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3 issues for Chicago White Sox to address after a coaching staff shake-up, including overcoming a lineup power struggle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

The Chicago White Sox will have their third hitting coach in as many seasons after announcing Friday that José Castro would not return in 2024.It’s one of several changes to the coaching staff.Longtime first-base coach Daryl Boston will not be back while assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson and bullpen coach Curt Hasler have been offered positions in the Sox player development system.Castro replaced Frank Menechino as hitting coach in 2023. He joined the Sox after being the assistant hitting coach for the Atlanta Braves from 2015-22.The shake-up at hitting coach positions come after the Sox ranked near the bottom in the American League in several offensive categories, including 12th in hits (1,308) and batting average (.238), during a 61-101 season.Here are three issues offensively for the team to address.1. The Sox must produce more power.Luis Robert Jr. hit a liner near Pesky’s Pole in the ninth inning of a Sept. 23 game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Par...

Battenfeld: RFK Jr. could be Democratic spoiler in 2024 presidential race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

Democrats should dismiss Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at their own peril.Kennedy’s independent bid for president could pose a major threat to Joe Biden and Democrats – no matter what party activists are saying now that it hurts Republican Donald Trump more.Kennedy could become a major spoiler, drawing away disaffected conservative and moderate Democrats and voters enamored with the Kennedy name from the Democratic ticket.It’s why Kennedy’s siblings, including former Massachusetts congressman Joe Kennedy II, have condemned their brother in such strong terms. Some family loyalty.“The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country,” said the letter by Rory Kennedy and signed by three more siblings, Kerry, Joe II and Kathleen. “Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment. (The) announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it is perilous f...

‘The game is still the same’: Veterans, psychologists give young Orioles advice for baseball playoff debuts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

It was only about a month into his big league tenure when Orioles rookie Jordan Westburg got a memorable piece of advice from 10-year veteran Aaron Hicks.Westburg had just rocketed a pitch down the third base line in the ninth inning, with the Orioles trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-3 on July 18. For a moment, after his feet crossed the bag at first, he contemplated sprinting for second. But he thought better of it, and stayed put.With the Orioles so far behind, the play would prove virtually meaningless. The O’s lost by that same score just a few batters later. But the play meant something to Hicks.“After the game, Aaron Hicks came up to me and he was like, ‘Hey, man, our style of baseball is aggressive here. I think you should have gone for it,’ Westburg said.For an Orioles team packed with young big leaguers, those tidbits of guidance will perhaps become even more important — particularly when they come from the few current Orioles with post...

Sen. Chuck Schumer will lead bipartisan delegation to Israel amid war with Hamas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

Dave Goldiner | New York Daily News Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will lead a bipartisan delegation to Israel this weekend amid the widening war between the Jewish state and Hamas.Schumer, a Democrat, will jet to Israel to show support just days after the Islamist group killed 1,000 Israelis in the worst terror attacks in decades — and the Jewish state strikes back hard.“The United States stands with Israel, a message that should go out in America and particularly in Israel,” Schumer said Friday. “People should know they are not alone as they fight this scourge of terrorism, which could affect any country in the world.”Schumer did not say which lawmakers would accompany him on the quickly planned trip, but said it would include Republicans and Democrats.He cut short a trip to Asia when the terror attacks took place last weekend.Schumer plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with opposition leader Benny Gantz, who has joined an emergency war cabinet...

US oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut heat-trapping pollution

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

United States domestic oil production hit an all-time high last week, contrasting with efforts to slice heat-trapping carbon emissions by the Biden administration and world leaders.And it conflicts with oft-repeated Republican talking points of a Biden “war on American energy.”The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels. Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.With the United Nations and scientists saying the world needs to cut carbon emissions — from burning coal, oil and natural gas — by 43% by 2030 and down to zero or close to it by 2050, several developed countries across the world are dangerously producing more, not less, fossil fuels, experts say. “Continuing to expand oil and gas production is hypocritical and not at all consistent with the global call...

