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Orioles clinch playoff berth for first time since 2016

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

The Orioles have spent much of Brandon Hyde’s tenure being looked down upon. They’ve spent almost six months craning their necks upward.Sunday, the Orioles clinched their first playoff berth since 2016, the culmination of a rebuilding process that fully launched in the winter of 2018 when Mike Elias was brought in as executive vice president and general manager and hired Hyde as manager to steward a club designed to struggle.They inherited the worst team in the majors, an organization with bad contracts and bad infrastructure. In each of Hyde’s first three years, Baltimore finished with one of baseball’s five worst records, twice losing at least 108 games as his lineups and pitching staffs were littered with overmatched players.The tide unexpectedly began to turn in 2022, when a team projected for another year as a bottom-feeder instead finished as the best team in the American League to miss the playoffs. With the Texas Rangers’ loss Sunday, the Oriol...

Jann Wenner booted from Rock Hall board

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

NEW YORK — Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and also was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall’s board of directors after making comments that were seen as disparaging toward Black and female musicians. He apologized within hours.“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the hall said Saturday, a day after Wenner’s comments were published in a New York Times interview.Wenner created a firestorm doing publicity for his new book “The Masters,” which features interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.Asked why he didn’t interview women or Black musicians, Wenner responded: “It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my g...

Tens of thousands march to kick off climate summit, demanding end to warming-causing fossil fuels

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yelling that the future and their lives depend on ending fossil fuels, tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday kicked off a week where leaders will try once again to curb climate change primarily caused by coal, oil and natural gas.But protesters say it’s not going to be enough. And they aimed their wrath directly at U.S. President Joe Biden, urging him to stop approving new oil and gas projects, phase out current ones and declare a climate emergency with larger executive powers.“We hold the power of the people, the power you need to win this election,” 17-year-old Emma Buretta of Brooklyn and the youth protest group Fridays for Future said. “If you want to win in 2024, if you do not want the blood of my generation to be on your hands, end fossil fuels.”The March to End Fossil Fuels featured such politicians as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actors Susan Sarandon, Ethan Hawke, Edward Norton, Kyra Sedgewick and Kevin Bacon. But the real action on Broadway w...

Impaired driver plows into crash investigation on QEW, injuring four: OPP

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

Four people were injured after an alleged impaired driver slammed into road crews assisting with a crash investigation on a GTA highway.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) posted to social media on Sunday saying officers were on scene investigating a collision on the QEW near Winston Churchill Boulevard in Mississauga.It is alleged another car collided with a crash truck that was stopped in a live lane protecting the scene.Photos from OPP show a black sedan with a severely damaged front-end and completely smashed crash truck. Other photos show bottles of alcohol on the floor of a vehicle, one under a driver’s seat and another under a front passenger’s seat.The post from OPP says four people were taken to hospital, including a Ministry of Transportation workers who was at the scene.The driver of the car has been charged with impaired driving.Four people sent to hospital including the @ONtransport worker. #MississaugaOPP were investigating a collision on #QEW/Winston when anot...

Former Colorado officer gets probation for putting woman in police vehicle that was hit by a train

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A former Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train, causing the woman serious injuries, has avoided a jail sentence and must serve 30 months on supervised probation.Jordan Steinke, 29, was sentenced Friday by Weld County District Court Judge Timothy Kerns, who found her guilty of reckless endangerment and assault for the Sept. 16, 2022, crash near Platteville. Kerns acquitted the former Fort Lupton police officer of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter after her bench trial in July.Kerns said he had planned to sentence Steinke to jail, but he changed his mind after both prosecutors and defense attorneys sought a probationary sentence, The Denver Post reported.“Someone is going to hear this and say: ‘Another officer gets off,’ ” Kerns said. “That’s not the facts of this case.”He ordered Steinke to perform 100 hours of community service. And if she violates the terms of her probation, “I will ha...

