Thought of the Day
What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.
March 15th 2025
No. 1 Duke holds off furious North Carolina rally to win 74-71, reach ACC title game without Flagg
By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kon Knueppel scored 17 points and No. 1 Duke held off a furious second half rally by rival North Carolina to beat its rival for the third time this season, 74-71 on Friday night to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship game.
Khaman Maluach added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Sion James had 12 points for the Blue Devils, who played without star Cooper Flagg.
Duke (30-3) will play the winner of the second semifinal between No. 10 Clemson and No. 13 Louisville in the title game.
After North Carolina cut a 24-point, second-half deficit to one, Ven-Allen Lubin had two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to potentially give the Tar Heels (22-13) the lead. But he missed the first and had the second made free throw waved off after teammate Jae-Lyn Withers stepped in the lane too early.
Knueppel made two free throws with 2.8 seconds left and Lubin missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
It’s the first time since 2001-02 that Duke has beaten North Carolina three times in a season. The Blue Devils swept the Tar Heels in the regular season that year and then beat them in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals en route to winning the national championship.
Lubin had 20 points and 10 rebounds for North Carolina.
Takeaways
North Carolina: The Tar Heels simply don’t have the size to match up with the Blue Devils, but showed plenty of heart with the comeback
Duke: The Blue Devils showed they have plenty of punch and more than enough defense despite being without Flagg and top reserve Maliq Brown.
Key moment
Withers stepping the lane too early was a monumental mistake.
Key stat
UNC started the second half 15 of 24 from the field.
Up next
Duke will play the winner of No. 10 Clemson-No. 13 Louisville winner in the championship. UNC hopes it has done enough to get an NCAA Tournament berth.
North Carolina GOP town hall gets rowdy as attendees hurl scathing questions on Trump
By MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated Press
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Before answering an attendee’s question about President Donald Trump’s “destructive and disastrous trade war,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards made a plea to the rowdy crowd at his Thursday town hall in Asheville, North Carolina.
“Let me answer and then if you don’t like it, you can boo or hiss or whatever you’d like to do,” Edwards said, visibly exhausted.
As he expanded on Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tactic, it took less than a minute for the crowd to break out in outrage. He continued to plow ahead in his response and eventually punctuated it by telling attendees he would “stop there and you can yell.” The crowd gladly took him up on the offer.
For about an hour and half, Edwards endured a constant barrage of jeers, expletives and searing questions on Trump administration policies. About 300 people crammed inside a college auditorium for the town hall, while the boos from more than a thousand people outside the building rumbled throughout the event.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP representatives last week to skip out on town halls, saying demonstrations outside of them were the work of “professional protesters.” Edwards addressed the Republican leader’s advice, saying he didn’t want to “shy away” from conversations with the people of western North Carolina — even if they disagreed.
But less than 30 minutes into the town hall, Edwards started to change his tune as a majority of attendees interrupted him with vitriolic disruptions. Asheville is a deep-blue dot amid a sea of red in North Carolina’s mountains. North Carolina went for Trump in the 2024 election.
“And you wonder why folks don’t want to do these town halls,” Edwards said over shouting.
Edwards kicked off his town hall discussing western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene. Asheville is still rebuilding after the devastating storm, which killed more than 100 people in North Carolina and caused a record-shattering amount of damage — about $59.6 billion in damages and record needs, according to the state.
But as Edwards touted the work he said the Trump administration has been doing for the region’s recovery — which could include the president’s proposal to dissolve the Federal Emergency Management Agency — attendees shouted him down and demanded he address questions immediately. One person was escorted out of the venue after hurling expletives at the congressman.
“Listen to us now!” several people screamed from various parts of the room.
Edwards fielded scathing questions on a variety of topics, ranging from sweeping cuts to various government agencies at the hand of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to the future of health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Questions on slashing jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and whether the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia received standing ovations from most in the crowd.
The representative mostly stayed in line in supporting the Trump administration’s policies, reiterating that part of his job was seeing what decisions his constituents disagreed with so the federal government could “go back and look” at what it could improve on.
Edwards kept good humor throughout the raucous town hall, telling attendees at the end that he enjoyed hearing the crowd’s “passion” and “patriotism.” In a news conference afterward, Edwards said Trump and Musk were “over the target” in what they set out to accomplish.
