday. The order came one day after Mendoza pleaded not guilty to charges against him including carrying a firearm without an FID card, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without an FID card, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault to murder, witness intimidation and possession of a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.Mendoza is accused in connection with the shooting on July 12 on Hanover Street. In its latest statement, the DA’s office said Mendoza had been riding his bicycle down Hanover Street before he allegedly opened fire.“When Mendoza caught sight of the victim, he began swearing and yelling at the victim,” the DA’s office said. The DA’...

High school field hockey tournament preview and predictions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

When the field hockey state tournament kicks off its third year under the new system Thursday, there’s an undeniable parallel between the Div. 1 and Div. 3 brackets that draws intrigue.Every year there is parity. But for as confident as top-seeded Walpole (D1) and Watertown (D3) should be with their chances of securing the crown, there’s an unpredictable balance sure to shake things up.Div. 1The stars have aligned for Walpole (17-1) to avenge consecutive losses in the state final, set in a collision course with No. 2 Andover (15-2) to meet in the title game for a third straight year. The Porkers have an edge this time. But the only team they lost to (Uxbridge) fell to the Golden Warriors, who are clicking for a potential three-peat.From there is an extensive tree of teams connected through beating one another. No. 6 Central Catholic (14-2-1) topped Andover early to show they’re capable of a Final Four run, but a No. 3 Wachusett (13-1-4) team it tied is anchored by experience. Chalk ...

How ‘Wayne’s World’ director Penelope Spheeris became a true-crime podcaster

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

It’s hard to know where to start with the story of Peter Ivers.There’s the time in 1968 when blues legend Muddy Waters declared Ivers – who sat in and played with Waters while still a student at Harvard University – to be the greatest living harmonica player.Or maybe you start in the mid-’70s, when Ivers, now living in Los Angeles, dipped into film music with works such as co-writing and singing “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” for David Lynch’s “Eraserhead.”Around that same time, he recorded several avant-garde pop albums, such as 1974’s “Terminal Love.” Ivers even opened for Fleetwood Mac at Universal Amphitheatre in 1976, but bombed. (Could it have been that he took the stage wearing only a diaper? Perhaps!)Jump ahead to the early ’80s, and Ivers was the host of “New Wave Theatre,” the first show to put L.A. punk bands such as Fear, 45 Grave, Suburban Lawns, Angry Samoans, Grey Factor and Bad Religion on TV.But all that crazy, beautiful, now mostly forgotten creativity end...

Massachusetts judge rejects attempt to halt emergency shelter cap, handing win to Maura Healey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:21 GMT

A Suffolk County judge rejected Wednesday an attempt to halt a plan to cap the number of local and migrant homeless families in emergency shelters, handing a win to Gov. Maura Healey, whose administration was sued last week by a Boston-based legal group.The ruling sides with the state’s housing department, which argued through lawyers Tuesday that it had no more funds — and is on track to run into the red — to continue expanding shelter capacity in the face of surging demand partly fueled by the number of migrant arrivals this year and suffocating housing costs.Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Debra Squires-Lee handed down her ruling a day after the Healey administration issued emergency regulations that call for a waitlist once capacity is reached and potentially limit the amount of time families can stay in shelters.In her ruling, Squires-Lee said the Healey administration did not violate a provision included in the state’s fiscal 2024 budget that calls for a 90-day...