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After falling short of the postseason, how do the Chicago Cubs take a step forward organizationally for 2024?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

When Dansby Swanson signed his seven-year, $177 million deal with the Chicago Cubs in December, he came to the organization expecting a commitment to winning.Year 1 fell short of the playoffs, and how the Cubs stumbled down the stretch with poor play ended the season on a sour note. As the organization dissects the underlying issues of what went wrong over the final three weeks, they won’t dismiss the positives that came out of a winning season.“With how we finished people are going to think it’s further off than it actually is,” Swanson said after their final game. “There’s a lot of really, really talented players not only here but obviously in the lower levels that can contribute and then offseason free agency, there’s plenty of moves that can be done there as well that could really get us over the hump and rolling in the right direction. But definitely a good step this year, definitely confident with things moving forward.“W...

MLB notes: Ex-Phillips coach Kevin Graber leads Cubs AA affiliate to first title in 45 years

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

Kevin Graber had been offered opportunities like this before, but the longtime Phillips Academy baseball coach realized this time things were different. His children, who had long been his priority and a major reason why he got out the professional game in the first place, were now all grown up and away in college. Suddenly the prospect of joining an MLB organization seemed a lot more appealing.So a year ago this week Graber took the plunge and officially joined the Chicago Cubs as a minor league coach. He couldn’t have imagined the whirlwind that awaited.Originally hired as the Cubs’ spring training complex coordinator, Graber wound up being promoted twice over the course of the season, first to roving minor league field coordinator and then to manager of the Tennessee Smokies, the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate. Under his leadership the Smokies took off, and recently the club captured its first Southern League championship since 1978.“A little bit different than ...

Live updates | Israel continues battling Hamas as fears of wider conflict grow

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

Israeli soldiers are battling Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel and launching airstrikes on Gaza, a day after an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas fighters.In northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel is “at war.” Follow our live updates.LEADERS OF EGYPT, JORDAN DISCUSS CRISISThe leaders of Israel’s neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, discussed the ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.According to a statement by the Egyptian president, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received a phone call from King Abdullah II of Jordan.Both leaders agreed on working to avoid further deterioration of the situation, the statement said.Both Egypt and Jordan are close allies with the U.S. and are the first Arab nations to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.The latest round of violence began with an unprecedented surprise attack in which...

Shooting at Pennsylvania community center kills 1 and injures 5 victims

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

WHITE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — One person was killed and five were wounded in a shooting during a private party at a Pennsylvania community center early Sunday, police said.Police and emergency services responded at 12:35 a.m. to a reported shooting at the Chevy Chase Community Center in White Township, the Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement.Police said six people were shot and one was pronounced dead at the scene in White Township, which is located about 57 miles (91.7 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh in Indiana County.Surviving victims were transported to Indiana Regional Medical Center in Indiana and UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh with at least two of the victims believed to be in serious condition, police said.State police said they did not have any suspects in custody early Sunday. The police statement did not provide details about a possible motive, whether there was more than one suspect or if they were attending the party.The Associated Press

1 critically injured in early morning multi-vehicle crash in Brampton

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

One person suffered critical injuries following an early morning multi-vehicle crash in Brampton. Peel police say two vehicles were involved in the crash just after midnight in the area of Gillingham Drive and Main Street. One person was transported to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries while two other occupants were taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. There are a number of road closures in the area as police continue their investigation.

Terence Davies, filmmaker of the lyrical ‘Distant Voices, Still Lives,’ dies at the age of 77

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British filmmaker Terence Davies, best known for a pair of powerful, lyrical movies inspired by his childhood in postwar Liverpool, has died at the age of 77.Davies’ manager John Taylor said the director died “peacefully at home in his sleep” on Saturday after a short illness.Raised in a large working-class Roman Catholic family in the English port city, Davies worked as a clerk in a shipping office and a bookkeeper in an accountancy firm before enrolling at a drama school in the city of Coventry and later the National Film School.After making several short films, Davies made his feature debut as writer-director in 1988 with “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” a dreamlike — sometimes nightmarish — collage of a film that evoked a childhood of poverty and violence leavened by music and movie magic. The film won the Cannes International Critics Prize in 1988, and in 2002 was voted the ninth-best film of the past 25 years by British film critics.Davies followed it in 1992 with ...

Impeachments and forced removals from office emerge as partisan weapons in the states

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Wisconsin are threatening to impeach a recently elected state Supreme Court justice and raised the possibility of doing the same to the state’s election director.A Georgia Republican called for impeaching the Fulton County prosecutor who brought racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump. Republicans in the Pennsylvania House have already impeached the top prosecutor in Philadelphia.None of the targets met the bar traditionally set for impeachment — credible allegations of committing a crime while in office. Their offense: staking out positions legislative Republicans didn’t like.As Republicans in Congress begin their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, the process is calling attention to the increasing use of impeachment in the states as a partisan political weapon rather than as a step of last resort for officeholders believed to have committed a serious offense.It’s not just impeachment. Over the past two years, Republica...

The Marines are moving gradually and sometimes reluctantly to integrate women and men in boot camp

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Under a scorching sky at Marine Base Parris Island, two young recruits grapple awkwardly in hand-to-hand combat inside an Octagon training structure. Circling them, the drill instructor barks orders, “Hit her! Punch her! DO something!”Outside the ring, a mix of male and female Marine hopefuls are helping each other put on protective headgear, preparing for their turn at combat. They are assigned to one of the mixed-gender recruit companies as the Marine Corps moves gradually — and at times reluctantly — to more integrated training at boot camp.It’s been a bit hit-and-miss. While companies of men and women train together at the ring, on the obstacle course or at the range, the line of recruits outside the swimming pool presents a sharp contrast. There the companies are broken up into their smaller platoons that remain separated by gender. So as they line up, there is a small group of women standing rod-straight at the front with groups of men in forma...

Israel battles Hamas for a second day, trades fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel’s security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities. They took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children and the elderly, who they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Hundreds have been killed on both sides.The high death toll, multiple captives and a slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely pop...

Earthquakes kill over 2,000 in Afghanistan

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:11:36 GMT

Powerful earthquakes killed at least 2,000 people in western Afghanistan, a Taliban government spokesman said Sunday. It’s one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades.The figures couldn’t be independently verified, but if correct, the toll would eclipse that of an earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan in June 2022, striking a rugged, mountainous region, flattening stone and mud-brick homes and killing at least 1,000 people.Saturday’s magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit a far more densely populated area, near Afghanistan’s fourth largest city, Herat. It was followed by strong aftershocks.The United States Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Herat city. It was followed by three very strong aftershocks, measuring magnitude 6.3, 5.9 and 5.5, as well as lesser shocks.On Sunday, people attempted to dig out the dead and injured with their hands in Herat, clambering over rocks and debris. Survivors and victi...