Amid Unrest, China Makes Grand Pledges

In Miami, the sheen of a 2023 NBA Finals run has long since worn off. It has been replaced by an ongoing public feud between Heat team president Pat Riley and star forward Jimmy Butler, who’s trying to force himself into a new team before the trade deadline. The Nuggets rolled into town at a critical moment in the soap opera Friday, defeating the Heat 133-113 in Butler’s first game back from a seven-game suspension imposed by Riley for conduct detrimental to the team. Jamal Murray went for 30 points (20 in the first half), seven rebounds and eight assists, and the Nuggets (25-16) reached the halfway point of the season on a pace for 50 wins. Sleeved up Joker After an alarming last-minute injury scratch from the lineup on Wednesday, Nikola Jokic was able to play with a sprained right elbow in Miami.

Nick Burkett’s family huddled together in the cold, passing a bouquet, candles and laminated sheet of photos between them as they created a makeshift memorial on Denver’s 16th Street Mall on Friday afternoon. It has been only a few days since a detective called Carol Cortez to tell her that her son had been killed in a stabbing during the weekend, and Cortez said she thinks she’s still in shock. Family members pray for stabbing victim Nick Burkett on Friday at the corner of Wazee Street and 16th Street Mall in Denver.

Niwot runner and 5A state champion Addison Ritzenhein has been named Gatorade Colorado Girls Cross Country Player of the Year for the second straight year, Gatorade announced this week. The junior put up a time of 16:54.7 to take home that individual state title — her third straight — and lead her team to a fifth-place finish.

The union that represents King Soopers employees said Friday that after months of negotiations, its contracts with the supermarket chain have expired and votes authorizing a strike could be announced as early as Monday. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents members in Wyoming and Colorado, agreed to extend the contracts, originally set to expire Jan.

Police are asking for the public’s help investigating a shooting at a south Aurora park that left two people dead in November. Ahmad Malachi Richardson, 18, and Isaiah Ray Chavez Seppelt, 20, died in the shooting that wounded a third person on the morning of Nov. 17. Officers responded to a hospital and spoke with the wounded person, who told them the shooting happened in the parking lot of Utah Park. Richardson’s and Seppelt’s bodies were found at the park, and police later said two Latino males fled the scene in a small, black car — possibly a four-door. “Numerous witnesses have been interviewed, but no viable leads have been developed,” police wrote in a Jan.

As a freshman last season, Colorado State’s 6-foot-7 forward Rashaan Mbemba showed glimpses of what he could do once he grew into an expanded role with the team. The Austria native played sparingly as the team’s No. 2 big man behind Patrick Cartier but made the most of his opportunities when he got on the court. He averaged 11 minutes per game off the bench, scoring 3.8 points and grabbing 2.2 rebounds per contest, reaching a then-career high in points (13) twice, against San Jose State and Creighton. CSU head coach Niko Medved and his teammates knew that Mbemba could be something special, and teammate Nique Clifford emphasized that during Mountain West Conference media days before the start of the season while providing some foreshadowing to what the big man would do this season. “The thing for Rashaan is, he’s been playing against grown men for what, since he was like 13 years old,” Clifford said.