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3 killed, including suspect, in shooting during Rhode Island youth hockey game

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 14:47

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — Three people, including the suspect, were fatally shot during a Rhode Island youth hockey game Monday, authorities said.

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that three other victims are hospitalized in critical condition.

“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” she said. Goncalves did not provide details about the suspect or the ages of those who were killed, though she said it appeared that both victims were adults.

Show Caption1 of 5A father hugs his son outside of the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, R.I., after a shooting at the ice rink, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell) Expand

She said investigators are trying to piece together what happened and speak with witnesses of the shooting inside Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence. They are also reviewing video taken from the hockey game. Unverified footage circulating on social media shows players diving for cover and fans fleeing their seats after popping sounds are heard.

Outside the arena, tearful families and high school hockey players still in uniform could be seen hugging before they boarded a bus to leave the area. Roads surrounding the arena were shut down as a heavy police presence remained and helicopters flew overhead.

Monday’s shooting comes nearly two months after Rhode Island was rocked by a separate gun violence tragedy at Brown University, where a gunman killed two students and injured nine others. That shooter went on to also fatally shoot a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

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Authorities later found Claudio Neves Valente, 48, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a New Hampshire storage facility.

“Fortunately, the two incidents are not related, but it is very tragic,” said Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien. “These are high school kids, they were doing an event, they were playing with fans watching and it turned into this.”

Pawtucket is nestled just north of Providence and right under the Massachusetts state border. A city of just under 80,000, Pawtucket had up until recently been known as the home to Hasbro’s headquarters.

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Dave Hyde: Releasing Hill, Chubb was predictable — now, new Dolphins’ decisions get tougher

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 14:37

Start waving goodbye. Anyone can go. The new season began Monday for the Miami Dolphins’ new regime with the release of Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb, two names bigger than the decision to let them go.

Hill gave two great years in his four with the Dolphins, but was on the chopping block with a bloated 2026 price even before his nasty knee injury. He’ll be 32 in March, and his release saves the Dolphins $22.8 million.

Chubb is a pro’s pro and good edge rusher, but he turns 30 this summer, is regularly injured and was due $20.2 million this year. Those aren’t fits for a rebuilding team.

Throw in guard James Daniels, who declined to play with a pectoral injury even as the team thought he could, and receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and the Dolphins actually moved into the positive for salary-cap space. For now.

Now it gets tougher. Defining decisions loom for new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, ones that will set the course of this season and offer a look into his building philosophy.

And, no, this doesn’t have anything to do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The only decision there remains how to painfully extricate themselves from his contract. The hammer or the drill?

This is about moving on. It’s about how Sullivan will set policy and do business with the players he wants to keep. Or might want to keep. Or would keep at the right price, if that can be found.

You know how the Dolphins did business the past four years. If a player came to a bad mood to practice, he was given a new contract. Tua, Hill and Jalen Ramsey signed record-setting deals when new deals weren’t even necessary. Team owner Steve Ross is still signing checks from that.

It’s easy to toss money at players. But someone has to protect the organization with fair deals, and that’s Sullivan’s job now. Start with running back De’Von Achane, this offense’s best playmaker, who enters the final year of his rookie contract in 2026.

Garden-variety running backs don’t get paid anymore. But two-way threats like Achane do. Look at San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey ($19 million in 2026).

Achane doesn’t have McCaffrey’s receiving numbers. But his total yards compare to Buffalo running back James Cook, who signed four-year, $46 million deal ($29 million guaranteed) before last season.

Is that a year-ago framework for Achane? It would have been a year ago when every Dolphin got paid. Sullivan has yet to show how he work. He could have Achane play out his rookie deal. Or maybe start the season before negotiating? Would the franchise tag be in play?

Sullivan’s philosophy will weave through this rebuild. When Tua moves on, the Dolphins highest-paid players next year become safety Minkah Fitzpatrick ($18.9M) and right tackle Austin Jackson ($15.4M). That doesn’t look right, does it?

Each is average. Jackson has injury problems. Does Sullivan try to trade them, opening more holes on a roster full of holes? Does he re-negotiate their contracts — or try? Or does he just let them play out the year at those numbers? Decisions, decisions.

Then there are the returning leaders, good pros and great players any team wants in center Aaron Brewer and linebacker Jordyn Brooks. Each is in his prime at 28. Each enters the final year of his contract.

They’ll want new deals this winter. They deserve them because of their stellar play and attitude. The question becomes how Sullivan lines up a team with limited money with its across-the-roster needs and timeline to start winning again.

If he sees winning in 2027, sign them. But if it’s 2028 or even 2029? Does that change matters?

Bottom line: You could have made Monday’s decisions to release these four players. It started some predictable housecleaning on a roster that needed to get proper alignment by dollars, age and health to go though a rebuild.

But now the hard work is about to begin. Who to pay? Who not to pay, at least immediately? How to play hardball, if necessary?

It’s been a culture of comfort the past four years as coach Mike McDaniel attempted to buy the loyalty of star players with big contracts. GM Chris Grier and Ross went along for the bad ride.

Now it’s Sullivan’s turn to make some tough decisions. They won’t just show us his style of management. They’ll set the tone for how business is done in this new regime and lay the direction of this team’s latest rebuild.

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill watches as time runs out in the loss to the New England Patriots on Sept. 14, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel) Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Bradley Chubb (2) prepares to play against the New York Jets on Dec. 7, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Trying to tame the Olympic controversy, World Curling sent in the umps. Then it sent them away

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 14:29

By JULIA FRANKEL

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The curling drama at the Winter Olympics sent the sport’s governing body scrambling to address a growing controversy and curb conflicting accounts of rule-breaking. The backpedaling came less than 24 hours later.

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A day after World Curling ramped up monitoring of the matches, it pulled the plug, saying umpires would retreat and be available on request but not by default.

The move came after a quick meeting between national curling federations and World Curling on Sunday in which curlers expressed dissatisfaction with the increased surveillance. Athletes wanted less monitoring, not more.

Why would Olympic curlers, playing a sport where mere centimeters can make the difference between a winning and losing stone, choose to send the umps away? The answer may have to do with the longstanding spirit of the game, which some athletes are clinging to even as it grows more popular — and professional.

