Latest news with #Boucher
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
NBA Free Agency Rumors: Golden State Warriors predicted to land $35,250,000 Toronto Raptors star to support Stephen Curry in title run
Stephen Curry of Golden State Warriors and Dillon Brooks of Memphis Grizzlies (Image via Getty) With the bulk of major NBA free agency moves already in the rearview, the Golden State Warriors have kept things relatively lowkey—until now. A new prediction has added a twist to their offseason narrative, linking them to a familiar name who could bring both experience and tactical value to their frontcourt. Veteran big man Chris Boucher, currently with the Toronto Raptors, is being floated as a potential target for Golden State in free agency. The 32-year-old, who once spent time developing with the Warriors' G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, could be on track for a Bay Area return in what might be a low-cost, high-upside move. According to Ricky O'Donnell of SBNation, the prediction sees Boucher signing a one-year deal worth $3 million—a price tag that fits Golden State's financial strategy and fills a roster gap with a versatile stretch big. Chris Boucher Linked to Golden State Warriors in New Free Agency Prediction Ricky O'Donnell of SBNation recently released his NBA free agency predictions for 12 best available players on the 2025 market, and one of the standout projections involves the Golden State Warriors bringing back former Santa Cruz Warrior Chris Boucher. 'Boucher is still a solid bench big at 32 years old… The Warriors need more stretch bigs, and Boucher would fit well there,' O'Donnell wrote. Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) and guard Stephen Curry (30) share a laugh during the second quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Chase Center. (Image via D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images) According to the prediction, Boucher would sign a one-year deal worth $3 million, potentially leaving the Toronto Raptors, the only NBA team he's consistently played for. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo Though undrafted, Boucher carved a space for himself in the league, and his early stint with the Warriors—albeit brief—makes him no stranger to Golden State's culture and system. What Chris Boucher Brings to the Table At 32, Boucher remains a valuable bench piece with a skillset that aligns with what the Warriors are missing—particularly in their need for a stretch big who can also defend. He shot 36.3% from three-point range last season, offering valuable floor spacing for a team that thrives on movement and shooting. Key Attributes: - Three-point Shooting: Reliable from deep, shooting 36.3% in 2024-25 - Defensive Upside: Still provides shot-blocking despite some decline - Length & Switchability: Fits well with Warriors' defensive schemes - Winning Mentality: Two-time NBA champion, including one title with Warriors While Boucher's contributions to Golden State's 2018 title run were minimal, his experience in championship environments could prove beneficial in the locker room and during high-stakes playoff moments. Why Golden State Makes Sense The Golden State Warriors are in a transitional phase, looking to retool around Stephen Curry while maintaining financial flexibility. Bringing in a veteran like Boucher on a low-risk, short-term deal aligns with both their tactical needs and cap strategy. He also fits the mold of players the Golden State Warriors have historically valued—versatile, long, and capable of playing within a system without demanding touches. Potential Deal Breakdown Warriors Receive Raptors Lose Chris Boucher (1 yr, $3M) Veteran stretch big, 2-time NBA champion As free agency continues to unfold, this predicted reunion could be a savvy, under-the-radar move for the Golden State Warriors. It won't shake up the league, but it could solidify an area of weakness while adding experience and defensive versatility. Also read: NBA Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers reportedly eyeing $33,075,000 Portland Trail Blazers star to bolster perimeter defense and improve title odds If the front office moves forward with this deal, fans may once again see Chris Boucher don the Golden State jersey—this time as a more seasoned and polished contributor ready to help in a meaningful way. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Manika Batra's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 3. Watch Here!
