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Twins clinch AL Central for 3rd division title in 5 years; postseason losing streak up next

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins have the AL Central title in hand.Now they can get back to the unfinished business of trying to stop that record postseason losing streak.The Twins secured their third division title in five years on Friday night, eliminating the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers with an 8-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels and popping the champagne in their raucous clubhouse afterward.“We did a lot of different things to build this club, and the team really is jelling,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s what you want to see. It doesn’t happen most of the time. This is not the norm, but the team has come together so, so well. It’s a great team.”The Twins have been in first place for 167 of 177 days this season, the best of the worst in terms of the AL Central’s current stature among the six divisions in the major leagues. The Twins even had the lead with a losing record a few times in the first half, as the Guardians failed to defend their di...

EU to China: Don’t take us for suckers on trade

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

The European Union has to be able to protect itself “when its openness is abused,” the European Union’s Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in a speech in China on Saturday. The EU remains committed to free and fair trade, but “‘fair’ is the key word here,” Dombrovskis said, speaking at the Bund Summit in Shanghai.“We welcome global competition. But it must be conducted fairly,” the senior EU official explained. His comments come shortly after the European Commission said it would probe Chinese electric vehicles as the Asian country’s car exports explode. China is the EU’s largest trade partner, and a key supplier across a range of sectors from rare earth materials, to renewable energy equipment, or medicinal ingredients.The trade commissioner’s speech touched on the global economic situation as it has evolved since the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The world, said Dombrovskis, had ...

Biblioracle: Reading can help you explore the world. John McPhee’s ‘Tabula Rasa’ is just such a book.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

One of the things I love about reading a good work of nonfiction is that it’s like you’ve dispatched your own explorer into the world, tasked to return with the most interesting things they can find.Sometimes authors explore ideas, sometimes it might be the past (as in a work of history), or perhaps an interesting person (biography) or scandalous event (true crime). Whatever the subject or approach, the pleasure in reading comes with a kind of joining of consciousnesses, where suddenly you’re experiencing the world through another person’s mind. This joining can feel almost mystical and given that none of us has the time to explore everything that might be of interest, it’s wonderful that at any given moment there’s countless others out there, unearthing hidden treasures for the rest of us.One of my absolute personal favorite explorers is John McPhee, and his most recent book, “Tabula Rasa,” allows the reader a unique insight into the ...

Some Ravens tailgate fans grill Angelos, others are chill on possibility of Orioles taking over parking lots

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

In Lot A, the grills get fired up hours before the Ravens fans do.George Christas pulls up to the parking lot, a short walk from M&T Bank Stadium, long before kickoff every time the team has a home game. On Sept. 10, the Ravens’ home opener, he was there by 8:30 a.m. — 4-1/2 hours before the match against the Houston Texans was scheduled to start.Christas is president of Ravens Roost #41, a football fan club based in York, Pennsylvania. The group was founded in 1997, according to its social media, and bills itself as the “first original Ravens Roost.” Christas said he hasn’t missed a Ravens home game in 26 years.There have been a lot of tailgates along the way, and Christas’ Ravens Roost has been in Lot A since the beginning.This season, the group has been displaced ever so slightly by a chain link fence and some generators that have temporarily taken the place of a few parking spots. Rather than setting up in the corner of Lot A, Christas and...

Friday’s high school football scores and highlights

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

Tate Hoffmeister did all his damage in one half.The senior running back had another big game, rushing for 202 yards and four touchdowns on 15 carries as Needham (3-0) beat Newton North 27-7 in a Bay State Conference contest.In another Bay State Conference contest, Noah Mackenzie completed 16-of-25 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns as Walpole (1-2) defeated Wellesley, 30-13.In a Dual County League matchup, Max Dresens rushed for 100 yards and two scores on 14 carries and Michael Keenan completed 11-of-13 passes for 171 yards and two scores to lead  Wayland (2-1) to a 34-6 win over Acton-Boxboro. … Junior quarterback Ryan McGrath finished 6-of-6 for 117 yards passing to go with 40 yards rushing and a trio of touchdowns, all coming in the first half as Bedford (2-1) cruised to a 47-6 rout of rival Weston.Matt O’Donnell threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jay Comeau with 3:41 remaining to give Cardinal Spellman (3-0) a 22-15 win over Bishop Stang in the Catholic Central League. … S...