“I think there’s a lot of pride in trying to be a sport that kind of officiates ourselves a little bit, so to speak,” said Nolan Thiessen, CEO of Curling Canada, whose teams have been at the heart of the uproar over the past several days. “I think it was just everybody taking a deep breath and going, OK, let’s just finish this Olympics the way we know our sport is to be played.”

Show Caption1 of 4Switzerland’s Alina Paetz in action during the women’s curling round robin session against Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair) Expand World Curling rethinks officiating

The saga began Friday, when Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian Marc Kennedy of breaking the rules by touching the rock again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice. Kennedy’s expletive-laden outburst drew widespread attention, as did the sport, which tends to fall off the radar outside the Olympics.

World Curling decided it needed to double down on game surveillance, even though it was already midway through the Olympic men’s and women’s round-robin competition.

From then on, the federation said, two umpires would step out from behind the courtside table and watch the “hog line” — the point at which curlers must release the granite stone down the sheet of ice — from close proximity. That way, they’d be able to more closely check for illegal double-touches.

In just a day, officials called two double-touch infractions, by Rachel Homan of Canada and Bobby Lammie of Britain, removing their stones from play.

It is rare for stones to be removed from competition so frequently.

By Sunday afternoon, players and coaches were fed up, and World Curling changed its policy after the meeting.

“When the players started complaining, it puts them in a tough position because they want to do their jobs and listen to the players that think that there’s a problem out there,” said Emma Miskew of Canada. “I’m happy with how the discussion went and what the ruling came to.”

Olympic curlers say the double-touch is not a big deal

Several Olympic curlers said that double-touching did not necessarily reveal a nefarious desire to cheat, and that penalizing a quick and accidental graze of the granite could be over the top.

“If you get a hog line violation, it’s not cheating,” Homan said Monday.

Miskew added that it was rare to hear the accusation, at least in women’s curling, while Alina Paetz of Switzerland agreed with Homan that it is a minor infraction.

“If you do it, it’s not allowed, but I think they blew it up a little bit, so it’s a bigger thing than it actually is,” Paetz said. “It’s the Olympics, there’s emotion in it. I don’t think it is actually that big of a deal.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Olympics committee defends sale of T-shirt commemorating 1936 Nazi-era Games

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 08:35

The governing body for the Olympics is defending its sale of a limited-edition T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin under Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

The $42 shirt, which was condemned by Jewish organizations, has already sold out from the official Olympics online store.

A spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee acknowledged the Games’ Nazi connections but said the 1936 design fit with its lineup of historical apparel marking “130 years of Olympic art and design.”

In its statement the IOC also invoked Jesse Owens, the Black American track-and-field athlete whose dominating performance at the 1936 Games was widely seen as a rebuke of Hitler’s “master race” ideology.

“While we of course acknowledge the historical issues of ‘Nazi propaganda’ related to the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, we must also remember that the Games in Berlin saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events,” the IOC spokesperson said in a statement to media. “Many of them stunned the world with their athletic achievements, including Jesse Owens.”

The design, based on an official poster for the Games, depicts the Olympic rings and a golden statue of a muscular man crowned in laurels next to a chariot of horses atop Berlin’s Brandenburg Gates.

Another item based on an Olympics event overseen by the Nazis, a T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was also being sold through the collection. That poster shows a victorious skier with an arm upraised in what could be a Nazi salute and was designed by Ludwig Hohlwein, a leading artist in Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda division.

European Jewish groups said the Berlin shirt was insensitive, given that the 1936 Games were intended to function as a propaganda tool for Hitler’s regime. Some pointed to the modern-day resurgence of antisemitism as justification for their objections.

“As the world reflects on this latest controversy, it is impossible not to recall that we are approaching 90 years since the 1936 Berlin Olympics — an event the Nazi regime used to legitimize itself on the global stage while persecution of Jews was already well underway,” Scott Saunders, CEO of International March of the Living, the educational program that organizes trips to concentration camps, told CNN.

“Sport has the power to unite, to inspire, and to elevate the very best of humanity,” Saunders added. “But history reminds us that it can also be manipulated to sanitize hatred and normalize exclusion. The lesson of Berlin is urgent. When antisemitism resurfaces in public life, whether in stadiums, streets, or online, silence is not neutrality. It is complicity.”

Christine Schmidt, the co-director of the Wiener Holocaust Library in London, also condemned the sale of the shirts.

“The Nazis used the 1936 Olympics to showcase their oppressive regime to the world, aiming to smooth over international relations while at the same time preventing almost all German-Jewish athletes from competing, rounding up the 800 Roma who lived in Berlin, and concealing signs of virulent antisemitic violence and propaganda from the world’s visitors,” Schmidt told CNN.

The screen-printed shirt is based on a poster for the actual games created by graphic artist Werner Würbel, according to an IOC catalog of posters from the Games. The aesthetic of the 1936 Games, which emphasized strongman caricatures in keeping with the Nazi ideal of a superhuman Aryan race, was memorialized in Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda documentary “Olympia.”

The Heritage collection also sold a T-shirt bedecked with a poster from the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, during which the entire Israeli athletic delegation was taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian terror group Black September. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has reached out to the IOC for further comment about the shirt, which is also marked as sold out.

The Munich Games were honored in a different commemorative product that drew criticism: sneakers produced in 2024 by Adidas, which was founded by Nazi Party members and had recently taken weeks to break ties with Kanye West after he embarked on an antisemitic spree.

For more info, go to JTA.org. 

In wake of All-Star debut, Heat focus with Norman Powell turns to extension

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 08:30

MIAMI — To this stage, it largely has been a season of discovery and therefore deferral for the Miami Heat.

With Tyler Herro coming off preseason ankle surgery, the decision on his potential extension was deferred until July.

At the trading deadline, with the Heat again in the gray area of good but not good enough, moves were put on hold.

All the while, one move that was in play remains in play — the possibility of an extension for All-Star forward Norman Powell before he otherwise heads in free agency this summer.

For the Heat, the Powell decision is similar to those mothballed with Herro and the trade deadline, namely whether what is in place needs to be augmented or, well, obliterated.

