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Mohegan

Community Bank to close and relocate North Franklin Street branch

Community Bank is closing its branch at 64 N. Franklin St. in downtown Wilkes-Barre right before it opens a new location near Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Twp., according to a letter sent to customers.

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Former Stallions coach wins Bellator MMA title

Former American Heritage-Delray wrestling assistant coach Johnny Eblen recently upset the Netherlands’ Gegard Mousasi by unanimous decision to capture the Bellator MMA middleweight title.

Eblen, 30, of Boynton Beach, won the title 50-45 at Bellator 282 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. He trains out of American Top Team in Coconut Creek.

Eblen coached at the school from 2015-2021 upon graduating from the University of Missouri where he was an Academic All-American and NCAA qualifier. Eblen was ranked in the top 10 in both his junior and senior years of school. He is currently 12-0 as an MMA fighter.

“He was a tremendous help with our program in helping many of our athletes,” said former American Heritage-Delray head wrestling coach J.P. Reese, who stepped down this year to spend more time with his family. “He was my first hired assistant coach and a secret to our success. He was the workout with the guys coach.”

After graduation from Missouri, Eblen relocated to Florida to take a non-MMA-related job, working full time as an estimator at Atlantic Southern Paving company and coaching wrestling on the side.

“It was fun, and it was interesting,” Eblen said of his time with the Stallions. “It was my first time coaching kids as a job. I did camps and stuff, and it helped me grow as an adult and as a coach and as a person.

“I would think I brought a lot to the table considering my background in wrestling, grappling and combat sports in general,” he said. “I started MMA because I missed competing at a high level. I was doing a normal, everyday 9-to-5 job and decided to find another avenue.”

Eblen said his success in MMA hasn’t surprised him.

“I think I have always been destined to accomplish things,” he said. “I think it was just a…

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Some Fairfield parks and beaches could get major upgrades

FAIRFIELD — Recently unveiled concepts for 15 sites operated by the Parks and Recreation Department call for major upgrades at some of the town’s most popular spots.

Parks and Recreation Director Anthony Calabrese said the concepts released are part of the department’s master plan, which has been in the works for about a year and aims to build a road map for the 90 or so town properties it oversees.

Calabrese said Jennings Beach would get the most upgrades under the concept if it was followed through with. The plan would be to build a pollinator pathway, an amphitheater, and a small dog park, among other improvements, at the site, according to town documents on the project.

“The South Pine Creek Recreation area one is a unique plan,” he said. “Even the Town Hall complex, I think, is a fantastic plan.”

Each concept is very different based on the site, Calabrese said, noting some call for complete overhauls while others would get minor improvements.

A pollinator pathway and dog park are also featured in the Lake Mohegan concept. The Town Hall concept calls for new and improved parking and pedestrian walkways as well as a community garden.

One concept is already receiving push-back. The Ash Creek Conservation Association sent out an email Thursday urging residents to object to a proposed amphitheater at the Ash Creek open space.

“We are concerned about the impact of sound and lights on the wildlife of Ash Creek, especially since we know the negative impact this will have on migratory shorebirds,” it said in the email. “Residents of Black Rock will also be concerned about the impact on their quality of life as sound travels…

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Free As a Bird: A Review of Where We Belong at Goodman Theatre

Madeline Sayet in “Where We Belong”/Photo: Liz Lauren

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Many local cultural events in Chicago now begin with an acknowledgement, often prerecorded, that the land where the event takes place—the land where the audience is sitting—is the usurped homeland of indigenous peoples. It reminds us, too, that Native Americans are not gone from the city and a large local population still engages with their traditions and urban life. A busy culture-vulture will hear the pronouncement often and may become inured to it. That is, until it is spoken live, on stage, by Madeline Sayet, the Mohegan writer-performer whose autobiographical one-woman show, “Where We Belong,” is at the Goodman’s intimate Owen Theatre.

The Mohegan people (not to be confused with the Mohicans) are still centered around their homeland in Connecticut. Sayet’s great-aunt founded the Tantaquidgeon Museum in that state in 1931. Her mother pushed the U.S. government to recognize the Mohegan as a tribe, an effort that required compiling exhaustive genealogies. Historic connections and continuity mean a lot to Sayet and her people. So when Sayet emerges onto her set, a serpentine mound of earth onstage and a celestial array of lamps above, and walks upstage to acknowledge the legacy of local tribes, “Where We Belong” is already a tour de force. The performance grows even better as she delves into the travels she made, presumably in her twenties, which connected her personal history to her people’s past among the vanquishers and to their vital present, in part by digging deeply into the work of Shakespeare.

