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Orioles lose director of draft operations Brad Ciolek to Nationals: source

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

The Orioles’ recent drafts played a significant role in their turnaround. A key figure in those selections is leaving the organization.Brad Ciolek, Baltimore’s director of draft operations, is joining the Washington Nationals as their senior director of amateur scouting, a source with direct knowledge of the agreement confirmed. Ciolek has been with the Orioles for more than a decade and has overseen their past five drafts — each of those under executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias.A rare holdover from the previous front office, Ciolek served as Baltimore’s interim scouting director for the 2019 draft, in which the Orioles had the No. 1 overall pick. They used it on catcher Adley Rutschman and took infielder Gunnar Henderson with their second-round selection. Those two players ranked first and second among Orioles in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement as the club won 101 games and the American League East this season.The...

1M+ people ordered to evacuate the Gaza Strip as Israel-Hamas War passes first week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

JERUSALEM — More than a million people in the northern Gaza Strip have been ordered to evacuate to the south as the latest Israel-Hamas war entered its seventh day Friday and Israel appeared to be preparing a ground offensive. Hamas urged residents to stay put.The orders sent panic through civilians and aid workers already struggling under Israeli airstrikes and a blockade of the Hamas-ruled area. International aid groups warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis after Israel prevented the entry of supplies from Egypt to Gaza’s 2.3 million people.The latest Israel-Hamas war has claimed more than 3,000 lives on both sides in the week since Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Oct. 7.Some key takeaways from the war:What’s happened in the week since the latest Israel-Hamas war started?An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in southern Lebanon on Friday, killing a Reuters videographer and leaving six other j...

Dorchester Food Co-op opens at long last

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

Lakeesha Sanders has had a hard time finding a moment of down time inside Dorchester Food Co-op, preparing food, stocking shelves with food and coolers with drinks, and helping out in customer service.But the Dorchester resident says she wouldn’t want it any other way.At long last, and with much anticipation, Boston’s only grocery store owned by employees and residents has opened.Long lines stretched across the 6,000-square-foot food and pantry hub on opening day Saturday, with excitement bursting out of the doors.“I appreciate people and their patience,” Sanders told the Herald. “We are still trying to learn, and of course, we are going to have hiccups. But seeing so many people, we were expected to open at 11, but people have been here since before then. This is fantastic.”Dorchester Food Co-op is Jenny Silverman’s brainchild.The longtime neighborhood resident caught the “crazy idea” for the co-op over a decade ago when she decided to pursue opening a grocery store that woul...

Palestinian Americans watch with dread as family members in Gaza struggle to stay alive

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For the unforeseeable future, Laila El-Haddad has one mission: to get the voices of her fellow Palestinians, along with their pleas for help, out to the rest of the world.From her home office in Columbia, Maryland, El-Haddad frantically juggled phone calls this week from journalists seeking her expertise on Gaza and Palestinian Americans trying to get the attention of their local elected officials. In between the calls, the 45-year-old mother and author checked WhatsApp, the global messaging application, for updates from her own family members in Gaza during their brief windows of electricity and internet access. Electricity was since cut off by Israel and internet outages have made it difficult for many to keep in touch.“I’m just trying to stay sane by doing what I can to help,” El-Haddad said.For many Palestinian Americans, there’s a sense of helplessness and hopelessness as they struggle to hear from loved ones in Gaza. Amid a fuel and water shortage, no electrici...

Hackers attack Guatemalan government webpages in support of pro-democracy protests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — In what Guatemalan authorities described as a national security incident, hackers affiliated with the activist group Anonymous disabled multiple government webpages Saturday. The attacks were in support of demonstrations led by Indigenous organizations in the Central American country. For almost two weeks, demonstrators have been calling for the resignation of Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras, saying she has tried to undermine the popular vote that made progressive Bernardo Arévalo the president-elect.Posting on the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter, hackers under the handle @AnonGTReloaded announced, “This October 14 #Anonymous will attack the Government of Guatemala, but this time we do not come alone.” The hackers targeted government webpages with floods of automated traffic until they crashed, a technique known as distributed denial-of-service attacks.Webpages for Guatemala’s judicial branch, Department of Agriculture ...

