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Today in History: February 8, Catholic cardinal sentenced for opposition to Hungarian government

Sun, 02/08/2026 - 02:00

Today is Sunday, Feb. 8, the 39th day of 2026. There are 326 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 8, 1949, Roman Catholic Cardinal József Mindszenty was sentenced to life in prison for his opposition to the fascist and later communist Hungarian governments; released during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he sought asylum at the U.S. Embassy when the Soviet Union invaded, living there for 15 years. Mindszenty left Hungary in 1971 and died in exile in Vienna in 1975.

Also on this date:

In 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

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In 1693, a charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony.

In 1904, Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian Navy at Port Arthur (now Dalian, China), marking the start of the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America organization was incorporated by William D. Boyce, who drew inspiration from the British Boy Scout movement.

In 1924, the first U.S. execution using lethal gas took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Chinese immigrant Gee Jon was put to death for a murder conviction.

In 1936, the first NFL draft was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia.

In 1960, work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.

In 1968, three Black students were killed and 28 wounded as state troopers opened fire on demonstrators at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg in the aftermath of protests over a whites-only bowling alley. The event would become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

In 1971, NASDAQ, the world’s first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.

In 1993, an Iranian airliner with 132 people on board collided with an air force jet after takeoff from Tehran and exploded, leaving no survivors.

In 2013, a massive two-day snowstorm began dumping up to 3 feet (1 meter) of snow around the U.S. Northeast, causing widespread power outages and leavening several people dead. The storm struck some areas with hurricane-force winds and coastal flooding.

In 2020, a soldier angry about a land dispute went on a 16-hour shooting rampage in Thailand, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens. Police and military personnel hunted the gunman overnight and shot him dead.

Today’s birthdays:
  • Composer-conductor John Williams is 94.
  • Broadcast journalist Ted Koppel is 86.
  • Actor Nick Nolte is 85.
  • Comedian Robert Klein is 84.
  • Actor-rock musician Creed Bratton is 83.
  • Actor Mary Steenburgen is 73.
  • Author John Grisham is 71.
  • Hockey Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli is 66.
  • Rock singer Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) is 65.
  • Basketball Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning is 56.
  • Actor Seth Green is 52.
  • Actor William Jackson Harper is 46.
  • Actor-comedian Cecily Strong is 42.
  • Hip-hop artist Anderson Paak is 40.
  • Professional surfer Bethany Hamilton is 36.
  • Actor Kathryn Newton is 29.

Daily Horoscope for February 08, 2026

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 17:00
General Daily Insight for February 08, 2026

Surprises could rock the boat, but they shouldn’t capsize it. With romantic Venus squaring unpredictable Uranus at 4:48 am EST, our connections and money choices hit friction as new needs clash with old comfort zones. Slow down! Rushing will probably cause more problems, especially if group commitments are involved. By evening, as the emotional Moon trines expansive Jupiter, we can take a wider perspective that allows for extra generosity. Any awkwardness can be banished with honest kindness. Choose steady changes to protect real progress.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

You set the pace with clear choices. Your 11th House of Friendship hosts Venus, who squares rebellious Uranus in your 2nd House of Resources, pushing group plans against changing costs. Your energetic style prefers action, yet a measured approach lets you renegotiate a shared bill or keep the mood warm during a reconnection after many years apart. If someone pushes, state what works for you and offer a simple alternative that respects time and money. Lead gently, because fairness keeps trust growing.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

This morning tests your patience and poise. Your 10th House of Jobs and your very own sign are the recipients of the chaotic energy from today’s Venus-Uranus square. Your comfort zone could seem basically unreachable as expectations shift. Whether the pressure is coming from an internal or external source, you can reduce stress by laying out what your specific goals are and when they need to happen. If plans change suddenly, ground yourself with that clear priority. Steady adjustments win respect without draining your energy.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Certain ideas likely need a little extra scaffolding before they’ll be able to stand on their own. Under this clash of Venus and Uranus, a blind spot could impact your literal plans or more metaphysical beliefs. Don’t let temporary doubts stop you from having a good time, but try to balance that with attention to any potential oversights. Think of it like this — you don’t have to answer every philosophical question, but you should know when your train leaves for your next big trip!

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Keep today’s plan as uncomplicated as possible. Why? Well, as Luna in your affectionate 5th house trines Jupiter in your caring sign, you’ll probably appreciate some space to be in your feelings a little! This doesn’t have to be a painful time at all; in fact, it’s more likely to be full of tender happiness. You may plan a surprise for a loved one (or them for you)! You can invite even more joy by using any free time to delve into your favorite hobby.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Agreements improve when expectations become truly specific. Certain connections could use a rebalance during this alignment of stubborn Venus and shocking Uranus across your connection zone and your business sector. Though you can handle personal or professional mixed signals, you shouldn’t have to! Be blunt about your needs to avoid future confusion. If you lead a team, model patience during frustration and be sure to comply with your own rules. That’s how you earn real respect and invite wholehearted, sustainable cooperation.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Change doesn’t have to be shocking right now (even though today’s aspects involve Uranus). Caring Venus is squaring Uranus, pitting your practical 6th house against your far-flung 9th house. You may need to streamline your process at work if you want more time for your evening plans. If you do have to shift your schedule, do your best to be patient, but firm in the face of any complications. Preparing in advance is the best way to avoid setbacks. Small wins will steadily stack up!

