The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he was discharged from a hospital after a brief stay for an infection.

It said Wednesday morning that a series of tests showed the 68-year-old was suffering from a "minor viral infection of his upper respiratory tract." It said his doctors had recommended rest and prescribed medication.

Netanyahu’s doctors admitted him late Tuesday with a high temperature and a cough. He had suffered a throat infection about two weeks ago.

Netanyahu has been battling a slew of corruption allegations in recent months, and police have recommended he be indicted on charges related to two cases. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Source Article

Buschwood III, located at 3350 Buschwood Park Drive, is within the Northwest submarket in suburban Tampa. The two-story office building recently received a substantial renovation and is approximately 86% occupied under long-term leases to a diverse group of credit tenants.

(PRNewsfoto/Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partner)

Lingerfelt CommonWealth will operate the office building via its vertically integrated operating platform. Commonwealth Commercial Partners, the Company’s property management affiliate, will handle all aspects of the day-to-day asset and property management.

More on Lingerfelt CommonWealth can be found on the web at www.LingerfeltCommonWealth.com.

ABOUT LINGERFELT COMMONWEALTH PARTNERS
Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners, headquartered in Richmond, VA, is a vertically integrated, full service real estate investment management firm with additional offices in Charlotte, NC, Greensboro, NC, Greenville, SC, Hampton Roads, VA, Houston, TX, Jacksonville, FL, Nashville TN, Raleigh, NC, Reading, PA, and Tampa, FL. Together with its predecessors in the private sector and public REIT sector, its partners have built, acquired and managed nearly 20 million square feet of commercial real estate valued at approximately $2 billion of commercial properties across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Learn more at www.lingerfeltcommonwealth.com

SOURCE Lingerfelt CommonWealth Partners, LLC

Source Article

ESPN.com

Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

The USWNT last won gold 20 years ago in Nagano. Since, they’ve won silver three times (2002, 2010, 2014) and bronze once (2006).

Passion forming with every tighten of the lace

Years of the same routine perfected today

Rituals that are practiced and shared behind locker room doors.

— Kacey Bellamy

It could have been a disaster.

Hurricane Irma was on a path toward the Tampa, Florida, area on Sept. 9, and authorities were bracing for a direct hit. As it happened, the best women’s hockey players in the United States had just begun training in Wesley Chapel, a few miles north of Tampa International Airport.

Even though the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning had decided to evacuate its players, Team USA decided to shelter in place at the Saddlebrook Resort, where they were staying. One agent who was worried about his clients told USA Today, "Why isn’t the women’s team evacuated? Is it because they are just girls … to me this is stupid, they are our Olympic team."

But Reagan Carey, the general manager for the team, had thought it through, even going so far as to find out the number and the strength of the steel trusses in the shelter area at the Saddlebrook Resort. So on Sunday morning, Sept. 10, the team members abandoned their apartments for the shelter, joining other evacuees to wait out the storm, which lost steam from its original designation as a Category 4. Still, 80 mph winds howled outside the building as Irma passed over. The women played cards, visited with Hilary Knight’s bulldog puppy, Winston, in a separate pet area, and made hockey fans out of their fellow refugees. Captain Meghan Duggan later called it "a big sleepover," and by the next morning, they were able to return to their quarters and their lives.

"We were kind of scared," said Kacey Bellamy, the veteran defenseman and one of six players who are in Pyeongchang for their third straight Olympics. "But the negative turned into a positive. It was a great bonding experience for us, the kind of thing that brings a team closer together. Plus, I learned how to play [the card game] euchre."

By Tuesday, they were back to practicing and helping out in the community. Irma faded into a metaphor for a team that has had to weather a lot of storms over the years.

There was the crushing loss to Canada in the gold-medal game in Vancouver eight years ago. And the devastating 3-2 overtime loss in Sochi in 2014 that gave Canada its fourth straight gold medal. And the battle with USA Hockey last spring, when the women threatened to boycott the 2017 IIHF world championships if they weren’t given living expenses, travel accommodations and medal bonuses befitting representatives of the United States of America.

