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Column: Jed Hoyer did things his way — and now the Chicago Cubs president awaits the results

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

It took a while for Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer to escape the long shadow of Theo Epstein.Hoyer rejoined his Boston Red Sox old mentor in Chicago in 2011, leaving his general manager position with the San Diego Padres to play second fiddle to Epstein during the Cubs rebuild.“There are some places in baseball where if you can help make it happen, the sense of accomplishment is going to be shared across a wide spectrum,” Hoyer told the San Diego Union-Tribune upon taking the job. “Boston is one of those places. The Chicago Cubs is one of those places. The Cubs are well-positioned to have a run of success.”That “run of success” began in 2015 and peaked with the 2016 World Series. But the blueprint for sustained success hit a wall, and after the Cubs’ third straight season without a postseason win, Epstein departed in 2020 and left Hoyer as the heir apparent.Hoyer was forced to do the dirty work, making decisions he knew would be unpopular,...

Nashville school shooter kills 3 kids, 3 adults: ‘Heartbreaking. A family’s worst nightmare’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

A former student at a Nashville elementary school shot and killed three kids and three adults at the private Christian school on Monday, as the nation reels from yet another “sick” and “heartbreaking” school shooting.The 28-year-old suspect, a transgender woman who was a former student at The Covenant School in Nashville, entered the Tennessee school through a side door as she carried two AR-style weapons and a handgun, police said.The shooter, identified as Audrey Hale who wrote a manifesto and had drawn a detailed map of the school, fatally shot three 9-year-olds and three staff members before she was shot and killed by police.The three 9-year-old student victims were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adult victims were identified as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.“I was hoping this day would never, ever come here in this city,” Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Dra...

Kodai Senga wraps up final spring outing and is ready for regular season: ‘I’m excited’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

PORT ST. LUCIE — Kodai Senga still isn’t sure what to make of the Major Leagues, but he’s ready to find out.The Mets’ right-hander made one final start Monday in an intrasquad game pitching against some of the organization’s top prospects. His first start of the spring also came against Mets hitters. The club has taken a cautious approach this spring to allow him to adjust to the new ball, the new mound and a new country, but Senga is ready to leave the confines of Port St. Lucie and face some of baseball’s best hitters.“I didn’t face a lot of famous hitters today, but hopefully soon I’ll find out and we’ll see how amped up I get,” he said through a translator. “I’m excited.”Senga threw 72 pitches, 12-15 of which were splitters. He had previously been told to lay off of those to make sure the middle finger tendinitis didn’t return, but all went well and his finger feels fine. He’s cleared...

New MBTA boss Phil Eng rides out slow zones, rider frustrations

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

The trip took upward of an hour, closer to 75 minutes — time for Phil Eng to hit a couple of slow zones and get an earful from the T-riding populace.“You know what? It moves at an interesting pace,” Eng, the incoming general manger of the MBTA said after his ride up the Green Line’s D branch from Riverside to Park Street on Monday afternoon — a stretch that, according to the T’s new dashboard, contains more than 15 stretches with speed restrictions. He declared, “We will fix that.”After talking to the riders, he reported to the press at Park Street, “They’re optimistic. They’ve shared some of the frustrations, but they’re really happy that the team is moving forward, that I’m going to focus on the things that are important to them. So it’s a great day.”The $470,000 man — that’s his annual salary, up from the $320,000-or-so-a-year previous GM — comes from New York City, where he has a lengthy resume r...

Food for thought: Free meals for all New Mexico students

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday signed legislation to provide free school meals to all students regardless of family income, as New Mexico and several other states look to fill the gap left by lapsed federal pandemic-era benefit programs and address the strain to family budgets caused by food prices.The bill cleared the Legislature during the recent 60-day session, with lawmakers setting aside more than $22 million in the state budget to help pay for the program. Additional money will be used to improve school kitchens so healthier meals can be prepared. “When we feed our children, we’re feeding our future – these investments today will yield benefits tomorrow through generations of healthier New Mexicans,” the Democratic governor said in a statement issued after she celebrated with dozens of elementary school students.California and Maine have made universal meals permanent, legislation to do so is advancing in Vermont, and Nevada pitched in $75 milli...

