Category: Mohegan

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

James Jones, East Catholic, 6-6, Sr., G

East Catholic’s James Jones during the CIAC Division I Finals at Mohegan Sun, March 18, 2023.

David G Whitham

Stats: Averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals per game for the CCC and Division I state champions. … Finished career with 84-9 record.

Honors: Two-time All-CCC and coaches all-state selection. …GameTimeCT Second Team all-state in 2022. … HoopHall Classic Team MVP and GHPA Classic game MVP.

Off the court: Honor roll student.

Up next: Considering several Division I schools, including Penn, Siena, St. Peter’s and Columbia. Likely may take a post-graduate season.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Ronan O’Leary, Waterbury Career

WCA Ronan Oleary holds the state champion trophy after No. 2 Waterbury Career Academy’s 74-58 win over No. 1 Bloomfield in the CIAC Divison III boys basketball championship at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Sunday, March 19, 2023.

Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media

Stats: Led WCA to a 24-3 record and to the program’s first CIAC state championship, defeating Bloomfield 74-58 for the Division III title. … Spartans also won the NVL’s Brass Division and tournament championship for the first time. … WCA is just in its eighth year as a varsity program. Made the state tournament the seven previous seasons with one trip to the 2017 Class S state semifinals….

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Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there will always be something to check out.

Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of April 7:

Abraham Alexander — Friday at World Café Live

Singer-songwriter Abraham Alexander comes to town Friday in support of Wilder Woods, another stop on his journey from modest musical beginnings performing at open mics in Fort Worth, Texas, to recent stints on the road opening for Leon Bridges, Black Pumas and Mavis Staples. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in Athens. And while the lyrics on his debut LP, “SEA/SONS,” arriving April 14, speak to pain and trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.

Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour — Saturday at Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center

As one of the world’s longest-running and most iconic events, the Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates its 65th year with a must-hear once-in-a-lifetime ensemble that organizers have put out on the road for those who can’t make it to the Bay Area. The MJF on Tour this time around features Tony- and Grammy Award-winning NEA Jazz Master vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater alongside Grammy Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling and critically acclaimed rising star saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin. The band will be directed by visionary pianist Christian Sands and anchored by his longtime rhythm section, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn.

Kind Hearted Strangers — Saturday at 118 North, Wayne

Hailing from…

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WILKES-BARRE, PA – On a warm April afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, harness racing driver Jim Pantaleano won three of Tuesday’s (April 4) five $20,000 divisions of the first preliminary leg of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series for $25,000 base-tag horses, including two horses trained by Scott Betts.

Manofmanymuscles and driver Jim Pantaleano (Curtis Salonick Photo)

Pantaleano/Betts produced the fastest GOC winner in the Muscle Massive gelding Manofmanymuscles, who led the entire last half in lowering his mark by two seconds to 1:54.2 for owner Timothy Betts.

MANOFMANYMUSCLES REPLAY

The trainer/driver team also posted a victory with Worthy Of Honor (Cantab Hall), who covered the mile in 1:56.3.

Pantaleano’s other winner was Nice Stuff (Yankee Glide), now two for three in 2023 after a 1:56.3 success for trainer Laura Angle. The other two GOC winners in the initial prelim were It’s A Horse (1:54.3 for a new mark while handled by Matt Kakaley, who led the drivers overall with four victories) and Elegant Dulupin FR (1:56.2, Mark MacDonald).

None of the five winners was claimed out of the first leg; in fact, there were only two horses who changed hands in the five races, although that total will likely grow in subsequent rounds now that owners and trainers have seen a Pocono race from the horses, many of whom shipped in from points throughout the eastern half of North America.

The Bobby Weiss Series for developing three-year-olds, named after the legendary longtime Pocono trackman, get underway with a bang on Pocono’s next card of action, Saturday at 1 p.m. The three-year-old pacing colts, who will have their preliminaries and Championship on Saturdays, go in five $20,000 divisions of their first prelim; also Saturday this week will be…

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Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock and roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there will always be something to check out.

Here are seven of the best on the docket for the week of April 7:

Abraham Alexander — Friday at World Café Live

Singer-songwriter Abraham Alexander comes to town Friday in support of Wilder Woods, another stop on his journey from modest musical beginnings performing at open mics in Fort Worth, Texas, to recent stints on the road opening for Leon Bridges, Black Pumas and Mavis Staples. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in Athens. And while the lyrics on his debut LP, “SEA/SONS,” arriving April 14, speak to pain and trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.

Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour — Saturday at Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center

As one of the world’s longest-running and most iconic events, the Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates its 65th year with a must-hear once-in-a-lifetime ensemble that organizers have put out on the road for those who can’t make it to the Bay Area. The MJF on Tour this time around features Tony- and Grammy Award-winning NEA Jazz Master vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater alongside Grammy Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling and critically acclaimed rising star saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin. The band will be directed by visionary pianist Christian Sands and anchored by his longtime rhythm section, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn.