Sayet is an engaging storyteller who crosses several worlds. In the spirit world, her physical grace conveys the bird that is her inner spirit. Indeed, she declares that the play isn’t about Shakespeare, and isn’t a traditional Mohegan…

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Suspects wanted for attempted theft at Mohegan Sun Pocono Casino

Suspects wanted for attempted theft at Mohegan Sun Pocono Casino | WHPPlease ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes ofwebsite accessibility-1; } // command = ‘getUSPData’, version = 1, callback = function(uspData: uspdata, success: boolean) window.__uspapi = function (command, version, callback) { if (command === ‘getUSPData’ && version === 1) { if (isFullMeasure() || getPrivacyKVP()) { // enable via KVP or if the site is fullmeasure.news // check trustarc for privacy info var uspString = getTrustArc(); if (uspString) { // if the uspString was created and returned properly // Then perform callback with correct object var uspData = { version: version, uspString: uspString }; return callback(uspData, true); } } } // Case where command !== getUSPData || uspString returns null || version !== 1 || !usPrivacyEnabled // call callback with uspData = null and success = false return callback(null, false); } function getTrustArc() { if (window.truste && window.truste.cma) { // if the trustarc object and methods are available var url = location.protocol + ‘//’ + location.host; // Get consent decision by calling trustarc api var consentDetails = window.truste.cma.callApi(“getConsentDecision”, url); /* returns consentDetails: {consentDecision:$integer, source:”asserted”} consentDetails.source can be “asserted” or “implied” – ignore for our purposes consentDetails.consentDecision can be 0, 1, 2, or 3 0 – no decision (closing banner without making a decision) 1 – required – “opted out” 3 – advertising – accepted */ var uspPrivacyString = formatUSPrivacyString(consentDetails.consentDecision); return writeUSPrivacyString(uspPrivacyString); } else { return null; } } // Handle getting the value of the notice_behavior cookie (provided for us by trustarc) function getCookieData(name) { var value = ‘; ‘ + document.cookie; var parts = value.split(‘; ‘ + name + ‘=’); if (parts.length === 2) { return parts.pop().split(‘;’).shift(); } return null; } function getNoticeBehavior()…

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Big weekend continues for Messenger winners

WILKES-BARRE PA – Win the Messenger Pace final, a Triple Crown event, with Pleaseletmeknow on Friday night, then come back and win with American Courage (American Ideal) in 1:47.4 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday afternoon (Jul. 2). Just a routine 19 hours for harness racing driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Travis Alexander, and owners Fiddler’s Creek Stables LLC.

Matt Kakaley pilots American Courage to a blistering win (Curtis Salonick Photo)

American Courage came to town with lofty credentials ($576,372, a recent win in 1:49.4 at Yonkers), and the crowd bet the four-year-old down to 3-5 in the $27,500 featured pace. They might have been worried early as he got away fifth, but ducking proved a good move as Vettel N shot out to the lead in :25.4, then refused to yield to Im Sir Blake A, feature winner here last week, forcing him into the pocket by a :53.2 half.

That left a softened front end for American Courage and driver Matt Kakaley, who zoomed uncovered from fifth while going in :26.1 himself down the back to clear just past the 1:20.3 three-quarters, then finished out in :27.1 to win by 6¼ lengths.

The 1:47.4 time was three-fifths off the Pocono standard for four-year-old pacing horses set by Freaky Feet Pete, and just four-fifths off the all-time 1:47 record over a 5/8-mile track, set by Sweet Lou (at Pocono) and Always B Miki (twice at Pocono, once at Scioto).

Kakaley also won the co-featured $17,500 trot with the Swan For All mare Queen Of All, giving her three wins in a row. Queen Of All made two speed moves during early splits of :28 and :57.1, continued to get a breather to the 1:26.2 three-quarters, then had a :28.2 back quarter…

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Several people dead in Copenhagen mall shooting; 22-year old suspect arrested

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital Sunday, killing several people and wounding several others, police said.

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested, Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters, adding there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack, though police were still investigating.

Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark.

Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field’s, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital. When the shots rang out, some people hid in shops while others fled in a panicked stampede, witnesses said.

“It is pure terror. This is awful,” said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at a concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. “You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it’s beyond … beyond anything that’s possible.”

People flee the Field’s shopping center after a shooting, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sunday, July 3, 2022. Danish police said Sunday that several people were shot at a Copenhagen shopping mall, one of the largest in Scandinavia. (Olafur Steinar Gestsson/AP)

Thomassen gave no specific casualty count beyond saying several people were dead and several wounded. He said the suspect was an “ethnic Dane,” a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts and a tank top and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand.

