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Diamondbacks sweep Cubs with 6-2 win, pass Chicago in NL wild-card race

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Ketel Marte homered and Arizona got a great performance from its bullpen as the Diamondbacks defeated the skidding Chicago Cubs 6-2 on Sunday to pass them for the second National League wild-card spot.Arizona completed a three-game sweep and handed the Cubs their fifth straight loss. The Diamondbacks won three of four last weekend at Wrigley Field and finished 6-1 against Chicago this season.The latest victory moved Arizona a half-game ahead of Chicago for the second NL wild card, while the Cubs fell into a tie with Miami for the league’s final playoff spot. Cincinnati is a half-game behind, and San Francisco is two back.Four relievers combined to pitch 5 2/3 scoreless innings for Arizona, giving up three hits and no walks.The Diamondbacks jumped in front with a three-run first inning against rookie left-hander Jordan Wicks (3-1). They loaded the bases with no outs, and Christian Walker blooped one into center for an RBI, though he lost the hit when Corbin Carro...

Broncos safety Kareem Jackson ejected for hit on Commanders tight end; defense goes into tailspin

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Hard-hitting Broncos safety Kareem Jackson delivered a helmet-to-helmet collision that got him sent to the locker room.It also sent Denver’s defense into a tailspin.Jackson’s second-quarter ejection was the start of a momentum shift as Sam Howell rallied the Washington Commanders from an 18-point deficit to a 35-33 win on Sunday.Denver’s traditionally reliable defense has been unable to protect leads in losing back-to-back home games to start a season for the first time in franchise history.“We have a standard for ourselves,” All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “And when we can’t reach that standard, it’s obviously frustrating.”Jackson’s hit drew immediate outrage on social media. The veteran defensive back launched himself at Logan Thomas moments after the Washington tight end hauled in a 4-yard TD pass. Several Commanders took exception and confronted Jackson before being separated. The officials called Jackson for a personal f...

Antoni: Biden’s latest attack on American energy is costing you

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

Want to pay more for energy? If so, President Joe Biden’s new drilling prohibition in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is good news for you. The rest of us, though, are less than thrilled with his efforts to throttle the energy sector. They’re needlessly costing American families an extra $2,400 on their annual energy bills.On his first day in office, Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and issued what was supposed to be a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas activities in ANWR. But now he has canceled all leases and permits there, closing off one of the nation’s most energy-rich areas.This unwise maneuver follows closely on the heels of the administration’s ban on shipping liquified natural gas by rail. By blocking transport of domestic natural gas via additional pipelines and now railroads, the president is simultaneously increasing the nation’s dependence on energy imports, driving up energy prices and increasing countless costs throughout the chemical an...

Chicago Cubs swept by Arizona Diamondbacks with 6-2 loss, leaving their playoff hopes in a precarious position

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

Their worst stretch of play in months could not come at a much worse time for the Chicago Cubs.The veteran team will need to regroup on Monday’s off day following a dreadful 1-5 trip against the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks. Their five consecutive losses culminated with Sunday’s 6-2 defeat, getting swept for the first time in almost three months, sending the Cubs back to Chicago for their final homestand as they desperately try to hold onto their playoff position.The Cubs (78-72) enter Monday tied with the Miami Marlins for the final National League wild-card spot, though if the season ended today, Chicago would be left out because they do not hold the tiebreaker.“They were better than we were in all aspects of the game,” manager David Ross said of the Diamondbacks. “They played better defense, they pitched better, they had timely hitting, they ran the bases better. We got beat all the way around. A bad road trip. Try to wash it on the off ...

Serving up a mystery

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

There’s a new wrinkle in Miss Marple-style sleuthing with AcornTV’s “Mrs. Sidhu Investigates” and that is an Indian auntie with a talent for snooping alongside high-end catering.“I always like to write something about community,” Suk Pannu, the series’ creator and writer of all four 90-minute episodes, said in a Zoom interview from London.Pannu sets “Mrs. Sidhu,” which begins Monday, in Slough, “An industrial town in a beautiful countryside. An underdog, immigrant town which is in the middle of one of the most beautiful areas of Britain,” the affluent Berkshires.Mrs. Sidhu is an ideal snoop, he noted, “Because Indian aunties can always get secrets out very quickly. I was really excited because I come from writing comedy, and a murder mystery is just a wonderful thing for me.”Mrs. Sidhu, a widow with a teenage son, is played by Meera Syal who was in the Pannu-scripted hit “The Kumars at No. 42.” Mrs. Sidhu may be delivering food to what’s often an unlikely crime scene but it is her i...

