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Astros reacquire Justin Verlander from Mets, a deal owner Jim Crane tells AP was an easy decision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — The Astros are bringing back Justin Verlander, acquiring the three-time Cy Young Award winner from the New York Mets in a trade deadline blockbuster Tuesday, Houston owner Jim Crane told The Associated Press.The Astros are shipping outfield prospects Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford to New York. Crane said the Mets will send roughly $54 million to Houston to help pay off Verlander’s contract. The 40-year-old pitcher signed an $86.7 million, two-year deal with the Mets in December that includes a vesting option for 2025 at $35 million.“(General manager) Dana (Brown) and his team worked on it hard,” Crane told the AP. “After we looked at the numbers — it’s always tough to give up prospects, but I think they determined that it was the right move. We needed starting pitching. He’s been throwing well. And I think the other factor is they ate a lot of the contract. So it wasn’t a really hard decision. It was just would we give up enough prospects?”The underperforming Me...

Pac-12 leaders hear details of media deal, but no vote to accept terms as league future stays murky

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

With speculation swirling about the future of the Pac-12, Commissioner George Kliavkoff presented details of a long-awaited media rights deal to league stakeholders who concluded Tuesday’s meeting without voting on whether to accept the terms, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.The meeting comes just days after Colorado decided not to wait and see what Kliavkoff could deliver and announced it would re-join the Big 12 in 2024 while USC and UCLA are leaving at the same time for the Big Ten. With nine members still committed to trying to stick it out, the media rights deal could make or break the Pac-12.The person discussed the meeting with AP on the condition of anonymity because the Pac-12 is not making its internal discussion public, and gave no details about prospective network or streaming partners nor the value. ESPN reported the deal would make Apple’s online streaming service, Apple TV, the primary home of Pac-12 football games, and the t...

Prosecutor involved in Jan. 6 cases says indictment has been returned as Trump braces for charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

Donald Trump was charged Tuesday in a Justice Department investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, a frantic but ultimately failed endeavor that culminated in the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.The indictment, the third criminal case brought against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024, follows a long-running federal investigation into schemes by Trump and his allies to subvert the peaceful transfer of power and keep him in office despite a decisive loss to Joe Biden.The criminal case comes while Trump leads the field of Republicans vying to capture their party’s presidential nomination. It is sure to be dismissed by the former president and his supporters — and even some of his rivals — as just another politically motivated prosecution. Yet the charges stem from one of the most serious threats to American democracy in modern history.They focus on the turb...

CPD: USPS mail carrier shot on North Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Police Department responded to the North Side following reports of a USPS mail carrier had been shot Tuesday evening.According to the Chicago Police Department, officers responded to a shooting on the 3200 block of North Kildare Avenue in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. Woman dies after road rage incident on DuSable Lake Shore Drive CPD reports that the USPS mail carrier was transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital. Their condition is unknown at this time.No further information has been made available. The investigation is ongoing.Stay with WGN-TV as this story develops.

White Sox trade Jake Burger ahead of Tuesday's deadline, reports say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

CHICAGO — One of the White Sox best power hitters in the 2023 season who is also a former first round pick will be starting a new chapter of his career elsewhere this August. Per multiple reports, the first from Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald, infielder Jake Burger has been traded to the Marlins in exchange for Miami pitching prospect Jake Eder. The White Sox have yet to confirm the move.In the most productive season of his career, Burger is second on the White Sox with 25 homers in 88 games. He's sporting a .214 batting average with 15 doubles and a triple in a career-high 323 plate appearances. Burger was listed in the White Sox starting lineup on Tuesday as they open a three-game series against the Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington. He was slated to play second base and bat seventh.In return for Burger, the White Sox are getting the Marlins' No. 4 prospect in their system in Eder, according to MLB.com. The left-hander is currently pitching for Double-A Pensa...

