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Bill Madden: What we’ve learned from the opening week of the MLB season

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

One week into the season and we’ve already learned a lot about what will transpire over the entire 162. Even the tiniest of snapshots has provided plenty of evidence for what’s in store for the Yankees and Mets this season.Allow us to make some definitive statements:BUCK SHOWALTER DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH STARTING PITCHINGEven before the season started, most everyone agreed it was a stretch to assume the Mets’ two aging aces, Max Scherzer (38) and Justin Verlander (40), would make it all the way to the end of October. Here we are one week in and Scherzer struggled mightily the third time through the order in his first two starts (6.35 ERA, 12 hits, league-leading four homers in 11 1/3 innings) and Verlander is on the injured list nursing an inflamed teres major muscle.Further down the rotation, Carlos Carrasco’s velo was down to just 91 mph on his fastball in a disastrous first start (5 runs, 4 hits, 4 walks in just 4 innings) versus Milwaukee, which he blam...

Nets’ Mikal Bridges set to play 83rd game in 82-game season on Sunday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

It sounds like Nets star Mikal Bridges will tie a long-standing NBA record of 83 games played in an 82-game season on Sunday in the finale against the Philadelphia 76ers.It also sounds like he won’t play very much at all — an effort to preserve the ironman’s legs for Brooklyn’s first-round playoff series, ironically against the same team they will play in the season finale.Bridges, who tallied 22 points in Brooklyn’s playoff-clinching victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday, has appeared in 82 total games this season, the maximum for any team to play in the regular season. Because he was acquired in the midseason deal that sent Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns, the Nets star has one more game available to play.The last player to accomplish the feat was former Atlanta Hawks All-Star Josh Smith, who arrived in a trade to the Detroit Pistons with an extra game to play.Head coach Jacque Vaughn said the team will discuss what Bridges’ potential worklo...

Iowa won’t pay for rape victims’ abortions or contraceptives

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has paused its practice of paying for emergency contraception — and in rare cases, abortions — for victims of sexual assault, a move that drew criticism from some victim advocates.Federal regulations and state law require Iowa to pay many of the expenses for sexual assault victims who seek medical help, such as the costs of forensic exams and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Under the previous attorney general, Democrat Tom Miller, Iowa’s victim compensation fund also paid for Plan B, the so-called morning after pill, as well as other treatments to prevent pregnancy.A spokeswoman for Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, who defeated Miller’s bid for an 11th term in November, told the Des Moines Register that those payments are now on hold as part of a review of victim services.“As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating wh...

Man wanted in connection with indecent act in Leslieville

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

Toronto police are looking to identify a man wanted in an indecent act investigation in Leslieville. Police say a man was observed in the area of Dundas Street East and Leslie Street committing an indecent act near a school just before 3:30 p.m. on April 3. The suspect is described as between 20 and 30 years of age, five-feet-10, between 180 and 190 pounds with a large build and short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a blue baseball cap, an olive green jacket, grey track pants and carrying a red backpack. Police say the man may have been accompanied by an elderly woman, who is described as being approximately 65 years old, five-feet-two to five-feet-four with shoulder-length blonde and grey hair. The woman was last seen wearing a black jacket and black pants. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

Abortion pill order latest contentious ruling by Texas judge

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas judge who sparked a legal firestorm with an unprecedented ruling halting approval of the nation’s most common method of abortion is a former attorney for a religious liberty legal group with a long history pushing conservative causes. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, on Friday ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific approval. His ruling, which doesn’t take immediate effect, came practically at the same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, essentially ordered the opposite in a different case in Washington. The split likely puts the issue on an accelerated path to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kacsmaryk, a former federal prosecutor and lawyer for the conservative First Liberty Institute, was confirmed in 2019 over fierce opposition by Democrats over his record opposing LGBTQ rights. He...

