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Cactus League report: Seiya Suzuki injury update — and Oscar Colás tries out center field

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

Cody Bellinger finally hit his first spring home run — at least the first one that counted.Bellinger’s homer last week against Team Canada is not applied to Cactus League totals because it was an exhibition matchup. His home run Thursday, though, prevented the Cubs from getting shut out in a 3-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Left-hander Drew Smyly went 4⅓ innings, giving up two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out four batters.Jameson Taillon threw 72 pitches in a minor-league game against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday after his sim game was rained out Wednesday. He surrendered four runs and seven hits, walked one and struck out seven in five innings.Sox manager Pedro Grifol saw some positives from the rain that canceled Wednesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants.“I didn’t plan the weather but when I saw it (in the forecast) a few days ago it was something that we thought would be good for us,” Grifol said Thurs...

The Patriots offense is better with Mike Gesicki, but how will it take shape?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

Four days later, it’s easy to forget the Patriots’ first move during NFL free agency was actually a trade.On Monday, the Pats agreed to deal tight end Jonnu Smith to Atlanta for a seventh-round pick, a transaction that officially processed the moment free agency opened Wednesday afternoon. Smith disappointed over his two years in New England, failing to crack 300 receiving yards in either season after he signed a 4-year, $50 million contract.Upon signing Miami’s Mike Gesicki on Friday morning, it appeared the Patriots had found Smith’s replacement at tight end. Or did they?Gesicki, at 6-foot-6 and 247 pounds, is a player some have instead described as a “big receiver” — Bill Belichick included. The sixth-year vet is a spectacular athlete, armed with 4.5 speed, incredible leaping ability and a massive catch radius. Few tight ends possess better receiving talent than Gesicki, the proud owner of 18 career touchdowns.The 27-year-old is also slow...

Projecting the Chicago White Sox opening-day roster: Who will claim the remaining spots?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

The Chicago White Sox have difficult choices ahead as they build their opening-day roster.That’s the way manager Pedro Grifol prefers.“It’s not going to be an easy decision, which is a good thing for us as an organization,” Grifol said Wednesday. “Easy decisions are not good for any organization.“Hard decisions mean you’ve got depth and you signed the right guys in the offseason. That’s where we’re at.”The Sox open the regular season against the 2022 champion Houston Astros on March 30 at Minute Maid Park.Here’s a Tribune projection of the team’s opening-day roster.Starting pitchers (5)RHP Dylan CeaseRHP Mike ClevingerRHP Lucas GiolitoRHP Lance LynnRHP Michael KopechThe rotation is set. Now it’s all about establishing an order.Grifol said he likely will wait until after the World Baseball Classic to name an opening-day starter.“Make sure that everybody’s healthy, everybody gets back healthy,...

Suspect arrested in East College house party shooting following SWAT raid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man was arrested Wednesday in connection to a house party shooting in the College East neighborhood, authorities said.The incident occurred shortly before 1:40 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2022 when police responded to a call reporting a man was shot at a residence in the 6200 block of Pembroke Drive, the San Diego Police Department said. Man arrested on suspicion of kidnapping; police find dead woman in home Responding officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to his right arm. Authorities say the victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment and survived the shooting. Detectives from the Eastern Division responded to investigate the incident and later identified Leonardo Campos as the suspected shooter, according to SDPD.Officers with the SDPD’s SWAT team executed a search warrant at Campos' apartment in Chula Vista on Wednesday and took the suspect into custody without incident, authorities said. Motorcyclist killed in crash on I-805 identified Detect...

Turkey’s president says he will back Finland’s NATO bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said Friday that his government would move forward with ratifying Finland’s NATO application, paving the way for the country to join the military bloc ahead of Sweden.The breakthrough came as Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was in Ankara to meet with Erdogan. Both Finland and Sweden applied to become NATO members 10 months ago in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of nonalignmen t. NATO requires the unanimous approval of its 30 existing members to expand, and Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that have not yet ratified the Nordic nation’s bids. The Turkish government accused both Sweden and Finland of being too soft on groups that it deems to be terror organizations, but expressed more reservations about Sweden.“When it comes to fulfilling its pledges in the trilateral memorandum of understanding, we have seen that Finland has taken authentic and concrete steps,” Erdogan told a news con...

