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Hurricane Idalia strengthens over warm Gulf of Mexico waters as it steams toward Florida

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave Tuesday as Hurricane Idalia gained steam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.Idalia also pummeled Cuba with heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the tobacco-growing province of Pinar del Rio underwater and many of its residents without power.Idalia had strengthened to a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon, with winds strengthening to 105 mph (165 kph) by Tuesday evening. The hurricane was projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph (193 kph) in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedente...

Column: Unsolved Chicago White Sox mysteries could soon have some answers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

The two biggest mysteries of the strangest week in Chicago White Sox history might have been answered.How did two women get shot in the left-field bleachers at Guaranteed Rate Field? And who will replace fired executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn?The two mysteries are unrelated, though they share some of the usual attributes of a Sox news story, which typically are more ridiculous than what meets the eye.We’ll start with the shooting, a serious issue that became comical thanks to a wild theory emanating from the Sox front office that the bullet that hit the two women might have come from outside the ballpark. Chicago police interim Supt. Fred Waller basically dismissed that theory Monday, saying investigators had “almost completely dispelled” the idea that a bullet from outside somehow hit the two women.That meant someone inside the park apparently smuggled in a gun past security, resulting in the shot that grazed one woman in the abdomen and went into the right t...

Idalia strengthens over warm Gulf of Mexico waters as it steams toward Florida

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

By DANIEL KOZIN (Associated Press)CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave Tuesday as Hurricane Idalia gained steam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.Idalia also pummeled Cuba with heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday, leaving the tobacco-growing province of Pinar del Rio underwater and many of its residents without power. Idalia had strengthened to a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon, with winds strengthening to 105 mph (165 kph) by Tuesday evening. The hurricane was projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph (193 kph) in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.The National Weather Service in Tallahassee cal...

Boston Mayor Wu leaves town without telling council president he’s in charge, source says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu quietly left town for a family vacation this week without informing the city council president, leaving him unaware that he was the acting mayor for several days.A Wu spokesperson said the mayor was “squeezing in some family time this last week before school starts,” but did not provide the dates for when she left town and would be returning to Boston.“She is available and checking in with the team as usual,” her spokesperson told the Herald on Tuesday.A City Hall source said Wu hasn’t been seen in Boston since she joined Police Commissioner Michael Cox Saturday to provide an update on an early morning shooting in Dorchester that left eight people injured.While Wu’s office wouldn’t say what date she left town, the mayor was absent from two press conferences on Monday and Tuesday, where Cox provided an update on juvenile violence and her administration announced a policy change she had pushed for as a city councilor.Her public schedule was also blank, aside f...

Chicago White Sox CF Luis Robert Jr. won a Gold Glove in 2020. Why he says he’s better defensively this season.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. wanted to get better at making plays at the wall.So he and outfield coach Daryl Boston dug into video.Boston showed Robert film of how outfielders Jackie Bradley Jr., Kevin Kiermaier and former Sox Adam Engel approached those situations.“Once he saw it visually, he took it and ran with it,” Boston told the Tribune on Monday at Camden Yards.The results of those sessions were on display in the fourth inning of last week against the Oakland Athletics.Brent Rooker drove a Jesse Scholtens curveball to deep center field.It looked like it was going to be a two-run home run. Robert had other plans. He raced to the wall, timed his jump perfectly and robbed Rooker near the 400-foot marker at Guaranteed Rate Field.“As always I saw the ball in the air and I ran behind it,” Robert said through an interpreter after the Aug. 24 game. “And I did it.“The ball got to me very fast. I was fortunate enough I was playing...

Motorcyclist killed in I-8 crash

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

LA MESA, Calif. -- A 72-year-old motorcyclist was killed last week in a crash on Interstate 8 in the La Mesa area, authorities said.The collision occurred around 8:48 p.m. on the westbound I-8, located east of Jackson Drive, Officer Jared Grieshaber with the California Highway Patrol said in a news release. Woman killed in wrong-way freeway crash The motorcyclist was riding a Harley Davidson was traveling westbound on I-8 at an unknown speed when he lost control of the motorcycle and overturned, causing the rider to be ejected, according to law enforcement. CHP confirmed the death of motorcyclist at the scene. His name has not been disclosed at this time. He was identified as a San Diego resident.Authorities believe driving under the influence was a factor in the crash.

Judge vacates double-murder conviction of a Chicago man; cites evidence supporting innocence

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

A judge on Tuesday vacated the double-murder conviction of a Chicago man who has spent the last 34 years in prison for the shooting deaths of two 14-year-old boys.Francisco Benitez, 52, maintained his innocence in a motion for post-conviction relief, saying he had an alibi for the April 28, 1989, slayings of Prudencio Cruz and William Sanchez and that he was being framed by Chicago police detectives.Cook County Judge Sophia Atcherson made the ruling, citing evidence supporting Benitez’s innocence presented during a hearing earlier this year. She released Benitez on a personal recognizance bond with electronic monitoring.However, Benitez still faces murder charges because prosecutors haven’t dropped the case. “This has been a very, very long road, and I’m glad my son is coming home,” his mother, Betty Benitez, said. “This is not normal,” said Joshua Tepfer, one of Benitez’s attorneys from the Exoneration Project, of the volume of overturned convictions in Cook County. “It’s an ...

Guatemala’s president-elect faces legal challenges that seek to weaken him. Here’s what’s happening

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Aug. 20 presidential election has been bogged down in court and legal challenges despite the fact the results were clear: Progressive candidate Bernardo Arévalo won about 61% of the vote to conservative Sandra Torres’ 39%. After weeks of uncertainty, the top electoral court finally certified Arévalo as the winner Monday. But federal prosecutors are seeking to suspend his party, throwing into doubt whether he will have any support in congress. And Torres has filed court challenges seeking to overturn the election result, alleging fraud in the vote count — something none of the independent election observer groups reported. How did it get so complicated?FIRST, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND CORRUPTIONGovernmental corruption and impunity was so bad in Guatemala that in 2006 the country had to call in a United Nations-backed commission, known as CICIG, to combat it. The commission’s work led to some serious results: In 2015, Guatemala became one of the fe...

India’s moon rover confirms sulfur and detects several other elements near the lunar south pole

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole as it searches for signs of frozen water nearly a week after its historic moon landing, India’s space agency said Tuesday.The rover’s laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in a post on its website.The lunar rover had come down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft after last Wednesday’s touchdown near the moon’s south pole. The Chandrayan-3 Rover is expected to conduct experiments over 14 days, the ISRO has said.The rover “unambiguously confirms the presence of sulfur,” ISRO said. It also is searching for signs of frozen water that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel. The rover also will study the moon’s...

6 men killed in ambush in southern Mexico town near Guatemala border known for migrant smuggling

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:38:14 GMT

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Prosecutors in southern Mexico said Tuesday that at least six men were killed in an apparent ambush in a township near the Guatemalan border that is known as a migrant smuggling route. Prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said the killings occurred Tuesday along a rural road in the township of Siltepec, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the border with Guatemala. The victims all appear to have been riding in the same pickup truck when attackers opened fire on them from the roadside.According to videos posted on social media, most of the victims appeared to be wearing black T-shirts and jeans with short haircuts.The area has long been known as a migrant smuggling route. But it has also become the scene recently of bloody turf battles between the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels for control of the smuggling and extortion businesses. In the nearby city of Motozintla, the largest population center in the area, residents and taxi and bus drivers marched to p...