Friday’s high school scoreboard and highlights

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

FRIDAY’S ROUNDUPBOYS GOLFDylan Howard shot a 38 (two over par), and Owen Murphy had a score of 41 as Hanover (5-1) outlasted Plymouth South 250-255 in a Patriot League contest.Richie Thayer shot a 37 with 26 points for Bridgewater-Raynham (4-1) in a 112-79 Southeast Conference victory over New Bedford.FIELD HOCKEYMeg Hanrahan found the back of the net twice, and Ella Bedrosian and Olivia Skeiber scored a goal each to propel Pembroke to a 4-1 win over West Bridgewater in nonleague action. … Caitlyn Naughton and Izzy Adams each scored twice and added an assist for Walpole (6-0) in a 5-0 win over Norwood. … Alyssa Persichetti assisted Angie Bogucki to help Pentucket finally get a goal past a sensational effort from goalie Alex Tardugno, beating Methuen 1-0. … Meghan Dwyer and Elisabeth Stutzman produced the goals for Sandwich (6-0) in a 2-1 win over Hingham. … Lily Schmalz finished off two goals and added an assist to contribute toward all of Needham’s offense in a 3-2 win over Dover-S...

NFL Notes: What happened to all of the Patriots’ rivalries?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

Remember Terrell Suggs?Sneering, snarling, quarterback-sacking Terrell Suggs?The ex-Ravens linebacker who used to incite Tom Brady in a way few could, reach into Brady’s competitive soul and poke the greatest quarterback of all time? Suggs hunted quarterbacks with the best of them in the mid-2010s, including Brady. He would stand and flex over his victims, a football villain with a message: I came, I saw, I sacked.No one was safe, in his mind or his teammates. Not even Brady and the Patriots at the peak of their powers.In 23-plus seasons, Suggs’ Ravens remain one of only three teams with multiple playoff wins over the Bill Belichick-era Patriots, joining the Giants and Broncos. Once upon a time, in a dynasty that feels far, far away, the Ravens, Giants and Broncos were seen as rivals. Competitive equals, the rare opponents who could wound the Patriots’ pride and undercut their standing as the class of the league.The Jets, under Eric Mangini and then Rex Ryan, cross...

Ex-FBI agent John ‘Zip’ Connolly’s medical parole in Massachusetts in jeopardy

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

Shady ex-FBI agent John “Zip” Connolly’s “conditional medical release” is up before a Florida parole board next week.This means the former handler of murdered mobster James “Whitey” Bulger could be forced back behind bars.The 83-year-old Connolly was allowed to return to Massachusetts on a medical release on Feb. 17, 2021, because he had about a year to live after being called “terminally ill.” That estimated timeline of his demise has not proven correct.The Florida Commission on Offender Review voted 2-1 to grant Connolly’s medical release, allowing him to “finish out his life in sunshine,” as one supporter testified that day.Now, that same commission has Connolly on the agenda for Tuesday. Zip is 11th on the list of convicts set for “Parole and Conditional Medical Releases/Revocations” in a hearing slated to begin at 9 a.m.Connolly was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008 for wearing his FBI-issued sidearm when he me...

Tropical Storm Ophelia makes landfall in North Carolina as coastal areas lashed with heavy rain

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall on the North Carolina coast early Saturday, lashing coastal areas with damaging winds and dangerous surges of water, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Radar, hurricane hunter aircraft and observers on the ground found that Ophelia’s center came ashore at around 6:15 a.m. near Emerald Isle with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph), the hurricane center said. That’s roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Cape Lookout.Life-threatening flooding was forecast for parts of eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, but the system is expected to weaken after landfall.Ophelia is likely to turn north Saturday and then shift northeast on Sunday, the hurricane center said. The storm promised a weekend of windy conditions and heavy rain up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) in parts of North Carolina and Virginia, as well as 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) in the rest of the mid-Atlantic region through Su...

Uganda’s president says airstrikes killed ‘a lot’ of rebels with ties to Islamic State in Congo

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:50 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said Saturday that recent airstrikes against rebels with ties to the Islamic State group in eastern Congo have killed “a lot” of the militants, possibly including a notorious bomb maker.The statement issued by the president’s office didn’t provide details on the Sept.16 airstrikes targeting the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, a shadowy extremist organization blamed for regular violence targeting civilians from bases in Congo’s volatile east. The airstrikes targeted four ADF camps located between 100-150 kilometers (62-93 miles) from the Uganda border, according to Museveni’s statement. Uganda and Congo launched joint military operations against the ADF in 2021.Meddie Nkalubo, a Ugandan bomb maker with the ADF, was likely killed in the airstrikes, according to the statement.ADF fighters sometimes conduct deadly raids across the border. In June, suspected ADF rebels attacked a school on the Ugandan side of t...