Not only did they win that battle, but they also went to Plymouth, Michigan, for the world championships and beat Canada 3-2 in overtime in the final — earning the team’s fourth consecutive title. "We’ve been through a lot together," said Bellamy, now an assistant captain on the team. "I think that’s made us stronger."

Resilience is part and parcel of hockey, but for female players — who often start out playing with the boys, who give up the comfort of home, who fight off waves of challengers and adjust to a succession of coaches all to pursue their Olympic dreams — well, you just bounce off the boards.

You might even write a poem about the sport you love.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File

World champ and Olympian Kacey Bellamy (22) watched the gold medal slip away from her team to archrival Canada in two consecutive Winter Olympics. She’s looking for gold in Pyeongchang.

Actions that are defined as the norm within the team

Replaying the past of one game, one play, one second

That has triggered one year of training against that one team.

It was a disaster.

What happened in Sochi’s Bolshoy Ice Dome on March 6, 2014, is excruciating to watch, even four years later. Team USA had a 2-0 lead on Team Canada late in the third period of the gold-medal game. But with 3:26 left in the game, Canada’s Brianne Jenner fired a shot that would’ve gone wide had it not ricocheted off Bellamy’s right leg and past goalie Jessie Vetter. Coach Katey Stone clapped her hands and told the team not to panic, that they were OK.

As time wound down, Canada pulled goalie Shannon Szabados, and Team USA’s Kelli Stack got off a clearing shot that headed for the empty net … and bounced off the left side of the left post. "When those things start to happen in the game of hockey," Stone later said, "you start to wonder if it is your night."

It wasn’t. Just 55 seconds away from finally beating Canada for the gold, Marie-Philip Poulin tied the score at 2-2 to send the game into overtime. Team USA had its chances in OT — the left-handed Bellamy almost ripped one past Szabados — but then the refs made some questionable calls, leaving the U.S. short-handed at just the wrong time. At 8:10 of overtime, Poulin fired the game winner past Vetter.

Imagine what it was like watching the Canadians celebrate and then waiting around to accept your silver medals.

"All that work, all that hope," said Bellamy. "Gone just like that. It took me five months to get over it. March, April, May, June, July. I’m big on watching videos of games, but I didn’t look at that one until August. I needed to get my motivation back."

Part of that motivation has to do with the team that beat the Americans, the team that always seems to beat them. USA vs. Canada in women’s hockey is one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. It started way back in 1916 and captivated the world when women’s hockey debuted as an Olympic sport at Nagano in 1998. The U.S. won that gold-medal game, but the Canadians have won every Olympics since.

The rivalry is so intense that 10 fighting majors were handed out in one 2013 game, resulting in six U.S. players and five Canadians crammed into the penalty boxes. But they are also friends who share a love of the sport and often play on the same collegiate and pro teams. Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu, one-time captains of Teams Canada and USA, respectively, first met at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 and are now coaching at Concordia University in Montreal together while raising Liv Chu-Ouellette, born to Caroline last November.

Tale of the Tape: The U.S. vs. Canada in women’s hockey

Both shielded by different armor

Separated by a simple borderline

Sharing the same frenzy for the sport and rivalry

Colors, countries, teammates

All united on the same ice

Bellamy, a women’s studies major at the University of New Hampshire, likes to write poetry in her spare time. "They’re mostly about nature and people," she said. "But I did write this one about hockey." In fact, USA Hockey used the poem for a video to promote the "Bring On The World" tour before the last Olympics.

That’s Bellamy’s voice narrating her words in the video, an ode to the challenges of the sport in general, and the rivalry in particular. There is a depth of feeling to the poem that explains why and how Bellamy and the other five three-timers have stayed at the top of the American team for so long, through three different coaches (Mark Johnson, Stone, Robb Stauber) and all the ups and downs.

"Eight years ago, I was just a rookie with my eyes wide open, in awe of where I was, who I was playing with," said Bellamy. "Now I’m 31 and still in awe of the responsibility. The Olympics is about more than the rivalry with Canada. It’s about representing the country. It’s about showing people how beautiful women’s hockey can be. It’s about the little girls with sticks, the little girls we used to be."