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Meeting people halfway shouldn’t involve giving up your genuine needs. You might not even have to give up that much today! Money may flow freely as the intuitive Moon moves through your 2nd House of Resources, trining lucky Jupiter in your 10th House of Goals. Your cooperative nature shines when you name fair numbers and ask for what you need in conversations with authority figures. If you felt stretched recently, you deserve a break. Value yourself enough to fight for what you need.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Your intuition is sharp enough to cut. The tempestuous Moon is in your heady sign, trining Jupiter in your 9th House of Learning. What truths are already at the tip of your tongue? Be sure to read the room before spilling the beans, because not everyone will be ready to hear what you’ve got to say. Contrarily, others could push for information beyond what you’re comfortable sharing. In any case, let the genuine desire to learn and understand take precedence over defensiveness whenever possible.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

A lively buzz colors conversations and errands. Plans shift as the Love Goddess Venus in your 3rd House of Distraction squares radical Uranus in your 6th House of Effort, possibly prompting a schedule change. Your optimistic style helps you laugh, yet you still benefit from confirming instructions carefully and setting a realistic time to circle back. If a peer cancels, you’re capable of pivoting without losing track of the overall goal. Handling chaos with humor is the ideal way to keep moving forward.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Excellence is attainable with a great team (and a little self-control). With Venus reaching from your resourceful 2nd house to square Uranus in your playful 5th house, you may be tempted to challenge your budget. Your disciplined nature can keep the fun alive while you set a cap that protects savings for everyone and supports peace of mind. If someone pressures for more, that’s their problem. Still, if you want, you could offer a playful alternative that fits their ideas and everyone’s wallets.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

A fresh wave of inspiration could wash over you at any moment. Independent Venus occupies your innovative sign, where she squares awakening Uranus (your sign’s ruling planet) in your 4th House of Foundations, stirring tension between personal expression and domestic responsibilities. Your independent streak wants space, yet you gain more by explaining your plans and honoring someone’s comfort while keeping your style intact. Be aware that as your identity shifts, your domicile may follow suit. Own your vibe respectfully to strengthen home harmony.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Figure things out when it’s quiet in order to act when it’s loud. Tender feelings may feel wounded by pointed news as Venus in your spiritual 12th house pokes Uranus in your talkative 3rd house. Do your best to steel yourself and ask for a moment to adjust if necessary — you can reply to any inquiries in your own time. If a sibling or neighbor texts in a rush (outside of a legitimate emergency), you shouldn’t have to drop everything for their sake.

Brad Arnold, lead singer of Grammy-nominated rock band 3 Doors Down, dies at 47

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 15:44

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Brad Arnold, the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated rock band 3 Doors Down, died Saturday, months after he announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer. He was 47.

The band said in a statement that Arnold “passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, in his sleep after his courageous battle with cancer.”

3 Doors Down formed in Mississippi in 1995 and four years later received a Grammy nomination for the breakout hit “Kryptonite.” Arnold wrote the song in math class when he was 15 years old, according to the band statement.

Their debut album, “The Better Life,” sold over 6 million copies. A second Grammy nomination came in 2003, for the song “When I’m Gone.”

The band said Arnold “helped redefine mainstream rock music, blending post-grunge accessibility with emotionally direct songwriting and lyrical themes that resonated with everyday listeners.”

3 Doors Down released six albums, most recently “Us And The Night” in 2016. Singles included “Loser,” “Duck and Run” and “Be Like That,” which appeared on the soundtrack for the 2001 film “American Pie 2.”

While promoting their 5th album, “Time of My Life,” Arnold said he considered himself lucky to have carved out a career in the music business.

“If you do something as long as we’ve done it, you can’t help but get better at it, you know?” Arnold told The Associated Press in 2011.

In 2017, 3 Doors Down performed at the first inauguration concert of President Donald Trump.

Arnold announced his cancer diagnosis last May, saying clear cell renal carcinoma had metastasized to his lungs. The band was forced to cancel a summer tour.

“His music reverberated far beyond the stage, creating moments of connection, joy, faith, and shared experiences that will live on long after the stages he performed on,” the band said.

Malik Reneau scores 23, Miami finishes strong in 84-78 win over Boston College

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 14:35

BOSTON (AP) — Malik Reneau had 23 points, Shelton Henderson and Tre Donaldson scored big buckets down the stretch, and Miami defeated Boston College 74-68 on Saturday.

