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Orioles roundtable: Answering the biggest questions as the MLB trade deadline approaches next week

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

A week from now, the MLB trade deadline will have passed, and all that will stand between the Orioles and the playoffs are two months of regular-season games.The group Baltimore attacks those two months with could feature some new faces, with the Orioles acting as buyers at this time of year for the first time since their rebuild began back in 2018. Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has already made one addition, acquiring reliever Shintaro Fujinami from the Oakland Athletics for minor league pitcher Easton Lucas, and the Orioles already lead the American League East, but further upgrades could help to not only secure a spot in the postseason, but also increase their chances of going deep in it.In advance of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline, Baltimore Sun Orioles reporters Nathan Ruiz and Jacob Calvin Meyer and sports content editor C.J. Doon answer five questions facing the team.Do the Orioles need to make another trade? If so, for what?Ruiz: “Need&...

Man seriously injured in e-bike crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A man was seriously injured Tuesday after crashing his e-bike into the back of a parked car in the Shelltown neighborhood, authorities said.According to the San Diego Police Department, a 32-year-old man was riding a black e-bike eastbound on the 4200 block of Nordica Avenue shortly before 5 p.m. when he collided with the left rear bumper of a legally parked vehicle. Fire burns 105 acres on MCAS Miramar base The e-bike rider struck an unoccupied white 2006 Ford F-150, which was parked on the south curb line of the roadway, police said.The man was ejected from the e-bike and sustained serious injuries, according to SDPD. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. SDPD's Traffic Division responded and is handling the investigation. Anyone with information related to the crash is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

Palestinian man killed by Israeli troops during arrest raid in West Bank

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli troops during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the latest bloodshed in one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years.Israeli forces entered the al-Ein refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus and arrested a suspected militant after surrounding his house, the army said. Palestinian officials said a 23-year-old man was killed when fighting erupted between Palestinian militants and Israeli security forces.The Israeli army said Palestinians opened fire and threw stones and paint at soldiers, who responded with live fire.Another two Palestinians were wounded by bullet shrapnel, including a female motorist caught in the crossfire, medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said.The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man killed as Mohammed Nada and said he was shot in the chest. Wednesday’s incident came a da...

New York construction crane catches fire, and its arm hits skyscraper as it crashes to street

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A tall construction crane caught fire in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, and its arm hit a building as it crashed to the street below.Photos and videos posted on social media show flames bursting from the car of a crane hundreds of feet above 10th Avenue at 41st Street. The crane’s arm scraped the top floors of a skyscraper across the street as it fell.There were no immediate reports of injuries from the crane fire and collapse, which happened shortly before 8 a.m.Firefighters stationed on a roof deck of another building used hoses to battle the blaze. Surrounding streets were closed to traffic.The location on Manhattan’s West Side is near the Port Authority Bus Terminal and an entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, which carries auto traffic to and from New Jersey under the Hudson River.The Associated Press

Residents are at a loss after newspaper that bound community together shuts in declining coal county

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

WELCH, W.Va. (AP) — Months after Missy Nester ended The Welch News’ 100-year run, she can barely stand to walk through the office doors of the newspaper her mother taught her to read with growing up in West Virginia’s southern coalfields. It’s still too painful.The Welch News owner and publisher’s desk is covered with unpaid bills and her own paychecks — a year’s worth — she never cashed. Phones that used to ring through the day have gone silent. Tables covered with typewriters, awards and a century’s worth of other long-abandoned artifacts are reminders that her beloved paper has become an artifact, too.Wiping away tears, Nester said she wishes people understood why she fought so hard to protect the last remaining news outlet in her community, and why it feels like the people left behind by the journalism industry are often those who need it most.“Our people here have nothing,” said Nester, 57. “Like, can any of y’all hear us out here screaming?”...