Two years ago, Bellamy wrote a powerful "Letter to My Younger Self" for The Players Tribune. Addressed to 15-year-old Kacey, she recalled leaving behind her family and friends in Westfield, Massachusetts, to attend the Berkshire School and how the first two weeks "are going to be the worst two weeks of your life." She told her about the friends and coaches who changed her life, about getting her heart broken when she was cut from USA Hockey’s under-22 team, about using the rejection as motivation to make the senior national team.

"You’re going to play for the U.S. team for a long time," she wrote. "But never take anything for granted. Make the most of the opportunities you have."

Each playing for the crest on the front of the jersey

And sticking up for every name on the back

Relax. Just like in Tampa, it might not be the disaster they’re predicting.

Some people who care deeply about Team USA worry that Pyeongchang will be as much a disappointment as Sochi or Vancouver or Turin or Salt Lake City were. They wonder why Stauber, a former NHL goalie who assisted Stone in Sochi, didn’t name any female assistants to his staff. And while he did coach the team to the world championship last April, and beat Canada 5-1 to win the Four Nations Cup on Nov. 12, Team USA has lost the past four games to Canada in its pre-Olympic warm-up.

A 2-1 overtime loss to Canada at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Dec. 3 was particularly painful because the tying goal was scored by Poulin and the winning goal by Jenner, their Sochi nemeses. And it happened in front of members of the 1998 USA Olympic team, who were honored between periods for the United States’ only gold medal.

Afterward, Stauber said, "For us, it’s not necessarily about the 20 years, but more about, ‘It’s time.’ We’ve got to bring home a gold medal. We’ve got a pretty good vision. We’re sticking with it, and we like our direction."

That direction included the addition of three players since Irma: defenders Cayla Barnes and Sidney Morin and forward Haley Skarupa. When the final roster was named after the second period of the Winter Classic at Citi Field on Jan. 1, veterans Bellamy, Duggan, Knight, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Gigi Marvin were on it, but forward Alex Carpenter, Team USA’s leading scorer in Sochi, and defender Megan Bozek were not — leading some to speculate that they did not buy into Stauber’s system.

Stauber stresses a controlled possession game that sometimes takes the puck back into the neutral zone. As for the lack of a female coach, he does rely on his veterans to help the younger players. Bellamy has been working with the 18-year-old Barnes, who had been getting ready to play for Boston College when she was asked to report to Wesley Chapel. "She’s wise beyond her years," says Bellamy. "Very poised … she’s just wonderful to have around the locker room."

While the recent results against Canada have been disappointing, it’s worth keeping in mind that in the American men’s last exhibition game with the Soviet Union before the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game, Team USA was crushed 10-3.

In Pyeongchang, both archrivals beat Finland and the Russians in the first two games of Group A play — though there was some hand-wringing as the U.S. got off to slow starts in the first period of both games. It was Bellamy who broke the ice at 8:02 of the first period of the victory over the Russians, stepping into the attack off a pass from Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and firing a seeing-eye shot past Russian goalie Valeria Tarakanova. Team USA then put the game away in the second period, thanks to a more aggressive mindset and two goals by Lamoureux-Davidson within six seconds — an Olympic record.

By winning those first two prelims, Canada and Team USA assured themselves of a place in the semifinals, meaning that their game tomorrow means nothing… and their next one everything.

"We’re starting with a clean slate in South Korea," says Bellamy. "This time will be different."

Or, as she once wrote:

Mistakes lead to success

Errors lead to victory

Pride leads to gold

Senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine
Around long enough to have written about athletes from Hank Aaron to Ben Zobrist and Super Bowls from VII to XLVI.
Joined ESPN The Magazine as a founding editor in 1998.
Also wrote for Time, Sports Illustrated, the Fort Lauderdale News and The Evening Sun in Norwich, NY.

Source Article

TAMPA, FL (WFLA) — Pirates are invading the City of Tampa!

The ships started making their way into the Hillsborough Bay around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. They will now make their way to the Seddon Channel between Davis Islands and Harbor Islands.