Dry for Easter egg hunts

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Beneficial and much appreciated rain fell over Central Texas starting this past Wednesday. There were a few isolated areas of rain overnight that ended around 3 a.m. The highest rain total since Wednesday is 5.96" at the Sam Gideon Power Plant at Lake Bastrop followed by 5.67" at Buckners Creek near Muldoon. Amounts of 3 to 5 inches were common in our eastern counties. The Hill Country, where the ongoing drought is extreme to exceptional, did not have as much with many locations under one inch. Austin's Camp Mabry picked up 2.53" Thursday and Friday. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's recorded 2.49' Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.Central Texas rainfall totalsA Flood Warning continues until early Sunday afternoon for Middle Yegua Creek near Dime Box (Lee Co.). It will crest near the flood stage of 10' late Saturday night.It is Easter weekend. Most lows Saturday morning were in the lower half of the 50s including 53° at Camp Mabry, four degrees shy of normal. T...

Other voices: The nursing workforce needs more men

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

In less than two years, the U.S. could face a shortage of up to 450,000 nurses. The health-care system won’t be able to fill this gap with half the potential workforce on the sidelines: More must be done to recruit men into nursing.Men currently comprise about 12% of nurses, up from less than 3% in 1970. Boosting their number would not only ease shortages, but offer a pathway to good jobs for a demographic that has been exiting the workforce in alarming numbers in recent years. Employment growth in some traditionally male sectors, such as manufacturing, has all but vanished.Yet men traditionally haven’t entered nursing because, much like teaching, it’s stigmatized as a female profession — the term “male nurse” is a case in point. Men in nursing tend to be career-switchers, and often include former members of the military, police officers and firefighters. In short: civic-minded workers drawn to the six-figure salaries, career progression and flexi...

Soucheray: Glassy-eyed, gripping a chopper, anticipating No Mow May. Or not

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

Sometimes, when you’re feeling a little down about the blighted condition of our dear old town and the potholes have nicked you for another $700 repair bill, it might at least introduce a note of cheer to remember that we are a pollinator-friendly city and have been since January of 2016. We are just a fine damn place for bees, or hope to be.To that end, the St. Paul City Council voted 6-0 the other day to give its blessing to No Mow May. City inspectors will be told to stand down when they get a report of weeds or overgrown shrubs or other clutter, hopefully excluding stoves and automobile bumpers. All of that uncared-for growth will promote pollination.No Mow May follows No More Plowing in January, February, March and April, tremendously successful campaigns that resulted in our potholes making national news in the Wall Street Journal last week. We’ve got some real beauties out there, axle-breakers and tie-rod-benders, and it’s high time we received some national recognition.Why, ...

Working Strategies: In defense of the subminimum wage

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

Amy LindgrenSecond Sunday Series — This is the eighth of 12 columns on work and disability that will appear in the next 12 months — one on each second Sunday of the month, from September through August. Previous columns discussed promotions for workers with disabilities, higher education decisions, self-advocating, career tips for family caretakers, testing limits as a worker with disabilities, the dilemma of revealing disabilities during job search, and overall concepts of disability in the workplace. If you don’t have a loved one with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities, you may not be aware of sheltered workshops and their role in the continuum of work opportunities for this population. In essence, these facilities are organized around a principle of gathering socially to conduct relatively simple work, such as shredding paper or stuffing envelopes.The individuals in these jobs tend to stay for long periods, drawn by the familiarity of the task, the camaraderie,...

Saugerties man arrested after domestic dispute

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:40 GMT

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Saugerties police report the arrest of John Monaghan, 52 of Saugerties. Monaghan was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute where the victim was assaulted. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! On April 7, police began an investigation into a reported past domestic dispute that happened on April 4. Police explain the victim reported that she was assaulted by Monaghan. Police established during the dispute, Monaghan placed his hands around the victim's neck, strangling them. Monaghan further grabbed the victim's arm, throwing them out of the residence, and leaving several bruises on the victim's arm. Monaghan was arrested on April 7 around 5:15 p.m.ChargesSecond degree harassmentCriminal obstruction of breathing and blood circulationMonaghan was arraigned in the Town of Saugerties Justice Court where Monaghan, was released on his own recognizance upon the court issuing a full stay away order of prot...