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Mervis double sparks Cubs rally in 7th past Twins 6-2 to open 9-game trip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Chicago Cubs came through with some big late swings after being stymied by Minnesota starter Sonny Gray, the kind of clutch hitting the Twins have been badly lacking lately. Rookie Matt Mervis crushed a tying RBI double in a seventh-inning breakthrough for the Cubs, who rallied to beat the Twins 6-2 on Friday night.“We just continued to pass it on to the next guy,” manager David Ross said.Yan Gomes had the go-ahead single in the seventh, Christopher Morel hit on a two-run homer in the ninth and Drew Smyly (4-1) pitched six strong innings for the Cubs on the opening night of a nine-game trip.“I’m really excited about this win,” Smyly said. “We kept having good ABs and we just stayed in it, and then the end of the game we broke it open.” Gray, whose 1.39 ERA is the best in baseball among qualified pitchers, gave the Twins another stellar turn with nine strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings with four hits and one run allowed. Manager Rocco Baldelli gave the ball to Jovani ...

Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly denied tying goal late in second period of 3-2 overtime loss

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly thought he scored the game-tying goal late in the second period of Friday’s Game 5 against the Florida Panthers, but a video review resulted in a no-goal decision.Fans at Scotiabank Arena watched a video replay of the puck crossing the line and were irate that Florida retained its 2-1 lead.Some spectators threw debris on the ice after the decision was announced. Between the review and the ensuing cleanup, play was delayed for about 10 minutes.The NHL’s Situation Room issued an explanation of the decision a short time later.“The referee deemed the play dead prior to the puck crossing the Florida line. The call was made in accordance to Rule 78.5 (xii), which states apparent goals shall be disallowed ‘when the referee deems the play has been stopped, even if he had not physically had the opportunity to stop play by blowing his whistle.’”Rielly, who scored Toronto’s first goal earlier in the period, drove toward the net and appeared t...

San Marcos Youth Baseball to resume games after Monday's shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Calif. – San Marcos Youth Baseball league is preparing to return the fields where a shooting interfered with a Little League game Monday. A stray bullet was captured on video landing dangerously close to players and since then, the league says there have been no games or practice held at Mission Sports Park.“What do we need to do as an organization to make sure that our families are safe when they’re on site,” league president Daniel Max said.On Saturday, players and their families will be back at the park after almost a week without play or practice. The league says there are more than 70 teams that all lost practice and at least one since the shooting happened, but they want to make Saturday a positive day.“This big, exciting thing that when it comes Sunday, they forget about Monday," Max said.Players and families will be greeted by local vendors, sheriff’s deputies and more. Padres cancel BeerFest On-Field Party at Petco Park “We’re having a table with all the board...

Carlsbad man uses family's Taiwanese farming techniques to grow exotic fruit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Using a single Taiwanese wax apple plant gifted to him 40 years ago, “Uncle Happy Farmer” transformed his San Diego-area backyard into a flourishing exotic fruit farm.Eighty-year-old Frank Lin and his wife Cheng-Mei grow more than 40 varieties of tropical fruits and vegetables in their home garden, Green Lotus Organic Farm in Carlsbad.He and his wife both come from Taiwanese farm families. MORE: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month “We make a really great combination,” Frank said. “I know how to grow vegetables; she knows how to grow fruit trees.”Frank moved to the United States to study engineering at Ohio State University. He then moved to California to work as a civil engineer for the City of Carlsbad.That’s where he planted his roots and started his organic farm in 1980.“At that time, we didn't have money to buy a house, so we found a piece of vacant lot. After five o'clock, I helped my wife and on the weekends, Saturday and Sunday, I delivered vegeta...

Video game-playing sea lions show off cognitive skills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- "Spike" the sea lion is making waves in the science community, learning how to play video games on the deck of a sea pen in the San Diego Bay off the coast of Point Loma. The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program cares for the branch's sea lions and dolphins, aiming to keep marine mammals happy and healthy longer."His (Spike) ability to understand the concept of controlling a cursor on a screen, then progress through a series of more challenging games, marks the first recorded success in testing cognition of California sea lions with an animal-controlled interface," said Maison Piedfort, with the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific.Spike, who is a fan of fish, ice and naps, participates in the Enclosure Video Enrichment (EVE) system, using his snout to press a button and maneuver a cursor through a maze while his trainers cheer him on. He is then rewarded with herring after finishing a training session. Carlsbad man uses family’s Taiwanese farming techniques to grow ex...

