Author: chicagoinquirer

by Greg Beacham LOS ANGELES  — LeBron James had 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists and the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors with a 122-101 victory Friday night in Game 6 of the second-round series. The seventh-seeded Lakers will face Nikola Jokic and the top-seeded Nuggets in the Western Conference finals starting Tuesday night in Denver. Anthony Davis had 17 points and 20 rebounds for the Lakers, who never trailed in a closeout victory that punctuated their increasingly incredible late-season surge. Austin Reaves scored 23 points, highlighted by a 54-footer from midcourt at…

byTim Reynolds MIAMI — Heat coach Erik Spoelstra walked into the postgame interview room, a cup of a celebratory beverage in his hand, took a seat and began explaining how difficult the journey has been for Heat. The regular season was a struggle. They needed to survive the play-in. They were three minutes away from going home before the playoffs even started, needing a rally just to earn the right to play top-seeded Milwaukee. All forgotten. They’re in the NBA’s final four — getting there as a No. 8 seed. Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 and…

by Samya Kullab KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasn’t clear if this marked the start of Kyiv’s long-expected counteroffensive. Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved “defense breakthroughs.” The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory that Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut retook this week represented a significant gain and…

by Mathew Daly WASHINGTON  — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. A rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency could force power plants to capture smokestack emissions using a technology that has long been promised but is not used widely in the United States. “This administration is committed to meeting the urgency of the climate crisis and taking the necessary actions required,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. The plan would not only…

by Valerie Gonzalez MATAMOROS, Mexico — Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday, racing to enter the U.S. before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation’s beleaguered immigration system. The imminent end of the rules known as Title 42 stirred fear among migrants that the change would make it more difficult for them to stay in the U.S. With a late-night deadline looming, migrants in Mexico shed clothing before descending a steep bank into the Rio Grande, clutching plastic bags filled with clothes. One man held a baby in…

by Tim Reynolds The jacket that Michael Jordan famously and grudgingly wore while receiving an Olympic gold medal has been in Brian McIntyre’s possession for more than three decades now. He figures the time is right to let someone else enjoy it. The red, white and blue Reebok jacket that Jordan — a Nike athlete — was forced to wear on the medal stand alongside the other members of USA Basketball’s first “Dream Team” at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is headed to auction. Sotheby’s, which has the offering that will run through June 28, estimates that the jacket could fetch…

by Agency reports LONDON  — The U.K. is sending Ukraine long-range cruise missiles to help push back Russian forces, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Thursday. It’s the first known shipment of the weaponry that Kyiv has long sought from its allies. Wallace told lawmakers in the House of Commons that Britain is donating Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of more than 250 kilometers (155 miles). He didn’t say how many are being sent. Wallace said the missiles “are now going into or are in the country itself.” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged in February that Britain would…

by Stephen Groves WASHINGTON  — House Republicans are seeking Thursday to pass a sweeping bill to build more border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hardline counter to President Joe Biden’s policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of pandemic restrictions. The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law. Democrats, who have a narrow hold on the Senate, have decried the aggressive measures in the bill as “cruel” and “anti-immigrant,” and Biden has already promised he would veto it. But the House GOP pointedly scheduled the vote for the same day as the expiration…

by Brian Mahoney NEW YORK  — Jalen Brunson had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while playing all 48 minutes in a season-extending performance, and the New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat 112-103 on Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Knicks denied the Heat’s first attempt to become just the second No. 8 seed to reach the conference finals and sent the series back to Miami for Game 6 on Friday night. RJ Barrett added 26 points and Julius Randle had 24 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who stayed alive in hopes of reaching…

by Seung Min Kim WASHINGTON  — The Hollywood writers’ strike that’s snarling the television and movie industries has now scrambled the White House schedule. An MTV special on mental health that was expected to feature Vice President Kamala Harris next week has been postponed, according to her office. A person familiar with the decision said Harris chose not to travel to the Los Angeles-area event because that would have been seen as crossing the picket line. That’s a political nonstarter for Democrats who rely on union support. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity about…