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"We had our two worst practices before the Hershey [consolation game on Monday] and I was very concerned," Greencastle-Antrim head coach Rick Lewis said. "We played Greencastle basketball in the beginning [against Garden Spot]. We pressed, we put 50 on the board. Then, we had to handle adversity."
That adversity came in two forms. First, leading scorer Bryan Gembe got into foul trouble early on. Even more significantly, star guard Brandon Stuhler suffered a rough tumble thaht led to a head injury in the second quarter.
Stuhler didn't play after suffering the injury, but remained on the Greencastle-Antrim bench the remainder of the game. Lewis said he was "fine" and that holding the senior out was simply precautionary.
Still, Lewis liked the way his team responded without its best two-way player out there. He credited the work of senior reserves Bryson Robinson and Cam Hileman for the work they did in place of Stuhler and Gembe throughout the game.
"Bryson Robinson and Cam Hileman, for two years have excelled," Lewis said. "We call them Cam Robinson because that's our sixth man. They've done an outstanding job, and they both got extended minutes tonight, and both answered the bell."
"We needed to win," Greencastle-Antrim head coach Rick Lewis said. "After tonight, it could be over any night. You just don't know. 22 wins is an outstanding season. My biggest fear was us feeling like we didn't have a tremendous season, which we did."
The Blue Devils will take on the winner of the District 11 5A tournament, which will be either Bangor or Allentown Central.
The Greyhounds extended their District 3 playoff run as long as it possibly could, and earned a state playoff berth in the process.
But on Wednesday, they met their match, as poor shot selection and turnovers fueled a 27-4 New Oxford run in the first half that propelled the Colonial to a blowout win over Shippensburg.
"We turned the ball over four or five times [during the run]," Shippensburg head coach Ray Staver said. "But our shot selection was really bad, and that was the one thing."
Staver was pleased overall with his team's defensive effort, as the Greyhounds held a strong offense in New Oxford to just 56 and just two double-digit scorers (Deriq Brown and John Wessel).
But Carter Van Scyoc was the only one to find double-figures for the Greyhounds, as the offense never found the paint consistently enough.
Still, Staver understands it would be foolish to let one loss diminish the accomplishments of his team, just the third one ever to reach state playoffs in school history.
He's proud of his team, especially for the run that got them to states in the playoff, where they faced off against the fourth (Dover), fifth (Milton Hershey), seventh (New Oxford) and ninth (Ephrata) seeds in 5A and came away 2-2.
"I'm very proud of the fact that we're in states because of who we had to beat to get there," Staver said. "They've got a lot to be proud of. And it's all fun here. Playoffs should be fun."
The Greyhounds will have a tough draw, as they'll face the winner of District 1, which will either be Bishop Shanahan or Penncrest.
This 3 bedroom 2 and a half bath home has been well cared for. Roof, furnace and ac has all been updated. Home features a fenced backyard a deck and a 2 car garage. This is not a typical bi-level. Downstairs is unfinished however it has a half bath and a fireplace.
Charming Ranch in the Timbers section of Barnegat. Remodeled kitchen and bathroom. New Roof. New flooring throughout. Above ground pool in as is condition.
OK! has learned that actor Justin Chambers (who plays doctor Alex Karev on ABC’s hit Grey’s Anatomy) paid a visit to the same psych ward where Britney Spears is being held right now.
According to TMZ, the actor admitted himself voluntarily to UCLA Medical Center on Monday and checked out on Wednesday.
A rep for the actor says Chambers — who is a married father of five — was "exhausted and suffers from a sleeping disorder. He went in voluntarily to get some help."
The Grey‘s star left one day before Britney arrived, but was in the same ward where the fallen pop star is currently being treated.
A serial killer known as "The Pusher" is terrorizing a British city and has taken more than 60 lives, some people claim.
Family members and experts say dozens of men have been pushed into canals in Manchester, but cops say there is no evidence of foul play. A documentary airing on Britain's Channel 4 on Tuesday night is set to examine the deaths more closely and add fuel to the debate.
There were 61 bodies found in local canals between 2008 and 2015, according to a Freedom of Information request, the Mirror reported.
"It is unlikely that such a high number of cases are the result of just accidents or suicides as canals are not popular suicide spots, especially for men," Professor Craig Jackson of Birmingham City University said, according to the British newspaper.
However, Jackson withdrew his comments after meeting with Manchester authorities, according to the Mirror.
Many family members believe that a serial killer is on the loose, or that foul play is involved.
