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Pirates try to avoid series sweep against the Cubs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

Pittsburgh Pirates (34-32, first in the NL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (30-37, fourth in the NL Central)Chicago; Thursday, 8:05 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Johan Oviedo (3-5, 4.16 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 63 strikeouts); Cubs: Marcus Stroman (7-4, 2.42 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 73 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cubs -142, Pirates +119; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates play the final game of a three-game series. The Cubs can sweep the series with a victory.Chicago has a 30-37 record overall and a 17-16 record in home games. Cubs pitchers have a collective 4.15 ERA, which ranks fifth in the NL.Pittsburgh has a 34-32 record overall and a 16-16 record in road games. The Pirates have gone 18-9 in games when they did not allow a home run.The teams square off Thursday for the third time this season.TOP PERFORMERS: Patrick Wisdom leads Chicago with 14 home runs while slugging .473. Christopher Morel is 5-for-28 with two home runs and six RBI over...

Se multiplican las previsiones de calor extremo en Texas y México debido al cambio climático, según ún análisis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

(CNN) — Según un análisis del grupo de investigación Climate Central, el cambio climático provocado por la actividad humana ha multiplicado por cinco la probabilidad de que se produzcan temperaturas casi sin precedentes en amplias zonas de Texas y México.Se prevé una semana de calor extremo inusual en amplias zonas de América Central hasta el sur de Estados Unidos. Muchas ciudades importantes de Texas y México registrarán temperaturas de hasta 40 grados Celsius, de jueves a lunes. Según el Centro de Predicción Meteorológica (WPC), en Texas se podrían batir o igualar récords diarios de temperaturas máximas durante la próxima semana.El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (NWS) emitió avisos de calor para el sur de Texas e incluso para el sur de Luisiana durante la jornada de este jueves. El índice de calor para este jueves podría alcanzar y superar los 43 grados centígrados.“El índice de calor, también conocido como la temperatura aparente, es lo que la temperatura se siente c...

FHP investigating multi-car crash on I-95 in Miami; 1 dead, 5 hospitalized

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) officials are investigating a multi-vehicle crash that has led to one fatality and five other people hospitalized. According to Miami Fire Rescue, crews responded to the scene around 2:30 a.m. after eight vehicles collided with one another on the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 just before State Road 112. When the rescue team arrived, 10 people required medical aid and officials upgraded the incident to a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Level 1 which led to more units arriving on the scene. As more rescue crews arrived, paramedics assessed the individual’s vitals and were treated as needed. Officials said one person was pronounced dead on the scene. A man was transported to Ryder Trauma Center in serious condition, while another four people were taken to Jackson Hospital in stable condition. The remaining four people refused treatment and transport. A woman who went to visit her friend in the hospital spoke out. “My friend called me,” sh...

Nagorno-Karabakh not under blockade, Azerbaijan insists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

YEREVAN — Azerbaijan says a new border post on the only road in or out of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh is open for civilians, dismissing concerns it could be an effort to cut its ethnic Armenian population off from the outside world.Statistics compiled by Baku’s border service and seen by POLITICO record a total of 1,927 people passing through the checkpoint between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh since it opened in April, while more than a hundred cargo vehicles have been waved through in each direction.The EU and U.S. have repeatedly warned that the installation of the checkpoint could trigger a “humanitarian crisis” in the war-torn region, as tensions flare across the former Soviet Union.“As is demonstrated by free and unimpeded passage of Armenian residents, allegations the checkpoint prevents movement and is a ‘blockade’ are completely baseless,” said Aykhan Hajizade, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry.Inside Aze...

5 things to watch at POLITICO’s Global Tech Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

POLITICO’s first ever Global Tech Day, hosted in London, starts Thursday at 6:45 a.m. EDT.Guests can still register for the virtual event here. The conference will explore the world’s hottest topics in the field, including the sudden explosion of artificial intelligence, future spectrum regulations and the race to dominate the technology supply chain.Here are 5 things to watch at the summit:Generative AI: With the EU AI Act on track to be the first international law regulating the nascent industry, one panel will focus on what guardrails on AI could look like. The panelists include Viscount Camrose, parliamentary under secretary of state and minister for AI and intellectual property in the U.K.; Dragoș Tudorache, MEP and chair of the former special committee on AI in a Digital Age at the European Parliament; Lucilla Sioli, the director for AI and digital industry within the Directorate-General CONNECT at the European Commission; and Stephen Almond, executive director for r...

US and allies negotiating security guarantees for Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is working with allies to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, a step that falls short of Kyiv’s desire for those assurances to come from NATO.According to multiple American and European officials, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany — known as the “European Quad” — would in essence formalize their military and economic support for Ukraine, keeping it flowing even after the fighting with Russia ends. However, neither a bilateral deal or multilateral agreement would have the legal force of a treaty.In effect, the four countries are offering more of the same for an indefinite period of time.“The U.S. is in talks with Ukraine and our allies and partners on how we can reassure Ukraine about their long-term security to deter any future aggression for after this war ends,” a National Security Council spokesperson confirmed. The official was not authorized to use their name when providing this statement to the press.Still, “these negotiations an...

Less rain today, more for the weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

After a stormy Wednesday evening, conditions will continue to improve today as the low pressure system pulls away from New England.Although there still may be a brief passing shower today, most of the day will be dry with partly sunny skies. Nice weather returns on Friday, with some sunshine and temps in the 80s, but another low pressure system looks to move in from the west by the weekend.With the low overhead on Saturday, expect more scattered showers and storms, and temps a bit cooler with increased cloud cover in the area.

With quicker games and less downtime, Orioles fans approve of new pitch clock: ‘The game just flows now’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

Watching the Orioles this season is giving Dennis Morton flashbacks to the 1960s.No, not because Baltimore is one of the best teams in the American League like they were for the latter half of that decade, although Morton is excited about the post-rebuild Orioles.Instead, Morton, 70, is recalling his days sitting in the 25-cent wooden bleachers at Memorial Stadium because of the brand of baseball the Orioles — and the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball — are playing at Camden Yards this year. The 2023 season is MLB’s first with a pitch clock meant to speed up games, and that it has.“The games didn’t used to be four-hour marathons. It was different back then,” said Morton, a Forest Hill resident, before Baltimore’s game against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. “I think the change has all been for the good — for the fans and for the entertainment value. It speeds up the action. There’s no lingering outside the batter...

OBF column: B’s left for broke, Vegas hits jackpot with Bruce Cassidy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

The Stanley Cup returns to Massachusetts this summer.Just don’t bother looking for it on Causeway Street.Bruins fans chanted “We Want The Cup” throughout the team’s record-breaking-65-win-albeit-useless regular season.They got what they wanted.But brace for traffic.Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said he plans to spend his day with hockey’s sacred silver chalice while summering at his family’s house on Cape Cod.We only use summer as a verb when it applies to those elites in the highest of social strata. Or for those visiting the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket or the Berkshires. Or for NHL coaches who won the Stanley Cup 372 days after being banned in Boston.Cassidy won’t be bringing the Cup to Hutchinson Road in Winchester. Cassidy, his wife Julie, and their two kids lived there before he relocated to Nevada for work reasons last year. As a harbinger of their good fortune, the Cassidy Winchester homestead was sold for $2.75 million on Sept. 23, a nifty $750,000...

Jesuits expel prominent priest Rupnik after allegations of abuse against adult women

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:32 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ Jesuit religious order said Thursday it has expelled a prominent Slovenian priest from the congregation following allegations of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuses against adult women.A statement from the Jesuits, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, said the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik was dismissed from the Jesuit order by decree on June 9 “due to stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.”Rupnik is one of the most celebrated religious artists in the Catholic Church, whose mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at the Vatican. Late last year, the Jesuits acknowledged he had been accused by several women of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuses over a 30-year period. But he had largely escaped punishment, apparently thanks in part to his exalted status in the church and at the Vatican, where even Francis’ role in the case came into question.The Jesuit statement said Rupnik has 30 days to appeal the...