Judge denies bid to prohibit US border officials from turning back asylum-seekers at land crossings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge on Friday denied a bid by immigration advocates to prohibit U.S. officials from turning away asylum-seekers at border crossings with Mexico if they don’t have appointments on a mobile phone app.The ruling is a victory for the Biden administration and its approach to creating new pathways to enter the United States, while, at the same time, making it more difficult for those who don’t follow prescribed methods to seek asylum.More than 263,000 people scheduled appointments on the CBP One app from when it was introduced in January through August, including 45,400 who were processed in August. The top nationalities of those who scheduled appointments are Haitian, Mexican and Venezuelan. The app has been criticized on the right as too permissive and on the left as too restrictive.CBP One has become “the sole mechanism to access the U.S. asylum process at a (port of entry) on the southern border,” attorneys for Al Otro Lado and the Haitian Brid...

Virginia statehouse candidates face questions about residency requirements

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia state lawmakers are required to live in the district they represent, as well as in any district they might be seeking to represent. If they move out of their district, the state constitution says they are out of office.Those requirements, combined with political maps that took effect this year, have created a headache for some candidates.At least two sitting lawmakers seeking reelection in new districts say they are living either with or in the home of a relative rather than with their immediate family, in order to meet the residency requirements.But for one of those two, Democratic Del. C.E. “Cliff” Hayes, a private investigative company’s findings that were provided to The Associated Press by the House Republican caucus raise questions about that claim.Hayes said Friday that he’s following the rules. He reported to state officials earlier this year that he was living in a Chesapeake home that’s in both the 77th District, which he currently...

Lexi Thompson makes bold run at PGA Tour cut in Las Vegas, but 2 late bogeys stall her bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lexi Thompson delivered star-power moments built for a stage like Las Vegas, and when she poured in a pair of long birdie putts Friday, she was on the verge of history.Thompson was 4 under with seven holes to play. She was on the verge of becoming the first woman in 78 years to make a 36-hole cut on the PGA Tour.One poor swing, one mediocre chip and one missed putt at end left her on the outside of the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open, but no less proud of two days she won’t soon forget. She wanted to inspire kids to chase their dreams, and she did all of that at the TPC Summerlin.“Playing with the guys — amazing feeling,” Thompson said after a 2-under 69. “Growing up with guys, I’ve always wanted to be out on a PGA Tour event and tee it up. But the biggest thing was seeing the kids out there outside the ropes and then meeting a few of the Shriners ambassadors. That was the most special.”Her golf was a close second.Thompson made five birdies in ...

Trump says he stands with Netanyahu after a barrage of GOP criticism for saying he ‘let us down’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he stood with Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as his GOP rivals continued to pointedly denounce his lashing out at Netanyahu days after Hamas’ deadly attacks.Referring to Netanyahu by his nickname, Trump posted “#IStandWithIsrael” and “#IStandWithBibi” on his Truth Social network Friday afternoon. That stood in stark contrast to comments earlier this week, when Trump told a rally crowd in Florida that Netanyahu had “let us down” before the U.S. killed a top Iranian general. Trump further faulted the country’s intelligence agencies, saying they needed to “step up their game,” and referred to Hezbollah, the group Israel fears may launch a large-scale attack from the country’s north, as “very smart.”The comments drew widespread condemnation from the White House as well as Trump’s GOP rivals, who have generally avoided directly attacking the former president and GOP front-runner because...

As accusations fly over ballot stuffing in mayoral primary, Connecticut Democrat takes the 5th

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:57 GMT

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A local Democratic official in Connecticut’s largest city invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination Friday rather than answer questions in court about allegations of illegal ballot box stuffing during a recent mayoral primary.Wanda Geter-Pataky, vice chair of the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee, exercised her right to remain silent multiple times during a court hearing in a lawsuit challenging the results of the Sept. 12 primary, in which incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim defeated fellow Democrat John Gomes.Among the questions she wouldn’t answer: Whether she was the woman seen on surveillance footage making multiple trips in the predawn darkness to an election drop box outside a government building, and stuffing papers inside that looked like ballots.“She is invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege,” her lawyer, John Gulash, told the court.Testimony began Thursday and is scheduled to continue next week in a court proceeding in which ...