"It needs to be investigated to find out if there is really a serial killer in this case," dad Santanu Pal said in the documentary, according to the Mirror. "There must be involvement of a third party. That could be a straight case or that could be a serial killer."
The body of his 18-year-old son, Souvik, was found in the Bridgewater Canal in January of 2013, three weeks after he was booted from a New Year's Eve party, the Mirror reported. Souvik was seen walking with an unidentified man, and surveillance footage showed them crossing a canal bridge. One of them attempted to climb a railing and only one of the them returned, according to the Mirror.
"Despite extensive investigation it can not be ascertained where or how he entered the water," coroner Joanne Kearsley said, the Mirror reported.
The parents of another possible victim, 21-year-old David Plunkett, heard "screaming and howling" in their last phone call with their son, according to the paper.
"Something had terrified him," dad Michael said, the Mirror reported. "He was on the phone but our son could not speak to us. And that's not because he was drunk."
The mother of 21-year-old Nathan Tomlinson said her son's coat, phone, passport and wallet were missing when his body was found early in 2013, according to the newspaper.
"I have always thought Nathan's death was suspicious," she said. "There were a lot of flaws in the investigation and the police were slow at the start."
An author believes that a serial killer is targeting gay men, or men the killer believes are gay. Thomas Sheridan claims he was followed by "a tall man wearing a hood" while investigating the deaths, according to the paper.
"I'm convinced foul play is a point concerning some of the bodies," he said, according to the paper. "I concur with the people of Manchester that 'The Pusher' is almost certainly the cause of some of these deaths."
Cops dispute the notion that foul play was involved. Detective Chief Inspector Pete Marsh said some died from alcohol, while others committed suicide, according to the paper.
"Down near Canal St. it is mainly young men and a lot of them are drunk late into the evening," Marsh said, according to the paper. "There are meeting places and the side of the canals. Drink and water don't mix. Those individuals may be putting themselves more at risk. There is nothing that links any of these deaths."
"If a serial killer decided to cause their deaths by pushing them into the water, how could that person guarantee they would die?" Ex-Derbyshire Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Blockley said, according to the paper.
A 14-year-old boy was killed when he ran in front of a vehicle this morning.
Two former Bradshaw Mountain High School students die.
It’s a celebration for Big Brothers Big Sisters!
Attempting to locate Marino Harrison.
A Comic-Con-style event invades the Prescott Valley Library.
Several power outages affected the quad-city area.
Budgets are finalizing this time of year.
An iPhone snatched from a woman shopping at a New York City department store was recovered via the phone's tracking system.
They don't call them smart phones for nothing.
Police say the 24-year-old woman was sitting near the entrance of the Tuci Italia store in mid-Manhattan on Thursday when a man armed with a handgun grabbed her phone and fled.
Police searched the area but came up empty. That's when Police Officer Robert Garland asked for the victim's iTunes account and used Apple's iCloud feature on his own device to track the phone's location to a nearby intersection.
When the thief walked past the officers, the victim's phone began to beep.
The suspect was charged with robbery and criminal possession of stolen property.
The Tel Aviv skyline at night. Photo: Gilad Avidan via Wikimedia Commons.
In February 2003, I led a mission to Israel shortly before the Iraq War. It was a time of great nervousness; when we arrived, we were greeted by full-page ads in the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz from the Canadian government, advising Canadians to be ready to leave Israel. There was enormous concern that war would break out, and that Saddam Hussein would once again fire Scuds at Israel.
“Are you crazy?” is the perfect question to start any discussion on Israel. Like any passion, those who don’t share our love for the Jewish state are bewildered by it. Why are Zionists Zionists? Why do they love Israel?
There was a time when you didn’t have to explain Zionism, because Jews desperately needed a safe haven. The two millennia of Jewish life in exile are stained with a relentless stream of antisemitism. There are too many episodes of violence to count, including massacres, pogroms, Crusades and expulsions. Even in the relatively “tranquil” times, Jews were second class citizens, the objects of legal and social discrimination. A medieval author phrased it this way, in a passage included in the Monday and Thursday prayers: “Look down from heaven and see that we have become scorned and insulted among the nations, we have been led like sheep to the slaughter, to be murdered, destroyed, stricken, and disgraced.” Exile was always an irritation, and often a misery.
Antisemitism spiked unexpectedly at the end of the 19th century. The Dreyfus Trial, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Kishinev Massacre, the Beilis Blood Libel and the rise of antisemitic political parties in Europe and elsewhere all foreshadowed the Holocaust. It was this atmosphere that inspired Theodor Herzl to seek a safe haven for the Jews.
