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The Orioles’ 2023 season came crashing down, but ‘liftoff’ is underway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

Tuesday night, in the same building Mike Elias declared “it’s liftoff from here” for the Orioles 14 months ago, their 2023 season came crashing down.Yet, amid the jarring disappointment of a team that hadn’t been swept in 91 straight series suffering one in the American League Division Series at the hands of the Texas Rangers, it’s hard not to believe Baltimore’s executive vice president and general manager was right about “liftoff.”The Orioles have taken flight, and they are only getting started.That’s perhaps difficult to accept after a team that finished with 101 wins in the regular season came away with zero in the playoffs. The Rangers exposed their few weaknesses: an inexperienced rotation, a cushy middle portion of the bullpen, a lineup sporadically prone to stretches of collective futility. Few teams, though, managed to corral them during the 162-game grind of the regular season, one that ended with the Orioles a...

Inside Mac Jones’ Patriots downfall from promising rookie to lost QB

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

Out to the west, in a distant desert and under the watch of an old coach, the sun may soon set on the Mac Jones era.Team sources indicate Jones will start the Patriots’ game at Las Vegas primarily because their other options — a second-year backup they cut six weeks ago and a third-string journeyman — are unfit. Before Bill Belichick announced his decision Wednesday, members across the organization doubted Jones would get another shot.“How can he?” one source asked Monday afternoon.Instead, Jones will face Josh McDaniels, who facilitated his rapid development as a rookie and tortured him in their only head-to-head meeting last year. Since McDaniels left to become the Raiders head coach in January 2022, Jones has ranked among the NFL’s worst quarterbacks by every metric.He reached a career nadir this month, suffering six turnovers, two benchings and one overarching question: how did we get here?In assessing Jones’ downfall, several league sources pinned blame on Jon...

$1.765 billion Powerball jackpot goes to lucky lottery player in California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A player in California won a $1.765 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, ending a long stretch without a winner of the top prize.The winning numbers were: 22, 24, 40, 52, 64 and the Powerball 10. The winning ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, according to the California Lottery.Phone calls Wednesday night to Midway Market & Liquor went unanswered.“The phone’s been ringing off the hook, people saying congratulations. Pretty crazy,” the store’s night worker, identified only as Duke, told KCAL-TV.“Somebody owes me a truck,” he said with a smile. “A lot of customers come in, you know they come in every day to get their tickets, religiously. And a lot of them … said: ‘Oh, if I win I’m gonna get you a new truck.’ So where’s my truck? I’ll be waiting.”He expected the winner will be a local resident.Before someone won the giant prize, there had been 35 consecutive drawings without a big winner, stretching back to July 19 when a pl...

Ex-Barclays Bank boss Staley banned from senior UK finance roles over misleading Epstein statements

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former Barclays Bank chief executive Jes Staley has been fined 1.8 million pounds ($2.2 million) and banned from holding senior financial roles in the U.K. for misleading the Financial Conduct Authority over the nature of his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the regulator said Thursday. The Authority said in a statement that Staley, a U.S. citizen, had “recklessly approved” a letter sent by Barclays to the FCA, which claimed the bank’s former boss did not have a close relationship with Epstein. But in email messages, Staley described Epstein as one of his “deepest” and “most cherished” friends, according to the regulator. Staley had acted as a private banker to the disgraced financier during his previous time at JP Morgan, where he worked for more than 30 years.Staley, 66, stepped down from Barclays in 2021 as criticism over his ties to Epstein, who killed himself in a federal jail in August 2019, a month after his arrest on federal sex traffick...

Trump says Netanyahu ‘let us down’ before the 2020 airstrike that killed a top Iranian general

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of betraying him just before the U.S. killed a top Iranian general in 2020, breaking from the Republican presidential primary field’s uniform support of Israel as it responds to Hamas’ deadly attack.Trump’s comments at a West Palm Beach, Florida, rally on Wednesday were quickly denounced by one of Netanyahu’s allies and by several Republicans who oppose Trump, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 rival. Most American leaders have lined up behind Israel after a multi-pronged Hamas invasion that President Joe Biden said was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. At least 2,500 people have died on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Trump, the early front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, told the rally that his prayers were with Israel and vowed to stand by the country and not let it fail — before he went on to describe a “bad experienc...

St. Lawrence Seaway workers vote in favour of strike if no deal reached by Oct. 21

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

MONTREAL — Workers represented by Unifor at the St. Lawrence Seaway Corp. have voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike if they are not able to reach a new contract.The union has set a deadline of Oct. 21 to reach an agreement.Unifor national president Lana Payne says the workers manage the transit of more than 200 million tons of cargo each year and they deserve fair wages for the vital and challenging work they do.The workers are members of Unifor Local 4212 and 4323 in Ontario and 4320 in Quebec.Negotiations began on June 19 and 20 with the help of a conciliator.The two sides held additional talks in September and they are scheduled to resume bargaining Oct. 17.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2023.The Canadian Press

Elderly woman struck and killed by vehicle in Scarborough

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

A woman is dead after she was struck by a vehicle in Scarborough on Thursday morning.Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Steeles Avenue East and Kennedy Road around 6:45 a.m. for reports of a person lying in the roadway.Traffic services confirm an elderly woman was pronounced dead at the scene after being hit by a vehicle.The vehicle involved remained at the scene.Steeles is closed in both directions between Birchmount and Kennedy for the investigation.

US inflation may have risen only modestly last month as Fed officials signal no rate hike is likely

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States likely eased again last month, though the decline might have slowed since summer, a reminder that the outsize price pressures of the past two years will take more time to cool. Consumer prices are forecast to have risen 0.3% from August to September, according to economists surveyed by the data provider FactSet. Such a rise would be much slower than the previous month’s 0.6% price increase but still too fast to match the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, “core” prices likely also rose 0.3% in September, the same as in August. The Fed tracks the core figure in particular as a good indicator of the likely future path of inflation.Thursday’s inflation data could bolster — or undercut — the growing belief that the Fed can tame inflation through the series of 11 interest rate hikes it imposed beginning in March 2022 without causing a recession.Hiring surged unexpectedly in Se...

‘Informer’ and ‘My Definition…’ added to Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

TORONTO — Snow’s infectious reggae-rap success “Informer” and hip-hop duo Dream Warriors’ bossa nova-inspired “My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style” are among four songs being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame next month.Organizers say they’ve selected a handful of culture-defining songs from the 1980s and 1990s that transcended musical genres and “ushered in a new era” of sound.Bran Van 3000’s trippy hit “Drinking in L.A.” and Martha and the Muffins’ bouncy new wave anthem “Echo Beach” round out the group.The inductions — which recognize the song, not the songwriter — will take place during the Hall of Fame’s Legends Series presentation at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio on Nov. 1. An evening of performances from emerging artists and conversations with inductees will highlight the event.Songwriters Marc Jordan and John Capek were previously announced as inductees...

Thursday Forecast: Temps in upper 50s with showers and storms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Temperatures in upper 50s, cloudy conditions with rain and thunderstorms. Winds: E 10-15 mph. High: 58. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here Cloudy tonight with slight rain chance. Winds: E 15-20 G25. Low: 55.Friday Forecast: Cloudy, breezy, rain and storms. Winds: E 15-20 G30. High: 60.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog