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Column: As Chicago White Sox try to put 2022 in the past, Pedro Grifol’s home debut as manager is one to forget

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

The Chicago White Sox returned home Monday for the first time since October, hoping to put last season’s agonies behind them for good.Sox fans understand the concept of forgive and forget, even though they tend to neglect the latter, so the players and new manager Pedro Grifol were greeted warmly while driving in from center field in gas-guzzling vehicles during pregame introductions at Sox Park.New year, new attitude?Let’s not get carried away.By the fifth inning of the home opener against the San Francisco Giants, when Sox starter Michael Kopech surrendered his fourth home run of the inning and fifth in a 21-batter span, the boos rained down on the field like the last game of 2022, in which the Minnesota Twins scored six first-inning runs to end the season with a thud.The Sox wound up surrendering seven home runs in a 12-3 loss to the Giants, and Grifol resorted to using infielder Hanser Alberto on the mound to finish the ninth.“It’s tough to take a hit lik...

Magic not losing sight of bigger picture even as play-in hopes fade

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

The message inside the Orlando Magic’s locker room hasn’t changed.So even as they walked off the court and left Amway Center after their dominant 128-102 win Sunday over the Detroit Pistons knowing their chances of making the play-in tournament diminished, they did so without losing sight of the bigger picture: development and growth that can extend beyond this season.“We put ourselves in a great position this year,” guard Jalen Suggs said. “We had a slow start, but we bounced back, went on a winning streak, really played well and kind of just made a name for ourselves now. The Magic aren’t the Magic of last year where it’s, ‘We’ve got a free win coming in here,’ [or] ‘This team is in a complete rebuilding process.’ We’re winning now.”The Magic’s win over the Pistons was their sixth victory in eight games and their largest margin of victory this season.They’re 29-25 since Dec. 5 — N...

After Massachusetts superintendent candidate wrote ‘ladies’ in email, the School Committee rescinded its offer

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

A “microaggression” was big enough to cost one superintendent candidate his dream job, he says.Vito Perrone said he’s “shocked” and “devastated” after the Easthampton School Committee pulled back its offer for him to lead the district because he used the term “ladies” in an email to the committee chair.Perrone said he was all excited to become the superintendent of Easthampton Public Schools, but the rug was pulled out from under him after his email to School Committee Chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski and the School Committee assistant.Perrone, the interim superintendent of West Springfield Public Schools, had addressed the pair as “ladies” in the email that was going over three negotiation points after the School Committee had offered him the superintendent job.Following that email, Perrone was invited to an executive session held over Zoom. After the School Committee met alone for about 45 minutes, Kwiecinski informed...

Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks starts his final round of chemotherapy

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

The loudest ovation at Guaranteed Rate Field came before Monday’s home opener when a recorded message from Liam Hendriks appeared on the video board.The Chicago White Sox closer announced in a video to fans that he’s beginning his last round of chemotherapy.Hendriks announced in January he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Monday’s video appeared on the board before the first pitch and later was posted on the team’s Twitter page.“Happy opening day, Sox fans,” Hendriks said. “Just want to let you know I’m starting my last round of chemo today, so see you guys on the South Side soon.”Thursday in Houston, general manager Rick Hahn said: “While we don’t currently have a specific timeline available to share with you on (Hendriks’) potential return, those of you that pay close attention to our roster will notice that we have not placed him on the 60-day (injured list), and that is on purpose. Hopefully at ...

Drug lab case prosecutors get their day in court over allegations of impropriety

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

The state’s highest court seemed equal parts willing to concede mistakes may have occurred and ready to lay blame at the feet of state prosecutors when they met this week to hear arguments arising from a decade old drug lab scandal.“You have before you today three consolidated bar discipline cases of monumental importance, and I do not say that lightly,” Joseph Makalusky, an associate counsel for the Bar Counsel told the court. “Without the public’s trust that lawyers and judges will act in good faith and strictly within the bounds of our laws and professional norms, the rule of law has little practical force.”The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, on Monday, heard from attorneys representing prosecutors from the attorney general’s office over their handling of the 2013 prosecution and arrest of drug lab chemist Sonja Farak, who was sentenced to 18 months of incarceration after it was revealed she was using some of the drugs she was meant to be testing.As a resu...