Miami led 50-40 with about 12 minutes left in the game, but the Hurricanes managed only seven points in the next 6 1/2 minutes. Donald Hand Jr.’s jumper gave the Eagles a 58-57 lead with 5 1/2 minutes remaining for the Eagles’ only lead since it was 10-9.

Henderson’s layup put the Hurricanes back ahead 20 seconds later and Donaldson scored nine points in the final 4 1/2 minutes to wrap up the win.

Henderson scored 19 points and Donaldson had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Miami (18-5, 7-3 ACC).

Hand, who made four 3-pointers, scored 20 points before fouling out with under three minutes remaining. Boden Kapke had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Fred Payne scored 11 points for Boston College (9-14, 2-8).

Reneau scored 13 of Miami’s first 24 points and the Hurricanes led 24-19 with about seven minutes to go in the first half. The lead reached 29-19 before Payne scored six straight points to kick-start a BC rally and the Eagles got within 34-33 at the half.

Boston College was whistled for 31 fouls to 11 for Miami. At the free-throw line, the Hurricanes made only 13 of their 25 attempts and the Eagles made 7 of 10.

34th annual Florida Renaissance Festival opens in Deerfield Beach | PHOTOS

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 14:25
Show Caption1 of 16The Annual Florida Renaissance Festival kicked off at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach on Saturday, February 7, 2026. The festival continues on weekends only (Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to sunset, February 7th – March 29th of 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)ExpandThe Florida Renaissance Festival returned to Quiet Waters Park on Saturday for its 34th annual season, beginning an eight-week run in Deerfield Beach. The opening “Gamemasters Unite” weekend featured the Royal Court of King Robert Rivera alongside jousting by the Hanlon-Lees Action Theater, falconry displays, and live musical performances. View photos of the costumed crowds, artisan vendors, and 16th-century themed entertainment as the festival kicks off its 2026 calendar.

Republicans rarely criticize Trump in his second term. A racist post briefly changed that

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 12:37

By MATT BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump received rare blowback from Republican lawmakers over a video posted to social media that included a racist image of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, depicted as primates.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, Republican lawmakers have treaded carefully when disagreeing with the president, often communicating their concerns in private for fear of suffering his wrath.

But the swift calls to remove the post, which also echoed false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, represented a rare moment of bipartisan backlash to Trump’s actions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Multiple GOP members of the Senate and House joined their Democratic colleagues in voicing disgust and criticism at the post and urged the president to remove it.

Trump declined to apologize, saying he did not see the racist portion of the video when he passed it on to staff.

How Republican lawmakers reacted

South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator and chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, criticized the image and urged the president to remove it.

“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” Scott wrote on social media.

Other Republican senators echoed the sentiment.

“Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this,” Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, wrote on social media. “The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize.”

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine called the image “appalling.” Roger Wicker, the senior senator from Mississippi, denounced it as “totally unacceptable.”

“The president should take it down and apologize,” Wicker wrote.

Sen. John Curtis of Utah called Trump’s post “blatantly racist and inexcusable. It should never have been posted or left published for so long.”

In the House, Rep. Mike Lawler of New York called Trump’s post “wrong and incredibly offensive—whether intentional or a mistake—and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.” Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a frequent Trump critic, quipped on social media about the White House’s shifting explanations for the video’s origin and deletion.

Praise for the post being removed

More Republicans lodged their objections to the post after the video was taken down.

“This content was rightfully removed, should have never been posted to begin with, and is not who we are as a nation,” wrote Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican.

Rep. John James, a Michigan Republican running for governor, said he was “glad to see that trash has been taken down.” James, one of four Black Republicans in the House, said he was “shocked and appalled by that post” but defended Trump’s character.

“I know the President. He is not racist,” said James, who campaigned for Trump in Black communities during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Still, some of Trump’s closest allies defended him. Laura Loomer, a far right activist and media personality, called on her social media followers to highlight any Republican lawmakers “attacking Trump today with false accusations of racism.”

“I am compiling a list of every single GOP Senator who attacked President Trump today, and I am printing it out and giving it to President Trump ahead of the @NRSC Winter Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida this weekend,” wrote Loomer, who has influenced administration policy and threatened retribution against GOP lawmakers in the past.

A shifting White House narrative

Trump has been a longtime critic of the Obamas. Before entering politics, he earned fame among conservatives as a champion of the “birther” conspiracy theory that falsely claimed that President Obama was not born in the U.S.

White House officials made multiple shifting statements about how the animated video, which has circulated among conservatives online for months, came to be posted by the president’s account.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at first said the post, which appears to be AI-generated, depicted Trump as “King of the Jungle” and the Obamas and other Democrats as characters from “The Lion King.” But the Disney animated classic does not include any characters depicted as apes, and is set in an African savanna not a jungle.

White House officials later said that the video was erroneously posted by a staffer.

“I liked the beginning. I saw it and just passed it on, and I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. Asked if he condemned the racist parts of the video, Trump said, “Of course I do.”

Democrats rally to former first couple

Supporters of the Obamas also took to social media not only to condemn the president’s post, but also to celebrate the former first couple.

“We should ALL be outraged,” Pete Souza, the former chief White House photographer during the Obama White House, posted to social media. “I will not post a screenshot of the video here. Instead, I thought it best to respond with a few of my photographs of Barack and Michelle.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., posted images of the Obamas and praised their “brilliance, elegance, and beauty.”

“I want Americans, particularly our young people, to know that the vast majority of our country supports and uplifts you despite the filth spewing from the Oval Office,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote to the Obamas on social media.

Dave Hyde: Seahawks, Patriots GMs show a Green Bay Way wish for Dolphins

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 11:37

There’s a way to peddle hope for the Miami Dolphins fan to live vicariously through another Super Bowl. But, come on, if you think I’m going to be a street pusher for an organization that’s only proven the past two decades it has no idea which way is up — excuse me, do you think I’m stupid? (Wrong answers only.)

I’ve stood on the elevator as it’s taken everyone down, and down lower, through team owner Steve Ross’ tenure with (long breath) Joe Philbin, Bullygate, White-Powder-Snorting Videogate, Tank-for-Tua, Tampering-for-Tom Brady, Brian Flores’ lawsuit, Star-Players-Late-for-Practice-Gate and, always, No-Playoff-Win-in-25-Years-Gate.

Remember when the talk was wasting Dan Marino’s career? What about my career?

So, there’s the surgeon general’s warning label to this column. Because here’s the thing about this Super Sunday. It really does show the way out for the Dolphins, if it comes with this latest regime.

That’s because the stars going into Super Sunday aren’t the quarterbacks since neither Seattle’s Sam Darnold nor New England’s Drake Maye have the developed pedigree.

Nor are the stars the coaches, though both the Seahawks’ second-year coach Mike Macdonald and Mike Vrabel in his first with the Patriots have shown their swaggering talent.

The primary stars of this Super Bowl are the builders. They’re the two behind-the-curtain general managers who thrived in the unromantic existence of the clammy-palmed draft room and the dice-rolling proposition of free agency to build cusp-of-championship rosters.

Seattle’s John Schneider and New England’s Eliot Wolf rose up from young nobodies to graduate from Green Bay Packers University, too. Just like new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan. All three also were together for several years on different career timelines to learn in a sound organization.

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There’s the lifeline, if you want to grab it.

“The Packer Way is at the core of everything I learned about football,” Schneider has said.

“The Packer Way to me is just sort of draft and develop, extend your core performers from within, and it’s about honesty, respect and treating people the right way,” Wolf once said. “It’s about people and developing people.”

Those are words, just words. But look at them in practice. Seattle drafted 20 starters or significant contributors over the past four years. That includes All-Pro players, first-round receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and fifth-round cornerback Devon Witherspoon.

New England’s roster isn’t as draft-developed considering Wolf’s tenure started in 2024. But two rookies start on the offensive line. Four rookies start in all and two more contribute on a Super Bowl team. Imagine that, rookies impacting right away?

Wolf’s defining pick of Maye in 2024 set up everything good about this team’s future, too. So, Maye was the last quarterback standing. So was Marino in 1983. Sometimes fortune smiles at you like that.

The quarterback philosophy is central to the Packer Way. It can be seen by Schneider’s previous Super Bowl teams in 2013 and 2014. He threw darts at the board with three quarterbacks to build that champion: an unproven Charlie Whitehurst, Green Bay free agent Matt Flynn and third-round pick Russell Wilson.

A quarterback competition? That’s been a no-no inside the Dolphins. But Wilson came out the winner, then a Super Bowl champion. But the other side of that is the Green Bay Way moves on from aging quarterbacks before they’re done to go with rising young ones — Brett Favre was dumped for Aaron Rodgers, Rodgers for Jordan Love.

Schneider traded Wilson to Denver rather than paying high money, picked up a good-not-great Geno Smith and then dumped Smith for Darnold. Voila.

Don’t oversell this Green Bay Way as only draft-and-develop, though. New England and Seattle set things up to have beaucoup salary-cap space before this season. New England spent the most in the league at $365 million ($198M guaranteed). Seattle spent a third-most $243 million ($131 guaranteed.)

That’s a big chunk of how New England rebuilt its defense and Seattle sprinkled stars on top its roster. But they spent smartly as opposed to … well, you know. They also traded smartly. Schneider, for instance, traded fourth- and fifth-round picks for Seattle receiver Rashid Shaheed. Think Buffalo wonders why it didn’t get Josh Allen help like that?

Schneider’s background is he pestered then-Green Bay GM Ron Wolf with enough letters and phone calls that Wolf finally let gave him a menial job. Eliot Wolf is Ron’s son, went to draft combines since age 10 and then started in the Packers front office learning a decade after Schneider in 2004.

