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Mike Lupica: Other than money, Mets and Yankees have little to offer Shohei Ohtani

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

All along there’s been a big, big-city fever dream in the back of everybody’s minds that Shohei Ohtani ends up in New York, for all the talk that he’ll end up staying on the west coast once he become a free agent. Somehow the best baseball player in the world would come here the way Babe Ruth did over 100 years ago, and be that kind of star in a star town.But even if that were a real possibility, no matter how much of a longshot it is, ask yourself something:What exactly about the current state of the Mets and Yankees would make Ohtani even think about coming here?Because what we have found out this season, both sides of town, over $600 million spent on two teams whose combined record coming out of Wednesday night’s games was a combined seven games under .500, is that it takes more than money to win. A whole lot more than a whole lot of money.One team in last place, one in second-to-last. After Brian Cashman did next to nothing at the trade deadline, he said,...

Inflation ticks up for first time in 13 months, Boston area doing better than U.S.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

While the rest of the U.S. was staring down a the first uptick in inflation in 13 months, the Boston area saw a slight decrease in the price of most consumer goods, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.On Thursday, BLS released both its national and regional statistics for July, which showed that a streak of prices dropping more than a year long ended in July when the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% nationally from the previous month, while the index saw a further decline in and around Boston.“Consumer prices in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area inched down 0.1% for the two months ending in July. The downturn was attributed to lower prices for household energy,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Northeast Region Information Office announced.According to BLS, the bulk of the decrease in Boston’s CPI can be attributed to a decline in the energy indexes, which fell by more than 15.2% over last year and 4.6% since May.Energy price drops, according to the Bureau, are “driven by an...

A whirlwind recent stretch of trades, suspensions, chatter and wins puts the Chicago White Sox in the spotlight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

The New York Yankees called on reliever Keynan Middleton in the fourth inning Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox.It was the right-hander’s first time facing his former team a few days after saying in an interview with ESPN and the New York Daily News that the Sox clubhouse had “no rules,” which received pushback from general manager Rick Hahn and manager Pedro Grifol.Some observed Middleton’s name was missing from Guaranteed Rate Field’s video board while he was on the mound Wednesday, creating social media buzz.“The omission was not intentional but resulted because of duplicate players listed under one uniform number on MLB’s downloadable Yankees roster,” the Sox said Thursday morning in a statement. “This glitch has arisen from time to time this season when multiple players have worn the same number for a team, and we regret it occurred tonight.”When you’ve had the type of recent stretch — and season R...

Opportunity awaits Bruins’ Trent Frederic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

In case there were any doubts last summer, Trent Frederic proved that he is a bona fide NHL player in 2022-23. He proved he’s more than just a fourth liner as well.But still, as he’s about to embark on his sixth full pro season, it’s not fully clear what the 25-year-old Bruin forward’s ceiling is, or even where he should play in the lineup.Frederic, who narrowly avoided arbitration last week when he signed a two-year deal with an AAV of $2.3 million, enjoyed a breakout season in ’22-23, notching career highs in goals (17) and points (31).Developed as a centerman, Frederic played all three forward positions through the course of last season but he had his greatest success playing his off wing on the right side with center Charlie Coyle and left wing Taylor Hall.Hall is now a Blackhawk and Coyle is expected to bump up in the lineup with the retirement of Patrice Bergeron and expected departure of David Krejci. Where that leaves Frederic is anyone’s ...

Man arrested in connection to deadly stabbing at East Village apartment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man has been arrested in connection to a deadly stabbing Wednesday at an East Village apartment, San Diego police said.According to SDPD, the stabbing happened inside an apartment unit in the 600 block of 14th Street.Shortly after 10:45 p.m., officers from the Central Division responded to a call from an individual reporting he found his roommate deceased, said Lt. Steve Shebloski with the SDPD Homicide Unit.Once at the scene, officers found a dead man with multiple stab wounds to his upper body. SDPD immediately began to work the investigation as a homicide. The victim was described by police as a 38-year-old man. Photos: Rare ‘Scrippshenge’ sunset awes San Diego Meanwhile, a woman at the apartment complex flagged down police by throwing things out of her apartment window, said Lt. Shebloski. She informed them her boyfriend was allegedly acting strange and violent. At that time, officers ultimately checked the welfare of the woman's apartment. Based on some physic...

