Celtics

Derrick White sat at the rostrum with the hood of his black Celtics sweatshirt on his head.

He rubbed his brow when asked about Boston's lack of defensive intensity in Sunday night's 123-114 loss to Indiana. The loss capped a difficult December for the reigning NBA champions.

After winning 16 of their first 19 games, the Celtics began a relapse and finished the month 7-6. They have lost 4 of their last six games, three of them against teams ranked eighth or lower within the conference standings.

Boston allowed Tyrese Haliburton (31 points, 7 assists, 11-19 shooting) to pound the air and carve up its defense like a vacation ham. The Pacers, who trailed the Celtics by 37 points on Friday night, got a taste of revenge on the road back to the Midwest.

“I think this might be the toughest stretch I've ever experienced since I've been here with the Celtics. It will just bring us closer together,” White said. “You just have to know that everyone has their best interests at heart and supports each other. It will bring us closer to each other. There are ups and downs in every season, so it’s one of those lows and we have to figure it out together.”

The Celtics traded for White in February 2022. They lost five of six games in mid-December 2023, losing contests to Golden State, the Clippers, the Pacers and two to Orlando. They also lost 4 of 5 games in March.

But White's point remains to be clear. These phases don't occur often for the Celtics. They didn't see anything like this last yr and so they must work out methods to stop the downturn.

The competition will only get tougher next week. After a New Year's Eve clash with the struggling Raptors, the Celtics hit the road to face Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves. They then travel to Houston and Oklahoma City, each of that are currently ranked in the highest three within the West. The road trip ends with a contest against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

“I’m really excited,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said of the upcoming stretch. “It will be fun. It’s going to be great.”

Defensive issues were on the forefront, particularly with point guards who’re adept at stepping into the lane.

Ja Morant lost 32 to the Celtics in a win earlier this month. Tyrese Maxey beat the Celtics on Christmas Day with 32 points and 12 assists on three turnovers. Haliburton was just the most recent guard the Celtics struggled to remain ahead of.

“We just have to pay attention to the trends, No. 1,” Mazzulla said. “And we need to know where we can help from No. 2 and force more kick-outs and more multiple efforts there. But it starts at the point of attack with our individual defense and then moves to our team defense off the ball where we can help.”

Play without Jrue holiday And Kristaps Porzingis actually didn't help, but that's no excuse considering how Boston handled Indiana within the previous game.

“I think communication,” Jaylen Brown said. “Tendencies are one thing, but it's a whole other thing when you're out there and they're coming at you at full speed, especially with a team like Indiana. I think we need to be more attentive and communicative to help each other. It seems like they got into a lot of trouble because we didn’t know where we could help.”

“They didn't shoot many threes, which means they shouldn't have gotten as many layups,” he added. “We could have protected the basket a little better, but we didn’t do that tonight. But I think we see it. We recognize where we can be better and build on that. There is a difficult phase ahead of us.”

Last week, Mazzulla said the Celtics were playing inconsistent basketball. The trend has continued, especially on defense.

“We just have to do a better job,” Mazzulla said. “We have to do a better job coaching defense, we have to do a better job in our individual defense, we have to do a better job in our team defense.”

White said he's not fearful about this Celtics group, which is only one game ahead of the third-place Knicks.

“Just trust the character in the locker room,” White said. “I know the type of people that are in this locker room and those are the people that I want to go to war with. I’m confident about that.”

Local News

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced On Friday, she made a series of major changes to the state's overwhelmed shelter system as her administration tries to become familiar with costs and space constraints exacerbated by the high cost of living in Massachusetts and the influx of migrants.

The administration will implement a two-track system for eligible families: one offering homeless and migrant families a 30-day stay in a shelter and the opposite a six-month stay. The state may even begin “phasing out” the usage of hotels and motels to accommodate families in need of shelter.

The protection system, expected to cost nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal 12 months 2025, has change into “increasingly unsustainable” in recent times, Healey said. Despite “significant action” and “tangible results,” the changes announced Friday are needed to contain costs and help more families find stable housing, she said.

“More must be done to ensure Massachusetts taxpayers do not continue to be responsible for this federal problem. The changes we are making will reduce costs, phase out the use of hotels and better meet the needs of all families,” Healey said in an announcement.

When the shelter system reached capability last 12 months, authorities arrange a series of emergency shelters across the state. In August, Healey introduced a brand new prioritization system for families, limiting stays on the overflow sites or “temporary recovery centers” to 5 days for those not prioritized. Now, families placed at these sites may have the choice to remain for 30 days under the two-track system.