3rd inmate gets 24 years for federal prison murder of child sexual abuse ring leader

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

MILAN, Mich. (AP) — A federal prison inmate was sentenced Friday to more than 24 years for killing a fellow prisoner convicted of leading a child sexual abuse ring.Alex Albert Castro, 43, of Fontana, California, was sentenced after pleading guilty in March to second-degree murder in the killing of Christian Maire, the mastermind of an international child exploitation ring.U.S. District Judge Jonathan J.C. Grey ordered the sentence to run consecutively to a 42-year sentence Castro is serving for a drug crime.Castro stabbed Maire with a shank 28 times in the head, neck and back at Milan federal prison in January 2019, court records say.Two other inmates, Jason Dale Kechego and Adam Taylor Wright, are accused of kicking and stomping Maire in the head before he was thrown down a flight of metal stairs.The detention center is on the grounds of a federal prison in Milan, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Detroit. Men are housed at the center while awaiting trial, sente...

Man sentenced to back-to-back life terms for 2020 killings of girlfriend and her friend in Iowa home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to back-to-back life sentences for fatally shooting his girlfriend and her friend a few years ago.Matthew Dee Buford III offered no explanation for the February 2020 double homicide at Thursday's sentencing hearing, despite pleas for answers from the families of his girlfriend, 42-year-old Tamica Allison, and the second victim, 41-year-old Andrea Anderson, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported.“If you had any ounce of human decency left, I would just ask you, let us know why,” said Anderson’s son, Mohammed Calhoun.Prosecutors offered little in the way of motive at last month's trial. It ended with jurors finding Buford guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and flight to avoid prosecution.Authorities said the three had been drinking at Buford and Allison's home. Allison’s teenage daughter testified that she was in her bedroom upstairs when she heard her mother say, “What are you going to do, shoot me in the face? I ...

Watch: Bears keep taking dips in Los Angeles area pools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

(KTLA) - For the third time in less than a week, a Los Angeles area resident captured video of a bear taking a dip in their pool.Ed Afsharian shared video with Nexstar's KTLA, which shows another recent instance of bears entering someone's backyard to take a swim. The video shows a mother bear and a cub playfully swimming around in a pool at a home in the foothills of La Cañada Flintridge, about 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.Afsharian said the video was taken around noon Monday after the bears climbed the neighbor's fence to get into the pool. Child, 8, attacked by cougar in Olympic National Park; saved by mother The duo played for about 30 minutes, splashing around and cooling off. They didn't exactly leave quietly - Afsharian said the mother and cub tossed around a garbage can before going on their way.The homeowners said they've lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and have heard of bear sightings in the area, but they've never had such a visit. A mother bear and he...

Helicopter crashes into cornfield in Illinois, killing pilot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

OAKDALE, Ill. (AP) — A helicopter crashed Monday afternoon in southern Illinois, killing its pilot, authorities said.A Bell UH-1H “Huey” helicopter crashed in a field in Oakdale, Illinois, around 1:45 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said. 2 injured after small plane crash near DeKalb Airport Only the pilot was on board, the FAA said.The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, the FAA said.The pilot was declared dead at the scene of the crash, Illinois State Police said.Investigators believed the helicopter hit power lines, causing it to lose control and crash into a cornfield, police said.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesOakdale is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri.

New federal bureau focused on global disease response

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Department of State has launched a new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, the goal of which is to improve international cooperation to stem the spread of disease."We have to be ready, and the world at large has to be ready," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Tuesday news conference.He said the U.S. is taking the lead to prevent future pandemics. The new bureau was designed to help streamline how countries detect and respond to diseases like HIV/AIDS and prevent outbreaks."I can't think of a more important endeavor at a more critical time," Blinken said.He said the new bureau will help modernize the World Health Organization and how it's funded, as well as strengthen the global supply chain.The WHO says COVID-19 has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide. A 2021 study estimated that environmental changes meant the likelihood of another pandemic, just as deadly, will double in the coming decades.Josh Michaud, the associate direc...