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How Chicago Cubs top pick Matt Shaw was helped by the Cape Cod League and a former Red Sox World Series champ

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

Any time Jarrod Saltalamacchia had someone inquire in the offseason about one of the top collegiate players in the 2023 draft, Matt Shaw, the former big-leaguer told them all the same thing.“Listen, he checks every box,” Saltalamacchia would say. “If you pass on this kid, this guy is for sure one of those no doubt going to get to the big leagues, going to have success, he’s going to be a dynamic player.”Saltalamacchia had seen firsthand how impactful Shaw can be when he served as the assistant coach on Shaw’s Cape Cod League team, the Bourne Braves, last summer where the now 21-year-old shortstop took the next step in his development en route to becoming the Chicago Cubs’ first-round pick last week.“He’s just an unbelievable kid,” Saltalamacchia told the Tribune. “He can play all the positions. He’s a great teammate and he’s always working with other guys. It’s a kid you definitely want in your organ...

Yankees Notebook: Josh Donaldson’s future up in the air following high-grade calf strain

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

ANAHEIM — Josh Donaldson’s MRI results are in, and they’re not encouraging for the 37-year-old third baseman.“It’s a pretty high strain, which means that there’s a tear,” Donaldson said of a right calf injury that landed him on the 10-day injured list over the weekend. “They said it’s not very big. But I don’t know the timetable or anything like that. It’s kind of just everybody responds a little bit differently is [what] they kind of told me.”Donaldson, speaking before the Yankees’ series-opener in Anaheim on Monday, said that team doctors diagnosed him with a Grade 2-plus strain, while a second opinion determined he has a Grade 3 strain. He said he was still feeling “pretty sore.”Donaldson said his calf has been bothering him for the last week or so, but he felt he could play through it. However, he aggravated the injury during the Yankees’ Saturday win over the Rockies after hitting a ...

Deadly crash prompts closure of several southbound I-15 lanes in Fallbrook

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

FALLBROOK, Calif. -- A deadly crash Monday on Interstate 15 in the Fallbrook area has prompted traffic delays, fire officials said.The collision occurred on southbound I-15, located north of State Route 76, North County Fire Protection District tweeted around 9:35 p.m. Passenger killed in East County crash that hurt 4 others identified All southbound I-15 lanes were shut down until 10:52 p.m., but the left lane has since reopened, according to California Department of Transportation. All right lanes remain closed, Caltrans said.Authorities advise to use an alternate route.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Mystery object that washed up on the Australian coast could be space junk, officials say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Authorities were investigating on Tuesday whether a cylindrical object about the size of a small car that washed up on a remote Australian beach is space junk from a foreign rocket.Police had cordoned off the object after it was discovered at Green Head about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the city of Perth late Sunday.The Australian Space Agency said it was liaising with other space agencies to identify the object, which appears to be partly made of a woven material.“The object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and we are liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information,” the agency tweeted.European Space Agency engineer Andrea Boyd said her colleagues believed the item that washed up from the Indian Ocean fell from an Indian rocket while launching a satellite.“We’re pretty sure, based on the shape and the size, it is an upper-stage engine from an Indian rocket that’s used for a lot of different missions,” she ...

Dingoes attack a woman jogging on Australian island beach and leave her hospitalised

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A pack of dingoes drove a woman who was jogging into the surf and attacked her in the latest clash between native dogs and humans on a popular Australian island, sparking new warnings Tuesday to visitors venturing out. The 24-year-old woman was attacked by three or four dingoes on Monday while she was jogging on a beach at Queensland state’s K’gari, the world’s largest sand island formerly known as Fraser Island, officials said.The World Heritage-listed national park is home to some of Australia’s purest dingoes, which are also known by their Indigenous name wongari, because domestic dogs have long been banned. Tourists returned to the island after pandemic restrictions were lifted, and have found the dingoes have become less wary of humans. That’s raised the danger to both species, wildlife ranger Linda Behrendorff said.Two passersby rescued the woman from the dingoes after they chased her into the surf, using the same hunting technique they use for...

