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Orioles win AL East, exceeding expectations with unique blend of stars, survivors and castoffs

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

The Orioles entered 2023 with high expectations for themselves but few beyond the clubhouse believed they were capable of what they achieved Thursday.A team of rising young stars, rebuild survivors, castoffs and veterans blended together in harmony across the past six months to win the American League East on the night the ballclub also signed a new 30-year lease to keep the Orioles in Baltimore.Even the team’s general manager was skeptical of this possibility, saying in December it would be “really hard to sit there and chart a course” for Baltimore to be the favorite of the daunting division. But Mike Elias did not completely dismiss it, noting “young teams pop all the time.”Well, they popped, and so have bottles of champagne. The Orioles won the AL East, a division considered baseball’s best, for the first time since 2014 with Thursday’s 2-0 victory against the Boston Red Sox in front of an energized crowd of 27,543 at Camden Yards...

San Diego leaders urge Newsom to sign bill expanding conservatorship to help homeless

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Several local policymakers and community members are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Senate Bill 43 into law, which would reform California's conservatorship laws. Supporters of the bill believe this would be a key to addressing homelessness. “I believe strongly California must do more on mental health, it’s a crisis that is ever present and ever visible," San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said. “We see it absolutely every single day in the streets across our city, across the state, across our country, homeless individuals desperately in need of intervention and access to care."According to supporters, the current conservatorship has not been updated for nearly 60 years and the current law only allows a conservatorship to be used when someone cannot provide for their food, shelter or clothing.Senate Bill 43 would expand conservatorship laws to include situations when people can't manager their medical care or their personal safety, and add substance-use disorders and men...

The boyfriend of a Navajo woman has been convicted of fatally shooting her in emblematic case

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — The boyfriend of a Navajo woman whose case became emblematic of an international movement launched to draw attention to an epidemic of missing and slain Indigenous women has been convicted of first-degree murder in her death.Tre C. James, 31, was convicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix of domestic abuse and in the fatal shooting of Jamie Yazzie. The jury also found James guilty of several acts of domestic violence committed against three former intimate and dating partners. James is scheduled to be sentenced in late January.Yazzie was 32 and the mother of three sons when she went missing in the summer of 2019 from her community of Pinon on the Navajo Nation. Despite a high-profile search, her remains were not found until November 2021 on the neighboring Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona. Many of Yazzie’s family members, including her mother, father, grandmother, and other relatives and friends attended all seven days of the trial, the U.S. Attorne...

Orioles announce new 30-year deal to stay at Camden Yards on same night they clinch AL East

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles have reached a deal with the state of Maryland that keeps the team at Camden Yards for at least 30 years, according to an announcement after the third inning of Thursday night’s game against Boston.Between innings, a message appeared on the scoreboard telling the crowd about the agreement between the Orioles, the state, Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland Stadium Authority. The Democratic governor and Orioles chairman John Angelos were shown on the video board.The team’s lease was to expire at the end of the year, so this was a welcome announcement for fans — and the start of a night of celebrations at Camden Yards. The Orioles clinched the AL East title by beating the Red Sox 2-0, their 100th win of the season.“The Baltimore Orioles are an institution and an irreplaceable member of the collective family that makes up Charm City,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “I am extremely pleased that under this agreement,...

Thousands of women march in Latin American cities calling for abortion rights

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The streets of cities across Latin American were bathed in green Thursday as tens of thousands of women marched to commemorate International Safe Abortion Day.Latin American feminists have spent decades fighting to roll back strict prohibitions, although there are still few countries with a total ban, like El Salvador and Dominican Republic.In Mexico, marchers celebrated the recent decision by Mexico’s Supreme Court to decriminalize abortions at the federal level. In Argentina, marchers had a more somber tone, worrying that the strength of a populist far-right presidential candidate going into elections in October could signal peril after years of work by feminists. Abortion was the heart of the protests, but crowds of women also raised alarm about the region’s high rates of gender-based violence as well as abuses aimed at LGBTQ+ communities. Green smoke floated over a roaring crowd of thousands of women in Mexico City who waved green handkerchiefs, which ha...