For his part, Powell has done his part, leading the Heat in scoring in Herro’s absence and earning his first All-Star berth.

During All-Star Weekend, Powell made clear he wants to stay. Now the question becomes whether, at the moment, an extension is in play.

For now, no urgency.

“It’s something I don’t even think about, honestly,” he said during his media session at Intuit Dome, site of All-Star Weekend in Inglewood, Calif. “I’ve said how I feel, how it’s been for me. I’m getting settled, acclimated, me and my family, how much I like that organization. So it’s out of my control. It’s a business. I’ll leave that to my agents and them talking to the front office and hopefully it aligns.

“I love Miami. I love the organization. So hopefully they like what I’ve been doing and the player and person I am, and get something done.”

And yet Powell also is well aware of how quickly situations, if not resolved, can turn.

Last summer, amid assurances from the Los Angeles Clippers of an extension – essentially the same extension he is eligible for now – he instead was dealt, in the deal the Heat sent out the contracts of Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson.

When he returned over the weekend for the All-Star events on the Clippers’ home court, his former team no longer looked anything like the one he left in July, with guard James Harden dealt at the Feb. 5 NBA trading deadline to the Cleveland Cavaliers and center Ivica Zubac dealt to the Indiana Pacers.

Now the Heat could find themselves amid similar deliberations, based on how the balance of the season plays out, currently seeded for  a fourth consecutive trip to the play-in round.

With the Heat in a holding pattern at the trade deadline, there has been little hint of moving forward on an extension with Powell and locking in a player who turns 33 in May.

But this also is different from the extension question the team faced a year ago with Jimmy Butler, who at 35, hardly had embraced the Heat’s direction.

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“It’s been fun,” Powell said of the start of a Heat tenure he hopes to extend. ‘So hopefully there’s some good synergy from what they’ve seen that I bring to the table. And hopefully a deal is able to be done sometime.

“But yeah, I see myself being here and being a part of the Heat organization for however long they’ll have me.”

When there was no extension last year for Butler, there was nothing but anger, agitation and absence,

For Powell, the prime focus remains resolving the Heat’s inconsistency over the remainder of a schedule that resumes Friday night in Atlanta against the Hawks.

“Just analyzing how we can be better and the areas that I can improve in,” he said. “As a leader, the first thing you got to do if you want to make change and be the example for the team and how we need to play and what we want to go out and accomplish, you got to look inward. And so I’ve already had some thoughts and talks with my trainer, A.J., and what we kind of want to get accomplished in between now and when it’s time to return and play Atlanta, and how I need to come out mentally, and what I need to do to get this team on track. Conversations and things like that are already happening.

“And that’s just how my mind goes. I’m never content. I’m trying to always improve, and I’m trying to see how we can improve as a team. So that’s where my mind is kind of at.”

Dolphins releasing Bradley Chubb, in new GM’s first major roster move

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 08:14

The first big cut for new Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan isn’t quarterback Tua Tagovailoa or wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

It’s outside linebacker Bradley Chubb.

Chubb is being released by the Dolphins, according to multiple reports Monday morning.

Cutting Chubb, who turns 30 before next season, marks the beginning of what is expected to be a large-scale roster overhaul of what previous GM Chris Grier had in place.

It’s also a first step in getting Miami salary cap compliant ahead of the start of the new league year March 11, as the team entered Monday projected to be about $17.4 million over the 2026 salary cap, according to aptly named website OverTheCap.com.

Releasing Chubb outright saves the Dolphins about $7.3 million toward the salary cap, while accounting for nearly $23.9 million in dead cap space. But if he’s released with a post-June 1 designation, the Dolphins stand to save about $20.2 million toward the cap with just roughly $11 million of dead cap.

The cut always seemed likely this offseason even when Grier or interim GM Champ Kelly were still running Miami’s roster. He returned to the team last offseason on a restructured deal that made it so.

Chubb is coming off a major bounce-back season after missing his 2024 campaign recovering from a knee injury.

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He had 8 ½ sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 47 tackles, playing all 17 games after tearing his ACL and more in one of his knees at the end of 2023. That injury occurred on Dec. 23, 2023 against the Baltimore Ravens, and the rehab kept him sidelined through all of 2024.

Additionally, Chubb was the Dolphins’ Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee this past season.

Chubb, the No. 5 pick of the 2018 draft by the Denver Broncos, was traded to the Dolphins from the Broncos at the trade deadline of the 2022 season. He totaled 22 sacks playing two and a half seasons for Miami, not including 2024 when he didn’t play.

When Grier traded for Chubb, he was expected to form half of a fierce pass-rushing duo with Jaelan Phillips, a first-round pick of the Dolphins in 2021. Phillips suffered two season-ending injuries of his own in his time in Miami, and each’s major ailments stunted how many games they played together. Phillips was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles at last season’s trade deadline.

The Dolphins will move forward with a major need on the edge, possibly with the outlook of using more 4-3 defensive ends. New coach Jeff Hafley, along with defensive coordinator Sean Duggan, used them plenty over 3-4 outside linebackers with the Green Bay Packers the past two seasons.

NAACP asks judge to protect against ‘misuse’ of voter data seized by FBI in Georgia’s Fulton County

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 08:08

By KATE BRUMBACK

ATLANTA (AP) — The NAACP and other organizations are asking a judge to protect personal voter information that was seized by the FBI from an elections warehouse just outside Atlanta.

Georgia residents entrusted the state with their “sensitive personal information” when they registered to vote, and the Jan. 28 seizure of ballots and other election documents from the Fulton County elections hub “breached that guarantee, infringed constitutional protections of privacy, and interfered with the right to vote,” the organizations said in a motion filed late Sunday.

The motion asks the judge to “order reasonable limits on the government’s use of the seized data” and to prohibit the government from using the data for purposes other than the criminal investigation cited in the search warrant affidavit. That includes prohibiting any efforts to use it for voter roll maintenance, election administration or immigration enforcement.