“I take away from what I heard today that we’re doing exactly what the American people sent us to Washington D.C. to do,” Edwards said, as several protesters pounded on the doors nearby.
Green Goddess Salad Dressing
Green Goddess Salad Dressing
Green Goddess Salad Dressing Recipe from The Pioneer Woman
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: N/A
Serving size: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups baby spinach (about 2 ounces)
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 5 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)
- 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 avocado
- 1 shallot, quartered
Directions
- In a blender, combine the spinach, basil, parsley, lemon juice, oil, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, avocado, and shallot.
- Blend until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
March 14th 2025
Thought of the Day
It is Friday… any plan of being a productive member of society is officially thrown out the window.
Bubble watch: Indiana and Xavier now feeling the heat with Texas and North Carolina closing strong
Xavier and Indiana had chances to give their NCAA Tournament resumes a significant boost. But the Musketeers lost 89-87 to No. 25 Marquette, and Indiana fell 72-59 to No. 23 Oregon. Those aren’t bad losses by any means, but they were squandered chances. And Xavier and Indiana are very much on the bubble. Texas and North Carolina are two bubble teams whose outlooks seemed pretty precarious a couple days ago. Now they’re still alive in their conference tournaments. The Longhorns snagged a huge win over No. 14 Texas A&M, 94-89 in double overtime. The Tar Heels beat Wake Forest 68-59.
North Carolina beats Wake Forest 68-59 to advance to ACC semifinals behind RJ Davis’ 23 points
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — RJ Davis had 23 points and five 3-pointers, Ven-Allen Lubin added 10 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 5 seed North Carolina beat fourth-seeded Wake Forest 68-59 on Thursday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for coach Hubert Davis’ 100th victory with the program.
North Carolina (22-12), which has won eight of its last nine games, advances to play No. 1 seed Duke in the semifinals on Friday. Duke coach Jon Scheyer said it’s a “real longshot” that freshman star Cooper Flagg will be able to play because of an ankle sprain.
Wake Forest (21-11) was looking to advance to its first ACC Tournament semifinals since 2006.
Jae’Lyn Withers rattled in a 3-pointer from the corner with 4:35 left to give North Carolina a 57-56 lead and the Tar Heels never trailed again.
North Carolina went ahead 63-57 with 2:04 left after six straight points. Ven-Allen Lubin went 1 of 2 at the free-throw line, but he blocked a shot at the other end and Davis sank his fifth 3-pointer in six attempts. Lubin capped the run with an alley-oop dunk.
After Hunter Sallis ended Wake Forest’s field-goal drought that lasted nearly five minutes, Lubin threw down a putback dunk to make it 65-59 with 1:27 left.
North Carolina guard Drake Powell jumped to intercept an inbounds pass and Seth Trimble was fouled with 31.8 left before making 1 of 2 free throws for a seven-point lead.
Trimble also finished with 10 points for North Carolina, which avenged a 67-66 loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 21.
Sallis led Wake Forest with 25 points. Tre’Von Spillers had 10 points and nine rebounds, and Efton Reid III grabbed 10 rebounds.
Davis turned his left ankle with 6:49 left in the second half when he stepped on the foot of Juke Harris on a drive. After a short break, he made two free throws to give North Carolina the lead at 54-53.
Wall Street tumbles after Trump escalates his trade war; S&P 500 sinks 1.2%, and Dow drops 500
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s sell-off is accelerating Thursday after President Donald Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. Not even a double-shot of good news on the U.S. economy could stop the bleeding.
The S&P 500 was down 1.2% in afternoon trading, caught in a dizzying, battering stretch that’s driven the index roughly 10% below its record, which was set just a few weeks ago. Wall Street calls such steep drops a “correction,” and if the index finishes the day below 5,529, it would be the first for the U.S. stock market since 2023.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 507 points, or 1.2%, as of 2:15 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% lower.
The swings for stocks have been coming not just day to day but also hour to hour, and the Dow hurtled between a slight gain and a drop of 689 points during Thursday’s trading.
The turbulence is a result of uncertainty about how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. The president has said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.
