Orioles mock draft roundup: Pitcher, potential two-way player among candidates at No. 17 overall

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Orioles mock draft roundup: Pitcher, potential two-way player among candidates at No. 17 overall The 2023 Major League Baseball draft will feel a little different for the Orioles.After four straight years picking in the top five — including two No. 1 overall selections in Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman — Baltimore will make its first pick at No. 17 when the first round begins July 9 in Seattle in conjunction with the MLB All-Star Game on July 11.While much of the focus this season is on the play on the field as the Orioles (48-30) push for their first postseason berth since 2016, the draft remains a critical part of the post-rebuild organization led by executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias. Baseball America’s highest-ranked farm system has helped fuel the team’s return to competitiveness, with infielder Jordan Westburg the latest top prospect to make an impact in the major leagues.With less than two weeks before the picks begin, here’s a look at what experts are saying about who the Orioles might take at No. 17 overall.Flori...

Chicago White Sox’s Liam Hendriks to be honored at the ESPYs with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Chicago White Sox’s Liam Hendriks to be honored at the ESPYs with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance Liam Hendriks showed strength and resilience as he inspired the baseball world and beyond by returning to the mound after battling stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.The Chicago White Sox reliever will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance during the 2023 ESPY Awards.“In one of the most challenging years of my life, receiving the Jimmy V Award from ESPN is beyond my wildest dreams,” Hendriks said in a statement provided to the Tribune.The 2023 ESPYs will take place July 12 in Los Angeles and air live at 7 p.m. on ABC-7.The honor is “a symbol of (Hendriks’) strength and resilience in his fight against non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” according to a news release.Hendriks disclosed in an Instagram post in January he was beginning treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, later detailing it was stage 4.Support poured in from everywhere. Hendriks said a Jan. 30 text from Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon, once diagnosed with testicular cancer, served as motivation.“His was:...

Three new affordable housing complexes to be built in San Diego

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Three new affordable housing complexes to be built in San Diego SAN DIEGO -- Three new affordable developments will be coming to the Clairemont neighborhood, investment officials announced.A groundbreaking ceremony, located at 5255 Mt. Etna Drive, is set for Thursday at 10 a.m., Chelsea Investment Corporation said in a press release Tuesday. Local leaders plan to gather at the groundbreaking to celebrate over 300 units of affordable housing for low-income senior and families, according to officials.The $187.5 million investment will be used to build the following:Messina Senior Apartments – 79 Units-Taormina Family Apartments – 136 UnitsModica Family Apartments – 94 Units+ Hundreds gather for candlelight vigil after Encinitas teen dies in e-bike crash “To break ground on three separate affordable housing developments with more than 300 units is truly a remarkable feat. Not only will these projects provide a beautiful, multi-generational community for its residents, but also a wonderful place to call home,” Mayor Todd Gloria said. “We owe a deb...

Local brewers win medals at 2023 National Homebrew Competition in San Diego

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Local brewers win medals at 2023 National Homebrew Competition in San Diego SAN DIEGO -- The world’s largest amateur homebrew competition was held in San Diego last weekend and nine local brewers took home medals.The 45th annual event took place at the Town and Country Resort in Mission Valley with more than 4,300 beers from 1,708 brewers in 40 style categories considered, according to the San Diego Brewers Guild.Homebrewers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia as well as 13 other countries were represented during the competition. How to swim at San Diego resorts without the hefty price tag The San Diego Brewers Guild says there were five Gold Medals, three Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal awarded to local brewers in the expansive competition. Here's a complete list of winners from the San Diego area:Gold-- Travis Hammond: Spice Mead category (49 entries)-- Brandon Holt (with Kevin Holt): American Pale Ale category (123 entries)-- Robert Knipper: Specialty IPA category (115 entries) Society of Barley Engineers-- David Moore (with David Har...

Poway man hid mother's death for 30 years, stole $800K+ in government benefits

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Poway man hid mother's death for 30 years, stole $800K+ in government benefits SAN DIEGO -- A Poway man plead guilty to money laundering and social security fraud in federal court Tuesday after concealing his mother's death for decades.Donald Felix Zampach, 65, admitted that he received and then laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in government benefits, US attorney Randy Grossman's office confirmed. Those funds, which were intended for his mother, should have stopped when she died in 1990. The long deceased woman was receiving a widow’s pension from the Social Security Administration and an annuity from the Department of Defense Finance Accounting Service prior to her passing, officials said. Low home inventory continues to drive prices up: FOX 5 real estate expert The US attorney office says just before his mother’s death, Zampach fraudulently conveyed her Poway home and filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy. He failed to disclose his ownership of the San Diego area home or the government benefits payments he was receiving.After his mother’s deat...