Show Caption1 of 2Georgia General Election 2020 ballots are loaded by the FBI onto trucks at the Fulton County Election Hub, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart) Expand

They also want the judge to order that the government disclose an inventory of all documents and records seized, the identity of anyone who has accessed the records outside of those involved in the criminal investigation, any copying of the records and all efforts to secure the information.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment on the motion.

FBI agents arrived at the elections hub just south of Atlanta with a search warrant seeking documents related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, including: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls. The county has filed a motion seeking the return of the seized materials.

President Donald Trump has fixated on Fulton, a Democratic stronghold and the most populous county in the state, asserting without evidence that widespread voter fraud there cost him victory in Georgia in 2020.

An FBI agent’s affidavit presented to a magistrate judge to obtain the search warrant says the criminal investigation began with a referral from Kurt Olsen, who advised Trump as he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss and now serves as Trump’s “director of election security and integrity” with a mission to investigate Trump’s loss.

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The motion was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on behalf of the NAACP, Georgia and Atlanta NAACP organizations, and the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda. It notes that the seizure happened as the Justice Department has been seeking unredacted state voter registration rolls.

The Justice Department has sued at least 23 states and the District of Columbia to try to get them to hand over detailed voter information. The agency has said it is seeking the data as part of an effort to ensure election security, but Democratic officials and other critics worry that federal officials want to use the sensitive data for other purposes. Federal courts in several states have rejected the Justice Department’s attempts to get the records.

“These repeated efforts to access 2020 election records, including by the entity that now has custody of them, heightens concerns about the privacy and security of sensitive voter data and exacerbates the chill on voting rights,” the motion says.

No, George Washington didn’t have wooden teeth. Yes, he led the Siege of Boston

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 07:29

By MICHAEL CASEY

BOSTON (AP) — More than a decade before he became the country’s first president, George Washington was leading a critical campaign in the early days of the American Revolution. The Siege of Boston was his first campaign as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and, in many ways, set the stage for his military and political successes — celebrated on Presidents Day.

Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, militias had pinned down the British in Boston in April 1775. The Continental Congress, recognizing the need for a more organized military effort, selected Washington to lead the newly formed army.

The Siege of Boston and its significance

On this day 250 years ago, Washington would have been nearing the end of an almost yearlong siege that bottled up as many as 11,000 British troops and hundreds more loyalists. The British were occupying Boston at the time, and the goal of the siege was to force them out.

A critical decision made by Washington was sending Henry Knox, a young bookseller, to Fort Ticonderoga in New York to retrieve dozens of cannons. The cannons, transported hundreds of miles in the dead of winter, were eventually used to fire on British positions. That contributed to the decision by the British, facing dwindling supplies, to abandon the city by boat on March 17, 1776.

Historians argue that the British abandoning their positions, celebrated in Boston as Evacuation Day, rid the city of loyalists at a critical time, denied the British access to an important port and gave patriots a huge morale boost.

“The success of the Siege of Boston gave new life and momentum to the Revolution,” Chris Beagan, the site manager at Longfellow House in Cambridge, a National Historic Site that served as Washington’s headquarters during the American Revolution. “Had it failed, royal control of New England would have continued, and the Continental Army likely would have dissolved.”

Show Caption1 of 4A couple walks toward a statue of George Washington on horseback at the Public Garden, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Expand How the siege shaped Washington

The siege was also a critical test for Washington. A surveyor and farmer, Washington had been out of the military for nearly 20 years after commanding troops for the British during the French and Indian War. His successful campaign ensured Washington remained the commander-in-chief for the remainder of the revolution.

Doug Bradburn, president of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, said Washington took the first steps to creating a geographically diverse army that included militiamen from Massachusetts to Virginia and, by the end of the war, a fighting force with significant Black and Native American representation. It was the most integrated military until President Harry S. Truman’s desegregated the armed forces in 1948, he said.

Washington, a slave owner who depended on hundreds of slaves on his Mount Vernon estate, was initially opposed to admitting formerly enslaved and free Black soldiers into the army. But short of men, Washington came to realize “there are free Blacks who want to enlist and he needs them to keep the British from breaking out” during the siege, Bradburn said.

Ridding Boston of the British also turned Washington into one of the country’s most popular political figures.

“He comes to embody the cause in a time before you have a nation, before you have a Declaration of Independence, before you’re really sure what is the goal of this struggle,” Bradburn said. “He becomes the face of the revolutionary movement.”

Commanding the military for more than eight years also prepared Washington for the presidency, Pulitzer Prize-winning military historian Rick Atkinson said. “Perhaps most important, it gave him a sense that Americans could and should be a single people, rather than denizens of thirteen different entities.”

Myths of Washington

His rise to prominence also led to plenty of myths about Washington, many which persist to this day.

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One of the most popular is the cherry tree myth. It was invented by one of Washington’s first biographers, according to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, who created the story after his death. Supposedly, a 6-year-old Washington took an ax to a cherry tree and admitted as much when caught by his father, famously saying “I cannot tell a lie … I did cut it with my hatchet.”

The second one is the wooden teeth myth. It was rumored that Washington had wooden dentures and scholars, well into the 20th century, were quoted as saying his false teeth were made from wood. Not true. He never wore wooden dentures, instead using those with ivory, gold and even human teeth.

More than a statesman

During his lifetime, Washington had myriad pursuits. He was known as an innovative farmer, according to the George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and an advocate for Western expansion, buying up to 50,000 acres of land in several Mid-Atlantic states. After returning to Mount Vernon, he built a whiskey distillery that became one of the largest in the country.

His connection to slavery was complicated. He advocated for ending slavery, and his will called for freeing all the slaves he owned after the death of his wife, Martha Washington. But he didn’t own all the slaves at Mount Vernon so he couldn’t legally free all of them.

Celebrating Presidents Day

For fans of George Washington, Presidents Day is their Super Bowl. Originated to celebrate Washington’s birthday, which falls on Feb. 22, the holiday has become associated with good deals at the mall. Still, there are plenty of places celebrating all things Washington on this day.

There will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon, and there will be a Continental Army encampment. There will be a parade honoring Washington in Alexandria, Virginia, and, in Laredo, Texas, a monthlong celebration features a carnival, pageants, an air show and jalapeno festival.