LeBron James, Lakers eliminate champion Warriors with 122-101 victory in Game 6

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six months and a day after the Los Angeles Lakers fell to 2-10 to start the regular season, they emphatically eliminated the defending NBA champions to reach the Western Conference finals.Although the Lakers’ transformation has become increasingly incredible over the past several weeks, the primary forces are LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who won a ring together just three years ago — and who shared a joyous hug Friday night after they led their team to its biggest home victory in over a decade.James had 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists and the Lakers ended the Golden State Warriors’ reign with a 122-101 victory in Game 6 of the second-round series.Davis had 17 points and 20 rebounds for the Lakers, who never trailed in their third home victory over Golden State in seven days. Austin Reaves scored 23 points — highlighted by a 54-footer from midcourt at the halftime buzzer — along with six assists and five rebounds while Los Angeles inexorabl...

Census Bureau rejects many big-city challenges that claimed the 2020 headcount missed their people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

Some of the largest U.S. cities challenging their 2020 census numbers aren’t getting the results they hoped for from the U.S. Census Bureau — an effort by Memphis to increase its official population resulted in three people being subtracted from its count during an initial appeal.Some successes have come from challenges to totals of “group quarters” — dorms, jails and nursing homes. They were among the most difficult to count as campuses closed and prisons and nursing homes were locked down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Census Bureau created a separate program to handle these challenges. The Census Bureau has received more than 100 submissions in total for its two challenge programs from cities, towns and villages of all sizes across the U.S.The challenges won’t affect how many congressional seats each state got during the apportionment process, or the more detailed numbers used for redrawing political boundaries. But new numbers could shape how ...

Democrats in Minnesota Senate hold firm to pass contentious gun control measures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic Minnesota senators held firm despite only a one-vote majority Friday to pass gun control legislation strongly supported by the governor that would align the battleground state with others nationally that have taken steps to keep guns out of the hands of people in crisis and criminals.The proposals include a “red flag law” that would allow authorities to ask courts for “extreme risk protection orders” to temporarily take guns away from people deemed to be an imminent threat to others or themselves. The provision is part of a broad public safety budget bill that also contains expanded background checks for gun transfers.The bill passed 34-33 on a party-line vote late Friday after around nine hours of debate. “What we are going to be providing — finally — is a path forward for families and law enforcement who know that someone’s exhibiting signs of crisis and danger,” said Democratic Sen. Rob Latz of St. Louis Park, chairman of the Senate p...

Elon Musk sparred with new CEO Linda Yaccarino in on-stage interview: 3 takeaways from the exchange

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On Friday, Elon Musk announced that NBC Universal’s Linda Yaccarino will serve as the new CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino is a longtime advertising executive credited with integrating and digitizing ad sales at NBCU. Her challenge now will be to woo back advertisers that have fled Twitter since Musk acquired it last year for $44 billion.Since taking ownership, Musk has fired thousands of Twitter employees, largely scrapped the trust-and-safety team responsible for keeping the site free of hate speech, harassment and misinformation, and blamed others — particularly mainstream media organizations, which he views as untrustworthy “competitors” to Twitter for ad dollars — for exaggerating Twitter’s problems.In April, the two met for an on-stage conversation at a marketing convention in Miami Beach, Florida. Here are some highlights of their conversation:MUSK AND YACCARINO SPAR OVER CONTENT MODERATIONThe Miami discussion was cordial, although both participants ...

‘Why can’t there be a system?’: Tribe pushes to ease US border crossings for Native Americans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:15 GMT

For four hours, Raymond V. Buelna, a cultural leader for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, sat on a metal bench in a concrete holding space at the U.S.-Mexico border, separated from the two people he was taking to an Easter ceremony on tribal land in Arizona and wondering when they might be released.It was February 2022 and Buelna, a U.S. citizen, was driving the pair — both from the sovereign Native American nation’s related tribal community in northwestern Mexico — from their home to the reservation southwest of Tucson. They’d been authorized by U.S. officials to cross the border. But when Buelna asked an agent why they were detained, he was told to wait for the officer who brought him in.“They know that we’re coming,” said Buelna, who has made the trip for a variety of ceremonies for 20 years. “We did all this work and then we’re still sitting there.”Now, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is trying to change this — for themselves and potentially dozens of other tribes in the U.S. Tr...