Las Vegas stadium proponents counter attempt to repeal public funding for potential MLB ballpark

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Two Nevada residents representing a “broad-based coalition of business interests and labor” including the Oakland Athletics filed a complaint in Carson City District Court this week, attempting to thwart an effort from a teachers union-backed PAC to repeal hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding for a potential $1.5 billion MLB stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.Danny Thompson and Thomas Morley — a former and a current labor leader — filed the complaint on Tuesday in Carson City District Court in an attempt to invalidate a referendum petition that would make repealing the $380 million in public funding an option on the 2024 ballot. Three leaders from the PAC known as “Schools over Stadiums” are listed as defendants, along with Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who runs elections across the state. The attorney for the two plaintiffs, Bradley Schrager, claimed the two plaintiffs represented a business and labor coalition, including the A’s. The org...

Navy issues written reprimands for fuel spill that sickened 6,000 people at Pearl Harbor base

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — The Navy on Thursday issued written reprimands to three now-retired military officers for their roles in the spill of jet fuel into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water in 2021 but did not fire, suspend, dock the pay or reduce the rank of anyone for the incident.The spill from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility poisoned thousands of military families and continues to threaten the purity of Honolulu’s water supply.Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro issued censure letters to the three rear admirals, the Navy said in a news release. He also revoked personal military decorations awarded to five rear admirals, three captains and one commander. “Taking accountability is a step in restoring trust in our relationship with the community,” Del Toro said in a statement.The spill “was not acceptable,” and the Navy will continue “to take every action to identify and remedy this issue,” he said. A Navy investigation last year concluded a series of errors caused the fuel to l...

California man who shot two sheriff’s deputies in revenge attack convicted of attempted murder

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — A Compton man who shot and seriously wounded two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in a 2020 revenge attack as they sat in a patrol car was convicted Thursday of attempted murder and could face life in prison.Deonte Lee Murray, 39, also was convicted of carjacking, robbery and other charges involving two other victims.Prosecutors said that on Sept. 10, sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Murray’s best friend while serving a warrant, and he wanted revenge.That day, Murray opened fire with an assault rifle on an SUV parked outside the Compton courthouse, mistakenly believing the driver was a detective, authorities said. The man was injured but survived.Two days later, on Sept. 12, Murray walked up to two deputies who were sitting in a patrol car at a Metro station in Compton and shot them, authorities said. The attack was captured on video that showed one bloodied officer, who was shot in the jaw and arms, tending to the wounds of her partne...

Los Angeles city and county to spend billions to help homeless people under lawsuit settlement

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County and city will spend billions of dollars to provide more housing and support services for homeless people under a lawsuit settlement approved Thursday by a federal judge.The county ends more than two years of court battles over LA’s response to the homelessness crisis by agreeing to provide an additional 3,000 beds by the end of 2026 for people with mental health and drug abuse issues.It was the last piece in a series of commitments that were hammered out after a lawsuit was brought in 2020 by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition that includes businesses, residents, landlords, homeless people and others who alleged that inaction by both the city and county created a dangerous environment.“All told, we’re looking at some 25,000 new beds for unhoused people and a total of over $5 billion … just to implement these three agreements,” alliance spokesperson Daniel Conway said.U.S. District Judge David Carter had rejected earl...

1 dead, 1 critical, and 1 suspect at-large after Harvey shooting, SUV crash

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:23:18 GMT

HARVEY, Ill. — One male is dead and another is on the run after a shooting in the South Suburbs Thursday, according to the Harvey Police Department.According to Harvey PD, a shooting took place around 5 p.m. near the intersection of 154th Street and Ashland Avenue. Police said they witnessed the shooting, which took place between an SUV with three males inside and a sedan containing a female and a male. The male in the sedan was shot in the shoulder. Shortly after shots were fired, a police chase ensued, and the SUV crashed about a mile away onto the property of Bethlehem Temple Baptist Church near 147th Street and Ashland Avenue.One male was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, while another male was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition.A third male fled on foot and is still at-large.The male who was shot in the shoulder is in stable condition, while the female received no injuries from the incident.Police said they also recovered three guns from the ...