What to know about the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 07:17

By The Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A glove containing DNA found a couple of miles from the Arizona home of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie ’s missing mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her house the night she disappeared, the FBI said Sunday.

The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence in the search for Nancy Guthrie, 84, which heads into its third week.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

Here’s what to know about her disappearance and the search to find her:

Show Caption1 of 2This combo from images provided by the FBI shows surveillance footage at the home of Nancy Guthrie the night she went missing in Tucson, Ariz. (FBI via AP) Expand Video of masked man and discovery of a glove

The FBI on Tuesday released surveillance videos of a person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she vanished. A porch camera recorded video of the person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.

On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.

On Sunday, the FBI said in a statement that a glove, found in a field near the side of a road about 2 miles from the home, had been sent off for DNA testing. The agency said that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation.

Late Friday, law enforcement agents sealed off a road about 2 miles from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.

Investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation.

Studying DNA

Investigators collected DNA from Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her, the sheriff’s department said. Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to.

Evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state lab that has been used since the beginning of the case, the department said.

The FBI has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.

Sorting through tips

The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced phone numbers and a website to offer tips. Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case, the sheriff’s department said.

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The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1. The sheriff’s department, meanwhile, said it has taken at least 18,000 calls.

The sheriff’s department has not said whether any tips have advanced the investigation.

On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but confirmed he was released.

The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of the city.

Family pleas

Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother have gone on social media and shared multiple video messages to their mother’s purported captor.

The family’s Instagram videos have shifted in tone from impassioned pleas to whoever may have their mom, saying they want to talk and are even willing to pay a ransom, to bleaker and more desperate requests for the public’s help. A video on Thursday was simply a home video of their mother and a promise to “never give up on her.”

And on Sunday night, Savannah Guthrie posted an Instagram video in which she issued an appeal to whoever abducted her mother or anyone who knows where she is being kept. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Guthrie said. “And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”

A quiet neighborhood

Nancy Guthrie lived alone in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where houses are spaced far apart and set back from the street by long driveways, gates and dense desert vegetation.

Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and once worked at a television station in the city, where her parents settled in the 1970s. She joined “Today” in 2011.

In a video, she described her mother as a “loving woman of goodness and light.”

She has credited her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack in 1988 at age 49, when Savannah Guthrie — the youngest of three siblings — was just 16.

Obama shuts down alien buzz and says there’s no evidence they’ve made contact

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 07:01

By The Associated Press

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said he did not see evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” after sending social media abuzz by saying aliens were real on a podcast over the weekend.

During a lightning round of questions with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked, “Are aliens real?”

“They’re real,” he answered, continuing: “But I haven’t seen them. And, they’re not being kept in Area 51.”

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On Sunday, the former president released a statement on Instagram, appearing to clarify what he meant by his comments that have since gone viral.

“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

Secrecy around Area 51, a top-secret Cold War test site in the Nevada desert, has long fueled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts.

In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the existence of the site, but not UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings.

Declassified documents referred to the 8,000-square-mile (20,700-square-kilometer) installation by name after decades of U.S. government officials refusing to acknowledge it.

The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.

Florida Atlantic is ending the era of the unpaid internship | Opinion

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 07:00

At Florida Atlantic University, we believe a degree should be more than a credential — it must be a powerful launchpad into a career. Yet, for too many of our students, the trajectory of their rise is determined less by their talent and more by whether they can afford to work for free as an unpaid intern. We are working to change that calculus, ensuring that a student’s financial background never dictates their professional future.

The data is unequivocal: Internships are the most effective bridge between classroom and career. Students who complete internships are significantly more likely to secure employment within a year of graduation and earn higher starting salaries. However, a quiet crisis persists in higher education in which unpaid or underpaid internships function as barriers, not bridges, for students who cannot afford to work without income.

Adam Hasner is president of Florida Atlantic University. (courtesy, Florida Atlantic University)

At Florida Atlantic, we take our identity as an “Opportunity University” seriously. Approximately 40% of our students come from Pell Grant-eligible, low-income households. They are strivers in the truest sense, with many working one or two jobs to cover their tuition and housing expenses. When faced with the choice between a paid shift and an unpaid internship that could propel their career, immediate necessity often outweighs future potential.

To bridge this gap, I launched the President’s Internship Program for Community and Civic Impact, built on the belief that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. We are not alone in this realization. Dartmouth College recently announced a $30 million donor-funded initiative to eliminate financial barriers to internships, signaling a national shift toward the model we are already building here in South Florida. Our decision to fund these life-changing experiences represents a strategic commitment to expanding opportunity for our students, aligning Florida Atlantic with the highest standards in American higher education.

The President’s Internship Program for Community and Civic Impact is uniquely Florida Atlantic. While students at universities in more isolated locales are often limited to summer internships, our students enjoy a distinct geographic advantage. We live and learn in one of the most dynamic economic regions in the country. Embedded in a thriving corridor of business and innovation, our students can intern year-round, seamlessly integrating professional experience into their academic schedules.

The results speak for themselves. Our Spring 2026 pilot program created nearly 100 internship opportunities in the public and nonprofit sectors that otherwise would not have existed.

To scale this vision university wide, my first President’s Gala is dedicated to raising funds for expanded student success initiatives such as the Internship Program for Community and Civic Impact.

This program is not merely an academic exercise — it is a regional economic imperative. When students engage in meaningful internships, not only do they stay on track academically and professionally; they also build the talent pipeline our regional industries urgently need.

Eighty percent of Florida Atlantic students remain in South Florida after graduation, meaning their success is directly tied to our local economy’s future. When we invest in their professional development today, we are cultivating the executives, public servants and innovators who will lead our region tomorrow.

As your hometown university, we are calling on all regional businesses, community partners and alumni to join us in building a workforce that is both homegrown and world-class.

When we fund a community internship, we do more than help one student graduate — we fuel the economic engine in our own backyard. And at Florida Atlantic, students do more than earn diplomas — they prepare to lead the communities we call home.

Adam Hasner is president of Florida Atlantic University.

Iran meets UN nuclear watchdog in Geneva ahead of a second round of US talks

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 06:42

By JAMEY KEATEN and STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN

GENEVA (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on Monday, ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said he would also meet with Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi of Oman, which is hosting the U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva on Tuesday.