Starting December 10, families applying for shelter might be “assessed based on risk and need” and assigned to either the Rapid Shelter Track or the Bridge Shelter Track. Families cannot choose from routes.

The Rapid Track is meant for families the state believes are well placed to quickly secure self-sufficient everlasting housing. You are offered 30 working days within the respite centers, although a certain extension is feasible.

The bridge route might be reserved for “high-risk families” and folks with “complex needs,” reminiscent of individuals with mental or developmental disabilities or women with late-term pregnancies. Those admitted on this direction are entitled to a six-month stay, subject to legislative approval.

In the spring, the legislature limited the length of stay for accommodation to nine months. The Healey administration now desires to lower that cap to 6 months.

“We want to make it clear to the families: We are looking for six [months] So no one feels like they don’t have the right expectations,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll . “We believe six months is achievable. I assume that if people find an apartment sooner than six months, they will accept it.”

Driscoll chaired the Special Commission on Emergency Housing Assistance Programs, which issued a detailed report through the shelter system on Tuesday. Friday's announcement was made based on the recommendations set out in that report, the federal government said.

According to the info, almost half of the 7,115 families within the shelter system were staying in hotels and motels on Thursday Condition data. However, contracting with hotels has been the “most expensive accommodation model” and doesn’t provide a super environment for those looking for accommodation, officials said. Therefore, the usage of hotels might be slowly phased out in fiscal years 2025 and 2026. The administration didn’t provide detailed explanations of how it will occur, but said the approach might be based on “discussions with providers” and that families might be notified of advance payment.

The government says it is targeted on expanding current programs to assist more families exit the shelter system. The commission's report found an “extraordinary increase” in monthly emergency shelters last 12 months, from a low of 163 in September 2023 to a high of 475 last September. A vital tool to assist families secure their housing is HomeBASEa program that gives money to cover rent, moving costs, utilities and furniture.

State officials at the moment are proposing legislative changes to HomeBASE that might increase temporary rental subsidies. Currently, families are eligible for a complete of $30,000 over two years or $45,000 over three years. The proposed changes would allow families to secure $25,000 per 12 months in rental assistance for 2 years.

The Latest in Health Tech: Dexcom Invests $75 Million in Oura, Companies Form New Partnership

GileadThe experimental twice-yearly HIV prevention drug was 100% effective in a late-stage study, the corporate said said Thursday.

According to an interim evaluation, not one of the roughly 2,000 study participants who received the lenacapavir injection had grow to be infected with HIV. The independent data monitoring committee subsequently advisable that Gilead unblind the Phase 3 study and offer the treatment to all study participants. The other participants had received standard tablets on daily basis.

The results bring Gilead one step closer to launching a brand new type of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and expanding its HIV business. The company's shares rose on Thursday.

“What the world needs is more PrEP options for people so they can choose the option that works best for them,” said Jared Baeten, vice chairman of HIV clinical development at Gilead.

Before Gilead can seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the corporate must first reproduce those results. The company expects to release data from an ongoing Phase 3 trial in men who’ve sex with men later this 12 months or early next 12 months. If these results are positive, the corporate could bring lenacapavir for PrEP to market as early as the tip of 2025.

More than a decade ago, Gilead’s Truvada became the First approved PrEP for people without HIV who’re at high risk of becoming infected. Daily pills dominate the market, but pharmaceutical firms at the moment are specializing in developing longer-acting injections.

PrEP reduces the chance 99% of persons are susceptible to HIV from sex and 74% from drug use when taken appropriately. Yet only a bit greater than a 3rd of individuals within the U.S. who may benefit from PrEP are taking it, in response to Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health politicians and advocates hope Longer-acting options could reach individuals who cannot or don’t want to take a each day pill and higher prevent the spread of a virus that has claimed about 1 million lives. New infections worldwide in 2022.

“It is really important to have more options than daily pills, because oral preparations will not get us to the end of the epidemic,” said Bruce RichmanFounding director of the nonprofit Prevention Access Campaign. “We need to make sure people have options that fit their lifestyle.”

The FDA approved the primary injectable PrEP in 2021. This drug, called Apretude, is run by a health care provider every two months or six times a 12 months. According to the manufacturer ViiV, about 11,000 persons are taking Apretude.