Mike Babcock resigns as Blue Jackets head coach following photo controversy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

Mike Babcock resigned as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, days after Spittin’ Chiclets podcaster Paul Bissonnette accused him of improperly viewing players’ smartphones.Initially, the team, the NHL and the NHLPA were satisfied when captain Boone Jenner and 682-game NHL veteran Johnny Gaudreau indicated there was nothing nefarious with what Babcock did. However, the organizations reversed course when some of Blue Jackets’ younger players said they weren’t comfortable with what had occurred.Columbus officially names Pascal Vincent head coach https://t.co/93pCCWR3VM— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 17, 2023“Upon reflection, it has become clear that continuing as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to be too much of a distraction,” Babcock said in a statement released by the team. “While I’m disappointed to not have had the opportunity to continue the work we’ve begun, I know it’s in the best interest of the organization for me to s...

Private Louisiana zoo claims federal seizure of ailing giraffe wasn’t justified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

ETHEL, La. (AP) — A private Louisiana zoo says that federal regulators overreached last week when they took away an ailing giraffe.Local news outlets report that Barn Hill Preserve, which markets close-up encounters with exotic animals, is challenging the decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to seize a giraffe named Brazos on Tuesday.Leaders of the zoo, which also operates a location in Frankford, Delaware, told local news outlets that the department had “no warrant, no ruling, no judgment, and no oversight” when inspectors took the giraffe. Barn Hill’s Louisiana location is in Ethel, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Baton Rouge. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says inspectors documented “continued failure” to provide adequate veterinary care, “resulting in a state of unrelieved suffering for the identified animal.”Barn Hill said it’s being unfairly retaliated against for notifying the USDA that the giraffe was in poor health. The c...

Métro Média to declare bankruptcy as local journalism takes another hit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

MONTREAL — The head of Métro Média says the Quebec newspaper publisher will declare bankruptcy this week, permanently ending its coverage of local government in parts of the province’s two largest cities.CEO Andrew Mulé said in a Sunday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the decision was made after the company abruptly suspended operations at its more than 30 hyperlocal publications, including the Journal Métro and 16 print weeklies.In a statement sent to employees on Aug. 11, Mulé said he’d been informed the company no longer had the liquidity to continue despite what he described as a healthy balance sheet.On Sunday, Mulé said the impending bankruptcy marks a sad epilogue to his 28 months at the helm, and admitted he felt bitterness and a sense of unfinished business as local news struggles for survival across the country.The company now has roughly 70 employees, including some 30 journalists whose temporary layoffs will become permanent, on top of earlier roun...

A Mississippi jury rules officers justified in fatal 2017 shooting after police went to wrong house

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi jury has rejected a civil lawsuit seeking money damages from two police officers who fatally shot a man while serving a warrant at the wrong house.A federal court jury in Oxford on Thursday ruled that Southaven officers Zachary Durden and Samuel Maze had not violated the civil rights of Ismael Lopez when Durden shot him to death in 2017. The verdict came after a four-day trial in a lawsuit by Claudia Linares, the widow of Lopez, who sought $20 million in compensation.“The verdict was that the jurors did not believe that the use of force used by Officers Durden and Maze was excessive in light of all the facts that they considered,” attorney Murray Wells told WREG-TV.The case was notable in part because the city of Southaven had previously argued that Lopez had no civil rights to violate because the Mexican man was living in the United States illegally and faced deportation orders and criminal charges for illegally possessing guns.A judge rejected th...

Buccaneers stay unbeaten with 27-17 victory over Bears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:50 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Baker Mayfield passed for 317 yards and a touchdown Sunday, adding to his strong debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 27-17 victory over the struggling Chicago Bears.With Mayfield playing turnover-free ball for the second straight week and Mike Evans catching six balls for 171 yards and a TD, the Bucs improved to 2-0 while handing the Bears a franchise-record 12th consecutive loss.Mayfield completed 26 of 34 passes, looking quite comfortable in another new home. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft is playing with his fourth team in just over two years.He set up Rachaad White's 1-yard TD run with a 70-yard completion to Evans in the first quarter. He also finished an 89-yard drive with a 32-yard scoring pass to Tampa Bay's all-time leading receiver early in the second half.Tampa Bay's defense did its job, too, after yielding a 75-yard TD drive on Chicago's first possession of the game. The Buccaneers sacked Justin Fields six times and picked him off ...