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3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ 1-6 trip, including Jameson Taillon’s return and Miguel Amaya’s impressive debut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

The one-run losses keep piling up for the Chicago Cubs.The Cubs are tied for the second-best run differential in the National League, but wasted scoring chances thwarted a 1-6 trip to Miami and Washington, where they suffered five one-run losses. Their 4-3 defeat to the Nationals on Thursday included one hit — on a ball lost in the sun — through seven innings against the struggling Patrick Corbin. An three-run rally in the eight inning to tie the game did not last long. Nationals outfielder Alex Call hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch right-hander Brad Boxberger threw in the bottom of the ninth to drop the Cubs to 15-16.“It’s going to happen during the course of the season,” Ian Happ said. “That’s obviously frustrating for everybody, but it’s part of it. I don’t think as an offense we’re pressing individually and just understanding that it’ll come, you just have to keep going about it.”The return to Wrig...

City, feds pump $6.2M to clear out homeless along Mass and Cass

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

Three days after banning the homeless from pitching tents at Mass and Cass, city leaders announced plans to spend roughly $6.2 million to address the squatting and drug activity that continues to fester there.The funds, part of a $16.5 million homelessness grant the city received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will go toward housing 105 people from the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Partnering with the city in this effort will be Eliot Community Services.“A lot of the individuals at Mass Cass are not homeless; they’re there for services and other reasons,” Sheila Dillon, the city’s chief of housing, said after a Thursday press conference in downtown Boston. “But we do know who has no place to go at Mass Cass, and we will be targeting these resources to those individuals.”This targeted population represents roughly 28% of the 372 unhoused individuals that will benefit from the federal grant in Boston — a significant investment that...

Feeling nostalgic? 50 Cent bringing 20th anniversary tour to San Diego

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- You can find 50 Cent at the North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, not the club, this summer.The popular rapper will be performing some throwback hits on Aug. 31 at the Chula Vista venue, according to Live Nation Entertainment."The Final Lap Tour" celebrates the 20th anniversary of 50 Cent's iconic debut album "Get Rich or Die Tryin.'" 3 artists added to San Diego County Fair Concert Series lineup Fans will be showered with 50 Cent's chart-topping hits, as well as special guest appearances from Busta Rhymes, Jeremih and more artists to be announced, officials said.Other stops across North America and Europe include Toronto, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Houston, Amsterdam, Oslo, Paris and many more.Registration for the Verified Fan presale begins Sunday at 7:59 p.m. PT.Jackson has also found success as an entrepreneur, actor, director and executive producer.

American author Fatimah Asghar wins inaugural Carol Shields Prize

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

American author Fatimah Asghar has won the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for their debut novel “When We Were Sisters.” The $150,000 award celebrates excellence in fiction by women and non-binary authors in Canada and the U.S., and is bankrolled by BMO.Asghar, whose pronouns are gender-neutral, also wrote the poetry collection “If They Come for Us” and is the writer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated web series “Brown Girls.”They also win a residency at the Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland and Labrador.The jurors said that Asghar’s book is “a tour de force, at once stirring and beautiful, breathtaking in its lyricism, and head-turning in its experimentations.”The other shortlisted authors, who will each receive $12,500, are Canadian Suzette Mayr for “The Sleeping Car Porter,” and Americans Daphne Palasi Andreades for “Brown Girls,” Talia Lakshmi Kolluri for “What We Fed to the Manticore&#...

Biden dispatching top aide to meet with Saudi crown prince

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is dispatching one his top advisers to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of the oil-rich kingdom, later this week.White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday he will travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks with Saudi officials and will also meet with his counterparts from the United Arab Emirates and India during his visit.Sullivan said he would “discuss new areas of cooperation between New Delhi and the Gulf, as well as the United States and the rest of the region.” India and UAE last year signed a comprehensive economic partnership aimed at improving ties between the two countries.Sullivan is expected to meet with the crown prince, who is often referred to by his initial MBS, during the visit, according to a person familiar with Sullivan’s travel plans who was not authorized to publicly discuss that element of them.Sullivan spoke by phone with MBS last month amid si...

