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Column: Are the Chicago Cubs willing to play the waiting game before the Aug. 1 trade deadline? It sounds like it.

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

The so-called “intelligent spending” plan Chicago Cubs president Jed Hoyer embarked upon last offseason has produced mixed results as the team nears the halfway point of the 2023 season.Dansby Swanson, their biggest signing of the $300 million-plus spending spree, has paid dividends already. His 2.9 WAR ranked third among shortstops on Wednesday, and Swanson may be the best defensive shortstop the Cubs have seen since Don Kessinger over five decades ago.Cody Bellinger provided a lift before his knee injury on May 15 in Houston, while Drew Smyly looks like a sound investment after being re-signed to a two-year deal in spite of a rough start Wednesday in an 8-5 loss, the team’s third straight, to the Philadelphia Phillies before 32,279 at Wrigley Field.But none of the other free agent signings have stood out so far, and the net result of all the moves has been a sub-.500 team (37-40) that’s only in contention because of the weak competition in the National Leag...

Chicago White Sox hit 4 home runs — 2 by Seby Zavala — in an 11-5 road win: ‘They just erupted. It was fantastic.’

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

Wednesday was the type of offensive night the Chicago White Sox have been craving.They hit four homers. They had multiple innings scoring more than one run. And, for the first time all month, they played a game that was decided by more than four runs.The Sox clobbered the Los Angeles Angels 11-5 in front of 29,861 at Angel Stadium.“It was a really good team win,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “This is what we’re capable of doing. We’ve just got to be consistent.”Luis Robert Jr. hit a two-run homer in the first — his 23rd of the season. Seby Zavala hit a solo homer in the second. Eloy Jiménez led off the third with a homer and Zavala homered again in the fifth.“I didn’t miss my pitches,” said Zavala, who also had a two-run single. “I’ve missed quite a few the last few weeks, and I just got them (Wednesday). I just have to keep it going.”There was production throughout the Sox lineup, leading to 17 hits. A...

Former Google executive joins U.S. Senate race

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

(KTXL) — A former Silicon Valley executive is entering the race for California's Senate in 2024. Lexi Reese, a former Google Vice President and former Chief Operating Officer for a San Francisco payroll company, announced she is seeking election to the seat held by retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Watch the special program, ‘Inside California Politics: The Race for the Senate’ "...I'm running for the United States Senate to fix California's economy," Reese said in a video launching her campaign. "To build a California where women and working moms get equal pay for equal work. Freedom to choose when and whether to have kids, freedom from senseless gun violence that just has to stop, and the freedom to be who we are and love who we love." In an interview with Inside California Politics, Reese laid out a number of policies she supports for easing Californian's fears about the economy. California voters most concerned about economy, half oppose reparation recommendation, poll shows ...

How the drying Salton Sea could be fending off California's next 'big one'

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

SAN DIEGO (KSWB) -- A correlation between the amount of water held in the basin of the Salton Sea and the shifting of the San Andreas Fault may be buying time ahead of the next major earthquake in Southern California.Scientists from San Diego State University (SDSU) partnered up with UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography to research the effects of the drying lake, and what they discovered is that it could be delaying the next "big one."As the salty and shallow body of water gradually dissipates, researches suggest the southern section of the San Andreas Fault -- which touches portions of Riverside and Imperial counties -- becomes more stabilized. Where will the next ‘big one’ be in California? Seismologists name faults of top concern The San Andreas Fault is described as a fracture in the Earth's crust that's hundreds of miles long. It's positioned where two tectonic plates meet: the Pacific and North American. According to scientists, earthquakes occur due to frict...

US economic growth last quarter is revised up to a 2% annual rate

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2% annual pace from January through March as consumers spent at the fastest pace in nearly two years, the government said Thursday in a sharp upgrade from its previous estimate.The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 1.3% annual rate last quarter.The Commerce Department’s third and final report on January-March economic growth pointed to surprising resilience but still marked a deceleration from the 2.6% annual rate from October through December and the 3.2% growth from July through September. The economy has been slowed by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive drive to tame inflation through a series of interest rate hikes beginning early last year.Yet Thursday’s report on the nation’s gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — showed why the economy has so far managed to defy expectations of a coming recession: Consumers continue to spend even in the face of ever-r...

