Russia's attack on Ukraine, daylight saving time, NCAA March Madness: 5 things to know this weekend
Ukraine: Russia artillery damages another hospital
Devastating economic sanctions from the U.S. and its allies haven't stopped Russia's assault on Ukraine, which resulted in damage to another hospital — this time a cancer hospital in the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian officials reported Saturday. Several hundred patients were in the hospital during the attack but no one was killed, according to the hospital’s head doctor, Maksim Beznosenko. Several residential buildings in that city also were damaged from shelling from heavy artillery. Ukraine's emergency services also reported Saturday that the bodies of five people were pulled from an apartment building that was struck by shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, including two women, a man and two children. Russia also appears to be regrouping from recent losses and possibly gearing up for operations against Kyiv, Ukraine's capital city. Fighting has intensified close to Kyiv, where doctors are bracing for the prospect of widespread casualties from war.
- 'Gotta stand with your friends': Vice President Harris says high inflation, gas prices are ‘price to pay’ as US sanctions Russia
- 'Another crushing blow to the Russian economy': Biden joins EU, G7 in calling to strip Russia's trade status over Ukraine, allowing for new tariffs
- 'Worse than hell': Mariupol mother fears for her daughter as Russia lays siege to the Ukrainian city
- Fact check roundup: What's true and what's false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine
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Daylight saving time is returning: It's time to change your clocks
America's annual ritual of early March – changing clocks to daylight saving time – is coming Sunday at 2 a.m. Since most computers, smartphones and DVRs automatically change the time, switching clocks is not as much of a chore as it used to be. Unless you have smart appliances, microwaves and ovens are on the short list of household items that will need a manual adjustment. Most of the country will lose an hour of sleep on Sunday when going to DST, as the day is only 23 hours long. Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that don't observe the switch. The country moves back to standard time on Nov. 6.
- 2021 column from Sens. Patty Murray and Marco Rubio: Making daylight saving time permanent would be good for Americans.
- From the last time we changed the clocks: Social media flooded with confused sleepers, unhappy pets and memes as daylight saving time ends
March Madness: Selection Sunday kicks off NCAA tournaments
March Madness is in full swing with conference tournaments and will culminate Sunday with the announcements of the 68-team fields for both the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. Many fans and teams will get to see where their teams are headed, while other schools will have their bubble burst and be left out of the tournaments completely. For the first time, both the men's and women's tournaments will feature 68 teams, 32 automatic qualifiers from conferences across the country and the other 36 teams will be at-large selections. In 2021, the men's tournament was held at sites in Indiana and the women's event was held at venues in and around San Antonio and Austin, Texas, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thus year, both events will resume holding games at arenas all over the country with the men's Final Four being held at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on April 2 and 4 and the women's Final Four set for the Target Center in Minneapolis on April 1 and 3.
- 7 potential March Madness bid thieves that could ruin bubble teams
- March Madness bracketology: Gonzaga predicted to be locked as overall No. 1 seed
- Paste BN analysis: Salaries for women's college hoops coaches are skyrocketing
Winter wallop in store for much of eastern US
Tens of millions are in the path of a storm forecast to wallop much of the eastern U.S. with snow, rain and wind over the next couple of days, hitting "bomb cyclone" status Saturday. Alerts are in place from Texas to Maine and snow totals over 12 inches are likely across parts of the interior Northeast, which may experience scattered power outages. Wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph are forecast from northern Florida to Atlantic Canada on Saturday. The strongest are expected in North Carolina and in southern New England where wind gusts could reach 70 to 90 mph, according to AccuWeather.
- Earlier coverage: 150 million may be affected by 'bomb cyclone'
- What is a bomb cyclone? A winter hurricane, explained
- Did you follow the news this week? Test your knowledge with our quiz.
Mandatory reporting date for signed MLB players to get to camp is Sunday
A day after owners and players reached agreement to end a 99-day lockout, all 30 spring training camps opened across Arizona and Florida on Friday, beginning the four-week sprint to get ready for an April 7 opening day. Sunday is the mandatory reporting date for players who are already signed. But many players also have work to do as more than 100 free agents remain without a contract, which means a busy weekend for player movement could be ahead. Stars such as infielders Freddie Freeman, Carlos Correa and Trevor Story and relief pitcher Kenley Jansen are among those still available for teams to sign. Adding to the intrigue, the National League will permanently adopt the designated hitter as part of the new collective bargaining agreement, and several players stand to benefit from waiting until that change was official to sign. Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Nelson Cruz all hit at least 30 home runs in 2021 and none of them are known for their stellar defense.
- 'The system worked': MLB players didn't get everything they wanted, but union touts new CBA as a win
- From Bob Nightengale: Ugly CBA negotiations are over and baseball is back. Still, what took so long to get this deal done?
- Early signings: Dodgers bring back Kershaw for one year | Rodon, Giants agree to two-year deal
Contributing: The Associated Press