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3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ series win over the Pittsburgh Pirates: Cody Bellinger is an RBI machine, Keegan Thompson shows good stuff in return

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

Jordan Wicks was still embracing the highs of his major-league debut 12 hours after a memorable night at PNC Park.The Chicago Cubs’ lefty set up the Cubs to go for the series win Sunday against the Pirates after striking out nine in five innings Saturday to earn his first victory. His performance prompted so many messages that he joked Sunday it would take five-to-seven business days to get back to everyone.The Sunday getaway vibes haven’t always been great this year, but the spirits were high following a 10-1 win to improve Cubs’ Sunday record to 6-15 as they return to Wrigley Field for a three-game series versus the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.1. Cody Bellinger is in rare company in franchise history as a run-producing forceCody Bellinger’s consistency in the middle of the Cubs lineup has been a driving force in their success and postseason contention.Coming through with runners on base is a big part of why he’s been such a dangerous threat thi...

Florida shooting victim planned to spend Saturday with his daughter. He was killed before he could.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jerrald Gallion planned to spend the weekend with his 4-year-old daughter but the devoted father was instead one of three Black people gunned down Saturday afternoon at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida.Gallion, 29, was shot as he entered the store’s front door with his girlfriend in a predominantly Black neighborhood. The killing marked him as another victim in the latest racist attack in the U.S. “My brother shouldn’t have lost his life,” his sister, Latiffany Gallion, said Sunday. “A simple day of going to the store, and he’s taken away from us forever.”The gunman, 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, opened fire Saturday using guns he bought legally despite a past involuntary commitment for a mental health exam. Authorities say he left behind white supremacist ramblings that read like “the diary of a madman.”The other two people slain were identified as Angela Michelle Carr, 52, who was shot in her car, and store employee Anolt Joseph “AJ” Lag...

Simone Biles wins a record 8th US Gymnastics title a full decade after her first

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A decade later, Simone Biles is still on top.The gymnastics star won her record eighth U.S. Championship on Sunday night, 10 years after she first ascended to the top of her sport as a teenage prodigy.Biles, now a 26-year-old newlywed considered perhaps the greatest of all time, posted an all-around two-day total of 118.40, four points clear of runner-up Shilese Jones. Florida junior Leanne Wong claimed third, bolstering her chances of making a third straight world championship team.Biles is all but assured of returning to the gym where she captured her first world title in 2013. Over the course of two electric nights at the SAP Center, she served notice that even after a two-year break following the Tokyo Olympics, in gymnastics there is the one referred to as the GOAT and there is everyone else.Biles became the oldest woman to win a national title since USA Gymnastics began organizing the event in 1963. Her eight crowns moved her past Alfred Jochim, who won...

Illinois toddler drowns at Lake of the Ozarks on Sunday

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. - A 2-year-old Fairview Heights, Illinois, boy drowned Sunday morning at Lake of the Ozarks.The incident happened in the Grand Glaize Arm of the lake at 9:45 a.m., according to a report by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.State troopers responded to a call about an unresponsive child found in the lake around the 7.4 mile marker. The boy was rushed to Lake Regional Hospital but pronounced dead by 11:30 a.m.Investigators learned the child wandered away from his family and went into the water.

Simone Biles wins a record 8th U.S. Gymnastics title a full decade after her first

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A decade later, Simone Biles is still on top.The gymnastics star won her record eighth U.S. Championship on Sunday night, 10 years after she first ascended to the top of her sport as a teenage prodigy.Biles, now a 26-year-old newlywed considered perhaps the greatest of all time, posted an all-around two-day total of 118.40, four points clear of runner-up Shilese Jones. Florida junior Leanne Wong claimed third, bolstering her chances of making a third straight world championship team.Biles is all but assured of returning to the gym where she captured her first world title in 2013. Over the course of two electric nights at the SAP Center, she served notice that even after a two-year break following the Tokyo Olympics, in gymnastics there is the one referred to as the GOAT and there is everyone else.Biles became the oldest woman to win a national title since USA Gymnastics began organizing the event in 1963. Her eight crowns moved her past Alfred Jochim, who wo...

