50-51 Chicago Cubs win 5th straight game with trade deadline — and decisions — looming: ‘We believe in this clubhouse’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

50-51 Chicago Cubs win 5th straight game with trade deadline — and decisions — looming: ‘We believe in this clubhouse’ Nico Hoerner couldn’t help but laugh with Chicago Cubs first base coach Mike Napoli when he got on after his game-tying walk.They realized Napoli didn’t have Hoerner’s handguard protector he wears on base thanks to the Cubs sending 12 batters to plate in the fifth inning Wednesday night against the White Sox.“Good problem to have that go through twice and there’s equipment issues,” Hoerner chuckled.Hoerner’s bases-loaded walk with two outs brought home the go-ahead run to cap a six-run inning against Sox pitchers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly. It represented the type of approach that fueled the Cubs’ comeback in a 10-7 victory on a muggy evening at Guaranteed Rate Field. They erased the 7-2 lead the Sox built through four innings.Miles Mastrobuoni successfully reached based on a swinging strikeout-turned-wild pitch to score a run and keep the fifth inning alive. Yan Gomes’ pinch-hit hit by pitch set up Mike Tauchman with the bases loa...

Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch lays off hundreds of US corporate workers after sales slump

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch lays off hundreds of US corporate workers after sales slump The Associated PressNEW YORK (AP) — Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, confirmed this week is laying off hundreds of positions across its U.S. corporate staff.In a statement to The Associated Press, the beer maker said the layoffs will impact less than 2% of its workforce. Anheuser-Busch’s website says the company employs 19,000 employees nationwide. Warehouse staff, drivers and other frontline employees will not be affected, the company said.The job cuts arrive during a rocky time for Anheuser-Busch, which has seen a months-long sales decline for Bud Light since April when conservative critics vowed to boycott the brand after the brewer sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Bud Light has also faced backlash from Mulvaney’s supporters and LGBTQ+ rights groups, who say the brand didn’t do enough to support her.Mulvaney later shared that she felt abandoned by Bud Light, and faced “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” over the...

Jonas Brothers coming to San Diego on world tour

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Jonas Brothers coming to San Diego on world tour SAN DIEGO — San Diego will be "Burnin' Up" this fall when the Jonas Brothers come to town.The musical trio will be performing at Viejas Arena on Oct. 28 as part of The Tour, which announced new North American dates Thursday.Tickets for the San Diego show and other newly-announced North America dates will be distributed through Ticketmaster's Verified Fan presale service.Fans can sign up for presale access here though 7 p.m. PT on July 31. Those who are selected to receive an access code will be able to purchase presale tickets staring on Aug. 3. Free summer concert series returns to Pacific Beach A limited number of general sale tickets are expected to be available at 10 a.m. on Aug. 4 here.In addition to the 26 new North American dates, the Jonas Brothers also added 27 shows across Australia, Europe and New Zealand to the tour schedule.The Tour will kick off on Aug. 12 and 13 with back-to-back shows at Yankee Stadium in New York and will span 90 shows across 20 countries.You can ...

LeBron James breaks silence after son Bronny's hospitalization

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

LeBron James breaks silence after son Bronny's hospitalization LeBron James has broken his silence after his oldest son, Bronny, suffered cardiac arrest during basketball practice at the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Lakers star posted a message on Twitter on Thursday morning. "I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers," he wrote. "We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love."LeBron said he will "have more to say" when the family is ready "but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang."Bronny James #6 of the West team reacts after sinking a three-point shot during the 2023 McDonald's High School Boys All-American Game at Toyota Center on March 28, 2023, in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)On Monday morning, Bronny collapsed on the court of USC's Galen Center. He was initially admitted to the ICU. He is now recovering in the hospital and is in stable...

Squeegee worker guilty of manslaughter in case exemplifying Baltimore’s racial and class divides

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Squeegee worker guilty of manslaughter in case exemplifying Baltimore’s racial and class divides BALTIMORE (AP) — Following a 10-day criminal trial rife with racial and political overtones, a Baltimore teenager was found guilty Thursday of voluntary manslaughter in the deadly shooting of a baseball bat-wielding driver who approached youths washing windshields at a busy downtown intersection last summer.Throughout the trial, defense attorneys tried to assign some responsibility to Timothy Reynolds, who armed himself with a metal bat and confronted the group of windshield washers near the city’s Inner Harbor during rush hour. Reynolds, 48, was shot five times, including three gunshot wounds to his back.“I would submit to you that Mr. Reynolds was the author of his own death,” defense attorney J. Wyndal Gordon said during closing arguments Monday.The defense repeatedly highlighted the differences in size and maturity between the victim, a white man weighing over 300 pounds (135 kilograms), and the African American defendant, a high school student who turned 15 the day after the sh...

