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Opinion: Girls are in crisis — and their mental health needs to be taken seriously

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

By: Alexe Bernier, McMaster UniversityAn article in the Washington Post recently declared “a crisis in American girlhood.” Girls in the United States are experiencing alarmingly higher rates of sexual assault, mental health issues and suicidality than ever before.Data collected in 2021 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) demonstrates how dire the circumstances of American girlhood are. Fourteen per cent of teenage girls in the United States shared that they had been forced to have sex, and 60 per cent had experienced extreme feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Nearly a quarter of girls had considered and planned suicide.While these findings are based on U.S. data, the story is consistent with what girls in Canada have been saying for the past decade. In Canada, over 50 per cent of female students in Ontario have reported moderate to severe psychological distress. One in four girls has been sexually abused by the time they turn 18.Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death fo...

Red Sox mailbag: What should the Sox do with Jarren Duran when Adam Duvall returns?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

The Red Sox have nearly hit the season’s one-third mark, and in the coming days they’ll wrap up this week’s extended west coast road trip and return to Fenway to kick off the summer slate.Sounds like as good a time as any to empty the mailbag.Today we’ll cover some early trade speculation, possible offseason moves and how the Red Sox are going to deal with their impending roster crunch as the club starts getting healthier.I wanted to get your take on what the Sox should do when Adam Duvall returns. In my opinion, Jarren Duran has played his way as the starting center fielder and should not have to relinquish his spot to Duvall. Given the current batting average of (Triston) Casas, can he and Duvall platoon and perhaps Duvall DH once or twice a week? — Jeff P.It speaks to how good Duran has been that anyone has this kind of sentiment, since the last time we saw Duvall he was in the midst of an epic hot streak with four home runs and 14 RBI in his first eight g...

Aztecs drop game 2 of NCAA Super Regional series to Utah

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State Aztecs softball team has one more shot to make its first Women's College World Series in the program's history following a 10-1 defeat to the Utah Utes in the NCAA Super Regional.Saturday's five-inning loss was the second game of the best-of-three series in the tournament against No.15 overall seed Utah at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.The Aztecs entered the game after securing a 4-3 victory Friday over the Utes, becoming the first team to win its debut NCAA Super Regional game since James Madison in 2016. But they couldn't keep the same mojo as SDSU pitchers allowed 13 hits on Saturday. How to get discounted San Diego County Fair tickets, parking and other deals The dominating performance from the Utes completed the run-rule win, which according to the NCAA, the plate umpire may declare the run-ahead rule if one team is up by eight or more runs after five or more equal innings.With the series now split at 1-1, the Aztecs (39-16) and Utes (41-...

Liz Cheney to give Colorado College graduation speech as GOP campaign speculation persists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney will give a graduation speech at her alma mater, an elite Colorado liberal arts college, amid questions about her political future and insistence that Donald Trump never become president again.At Colorado College’s commencement on Sunday, the Wyoming Republican is expected to touch on themes similar to those she has promoted since leaving office in January: Addressing her work on the House January 6 Select Committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection and standing up to the threat she believes Trump poses to democracy.Cheney’s busy speaking schedule and subject matter have fueled speculation about whether she may enter the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Declared or potential candidates ranging from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have calibrated their remarks about Trump, aiming to counter his attacks without alienating the supporters that won him the White House seven years ago.Though some have ...

‘Anatomy of a Fall’ wins Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or; 3rd time female director wins top honor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that bestowed the festival’s prestigious top prize on an engrossing, rigorously plotted French courtroom drama that puts a marriage on trial. “Anatomy of a Fall,” which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. One of the two previous winners, Julia Ducournau, was on this year’s jury. Cannes’ Grand Prix, its second prize, went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz. Hüller also stars in that film. The awards were decided by a jury presided over by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director who won the prize last year for “Triangle of Sadness.” The ceremony preceded the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animation ...

Indian official suspended after he drains reservoir to retrieve phone he dropped while taking selfie

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A government official in India has been suspended from his job after he ordered a water reservoir to be drained so he could retrieve his smartphone, which he had dropped while taking a selfie.Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas dropped his Samsung smartphone in Kherkatta dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last week, The Times of India newspaper reported.Vishwas first asked local divers to jump into the reservoir to find the device, claiming it contained sensitive government data. But after the initial efforts to retrieve his smartphone failed, he asked for the reservoir to be emptied using diesel pumps.Over the next three days, more than 2 million liters of water were pumped out from the reservoir, which is enough to irrigate at least 1,500 acres of land during India’s scorching summer, local media reported.In videos that went viral on social media, Vishwas is seen sitting under a red umbrella as diesel pumps run to drain water from the reservoir.Vishwas told...

Biden, GOP reach debt-ceiling deal, now Congress must approve it to prevent calamitous default

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” to raise the nation’s legal debt ceiling, but now Congress must rush to approve the spending cuts package in a matter of days to avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default. The agreement risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides as lawmakers Sunday begin to unpack the the concessions made to compromise. Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps that had sparked an uproar from House Democrats as a nonstarter. But they stopped short of greater spending cuts overall that Republicans wanted.Support from both parties will be needed to win congressional approval before a projected June 5 government default on U.S. debts.The Democratic president and Republican speaker reached the agreement after the two spoke Saturday evening by phone. The country and the world have been watching and waiting for a resol...

String of Temps in the 80s in the Week Ahead, and Still No Rain in Sight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

Colorado drops fourth league game in a row, fifth overall in 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

COMMERCE CITY — In the debut of their “New Day” jerseys, the Colorado Rapids committed the same old mistakes in another losing effort.The Rapids (2-7-6, 12 points) lost a fifth consecutive game across all competitions Saturday as it fell 1-0 to FC Cincinnati at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with a goal coming from none other than two-time Rapids striker Dominique Badji. The Rapids remained the last team in MLS without a win at home.Colorado hosted its Mental Health Awareness Night and wore the notable jerseys as part of its mission to support mental health efforts state-wide throughout the season.Rapids head coach Robin Fraser knows his team is in a “fragile” spot, and emphasized that they will need to lean on each other and not allow the locker room to fracture.“This is a very difficult situation, difficult run we’re in,” Fraser said in his postgame remarks. “We’re in a tough spot psychologically, but the only way we kn...

Ryan McMahon’s homer lifts Rockies to wild win over Mets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:16 GMT

With one massive swing of his bat, Ryan McMahon shut up the vocal contingent of Mets fans at Coors Field on a rainy Saturday night.The Mets had taken a 7-6 lead in the seventh and the shouts of “Let’s Go Mets!” took over the LoDo ballpark. But in the bottom of the frame, the Rockies’ third baseman, who’s been mired in a deep slump for much of the season, hit a two-run homer deep into the second deck in right field off right-hander Jeff Brigham for the go-ahead run in Colorado’s 10-7 victory.McMahon’s home run was his second in the last two games, that after going 103 at-bats without a homer.“Anytime you feel like you haven’t been coming through for the team a lot lately … it’s indescribable,” McMahon said. “It’s a really good feeling.”Manager Bud Black was happy, not with McMahon’s big at-bat, but with the approach McMahon had displayed in recent games.“He can be productive like he has been (lately),” Black said. “What I liked was seei...