There is a famous, bitter joke: In 1939, a Viennese Jew enters a travel agent’s office and says, “I want to buy a steamship ticket.” “Where to?” the clerk asks. “Let me look at your globe, please,” the Jew replies. Every time the Jew suggests a country, the clerk raises an objection. “This one requires a visa … this one is not admitting any more Jews … the waiting list to get in there is ten years.” Finally the Jew looks up and says: “Pardon me, do you have another globe?” Jews desperately needed a safe haven in the 1930s, and, tragically, they did not have one.
Israel is now that Jewish safe haven. Over the years, she has received Jews escaping from Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia and the Soviet Union. Israel has also protected Jews in Entebbe, Kenya and beyond. Even today, for Jews in places such as France and Venezuela, Israel acts as a security blanket for worried communities.
Yet having a safe haven is not important if you live in an open, multicultural society. For American Jews, the United States might be more comfortable than Israel. Considering that Jews have other havens, one might argue that Israel is an anachronism.
Israel is not just a haven; it is a homeland. It is the birthplace of the Jewish people, and the land that has nurtured the Jewish soul for 3,300 years. There is a unique connection to a homeland. The Bible records that when the farmer would bring an offering of first fruits, he would issue a declaration that unlike his ancestors, he no longer has to wander; instead, he can experience the blessings of being rooted in one place, having a home that nurtures the soul as well as the body.
There is a theory that Jewish creativity is a side effect of exile; years of improvising to survive turned the Jews into master improvisers in every arena, including science and culture. It is an interesting theory, but incorrect; the record of the State of Israel contradicts it. In reality, having roots — having a homeland — has allowed Jews to flourish in multiple ways.
Israel has become a world leader in culture, science and social services. Returning home hasn’t dampened Jewish creativity, but it has actually increased it. As the Jewish farmer might say, having roots bears fruit, and having a country of your own unleashes the spirit. A homeland is transformative, even if you feel at home in another country.
Israel has been a haven and homeland; but for the religious Zionist, another answer is far more significant: Israel is the holy land. This theme begins in the Bible, and trickles all the way down to pop culture, which is why all visitors to the Western Wall (including artists, athletes and actors) leave a note for God in its crevices.
Yet it is a mistake to assume that the idea of a holy land is for the religious only, and that the holiness of Israel is found only in historic shrines.
A few years ago, a woman approached me with a request. She was trying to convey to her son, an atheist, what Israel was all about. She had brought him to the Western Wall, but it had very little impact on him. So she turned to me for advice on how she could inspire her son to feel a connection to Israel.
I told her that I find my greatest inspiration in Israel at the shopping malls of Tel Aviv. Yes, that is correct — at the shopping mall (even though I hate shopping). The reason why is because it’s at a shopping mall that the triple miracle of modern Israel is most apparent.
First of all, the Jews should have disappeared after 2,000 years of exile and persecution. Second of all, the country of Israel is perhaps the most improbable event in all of history, a fossil that was extinct for 2,000 years, which came back to life. And third, this country, built by a mixed multitude of lonely refugees, should have been a charity case rather than a world leader with a first class economy.
The fact that the State of Israel is here, and that it is a world leader despite decades of constant attacks, is the equivalent of winning the lottery three times in a row. That, even for an atheist, has to be pretty remarkable. To quote Isaiah: “Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this?” After walking around a cutting edge Israeli shopping mall, even a non-believer can stand in inspiration of these miracles, and see this land as inspiring, even holy.
The father of a soldier who is now in Gaza told how his son was informed on Friday that his unit will not be going home for Shabbat, which was a problem, because they did not have any provisions for Shabbat. The father ran to the supermarket to buy some things, as many dips and salads as he could, and then he stopped at the shwarma stand in Petah Tikva. He asked for a shwarma to be put into an aluminium tray and explained that it was a Shabbat meal for his son who is in Gaza. The owner said to him, ‘What do you mean for your son? How many soldiers are in his group?’ The father answered ’70.’ The owner called over his workers, and … within an hour, he and all of his workers had emptied the entire restaurant and given it over to the father. The father just stood there crying and thanking him.
This powerful anecdote is a microcosm of the story of Israel. It is about a safe haven protected by dedicated soldiers. It is about a homeland where even the man at the local shwarma stand is like a member of the family. And it is about a holy land, a place filled with a unique heart and soul. There are many things that make Israel extraordinary, but one of them is this: if you need 70 shawarmas on a Friday, there’s someone who will stop everything and get them for you.
