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Column: Pedro Grifol trying to stay positive despite the Chicago White Sox’s travails. ‘It’s been a challenge,’ the 1st-year manager says.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

Two of the most disappointing teams in baseball match up this weekend on the South Side in the final series before the All-Star break.The St. Louis Cardinals were favored to win the National League Central but came into Friday’s game against the Chicago White Sox 15 games under .500 and in last place. The Sox were supposed to contend in the American League Central despite a .500 season in 2022, but they were also a season-worst 15 games under after being swept by the Toronto Blue Jays.Nothing has been easy for the Sox the first three months, and with almost three months left, it figures to be a long, hard grind for players and managers alike.Sox manager Pedro Grifol, a baseball lifer in his first year running a major-league team, has tried to maintain a positive outlook while watching his team flounder. It hasn’t won him fans, but the players appreciate that he hasn’t given up on them.“He keeps a good mindset and he’s very supportive of us all,” L...

At least 1 dead in three-vehicle crash: CHP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

RANCHO SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- At least one person died in a crash Friday in the Rancho San Diego area, authorities said.The collision occurred around 4:35 p.m. at Cuyamaca College Drive West and Jamacha Road, according to California Highway Patrol. Shark advisory posted at Carlsbad beach Authorities believe one of the vehicles involved ran a red light, causing the three-vehicle crash.As of 5:20 p.m., all lanes on eastbound state Route 54 and Cuyamaca College Drive have been blocked due to the crash, the California Department of Transportation tweeted.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Suspects sought in Escondido carjacking; $1,000 reward offered

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego County Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's help in identifying two people suspected of being involved in an Escondido carjacking case.Around 9:30 p.m. on June 12, a man told deputies he was driving near the intersection of Old Highway 395 and Circle R Way, law enforcement said, when he noticed a female bicyclist on the side of the road who appeared to be in distress. Man sentenced to prison for using stolen identities of UCSD students He pulled over to check on the woman at which point a black Honda hatchback pulled up behind him, according to SDSO. The suspect stepped out of the Honda and approached the victim with a firearm pointed at him, demanding the victim hand over his wallet and money.Authorities said the victim told the suspect he didn't have any money, but they could take his car. The man got into the victim's car and drove away, followed by the woman who left the scene in the suspect's Honda.The victim was not hurt in the incident, SDSO ...

Indian authorities arrest 3 railway officials over the train crash that killed more than 290 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s federal crime agency said Friday it has arrested three railway officials in connection with one of the country’s deadliest train accidents, which killed more than 290 people last month.The arrested men have been charged with culpable homicide without murder and destruction of evidence, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. It identified them as two signal engineers and one technician, and said the investigation is ongoing.June’s train crash in eastern Odisha state occurred when a packed passenger train was mistakenly diverted onto an adjacent loop line where it rammed into a stationary freight train loaded with iron ore. The collision derailed the passenger train’s coaches onto another track where they struck a passing train that was running in the opposite direction.The two passenger trains were carrying more than 2,290 people when the collision took place. Nearly 1,000 people were injured.After the accident, India’s Railway Minister Ashw...

Leslie Van Houten, follower of cult leader Charles Manson, is one big step closer to freedom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s governor announced Friday that he won’t ask the state Supreme Court to block parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, paving the way for her release after serving 53 years in prison for two infamous murders.In a brief statement, the governor’s office said an appeal was unlikely to succeed.Newsom is disappointed, the statement said.“More than 50 years after the Manson cult committed these brutal killings, the victims’ families still feel the impact,” the statement said.Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other followers in the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.Van Houten could be freed in about two weeks after the parole board reviews her record and processes paperwork for her release from the California Institution for Women in Corona, her attorney Nancy Tetreault said.She was recommended for parole five times since 2016 but Newsom and former Gov. Jerr...

Rail union says Virginia derailment renews questions about Norfolk Southern’s safety practices

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

The union that represents locomotive engineers says a Thursday night coal train derailment in Virginia is renewing questions about Norfolk Southern’s safety practices.The derailment happened coming down out of the Appalachian Mountains near Elliston about 20 miles (32.19 kilometers) outside Roanoke. Fortunately, it involved coal cars and not hazardous materials like those that generated a huge plume of black smoke and forced evacuations in the eastern Ohio town of East Palestine after a different Norfolk Southern train derailed in February. That Ohio derailment triggered concerns nationwide about railroad safety and prompted calls for reforms from members of Congress and regulators.“We’re just lucky right now that it’s coal. If it had been ethanol or LP gas or chlorine or anything like that, it could have been a totally different situation,” said Randy Fannon, who leads the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union’s safety task force.Nineteen cars on ...

Philadelphia community tries to heal from trauma as shooter’s mental health comes into focus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In the weeks before Kimbrady Carriker opened fire at random with an AR-15 in southwest Philadelphia killing five people and wounding four others including several children, the few people close to him had watched him grow increasingly agitated and erratic, sometimes pacing the house wearing a bulletproof vest, prosecutors and others have said.Now, in the wake of Monday’s bloodshed, officials are urging people to call police or the city’s mental health resource line when they see suspicious social media posts or think somebody might need help. And as Carriker’s possible mental health issues increasingly come into focus, the community he left shattered is trying to find ways to heal their own psychological trauma.Prosecutors earlier this week declined to speak to whether Carriker’s mental health played a role in the shooting. No one called to report his erratic behavior, and Carriker did not leave a long history of brushes with police or behavioral health cri...

Meta executive claims goal of Threads is to create a 'less angry place,' not replace Twitter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

(The Hill) – A top executive at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said on Friday that the goal of the company’s new platform Threads is to create a “less angry place” and not to “replace Twitter.”“The goal isn't to replace Twitter,” Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said in a Threads post. “The goal is to create a public square for communities on Instagram that never really embraced Twitter and for communities on Twitter (and other platforms) that are interested in a less angry place for conversations, but not all of Twitter.”Threads has widely been portrayed as a direct rival to Twitter, which has undergone several controversial changes since billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk acquired the social media company last fall. Mosseri also said on Friday that while politics and hard news will likely appear on Threads, the platform is not looking to “do anything to encourage” those “verticals,” which a reporter with The Verge suggested might be needed in order to ...

MedWatch: Pickleball injuries on the rise as sport becomes more popular

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

With the pickle season in full swing, more people are trying out the relatively new sport that has exploded on the world scene.According to a Bloomberg report, pickleball injuries may cost American nearly $400 million in 2023.WGN's Lourdes Duarte was joined by Sports Medicine Physician from Rush Hospital Dr. Kathy Weber on Friday to discuss.

Intense heat taking a toll on Texas cotton crops

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — State agriculture leaders said weeks of extreme heat on top of already tough drought conditions could yield less cotton for Texas farmers. How Central Texas farmers are coping with days of intense heat The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service said conditions started out favorably when cotton was planted back in the spring.Josh McGinty, an AgriLife Extension agronomist, said a wet spring overall gave plants the support they needed to root and thrive.Since conditions have become considerably dry over the last three weeks, McGinty said, if more rain does not fall soon, plants that are already stressed will suffer even more.“Vegetation is starting to burn up. If you can maintain sufficient moisture for plants then they can cool with transpiration from the leaves, but the problem I see with the heat is stress and the other problems like spider mites and aphids, and everything takes its toll," McGinty said.Local cotton farmers stay optimisticAt Waterloo Cot...