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Column: Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf dons blinders as the Chicago White Sox season sinks into the abyss

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf stood by the home dugout with a lit cigar in hand before Monday night’s 5-1 victory against the New York Yankees, brazenly violating the stadium’s no-smoking ordinance as he spoke with friends.A small group of reporters followed Reinsdorf to see if he would discuss the dumpster fire his team has become, knowing full well his policy of not speaking to the media.“Got a second?” I asked.“No,” Reinsdorf harrumphed as he walked past without glancing up.No one harrumphs quite like “The Chairman,” who has had plenty of practice the last two years thanks to underachieving performances by the Sox and Bulls.These are trying times for Reinsdorf, executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn, the triumvirate in charge of a team that has begun to resemble Wile E. Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons. The Sox are falling off a cliff, with a few sticks of dynamite strapped onto their backs...

Frates: Hybrid work vital to disabled community & caregivers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

As we gather to commemorate Ice Bucket Challenge Month and celebrate the legacy of my late husband, Ice Bucket Challenge co-founder Pete Frates, we will continue to fight for a cure for ALS while also working to protect the rights of patients and their caregivers.Since the COVID-19 public health emergency officially ended in May, many companies are trying to force march their employees back to the office. I remember how difficult it was for our family to care for my husband without the flexibility of working from home.Working from home for employees with caregiving responsibilities allows a much better quality of life for themselves and their families. The life of a caregiver is often a demanding one, which could be made just a little less stressful by allowing these employees to work from their homes near their loved ones.Having been a caregiver to a spouse for nearly 10 years, I cannot imagine how I would have managed my husband’s care while working outside my home. Not only...

Gallery: Pablo Reyes hits a walk off grand slam to win game against Royals in the 9th

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

Pablo Reyes #19 of the Boston Red Sox hit a grand slam walk off home run to win 6-2 during the ninth inning of the MLB game against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park o

Dear Abby: Hubby wants a motorcycle, wife worries

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

Dear Abby: My husband and I have three children, and I feel really lucky to be able to stay home with them. I appreciate how hard my husband works so that I can do this. Our kids are young, so we are in a somewhat tedious season of life, without a lot of rest. But it’s just a season, and it’s already going by so fast.Recently, my husband became interested in motorcycles and bought a nice vintage one. I was fine with it because he rides it only in our neighborhood, and it isn’t very fast. I understand he needs an outlet and I want him to have a hobby, but I wish it wasn’t motorcycles.He now wants to buy a “real” motorcycle he can ride on the highway. I think motorcycles are dangerous, and I would be absolutely devastated if anything happened to my husband. I shared my feelings with him, and he said he would hold off on buying another one right now. But he often watches videos of motorcycles, and I feel bad for squashing his dream. Am I overreacting...

Rapper Tory Lanez is expected to be sentenced on day two of hearing in Megan Thee Stallion shooting

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper Tory Lanez is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet three years ago, which the star says has left her struggling emotionally ever since.“Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta during Monday’s all-day session. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.” The hip-hop star, who testified during the trial, said she struggled with whether she would appear to give the statement in person, but said she “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again.” She asked that her absence not be taken as a sign of indifference, and urged Judge David Herriford to issue a stiff sentence.The judge had been expected to sentence Lanez Monday at a hearing that often can take only a couple of hours, but the proceedings turned into a marathon...

Even frozen Antarctica is being walloped by climate extremes, scientists find

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

Even in Antarctica — one of the most remote and desolate places on Earth — scientists say they are finding shattered temperature records and an increase in the size and number of wacky weather events.The southernmost continent is not isolated from the extreme weather associated with human-caused climate change, according to a new paper in Frontiers in Environmental Science that tries to make a coherent picture of a place that has been a climate change oddball. Its western end and especially its peninsula have seen dramatic ice sheet melt that threatens massive sea level rises over the next few centuries, while the eastern side has at times gained ice. One western glacier is melting so fast that scientists have nicknamed it the Doomsday Glacier and there’s an international effort trying to figure out what’s happening to it. And Antarctic sea ice veered from record high to shocking amounts far lower than ever seen.What follows if the trend continues, a likely result if humans fail to ...

$1.55 billion Mega Millions jackpot is the 3rd largest in US history

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

Lottery players will have another shot Tuesday night at a massive Mega Millions prize that ranks as the third-largest jackpot in U.S. history.The estimated $1.55 billion prize has been gradually building for months thanks to 31 straight drawings without a jackpot winner. The last time someone won the game’s top prize was April 18.Each drawing without a winner pushes the prize closer to the record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot that someone in California won last year.Mega Millions jackpot winners are so rare thanks to odds of 1 in 302.6 million.The $1.55 billion payout would go to a winner who opts for an annuity, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot would be an estimated $757.2 million.The money would be subject to federal taxes. Many states also tax lottery winnings.Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Associated Press

Biden to announce historic Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

TUSAYAN, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona on Tuesday to formally announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, making Native American tribes’ and environmentalists’ decades-long vision to preserve the land a reality. Biden is expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) just outside Grand Canyon National Park, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi confirmed a day earlier. It will mark the president’s fifth monument designation.Biden arrived Monday evening at Grand Canyon National Park Airport, where he was greeted by Democratic congressmen Raúl Grijalva and Ruben Gallego. Biden embraced them when he got off Air Force One and the trio chatted for a few minutes. Grijalva, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, has repeatedly introduced legislation to create the monument. He will be speaking in an area that is between Pinyon Plain ...

Republicans are talking up the possibility of impeaching Biden. Is it what voters want to hear?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — Bill Mehlem recalls a time when his politics generally aligned with conservatives, enthusiastically backing Republicans such as John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign.But the stay-at-home dad has grown dismayed with the tempestuous GOP molded by former President Donald Trump, who is now seeking a return to the White House. And the threat of a Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’s family finances and the churning U.S. House probes of his son, Hunter Biden, have left Mehlem indignant, angry and remembering why he’s a political independent.“It’s all about revenge politics to keep Trump’s base” engaged for the 2024 elections, Mehlem said. “It’s all about nothing.”That sentiment reflects the gamble House Republicans are making as they consider moving forward with an impeachment inquiry against Biden. The talk delights some Republicans who are eager for retribution following several indictments of Trump in recent months...

Stock market today: Asia mixed after Wall St rallies ahead of US inflation update

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:00:05 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mixed in early trading Tuesday after Wall Street rallied and Japanese wages rose ahead of a United States inflation update that might influence Federal Reserve plans for more possible interest rate hikes.Tokyo advanced while Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Oil prices gained.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.9% on Monday, recovering one-third of last week’s loss.“U.S. stocks started the week in better form than they finished the last one,” said ING analysts in a report. “It is not clear that this is going to last, though.”The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.3% after the Japanese government reported labor cash earnings rose 2.3% in June.The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,264.03 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 1.2% to 19,311.32. The Kospi in Seoul lost less than 0.1% to 2,579.01 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 7,322.20. New Zealand retreated while Southeast Asian markets rose.On Wall Street, the S&...