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Daywatch: �� Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

Good morning, Chicago.The 2023 MLB season begins with new rules, old narratives and the same opening-day dreams.The season figures to be an important one for MLB, which instituted several rule changes in an effort to build a better relationship with younger fans.The Cubs open the season today at home versus the Milwaukee Brewers to kick off a three-game series before going on a three-game trip to Cincinnati. Here’s the full schedule — and our guide to watch or stream all the games.The Sox enter the season today with their opener against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.Can’t make it to the games? Follow along with Cubs reporter Meghan Montemurro at Wrigley and Sox reporter LaMond Pope in Houston.Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.Subscribe to more newsletters | COVID-19 tracker | Compare home values by ZIP code | Puzzles & Games | Daily horoscope | Ask Amy | Today’s eNewspaper editionWest Side incumbents fending off challeng...

Rookie OF Oscar Colás is thrilled to open the season with the Chicago White Sox: ‘Being here is very special’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

Oscar Colás called his mother after finding out he earned a roster spot.“She was crying and screaming,” Colás said through an interpreter. “I got nervous because I thought something happened to her.”Just happiness for her son, who will be one of the options in right field for the Chicago White Sox.“It means a lot to me,” Colás said of the opportunity. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve been working for this for a very long time and now being here is very special.”Colás met with reporters Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park on the eve of the season opener against the Houston Astros. He found out he made the team a couple of days before the trip, receiving a call from third-base coach Eddie Rodríguez to go to manager Pedro Grifol’s office.“I went there and I was walking and I was really nervous,” Colás said. “Once I got there, they told me the news and I was just very happy...

Casualties reported after two Army Black Hawk helicopters crash in Kentucky

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Two Army helicopters crashed in southwestern Kentucky during a routine training mission, causing several casualties, military officials said.The two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, part of the 101st Airborne Division, crashed around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Trigg County, Kentucky, according to a statement from Fort Campbell.The 101st Airborne confirmed the crash about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Fort Campbell, saying on Twitter it resulted in “several casualties” but did not specify whether those were injuries or deaths.“Right now our focus is on the Soldiers and their families who were involved,” it added.Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear had said earlier that fatalities were expected, adding that police and emergency officials were responding.The crash is under investigation.“The crash occurred in a field, some wooded area,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Sarah Burgess said at a news briefing. “At this time, there are no reports of residence damage.”Fort ...

US futures rise as bank fears ease; US econ data on the way

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street is poised to open with gains Thursday as worries over turmoil in the banking industry ease and attention turns toward government economic data coming out the next couple of days.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% before the opening bell Thursday.Markets recently have been wracked by worries about banks and fears the industry may be cracking under the pressure of much higher interest rates.Forceful actions by regulators have helped to calm markets as investors have turned their focus to how central banks might adjust their interest rate policies to reflect persisting worries over how higher rates might affect lenders. After regulators in Switzerland brokered a takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS, UBS said it’s bringing back its former CEO, Sergio Ermotti, to help it absorb Credit Suisse. Ermotti led a turnaround at UBS following the 2008 financial crisis. The path ahead for the Federal Reserve and other central banks has ...

University bus crashes in Kenya, killing 14 people

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Fourteen people, including students, have died after a university bus collided with a passenger vehicle in Kenya, west of the capital, on Thursday.Police say 12 people died on the spot and two others succumbed on the way to the hospital.The bus had 30 people on board and the death toll may rise, Rift Valley Police Chief Tom Odera said.The bus was heading toward Nakuru town from the capital, Nairobi, when its driver lost control, hit an oncoming vehicle and rolled into a ditch, he said.Road accidents are common on Kenya’s roads. Traffic police have in the past cracked down on drivers violating speed limits and those driving while drunk.Last week, the National Transport and Safety Authority said that 974 people had died in road crashes across the country since January. The authority has been running a road safety campaign urging motorists to exercise caution especially in the ongoing rainy season.Evelyne Musambi, The Associated Press

US Navy deploys more chaplains for suicide prevention

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Virginia. (AP) — On Navy ships docked at this vast base, hundreds of sailors in below-deck mazes of windowless passageways perform intense, often monotonous manual labor. It’s necessary work before a ship deploys, but hard to adjust to for many already challenged by the stresses plaguing young adults nationwide. Growing mental health distress in the ranks carries such grave implications that the U.S. chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, answered “suicides” when asked earlier this year what in the security environment kept him up at night. One recently embraced prevention strategy is to deploy chaplains as regular members of the crew on more ships. The goal is for the clergy to connect with sailors, believers and non-believers alike, in complete confidentiality.“That makes us accessible as a relief valve,” said earlier this month Capt. David Thames, an Episcopal priest who’s responsible for chaplains for the Navy’s surface fleet in the Atlantic, cove...

Constellation Software reports US$152M Q4 profit, acquisitions help lift revenue

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

TORONTO — Constellation Software Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit of US$152 million, up from $124 million a year earlier, as acquisitions helped its revenue grow.The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says the profit amounted to US$7.19 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31.The result compared with a profit of US$5.86 per diluted share in the last three months of 2021.Revenue totalled US$1.85 billion, up from US$1.38 billion a year earlier.Constellation says the increase in revenue was attributable to growth from acquisitions as it experienced organic growth of negative one per cent for the quarter.After adjusting for changes in foreign exchange rates, the company says its organic revenue growth was four per cent.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:CSU)The Canadian Press

US revises down last quarter’s economic growth to 2.6% rate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy maintained its resilience from October through December despite rising interest rates, growing at a 2.6% annual pace, the government said Thursday in a slight downgrade from its previous estimate.The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 2.7% annual rate last quarter.The rise in the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — for the October-December quarter was down from the 3.2% growth rate from July through September. Exports and consumer spending were revised lower in Thursday’s report.For all of 2022, the U.S. economy expanded 2.1%, down significantly from a robust 5.9% in 2021. Most economists say they think growth is slowing sharply in the current January-March quarter, in part because the Federal Reserve has steadily raised interest rates in its drive to curb inflation.The resulting surge in borrowing costs has walloped the housing industry and made it more expensive for con...

Lebanon abruptly nixes plan for $122M airport ‘Terminal 2’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker transportation minister on Thursday said a contract for a new terminal at the country’s main airport is cancelled, following criticism that no public bidding was held for the $122 million project. Lebanon’s government last week announced the plan to construct terminal at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport and said it would be operated by daa International, a leading semi-state-owned airport company in Ireland, when it’s completed in four years. The long-awaited project was to be the first expansion of Lebanon’s only international airport since 1998 come as the country faces its worst economic and financial crisis.“We will not go forward with the project and we will consider it nonexistent,” Transportation Minister Ali Hamie told reporters on Thursday. He added that the decision came from the powerful Hezbollah group that he represents in the Cabinet. The announcement came a week after the project was announced and sparked a stream of ...

Blinken compares Bosnia Serb leader to Putin

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:28:45 GMT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has compared the policies of the Bosnia Serb separatist leader to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin following his moves to curb dissent and LGBTQ rights.Blinken tweeted late Wednesday that “Milorad Dodik’s attacks on basic rights and freedoms in Republika Srpska show he is on President Putin’s authoritarian path.”Republika Srpska is the name for the half of Bosnia that is dominated by the country’s Serbs. Dodik is the entity’s president and leading politician who has repeatedly advocated for the breakup of Bosnia and clashed with Western officials in the Balkan country.Earlier this month, Dodik’s government faced criticism from the U.S. and the European Union for pushing forward with a law to recriminalize libel and insult offences, which was seen as an attack on the freedom of expression and independent media.Dodik also announced a law in the upcoming months to prohibit access for L...