British royals’ public spending up 5% in year of historic change

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A change in monarchs, double-digit inflation and ongoing costs to renovate Buckingham Palace contributed to a 5% increase in publicly-funded spending by Britain’s royals, royal accounts published Thursday showed. The palace’s annual Sovereign Grant report showed that net spending was up 107.5 million pounds ($135 million) in the past year. It also said that King Charles III was behind a “concerted effort” by royal staff to turn down the heating at Buckingham Palace and other royal homes during the winter to cut emissions and costs. Temperatures were set at 19 degrees Celcius (66 degrees Fahrenheit) and a few degrees lower when rooms were empty, officials said.The report also confirmed that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have vacated their former home Frogmore Cottage in Windsor — though officials declined to say who will be the next tenant.The annual report said the past year was a “period of significant transition” for the monarchy, with extra co...

Unclaimed $70M lottery ticket expires, OLG still reviewing hundreds of potential claims

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

The ticket for a $70 million jackpot in a Lotto Max draw is now expired, but the money could soon be up for grabs again.The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) says the winning ticket that was sold last year in Scarborough is no longer valid after it was not validated at a terminal by Wednesday’s 10:30 p.m. deadline.The OLG says it received more than 1,100 calls to its customer care centre with people claiming to have lost the ticket. A team of lottery investigators are now reviewing all the potential claims made before the deadline.“OLG’s awareness campaign about the unclaimed $70 million jackpot has generated unprecedented media attention in the hopes of jogging the ticket owner’s memory so that this person or group would come forward with the ticket,” reads a release from OLG about the now-expired ticket.Another update will be provided once the review process of the pending claims is complete.If they still come up empty, the $70 million prize will...

Oversight board recommends Facebook suspend Cambodian premier’s account for violent language

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A quasi-independent review board recommended Thursday that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months for using language that could incite violence.The Oversight Board established by Meta, Facebook’s parent company, issued its non-binding ruling in a 26-page report. It would overturn a decision by Facebook’s moderators to allow to stand a video on Premier Hun Sen’s Facebook page of a January speech in which he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling party of stealing votes.“There are only two options. One is to use legal means and the other is to use a stick,” the prime minister said in the video. “Either you face legal action in court, or I rally (the Cambodian) People’s Party people for a demonstration and (to) beat you up.” His remarks were spoken on Facebook Live and kept online as a video.The board said its reached its recommendation to suspend his accounts due in part to “Hun Se...

Applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. retreat after three weeks of higher claims

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

Applications for unemployment benefits fell significantly last week after claims appeared to stabilize at modestly elevated levels in recent weeks.U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 26,000 to 239,000 for the week ending June 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists were expecting the elevated claims numbers to continue above 260,000, where they had settled the past three weeks.The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly fluctuations, rose by 1,500 to 257,500.Jobless claims applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.Overall, 1.74 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended June 17, 19,000 fewer than the previous week.Matt Ott, The Associated Press

Police release video of an officer killing a neo-Nazi gunman and ending a shooting at a Texas mall

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:18:15 GMT

ALLEN, Texas (AP) — Police released video footage on Wednesday of an officer killing a neo-Nazi gunman, quickly ending a mass shooting that left eight people dead and seven others wounded at a Dallas-area shopping mall.The edited five-and-a-half-minute video details the final moments of Mauricio Garcia, 33, after he unleashed a rain of bullets from an AR-15-style rifle at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6.Those killed included three members of a Korean American family including a 3-year-old child, two young sisters, a security guard and an engineer from India. Police haven’t revealed a motive for the attack.The shooting came in a year that has seen an unprecedented pace of mass killings.The footage from a body camera worn by an Allen police officer starts off with the officer telling two children outside the mall to wear their seatbelts and be good.Moments later, the sound of rapid gunfire erupts from the mall. The children and a woman with them run away as the officer radios...