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New hitting coach Marcus Thames wants ‘more competitive at-bats’ out of Chicago White Sox: ‘They all want to be better, man’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

Marcus Thames has worked with some of the best players in baseball, including Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.“Sometimes people think the top athletes on each team don’t want to get better,” Thames said during a video conference call last week. “But those guys, they want to be coached, and it was fun. It was fun to be around them and being an extra set of eyes for those guys and making sure I gave them everything that they needed.“Guys all across the league, they all talk. And they all want to be better, man.”The Chicago White Sox are in vital need of offensive improvement. And Thames will look to do his part after being named the team’s hitting coach on Nov. 7.“The endorsements for Marcus Thames were impressive,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said at the MLB general managers meetings last week. “Whether it be players I spoke to, coaches that worked with Marcus, just glowing.”Thames, 47, comes to the Sox af...

California authorities arrest college professor in connection with death of Jewish demonstrator

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

JOHN ANTCZAK and JULIE WATSON (Associated Press)LOS ANGELES (AP) — A college professor was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of a Jewish protester during Southern California demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war, authorities said. Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, will be booked into jail for investigation of involuntary manslaughter — the unintentional killing of another person, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said. The district attorney will decide whether there is enough evidence to charge him.A man who answered the phone at a mobile number listed for Alnaji in public records said he did not want to comment. He did not give his name. A message could not be left at a number for Alnaji’s home in Moorpark north of Los Angeles, because voicemail was not set up. Paul Kessler, 69, died early Nov. 6 at a hospital following a Nov. 5 confrontation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles. Sheriff Jim Fry...

Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas unanimously approved by MLB owners

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

By STEPHEN HAWKINS and RONALD BLUM (AP Baseball Writers)ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved Thursday by Major League Baseball team owners, cementing the sport’s first relocation since 2005. A 75% vote of the 30 teams was necessary for approval of A’s owner John Fisher’s plan, which was endorsed by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.“There was an effort over more than a decade to find a stadium solution in Oakland,” Manfred said Thursday. “It was John Fisher’s preference. It was my preference. … It didn’t happen.”After years of complaints about the Oakland Coliseum and an inability to gain government assistance for a new ballpark in the Bay area, the A’s plan to move to a stadium to be built on the Las Vegas Strip with $380 million in public financing approved by the Nevada government. The Athletics’ lease at the Coliseum runs through 2024, and they...

Pilot killed in small plane crash in La Jolla

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

Editors note: This story has been corrected to note the pilot took off from Murrieta, California. SAN DIEGO -- The pilot of a small plane that crashed near homes in La Jolla overnight has been confirmed dead.Around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, the FAA received a message from the pilot saying he was low on fuel, said the San Diego Police Department.The pilot, who was flying in rainy weather conditions, was then diverted to Montgomery Field.The pilot lost track of his location and went off radar soon after, SDPD explained. Authorities searched for the possibly downed aircraft in the area of Torrey Pines Gliderport. Police confirmed Thursday morning that the plane was located along Caminito Sueno near Gilman Drive in La Jolla Heights. The plane came in through some trees.The pilot of a small plane that crashed near homes in La Jolla overnight has been confirmed dead. (KSWB)A resident in the area reported seeing lights from the plane and directed authorities to the area, SDPD told FOX 5. ...

Take heart, it looks like China could send new pandas to the US

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” Xi said Wednesday during a dinner speech with business leaders.The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Joe Biden held their first face to face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not share additional details on when or where pandas might be provided but appeared to suggest the next pair of pandas are most likely to come to California, probably San Diego.The bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. ...

Foreign workers who claim exploitation by Quebec company say Ottawa no longer helping

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

MONTREAL — A group of foreign workers who allege they were lured to Canada under false pretences are accusing the federal government of reneging on its promise to help them get work permits.Octavio Zambrano says the Immigration Department told him and his colleagues last week that it will not fast-track them for work permits even though it had allegedly promised to do so.The workers are part of a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that Quebec-based recruitment company Trésorfalsely told them it was legal to work in Canada without a permit during a probationary period.The lawsuit alleges that Trésor and Newrest, the aviation catering company in which the workers were placed, took advantage of their precarious status and exploited them.Zambrano says he’s still owed three weeks of back pay and he and his colleagues are running out of money and unable to pay for food and rent in Canada, or to buy plane tickets home. In an emailed statement, Newrest — which has filed a lawsuit ...

Mississippi man had ID in his pocket when he was buried without his family’s knowledge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Black man who died after he was hit by a police SUV in Mississippi was buried in a pauper’s cemetery without his family’s knowledge, even though his state ID was in his pocket, indicating a serious effort to cover up the manner of his death, the family’s lawyer said Thursday.Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that the body of Dexter Wade was exhumed Monday, and that a wallet subsequently found in the pocket of the jeans Wade had been buried in contained his state identification card with his home address, his credit card and a health insurance card. Crump urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Wade’s death and its aftermath. “The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family,” Crump said. “There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an ident...

Music Review: Now on vinyl, Shania Twain’s ‘Greatest Hits’ shines anew

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

Shania Twain is familiar with the concept of a hit.Her second album “The Woman in Me” sold 20 million copies. Her next, “Come On Over,” sold 40 million. Her 2004 “Greatest Hits” album was one of its own, selling more than half a million copies in its first week — enough to become the fastest-selling hits album by a female artist in the United States, per the Guinness World Records. It has since been certified four times platinum.Now, as vinyl records and their players see a resurgence, that album has been remastered for vinyl, available Friday. The collection, like its original, opens with the shimmery pop version of “Forever and For Always,” a proper introduction to the genre and Shania fun enclosed. This version — coming 19 years after its original release — adds a track from each of the Canadian country star’s most recent albums: “Life’s About To Get Good” from 2017’s “Now” and “Giddy Up!” from this year’s “Queen of Me.”The 23 songs reveal the ...

Geddy Lee reflects on the big breaks and mistakes of ‘My Effin’ Life’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

TORONTO — When Geddy Lee goes big, he goes huge.It’s a personality trait that served him well as bassist and vocalist of prog-rock legends Rush, whose epic songs, among them “Tom Sawyer” and “Working Man,” are enshrined in Canadian music history. And with Lee’s new memoir “My Effin’ Life” he aspired to similarly great heights in retelling his own life story over 500 pages.“My original manuscript was 1,200 pages,” the 70-year-old musician said in a recent phone interview.“If I had released it in that form, I’d have to call it ‘Every (Effin’) Boring Detail.’”He wouldn’t be the only sizable performer to turn out a sizable stack of reflections this year. Barbra Streisand’s memoir, also released this month, clocks in at an incredible 970 pages, which at its mention leads Lee to chuckle.“I’ve got that beat,” he said of his initial version.But to Lee’s credit, he exercised some restraint. Once his final draft was handed in, he gave co-writer ...

Ontario tables legislation to reverse city and regional land boundary changes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:19 GMT

Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra has tabled legislation that will reverse course on urban and regional boundary expansions.Calandra has said the previous housing minister’s staff was too involved in the expansions that were introduced in late 2022 and early this year.The province had changed official plans for Barrie, Belleville, Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa and Peterborough as well as the regional municipalities of Halton, Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York, and Wellington County.The expansions were part of the government’s suite of changes that included removing land from the protected Greenbelt in an effort to build 1.5 million homes over 10 years.Two legislative watchdogs found the process to select Greenbelt land for removal was flawed and favoured certain developers.After public outcry, Premier Doug Ford reversed course on the Greenbelt removals and the then-housing minister, as well as another cabinet member, resigned.The RCMP have launched a criminal investi...