Sullivan had just quit his real-life job to start at the bottom inside the Packers then, too. His dad, Jerry, was a long-time NFL coach. So he grew up inside the game like Wolf. He also grew up inside a winning Packers organization like these Super Bowl GMs.

Since Ron Wolf took over in 1991, the Packers have 25 playoff appearances in 35 seasons, including nine NFC Championship games and two Super Bowl wins (and one loss). They aren’t perfect. Why did Bill Belichick’s New England organization win six Super Bowls with Brady (and played in nine) while the Packers won one each with Rodgers and Favre?

Still, the Packer Way is the sub-story of Super Sunday. It drops some crumbs for what Sullivan will attempt with the Dolphins. That’s all the further I’m going with the idea. You want to inject hope? That’s on you. The past two decades demand some proof before going further.

Heat’s Keshad Johnson selected for All-Star dunk contest; Larsson doubtful vs. Wizards, Powell questionable

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 11:05

WASHINGTON — Even amid an uneven season, the Miami Heat will have participants on each day of All-Star Weekend next weekend in Los Angeles.

Saturday, seldom-used forward Keshad Johnson was named to the four-player field for the dunk contest next Saturday night.

That comes in the wake of Heat forward Norman Powell last Sunday being named to the All-Star Game for the first time in his 11-season career. That game will be next Sunday.

Previously, second-year center Kel’el Ware was named to the Rising Stars competition for first-and second-year players, which will be contested on Friday night.

Additionally, Heat two-way player Jahmir Young will be participating in the G League Next Up Game and G League 3-Point Contest next Sunday during NBA All-Star Weekend.

While Johnson has been limited in his playing time with the Heat this season, including being sent for seasoning to the G League to play with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, he has produced several dramatic dunks during mop-up duty.

Signed to a two-way contract after going undrafted out of Arizona in 2024, Johnson has since been upgraded to a standard contract.

Johnson, 24, becomes the fifth Heat player over the franchise’s 38 seasons to participate in the dunk contest, joining Jaime Jaquez Jr. (2024), 2020 winner Derrick Jones Jr., two-time winner Harold Miner (1995 and ‘93 ) and Billy Thompson (1990).

Johnson will be joined in the dunk contest by three fellow first-time participants: Carter Bryant (San Antonio Spurs), Jaxson Hayes (Los Angeles Lakers) and Jase Richardson (Orlando Magic).

The AT&T Slam Dunk will feature a two-round format, with judges scoring each dunk. In the first round, all four players will attempt two dunks, and the combined score will determine the top two who advance to the final round.  Each finalist will then attempt two additional dunks, with the higher combined score determining the champion.

Johnson has appeared in 21 Heat games this season, all in reserve, averaging 3.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 7.6 minutes while shooting .404 from the field, .304 on 3-pointers and .765 from the line. Nine of his 23 baskets this season have been dunks. His nine dunks rank sixth on the Heat roster.

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In two games on G League assignment, Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.5 blocks.

The Heat will not have a participant in the All-Star Weekend 3-point contest, with defending champion Tyler Herro currently sidelined with a rib injury, away from the team during this two-game trip that opened with Friday night’s loss to the Boston Celtics and concludes Sunday against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.

The Heat begin their All-Star break after Wednesday night’s game against the Pelicans in New Orleans. They then return to action after an eight-day break with a Feb. 20 game in Atlanta against the Hawks.

Injury report

Heat forward Pelle Larsson is listed as doubtful for Sunday at Washington due to the elbow contusion sustained in Friday night’s loss in Boston, keeping him out for that second half.

Powell is listed as questionable with the sprained right hand that kept him out for most of Friday night’s third quarter.

Bam Adebayo is listed as probable with hip tightness.

Tyler Herro (ribs) is not on trip.

As Heat upcoming opponents play the lottery odds, Spoelstra remains in win-now mode

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 09:34

WASHINGTON — The juxtaposition could not be any clearer the next two games for the Miami Heat.

On one hand, you have Erik Spoelstra and his now-perennial play-in team living in the moment, even if the moment has the Heat at 27-26 and coming off a disastrous Friday night loss to the Boston Celtics at the start of this two-game trip, when even a 22-point lead was not good enough.

On the other hand, you have a pair of upcoming opponents who have left little doubt about their need to lose as a means of creating hope.

Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena, it will be against the Washington Wizards and their annual race to the bottom, with the Wizards having sat out Trae Young since since his Jan. 9 trade arrival from the Atlanta Hawks, and now with word that prime trade-deadline acquisition Anthony Davis will not suit up for them this season.

Then Monday night at Kaseya Center, the opponent will be the Utah Jazz, a team that even while making the forward-thinking acquisition of Jaren Jackson Jr. at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline is well aware it only keeps its June lottery pick by closing with one of the league’s eight worst records.

Losing by winning.

As an NBA way of life.