Casey Schmitt homers, Patrick Bailey gets big hit in SF Giants’ win against Braves

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants have already lost seven series in a row. So a sweep-preventing 8-5 win on Sunday afternoon over the Atlanta Braves, arguably the National League’s best team, lessened the sting of the Giants’ recent woes.Timely hits, power and a little small ball ignited an offensive performance this team has lacked during this rough stretch dating back to late-July. After taking an early lead, the Giants had an answer for every Braves’ threat to come back.J.D. Davis’ RBI single in the first inning and Casey Schmitt’s solo home run — his third career and first in 204 at-bats — gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead. Making his first career start, Tristan Beck not only held that lead, but didn’t allow a Braves base runner through his first four innings.But Atlanta got a better feel for Beck a second time through the order and made their push. Matt Olson led the fifth off with a walk and Eddie Rosario doubled off...

In photos: Silicon Valley Pride Parade

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

Silicon Valley Pride is a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. The event was first known as the San Jose Pride Festival before changing to Silicon Valley Pride in 2014. Silicon Valley Pride held a week of festivities, including a movie night and a kickoff party Friday night at the Glasshouse in downtown San Jose. The weekend festivities featured entertainment, vendors, and food at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, as well as Sunday’s pride parade along Market Street in downtown San Jose.Community members march along Market Street during the Silicon Valley Pride Parade on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)Community members line Market Street during the Silicon Valley Pride Parade on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)A majorette leads the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band during the Silicon Valley Pride Parade on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)Members of...

Simone Biles wins record-setting 8th U.S. all-around title in San Jose

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

SAN JOSE — When it was all over and Simone Biles had finished her magical performance on the floor at the SAP Center, San Jose let her hear it.The entire place went into a frenzy, fans leaping to their feet, little girls crying and adults shaking their heads in disbelief. Biles hugged her coaches, fist-bumped her teammates, waved to the crowd and finally bent over to catch her breath.It was all over.With her high-flying floor routine in which she at one point took a symbolic bow before continuing on, Biles cruised to a dominant victory at the U.S. Gymnastics Championship in San Jose on Sunday night.It was her record-setting eighth all-around national championship. She won her first in 2013. Now, at 26, she’s the oldest woman ever to capture the title.It seemed like she’d never come back to the ground during her floor routine, when she leaped into the air with her arms spread out, her legs straight together and her body flipping backwards over and over, straightening out just i...

Removing Fukushima’s melted nuclear fuel will be harder than the release of plant’s wastewater

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — At a small section of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s central control room, the treated water transfer switch is on. A graph on a computer monitor nearby shows a steady decrease of water levels as treated radioactive wastewater is diluted and released into the Pacific Ocean.In the coastal area of the plant, two seawater pumps are in action, gushing torrents of seawater through sky blue pipes into the big header where the treated water, which comes down through a much thinner black pipe from the hilltop tanks, is diluted hundreds of times before the release. The sound of the treated and diluted radioactive water flowing into an underground secondary pool was heard from beneath the ground as media, including The Associated Press, toured the plant in northeastern Japan for the first time since the water release began.“The best way to eliminate the contaminated water is to remove the melted fuel debris,” said Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings spokesperson K...

Cleveland cuts former All-Star RHP Noah Syndergaard after Sunday’s start against Toronto

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 02:20:06 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Cleveland right-hander Noah Syndergaard was designated for assignment following Sunday’s extra-inning win over Toronto after pitching six innings against the Blue Jays.Syndergaard allowed five runs and four hits against the team that drafted him in the first round in 2010. He gave up three home runs.“He just had trouble keeping it in the ballpark,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of Syndergaard after Sunday’s 10-7 win. “Only a couple of hits for a while. But then the home runs, they kind of get in the way a little bit, and I know it frustrated him.”Francona didn’t address Syndergaard’s status after the game. Syndergaard, who turns 31 on Tuesday, did not speak to reporters.Syndergaard is 2-6 with a 6.50 ERA in 18 starts with the Dodgers and Guardians. He’s owed $2,446,237 of his $13 million salary for the final five weeks of the season. Cleveland acquired Syndergaard from Los Angeles on July 26 in exchange for infielder Amed Rosario. As part of the trade, the Dod...