Kind Hearted Strangers — Saturday at 118 North, Wayne

Hailing from…

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THE DOWNS AT MOHEGAN PENNSYLVANIA

Tuesday’s results

First – $12,500 Trot 1:55.0

3-Altus Hanover (Br Boyd) 10.60 4.00 3.00

2-Ching Ching Lucky (Ma Miller) 10.40 7.80

7-Dagon Hanover (Ty Buter) 7.20

50 CENT TRIFECTA (3-2-7) $117.30

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (3-2-7-8) $259.69

Second – $6,000 Pace 1:54.1

4-Lincolnjames (Ma Kakaley) 2.80 2.10 2.10

5-Brigadoon (Ma Miller) 3.20 2.20

3-Thefreedomfightern (An Napolitano) 2.40

50 CENT TRIFECTA (4-5-3) $3.65

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (4-5-3-8) $2.31

DAILY DOUBLE (3-4) $11.00

Scratched: Phantom Seelster

Third – $8,500 Trot 1:55.2

3-Andover Contessa (Ma Kakaley) 4.40 2.60 2.60

6-Crazycat (Br Boyd) 4.20 3.40

5-Emma Town Bud (Pi Bovay) 7.20

50 CENT TRIFECTA (3-6-5) $43.65

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (3-6-5-4) $16.41

Fourth – $20,000 Trot 1:54.3

1-Its A Horse (Ma Kakaley) 8.00 4.40 2.60

3-Town Victor (Ty Buter) 3.00 2.10

5-Simon Got Lucky (Si Allard) 3.40

50 CENT TRIFECTA (1-3-5) $22.00

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (1-3-5-2) $14.65

50 CENT PICK 4 (3-2,4-3-1) $34.15

Fifth – $12,000 Pace 1:56.0

1-Hurrikane Lady Lou (Ge Napolitano Jr) 6.80 3.60 2.40

8-Eazy Hunting (Ma Miller) 7.80 4.20

2-Beautiful America (Ma MacDonald) 3.40

50 CENT TRIFECTA (1-8-2) $28.95

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (1-8-2-6) $55.96

Sixth – $20,000 Trot 1:56.2

1-Elegant Dulupin Fr (Ma MacDonald) 4.00 2.80 3.20

4-Dart Guy (Ma Miller) 29.60 11.20

5-Hall It Off (Ge Napolitano Jr) 2.80

50 CENT TRIFECTA (1-4-5) $97.50

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (1-4-5-2) $102.22

Seventh – $13,000 Trot 1:57.1

2-Gadot Hanover (Ma Miller) 15.00 5.80 3.80

7-Budweiser Girl (Si Allard) 23.80 7.60

5-Rhiannon Hanover (Ma Kakaley) 3.20

50 CENT TRIFECTA (2-7-5) $204.95

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (2-7-5-1) $121.60

Eighth – $20,000 Trot 1:56.3

5-Worthy Of Honor (Ja Pantaleano) 3.80 2.60 2.20

1-Foreverhillreign (Br Boyd) 7.40 5.20

3-K J Diamond (An Napolitano) 11.20

50 CENT TRIFECTA (5-1-3) $74.15

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (5-1-3-6) $36.48

Ninth – $11,000 Pace 1:52.3

5-Decoy (Si Allard) 19.40 8.40 3.80

1-My Wish Came True (Ma MacDonald) 6.80 3.60

4-Waimac Attack N (Ty Buter) 2.80

50 CENT TRIFECTA (5-1-4) $130.20

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (5-1-4-2) $106.32

50 CENT PICK 4 (1-2-5-5) $235.65

Tenth – $20,000 Trot 1:54.2

5-Manofmanymuscles (Ja Pantaleano) 15.40 6.60 4.20

6-Warrior Way (Ge Napolitano Jr) 3.60 2.80

3-Awsome Paul (Br Boyd) 6.00

50 CENT TRIFECTA (5-6-3) $48.30

10 CENT SUPERFECTA (5-6-3-2) $20.27

Eleventh -…

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Every high school basketball player hears his or her coach preach a hallowed maxim: “You’ve got to play the whole game.”

Shepaug Valley High School’s Mohegan Sun arrival last weekend for the Division V Championship game heralded a broader view for Head Coach Matt Lefevre and Assistants Ted Bremer and Alan Stinson: “You’ve got to coach the whole season.”

Make that an entire lifetime for Coach Lefevre, who led Shepaug to a state final for the first time since 1983, falling to Windsor Locks 69-58 Saturday.