GOP boycott in Oregon halts bills on guns, abortion and more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Most Republican members of the Oregon Senate failed to show up for the second straight day Thursday, delaying action by the majority Democrats on bills on gun safety, abortion rights and gender-affirming health care.The stayaway prevented a quorum, with Senate President Rob Wagner calling for another try on Friday. Republican lawmakers have used walkouts in the past, but this time — if they continue to stay away — they’ll be testing a law approved overwhelmingly in a ballot measure last November that bans lawmakers with 10 unexcused absences from running for reelection.The boycott comes as several statehouses around the nation, including in Montana and Tennessee, have become battlegrounds between conservatives and liberals. Oregon has increasingly been divided between liberal population centers like Portland and Eugene and its mostly conservative rural areas.The leader of Senate Republicans, Sen. Tim Knopp, spoke on the phone Thursday with Democratic Gov. Tina Kot...

Official: WVa pesticide facility wouldn’t pass zoning muster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia logging company hoping to locate a toxic-spewing facility in the picturesque Allegheny Mountains won’t be allowed to build in that particular spot due to a zoning issue, a local official said Thursday night.Allegheny Wood Products wants to construct a fumigation facility in the Hardy County community of Baker to treat logs before they are shipped overseas. The state Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality has said it tentatively plans to issue an air permit that would let the facility emit up to nearly 10 tons of the pesticide methyl bromide into the atmosphere each year.But during a public hearing, Hardy County Planner Melissa Scott said the proposed location off U.S. Route 48 is zoned for agricultural use, not industrial use. Scott read a letter approved by the county commission on Tuesday that said “the requirements for Hardy County zoning compliance have not been met.” Local residents have bombarded re...

Water beads could pose life-threatening risk to children: Health Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

Health Canada is warning parents and guardians to be mindful of purchasing water beads for their children after several international incidents where youths who had ingested them sustained life-threatening injuries.Health Canada said the tiny beads — also known as jelly beads, hydro orbs, crystal soil, sensory beads or orb beads — are water-absorbing and can grow up to 1,500 times their size when placed in water.The primary point of focus is cautioning parents to ensure children don’t swallow these beads, which can be fatal.“Water beads can be very harmful if swallowed or put in the ears or nose,” Canada’s health agency said. “If ingested, water beads can continue to grow inside the body leading to potentially life-threatening injuries, such as intestinal or bowel obstruction.”Health Canada noted that water beads are most often found in a wide range of products that may be accessible to children. These include toys, art kits, stress ba...

US to control land sales to foreigners near 8 military bases

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign citizens and companies would need U.S. government approval to buy property within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of eight military bases, under a proposed rule change that follows a Chinese firm’s attempt to build a plant near an Air Force base in North Dakota.The Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security is set to propose the rule on Friday. It would give expanded powers to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which screens business deals between U.S. firms and foreign investors and can block sales or force the parties to change the terms of an agreement to protect national security. Controversy arose over plans by the Fufeng Group to build a $700 million wet corn milling plant about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which houses both air and space operations. As opposition to the project grew, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, all Republicans, raised ques...

Alabama inmate who escaped with jailer help enters plea deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:26 GMT

FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate charged in the death of a jail official who helped him escape pleaded guilty Thursday to escape in exchange for having the murder case dismissed. Casey Cole White entered the plea agreement in Lauderdale County Court, avoiding a June trial on the felony murder charge. He continues to await trial on a separate murder charge. Authorities said White escaped from an Alabama jail in 2022 with the help of Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections for Lauderdale County and a 17-year veteran of the sheriff’s office. Law enforcement officials initially thought that the inmate had kidnapped the female jailer but later learned the pair had a jailhouse romance. An 11-day manhunt for the pair ended in Indiana as authorities caught up with them. Casey White was recaptured, and Vicky White died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Casey White was charged in her death because Alabama law allows someone to be charged with murder if someone is killed whi...