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MLB will examine its playoff format but isn’t rushing to make changes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — After watching Atlanta, Baltimore and the Los Angeles Dodgers lose in the Division Series following 100-win seasons, Major League Baseball will examine its postseason format but isn’t rushing to make changes.MLB expanded the playoffs from 10 teams to 12 for the 2022 season as part of a five-year collective bargaining agreement with the players’ association. Arizona and Texas advanced to the third all-wild card World Series, and the Diamondbacks with 84 wins could have the second-fewest for a champion over a non-shortened season.Three of the four division winners with first-round byes lost after five-day layoffs, and the Orioles and Dodgers were swept.“It will at least motivate a conversation about whether we have it right,” Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Friday before the World Series opener. “I’m sure that conversation will take place (after) the postseason. Enough has been written and said that we have to think about it and talk ab...

Mexico security authorities raise Hurricane Otis death toll to 39

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Mexico’s security authorities raised the death toll Saturday from the Category 5 Hurricane Otis that struck the country’s southern Pacific coast early Wednesday to 39.Mexico Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said in a recorded video message with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador posted to the platform X that the probable cause of death for the 39 was “suffocation by submersion.” But she added that investigations continue and that the victims had not yet been identified.The increase comes after the initial death toll of 27 had not changed since it was announced Thursday. The storm’s human toll was becoming a point of contention as local media reported the recovery of more bodies. López Obrador criticized his opponents for trying to make the storm’s death toll a political issue.Rodríguez said the number of missing rose to 10. Hundreds of families have been awaiting word from their loved ones.In Acapulco on Saturday, government workers and volunt...

Police: Mercedes driver arrested after running red light, hitting car near Miami intersection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

Police have arrested a man in connection to a violent car crash in Miami.City of Miami Police units responded to the scene of the incident in the area of Northwest 47th Avenue and Seventh Street, early Saturday morning.According to investigators the driver of a blue Chevrolet Spark was traveling southbound on Northwest 47th Avenue when the driver of blue 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE350, traveling westbound on Seventh Avenue, ran a red light and collided into the Spark.Polcie saod the driver of the Mercedes, identified as Osman Edgardo Flores Gonzalez, was speeding and did not have a driver’s license. He was taken into custody and later placed under arrest.Officers temporarily shut down the intersection while they investigated.On the scene were two badly damaged vehicles and a massive hole in a storefront.7News cameras also captured Flores Gonzalez as he was handcuffed and taken away.Police have not specified whether or not anyone was injured, as they continue to investigate

Fire engulfs yacht overnight at Haulover Park Marina; no injuries reported

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

A large yacht went up in flames in Northeast Miami-Dade, leaving it destroyed. Fire rescue officials said the incident happened at Haulover Park Marina, at around 4:45 a.m. on Saturday.They also expressed concern about the fuel of the boat and neighboring yachts. The fire was extinguished after a massive effort by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue later in the morning. No injuries were reported by officials. An investigation is underway as to what caused the fire.

17-year-old shot while leaving party; police search for suspect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A 17-year-old girl was shot in the back while leaving an overnight party in the Talmadge neighborhood, authorities said.According to the San Diego Police Department, the victim was leaving a gathering on the 4400 block of Winona Avenue shortly after midnight Friday when the incident occurred. Arrest made in 1990 cold case murder of woman in Scripps Ranch Based on witness statements, police say two groups of individuals were reportedly involved in a physical altercation at the location. One of the individuals allegedly produced a firearm and discharged it multiple times. SDPD says the 17-year-old girl was shot once in the upper back. The individuals involved in the altercation then reportedly fled in multiple directions. The victim was transported by ambulance to a local hospital and was treated for serious but non-life threatening injuries, authorities said. Pedestrian killed after being struck by van Witnesses described the shooter as a male of unknown age who was...