“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” Araghchi wrote on X. “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”

As President Donald Trump ordered an additional aircraft carrier to the region, Iran on Monday launched a second naval drill in weeks, state TV reported. It said the drill would test Iran’s intelligence and operational capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Show Caption1 of 3In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, shakes hands with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi during their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP) Expand Iran’s drills take place against the US military buildup

Just before the talks, Iran announced its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard started the drill early Monday morning in the waterways that are crucial international trade routes through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.

Separately, EOS Risk Group said sailors passing through the region received by radio a warning that the northern lane of the Strait of Hormuz, in Iranian territorial waters, likely would see a live-fire drill Tuesday. Iranian state TV did not mention the live fire drill.

This is the second time in recent weeks sailors have received warning about an Iranian live fire drill. During the previous exercise, announced at the end of January, the U.S. military’s Central Command issued a strongly worded warning to Iran and the Revolutionary Guard. While acknowledging Iran’s “right to operate professionally in international airspace and waters,” it warned against interfering or threatening American warships or passing commercial vessels.

On Feb. 4, tensions between the Iranian and U.S. navies rose further after a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. Iran also harassed a U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military reported.

Iran open to compromise in exchange for sanctions relief

On Sunday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signaled that Tehran could be open to compromise on the nuclear issue, but is looking for an easing of international sanctions led by the United States.

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“The ball is in America’s court. They have to prove they want to have a deal with us,” Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC. “If we see a sincerity on their part, I am sure that we will be on a road to have an agreement.”

“We are ready to discuss this and other issues related to our program provided that they are also ready to talk about the sanctions,” he added.

Oman hosted a first round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran on Feb. 6.

Similar talks last year between the U.S. and Iran about Iran’s nuclear program broke down after Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran, that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

The U.S. is also hosting talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbor.

US keeps military pressure high

Trump initially threatened to take military action over Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, but then shifted to a pressure campaign in recent weeks to try to get Tehran to make a deal over its nuclear program.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting Budapest, reiterated on Monday that the U.S. hopes to achieve a deal with Iran, despite the difficulties. “I’m not going to prejudge these talks,” Rubio said. “The president always prefers peaceful outcomes and negotiated outcomes to things.”

Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean to the Mideast to join other military assets the U.S. has built up in the region. He also said a change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”

Iran has said if the U.S. attacks, it will respond with an attack of its own.

The Trump administration has maintained that Iran can have no uranium enrichment under any deal. Tehran says it won’t agree to that.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

The direct meeting with Grossi is a significant step after Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA following the June war with Israel. The two also met briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September. The IAEA said it has been unable to verify the status of Iran’s near weapons-grade uranium stockpile since the war. Iran has allowed IAEA some access to sites that were not damaged, but has not allowed inspectors to visit other sites.

Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, Grossi previously told The Associated Press. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed to Washington last week to urge Trump to ensure that any deal to include steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Liechtenstein reported from Vienna. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Matthew Lee in Budapest, Hungary contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

Expectations are low for the latest US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 06:20

By ILLIA NOVIKOV

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian delegation was heading to Geneva on Monday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks with Russian officials, ahead of next week’s fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

There was no anticipation of any significant progress on ending the war at the Tuesday-Wednesday meeting in Switzerland as both sides appear to be sticking to their negotiating positions on key issues, despite the United States setting a June deadline to reach a settlement. The future of Ukrainian land that Russia occupies or still covets is a central issue.

Ukrainian defenders remain locked in a war of attrition with Russia’s bigger army along the roughly 750-mile front line. Ukrainian civilians endure Russian aerial barrages that repeatedly knock out power and smash homes, while Ukraine has developed drones that can fly deep into Russian territory and strike oil refineries and arms depots.

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, second right, speaks while inspecting the troops involved in the fighting in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

The governor of western Russia’s Bryansk region said Monday that air defenses had shot down 229 Ukrainian drones in the previous 24 hours. No other Russian region has come under as many simultaneous drone attacks in a single day, Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said.

Ukraine’s Air Force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 62 long-range strike drones and six missiles of various types at Ukraine overnight.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the talks in Geneva will deal with a “broader range of issues related to the territories and other issues connected to the demands that we have.” He didn’t elaborate on the issues.

A year of peace efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has failed to stop the fighting. Western officials and analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that time is on his side, that Western support for Ukraine will peter out and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse under pressure.

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Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, posted a photograph on Telegram showing himself standing next to a train with other members of the negotiating team, which is due to be led in Geneva by Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief.

Entering or leaving Ukraine entails a long overland journey, even for VIPs, as the country’s airspace is closed because of the war.

Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s team of negotiators in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022 and who has forcefully pushed Putin’s war goals, is returning to lead Moscow’s delegation. Medinsky has written several history books that focus on exposing purported Western plots against Russia and denigrate Ukraine.

Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russian military intelligence, and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, along with other officials, will also be in the delegation, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said.

Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev will also travel to Geneva for separate talks with the U.S. on economic cooperation, according to Peskov. Moscow and Kyiv are keen to offer future business opportunities to Washington.

It was not clear which American officials would be in Geneva. At recent talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the Trump administration was represented by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations were to report back to their leaders before any possible compromises discussed in Geneva could be accepted.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

ASK IRA: Can Heat maximize minimal strength of remaining schedule?

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 04:05

Q: Ira, Tankathon shows the Heat with the seventh-easiest remaining strength of schedule and third easiest in the East. So why are you so down on them getting out of the play-in? – Eddie.

A: The eye test. Remember, this is a team that already has lost to the Jazz, Pacers and Kings, so nothing should be taken as a given. And while there also have been victories over some top teams, such as Detroit, New York, Oklahoma City and Denver, there has been staggering little consistency, including consecutive wins only once since Jan. 1. So, yes, while there are three games remaining against the Wizards and two against the Nets, the first step has to be consecutive wins against anybody. In fact, the games back from this eight-day All-Star break could be particularly telling, with the Heat returning on Friday at Atlanta and then Saturday against the Grizzlies. Win those and then we can talk.

