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Justin Steele carries the Chicago Cubs to a 5-0 win with a career-best start — and puts his name firmly in the Cy Young conversation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

Picking the best moment in Justin Steele’s start Monday against the San Francisco Giants poses a challenge.Maybe the 93.1 mph four-seam fastball Giants catcher Patrick Bailey whiffed on to end the seventh inning and surpass Steele’s previous best in strikeouts. Perhaps the stretch of 16 consecutive batters retired or never allowing a runner to get in scoring position.Eight shutout innings and 12 strikeouts, both career highs, convey Steele’s utter domination in the Chicago Cubs’ 5-0 win.With the victory, the Cubs (74-64) matched their 2022 win total and remained three games clear of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds for the second National League wild-card spot.In the last 20 years, only two Cubs pitchers had thrown at least eight scoreless innings with 12 or more strikeouts: Jake Arrieta (2014 and his 2015 no-hitter) and Ryan Dempster (2008). Ken Holtzman (1972) had been the lone Cubs lefty to do it. It’s a rare combination that has happened...

Family of Lynn shooting victims asks for community’s help to ID shooter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

A family member of one of the victims killed in a mass shooting that occurred early Saturday morning in Lynn is asking for the public’s help in finding the shooter, saying that police have no leads on who opened fire, a city councilor said.Lynn City Councilor Coco Alinsug, who represents the area where the shooting occurred, said he visited Essex Street Monday morning to “pay homage” to a “young man, Jandriel Heredia, who lost his life in his own home this weekend.”“While there, I soon realized that his uncle was also in the area and immediately we recognized each other,” Alinsug posted on Facebook. “I spoke with him, I comforted him — he has been crying since this happened.“He also updated me and asked me to spread the news that they have no lead to the shooter. We need the public’s help.”Alinsug said the public can submit an anonymous tip to the Lynn Police Department at 84741, “for any information you want to share with them.”The same request is made via a sign posted at the scen...

SAG-AFTRA strikers rally in Boston for Labor Day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

New England actors with SAG-AFTRA returned to Boston in force for Labor Day — marching through Downtown Crossing with a full band and parade of labor allies.“Our steps reverberate with the legacy of generations who fought for workers rights, reminding us that our struggle is a torch passed down through time,” said NEW England Local SAG-AFTRA President Andrea Lyman. “Let our presence here today be a testament: we are unyielding.”Members of the striking union gathered Monday afternoon with other union allies and elected officials on the steps of Downtown Crossing, having marched through the streets from the Labor Day Breakfast.Speakers echoed the union’s three major concerns: raising wages to match inflation, adjusting pay for residuals so actors get compensated fairly for streaming content and — with emphasis — establishing protections from AI uses of their likeness and threats to their jobs.“This is very important — as you ...

Jamaica Plain Progressives committee backs Kendra Lara for Boston City Council, despite crash ‘concerns’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

Despite its “concerns” over the pending charges leveled against Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara, the Jamaica Plain Progressives steering committee recommended that she receive the group’s coveted endorsement for the District 6 race.Citing the fallout from a late June car crash, which led to revelations that Lara had been driving without a valid license for the past decade, the 12-member JPP steering committee said its decision to back her was not one it came to “lightly.”“Over the past two months, we have listened for many hours to the many thoughts and opinions of our members, our JP neighbors, our partners, our spouses, and our friends,” the JPP committee said in a late Sunday night email.“We understand many are disappointed and angry and wanted a better explanation than they feel they’ve been given by Councilor Lara. They are questioning whether their trust in the councilor was well placed. We understand and share these concerns.”Looking at its endorsement criteria, the committ...

Clutch Casas leads Red Sox to 7-3 victory, ending 13-game Tropicana Field losing streak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

For most of the last decade, two things have been almost universally true:The Tampa Bay Rays are relentless, and the Boston Red Sox fall apart against them, especially at Tropicana Field; entering Monday’s series opener, the Red Sox were 26-49 against the Rays since the start of 2019, their most losses against any club during that span. They also arrived with a 13-game losing streak at the American League’s southernmost ballpark.But that was then; this is the Triston Casas era.On Monday afternoon, the 23-year-old rookie again put his team on his back, going 2-for-4 with a go-ahead home run, two runs, and four RBI in the Red Sox’s 7-3 come-from-behind victory.“It was a good overall game,” the always-modest Casas told NESN’s Jahmai Webster.Boston’s 72nd win of the season was a true team effort, but early on, it looked like this would be just another notch in their losing streak at the Trop. While Rays starter Aaron Civale mowed down the visiting lineup, Brayan Bello faced six ba...