Most Palestinians in Gaza are cut off from the world. Those who connect talk of horror, hopelessness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — News from inside the besieged Gaza Strip trickles out in urgent tones from the few Palestinians still managing to connect with the outside world after intense Israeli bombardment plunged the crowded enclave into a communications blackout. Cellular and internet service abruptly vanished for most of Gaza late Friday, as Israel expanded ground operations and launched intense airstrikes that illuminated the night sky with furious orange flashes. A rare few Palestinians with international SIM cards or satellite phones took it upon themselves to get the news out. Exhausted and afraid her link to the world was so tenuous it could drop at any moment, 28-year-old Palestinian journalist Hind al-Khoudary said the massive airstrikes that shook the ground exceeded anything she had experienced over the past three weeks or any of the four previous Israel-Hamas wars. “It was crazy,” she said.After weeks of a total Israeli siege, Palestinians in Gaza felt the vis...

Severe drought in the Amazon reveals millennia-old carvings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

MANAUS (AP) — The Negro River, the major tributary that runs through the Brazilian Amazon, has reached historic lows, revealing millennia-old carvings previously hidden under water.The engravings deeply etched into the black rock along the riverbanks represent human faces, animals and other figures, and are thought to be 1,000 to 2,000 years old, archaeologists said. “They allow us to understand the way of life of prehistoric populations,” Jaime de Santana Oliveira, an archaeologist with Brazil’s National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute, said.The scientists think other rocks at the site were used to sharpen arrows and stone tools.The Ponto das Lajes archaeological site is located in the rural area of Manaus, the largest city and capital of Amazonas state. From there, locals and tourists can observe the “Meeting of Waters,” which occurs when the dark, Coca-Cola-colored Negro River and the pale, clay-colored Solimoes River converge without merging and run parallel to each oth...

Police watchdog asks Crown to consider charges against officers in B.C. shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

Investigators with British Columbia’s independent police watchdog probing the shooting death of a man more than two years ago are asking the province’s prosecution service to consider charges against three RCMP officers.A statement from B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office says it has submitted a report to the prosecution service for consideration of charges related to the July 2021 incident in Campbell River on Vancouver Island.The statement says Ronald MacDonald, IIO’s chief civilian director, has reviewed the evidence and determined there are reasonable grounds to believe that “three officers may have committed offences in relation to various uses of force.”It says an interaction took place between a man and police at the drive-through window of a local business, during which police fired shots and the driver of the vehicle was killed. Earlier reports identified the victim as 38-year-old Jared Lowndes of Campbell River.The statement sa...

Brendan Sullivan shines in third start, leads Northwestern to 33-27 victory over Maryland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Brendan Sullivan threw two touchdown passes, passed for 265 yards, and added 56 on the ground as Northwestern defeated Maryland 33-27 on Saturday.Maryland was without a key assistant coach. Co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin was arrested in Florida on Oct. 22 on suspicion of driving while under the influence and was not with the Terrapins on Saturday.Trailing 27-17 early in the third quarter, Maryland was held to a field goal after a 12-play, 38-yard drive. With the Northwestern defense holding its own, Sullivan helped secure the lead by scrambling in the pocket and finding A.J Henning for a 34-yard catch up the left seam, setting up a 19-yard field goal from Jack Olsen that put Northwestern ahead 30-20 with 9:19 left.After another stop by the Northwestern defense, Sullivan connected with Joseph Himon II for a 53-yard catch and run to set up another field goal by Olsen to extend the lead to 33-20 with 5:03 left.Terps quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa then engine...

Lizzo seeks dismissal of sexual harassment lawsuit from former dancers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:55:37 GMT

(The Hill) — Popstar Lizzo on Friday filed a motion to dismiss a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by three of her former backup dancers, claiming that the group is only looking for a “quick pay day.”The trio of dancers filed the suit in August, claiming Lizzo created a “hostile, abusive work environment”The lawsuit accuses the music star of pressuring some of the plaintiffs into participating in a “severely uncomfortable” nude photo shoot, forcing them into a “sexually charged and uncomfortable environment” with nude performers at an Amsterdam nightclub and requiring the trio to undergo a “brutal” and “excruciating” 12-hour audition in order to keep their jobs. Pence drops out of 2024 presidential race Attorneys for Lizzo said the dancers were justifiably fired over poor conduct.“Plaintiffs missed flights, arrived late and hungover to rehearsals and drunk to performances, entered into consensual sexual relationships with male crew members on tour, exhibited a rapid decline in the...