Super Bowl bets placed online surged this year, verification company says

Super Bowl bets placed online surged this year, verification company says

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Online betting on the Super Bowl surged this year, with many gamblers waiting until right before the kickoff to place their wagers, according to a company that tracks the location of internet gamblers. Data released Monday from GeoComply shows that the number of verification checks it carried out over the weekend … Read more

Post-Roe v. Wade, more patients rely on early prenatal testing as states toughen abortion laws

Post-Roe v. Wade, more patients rely on early prenatal testing as states toughen abortion laws

WASHINGTON — In Utah, more of Dr. Cara Heuser’s maternal-fetal medicine patients are requesting early ultrasounds, hoping to detect serious problems in time to choose whether to continue the pregnancy or have an abortion. In North Carolina, more obstetrics patients of Dr. Clayton Alfonso and his colleagues are relying on early genetic screenings that don’t … Read more

Jen Pawol on verge of becoming 1st MLB female umpire, gets spring training assignment

Jen Pawol on verge of becoming 1st MLB female umpire, gets spring training assignment

NEW YORK — Jen Pawol is on the verge becoming Major League Baseball’s first female umpire. The 47-year-old from New Jersey was selected to work a full-time big league spring training schedule this year, people familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. That put her on track to become the first woman to umpire … Read more

Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus

Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The brother of a boy who died last week from bird flu has tested positive for the virus, Cambodia’s Health Ministry said Monday. The 9-year-old’s death in the northeastern province of Kratie was the first from bird flu in Cambodia this year, after four were reported last year by the World … Read more

Beyoncé drops new songs ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ and ’16 Carriages.’ New music ‘Act II’ will arrive in March

Beyoncé drops new songs ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ and ’16 Carriages.’ New music ‘Act II’ will arrive in March

LOS ANGELES — Beyoncé is back with two new country tracks — “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.” After a Verizon commercial starring Beyoncé aired during the Super Bowl ended with the superstar saying “They ready, drop the new music,” the question became — was she serious? Later, a cryptic Instagram video with country iconography … Read more

Foreign aid drops sharply as Taliban abuses jeopardize the Afghan health system, group says

Foreign aid drops sharply as Taliban abuses jeopardize the Afghan health system, group says

ISLAMABAD — Human Rights Watch said Monday that Afghanistan’s public health system has been hit hard following a sharp reduction in foreign assistance, coupled with serious Taliban abuses against women and girls, jeopardizing the right to healthcare of millions of Afghans. In a new report, the New York-based watchdog said this has left the “Afghan … Read more

Virginia’s Youngkin aims to bolster mental health care, part of national focus after the pandemic

Virginia’s Youngkin aims to bolster mental health care, part of national focus after the pandemic

RICHMOND, Va. — John Clair, the police chief of a small Appalachian town in southwest Virginia, spends his days consumed by a growing problem: the frequency with which his officers are tapped to detain, transport and wait in hospitals with people in the throes of a mental health crisis. Officers from Clair’s 21-member Marion Police … Read more

Mahomes rallies Chiefs to second straight Super Bowl title

Mahomes rallies Chiefs to second straight Super Bowl title

LAS VEGAS — Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are back-to-back Super Bowl champions. Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with 3 seconds left in overtime, and the Chiefs rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on Sunday, becoming the first repeat Super Bowl champs in 19 years … Read more

Patrick Mahomes rallies the Chiefs to second straight Super Bowl title, 25-22 over 49ers in overtime

Mahomes rallies Chiefs to second straight Super Bowl title

LAS VEGAS — Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are back-to-back Super Bowl champions. Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman with 3 seconds left in overtime, and the Chiefs rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on Sunday, becoming the first repeat Super Bowl champs in 19 years … Read more

Art exhibit honors fun-loving man killed in mass shooting in Maine

Jen Pawol on verge of becoming 1st MLB female umpire, gets spring training assignment

WINSLOW, Maine — Peyton Brewer-Ross was the life of the party, with wraparound sunglasses and an outlandish Randy “Macho Man” Savage Slim Jim jacket. He also was a Navy shipbuilder, the father of a 2-year-old girl, and engaged to be married. Brewer-Ross, one of the 18 people killed in the deadliest mass shooting in Maine … Read more