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Veteran catcher Martín Maldonado brings his durability to the Chicago White Sox: ‘I love to play’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

Catcher Martín Maldonado worked closely with Pedro Grifol for part of the 2019 season with the Kansas City Royals.Maldonado appeared in 74 games for the Royals before being traded to the Cubs that July. Part of Grifol’s duties at the time included coaching the catchers.The two are together again after Maldonado and the Chicago White Sox on Friday finalized a one-year, $4.25 million deal.“It’s always good when you have somebody you know from the previous years,” Maldonado said of the Sox manager during a video conference call Friday afternoon. “We got to spend some time together. And that was one of the easiest parts to making the decision.”Reports of the deal surfaced Dec. 26. Under terms of the agreement, Maldonado will receive $4 million in 2024 with a $4 million club option for 2025 that includes a $250,000 buyout.Maldonado pointed to an opportunity to guide young pitchers as one of the items that stood out.“I know I can help,”...

Woman sentenced to prison for friend's death in DUI crash

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A tearful reaction in court Friday from the family of Sidnie Waller, a 21-year old woman killed in a driving under the influence (DUI) crash near Mission Bay nearly three years ago.She was a passenger, while the driver was her life-long friend Jennifer Xavier, who was convicted last year of murder and DUI.Xavier listened as the victim’s parents and brother gave emotional impact statements.“You stripped so many people of a true angel, friend and family member, I truly hope you learn from your experience because two families have been torn apart because of you,” Waller's father said. The crash happened the night of March 4, 2021.According to prosecutors, Xavier was speeding when her car went off the Interstate 5 freeway and crashed into Tecolote Creek. The car overturned and was partially submerged. Woman sentenced to 90 days in jail for hitting, killing Carlsbad mom on e-bike Xavier walked away from the wreck, leaving her friend behind. Firefighters extricated Waller w...

WWII-era munitions found under water in survey of Southern California industrial waste dump site

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Underwater dump sites off the Los Angeles coast contain World War II-era munitions including anti-submarine weapons and smoke devices, marine researchers announced Friday. A survey of the known offshore sites in April managed to identify munitions by using high-definition video that covered a limited portion of the sites, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, which led the survey, said in an email. The survey, which used deep-water uncrewed vehicles equipped with sonar and a video camera, was a high-tech follow up in a region known to have been the dumping ground for industrial and chemical waste from the 1930s through the 1970s. A 2021 survey using sonar had uncovered more than 25,000 “barrel-like objects” on the sea floor that possibly contained DDT and other toxic chemicals. High levels of the toxic chemical were previously found in sediments and marine mammals in the region, and DDT has been linked to cancer in sea...

Texas Tech says Pop Isaacs is ‘in good standing’ after report of lawsuit alleging sexual assault

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech basketball player Pop Isaacs “remains in good standing” after a report of a civil lawsuit accusing the team’s leading scorer of sexual assault of a minor, the school said in a statement Friday night.The lawsuit accuses Isaacs of assaulting a 17-year-old girl when the Red Raiders were playing in a tournament in the Bahamas in November, ESPN reported.According to the lawsuit, Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland was contacted by the plaintiffs Dec. 14 and reported the incident to athletic director Kirby Hocutt and other university officials. Isaacs has played in four games since then.The school said in its statement the accusation was “immediately and properly” reported to its Title IX office, and that an investigation began promptly.The athletic department “reached out to the Title IX office on two occasions and was informed both times that based upon the information, Pop Isaacs remains in good standing, and there is no reason to withhold him from ...

Chicago medical team prepares to head to Gaza Strip

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

CHICAGO — A sendoff was held Friday for a group of doctors and medical staff who are about to embark on a month-long journey to help provide medical care to those sick and injured in the Gaza Strip.Doctor Zaher Sahloul and his team, along with Doctor Chandra Hassan, are all practicing medical professionals from the Chicago area who are heading overseas trying to help with the ongoing crisis."Half the healthcare has stopped working, many hospitals [have] closed," Sahloul said. "This is catastrophic care."The international healthcare organization they founded, MedGlobal, is doing what it can to help, though this team doesn’t have a full picture of the crisis they’ll triage."We are going in half blind," said Hassan, who is the Director of Bariatric Surgery at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "Here in a big city like Chicago, if we have one mass casualty event in a year, we prepare for that. But this is nonstop back on back on back." Accused Highland Park shooter no longer represen...