Essential workers head back early to Yellowknife to be ready for everyone else

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

YELLOWKNIFE — Officials in Yellowknife, as well as staff with the Northwest Territories, are getting ready for the start of a mass migration home of wildfire evacuees that’s still on track for Wednesday.Yellowknife city manager Sheila Bassi-Kellett said workers in grocery stores, pharmacies, home-heating providers, and even some taxi drivers and daycare providers are on their way back to the city in advance of Sept. 6 — the date announced last week for the lifting of the evacuation order when all city residents will be allowed to return.“At a very, very high level — a 30,000-foot level — I’d say there’s a third of our evacuees that are returning before our overall evacuation order is lifted,” Bassi-Kellett told an online news conference Monday afternoon.Jeffrey Edison, acting assistant deputy minister with the Department of Infrastructure, said other essential workers that are coming home early include staff at the city’s airport...

4 alleged gunmen have been killed in a clash with marines in a Mexican border city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four people were killed Monday in a shootout with marines in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, triggering an alert to shelter in place from the U.S. consulate in the city across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas.The Tamaulipas state communications office said via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the clash occurred during an operation related to the investigation of a kidnapping. It said four civilians were killed. Authorities recovered guns and radios. No marines were injured.The Navy confirmed that its personnel were involved, but did not provide any details.The federal Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for information.On Monday morning, the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros issued an alert via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that employees were under a shelter in place order until 1:30 p.m. “due to gun violence occurring in the city.”In March, four Americans were abducted in Matamoros when one went for a schedule...

Accusers in Japanese boy band producer’s sex abuse scandal hope for company apology and compensation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A group of men who say they were sexually abused by a Japanese boy band producer have expressed hope the company will provide financial compensation and introduce measures to prevent a recurrence. They say producer Johnny Kitagawa sexually preyed on young dancers and singers for decades, having them stay at his luxury home, handing them cash and leveraging promises of potential fame. The company, Johnny & Associates, is a powerful force in Japan’s entertainment industry.The men said at a news conference Monday that they have been ignored for decades by the company, Japanese society and mainstream media.Company Chief Executive Julie Keiko Fujishima released a brief statement on YouTube in May about the accusations but has not appeared before reporters. The company has set a news conference for Thursday.“We want Julie to apologize, as the chief executive and company owner,” said Shimon Ishimaru, one of nine men who have formed a group demanding an apology and co...

John Shipley: Vikings have plenty of work ahead as they press on with ‘competitive rebuild’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

The Vikings are, by most accounts, in a transition year, which generally doesn’t instill confidence in oddsmakers or fans. It implies a team isn’t what it used to be, yet isn’t quite what it wants to be. Second-year general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is calling it a “competitive rebuild.”I don’t know if that inspired phrase simply burst one day from Adofo-Mensah’s lips, if he heard it elsewhere or if it was concocted by a roomful of crisis managers, but it’s a smart one. Like “fighting retreat,” it implies both confidence and circumspection, and like “fighting retreat,” it sits perilously close to oxymoron.Is there such a thing as a competitive rebuild? Vikings fans are about to find out.It’s important to remember that a transition period can be more than marking time. A transition period can itself produce something as worthwhile and memorable as what is, let’s face it, an often elusive end game. Think, say, “The Who Sell Out” — the bridge between the early Mod records and “Tommy” ...

Sick, dying and dead ducks washing ashore at park in Boyle Heights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

An unfortunate mystery is playing out at a park in Boyle Heights where ducks have been found sick, dying and dead, and now those who live near the park are looking for answers.  Those who live nearby and others who visit Hollenbeck Park on a regular basis say the discovery of the dead and dying ducks has been heartbreaking and concerning.  “I usually come running here around the lake and, you know, sometimes you’ll see birds, but there’s just any number of them, like at least 15 or so just washed up on the shore,” said a woman who didn’t want to give her name.  She said she first saw the ducks Saturday, and that when she returned to the park on Sunday, there were even more, five of them that were dead and a sixth one that was struggling to survive. Margarito Garcia, who was visiting the park, noticed a goose hovering around the dying duck, seemingly protecting it.  “I come every weekend to walk my dog through here,” he said. “Unfortunately, it looks like someone ...