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  • Tyrese Maxey’s 29 points leads Sixers past Magic despite both teams struggling on offense

    Tyrese Maxey’s 29 points leads Sixers past Magic despite both teams struggling on offense

    ORLANDO, Fla. — Tyrese Maxey had 29 points and three steals, Joel Embiid added 22 points and nine rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 103-91 on Friday night in a game in which the teams combined to make 8 of 57 3-point shots.

    Paul George scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half and added nine rebounds for the 76ers, who won for the fifth time in six games. Philadelphia has won four straight on the road.

    Desmond Bane led Orlando with 23 points. Anthony Black added 21 points and Paolo Banchero finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

    Philadelphia shot 4 for 28 (14.3%) from long range to Orlando’s 4 for 29 (13.8%).

    Maxey, the NBA’s third-leading scorer at 30.7 points per game, made only 3 of 12 shots in a 12-point first half and missed all four of his 3-point attempts. He finished 10 for 22 overall and 3 for 8 on threes.

    When Maxey hit his second 3-pointer of the game with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter, the 76ers were 3 for 22 from 3-point range and had a seven-point lead. His final 3-pointer came with 3:42 left and gave the 76ers their largest lead, 101-85.

    Referee Bill Kennedy left the court in a wheelchair after suffering an apparent leg injury during the first quarter.

    The Magic played without Tristan da Silva (back spams) and Jalen Suggs, who missed a fourth straight game with a right knee contusion.

    Up next

    76ers: Play at Toronto on Sunday and Monday.

    Magic: Play at home against New Orleans on Sunday.

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    AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/nba

  • NBA official Bill Kennedy taken off court in wheelchair with injured leg in 76ers-Magic game

    NBA official Bill Kennedy taken off court in wheelchair with injured leg in 76ers-Magic game

    ORLANDO, Fla. — NBA official Bill Kennedy left the court in a wheelchair after suffering an apparent leg injury during the first quarter of the Sixers at Orlando Magic game on Friday night.

    Kennedy appeared to start limping as he was running down the court during a 76ers fastbreak with about 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the first quarter. He was seen hopping on the baseline as Paul George made a layup to cut Orlando’s lead to 22-20. He then called for assistance as the Magic called a timeout.

    His right leg was tended to for several minutes before he was wheeled off the court.

    Kennedy’s departure left officials James Williams and Michael Smith to work the rest of the game. The 76ers won the game 103-91.

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    AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/nba

  • Trae Young has a fresh start in Washington. His first order of business is getting healthy

    Trae Young has a fresh start in Washington. His first order of business is getting healthy

    WASHINGTON — Trae Young’s tan outfit nearly matched the color of Washington’s uniforms. And although he couldn’t take the court and help his new team, Wizards fans showed their appreciation.

    Young was introduced to the home crowd with a video during the first quarter of Friday night’s game against New Orleans. Earlier in the day, the trade that sent the high-scoring guard from Atlanta to Washington became official, and now Young can look forward to a fresh start after leaving the Hawks.

    “For me, DC is overlooked as far as a big market,” Young said. “In the NBA, I feel like this is a big market, and I just feel like I’m going to be able to come into an opportunity to be myself.”

    The first big question is when Young will play again. He missed Friday night’s game with knee and quadriceps issues and hasn’t appeared in a game since Dec. 27.

    Big market or not, the Wizards lost 64 games last season and 67 in 2023-24. They were 3-20 around mid-December but had won seven of their last 13 entering Friday night’s game. Washington has plenty of young players, and the development of second-year big man Alex Sarr has been encouraging, but the Wizards could use a true point guard to play alongside the likes of Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and Kyshawn George, all of whom are between 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-8 and under 23 years old.

    Enter the 27-year-old Young, who for his career has averaged 25.2 points per game and 9.8 assists. After the Wizards spent two seasons bottoming out, his arrival gives Washington fans a star they can pin their hopes on. General manager Will Dawkins suggested the move won’t alter the patience the team has shown with its less experienced players.

    “As an organization, we have a long-term plan, and we’re not going to do anything to deviate from that,” Dawkins said. “I think Trae fits into what we’re trying to do based on the development of a lot of the younger players.”

    Washington could lose its first-round pick this year if it falls outside the top eight, but aside from that, there was little obvious downside to bringing in a four-time All-Star like Young, especially since the Wizards gave up no draft choices in the trade. Washington sent guard CJ McCollum, who coincidentally has the same birthday as Young but is seven years older, to Atlanta along with reserve forward Corey Kispert.

    Young has a player option for about $49 million for next season.

    “When you have a four-time All-Star, All-NBA player available, who wants to come to DC and help make it what we want it to be, it was an easy partnership and an easy decision,” Dawkins said.

    Although he led the Hawks to the conference finals back in 2021, Atlanta hasn’t even made the playoffs the past two seasons, and the light return for Young indicates where his stock was when the deal was made.

    “On behalf of the Hawks franchise, I’d like to thank Trae for how he embraced the city of Atlanta and represented the Hawks during his time here, on the court and in the community.” Hawks GM Onsi Saleh said in a statement. ”Over more than seven seasons, including four All-Star appearances, he cemented himself as a fan favorite and one of the great players in our franchise’s history. We wish Trae and his family all the best.”

    Now Young will try to add to Washington’s recent history of dynamic point guards. After years with John Wall leading the way, the Wizards had Russell Westbrook for one remarkable season in which he averaged a triple-double and led Washington to its most recent playoff berth.

    But that was back in 2020-21, the same season the Hawks peaked with Young. He was in only his third season then.

    “It happened faster than I expected in my last place,” Young said, suggesting the Wizards could be capable of a similar rise.

  • Washington National Opera bows out of Kennedy Center

    Washington National Opera bows out of Kennedy Center

    WASHINGTON — The Washington National Opera announced Friday that it had decided to end its arrangement with the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital, though it said it was hoping for an “amicable transition.”

    “To ensure fiscal prudence and fulfill its obligations for a balanced budget, the WNO will reduce its spring season and relocate performances to new venues,” the Opera said in a statement.

    It said the decision stemmed from the Center’s new business model, which “requires productions to be fully funded in advance — a requirement incompatible with opera operations.”

    Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi told The New York Times, “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the WNO due to a financially challenging relationship.”

    Artists ranging from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda to rock star Peter Wolf have called off events at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump ousted the previous leadership early last year and arranged for himself to head the board of trustees. The board’s decision in December to rebrand the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center led to a new wave of cancellations.

    WNO’s announcement did not mention Trump.

  • Head of FBI’s New York field office to serve as co-deputy director after Bongino’s departure

    Head of FBI’s New York field office to serve as co-deputy director after Bongino’s departure

    WASHINGTON — The head of the FBI’s New York field office has been named co-deputy director of the bureau, replacing Dan Bongino following his recent departure, an FBI spokesperson said Friday.

    Christopher Raia, who helped lead the response to the deadly truck attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year, was picked to run the New York office in April after having served as a top counterterrorism official at FBI headquarters. A former Coast Guard officer, Raia joined the FBI in 2003 and during the course of his two-decade career has investigated violent crime, drugs and gangs as well as overseen counterterrorism and national security investigations.

    As a career FBI agent, Raia is a more conventional selection for the FBI’s No. 2 job than was Bongino, a popular conservative podcaster who had previously served as a Secret Service agent but had never worked for the FBI until being selected by the Trump administration last year.

    Raia is expected to serve as co-deputy director alongside Andrew Bailey, the former Missouri attorney general who was named to the job last August. He is scheduled to start next week.

    He became the head of the New York field office after his predecessor, James Dennehy, who was reported to have resisted Justice Department efforts to scrutinize agents who participated in politically sensitive investigations, was forced to retire.

    Bongino announced last month that he was departing the bureau following a brief and tumultuous tenure. He officially ended his tenure last week.

    No immediate successor was named for Raia in New York.

  • Five Democratic-led states sue HHS over frozen welfare funding

    Five Democratic-led states sue HHS over frozen welfare funding

    Five Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration for freezing their share of federal food, housing, and childcare assistance dollars, saying officials failed to justify the sweeping actions that could strip billions in aid from needy families.

    New York, along with California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, asked for a temporary restraining order that would allow them to continue receiving the funds, in a lawsuit filed Thursday evening with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

    The states argued that the Administration for Children and Families, which is within the Department of Health and Human Services, provided no evidence of fraud and acted illegally by enacting sanctions within the three welfare programs without following processes laid out by law. The administration wrote to the states earlier this week that the freeze was necessary to prevent “potential” fraud but didn’t detail what it meant, according to letters viewed by the Washington Post.

    “I will not allow this administration to play political games with the resources families need to help make ends meet,” New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said in a statement.

    State officials and child advocates have said the funding freeze would wreak havoc on families relying on childcare aid and could cause ripple effects if parents are forced to quit their jobs to care for children or daycare centers shut down permanently.

    HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart wrote on X late Thursday that the agency “stands by its decision to take this action to defend American taxpayers.”

    “We identified serious concerns in these states that warranted immediate review and action,” he wrote. “These same officials were complicit in this perpetuation of this fraud and allowing it to happen.”

    Minnesota was already in the administration’s crosshairs amid investigations into billions of federal dollars authorities say were fraudulently claimed by individuals and groups purporting to help the state’s low-income population. HHS broadened its crackdown this week, saying nearly $2.4 billion in childcare grants have been frozen to the five states, as well as $7.35 billion in temporary grants for needy families and $869 million in social services funds. These programs help cover childcare, housing, food, and home utility costs for families with low incomes.

    Democratic leaders in those states blasted the move as politically motivated. Before the lawsuit was filed Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told reporters that the administration is “coming after Democratic governors, five of us, for no reason at all.”

    “I want them to know this, that you may think you’re punishing me as a Democrat, but this is a county program,” she said, referring to safety net programs in New York partly funded with federal dollars. “We are simply the pass-through. The money goes to providers selected by the counties. They run this.”

    Under the freeze, the states must submit justification and receipts before being able to collect funds from any of the programs. The administration wrote in letters to the states that the freeze wouldn’t be lifted until they put in place more verification measures to ensure the funds are being used properly for eligible recipients.

    A letter from HHS’s Administration for Children and Families to Colorado said the administration is committed to “rooting out fraud” and expressed concern that Colorado is providing “illegal aliens” government benefits.

    Fraud investigations into the three programs targeted by the administration are typically handled by states, former HHS officials said. New York’s Office of the Welfare Inspector General reported it secured nearly $600,000 in fraud-related restitution in 2024, for example.

    The administration froze childcare funding to nearly a dozen daycare facilities in Minnesota in late December after a viral video alleged they were collecting funds without caring for children — claims the state has rebutted. Federal prosecutors have charged 92 people with committing fraud in other, Medicaid-funded programs in the state.

    All five states involved in the lawsuit filed Thursday are among more than two dozen states that previously sued the Trump administration over withholding other federal funds including for education, disaster relief and public health, arguing the actions jeopardize critical services.

  • South Carolina measles outbreak grows by nearly 100, spreads to North Carolina and Ohio

    South Carolina measles outbreak grows by nearly 100, spreads to North Carolina and Ohio

    South Carolina’s measles outbreak exploded into one of the worst in the U.S., with state health officials confirming 99 new cases in the past three days.

    The outbreak centered in Spartanburg County grew to 310 cases over the holidays, and spawned cases in North Carolina and Ohio among families who traveled to the outbreak area in the northwestern part of the state.

    State health officials acknowledged the spike in cases had been expected following holiday travel and family gatherings during the school break. A growing number of public exposures and low vaccination rates in the area are driving the surge, they said. As of Friday, 200 people were in quarantine and nine in isolation, state health department data shows.

    “The number of those in quarantine does not reflect the number actually exposed,” said Dr. Linda Bell, who leads the state health department’s outbreak response. “An increasing number of public exposure sites are being identified with likely hundreds more people exposed who are not aware they should be in quarantine if they are not immune to measles.”

    Since the outbreak started in October, Bell has warned that the virus was spreading undetected in the area. Hundreds of school children have been quarantined from school, some more than once.

    South Carolina is one of two active hot spots for measles. The other outbreak is on the Arizona-Utah border, where 337 people have gotten measles since August.

    Last year was the nation’s worst year for measles spread since 1991, end-of-year data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. The U.S. confirmed 2,144 cases across 44 states.

    And as the one-year anniversary of the Texas-New Mexico-Oklahoma outbreak approaches — which sickened at least 900 people and killed three — health experts say the vaccine-preventable virus is on the verge of making a lasting comeback in the U.S.

    At that point, the U.S. would lose its status of having eliminated local spread of the virus, as Canada did in November. International health experts say the same strain of measles is spreading across the Americas.

  • Former Phillies outfielder Max Kepler suspended 80 games by MLB following positive drug test

    Former Phillies outfielder Max Kepler suspended 80 games by MLB following positive drug test

    NEW YORK — Free agent and recent Phillies outfielder Max Kepler was suspended for 80 games on Friday following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s drug program.

