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Red Sox make priorities clear after firing Chaim Bloom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

Team president and CEO Sam Kennedy was solemn Thursday afternoon.“We’re aiming for World Series championships. That’s it. That’s the aim. That’s the goal. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to win championships. Our fans deserve World Series championships, as many as we can possibly win,” he said.“That’s what the Boston Red Sox are all about,” Kennedy added.Not this year, though. His team entered the day 73-72, tied with the New York Yankees for last place in the American League East.That’s why almost 70 minutes before the first game of a doubleheader with their fellow cellar-dwellers, the Red Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday morning. Like his predecessors, Dave Dombrowski and Ben Cherington, Bloom was in and out of Boston in less than four years.In the interim, general manager Brian O’Halloran and the team’s three assistant GMs will captain the ship. The Red Sox have also offered O’Halloran a new position in senior leadership, but at the time of Kennedy...

Howie Carr: Mitt Romney heads into RINO retirement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

Sen. Willard Mitt Romney is retiring from politics due to ill health.The voters got sick of him.Actually I wanted to start this column with the traditional, “And so, farewell, Mitt Romney….”But the reality is, the odds are great that “Pierre Delecto” (for that was indeed his Twitter nom de plume) is not going anywhere, at least not for a while.You know damn well Romney still fantasizes about becoming president. And believe it or not, there are a bunch of political has-beens and never-weres who are searching desperately for a doomed candidate to run for president under the “No Labels” label.Romney and Joe Manchin may end up flipping a coin to see who gets to be the Jill Stein of 2024.But when it comes to bust-out candidates for president, who better than the current senator from Utah and former governor of Massachusetts, who has already failed twice, in 2008 and 2012.Mitt made his announcement with a videotaped message saying that it was “time for a new generation.”Then, in true Mitt...

Jake DeBrusk focusing on season, not negotiations with Bruins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

Jake DeBrusk’s contract status is unsettled as we approach Bruins’ training camp, but the talented winger did not seem overly concerned.He’s dealt with more uncertain situations in the not-too-distant past.Prior to teeing off at the Bruins’ annual golf tournament that serves as the unofficial kickoff to the new season, DeBrusk seemed unbothered by the current situation. DeBrusk enters the B’s centennial season without an extension beyond this year. Unrestricted free agency and a wide world of possibilities await him.“I’m just getting ready for Game One,” said DeBrusk at the Pine Hills Gold Course. “When it comes to contract talks, it’s one of those tings where you need two sides to tango and whenever that happens, it happens. But it’s not my main focus. Obviously, it’s a big year for our team in general and I know that if I’m doing my part and having success with production, it will help our team. I think it goes hand in ha...

GOP-led Wisconsin Senate votes to fire nonpartisan official targeted by 2020 election skeptics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire the battleground state’s nonpartisan top elections official, prompting a legal challenge from Democrats who say the vote was illegitimate.Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a lawsuit that Senate Republicans don’t have the authority to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe and accused them of attacking the state’s elections.It’s the latest in a whirlwind of deep partisan divisions in Wisconsin, where Republicans who control the Legislature are threatening to impeach a newly elected Supreme Court justice before she’s even heard a case. They’re also floating plans to overhaul the state’s electoral maps before the high court can toss out current boundaries that favor the GOP.The fight over who will lead the elections agency stems from persistent lies about the 2020 election and creates instability ahead of the 2024 presidential ra...

Megyn Kelly welcomes Donald Trump for an interview 8 years after he erupted over her debate question

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — When Donald Trump sat down with Megyn Kelly for a satellite radio interview that aired on Thursday, it was a long way — in time and circumstance — from their most memorable encounter in the summer of 2015.That was when Kelly, then a Fox News star, infuriated the future president at a GOP debate with a question about his treatment of women. He bitterly attacked her after the debate, and his supporters joined in, leaving her worried about threats.Kelly, who later worked at NBC News, is now resurrecting her career as a journalist-commentator, with a podcast that was picked up as a two-hour weekday show on SiriusXM satellite radio. Sirius last week announced it had signed Kelly to a deal that extends through the 2024 election and beyond.Do the bad feelings linger?“All that nonsense between us,” Kelly said this summer, “is under the bridge.”It seemed that way through the mostly friendly, occasionally challenging interview taped this week at Trump’s Bedminster, New J...