This Hillcrest bar is one of the last of its kind

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

This Hillcrest bar is one of the last of its kind SAN DIEGO -- Lesbian bars are a dying breed in the nightlife industry, with fewer than 30 left nationwide today. Among those "last-of-their-kind" bars is a San Diego spot, nestled in the historic neighborhood of Hillcrest.Gossip Grill, located right on University Avenue, is the sole dive in the region that puts queer and transgender women at the forefront of its business.Moe Girton, the owner of the bar, moved to San Diego in 1999 – a time when there were several different nightlife options for lesbian women to choose from. The two most popular in the neighborhood were Six Degrees and The Flame.However, the bars shut down nearly six months apart in the early 2000s, leaving queer women with no spot to call home up until Girton opened Gossip in 2009. This new Idyllwild wedding venue is a ‘safe haven’ for the non-traditional “It’s one of those things you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone,” said Girton, who worked in The Flame up until it shuttered. After the spot closed dow...

Who wants to be a game show host? These days, you already have to be famous

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Who wants to be a game show host? These days, you already have to be famous NEW YORK (AP) — When producers of “Wheel of Fortune” named Ryan Seacrest — probably the most ubiquitous man on entertainment television — as its next host this week, it surprised virtually no one.The idea that Sony Pictures Television would appoint someone relatively unknown as the figurehead of one of its most valuable properties was far-fetched. But it wasn’t always that way for a genre of television that minted such celebrities like late “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, Bob Barker of “The Price is Right” and current “Wheel of Fortune” emcee Pat Sajak.With Sajak’s impending retirement, after the show’s next season, it’s the end of an era: Game shows are now the provenance of the already famous.WHY IS PAT SAJAK THE LAST OF HIS BREED?Back in 1984, a much younger Sajak was pictured on the cover of TV Guide alongside Wink Martindale, Monty Hall, Bill Cullen, Jack Barry and Barker.Each of the other men was known primarily as broadcast television game show hosts.Now...

Donald Trump countersues, seeking to turn tables on woman who accused him of rape

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Donald Trump countersues, seeking to turn tables on woman who accused him of rape NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is trying to turn the tables on the advice columnist who won a $5 million jury award against him after accusing him of rape, saying in a countersuit that she owes him money and a retraction for defaming him by continuing to insist she was raped even after a jury declined to agree.Attorneys Alina Habba and Michael T. Madaio, representing the Republican candidate for president, filed papers late Tuesday to say writer E. Jean Carroll should pay Trump unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and retract her damaging statements.The countersuit came two weeks after U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan accepted a rewritten defamation lawsuit from Carroll that seeks at least $10 million more in compensatory damages and substantially more in punitive damages for comments Trump made after the jury verdict last month.The jury concluded after a two-week trial that Trump sexually abused Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in spring...

Climate watchdog slams UK government for backtracking on its fossil fuel pledges

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Climate watchdog slams UK government for backtracking on its fossil fuel pledges LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government’s climate advisers on Wednesday slammed officials for their slow pace in meeting their “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions target and backtracking on fossil fuel commitments. They say Britain has “lost its clear global leadership position on climate action.”The Climate Change Committee, which tracks the U.K. government’s decarbonization efforts, said in a new report that government backing for a new coal mine and new domestic oil and gas production undermined Britain’s “international messaging” telling other countries to stop developing fossil fuels. The watchdog criticized this for sending confusing signals and going against the Glasgow Climate Pact, agreed in 2021 when the U.K. hosted the COP26 U.N. climate change conference in Scotland.“Even in these times of extraordinary fossil fuel prices, government has been too slow to embrace cleaner, cheaper alternatives and too keen to support new production of coal, oil and gas,” ...

Ship carrying debris from Titan submersible returns to Newfoundland port

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:56:06 GMT

Ship carrying debris from Titan submersible returns to Newfoundland port ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A ship that had been searching for the ill-fated Titan submersible is back in port in St. John’s, N.L., with debris from the destroyed vehicle.The Canadian-flagged Horizon Arctic carried a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, that searched the ocean floor not far from the wreck of the Titanic, about 700 kilometres south of Newfoundland.The owners of the ROV, U.S.-based Pelagic Research Services, confirms that its team has successfully completed offshore operations.The company says it is removing its equipment from the Horizon Arctic after “working around the clock for 10 days.”Photos from the wharf show what appear to be several pieces of the submersible being lifted from the ship, including the nose cone with its distinctive circular window.The Titan was destroyed in an implosion during its June 18 descent to the Titanic site almost four kilometres below the surface of the sea, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers and crew.The U.S. Coast Guard decla...