Walmart Canada CEO says retailer not trying to profit from inflation

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

OTTAWA — Walmart Canada is not trying to profit from food inflation, president and CEOGonzalo Gebara told a parliamentary committee studying the issue Monday evening.Gebara told MPs that Walmart Canada’s gross profit rate for its food business declined last year, as did the company’s total operating profit in dollars. However, he declined to provide specific numbers for the private business, saying Walmart Canada has provided relevant financial information to the Competition Bureau.MPs pressed Gebara on the fees and penalties that grocers charge suppliers. These fees are one of the topics being discussed as part of efforts to create a grocery code of conduct. Gebara said Walmart Canada has received a draft of the code of conduct recently and is reviewing it. “We will support any initiative that would bring better conditions and the ability to have more transparency in the whole chain,” he said.  Gebara’s comments before the committee followed a highly anticipated appearance by...

Christie: GOP needs someone who can quickly take down Trump

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that Republicans need a candidate who can take out Donald Trump in a single, brutal swipe like the one Christie delivered to a different rival in 2016.Speaking in New Hampshire, Christie recalled a favorite moment from his failed presidential campaign: embarrassing Marco Rubio on a debate stage three days before the first-in-the-nation primary. After Christie challenged Rubio’s lack of experience, the senator from Florida repeated himself twice in a cringe-worthy moment capped off by Christie saying: “There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody.”Trump will never step aside quietly, said Christie, who is mulling another run himself.“You better have somebody on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump,” he said at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. “And that means you have to ...

Idaho Senate passes ban on gender-affirming care for minors

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Senate on Monday voted 22-12 to pass a bill criminalizing gender-affirming healthcare for minors, one month after the state House passed similar legislation. The measure bars transgender and transitioning children, or children with gender dysphoria, from receiving hormones or puberty blockers to alleviate their symptoms or help them with transitioning, KTVB reported Monday. Doctors prescribing these hormones or blockers could be charged with a felony and face prison time.The Senate will send the measure back to the House for consideration of the Senate amendments. If the House agrees, the bill will go to Sen. Brad Little.Republican lawmakers in more than two dozen states have pushed for bans on gender-affirming care this year, targeting what doctors and psychologists widely consider medically necessary care.The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends gender affirming care to treat children struggling with gender dysphoria. The organization says those ...

Rare beetle species named after ex-California governor Brown

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Scientists are naming a rare species of beetle in honor of former California Gov. Jerry Brown after finding one at his ranch.Bembidion brownorum was last seen in 1966, but it hadn’t been named or described until one was collected near a creek on Brown’s ranch in Colusa County, about an hour’s drive northwest of Sacramento, the University of California, Berkeley announced Monday.The beetle is brown and tiny at about 5 millimeters (0.20 inch) long, although that is still larger than other Bembidion beetles. Under magnification “it glows with a green and gold metallic shimmer,” according to UC Berkeley.Brown, who left office in 2019, lives in California’s inner coastal mountain range on land that has been in his family since the 1860s. He has offered his property as a meeting space for the California Native Plant Society, entomologist, and forestry and fire experts.UC Berkeley entomologist Kipling Will has been sampling insects at the 2,5...

Voter abstention rises in Cuban National Assembly election

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:03:24 GMT

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s government reported Monday that abstention in National Assembly elections was 24.1%, a figure some analysts said reflects discontent with the island’s economic crisis as well as a rise in apathy.While a 75.9% voter turnout in Sunday’s voting is high compared with other countries, it is about nine percentage points lower than voter turnout in Cuba’s 2018 National Assembly elections and far lower than the 94.2% turnout seen in 2013. Since there was only one candidate running for each of the 470 legislative seats, turnout was watched by observers as a political thermometer. “It is evident that the government is dealing with less unconditional support from its bases,” said Arturo López-Levy, a professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid.Cuba’s economy was badly hit by the pandemic and increased U.S. sanctions, and the island nation has seen a surge in migration along with power outages and fuel shortages. The communist-ruled nation was rocked ...