The latest developments on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

OTTAWA — Here are the latest developments on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle.8:30 a.m.Outgoing Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has confirmed his ouster from cabinet with a statement posted on Twitter.Mendicino says he is proud of the work he accomplished while serving in Trudeau’s cabinet for the past four years, first on the immigration file and then on public safety.Mendicino recently faced harsh criticism for his office’s handling of the recent prison transfer of serial killer Paul Bernardo.He says he has every intention to run as a Liberal candidate in the next federal election. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2023.The Canadian Press

Travel, nature, history, imagination infuse new wallpapers that help rooms tell stories

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

In the Emmy-nominated opening credits of HBO’s “White Lotus,” wallpaper-like images told a story: The tropical prints started off innocuously enough, but then turned ominous. Fruit started rotting, fish got tangled in seaweed, and a sense of foreboding set the whole premise of an exotic paradise on its edge.The artist, Lezio Lopes, has said he was trying to evoke the design and themes of the shows resort suites.It’s a surreal example of a current trend in decor — wallpapers that combine art and narrative qualities to set the mood of a room. Some take us to wild places in nature, others to wild worlds born in artists’ imaginations. They go way beyond your nice stripe or simple floral. They tell a story.Wallpaper in general is back in a big way, decor experts say, and often makes a statement through images or texture (many papers incorporate fabric or fibers). Chicago-based design writer Elaine Markoutsas, who attended two of the year’s biggest design expositions, Maison e...

Poland complains to European Union about German waste brought and dumped in unauthorized landfills

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has made a complaint against Germany to the European Commission over tons of German waste, some of it allegedly toxic, brought and stored in unauthorized landfills across Poland, officials said Wednesday. Poland’s minister for climate and environment, Anna Moskwa, said the waste is being brought illegally and the complaint is a step toward taking Germany to the European Court of Justice. Moskwa said the German government and local authorities failed to respond to Poland’s requests for the waste to be removed from its territory. She said at least 35 tons of German waste are currently in Poland and appealed to the “very green” German government to remove it.Foreign waste stored in Poland has been an issue for years. Polish companies sign contracts with foreign firms to neutralize the waste, but in some cases just dump it at unauthorized sites, eventually burning it to make room for more. The fires have drawn public concern over the problem.The Polish penal...

Car buyers bear a heavy burden as Federal Reserve keeps raising rates: Auto-loan rejections are up

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s expected move Wednesday to raise interest rates for the 11th time could once again send ripple effects across the economy.Mortgage rates, which have surged since the Fed began lifting rates in March 2022, could rise further. So could rates on credit cards and some business loans.Perhaps no one has felt the pain more than car buyers. It’s not just that sticker prices are way up. Or that lenders have tightened credit standards. On top of all that, steadily higher auto loan rates have elbowed many would-be buyers out of the market.Consider: A study by the New York Federal Reserve has found that 14% of applicants for auto loans were rejected over the past year — the highest such proportion since the New York Fed began tracking the figure in 2013 — up from 9% in February.Auto-loan applicants, of course, aren’t the only borrowers being turned down in larger numbers these days. In that same June 2022-June 2023 period, applicant rejections f...

Olympic president invokes John Lennon’s memory as Paris marks 1-year countdown to war-clouded Games

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:49:37 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The president of the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday formally invited the world’s nations but not Russia or its military ally Belarus to gather in one year in Paris for the Olympics — launching the final countdown to the 2024 Games against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.IOC president Thomas Bach accompanied his invite with a plea for togetherness and invoked the memory of John Lennon as he argued that “our fragile world, with conflict, division and war,” needs the Olympics’ “unifying power more than ever.”“The Olympic Games must always build bridges. The Olympic Games must never erect walls. Imagine. You may say we are dreamers. We are not the only ones,” Bach said, borrowing from Lennon’s famous peace anthem, “Imagine.”Bach has heaped praise on Paris’ preparations this week as the French capital marked the year-to-go milestone to the opening ceremony on July 26, 2024.“Paris is maybe at this stage the best-prepared ci...