Trump’s latest escalation came Thursday when he threatened 200% tariffs on Champagne and other European wines, unless the European Union rolls back a “nasty” tariff announced on U.S. whiskey. The European Union unveiled that move on Wednesday, in response to U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump’s barrage of on -again, off -again announcements. That’s raised fears about a pullback in spending that could sap energy from the economy. Some U.S. businesses say they’ve already begun to see a change in their customers’ behavior because of the uncertainty.
A particularly feared scenario for the economy is one where its growth stagnates but inflation stays high because of tariffs. Few tools are available in Washington to fix what’s called “stagflation.” If the Federal Reserve were to cut interest rates to boost the economy, for example, that could also push inflation higher.
Good news came on both those economic fronts Thursday.
One report showed inflation at the wholesale level last month was milder than economists expected. It followed a similarly encouraging report from the prior day on inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling.
But “the question for markets is whether good news on the inflation front can make itself heard above the noise of the ever-changing tariff story,” said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It’s the latest signal that the job market remains relatively solid overall. If that can continue, it could allow U.S. consumers to keep spending, and that’s the main engine of the economy.
On Wall Steet, some stocks connected to the artificial-intelligence industry resumed their slide and weighed on stock indexes. Palantir Technologies, which offers an AI platform for customers, sank 4.5%. Super Micro Computer, which makes servers, lost 6%. Nvidia swung between gains and losses before rising 0.7%.
Such stocks have been under the most pressure in the U.S. stock market’s recent sell-off after critics said their prices shot too high in the frenzy around AI.
Other areas of the market that had also been riding big earlier momentum have seen their fortunes swing drastically. Elon Musk’s Tesla fell 3.2% following a rare back-to-back gain, and it’s down more than 40% so far in 2025.
American Eagle Outfitters dropped 4% after the retailer said “less robust demand and colder weather” has held back its performance recently. It forecasted a dip in revenue for the upcoming year, though it also delivered a stronger profit report for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Intel, which jumped 14.9% after naming former board member and semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO. Tan, 65, will take over the daunting job next week, more than three months after Intel’s previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, abruptly retired amid a deepening downturn at the once-dominant chipmaker.
In the bond market, Treasury yields lost an early gain to sink lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.26% from 4.32%. The yield has been mostly dropping since January, when it was approaching 4.80%, as traders and economists have ratcheted back their expectations for U.S. economic growth.
While few are predicting a recession, particularly with the job market remaining relatively solid, recent reports have shown a souring of confidence among U.S. consumers and companies.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia, but the moves were relatively modest.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg exits ACC quarterfinals with ankle injury, but returns to bench without a boot
By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Duke star Cooper Flagg left his team’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinal game on Thursday with a left ankle injury and is doubtful to return.
The ACC player and newcomer of the year returned to the bench early in the second half, walking under his own power. He was not wearing a boot on his foot, but did not appear as though he planned to return to the game.
The top-ranked Blue Devils were trailing 26-17 late in the first half when Flagg went up for a rebound and crashed to the floor after he appeared to have his left foot land on the foot of Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo. He hobbled back to the bench in clear distress, then bent over with his hands on the seats and pounded a chair with his right fist.
After sitting on the bench for a few minutes, Flagg got up and put his arms around two teammates and was taken to the locker room for observation. He was later shown in a wheelchair in the bowels of the Spectrum Center, possibly being taken for X-rays.
Duke entered the game 28-3 but got off to a rough start missing its first 13 3-point shots to fall behind 14 to the unranked Yellow Jackets.
Duke clawed back to within five at the break.
Duke was projected as the likely No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament coming into the game after taking over the top spot in the rankings this week. The Blue Devils had won eight straight games before the ACC Tournament.
Duke’s Maliq Brown also left the game with a shoulder injury and will not return. The 6-foot-9 Brown is a key reserve and versatile defender who is viewed as a vital cog in Duke’s championship hopes. He had returned against North Carolina last weekend after missing about three weeks with a shoulder injury.
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This story has been corrected to show that Flagg appeared to land on the foot of Baye Ndongo, not Darrion Sutton.
Putin agrees in principle with proposal for Ukraine ceasefire and says more discussions are needed
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he agrees in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but he emphasized that the terms are yet to be worked out and noted that any truce should pave the way to lasting peace.