‘No wheelchair’: Advocate says laws governing mobility aids on flight not enough

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

After yet another flight experience that she describes as traumatic, accessibility advocate Maayan Ziv is once again calling for change and for the air travel rights of people with disabilities to be recognized and respected.Last September, Ziv’s custom motorized wheelchair was damaged beyond repair on an Air Canada flight to Tel Aviv.While the airline has since replaced the chair, Ziv says she has made some changes to the way she travels to avoid possibly jeopardizing her indispensable mobility device.“I’ve been travelling with a much more compact, foldable travel chair that’s specifically designed to allow people like myself to fold it up, to store it in the cabin, to remove the batteries — it fits the dimensions of the majority of closets on board,” she explains.“I just thought if I could travel like this, I could probably protect my mobility better.”She adds that the portable chair is far from comfortable, but she’d rather su...

Progressive Conservatives projected to win majority in Prince Edward Island

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

CHARLOTTETOWN — Voters in Prince Edward Island were projected to deliver a majority win to the incumbent Progressive Conservatives on Monday after an election campaign dominated by debate over heath care and housing.An hour after polls closed, Premier Dennis King’s Tories had captured 56 per cent of the votes counted and were leading in 22 of the province’s 27 ridings. King was easily re-elected in his riding of Brackley-Hunter River.The Liberals were ahead in three ridings and the Greens in two.King’s first four years in office were marked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, two major post-tropical storms and mounting health-care woes. His party’s main challengers were the Green Party, led by Scottish-born dentist Peter Bevan-Baker, and the Liberals, led by former bureaucrat Sharon Cameron, who was acclaimed leader less than five months ago. At dissolution, the Conservatives held a slight majority with 15 seats. The Greens had eight seats, most of them in the C...

‘Psychotic crack’ led woman to kill stepson, defense says

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado woman knew what she was doing when she stabbed her young stepson 18 times and then shot him in the head before driving across the country to dump a suitcase with his remains inside over the side of a bridge in the Florida Panhandle, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of her trial.Authorities allege Letecia Stauch killed 11-year-old Gannon Stauch in his bedroom a few hours before reporting him missing on Jan. 27, 2020, while his father was on a National Guard deployment, suggesting she was unhappy in her marriage and resentful of being treated like an unpaid babysitter. Stauch pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, with the defense claiming she suffered a “major psychotic crack,” as a result of childhood trauma, when she killed Gannon. During opening statements in Colorado Springs, District Attorney Michael Allen pointed out the steps that Stauch took to cover up her actions as proof that she knew what she did was wrong and was therefore sane. Sh...

Union Pacific sued after firing rail worker on medical leave

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific routinely hires private investigators to check out employees’ medical leave claims and then fires anyone who happens to leave their house while out on leave, according to a lawsuit filed against the railroad.The lawyer who last month filed one of the first lawsuits in a case like this in Texas said this practice is another example of how the railroads keep the pressure on train crews to remain on call 24-7 while making them afraid to take unpaid time off they’re supposed to get under the Family Medical Leave Act.Now that the Texas case is moving forward in the courts, the lawyer, Nick Thompson, said he plans to look into the claims of several other UP employees who have contacted him with similar concerns that could turn into additional lawsuits.“Ultimately, this has the effect Union Pacific wants: It scares people from using FMLA,” Thompson said.Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific says it didn’t do anything wrong when it fired De’Ron Rut...

Belize, Guatemala reaffirm Taiwan ties during Tsai visit

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 12:13:41 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Belize on Monday reaffirmed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the second country to do so in a week as Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen travels across Central America in an effort to shore up a dwindling number of allies. “Together we can promote our shared values like democracy, the right of the people to self determination and respect for international law,” Johnny Briceño, Belize’s prime minister, said in a speech before the country’s National Assembly.Belize follows in the footsteps of Guatemala, another ally of Taiwan, whose leader declared its relationship with the self-governed island “unchangeable” during a visit by Tsai.The two Central American nations represent two of Taiwan’s 13 formal allies across the world, a number that has dipped as China has put pressure on and funneled money into isolating the island.The trip came just a week after Honduras announced it would cut allegiances with Taiwan in favor of China, potentially prompted by ...