‘Ring of fire’ eclipse brings cheers and shouts of joy as it moves across the Americas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

CANCÚN, México (AP) — First came the darkening skies, then the crescent-shaped shadows on the ground, and finally an eruption of cheers by crowds that gathered Saturday along the narrow path of a rare “ring of fire” eclipse of the sun.It was a spectacular show for millions of people across the Americas as the moon moved into place and blocked out all but a brilliant circle of the sun’s outer edge. Hundreds of people filed into the planetarium in the Caribbean resort city of Cancún to watch the eclipse. Some peered through box projectors, while others looked through telescopes and special glasses.Excited children whistled, as some adults raised their arms toward the sky as if to welcome the eclipse.Vendors selling plants outside observed the dance between the moon and the sun in a more natural way — with the help of trees as the shifting sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting unique shadows on the sidewalk.“There was silence and like a mist, as if it was dusk, but only a...

8-year-old boy killed, woman injured after stabbing in Plainfield Township

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

PLAINFIELD, Ill. — An investigation is underway on Saturday afternoon after a child was killed and a woman was badly injured after the two were both stabbed over a dozen times in unincorporated Plainfield Township, authorities say.According to the Will County Sheriff’s Office, authorities were called to a home in the 16200 block of South Lincoln Highway, just after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, on reports that a woman was allegedly being attacked by her landlord with a knife. Authorities say the woman told police that she ran into a bathroom of the home while fighting off her attacker and dialing 911.Will County deputies and officers from the Plainfield Police Department responded and after arriving on the scene, they located a man sitting outside of the home. Police say he was found sitting upright near the driveway and had suffered a laceration to his forehead. Currently, it is unclear how he sustained the wound. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines According to authorities, deput...

TxDOT starts campaign to end pedestrian-related crashes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — "Walking billboards" from the Texas Department of Transportation could be seen across Austin intersections this week, each sending a message to drivers and pedestrians to be careful while on the road.Glynda Chu, a spokesperson for TxDOT, said the campaign aims to remind those on foot and behind the wheel about the importance of crossing roads safely, and driving cautiously when near pedestrians.TxDOT said this awareness campaign coincides with the changing seasons as the days become shorter and the nights grow longer.Chu said over the last year, the state has seen a 29% increase in the number of pedestrian-related crashes. She said this is a worrying trend that can be reduced with simple, everyday actions.“As a pedestrian, make eye contact with those drivers. If you see them looking down at their phone you know they can't see you. Put that phone away when you're driving, no matter what we're looking for pedestrians, looking for other drivers. Keep yourself and others...

State of Texas: Public funds for private schools plan 'on the one-yard line'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday projected confidence that his push for education savings accounts will pass the Texas legislature, following months of intractable disagreements between the Governor and some reluctant lawmakers in his own party.“As we begin this final push, we are on the one-yard line, a good place to be,” Abbott said at an event arranged by the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation. “I am committed. However long it takes, that race is going to continue. I will not stop until we get ESAs passed in the state of Texas.”Unstoppable force, meet immoveable object.“Nothing changes,” State Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, told Nexstar on Wednesday. “Now’s not the time for timidity…Now I think we need to make sure all our positions are known and then stand by our position and never retreat. If I’m here in November, December, January, February, March, I’ll be here. This is one of those things that I feel passionate about. And we’re not just goin...

Gargantuan pumpkin weighs in at 2,501 pounds at Stillwater Harvest Fest

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:23 GMT

With hundreds of people watching, a forklift hauled “Joy,” a gargantuan pumpkin, over to the scale at the the Stillwater Harvest Fest’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Saturday afternoon.Grower Charlie Bernstrom, of Lancaster, Minn., told the crowd he was nervous as everybody watched Joy being lifted onto the scale.The pumpkin he’d started growing in April measured 20 feet around — the largest pumpkin to ever be weighed on an official scale.But more important than that, it was a contender to break the world record set by another Minnesotan a few days before in California when Travis Gienger of Anoka set the new world record with a 2,749-pound pumpkin.Joy was the third pumpkin this year that Bernstrom had grown that weighed more than a ton (over 2,000 pounds). The biggest pumpkin he’d ever grown had weighed in at 2,131 pounds.It was one of 50 giant pumpkins weighed at the Stillwater festival on Saturday.“What’s going through your mind?” an a...