Boston Globe
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Richard A. Boucher, veteran State Department spokesman, dies at 73
His knowledge and analysis of issues, based on his own foreign service career on multiple continents, was such that officials around the State Department paused their work to tune in to his briefings. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Speaking daily in public without rehearsal 'is one of the most difficult jobs' in the foreign service, R. Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in an interview. 'The job of Richard was to advance, explain, and defend the administration's position on any issue. He was able to distill very complex issues into understandable language for the American public.' Advertisement Mr. Boucher, who in 2008 was appointed a career ambassador, the highest rank for a diplomat, was traveling with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Peru on 9/11. On the emergency flight home, Mr. Boucher was updating his boss on a department to-do list, he recalled, when Powell cut him off: 'You don't understand,' he said. 'This changes everything.' Advertisement Indeed it did, for Mr. Boucher as for many other Americans. He was midway through a career that had included consular postings in China and stints as the ambassador to the island nation of Cyprus from 1993-96 as well as consul general in Hong Kong from 1996-99, both before and after the British handed Hong Kong back to China. He rotated in and out of the job of State Department spokesperson from the late 1980s through the early 2000s, for Secretaries of State James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. In 2006, Rice promoted him to assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, a position that included partial responsibility for policy in Afghanistan. The United States was ramping up financial support of the pro-Western government in Kabul while waging a bloody counterinsurgency against the Taliban. 'Talking about things and actually doing something about them is quite a bit different; that's one thing you rapidly learn when you leave the podium,' Mr. Boucher later reflected. He met frequently with George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the White House Situation Room. In a candid 2022 interview for an archive recorded by former State Department officials, Mr. Boucher said that the US aim in Afghanistan -- to defeat the Taliban and establish a modern democratic nation, or what he called 'Washington on the Kabul River' -- was misguided and ultimately tragic, ending in the humiliating 2021 US withdrawal and a Taliban takeover. American policy, he said, did not recognize how unpopular the corrupt Kabul leadership was in the rural provinces, attitudes that fed the Taliban movement. 'The fighting in Afghanistan was about the Afghan government, and we weren't going to be able to leave until people respected the Afghan government,' he said. Advertisement That never occurred. 'I think we walk around with this idea that wars end on the deck of the battleship Iwo Jima,' he said. 'We kept thinking that you could win this militarily. And part of that was because politically we were so distracted by Iraq, part of that was because those of us on the political side didn't assert ourselves enough.' He did not spare himself blame. As an assistant secretary, he supported building roads in rural Afghanistan to connect it to the outside world. But after Taliban fighters used a US-built road to attack near Kandahar, Rice ruefully told him, 'Richard, it looks like the Taliban have gotten pretty good at using these roads you built.' Richard Alan Boucher was born Dec. 13, 1951, in Bethesda, Md., to Melville Boucher, who became a National Security Agency officer, and Ellen (Kaufmann) Boucher, a German Jewish immigrant who was a member of the Women's Army Corps in World War II. The couple met at Camp Ritchie, Md., while training US intelligence officers. Mr. Boucher earned a bachelor's degree in English and French comparative literature from Tufts University in 1973 and then served in the Peace Corps in Senegal. He joined the Foreign Service in 1977. Besides his son, he leaves his wife, Carolyn Brehm, whom he married in 1982; a daughter, Madeleine Brehm Boucher; a grandson; a brother, Douglas; and a sister, Anita. For nearly two decades after Mr. Boucher stepped away from the State Department podium, his guidelines for public affairs officers, 'Richard Boucher's Words of Wisdom,' remained posted in the office. Among his advice: Advertisement 'If you don't want to see it in print, don't say it.' 'Good guidance can explain the issue to your mother.' 'Talk about results. If you don't have results, talk policy. If you don't have policy, talk facts. If you don't have facts, talk process. You'll always have process.' This article originally appeared in
South Wales Argus
23-06-2025
- South Wales Argus
Argoed driver jailed for killing dog walker in Nelson crash
Window cleaner Daniel Boucher, 28, lost control of his Peugeot 207 GTi on a bend on Ty Du Road in Nelson and hit 66-year-old David Chaplin – who had been walking his two dogs. Mr Chaplin died at the scene on April 18, 2023. Boucher pleaded guilty to a lesser offence of causing death by careless driving, but was found guilty by a jury of causing death by dangerous driving following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court. In a statement read to the court by prosecutor Owen Williams, Mr Chaplin's granddaughter Abby Hillberg said: 'My bampi was a fit and healthy 66-year-old man at the time of his accident. 'He was out doing something he loved – walking his dogs – when his life was taken from him. 'As a family, this is something we will carry with us forever. 'My bampi and I were inseparable. He was my father figure in life. 'When I lost my bampi, I lost a piece of myself. My spark disappeared.' Daniel Boucher crashed and hit David Chaplin as he was walking his dogs. (Image: Gwent Police) During the trial, prosecutor Owen Williams said Boucher bragged to colleague Scott Williams about the 165 and 170 horsepower of his "turbocharged" car as they finished work. He said the defendant was then "showing off" as he revved the engine with his workmate following in a car behind on the 30mph road. The court heard Boucher was driving "way too fast" as he rounded a bend and "oversteered". Mr Williams said the Peugeot mounted the pavement and collided with a lamppost before flipping onto its side and stopping on a grass verge. Boucher admitted speeding to police officers at the scene saying: "I lost control of the car." He later confessed: "What have I done? I'm sorry." The court heard evidence that it would take a speed in excess of 45-55mph to cause a driver to lose control round the corner in the conditions that day. Boucher, of New Road in Argoed, had no previous convictions and a previously clean driving record. 'There is nothing I can say to ease the pain and suffering caused,' said Hashim Salmman, mitigating. He said Boucher showed 'genuine remorse' for his actions, and had always accepted criminal responsibility for the crash. Mr Salmman added the defendant did not seek to minimise his offending and fully accepted the jury's verdict when speaking with the probation service. Mr Salmman said Boucher tried to aid Mr Chaplin immediately after the crash. Judge Vanessa Francis described the crash as 'a tragic miscalculation'. Boucher was jailed for four years. He has been disqualified from driving for a total of six years and two months, and must pass an extended retest to regain his licence. "This is a tragic case that has resulted in the needless loss of a life,' said Sergeant Shane Draper, the senior investigating officer. 'I would like to thank all those who assisted in our investigation and offer my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mr Chaplin. "The importance of driving carefully and to your ability at all times is never more poignant than in this case; the collision was so unnecessary. Dangerous driving ruins lives.'