And then there are the Heat, who also possess their own draft pick this June, with no strings attached, positioned to gain a lottery seed either through losing now or being eliminated in the play-in round.

Their approach? Full steam ahead, even while having won consecutive games only once since Jan. 1.

So in Friday night’s loss in Boston, when a case could have been made for youth in the wake of inaction at Thursday’s trade deadline … no minutes for rookie Kasparas Jakucionis, a mere 9:32 for 2024 first-round pick Kel’el Ware and 6:22 for 22-year-old Nikola Jovic.

To Spoelstra the approach remains that youth will be served when deserved, and even then not at the cost of one more victory, even amid the seemingly inescapable reality of a fourth consecutive trip to the play-in round.

“We’re not going to prioritize something over winning,” Spoelstra said ahead of Friday night’s loss, a game when 30-year-old Simone Fontecchio played 19:28, despite closing 0 for 5 from the field, with just two points, a game when Andrew Wiggins, who turns 31 in two weeks, played 38:22, albeit with 26 points. “Winning is going to be the bottom line. Take it or leave it, like it or not. That’s what the Miami Heat is about. We’re competing to win.”

To their credit, such an approach did have the Heat positioned for the victory had point guard Davion Mitchell made an open 3-point attempt from the left corner with 2.7 seconds to play in what instead was a 98-96 loss that had both teams scoreless in the final 1:31.

To Spoelstra, the gifting of minutes to youth would send the wrong message. In support of his approach, Jovic managed to finish a Heat-worst -14 in his Friday night minutes, with the Heat also outscored in Ware’s limited time.

“You have to earn your minutes,” Spoelstra said of his rotation approach. “We’re not gifting minutes to anyone. We have more young players playing in the rotation than we’ve had in a long time, and that’s this balance that I’m embracing.”

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All, Spoelstra said, also with an eye for the future, but not with an eye on the race for the bottom being favored at the moment by the Wizards and Jazz.

“Develop these players, infuse them with confidence, but also hold them accountable to our standard,” Spoelstra continued of what he considers a workable approach. “The standard is not going to change, and we feel that players improve the quickest when there’s an accountability to winning, when they’re not just empty minutes that are being gifted to someone.”

And when the youth produces in such moments, Spoelstra said it is all the more gratifying.

“It’s art, not necessarily science,” he said of the approach. “But our young guys are getting a lot better. And they’re playing and contributing. And it’s exciting.

“We want our fan base excited about this young group. And we want our team excited about the youthful exuberance that they’re bringing our locker room. And there’s a big upside.”

What’s like got to do with it? Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women

Sat, 02/07/2026 - 08:30

CHICAGO — The other day the author Sara Levine asked me to meet her at a dog beach in Evanston. I didn’t have a hard time finding her. She said she would be wearing an orange cap and she was. The problem — and here is where I felt as though I slipped suddenly into a Sara Levine novel — was that the beach was padlocked and Levine arrived without her dog. Also, at the very moment we met, Northwestern University’s Emergency Notification System began to boom out a test, which sounds like a tornado siren with the addition of a deep male voice imploring you to stay calm, no emergency is occurring.

In a Sara Levine novel — and so far, she’s only written two in 25 years — the heroine would likely take that as a sign, like some kind of cosmic irony that an emergency was definitely occurring.

Levine suggested we meet at a dog beach because “The Hitch,” her new novel — her first since “Treasure Island!!!,” Levine’s beloved 2012 cult classic — centers on a dog attack in Evanston that leaves a corgi dead and a 6-year-old boy certain he’s possessed by the dead dog’s soul. But like “Treasure Island!!!,” it’s also funny and unhinged and so relatable you wonder if Levine, who chairs the writing department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has been slowly making a case for the lost art of the literary comedy novel.

Indeed, Levine’s characters are so queasily recognizable, this wasn’t even the first time in recent months that I felt as if I had stepped unwittingly into a Sara Levine story. By some twist of completely off-the-wall fate, the same week I was reading an early copy of “The Hitch,” I was bitten several times by a dog. Seriously. It was bonkers. I was walking through a restaurant patio on the North Shore and a dog launched itself onto my calf like I was sirloin. My first thought: Why me? I felt like that guy in a movie who hasn’t yet become a werewolf but all of the neighborhood dogs know he’s a werewolf and start barking. And yet, it wasn’t even the dog attack that reminded me of Levine — it was the way diners glared at me, as if I interrupted their burgers. I felt a weird shame.

When I told Levine this — and that I was not that excited to hang out at a dog beach anyway, considering — she told me about the attack in Evanston that led to “The Hitch.”

