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There isn’t a Marie listed on the Gophers women’s soccer roster, but she is an important part of the team. ADVERTISEMENT Marie doesn’t play a position, but she goes everywhere with the squad, which is convenient because she is the size of a carry-on roller bag and can be safely stowed in an airplane’s overhead bin. Marie is the name given to U captain defender Elizabeth Overberg’s black JBL PartyBox speaker. Marie is in Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Gophers’ game against South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament at 1 p.m. Friday. Minnesota is making its first national tournament appearance since 2018, but Marie’s inclusion shows that the Gophers aren’t taking themselves too seriously. Near the start of the season, forward Khyah Harper choreographed a dance to Michel Jackson’s “Beat It” for a handful of teammates to perform before road matches. The ensemble includes Overberg, Sophia Boman, Avery Petty, Alex Isaacs, Aaryn Gabriel, Sophia Romine and Evelyn Calhoon. The Gophers finished the regular season at home, hosted the start of the Big Ten tournament and began the NCAA run with a 2-0 win over South Dakota State last week, so they haven’t done the dance more than a month. The routine — superstition? — is to do the performance the day before the game, which they did Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT “They were a little rusty,” Harper reported. “They got a redo because first one did not go very well. But the second one, they definitely brought the energy.” Did head coach Erin Chastain join in? She is, after all, coming off her first career NCAA tournament win. “That would be a miracle to get her to do it,” Harper shared. But the tradition has brought the players together and their on-field success is due, in part, to their chemistry, said Harper, the Big Ten forward of the year with 17 goals in 20 matches. “Our team is super close, so it’s really easy to play well together when we’re on the field,” Harper said. “And I think that we just all have the same end goal ... just winning.” ADVERTISEMENT The sixth-seeded Gophers (13-4-3) will be tested by No. 3 seed South Carolina (11-3-7) on Friday. While Minnesota is in the tournament for the first time in six years, the Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference are making their 12th straight appearance. “They seem like they’re a really good team, but we know that we are, too,” Harper said. “So we kind of just focus on ourselves and know that we can bring a lot to the table, and we’re a really good team. We’re in the round of 32 for a reason. We can match up against any competition, but we also know that anyone can win on any given day, so I think just bringing our best effort versus them and we can get a result that we want.” If the U wins again and reaches the Sweet Sixteen, there will be another dance recital in the Gophers’ near future. ______________________________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here .fish animal 。

During the holiday season last year, Andrea Cieminski was mourning her late brother, but this year, she and her family have received a gift beyond belief: homeownership. Just three months ago, the idea was completely out of reach, and Cieminski thought she and her children would soon become homeless as their landlord prepared to sell the property they had lived in for the past 14 years. Cieminski and her children rallied together, doing whatever they could to earn extra money to save their memory-filled home and ensure that Cieminski's daughter, Ari, would have a home to return to after her 12th heart surgery. And because of the generosity of the La Crosse community and several local housing assistance programs, Cieminski signed the paperwork Friday to become a first-time home buyer. People are also reading... “I just bought my house,” said Cieminski. “We get to stay.” Ari, who is still recovering from the November surgery, could not have wished for a better present. “I’m so happy because we have lived here for so many years,” she said. Becoming a first-time home buyer was not an easy task, but it was worth the struggle. “It was a lot of work, but I did it,” said Cieminski. “I tried so hard because that’s what they [the children] wanted. And (Ari) has already gone through so much, I just wanted to make it happen.” Her former landlords didn't expect her to succeed, but hoped she would, giving her extra time to gather the necessary funds. “I’m amazed. I didn’t think she would do it,” said Mike Wozniak, former landlord. “We did it because of the kids. The kids were born there; they didn’t want to leave.” In addition to the time, he even reduced his asking price. “I dropped the price 10,000 bucks, and then everything started falling into place,” said Wozniak. “I think it’s great that they are finally doing it.” By overcoming her social anxiety and reaching far outsider her comfort zone, being completely vulnerable, she was able to save her home and touch the hearts of many in the community. “People saw the story and they came here and gave us money,” said Cieminski. “I was able to pay for the appraisal, the inspection and all of that stuff.” Through support on the GoFundMe and donations brought directly to her, Cieminski received over $5,000 from community members. In addition to the generous donations, the RANDA Foundation supplied Cieminski with a real estate agent, saving her thousands of dollars. Beyond just owning the home, Cieminski is also set to receive funding to renovate the century-old home from Couleecap. “We think there is probably going to be about $65,000 of work into that home,” said Majel Hein, Couleecap community development assistant director. “There is a lot of lead paint in that home. It was built in the late 1800s, so we have got to get all of that out of there.” Removing the lead -- the No. 1 priority -- is expected to take up a majority of the renovations budget. However, through a series of grants, several other issues and necessary updates will also be addressed. “As you can see, this place isn’t the best,” said Cieminski. “But now, they are going to rehab the whole place -- windows, electric, plumbing -- everything.” By taking out a mortgage loan and working with different programs such as the city of La Crosse’s First Time Homebuyer Downpayment Assistance Program, which provided $25,000 and Couleecap’s Homeowner Programs, which provided $8,000, plus a $10,000 grant from Coulee Bank, home ownership became possible. Help from Couleecap’s Home Rehabilitation Assistance will ensure the $65,000 in necessary renovations are made. “People who are benefiting from down payment assistance are not people who are not working hard for their families,” said Mara Keyes, La Crosse community development manager. “Oftentimes, they are paying significantly more in rent than they would in a mortgage payment, and it just makes it so hard to save up that money to be able to make any kind of down payment. So really, it’s incredible to get to see so many people moving into their homes.” As a homeowner, Cieminski will pay about $125 less each month on her mortgage payments than what she has previously paid in rent. The payment includes property taxes. Cieminski couldn't be more grateful to the community, community partners, and others who helped save her home. “All of these wonderful people helped make it happen,” said Cieminski. “It feels good to know that there are so many kind people – we’ve just had a lot of trauma in our family, especially as of lately.” Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Atmos Energy Corp. stock underperforms Thursday when compared to competitorsNone

NASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler brought a new putting grip to the Hero World Challenge and felt enough improvement to be satisfied with the result, a 5-under 67 that left him three shots behind Cameron Young on Thursday. Young was playing for the first time since the BMW Championship more than three months ago and found great success on and around the greens of Albany Golf Club, chipping beautifully and holing four birdie putts from 15 feet or longer for his 64. He led by two shots over Justin Thomas in his first competition since his daughter was born a few weeks ago. Thomas ran off four straight birdies late in his round and was a fraction of an inch away with a fifth. The big surprise was Scheffler, the No. 1 player in golf who looked as good as he has all year in compiling eight victories, including an Olympic gold medal. His iron play has no equal. His putting at times has kept him from winning more or winning bigger. He decided to try to a "saw" putting grip from about 20 feet or closer — the putter rests between his right thumb and his fingers, with his left index finger pointed down the shaft. "I'm always looking for ways to improve," Scheffler said. Scheffler last year began working with renowned putting instructor Phil Kenyon, and he says Kenyon mentioned the alternative putting grip back then. "But it was really our first time working together and it's something that's different than what I've done in the past," Scheffler said. "This year I had thought about it from time to time, and it was something that we had just said let's table that for the end of the season, take a look at it. "Figured this is a good week to try stuff." He opened with a wedge to 2 feet and he missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5 third. But he holed a birdie from about the same distance at the next par 5, No. 6, and holed a sliding 6-footer on the ninth to save par. His longest putt was his last hole, from 12 feet for a closing birdie. "I really enjoyed the way it felt," he said. "I felt like I'm seeing some improvements in my stroke." Young, regarded as the best active player without a PGA Tour victory, is treating this holiday tournament as the start of a new season. He worked on getting stronger and got back to the basics in his powerful golf swing. And on this day, he was dialed in with his short game. He only struggled to save par twice and kept piling up birdies in his bogey-free round on an ideal day in the Bahamas. "The wind wasn't blowing much so it was relatively stress-free," Young said. Patrick Cantlay, along with Scheffler playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup, also was at 67 with Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala. Thomas also took this occasion to do a little experimenting against a 20-man field. He has using a 46-inch driver at home — a little more than an inch longer than his regular driver — in a bid to gain more speed. On a day with little wind, on a golf course with some room off the tee, he decided to put it in play. "Just with it being a little bit longer, I just kind of have to get the club out in front of me and get on top of it a little bit more," Thomas said. "I drove the hell out of it on the back, so that was nice to try something different and have it go a little bit better on the back." Thomas said the longer driver gives him 2 or 3 mph in ball speed and 10 extra yards in the air. "It's very specific for courses, but gave it a try," he said. Conditions were easy enough that only four players in field failed to break par, with Jason Day bringing up the rear with a 75. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Young holds 3-shot lead over Scheffler in BahamasBuffett refines fortune plans, donates more shares

A stellar performance by Gemini Musical Theatre Company this Christmas

Baku: India strongly opposed the agreement reached at COP29 and the manner of its adoption at the United Nations climate change conference. It said the ' Baku to Belem Roadmap to 1.3T', which aimed to at least treble climate finance for developing countries, from the current level of $100 billion, by 2035, was "too little, too distant". In the early hours of Sunday, around 2:30 am local time, COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev took up the agreement on the new climate finance target or new collective quantified goal. Without checking to see if any country or negotiating group had objections, Babayev struck the gavel, said people familiar with the matter. "We had informed the presidency, we had informed the secretariat that we wanted to make a statement prior to any decision on the adoption," said Chandni Raina, India's negotiator on finance. Expressing its disappointment, she said that the approval had been "stage-managed" and that "gavelling and trying to ignore parties from speaking does not behove the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change". Referring to various assessments including that of the UN appointed International High-Level Expert Panel, she said, "Our 2030 estimates tell us that we need $1.3 trillion per year till 2030. But we only have a proposal that talks about a $300 billion mobilisation goal." Similar concerns were raised by scientists. The $300 billion target, according to earth system scientist Johan Rockstrom, is "too little, too late, from too many sources". India said the agreement did not "address the needs and priorities of the developing countries". "The amount that is proposed to be mobilised is abysmally poor. It is a paltry sum. It is not something that will enable conducive climate action that is necessary for the survival of our country, and for the growth of the people, their livelihoods. I am sorry to say that we cannot accept it," said Raina. India's intervention received wide support from civil society as well. "The outcome offers false hope to those already bearing the brunt of climate disasters and abandons vulnerable communities and nations, leaving them to face these immense challenges alone," said Harjeet Singh, climate activist and global engagement director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. 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