“He seemed very violent and angry,” eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2. “He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn’t real as…

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Sun fight back from 17-point deficit, beat Mystics in overtime

Mohegan — The Connecticut Sun had reached a point in the first half Sunday afternoon where they had to focus on the moment and not the score.

The Sun were defenseless again in the first half as the Washington Mystics did what they wanted and went ahead by as much as 17 points.

“At some point, you don’t even look at the score,” Connecticut’s Courtney Williams said. “Let’s win every possession. That was the mindset that we went into.”

The Sun responded with their most tenacious comeback of the season. They stymied Washington’s offense in the second half and battled back for a 74-72 overtime win before 5,814 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“I don’t know if there’s enough adjectives to describe the toughness, the grittiness, that we had in the second half,” Connecticut head coach Curt Miller said. “They stuck together. There (were) not a bunch of strategic adjustments. There was a want-to, a will-to, and we just fought that entire second half and stayed together.

“That team could’ve separated with that first half, and we’ve had some tough first quarters in this stretch, so I really give them a lot of credit for sticking together and how hard we had to play to earn a win from way down.”

Washington shot a robust 56.2 percent in the first half and led 49-34.

The Mystics went ahead by as much as 17 points (55-38) with 5 minutes, 36 seconds left in the third quarter.

Washington’s shooting percentage then went into a freefall — they shot just 22.6 percent (7 of 31) the rest of the game.

“The biggest thing was getting stops,” Alyssa Thomas on the Sun said. “The first half, when we were getting stops, we were able to get out and into transition. Defensively, we weren’t flowing like we…

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A powerful victory to Crazy Cute

WILKES-BARRE PA – Crazy Cute (Art Major) won easily in the $17,500 distaff pacing harness racing feature on Sunday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono – and may have finished with some more left in the tank.

Crazy Cute and driver George Napolitano Jr (Curtis Salonick Photo)

The 6-5 favorite, a daughter of Art Major who now has earnings of $304,805, left three-wide but backed off when seeing that A Better Game and Nuttinbuthebest to the left were similarly-minded; the latter took the lead near a :26.2 quarter, then posted midsplits of :55.2 and 1:23, with Crazy Cute making a big move towards the leader nearing the last-named split.

Around the far turn, the pacesetter and first-over were even, but soon after coming off the bend, Crazy Cute made powerful surge to quickly draw away, finishing under a George Napolitano Jr. hold and still stopping the timer in 1:51.1. Trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera owns the winner of two straight with Barbara Arnstine.

CRAZY CUTE REPLAY

The American Harness Drivers Club of amateur horsemen made its way to Pocono on Sunday to contest two $11,000 trots. Both races were won by AHDC veteran Tony Ciuffetelli, who brought a pair of sharp horses with him from Saratoga en route to victory.

In the feature handicap division, Ciuffetelli was looking to tuck second with Magic MVP (My MVP) near the quarter when the hole was shut on him, and it may have been the best thing to happen to horse and driver, as they pressed on to command. Despite late pressure coming from every direction, they held on for a 1:58 victory over the 15-year-old favored TSM Photo Bugger, three-wide for close to three-eighths of the mile, by a nose; Chief Justice threaded…

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Review: In touring ‘Where We Belong’ now at the Goodman, a Mohegan theater-maker forges a deep connection with her audience

In her solo play, “Where We Belong,” Madeline Sayet shares her story with such warmth, passion, honesty and humor that one feels honored to have spent an evening in her presence. And what a tale she has to tell. A Mohegan theater-maker, Sayet moved to England in 2015 to pursue a doctorate degree in Shakespeare, a journey that led her to question not only her identity and place in the world, but also her relationship to the 400-year-old playwright in light of his country’s colonial legacy.

Sayet’s autobiographical account is both deeply moving and thought-provoking — an essential story to be told as the United States grapples with the horrors of its own past. The Goodman Theatre presents the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company production of the play, in association with the Folger Shakespeare Library, as part of a national tour.

With breathtakingly beautiful language — though in English, rather than the language that was taken from the Mohegans — Sayet recalls the rich history of her ancestors, conveying the strong connections to the community and the land that continue to be cherished in their culture. Of course, there is also plenty of painful history that is seldom taught to students in the U.S. — the brutal war tactics of the colonial settlers, theft of traditional lands and forced assimilation of Native children in residential schools. And yet, even though “last” is “the only word people recognize associated with Mohegan,” Sayet reminds the audience that “we are still here.”

In the United Kingdom, Sayet feels alone as the only Mohegan and is dismayed by the casual racism of her fellow academics. On one especially lonely day, she makes an impromptu visit to Southwark Cathedral on London’s South Bank to escape a sudden rain shower. Walking through the garden after the clouds have cleared, she…

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