German director of Florence’s Accademia Gallery who fought for David’s image worries for job

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

MILAN (AP) — The German director of Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia has succeeded in drawing visitors’ attention to masterpieces beyond Michelangelo’s towering David, while winning landmark court cases to protect the marble masterpiece’s familiar image against misuse.But even as Cecilie Hollberg highlights her achievements at Italy’s second-most-visited museum since arriving in 2015, rumors circulate that Italy’s far-right-led government intends to send her packing before her contract expires next year as it seeks to put more Italians in top cultural jobs.It would be deja vu all over again. In 2019, another right-wing government fired Hollberg on short notice, and put the Accademia under the control of another Florence landmark, the Uffizi museum. She was reinstated the following year and the Accademia’s autonomy restored after that government fell.Hollberg said she can’t explain why the Accademia’s role as an independent museum is again under siege. She said sh...

Spain’s early election could put the far right in power for the first time since Franco

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s general election on Sunday could make the country the latest European Union member swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos (“United We Can”), took a beating in local and regional elections. The center-right Popular Party emerged from the May 28 elections with the most votes. Polls for the general election have consistently put the PP in first place — but likely needing support from the far-right Vox party to form a government.Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy following the 1975 death of Gen. Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled Spain for nearly 40 years. The Popular Party and Vox have agreed to govern together i...

Bill that would allow French police to locate suspects by tapping their devices is up for a vote

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers plan to vote Tuesday on a sweeping justice reform bill that includes a provision for allowing law enforcement agents to remotely tap into the cameras, microphones and location services of phones and other internet-connected devices used by some criminal suspects.The proposed law plainly stipulates that the procedure can be executed “without the knowledge or consent of its owner or possessor” but is limited to suspects involved in terrorism, organized crime and other illegal activities punishable by five or more years in prison.The language authorizing eavesdropping is contained in a broader reform bill aimed at “modernizing” penal procedures, reflecting what polls indicate is a public demand for more law and order.“The goal of this law is clear: a faster, clearer, modern justice,” French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said when he presented the legislation in the spring. Left-wing parties generally oppose the surveillance provision, but President ...

As UK housing costs soar, anxiety grips homeowners and renters: ‘I’m in meltdown’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

LONDON (AP) — For Sadie James, the cost-of-living crisis in Britain just never seems to ease. First, it was skyrocketing energy and food costs stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, the 61-year-old worries whether she can keep a roof over her head.James, who lives in south London, has struggled for years to stay on top of her finances. Just as she was starting to clear her debts, she’s back to square one: Her rent keeps rising, and on top of higher food and energy bills, her welfare payments just can’t keep up.“I’m actually in a meltdown each time I think about it,” said James, who cannot work because of underlying health problems. “I’m literally depressed, I’m angry, I’m totally overwhelmed about it because I don’t want to lose my home.”Interest rates have risen rapidly in recent months, which in turn have ratcheted up mortgages and rents across the United Kingdom. Rates have hit 5% after being below 1% for the past decade as the Bank of England ha...

Matt Wallner finally gets his first-at bat in third stint with Twins

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

SEATTLE — Twins outfielder Matt Wallner wasn’t in the starting lineup for the fourth straight game, but the rookie finally did get into a game, pinch hitting late in Monday’s 7-6 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.With two out and nobody in the eighth, Wallner pinch hit for right-hander Michael A. Taylor but struck out against right-hander Andres Munoz.The Twins recalled Wallner, 25, in time to play in last Friday’s victory at Oakland, but as the team started its fourth game of this seven-game road trip, the outfielder from Forest Lake had yet to see his name on manager Rocco Baldelli’s lineup card.“You know,” Baldelli said, “we lose a third baseman, we get a left-handed-hitting outfielder.”Optioned May 29 to the Saints after hitting .636 with a 1.692 OPS in his last four big league games, Wallner remained hot in St. Paul, hitting .308 with 11 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 31 RBIs, 20 walks and 34 runs scored in 36 games. But finding games to play instead of Kepler, a te...