The Jose Gasparilla will eventually dock at the Tampa Convention Center around 1 p.m., where Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn will be forced to surrender the key to the city.

On Tuesday, Mayor Buckhorn refused to give the key to a group of pirates who arrived at city hall on a float. Buckhorn posted on Facebook saying he told the pirates to come back Saturday for a real fight.

After the invasion Saturday morning, the Captain of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla will parade down the streets of Tampa with his Krewe to share their beads and other treasures. Plenty of other pirates will join the fun on 103 other floats, 3 marching bands and more than 50 Krewes.

The 4.5-mile parade will begin at the intersection of Bay to Bay Boulevard and Bayshore Boulevard. It will end at the intersection of Ashley Drive and Cass Street.

————

Play Video

Play

Loaded: 0%

Progress: 0%

Remaining Time -0:00

This is a modal window.

Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque

Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent

Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent

Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400%

Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow

Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps

Defaults Done

Source Article

TAMPA, FL – In preparation for Tampa’s annual pirate invasion Saturday, Jan. 27, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn gathered his top law enforcement advisers Monday, Jan. 22, at Tampa Police Department Headquarters to discuss strategies to outwit the band of buccaneers and keep the city of Tampa safe.

While the perennial battle between the city and the Gasparilla pirates is all in fun, Buckhorn said the safety of residents and visitors to the annual Gasparilla Festival is no joke.

Along with Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, representatives from Tampa Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Hillsborough County Schools, Pepin Distributing and Gasparilla organizer Ye Mystic Krewe, Buckhorn held a press conference Monday to discuss parking rules, traffic issues, water safety and a zero tolerance drinking policy for teen revelers.

Celebrated since 1904, the festival is a tribute to the fictional pirate, Jose Gaspar, who was rumored to sail Tampa Bay in the 1700s, plundering towns along the way. Over the years, Gasparilla has developed into the third largest parade and festival in the country, attracting tourists from around the world and filtering an estimated $23 million into Tampa’s economy.

That Gasparilla pirate invasion scenario continues to be played out every year when members of tYe Mystic Krewe, organizers of the festival, invade Tampa in their replica Jose Gasparilla pirate ship and demand the mayor hand over the keys to the city.

Subscribe

The pirates threw down the gauntlet last week when Ye Mystic Krewe Capt. Christopher Lykes sent Buckhorn an ultimatum for Buckhorn to meet him at high noon Tuesday, Jan. 23, in downtown Tampa to negotiate a peaceful surrender of the city and avoid a battle.

Capt. Lykes and his crew, accompanied by cannon fire, will launch a raiding party in downtown Tampa Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. to lay out Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s conditions for surrendering the city.

Like his predecessors, however, Buckhorn has yet to surrender the city without a fight in his seven years as mayor. And this year is no exception.

His refusal to surrender will inevitably lead to the annual Gasparilla Invasion of the pirates Saturday, Jan. 27.

This year’s invasion will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday with the Jose Gasparilla pirate ship docking at the Tampa Convention Center. The annual Invasion Brunch will take place starting at 1 p.m. At the brunch, Buckhorn will finally surrender the keys to the city to the Capt. Lykes.

Buckhorn, however, said the act of handing over the keys to the buccaneers is more a victory than a defeat for Tampa due to the boon to the city’s economy during the annual festival and its accompanying events including the Gasparilla music festival, road race, art festival and children’s parade.

This year, Buckhorn is hoping for an even bigger bounty due to the festivities surrounding Tampa hosting the NHL All-Star game and fan festival Jan. 26-28 in conjunction with Gasparilla weekend.

"I rarely say anything nice about these pirates, but Gasparilla is one of the things that truly set us apart from the nation," Buckhorn said. "This year, we will be combining the festivities with NHL All-Star Weekend to elevate Tampa on the national stage once again."

In that light, Buckhorn said he’s pulling out all stops to make sure festival-goers have a safe weekend.

"Our goal is to make Gasparilla safe and fun with no arrests," he said. "We want people to leave with beads around their neck – not with handcuffs around their wrists."

With that in mind, Tampa Police will receive assistance from 22 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies this weekend.

Photo via City of Tampa

Source Article