News.com.au
13-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
SA in box seat after dominant batting D3
Cricket: South Africa are in the box seat to win the World Test Championship final after a dominant day with the bat.
Montreal Gazette
12-06-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Montreal Mafia arrests are the latest salvo in a decades-long battle against organized crime
Montreal Crime Thursday's arrests of the alleged leaders of Montreal's Mafia are the latest attempt by Quebec police forces to put a dent in organized crime activities in the province. Police called the arrests of 11 people 'a very hard blow to organized crime.' They are accused of participating in the murder or attempted murders of several people. But since the Rizzuto family took control of the Montreal underworld in the late 1970s, there have been a series of spectacular arrests of people accused of being involved in organized crime, as detailed in The Gazette's award-winning podcast The Dark North: Gangs of Montreal. Hosted by Gazette crime reporter Paul Cherry, Gangs of Montreal traces the complicated history of the Mafia, biker gangs and street gangs that have fought for control of the city's lucrative criminal activities. Here's a look at some previous high-profile police investigations into Montreal's criminal underworld: Dec. 18, 1997: Montreal police arrested Maurice 'Mom' Boucher, leader of the Hells Angels elite Nomads chapter, which called the shots in the biker war with the Rock Machine gang. More than 160 people were killed in that battle for control of the drug trade in the late 1990s. 'This is a significant arrest,' Lt. Normand Couillard, of the Montreal Urban Community police, said at the time. 'There's a sense that we never get close to getting the guys at the top of the organization. 'Well, here we have one of the leaders.' Boucher was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two prison guards. He was acquitted in 1998, but he was later convicted of the two murders. March 28, 2001: Boucher, along with more than 140 other people — from members of the Hells Angels, their puppet clubs to street-level drug dealers — were arrested in a massive police investigation called Operation Springtime. It was the largest one-day police operation of its kind in Canada. About half the Hells Angels in Quebec were arrested that day, including every member of the Nomads chapter. Charges ranged from first-degree murder to gangsterism to drug dealing, and police seized houses, drugs and weapons. 'It's going to destabilize them at least for a while,'' Capt. Michel Martin of the Sûreté du Québec said at the time. ''With all the seizures of their assets, homes and cars, they're going to be busy with their lawyers and in the courts. And we hope that they'll be in jail for a very long time.'' Jan. 21, 2004: Vito Rizzuto, then described as the alleged head of the Montreal Mafia, was arrested at his luxury home in Ahuntsic and charged with the murders of three members of New York's influential Bonnano crime family in 1981. His arrest created a void at the head of Montreal's criminal underworld, a Montreal police investigator told The Gazette at the time. 'Things are going to be pretty messed up in Montreal or overall in Canada, anyway. Everything is going to be fragmented,' the police investigator said. 'Any time someone that high up gets taken down, you're going to have conflicts, internal conflicts. Other people are going to try to take over.' Nov. 22, 2006: Police arrested 73 people connected to the Montreal Mafia, including Nicolo Rizzuto, Vito's father, who was widely considered to be the real head of the organized crime group. Projet Colisée was a vast operation targeting a criminal ring that operated in five countries, was importing cocaine through Montreal's international airport, and was also involved in bookmaking and extortion. Guy Ouellette, a retired Sûreté du Québec investigator and an expert on biker gangs, compared the arrests to those in 2001. 'It is as important as Operation Springtime 2001,' he told The Gazette at the time. 'They have arrested the heads of the Mafia (in Montreal), the decision makers. It is important because it is like shutting down the head office, much like the Hells Angels' head office in Montreal was shut down in 2001.' Nov. 19, 2015: It was a first in Montreal that police arrested the alleged heads of the Hells Angels, the Montreal Mafia and the city's street gangs. The three leaders — Vito Rizzuto's son Leonardo, Salvatore Cazzetta and Gregory Wooley — were accused of co-operating to commit murders and control Montreal's drug trade. Police arrested 48 people, including Rizzuto's lawyer, and seized more than $1.2 million in cash. The pattern of co-operation between criminal organizations signified 'an alliance,' Sûreté du Québec Chief Insp. Patrick Belanger said at the time. 'Born out of a desire to control territory, particularly drug trafficking ... and to share revenues.' Rizzuto was acquitted of the criminal charges in 2018 after a judge ruled police illegally wiretapped conversations in his lawyer's office.