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Q: Very happy for Keshad Johnson. Seems like a great kid. He brought a lot of fun and excitement to the dunk competition and represented the Miami Heat, the 305 and his West Coast roots extremely well. – Klif.

Q: And the charisma is genuine. Before every interview, Keshad Johnson first shakes hands and then answers as animatedly and as candidly as he did during those moments after winning the dunk contest on All-Star Saturday. He is a worthy representative of the team, which is why you could see the true joy from so many within the organization when he won.

Q: So we’re not getting our draft pick back? – Allan.

A: The NBA is very good at brushing such matters out of view, as if hoping they will go away. So, no, at the moment no sign from the NBA of any Heat relief for the 2027 or ’28 first-round pick due to the Hornets from the trade for Terry Rozier, even in the wake of his banishment in the FBI gambling probe.

Asking Eric: My mother got into trouble and sniped at me for helping

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 03:29

Dear Eric: I have spent a year helping my elderly parents sell their house and pay off tremendous debt, mostly due to my mother’s spending and hoarding.

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My father is unable to handle anything due to health issues. I have had help from my family so I’m not alone in this. I am still very involved with helping them with finances and doctors. They are in a small rental now with no maintenance or yard duties.

My issue is the bad feelings I have toward my mother after all we went through packing her house, moving them, dealing with the movers, dumpsters, estate and house sales.

She makes comments often about us taking her things away and taking her money (not true, but it is in safekeeping because of her very poor handling of money).

She also makes backhanded thank-yous attached to criticisms about the way we did everything. I have a hard time being around her anymore.

Our relationship was not great to begin with. I have started therapy and understand I can’t change her or really have expectations of her as she is just incapable, but I still have so much resentment and bad feelings toward her. I’m not sure how to move on.

– Resented Helping Hand

Dear Helping Hand: I’m glad you’ve started therapy. This is a long journey, but you’ve taken the right first step.

Your therapist can help you sort through what’s yours to own and what feelings or sentiments you can release. Your therapist can also help you set up good boundaries with your mother, because it sounds like that’s going to be necessary.

A boundary won’t stop her from making remarks, but it can give you options for what to do and say and how to remove yourself from situations that are harmful to your emotional state.

It’s also helpful to right-size your mother’s response. Her hoarding and her financial mismanagement were likely caused by trauma, perhaps trauma that happened early in her life. That trauma hasn’t been addressed and so she’s still suffering, but without the same coping mechanisms. She’s also grieving the loss of her possessions. So, it may help you to remember that some of this is your mother’s pain talking.

You can’t take that away, but you can help guide her toward tools for addressing it. If she’s open to seeing a therapist, that would be wonderful.

You might also talk to a financial adviser about other options for keeping her money safe. It sounds like it’s not healthy for her to have unfettered access to it, but there may be ways for her to feel more empowered and for you to feel less responsibility for keeping her away from her worst impulses.

Dear Eric: What do you think about a person who asks to come to your house for dinner, then asks for leftovers to take home?

I was taken aback by this. This is a relative of ours.

– Home Cook

Dear Cook: I think it’s a sign that the meal was good enough to want to enjoy it a second time. I’d take it as a compliment. And if you don’t want to part with the leftovers, you can say “no.”

Dear Eric: I would like to expand on your answer to “Heirlooms and More” regarding where collectors can go to gather information on the value of their antiques and other items.

Certified appraisers are the best source for appraisals of valuable possessions. These individuals have specialties in different collecting areas and can provide up-to-date valuations under different scenarios such as replacement, auction and retail shop value.

Collectors can research appraisers online by visiting the websites of the Appraisers Association of America, American Society of Appraisers and the International Society of Appraisers. Appraisers should not charge a percentage of the items’ value nor offer to purchase any items since both these activities can affect the valuation provided.

Major auction houses periodically offer free appraisal days. Finally, there are various price guides (Kovels, for example) that can be consulted which report values of different objects sold at auctions, shows, flea markets and shops.

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Local antique dealers are usually not helpful unless the dealers are specialists in the collecting area of the items’ owners.

In general, collectors should have an appraisal completed by a certified appraiser before approaching any prospective buyers of their objects. Knowledge is the best tool to ensure the items are sold at prices commensurate with their value.

– Fair Appraisal

Dear Appraisal: Thank you for this very thorough insight. Other readers also suggested that the letter writer reach out to a professional downsizer, who might be able to help them get organized and connect the family with an appraiser. There are many good options. I appreciate your comment.

Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram @oureric and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.

Miss Manners: If they don’t get the message, sometimes it’s necessary to take the low road

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 02:47

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I realize it’s an unpleasant world with unpleasant people who are going to say unpleasant things. But sometimes, you have to get down on their level in order for them to get the message.

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For instance, in cases where a stranger calls someone fat, that person could give an equally rude response, such as: “Yeah? Well, you’re majorly ugly, and at least I can diet.”

Not exactly taking the high road, but sometimes it feels good to get down in the gutter.

GENTLE READER: Thank you for your attempt at helping in the noble cause of mannerliness, but Miss Manners is afraid that your suggestion represents the problem, not the solution. In pursuing the laudable goal of lessening the amount of unpleasantness in the world, you are proposing adding to it.

That low road is extremely crowded. If you want to help, please stay off of it.

Perhaps it would help you to know that retaliatory rudeness never works. Do you really believe that the person you call ugly will reflect on having provoked you with a similar insult?

Besides, why are you even engaging with rude strangers? The ultimate insult is refusing to acknowledge another person’s existence. Better yet, ignoring the person passes the etiquette test. (Detractors condemn such responses as passive-aggressive, but Miss Manners much prefers them to aggressive-aggressive.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What are the two main subjects you should not discuss?

GENTLE READER: There are three: politics, religion and sex (including gender). If you think this restriction is outdated, you haven’t tried launching these topics lately.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was taught that at formal dinner parties, bread plates are not used, and that they are not considered part of a formal place setting for multicourse meals. Now, I am given to understand that formal dinner place settings include bread plates, placed to the left of the charger, and a small bread-and-butter knife.

I was also taught that the correct order was for a salad to be served after the main course, not before, so the salad fork and knife were “inside” of the main course fork and knife.