    Kepler tested positive for Epitrenbolone, a substance that led to a suspension in 2018 for boxer Manuel Charr. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced the following year that a positive test for the substance caused it to disqualify 90-year-old cyclist Carl Grove from a world record he had set at the 2018 Masters Track National Championship.

    Epitrenbolone is a metabolite of Trenbolone, which is contained in some products used in body-building stores and had been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler is the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.

    Phillies left fielder Max Kepler catches Dodgers Tommy Edman line drive during the second inning of Game 4 of baseball’s NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles.

    There was no immediate comment from the players’ association or his agency.

    Kepler accepted the suspension without contesting the discipline in a grievance, a person familiar with the process told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced.

    Kepler, who turns 33 next month, is an 11-year major league veteran who spent last season with the Phillies after playing his first 10 seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He became a free agent after the World Series.

    Fourteen players were suspended last year for positive tests, including two under the major league program. Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar was banned for 80 games on March 31 and Phillies closer José Alvarado for 80 games on May 25.

    Even if Kepler doesn’t have a contract by opening day in March, MLB and the union usually allow a suspended free agent to serve his penalty as long as he is attempting to reach a deal with teams.

    Kepler hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs last year after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.

    Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs in his big league career.

  • US and Venezuela take initial steps toward restoring relations after Maduro’s ouster

    US and Venezuela take initial steps toward restoring relations after Maduro’s ouster

    GUATIRE, Venezuela — The United States and Venezuela said Friday they were exploring the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations, as a Trump administration delegation visited the South American nation.

    The visit marks a major step toward warming icy relations between the historically adversarial governments. U.S. military forces captured former President Nicolás Maduro last weekend in Caracas and took him to New York to face federal charges of drug-trafficking.

    The small team of U.S. diplomats and a security detail traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

    Venezuela’s government on Friday said it plans to send a delegation to the U.S. but it did not say when. Any delegation traveling to the U.S. will likely require sanctions to be waived by the Treasury Department.

    In a statement, the government of acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said it “has decided to initiate an exploratory process of a diplomatic nature with the Government of the United States of America, aimed at the re-establishment of diplomatic missions in both countries.”

    President Donald Trump has placed pressure on Rodriguez and other former Maduro loyalists now in power to advance his vision for the future of the nation — a major aspect of which would be reinvigorating the role of U.S. oil companies in a country with the worlds’ largest proven reserves of crude oil.

    The U.S. and Venezuela cut off ties in 2019, after the first Trump administration said opposition leader Juan Guaidó was the rightful president of Venezuela, spiking tensions. Despite the assertions, Maduro maintained his firm grip on power.

    The Trump administration shuttered the embassy in Caracas and moved diplomats to nearby Bogotá, Colombia. U.S. officials have traveled to Caracas a handful of times since then. The latest visit came last February when Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell met with Maduro. The visit resulted in six detained Americans being freed by the government.

  • In unprecedented move, NASA cuts short space mission over astronaut’s health

    In unprecedented move, NASA cuts short space mission over astronaut’s health

    For the first time in the International Space Station’s history, NASA said it was cutting short a crew mission after an astronaut “experienced a medical situation.”

    “It’s in the best interests of our astronauts to return Crew-11 ahead of their planned departure,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters at a news conference Thursday, without naming the astronaut or specifying what the problem was.

    The four-person Crew-11 is made up of U.S. astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Together, they have spent about five months aboard the space station and had planned to stay until mid-February.

    On Wednesday, they were conducting scientific research, ahead of a planned space walk, when one of the astronauts had a medical issue that required help from the other crew members and onboard medical equipment, NASA officials said.

    “The astronaut is absolutely stable. This is not an emergent evacuation,” said NASA’s Chief Health and Medical Officer, J.D. Polk.

    He said the issue also did not reflect a problem with the space station environment and “was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations.”

    Although the Space Station has medical equipment onboard, he said the issue was sufficient to warrant bringing the astronaut back for a full work-up and diagnosis at a facility with more extensive hardware and without the challenges of working in microgravity.

    “Always we err on the side of the astronaut’s health and welfare. And in this particular case, we are doing the same,” he said.

    The crew will return to Earth in the “coming days,” Isaacman said, with plans for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California. And because of that early departure, Crew-12, which had been scheduled to take over in mid-February, could be deployed earlier.

    “This is exactly what our astronauts train and prepare for,” he added.

    Crew members live and work aboard the International Space Station, orbiting Earth 16 times a day. Run as an international partnership by five space agencies, the station has had more than 290 visitors representing 26 countries since it was assembled in 1998.