“The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin told a news conference in Moscow. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to talk about it with our American colleagues and partners and, perhaps, have a call with President Trump and discuss it with him.”
President Donald Trump said there have been “good signals” coming out of Russia and offered guarded optimism about Putin’s statement. He reiterated that he stood ready to speak with Putin and underscored that it was time to end the war.
Putin “put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete,” Trump said Thursday at a start of a meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “Now we’re going to see whether or not Russia’s there. And if they’re not, it’ll be a very disappointing moment for the world.”
Putin noted the need to develop mechanisms to control possible breaches of the truce and signaled that Russia would seek guarantees that Ukraine would not use the break in hostilities to rearm and continue mobilization.
“We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,” Putin said.
The Russian leader made the remarks just hours after the arrival of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow for talks on the ceasefire, which Ukraine has accepted. A Kremlin adviser said that Putin planned to meet with Witkoff later Thursday.
The diplomatic effort coincided with a Russian claim that its troops have driven the Ukrainian army out of a key town in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has been trying for seven months to dislodge Ukrainian troops from their foothold.
Putin said it appeared that the U.S. persuaded Ukraine to accept a ceasefire and that Ukraine is interested because of the battlefield situation, particularly in Kursk.
Referring to the Ukrainian troops in Kursk, he questioned what will happen to them if the ceasefire takes hold, saying: “Will all those who are there come out without a fight? Or will the Ukrainian leadership order them to lay down arms and surrender?”
Putin thanked Trump “for paying so much attention to the settlement in Ukraine.”
He also thanked the leaders of China, India, Brazil and South Africa for their “noble mission to end the fighting,” a statement that signaled those countries’ potential involvement in a ceasefire deal.
Russia has said it will not accept peacekeepers from any NATO members to monitor a prospective truce.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s claim that it recaptured the town of Sudzha, a Ukrainian operations hub in Kursk, came hours after Putin visited his commanders in the Kursk region. The claim could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
The renewed Russian military push and Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops unfolded as Trump seeks a diplomatic end to the war, which began more than three years ago with Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The U.S. on Tuesday lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv after senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials reported making progress on how to stop the fighting during talks in Saudi Arabia.
Trump said Wednesday that “it’s up to Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire. The U.S. president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it does not engage with peace efforts.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Thursday that Trump is “willing to apply maximum pressure on both sides,” including sanctions that reach the highest scale on Russia.
Zelenskyy chides Russia for slow response
Ukraine has expressed its own concerns that Russia would use a truce to regroup and rearm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided Russia on the Telegram messaging app Thursday for what he said was its slow response to the ceasefire proposal, accusing Moscow of trying to delay any peace deal. He said that Ukraine is “determined to move quickly toward peace” and hoped U.S. pressure would compel Russia to stop fighting.
The U.S. still has about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding for future arms shipments to Ukraine, but the Trump administration has shown no interest so far in using that authority to send additional weapons as it awaits the outcome of peace overtures.
By signaling its openness to a ceasefire at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma — whether to accept a truce and abandon hopes of making new gains, or reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.
The Ukrainian army’s foothold inside Russia has been under intense pressure for months from the renewed effort by Russian forces, backed by North Korean troops. Ukraine’s daring incursion last August led to the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since World War II and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Putin visits Russian military commanders
Speaking to commanders Wednesday, Putin said that he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future.”
Wearing military fatigues, Putin added that “it’s necessary to think about creating a security zone alongside the state border,” in a signal that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of Ukraine’s neighboring Sumy region. That idea could complicate a ceasefire deal.
Ukraine launched the raid in a bid to counter the unceasingly grim news from the front line, as well as to draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and to gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion did not significantly change the dynamic of the war.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed late Wednesday that Russian forces were in control of Sudzha, a town close to the border that previously was home to about 5,000 people.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russian aircraft had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes on Kursk and that as a result Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed. He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement but said his country was “maneuvering (troops) to more advantageous lines.”
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of Ukraine’s Northern Operational Command, which includes the Kursk region, was dismissed from his post, he told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne on Wednesday. He told the outlet that he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet.”
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Associated Press Writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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This story has been corrected to show that Suzha is a key Ukrainian military hub, not Kursk’s biggest town.