“So I was walking my dog by (Evanston Township High School) and he’s a little goldendoodle and this dog — no leash, but with a pink collar — suddenly appears in the alley. It’s a pit bull. I’m not anti-pit bull and I don’t mean to stereotype. She’s a little pit, but pits do have strong jaws and she attacks my dog. This was 2020. I have these horrible voice memos with my dog wailing. Anyway, now I’m in a crisis, and what am I doing to do? I’m terrible in a crisis. I also don’t want to hurt the other dog. If I let my dog off the leash he might get hit by car, so I’m frozen there, and I’m also trying to separate them, but I’m also thinking I can’t kick this dog — even with what’s happening in front of me, I couldn’t do it. The house on the corner has a Newfoundland standing in the yard, and the woman at the house sees me. She tells me to run for her car, but it’s actually a truck with a flatbed. She grabs a shovel and starts swinging at the dog, and my legs at this point are jelly but we make it into the flatbed and the pitbull is just launching itself at us, just like Cujo. My first thought was, Did I make this happen? I had started writing about a dog, so: Did I bring this on? That’s nutty, but it’s how you feel at times when things happen.”

Sara Levine’s new novel “The Hitch.” (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Levine’s novels feel right for early 2026, for this gray period when we’re all expected to reassess our lives, make changes and emerge in the spring with clearer heads. The way certain works of fiction can do, her books could double as perverse self-help, starring heroines who go out of their ways to show how not to conduct your life. Her writing voice, sardonic, breezy, chimes with Joy Williams and Donald Barthelme, but it’s hard not to hear “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and even “The Office” — that nexus where unraveling people lacking self-awareness stumble across empathy.

The heroine of “Treasure Island!!!” — a 25-year old clerk of a “pet library” — reads Robert Louis Stevenson’s legendary adventure and quickly reassess her narrow timid life, deciding there and then to live by a credo culled from Stevenson: Boldness, Resolution, Independence, Horn-blowing. But by the end, she kills a parrot and is so obsessed with “Treasure Island,” family and friends stage an intervention between her and the novel. The heroine of “The Hitch” could be related, if only tangentially: Her name is Rose Cutler and she is an Evanston yogurt company CEO (as well as “antiracist, secular Jewish feminist eco-warrior”). Rose is also perilously up her own keister. She does not want children (“not for one atom-spitting second”) but she is never so shy with opinions about the way her brother and sister-in-law raise their own kid. When they go on vacation, Rose jumps at the chance to play aunt for a week — which is when the dog attack occurs, her nephew decides (cheerfully) the dog’s soul leapt bodies, and worse.

Rose is a micromanager, and lousy in a crisis. It spoils nothing to say the closest she gets to enlightenment is a brief ah-ha: “Sometimes my mind gets active as a prairie dog and I build elaborate tunnels underground, room after room of judgement and justification.”

The writer Roxane Gay — who once included Levine’s work in an essay on unlikeable women characters (“Not Here to Make Friends”) — said that just after she landed her own imprint (Roxane Gay Books) at Grove Atlantic, she sought out Levine and asked what she was working on: “It had been some time since ‘Treasure Island!!!’ and Sara did not disappoint. The writing voice I fell in love with was still there, but she had grown, and though this Rose character was older, you’re reminded that sometimes we don’t really outgrow our lesser selves — that sometimes we just learn to live with them, you know?”

Levine told Gay that not every reader is a fan of unlikeable woman characters. She told Gay about the (smallish) subset of Goodreads reviewers who describe her women as “utterly unlikeable” and “irredeemable.” Gay told me, “I don’t know why writers are so willing to expose themselves to Goodreads. Some people have a parasocial relationship with book characters, and it meets a puritanical streak where people decide they don’t like a character who is a ‘bad person,’ forgetting flawed people exist. Rose is convinced she knows the right way to do things and her ethics are in the right place — bless her heart.”

Levine’s sweet spot is what literary scholars have long called “unreliable narration” — she even taught a class at Brown University (where she got her Ph.D. in English) on the topic. Levine said: “My father’s a psychiatrist and he tells me we’re all unreliable narrators. But in a novel, it means there’s a deficit of comprehension from the character telling the story and that deficit is part of the story. But when I hear from people who hated ‘Treasure Island!!!,’ often they think I’m the narrator. My feelings get hurt. But maybe they don’t understand that gap. It took me a long time to realize it.

“Or maybe ‘unreliable’ is the wrong term for this. Should I just refer to my characters as ‘difficult women’? No, maybe not — I was at a party recently and told someone I write about ‘difficult women’ and this person said, ‘OK, wait, what do you mean by difficult …?’”

Sara Levine sits in home writing space on Jan. 9, 2026, in Evanston. Levine is the chair of the writing department at School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a novelist whose new book, “The Hitch,” follows her 2011 novel Treasure Island. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Horror novelist Paul Tremblay — whom Levine consulted to get a sense of how to handle the possession part of “The Hitch” — is a big fan of Levine, and included “Treasure Island!!!” on his ballot for the New York Times poll of the best books of the 21st century. Part of that appreciation, he said, is “how she is reviving an old tradition of first-person a-hole narrators. Think of ‘Confederacy of Dunces,’ or the novels of Sam Lipsyte, except publishers don’t like books by women who go there. Readers are getting more literal, I think. It can feel like a risk to just include any moral uncertainty in a novel now. I hear this especially from younger readers, who want to know what the moral is, and the thing is we are not writing to bestow morals but explain what it means to be human, which can be dark and uncomfortable — all words I would use to describe Sara’s books.”