Flash drought, invasive grasses, winds, hurricane and climate change fuel Maui’s devastating fires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

Hawaii went from lush to bone dry and thus more fire-prone in a matter of just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging.Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of these flash droughts as well as other extreme weather events like what’s playing out on the island of Maui, where dozens of people have been killed and a historic tourist town was devastated. “It’s leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we’re seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather,” said Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry. “What these … catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue.”Here’s a look at the Maui fires, and what’s behind them:FLASH DROUGHTSFlash droughts are so dry and ho...

White supremacist accused of threatening jury and witnesses in trial of Pittsburgh synagogue gunman

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A self-proclaimed white supremacist was arrested Thursday on charges that he made online threats toward the jury and witnesses at the trial of a man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the U.S. Justice Department said.Hardy Carroll Lloyd of Follansbee, West Virginia, is accused of sending threatening social media posts and emails along with comments on websites about the trial of Robert Bowers. In addition, Lloyd, 45, allegedly was responsible for stickers placed in predominantly Jewish areas of Pittsburgh directing people to a website containing his threats and antisemitic messages, the Justice Department said in a news release.“Jury trials are a hallmark of the American justice system and attempts to intimidate witnesses or jurors will be met with a strong response,” U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said. “The use of hateful threats in an effort to undermine a trial is especially troubling.”Bowers was sentenced to death last week after a jury...

Fund sued over grant program for Black women enlists prominent civil rights attorneys to fight back

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

Attorneys for an Atlanta-based venture capital firm being sued over a grant program for Black women vowed Thursday to fight back against the lawsuit, calling it misguided and frivolous. At a New York news conference, the attorneys also announced that prominent civil rights lawyers, including Ben Crump, would join the defense for the Fearless Fund, which was founded in 2019 by three Black women. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, was brought by a nonprofit founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, the man behind the Supreme Court cases that led to the dismantling of race-conscious college admissions programs across the U.S. The complaint could be a test case, as the battle over considerations on race shifts to the workplace. Last month, thirteen Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to 100 of the biggest U.S. companies arguing that the court ruling on affirmative action could also apply to private entities, like employers.In its ...

Aurora Cannabis slashes Q1 net loss as it eyes orchid business, further savings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

Aurora Cannabis Inc. shaved $590.4 million off its net loss in its most recent quarter as it continued its search for savings and began laying the groundwork for a future orchid business.The Edmonton-based pot business revealed Thursday that its first quarter net loss amounted to $28.3 million compared with a net loss of $618.8 million a year earlier.It attributed the dramatic decrease seen in the three months ended June 30 to an increase in gross profit along with lower impairment charges and operating expenses — the fruits of an ongoing transformation plan that uncovered $400 million in savings so far and aims to generate another $40 million soon.“Our target of removing a further $40 million of cost during fiscal 2024 is ambitious, but when considering how much we’ve already accomplished through our business transformation, it is entirely within our wheelhouse,” said Aurora’s chief executive Miguel Martin on a Thursday call with analysts.Aurora’s tran...

Family of Henrietta Lacks files new lawsuit over cells harvested without her consent

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:50 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Just over a week after Henrietta Lacks’ descendants settled a lawsuit against a biotech company they accused of unjustly profiting off her cells for generations, the family’s attorneys have filed another claim against a different corporation.The new lawsuit, which targets California-based biopharmaceutical company Ultragenyx, was filed Thursday in Baltimore federal court, the same venue as the recently settled case. Lawyers for the family have said they plan to bring a series of lawsuits against various entities that continue to reap rewards from the racist medical system that took advantage of Lacks.A Black mother of five from southern Virginia, Lacks and her family were living outside Baltimore when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital saved a sample of her cancer cells collected during a biopsy — without her knowledge or consent.She died at age 31 in the hospital’s “colored ward,” but her genetic material lived on, the...