Last year, the Pentagon announced that women would be allowed to join men in front-line combat positions in the military for the first time. This year, women may also have to join men in registering for the draft.
The House Armed Services Committee narrowly passed an amendment to the 2017 defense spending bill on Wednesday that would require women to register with the Selective Service System, the federal agency that administers military drafts. A draft hasn’t been held since the Vietnam war, but all American men between the ages of 18 and 25 are still required to register. Some members of Congress now want women to share the burden.
“If we want equality in this country, if we want women to be treated precisely like men are treated and that they should not be discriminated against, then we should support a universal conscription,” said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), according to The Hill. The Army and Marine Corps’ top generals have already endorsed making women register. Most countries that draft soldiers only do so for men, but a handful, including Norway and Israel, also conscript women.
Other members want to do away with draft registration altogether, saying a volunteer military is more effective. “The bar would have to be dramatically lowered if we were to return to conscription again,” said Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), according to the Washington Post. Coffman co-sponsored a bill introduced in February that would end Selective Service altogether. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who also sponsored the bill to end selective service, argues the draft also needlessly punishes those who don’t register by cutting them off from federal aid and jobs. “It’s mean-spirited, stupid, unnecessary, and a huge waste of taxpayer money,” DeFazio told Mother Jones.
The Selective Service System currently costs about $23 million dollars per year. Lawrence Romo, the director of the Selective Service System, estimates the agency would require another $8 million per year if women were included in the draft.
President Barack Obama, center, hugs family members of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting gathered to hear the president's speech on gun violence at the University of Hartford Monday, April 8, 2013.
President Barack Obama addresses the audience at the University of Hartford Monday, April 8, 2013, in a continuing push to get congress to pass legislation curbing gun violence.
Audience members gather at Chase Arena at the University of Hartford ahead of President Obama as they await the president's speech on gun violence Monday, April 8, 2013.
President Barack Obama hugs Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, accompanied by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., left, after Obama arrived at Bradley Air Force Base Monday, April 8, 2013.
A panorama photo shows audience members gathering at Chase Arena at the University of Hartford ahead of President Obama as they await the president's speech on gun violence Monday April 8, 2013.
President Obama speaks on his gun control measures at the Chase Arena at the University of Hartford Monday, April 8, 2013.
Hartford — In another effort to move national gun control legislation forward in Congress, President Barack Obama spoke with family members of Newtown victims and students and guests who filled the bleachers in the University of Hartford gym Monday.
Obama told Newtown families that he would not forget them and thanked them for their courage. Pointing out that 90 percent of Americans support background checks for gun purchases, he said he did not understand why some in Congress were trying to prevent a vote on gun control measures.
He said he wanted all who were listening on Monday to contact their representatives and ask why they were not in favor of making it easier for law enforcement to do its job and harder for dangerous people to obtain guns.
After his speech, Obama took 12 family members of Newtown victims with him on Air Force One to meet with U.S. lawmakers in Washington.
Nicole Hockley, who lost her son Dylan Hockley in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, introduced Obama. She said she had been paralyzed in shock for days after Dylan's death. There are still days she feels “empty” from losing her boy, she said.
Obama praised Hockley and other Newtown parents for their courage. “We are so grateful for their courage and willingness to share their stories again and again,” Obama said.
Every family in the nation was shaken after Newtown, he said.
Since then “we asked what could we do, as a society, to help prevent a tragedy like that from happening again,” he said.
The crowd went wild for Malloy, but not nearly to the degree it roared for Obama.
Most of the students and guests in the crowd wore green ribbons from the Newtown-based nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise. Many family members of Newtown victims have joined this nonprofit. Members recently wrote a letter to members of Congress urging them to pass legislation with background checks, limits to high-capacity magazines and increased penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchases.
Newtown family members will continue their effort this week as senators get ready to discuss gun control legislation. But 13 Republican senators sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, on Monday saying they would threaten a filibuster on any legislation that would infringe on the American people’s constitutional rights.
Obama said he wants universal background checks, a crackdown on gun trafficking and a restoration of the ban on military-style assault weapons along with strengthening school safety and helping people struggling with mental health problems to get treatment before it is too late.
Each of these measures is “common sense” and deserves a vote, he said.
Ninety percent of the American public supports expanded background checks, according to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll.
To this the crowd booed, started chanting, “We want a vote, we want a vote,” and stood.
“This is about these families, and families all across the country who are saying let’s make it a little harder for our kids to get gunned down,” Obama said.
He said those with “powerful interests” are good at polarizing the group and drowning out rational debate.

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