You could also argue the long afterlife of “Treasure Island!!” — a perpetual word-of-mouth bookseller favorite, handed down to friends who can relate to spiraling exhaustion — is a mirror of contemporary America. Or at least indie culture: Rose Byrne is likely to grab an Oscar nomination soon for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” as a stressed mother who makes a series of bad decisions; she’d slide neatly into Levine’s books. Levine is one of your favorite literary writers’ best-kept secrets: Blurbs for “The Hitch” came from Elizabeth Gilbert, Rumaan Alam, Adam Levin and Chicagoan Michael Zapata, who told me: “Blurbs can be blurby, but the one I wrote was truly sincere.” “Treasure Island!!!,” which has yet to be adapted to TV or film (but probably will be one day), has already been developed (and dropped) by Natalie Portman and James Franco.

Levine sounds almost naive about the depth of this love.

She told me another established screenwriter got pretty far with “Treasure Island!!!” but then appeared to bail and never signed their contract; Levine never heard from the woman again. One day, during a class at SAIC, she projected an email exchange between her and the writer as an illustration of professional etiquette. “I had to explain how she opted out of the project, and as students do, one took out his phone and googled the woman’s name and a minute later replied, ‘Oh, Sara, no — that woman had died. That’s probably why she never got back to you.’”

Sounds like a Sara Levine story, I said.

“It does?” she asked.

Sara Levine sifts through a box of drawings from 2012 that she created in the early stages of writing her novel “The Hinge” at her home on Jan. 9, 2026, in Evanston. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

To be frank, the biggest disappointment about Sara Levine is that she’s not nuts. I anticipated erratic and flighty and I got calm and rational. James McManus, author of the poker memoir “Positively Fifth Street,” who taught alongside Levine for 25 years, said: “She is as sane and responsible an adult as they come. In fact, (SAIC) wanted her to move into even more active leadership roles, but that can be a time suck, creatively.”

She has long gray hair and large cartoon eyes and comes across as naturally funny. She said people do expect her to be a wacko. “Someone introduced me at a party recently as ‘one of the most sane people’ at the Art Institute, or maybe it was ‘the least insane.’”

Levine, who is 55, grew up outside Cleveland and wrote a couple of plays that were produced when she was still a teenager (one professionally, for a Cleveland theater group). She went to Northwestern for theater only to find her way to creative writing. She then bounced from Brown to the University of Iowa to SAIC, which she joined in 2000. She describes herself as “ornery” that entire time. She threatened to drop out of Brown, refused to start a novel, moved to Iowa to teach non-fiction, only to decide, “‘I don’t want to live here, I don’t want to teach this my whole life’ — it was like looking into my coffin.”

She found she was more interested in “‘hysterical’ voices, the more obstreperous personalities of fiction.” “Treasure Island!!!,” which she began to see if she could write a novel after years of short stories and nonfiction academia, took a decade, but she found that she was more ambitious than she knew. She also learned she had a knack for describing everyday suburbia with cutting precision: “The Hitch” is filled with Evanston parents who over-schedule kids so much you wonder if they “can’t sit still in a room” with children. Doctor’s offices offer “six televisions playing six different channels.” Vast expanses of Illinois contain “a strip of road that featured an abandoned movie theatre, a discount shoe store, and a cemetery bordered by a six-foot high metal fence capped with snow,” as well as a hospital “founded in affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church and rooted in the belief that all persons were created in the image of God, a hospital that had not in the past five years received higher than a two-star Yelp review.”

Sara Levine sits in her home writing space with her dog Lenny on Jan. 9, 2026, in Evanston. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

After “Treasure Island!!!,” she wrote a big sprawling novel titled “Leave It,” a more lyrical and somber kaleidoscope of Evanston characters; she didn’t want to follow one “difficult woman” with a second. She gave it to her agent, but then soon after, she pulled it back and shelved it.

“I was worried I was reinforcing the ‘hysterical’ woman thing, so I wrote something else, but that something else? Other people do that book well. So I have this narrow track. Twyla Tharp talks about knowing your own creative DNA, and that helped me. I’ve always had teachers who said you need to keep growing, you’ve got to keep pushing, that there is a natural aesthetic restlessness where you should never repeat yourself. I really bought into that. But what if it’s helpful to focus on one form and go very deep into only that? Look at Monet, who spent a lifetime painting haystacks …”

“‘Compares self to Monet,’” I interrupted, joking, pretending to jot that in my notebook.

“Oh, and also Nabokov!” she said, laughing. “And of course Jane Austen! Write that down.”

cborrelli@chicagotribune.com

  
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