Editorial: The utter failure of money to improve education

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

Congress directed billions of dollars to the nation’s public schools to address pandemic-era learning loss. So far, there’s no evidence that this was a productive use of money.Across the nation, all but a few public school districts jumped at the “free” cash that federal lawmakers allocated to reverse the vast harm done by the failure of remote instruction. Students, particularly those most in need, suffered significantly.In 2022, The New York Times reported, “the National Assessment of Educational Progress released its latest assessment of 9-year-olds, showing the largest decline in reading in 32 years and the first decline in math scores since it started testing students in 1969.” ACT scores hit new lows, as did civics test results.The massive amount of new funding was unprecedented. “This is the biggest one-time infusion of federal dollars ever to come to schools,” Phyllis Jordan, the associate director of FutureEd, an education policy think tank, told the Times. “It’s just an as...

Dear Abby: Insufferable neighbor alienates do-gooder

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

Dear Abby: I have lived in my apartment for nine years. When I moved in, I met a woman who moved in about the same time. We became friendly, and I enjoyed talking to her at the pool and mailbox — until I got to know her better. She has alienated all the other neighbors and kids in the complex with her attitude. She butts into conversations and asks personal questions, despite claiming to “mind her business and keep to herself.”Abby, I was raised to be forgiving and understanding. I have reached out to her and taken her to the store and medical appointments, but then she freaks out, swears and demands that I speed up, take her to thrift stores, etc. She asks why I don’t take the freeway instead of surface streets with traffic lights.I finally quit taking her places, but now she has started walking into my apartment, sitting down and asking me questions. She also gets mad when she sees I went to the store without her. How do I politely, but firmly, tell her to ...

Callahan: Patriots offense fails to deliver again, puts season in danger

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

FOXBORO — The dam appeared to break Sunday with 8:45 left.Out of the dam flowed shock, disappointment, grief, frustration. All thanks to Raheem Mostert.Leading 17-10, Mostert burst through the middle of Bill Belichick’s defense and left waves of stadium silence in his wake on a 43-yard sprint to the end zone. The first defender to touch him was a teammate who patted him on the back as he reached the Dolphins’ sideline.Miami had seemingly broken a Patriots team that had already achieved the following: a fourth-quarter interception of Tua Tagovailoa, holding Tyreek Hill to 40 harmless yards and a blocked field goal.All the Pats needed was an adequate, maybe even below-average, showing from their offense to cement their first statement win of the post-Brady era. Mac Jones and Co. couldn’t deliver.Again.They did score two touchdowns, including one on the drive immediately after Mostert’s dagger. Great.Foxboro, MA – February 17: New England Patriots’ H...

In corrupt Libya, longtime warnings of the collapse of the Derna dams went unheeded

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The warnings were clear but went unheeded.Experts had long said that floods posed a significant danger to two dams meant to protect nearly 90,000 people in the northeast of Libya. They repeatedly called for immediate maintenance to the two structures, located just uphill from the coastal city of Derna. But successive governments in the chaos-stricken North African nation did not react. “In the event of a big flood, the consequences will be disastrous for the residents of the valley and the city,” Abdelwanees Ashoor, a professor of civil engineering, wrote in a study published last November in the Sabha University Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences.The warnings came true in the early hours of Sept. 11, when residents of Derna woke up to loud explosions before floodwaters pounded the Mediterranean city. They found that two dams had broken, unleashing a wall of water two stories high that wreaked destruction and swept entire neighborhoods out to sea.The deluge proved dea...

Clinton Global Initiative will launch network to provide new humanitarian aid to Ukrainians

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:46:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Clinton Global Initiative will announce the launch of the CGI Ukraine Action Network, as well as numerous financial pledges, to support nonprofits working in the country, as the annual conference opens in New York on Monday morning.The CGI Ukraine Action Network is the result of a collaboration between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Olena Zelenska, first lady of Ukraine, that began last year. The new organization, which will be formally announced Tuesday, is designed to mobilize existing CGI partners, as well as new leaders from around the world, to create and finance new commitments for Ukrainians, according to CGI. Numerous monetary commitments for Ukraine are also set to be announced Tuesday,Continuing support is part of the Clinton Global Initiative, or CGI, theme of “Keep Going” this year, as Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton say they will convene political, business and philanthro...