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Red Sox notebook: Christian Vázquez says hello from the other side

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

When the Red Sox traded Christian Vázquez to the Houston Astros at last summer’s trade deadline, they said goodbye to their longest-tenured player.Xander Bogaerts had debuted first, in August 2013, but signed as an amateur free agent in 2009, the year after the Red Sox selected Vázquez in the ninth round of the 2008 draft. (Vázquez debuted in July 2014.)Losing Vázquez was difficult for the team and its manager, especially since the Red Sox were in Houston for a series with the Astros at the time.“Special person, you know? And special player,” Alex Cora said of his former catcher. “When he signed here, he went through every step, from going to the academy, to winning a World Series with us.”Vázquez said it was weird to be in the visiting dugout on Tuesday afternoon.“A lot of emotions,” he said as he sat in his new team’s uniform and cap. “Good to be loved here, that means a lot.”The Twins and Red Sox play one another frequen...

Robert Williams continues to embrace bench role with Celtics: ‘I just want to win’

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

Robert Williams is in such a better place now than he was last season that it can basically go unsaid.Last year at this time, the Celtics center was still recovering from left knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Now, after another surgery in September and cautious management throughout the season, Williams is not only available for the start of the playoffs, but performing at a high level.“I feel great, man,” Williams said Tuesday when asked how much better he feels than last year. “I’ll just leave it at that. I feel great.”Saturday’s Game 1 victory over the Hawks featured moments of Williams at his best. He was dominant defensively, which included a phenomenal block in the first quarter when he surged from the weak side to swat Jalen Johnson at the rim. He was active offensively with several lob dunks.Williams did so off the bench, a role he’s continuing to embrace. Last season, all 61 of his regular season games and 15 of his 17 playoff games were starts. This season, 20 of hi...

Antetokounmpo sits out practice, listed as doubtful by Bucks for Wednesday vs. Heat

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

Clarity with Giannis Antetokounmpo will likely not come until Wednesday night’s game day against the Miami Heat, with the Milwaukee Bucks All-Star forward not practicing Tuesday due to a lower-back contusion sustained Sunday.The Bucks’ injury report in the wake of that practice listed Antetokounmpo as doubtful for Wednesday, with such designations subject to hourly change until game time. A designation of “doubtful” means the team believes there only is a 25% chance the player will play.Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer had initially expressed optimism after Tuesday’s practice about a return by Antetokounmpo in Wednesday night’s 9 p.m. Game 2 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series. The Heat won Sunday’s series opener 130-117 at Fiserv Forum, with Antetokounmpo playing just 10:50 after taking a hard first-quarter tumble on a blocking foul by Heat forward Kevin Love.“We have 24-plus hours before game time, so he’ll get t...

Ralph Yarl shedding ‘buckets of tears,’ shooter out on bond

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

By MARGARET STAFFORD and JIM SALTER (Associated Press)KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — As 16-year-old Ralph Yarl struggled to come to grips with being shot for going to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers, the white Kansas City, Missouri, homeowner who shot the Black teenager turned himself in on Tuesday.Andrew Lester, 84, surrendered at the Clay County Detention Center a day after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He posted bond Tuesday afternoon and was released. Some civil rights leaders urged a hate crime charge, but Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said first-degree assault is a higher-level crime with a longer sentence — up to life in prison.Meanwhile, Yarl was home recovering from his wounds.“Ralph is doing considerably well,” his mother, Cleo Nagbe, told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King. “Physically, mornings are hard, but his spirits are in a good place. I borrow from his spirits...

CONCACAF Gold Cup: Snapdragon Stadium to host semifinal match

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Snapdragon Stadium announced Tuesday it will be the site of a 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal match.The date for the semifinal matchup at Snapdragon Stadium has been confirmed for Wednesday, July 12, officials said in a release.Tickets for the general public can be purchased starting on Tuesday, April 25, at 10 a.m. Eat, drink & socialize at this open-air Asian bazaar in San Diego The major professional men's soccer tournament, which features the best national teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean, will be played at 15 stadiums in 14 U.S. and Canadian metropolitan areas.Another semifinal game is set to take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 12 while the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final will occur on July 16 at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium.