“I was a 5-foot-7 point guard at East Haven High School when it won a Class L state championship in 1980, then played for Clark University when it went to a Division III National Championship game,” he says.

“My distinction was playing with great players under great coaches who knew how to develop players,” he says.

Their lessons, plus 865 games coaching AAU teams, six years as assistant coach at Northwestern High School and 10 as Shepaug’s head coach brought Lefevre to this season with maxims of his own:

“We’re going to play the players who earn it on the court every day, regardless of age.”

And:

“Winning as a team better be enough reward; if it isn’t, you need to find something else to do.”

The first maxim produced seniors Phil Ostrosky and Kaelan McDonald, junior Liam Pacific, sophomore Reed Woerner and freshman James Kersten in the starting lineup, with freshman Drew Konik the first man off the bench.

Early in the season, at 1-3, the second maxim didn’t yet apply.

“We looked pretty good in pre-season scrimmages against tough teams,” Lefevre said. “With four other seniors, we went eight or nine deep in our lineup so we had depth and flexibility, but we didn’t have a…

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Images of former president Donald Trump in handcuffs and flanked by police officers went viral across social media Monday and Tuesday. But they aren’t real.

As news consumers wait to see if Trump will be indicted, AI-generated images depicting his arrest are spreading online, raising questions and concerns over media literacy and deepfakes as the tools to create them become more accessible.

Eliot Higgins — the founder of the Netherlands-based investigative journalism group, Bellingcat — took to Twitter to post versions he made on Midjourney, a popular AI image generator. Some of the images are photorealistic, while some feel more like CGI from a video game.

Higgins disclosed that his images were fake, captioning the Twitter thread “Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest.” He and others made the art as a form of parody. Several versions of fake Trump arrest images began widely circulating on social media, initially by their creators.

But along the way, the art was reposted and reshared across Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, as if they were “photos” of a major news event, not AI-generated art of a fake occurrence.

How can you tell if a photo is AI generated?

In some cases, social media platforms’ content moderation services are attempting to flag the images of Trump getting arrested as fake. But without a content flag, some of the art can be convincing.

As noted by Wired, even while image generators are getting smarter, they still make mistakes in the smaller details. While the main subject of the image may look legit, the rest might appear to be an afterthought. For instance, Trump’s face looks realistic in most of the fakes, but his body proportions look contorted and almost melted or surreal.

Other hints…

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UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The show is all indoors, the objective is to get everyone outdoors. The 2023 edition of the Connecticut Fishing Outdoor Show has begun at Mohegan Sun’s Earth Expo and Convention Center with a focus on families and getting kids hooked on outdoor sports like fishing and hunting.

“We have kayaks, we have animal adventure programs, fly casting, the “hog trough” (a giant fish tank where experts hold seminars), just really something for everyone,” Kristie Gonsalves, the show producer.

Al Gagliaducci, known around fishing circles as “Al Gag” is famous for making lures, a craft he has been working on for nearly half a century. Gag said the purpose of the show is to encourage kids to get out on the water – and beyond. 

“Our motto is buy your kid a tackle box, not an X-Box,” Gag then added, “keep kids away from electronics, keep them outdoors, keep them fishing and hunting, in baseball and football but get outside,” said Gagliaducci.

Matt Wettish, who hosts a popular YouTube show called Real Outdoors TV was looking forward to the weekend from his well-appointed booth on the Expo Center floor. 

Wettish said of the Fishing and Outdoor show, “this is an invitation with the outdoors; The comradery, the connections with being outdoors and just enjoying what the state has to offer.”

The Connecticut Fishing Outdoor Show runs through Sunday, March 26. To learn more, click here. 

Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Sandoval has been on reality show “Vanderpump Rules” for 10 seasons, and has most recently come into the spotlight after a intra-cast cheating scandal emerged. Sandoval had been dating co-star Ariana Madix for nine years when news broke on March 3 that he was involved in a months-long affair with his other co-star Raquel Leviss.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 14: Raquel Leviss attends ‘Legends Ball 2022 BravoCon’ at Manhattan Center on October 14, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Vulture reported that a show by Tom Sandoval and The Most Extras was met with heckling fans and pro-Maddix chants after revelation of the affair. Mohegan Sun was not immediately available for comment on whether organizers felt the news would affect the performance or if they would be taking any precautions amid the turmoil. 

Fans of the show know that infidelity is not unique a happening on “Vanderpump Rules,” but Sandoval and Leviss’ relationship was happening apparently right under the noses of producers without being caught, which shocked those involved and viewers of the show alike. Additionally, the most recent season of the show portrayed that Leviss was romantically interested in costar Tom Schwartz — a storyline some have speculated is a cover-up for her real affair with Sandoval. The scandal was additionally as shocking as it came shortly after Leviss broke off an engagement to another “Vanderpump” costar, James Kennedy.

Since…

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