Thirty Seconds to Mars returns with a new album that Jared Leto says will ‘surprise’ a lot of people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Thirty Seconds to Mars is back with a new clutch of songs born from the pandemic and collected under a very long title. “It’s the End of the World But It’s a Beautiful Day” is exactly what it sounds like — optimistic, despite the doom.“I really feel like it represents where we’re at as a planet, as a people,” says Jared Leto, who formed the band with his brother, Shannon. “You keep waiting for crazy to be over. But there’s just one more day. And sometimes it’s easy to forget that life is full of promise and hope and beauty.”Despite its long title, the band’s sixth studio album is filled with shorter songs than usual and with a sound that tries to veer away from their typical anthemic, soaring sound.“We’re not shy about things,” says Leto. “But this album was different. We really challenged ourselves to do as little as possible. We wanted there to be a focus on the vocal and really to allow what is there to be felt and heard.”The resulting 11-track album is heav...

3 people from Canada sickened in botulism outbreak in Bordeaux, France

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

OTTAWA — The Public Health Agency of Canada says three Canadian residents have fallen ill from a botulism outbreak in Bordeaux, France. They’re among 10 people who have suspected botulism after eating sardines prepared and served at Tchin Tchin Wine Bar in an area popular among tourists.One of the patients, who was not from Canada, has died. The food was eaten between Sept. 4 and Sept. 10. The public health agency says there could be more cases, including among Canadians travelling in France, because symptoms of botulism can take up to eight days to appear. It says anyone who ate at the wine bar during that time should self-monitor and get immediate medical care if they have symptoms including nausea, vomiting, constipation, blurred or double vision, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth or difficulty breathing.   The Tchin Tchin Wine Bar is located close to the Rugby World Cup 2023 fan zone. Botulism is a rare but serious disease caused by bacteria that produce a toxin. It is spre...

2 pedestrians struck by vehicles in Scarborough crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

Toronto police say two pedestrians have been hospitalized after they were struck by vehicles that crashed in Scarborough on Thursday.The extent of their injuries is not currently known.It happened at Victoria Park Avenue and Huntingwood Drive at around 4:12 p.m.A black sedan and white SUV were involved.Road closures are in effect and police are warning drivers to avoid the area.COLLISION: UPDATE:Victoria Park Ave and Huntingwood Dr4:12 pm-two pedestrians have been transported to hospital-avoid the area, road closures in effect#GO2151449^lm— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 14, 2023

GOP candidate’s wife portrays rival’s proposed pay raise for school personnel as unfeasible

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Makenze Cameron, the wife of Republican gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron, dismissed the Democratic governor’s proposal for an 11% pay raise for public school personnel as unfeasible as she promoted her husband’s education plan during a campaign appearance Thursday.Speaking at a “Moms for Cameron” event in Kentucky’s largest city, Makenze Cameron chatted about motherhood, her husband, her faith and the frenzy of the campaign. She also delved into issues — especially pertaining to education, having formerly taught school for seven years.Gov. Andy Beshear and state Attorney General Daniel Cameron have presented competing education plans, staking out positions on an overarching campaign issue. Cameron pledged to boost starting teacher pay, saying the ripple effect would lift salaries for other teachers as well. Beshear upped the ante by proposing an 11% pay raise for teachers and all public school personnel, including bus drivers, janitors an...

As the nation fixates on a Pennsylvania manhunt, a DC murder suspect is on the run and off the radar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — While the nation has been transfixed by the two-week manhunt for escaped prisoner Danelo Souza Cavalcante in Pennsylvania, another fugitive drama has been playing out in the nation’s capital with comparatively minimal attention. Christopher Haynes has been on the run for a week, since escaping from police custody at George Washington University Hospital on Sept. 6. Haynes, 30, had been arrested earlier in the day on murder charges relating to an Aug. 12 shooting in the district. His escape prompted a several-hour shelter-in-place order last week for the entire GW campus and brief roadblocks on nearby streets.Cavalcante, a 34-year-old Brazilian national who was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, was captured Wednesday morning in southeastern Pennsylvania after an extended pursuit that received wall-to-wall live coverage. Haynes is still at large and awaits a trial.The contrast between the two manhunts has been stark: while the national media has tracked...