Tim Oliver, a 28-year-old public medical examiner in New York, said he doesn't mind going to the doctor for his Apretude shots. But he added that a few of his friends have told him they'd somewhat proceed taking a each day pill than get a shot. An extended-acting option is perhaps more attractive to patients.

Brian Abrahams, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, expects Gilead's vaccine to significantly increase the number of individuals enthusiastic about HIV prevention drugs. He estimates peak sales will likely be nearly $2 billion. Gilead's newer PrEP pill, Descovy, generated sales of about $2 billion last 12 months.

Activists have called on Gilead to make sure that people in low- and middle-income countries have access to lenacapavir. The company has long been criticized for the costs of its HIV drugs. Descovy costs $26,000 a 12 months to take.

In its statement announcing the discharge of the lenacapavir trial results on Thursday, Gilead said the corporate plans to supply an update on the way it plans to enhance access in countries where populations suffer from high HIV incidence rates.

politics

PHOENIX (AP) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long argued that that is his biggest hurdle Presidential campaign believes that independent candidates cannot win. He checked out it Debates as a singular opportunity to face side by side Joe Biden And Donald Trump in front of an enormous audience.

But to try this first phase of debateHe must secure a spot on the ballot in no less than a dozen more states and improve his ends in statewide polls in a month.

With a famous name and a loyal base, Kennedy has the potential to do higher than any third presidential candidate since Ross Perot within the Nineteen Nineties. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns, fearful that he could play spoilsport, bypassed the non-partisan debate commission and agreed to a schedule that leaves Kennedy with little or no time to qualify for the primary debate.

Kennedy publicly expresses his confidence that he can do it.

“I look forward to holding Presidents Biden and Trump accountable for their record in Atlanta on June 27 to give Americans the debate they deserve,” he wrote on the X platform.

According to CNN, candidates might be invited in the event that they have secured a spot on the ballot in states with no less than 270 Electoral College votes, the minimum needed to win the presidency, and 15 in 4 reliable polls released since March 13 % have achieved The criteria are the identical as those of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group that has organized debates since 1988, except that the commission's first debate would have taken place in September, which might have given Kennedy more time.

Kennedy doesn’t appear to have met the poll criteria yet, although he has polled at 15% or higher in no less than two polls that meet CNN standards.

The hurdle to ballot access is even tougher.

State officials have confirmed Kennedy's place on the ballot in Delaware, Oklahoma and Utah, which together have just 16 electoral votes. In California, Hawaii and Michigan, minor parties selected Kennedy as their candidate, effectively abandoning existing options, although the states didn’t officially confirm Kennedy's position. Adding them would bring Kennedy's total to 89 electoral votes, even though it's not clear whether his position in those states would meet CNN's criteria.

Kennedy's campaign says he has collected enough signatures in Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, states with a complete of 112 electoral votes. But either he hasn't submitted the signatures or they haven't yet been certified by the state's election officials.

These states still only have 201 electoral votes.

Independent candidates like Kennedy face a maze of laws that change widely from state to state but generally require tons of or 1000’s of signatures and adherence to strict deadlines.

The patchwork of laws is stuffed with pitfalls. And the Democratic National Committee has pledged to review Kennedy's filings for errors that might keep him off the ballot or no less than tie up money and time for his campaign.

Kennedy, for his part, has resorted to secrecy and artistic tactics in a game of cat-and-mouse to get on the ballot before his critics can thwart him. In California, Delaware and Michigan, Kennedy allied with little-known existing parties and won their nominations. In Hawaii he formed his own political party to nominate him, and in Mississippi and North Carolina he pursued the same strategy.

Elsewhere, he waits to submit signatures until the deadline to offer critics time to comb through them in search of errors. If he were to enter the controversy next month, he would almost actually need to change his strategy and submit the petitions he’s sitting on as quickly as possible.

The signatures have to be submitted in New York by May 28, which might bring Kennedy 28 votes closer if certified on time. He could then attempt to make an all-out push in various states with relatively easy requirements — many require 5,000 or fewer signatures, but they typically don't usher in many electoral votes — or concentrate on larger states like Illinois, which has 19 electoral votes or Florida at 30.

To make matters worse, some states will not be yet accepting applications from potential independent candidates and won’t achieve this before the primary debate.

Kennedy's vice-presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan, who’s divorced from Google co-founder Sergei Brin, has committed $8 million of her personal fortune to ballot access, the campaign announced Thursday, saying her $15 million effort was ” fully funded.”