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Column: Up next for the red-hot Chicago Cubs? A measuring-stick series for October against the MLB-best Atlanta Braves.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

The best team in baseball comes to Wrigley Field on Friday when the Atlanta Braves meet the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series.Shortstop Dansby Swanson faces his former teammates for the first time since signing a seven-year, $177 million deal in December, and the Cubs get a chance to prove their recent 13-3 stretch isn’t just a byproduct of a soft part of the schedule.If not for Lollapalooza, the Cubs-Braves series might be the hottest ticket in town. After their 5-3 victory against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night at Wrigley Field, the Cubs are 30-17 since June 9, the second-best winning percentage in baseball behind the Braves’ .705 (32-13).They’re 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and two games back of the third wild-card spot.It’s a proverbial measuring-stick series for a Cubs team that’s barely over .500 but looking more and more like it could do damage in the postseason if it makes it — like last ...

Pence seizes on Trump’s latest indictment as he looks to break through in crowded GOP field

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

By JILL COLVIN (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump was being arraigned in Washington on yet another round of criminal charges, his running mate-turned-rival Mike Pence hurried to capitalize on the news.Pence’s campaign unveiled new T-shirts and baseball caps featuring the phrase “Too Honest” in big red letters — a reference to an episode in the indictment in which the former president called Pence to berate him over his refusal to go along with Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 election.“You’re too honest,” Trump allegedly scoffed at his second-in-command on New Year’s Day.Pence’s decision to seize on the words marks a notable change in tone for a usually cautious candidate who has struggled to break through in a primary dominated by his former boss. Since the release of the indictment in which he plays a central role, Pence has criticized Trump more aggressively, casting himself as the person who stoo...

'We the San Diego Padres,' verses hip hopper to rally the Friar Faithful

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A love for America's Finest City and the San Diego Padres inspired one local hip hopper to hype the Friar Faithful as well as the home team by way of song.After feeling the energy of Petco Park during a game this season, San Diego-based artist Mack Reese says he sat in his car and recorded what he was thinking. The result of that moment -- a freestyle song for the MLB team so many root for in the region.With lines like "we’re the baddest in the league, cant no other team compete" and "with Musgrove on the mound, fans be rising out they seat" -- this hometown ballad may become this season's anthem as fans and players look for momentum. Padres trade with Marlins, net infielder and pitcher Reese -- who was born and raised in San Diego -- says he's been composing music since he was 12 years old, with his sounds ranging from R&B qualities to hip hop and spoken word. "My musical art I do consider a gift, and I’m prepared for whatever it takes me. Whether I go far or ju...

A cyberattack has disrupted hospitals and health care in several states

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

MANCHESTER, Conn. (AP) — A cyberattack has disrupted hospital computer systems in several states, forcing some emergency rooms to close and ambulances to be diverted, and many primary care services remained closed on Friday as security experts worked to determine the extent of the problem and resolve it.The “data security incident” began Thursday at facilities operated by Prospect Medical Holdings, which is based in California and has hospitals and clinics there and in Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. “Upon learning of this, we took our systems offline to protect them and launched an investigation with the help of third-party cybersecurity specialists,” the company said in a statement Friday. “While our investigation continues, we are focused on addressing the pressing needs of our patients as we work diligently to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.”In Connecticut, the emergency departments at Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospital were...

Ohio K-9 officer is charged with murder in the death of a 20-year-old Black man shot in his bed

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former K-9 officer has been indicted in Ohio on murder charges in the death of a Black man who was lying on his bed when he was shot by police trying to serve a warrant.Former Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson was also charged Friday with reckless homicide by a county grand jury in the August 2022 death of 20-year-old Donovan Lewis.A lawyer for the victim’s family — who earlier called the shooting “barbaric” — said the family was relieved but questioned why it took nearly a year to bring charges against Anderson, who is white. Bodycam footage appears to show that the shooting happened within a second or less of Anderson opening the door to a bedroom where Lewis was sleeping.“We are relieved that a grand jury concluded what we’ve known all along: Officer Ricky Anderson broke the law when he shot and killed an unarmed Donovan Lewis as he laid in his bed. CPD (Columbus Police Department) bodycam video showed this clearly and nothing has changed in almost a ...