Russian foreign minister visits Venezuela, offers support

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Russia and Venezuela reviewed some of their hundreds of bilateral agreements covering the financial, energy, agricultural and other sectors during discussions between their top diplomats and other high-level officials Tuesday in the South American country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Venezuelan counterpart Yván Gil held a joint press conference in Caracas hours after the former arrived in the country in the second stop of a tour of four Latin American nations. Both men vowed continued support for each other’s country and condemned the economic sanctions Washington has imposed on them.“We fully support the position of our Venezuelan friends,” Lavrov said. “It is their country … and we are going to support it in any way so that the Venezuelan economy becomes an independent economy from the pressures of the United States and other western actors.”Lavrov’s remarks were translated from Russian to Spanish by a government-provided translat...

Saskatchewan minister asks man guilty of domestic assault to return service medal

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

REGINA — A Saskatchewan cabinet minister has apologized aftera public service medal was given to a man who pleaded guilty to domestic assault, but the Opposition New Democrats say it shows a pattern of the provincial government not taking intimate partner violence seriously. “It is not appropriate for someone who is guilty of domestic abuse to receive a medal or an honour from the province,” Agriculture Minister David Marit said in a statement Tuesday. Jim Wickett, a former chairman of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association from Rosetown, Sask., was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in December.Provincial court records show Wickett was charged for the assault last June in Rosetown. He pleaded guilty Feb. 9. He was given a conditional discharge with nine months probation. Marit said he accepted ministry recommendations for the award last year and put forward nominations for people who had served in the agriculture industry.Marit said that at ...

Court tosses Berkeley gas ban, but wider impact is unclear

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The politically liberal enclave of Berkeley, California became the first U.S. city to adopt a ban on natural gas in new homes and buildings in 2019, which started a climate change-driven effort in dozens of other cities and counties that’s morphed into a heated debate about the future of gas stoves.On Monday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco sided with the California Restaurant Association to halt the city’s effort, saying it violates federal law that gives the U.S. government the authority to set energy-efficiency standards for appliances.The ruling has drawn criticism from Berkeley officials and environmentalists, although it’s unclear what kind of impact the decision will have on climate advocates’ fight to go electric, given its narrow scope and the possibility of an appeal to a broader panel of judges. Berkeley banned the installation of natural gas piping in new construction, which the judges said turned the energy use o...

Parking garage collapses in NYC, killing 1; 5 injured

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A parking garage collapsed Tuesday in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, killing one worker, injuring five and crushing cars as concrete floors fell on top of each other like a stack of pancakes, officials said. Vehicles tumbled into what looked like a frozen stream of sedans and SUVs. People nearby described a fearsome rumbling, followed by screams.“It felt like an earthquake,” said Liam Gaeta, a student at nearby Pace University. “Like the earth opened up inside, like that’s how violent it was,” said another student, Jadess Speller, who initially thought a bomb had gone off. Other students described seeing cars falling in the building. One vehicle landed on its end in the garage entrance, a photo posted by Mayor Eric Adams’ office showed. Authorities believed they had accounted for everyone inside the building, but searches continued Tuesday evening to make sure no one was in any of the squashed cars, Fire Department Chief of Operations John Esposito...

Transgender girls go to court over Arizona school sports ban

Published Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:11:20 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — The parents of two transgender girls in Arizona filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a year-old state law banning trans girls from participating in school sports. Attorneys for the families, whose names are concealed in court documents out of fear for their childrens’ safety, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Tucson. The plaintiffs include an 11-year-old who wants to play girls’ soccer, basketball and cross-country, and a 15-year-old volleyball player. In court filings, they are going by the names Jane Doe and Megan Roe.“Jane knows this would be because she is transgender, and I worry about how that will affect her self-esteem and her confidence,” her mother said in a statement. “The ban’s exclusion of plaintiffs from participating in school sports because they are transgender denies them equal treatment under the law,” attorneys wrote in the 21-page complaint. The attorneys also argued the law violates the Equal Protection Clause unde...