Wildfire in Greece triggers explosions at ammunition depot and relocation of fighter jets

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Wildfire in Greece triggers explosions at ammunition depot and relocation of fighter jets RHODES, Greece (AP) — A wildfire whipped on by strong winds triggered a series of massive explosions Thursday at an air force ammunition depot in central Greece, and F-16 fighter jets were being moved from a nearby air base as a precaution while firefighters worked to tame multiple blazes in the country.The Greek air force said the military base was not under an immediate threat. The depot was evacuated before the explosions, and no injuries were reported, although continued blasts prevented firefighting teams from approaching the site.Fires have raged across parts of Greece during three successive Mediterranean heat waves in the past two weeks, leaving five people dead, including two firefighting pilots, and triggering a huge weekend evacuation of tourists on the island of Rhodes.The fire in the Volos area of central Greece’s Magnissia region reached the ammunition storage facility about 6 kilometers (4 miles) north of the major military air base in Nea Anchialos. Local media...

Alaska asks US Supreme Court to strike down the rejection of a proposed copper, gold mine

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Alaska asks US Supreme Court to strike down the rejection of a proposed copper, gold mine ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal agency’s rejection of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January blocked the proposed Pebble Mine, citing concerns with potential impacts on a rich aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. It was the 14th time in the roughly 50-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the EPA flexed its powers to bar or restrict activities over their potential impacts on waters, including fisheries.Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor in a statement Wednesday said having a case heard directly by the Supreme Court rather than first in the lower courts is “an extraordinary ask, but it’s appropriate given the extraordinary decision being challenged.”“The EPA’s order strikes at the heart of Alaska’s sovereignty, depriving the State of its power to regulate its lands and w...

Sign outside Quebec Ukrainian summer camp vandalized with pro-Russian graffiti

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Sign outside Quebec Ukrainian summer camp vandalized with pro-Russian graffiti CHERTSEY, Que. — Officials who run a summer camp north of Montreal for Ukrainian children say one of its signs has been vandalized with pro-Russian graffiti.A photo shows the Camp Ste-Sophie sign vandalized with graffiti spelling the words “Russia” and “Wagner” — the name of the Russia-affiliated paramilitary group active in the invasion of Ukraine.Also written on the sign at the entrance of the camp was the letter “Z,” a symbol found on tanks and other Russian military equipment in the Ukrainian war theatre.Simon Kouklewsky, vice-president of the Montreal-based parish that oversees the camp, says a parish member alerted him to the vandalism last Saturday and that camp officials reported the discovery to Quebec provincial police.Rev. Archpriest Volodymyr Kouchnir, who leads the parish, says no children were present at the time the vandalism was discovered because the camp, located in Chertsey, Que., is being renovated.The Ukrainian Canadian Congre...

Trump says his lawyers have met with prosecutors ahead of possible 2020 election indictment

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Trump says his lawyers have met with prosecutors ahead of possible 2020 election indictment WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump met Thursday with members of special counsel Jack Smith’s team ahead of a potential indictment over the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the matter.The meeting included Trump lawyer John Lauro, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to describe a private gathering.Trump himself confirmed the meeting in a post on his Truth Social network, writing, “My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country.”He added that “no indication of notice was given during the meeting.”Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, was informed earlier this month by Smith’s office that he was a target of the Justice Department’s investigation, ...

Judge gives organizers trying to stop ‘Cop City’ a deadline extension for signature campaign

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:53:19 GMT

Judge gives organizers trying to stop ‘Cop City’ a deadline extension for signature campaign ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday significantly extended the deadline for Atlanta organizers who have been trying to gather more than 70,000 signatures to force a vote on the construction of a police and firefighter training center that critics call “ Cop City.”U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen ruled that the city had imposed an unlawful requirement that those collecting signatures have to be residents of Atlanta. A group of people who live in DeKalb County just outside the city had sued — saying they should be allowed to join in the canvassing effort and noting that the planned site for the training center itself is in unincorporated DeKalb County, outside the city limits.“Requiring signature gatherers to be residents of the city imposes a severe burden on core political speech and does little to protect the city’s interest in self-governance,” Cohen wrote, adding: “The city has offered no specifics as to why permitting nonresident plaintiffs to gather signatures … will...