Pope visits a once-troubled neighborhood in Lisbon to draw attention to the church’s charitable side

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis visited a once-troubled and crime-plagued neighborhood in Portugal’s capital on Friday to draw attention to the charitable side of the Catholic Church and to press his case for a church that goes to the peripheries and welcomes everyone.Francis continued his busy schedule in Portugal, hearing confessions of some young people who were in Lisbon for World Youth Day, the big Catholic festival, and then having a festive pasta and steak lunch with others. Later Friday, he was presiding over the solemn Way of the Cross procession recreating Christ’s crucifixion.Francis visited a community center in the city’s Serafina neighborhood, which sits beneath a giant 18th-century aqueduct that is a symbol of the bounty of the bounty that gold from Portugal’s Brazilian colony once afforded the country.Two decades ago, drug and crime problems dogged the neighborhood, but Serafina has tried to put that past behind it, thanks in part to efforts by churc...

Officials urge people in Slovenia to stay home after torrential rain and flash kill at least 3

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Torrential rains and heavy floods ravaged Slovenia on Friday, killing at least three people, cutting off roads and bridges and surging into buildings.The Slovenian environmental agency raised the weather alert to the highest level after a month’s amount of rain fell within 24 hours in the northern, northwestern and central parts of the small European country.As rain continued to fall Friday, authorities warned of more floods in other areas because of swiftly swelling rivers. Authorities ordered evacuations of several thousand people in parts of the town of Celje along the surging Savinja River, including the old town area. Upstream in the town of Ljubno, the same river swept away houses and caused landslides. Northern Slovenia’s Koroska region, bordering Austria, was hit the hardest, with bridges and roads destroyed and the water supply cut off in some areas. Local authorities asked the Austrian government to stand ready to provide hospital car...

S&P/TSX composite index up, U.S. markets also on the rise

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock market ticked upward in late-morning trading alongside U.S. markets, which also got a lift.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 175.16 points at 20,295.90.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 172.21 points at 35,388.10. The S&P 500 index was up 23.14 points at 4,525.03, while the Nasdaq composite was up 104.69 points at 14,064.41.The Canadian dollar traded for 74.87 cents US compared with 74.90 cents US on Thursday.The September crude oil contract was up 55 cents at US$82.10 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up two cents at US$2.58 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was up US$6.60 at US$1975.40 an ounce and the September copper contract was down four cents at US$3.86 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Cleanup from chemical spill and fire that shut down I-24 in Tennessee could take days

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Cleanup from a chemical spill and fire near Interstate 24 in Tennessee will take several days, after the interstate was shut down and nearby homes evacuated overnight on Thursday.Emergency responders were called to the scene just after 9 p.m. when a tractor-trailer carrying organic peroxide and sodium hydroxide caught fire in a shopping center parking lot in Chattanooga, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department. In addition to burning the semitrailer, flaming liquid chemicals spilled into the parking lot. The vapors from the burning chemicals can cause skin and respiratory problems, so all homes and businesses within a half-mile radius were evacuated, according to the fire department.A special truck from the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport responded to the scene with a piercing nozzle that punctured the trailer and injected foam into the truck to put out the fire. In addition, The Tennessee Department of Transportation brought 80 tons of dirt to stop t...

An American billionaire says he’ll stop funding the think tank behind Israel’s judicial overhaul

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:51 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — An American billionaire and major donor to a Jerusalem think tank backing the Israeli government’s divisive judicial overhaul said on Friday that he would stop giving to the conservative group.The decision by Arthur Dantchik, a 65-year-old libertarian multibillionaire from New York, to cut funding to the Kohelet Policy Forum reflects the scope of the unrelenting protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to weaken the Supreme Court.“I believe what is most critical at this time is for Israel to focus on healing and national unity,” Dantchik said in a statement shared with The Associated Press announcing his move to halt funding. “Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organizations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people.”The protests have raged in Israel for seven months, exposing deep-seated social tensions and thrusting the country into a crisis over the future of its democra...