Are these two rules obsolete?

GENTLE READER: You were taught correct social manners. But how many social seated dinner parties in other people’s homes have you attended in recent years?

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What has happened is that purely social get-togethers over meals now mostly take place in restaurants, and the procedures of expensive restaurants have come to be considered correct formal practices.

Miss Manners is not deriding restaurants here; she understands that they have different requirements.

In a household, the meal is ready to be served when the guests are called to the table. Fine restaurants must wait for customers’ orders before preparing the food. And those customers are hungry, so the restaurants give them bread and salad to keep them from chewing the napkins.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Morning Update: South Florida’s top stories for Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 02:12

Here are the top stories for Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Get the weather forecast for today here.

SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get our free Morning Update email. Sign up here.

Rapper turned civic leader Luther Campbell challenges Cherfilus-McCormick in congressional primary

A new boon for Boca Raton? Community is built next to Tri-Rail station

Florida Republicans may ban system used in Palm Beach County to speed early voting and improve accuracy

Armed man is killed by Fort Lauderdale police. ‘The suspect fired his weapon.’

US military boards another oil tanker in Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean

Ron Magill, the face and voice of Zoo Miami, announces his retirement

Trump says Board of Peace will unveil $5 billion in Gaza reconstruction pledges at inaugural meeting

Don’t replace that roof just yet: You have options | Opinion

One solution to South Florida’s dire affordable housing crisis | Opinion

Asking Eric: This man came back into my life and I’m heartbroken again

 

Today in History: February 16, Tutankhamen’s tomb unsealed

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 02:00

Today is Monday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2026. There are 318 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 16, 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

Also on this date:

In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee ended with the surrender of some 12,000 Confederate soldiers; Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory earned him the moniker “Unconditional Surrender Grant.”

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In 1959, Fidel Castro was sworn in as premier of Cuba, six weeks after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown and fled the country into exile. Castro’s rise to power marked the start of Cuba’s transformation into a communist nation.

In 1960, the nuclear submarine USS Triton departed New London, Connecticut, on the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe by a vessel.

In 1996, 11 people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies on charges of staging an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election via a social media trolling campaign, aimed in part at helping Donald Trump win the presidency.

In 2024, Russia’s prison agency announced that Alexei Navalny, activist and Russian opposition leader, had died in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism; Navalny’s death brought outrage and criticism from world leaders toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Today’s birthdays:
  • Businessman Carl Icahn is 90.
  • Author Eckhart Tolle is 78.
  • Actor William Katt is 75.
  • Actor LeVar Burton is 69.
  • Actor-rapper Ice-T is 68.
  • Tennis Hall of Famer John McEnroe is 67.
  • Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis is 54.
  • Olympic track and field gold medalist Cathy Freeman is 53.
  • Actor Mahershala Ali is 52.
  • Rapper Lupe Fiasco is 44.
  • Democratic Sen. John Ossoff of Georgia is 39.
  • Actor Elizabeth Olsen is 37.
  • Singer-actor The Weeknd is 36.
  • Actor Chloe East is 25.

Rubio meets Orbán in Budapest as US and Hungary are to sign a civilian nuclear pact

South Florida Local News - Mon, 02/16/2026 - 00:51

By MATTHEW LEE and JUSTIN SPIKE

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the Hungarian capital on Monday for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government during which they plan to sign a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement heralded by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has been outspoken in his support for the nationalist Orbán in the Hungarian leader’s bid for reelection in two months. Orbán and his Fidesz party are facing their most serious challenge in the April 12 vote since he retook power in 2010.

The stop in Hungary’s capital follows Rubio’s visit to Slovakia on Sunday, after he previously attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Led by euroskeptic populists who oppose support for Ukraine and vocally back Trump, Slovakia and Hungary represent friendly territory for Rubio as he pushes to shore up energy agreements with both Central European countries.

Widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most reliable advocate in the European Union, Orbán has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin despite its war against Ukraine while currying favor with Trump and his MAGA — short for the 2016 Trump campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” — movement.

Many in MAGA and the broader conservative world view Hungary as a shining example of successful conservative nationalism, despite the erosion of its democratic institutions and its status as one of the EU’s poorest countries.

In a post on his Truth Social site earlier this month, Trump endorsed Orbán for the coming elections and called him a “truly strong and powerful Leader” and “a true friend, fighter, and WINNER.”

Trump has praised Orbán’s firm opposition to immigration, exemplified by a fence his government erected on Hungary’s southern border in 2015 as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Syria and other countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Other U.S. conservatives admire Orbán’s hostility to LGBTQ+ rights. His government last year banned the popular Budapest Pride celebration and allowed facial recognition technology to be used to identify anyone participating despite the ban. It has also effectively banned same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage, and disallowed transgender individuals from changing their sex in official documents.

Orbán has remained firmly committed to purchasing Russian energy despite efforts by the EU to wean off such supplies, and received an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy after a November meeting in the White House with Trump.

Apparently trusting that his political and personal affinity with the U.S. leader could pay even greater dividends, Orbán and his government have sought to woo Trump to Hungary before the pivotal April 12 elections — hoping such a high-profile visit and endorsement would push Orbán, who is trailing in most polls, over the finish line.

Budapest has hosted several annual iterations of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, and another was hastily rescheduled this year to fall in March, just before Hungary’s elections.

Details of the civilian nuclear deal were not known ahead of Monday’s signing in Budapest.

During his White House visit in November, Orbán had agreed to U.S.-Hungary cooperation in the civil nuclear industry, including the purchase of compact nuclear reactors — known as small modular reactors or SMRs — and spent fuel storage.

Hungary signaled it was ready to support construction of up to 10 SMRs with a potential value of up to $20 billion. Orbán also said Hungary would enter a nuclear fuel deal with U.S.-based Westinghouse to supply nuclear fuel for Hungary’s Russian-built Paks I nuclear plant.

SoundGround Homes Enhances Home Inspection Services in Northern California - Bergen Record

Home Inspection - Sun, 02/15/2026 - 23:12
SoundGround Homes Enhances Home Inspection Services in Northern California  Bergen Record
 
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