Jim Gordon, rock ‘n’ roll drummer who killed mother, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jim Gordon, the rock ‘n’ roll session drummer who played on classic records by Eric Clapton, George Harrison and The Beach Boys and received a writing credit on “Layla” before killing his mother, has died at 77.Gordon died Monday at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed Thursday. It’s believed he died of natural causes, but the official cause will be determined by the Solano County coroner. Gordon, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, had been in prison for four decades.From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, few drummers were more in demand than Gordon, a Los Angeles native and protege of the all-time versatile session man, Hal Blaine. Gordon had been drumming since his teens and — early in his career — was part of Phil Spector’s celebrated studio ensemble, “The Wrecking Crew,” which featured Blaine.“When I didn’t have the time, I recommended Jim,” Blaine told Rolling Stone i...

Syrian Kurdish force says it lost 9 fighters in Iraq crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — The main U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force in northeastern Syria said Friday it lost nine fighters, including a commander, when two helicopters crashed this week in neighboring Iraq. The group known as Syrian Democratic Forces said the helicopters crashed during bad weather while en route to the northern Iraqi city of Suleimaniyah on Wednesday night. The nine killed included elite fighters, the group said.The statement added that the Syrian Kurdish fighters were in Iraq as part of an “exchange of expertise” in the fight against the militant Islamic state group. It identified the killed commander as Sherfan Kobani, a cousin of SDF’s top commander, Mazloum Abdi.The SDF did not elaborate on the cause of the crash or provide further details. The group called on local authorities in Iraq to hand over the nine bodies so they could be brought home for burial in Syria.The SDF has been a main force in the fight against the militant Islamic State group in Syria an...

Review: Yves Tumor’s album thrills from start to finish

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

“Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)” by Yves Tumor (Warp Records)Yves Tumor’s new album starts with a scream. The first song, “God is a Circle,” quickly layers in heavy breathing and a propulsive beat. Tumor never lets up — the artist’s fifth studio album is a thriller from start to finish. The title, like the album itself, is grandiose and a bit inscrutable: “Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)” delivers a unique blend of electronica, glam, goth and new wave. Like many artists, Tumor partly reinvented during COVID and spent the period designing and upholstering furniture. The earlier albums were experiments in densely curated noise, mixing industrial, droning and found sounds. The post-pandemic work has not abandoned these roots but instead builds irresistible hooks on top of the more abstract soundscapes to strike an effective balance between experimentation and accessibility.Still, th...

S&P/TSX down as markets continue to grapple with collapse of several banks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down along with international indexes in early trading as the globe continued to grapple with the collapse of several banks over the last week.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 165.55 points at 19,379.42.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average down 351.46 points at 31,895.09. The S&P 500 index was down 46.65 points at 3,913.63, while the Nasdaq composite was down 79.98 points at 11,637.30.The Canadian dollar was trading for 72.74 cents US, compared with 72.76 cents US on Thursday.The May crude contract was down US$2.23 at US$66.29 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was down 13 cents at US$2.38 per mmBTU.The April gold contract was up US$41 at US$1,964 an ounce and the May copper contract was up two cents at US$3.88 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2023.The Canadian Press

Officer who killed George Floyd pleads guilty in tax case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The former Minneapolis police officer serving time for the 2020 murder of George Floyd pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of tax evasion. Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting, failing to file tax returns to the state of Minnesota for the years 2016 and 2017.in a Minnesota court before Washington County Judge Sheridan Hawley. Chauvin appeared via Zoom from a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona. He was standing in a room and paced around before the hearing began. Chauvin and his now ex-wife were charged with multiple counts of underreporting their income and failing to file tax returns. His ex-wife pleaded guilty earlier to two counts.“The true reason,” Chauvin told the judge, “is some financial concerns at the time.”Chauvin was previously convicted on state murder charges for the May 2020 killing of Floyd and on a federal count of violating the Black man’s civil rights. Floyd died May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee again...