Snow winds down Saturday—but multiple winter storms being monitored next week

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

Arctic blast to sweep in next weekendWGN WEATHER HEADLINESFRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: A MORE ACTIVE WINTER PATTERN — ONE SUGGESTING WE MAY FINALLY BE ABOUT TO SEE "SOME OTHER METEOROLOGICAL SHOES DROP"It appears to be coming together: three potential snowfalls ahead for Chicago in the coming week. The first is a modest one Friday night and saturday, a complex second system with a vigorous winter storm Monday night into Tuesday night, featuring temps close to the rain/snow threshold and therefore a tricky snow accumulation forecast challenge. A third pattern late next week going into the following weekend, followed by colder arctic air.The National Weather Service's WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER is out with the BILLBOARD on the storm system we've been monitoring the past week and to impact the area early this coming week. Models have been stunningly consistent with this system which threatens in the Monday night, Tuesday and Tuesday night time frame.YET to be definitively resolved are how t...

Pop Isaacs eligible for play after assault allegation, TTU says 

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech University released a statement Friday evening after a civil lawsuit was filed accusing Texas Tech basketball player Pop Isaacs of assaulting a minor during a basketball team trip to the Bahamas in November. PAST COVERAGE: ESPN: Lawsuit filed against Texas Tech’s basketball player Pop Isaacs Texas Tech said upon learning of the allegations against Isaacs, the matter was immediately reported to the University's Title IX Office. The Title IX Office and its process are external to and independent from TTU Athletics.Texas Tech said Athletics reached out to the Title IX Office on two occasions and was informed both times that based upon the information Pop Isaacs remains in good standing. Pop Isaacs will not be withheld from participating in University activities, including basketball competition, according to Texas Tech. Texas Tech's Title IX Office said it will continue to follow its process until it is completed, regardless of the civil lawsuit.

Man shot and killed at St. Paul New Year’s gathering is identified

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

Authorities have identified the man shot and killed early Monday morning at a New Year’s Eve gathering in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood as Abdifatah Abdillahi, 23, of Roseville.Shortly after 1:30 a.m., a 911 caller said they “wanted a group of people removed” from a gathering at a home in the 1600 block of Van Buren Avenue, according to a news release from the police department. While officers were on their way to the scene, more 911 calls came in saying that shots were fired at the gathering. One caller said they were with someone who had been injured and were taking the victim to the hospital. That caller then hung up.Officers who arrived at the home didn’t find any victims there but were told a man with gunshot wounds was at United Hospital. That man died at the downtown St. Paul hospital shortly afterward, marking the city’s first homicide of 2024 and the earliest of any new year in recent memory.No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.Related ArticlesCrime ...

Murder charges upgraded against Mayo Clinic physician accused of poisoning wife

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A former Mayo Clinic doctor accused of poisoning his wife in August will now be facing a first-degree murder charge in the case.Connor Bowman. (Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office via AP)Connor Bowman, 30, was charged by a grand jury for first-degree premeditated murder on Thursday. In Minnesota, first-degree murder can only be charged by a grand jury. The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office said in a news release that if he is convicted of first-degree murder, Connor Bowman “shall be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release.”Bowman is also facing a second-degree murder with intent-not premeditated charge in Olmsted County in connection with the death of his wife, Betty Bowman. Connor Bowman is accused of using colchicine, a drug used to treat gout, to poison her last August.The indictment also listed several witnesses examined before the grand jury, including a detective with the Rochester Police Department, four Mayo Clinic doc...

2 dead in apparent shooting at southwestern Minnesota home, authorities say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:14 GMT

LAKE BENTON, Minn. — Two people are dead and a firearm was recovered after authorities in southwestern Minnesota responded to a report of a medical emergency at a Lake Benton residence on Thursday afternoon.Responders to the South Center Street home found an adult woman deceased and an adult man critically injured, according to a news release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. The man was taken to Avera Tyler Hospital in Tyler, where he died.The names of the dead have not been released. They were taken to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in Ramsey for autopsies.Investigators have determined that the incident was isolated and there is no threat posed to the community, according to the news release.The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is assisting local authorities with the investigation.Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | Murder charges upgraded against Mayo Clinic physician accused of poisoning wife Crime & Public Safety | ...