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Column: David Ross accepts blame for the Chicago Cubs’ fade down the stretch in a failed quest for an NL wild-card spot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

The arc of the Chicago Cubs season has been amazing to watch unfold because no other season was quite like it.The Cubs were 10 games under .500 on June 8, then got hot and played 22 games over .500 (50-28) from June 9 to Sept. 6, when they had a 92% chance of making the playoffs.But just when it looked as if they could plan their postseason rotation, they faltered down the stretch, going 6-14 from Sept. 7 through Friday’s loss, putting them on the brink of elimination with a 4.7% chance of getting in.“The odds of anything, I don’t kind of buy into that,” manager David Ross said before the game.But the Cubs’ quixotic journey ended Saturday night when the Miami Marlins earned a wild-card berth with a win in Pittsburgh, making the Cubs’ 10-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers moot.An exhilarating ride through the summer officially crashed and burned on the eve of the final day of the season, leaving the Cubs out of the postseason for the third stra...

Thursday Murder Club back in the game in ‘The Last Devil to Die’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

In an early chapter of Richard Osman’s “The Last Devil to Die,” retired nurse and eternal optimist Joyce Meadowcroft writes in her diary on Dec. 26, “I feel like I should drink to something, so I suppose let’s drink to ‘No murders next year.’”Oh, Joyce. You know better by now. And do mind the heroin dealers, dear.Joyce is one of the intrepid quartet of septuagenarians who make up the Thursday Murder Club, the name of Osman’s hugely bestselling mystery series, taken from the first book’s title.“The Last Devil to Die” is the fourth in the series, after “The Man Who Died Twice” and “The Bullet That Missed,” and it delivers the same kind of clever dialogue, colorful characters and corkscrew plotting that made the other books so much fun.The Murder Club members are the heart of the books: widowed, cheerful, chatty Joyce; former union leader turned passionate football fan (West Ham!) Ron Ritchie; and Ibrahim Arif, a thoughtful Egyptian psychiatrist with a tendency to overexplain things.An...

Halloweentown is back with boo-dacious fun & scares for all ages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

Remember those old-school Halloween nights, when you’d wander the neighborhood past decorated yards for treats? These days, that feels like ancient history.But there’s good news for those who love a classic holiday experience: Halloween Town is back.On hiatus since the pandemic, Halloween Town (http://halloweentownnh.thelaurafoundation.org) in East Madison, New Hampshire, returns Oct. 21.Twelve years ago, Stevo Harding, director of Camp Tohkomeupog was looking at the empty cabins post-season. He realized that with the combination of active alumni, the connection their neighbor and owners of Purity Spring Resort had to the Laura Foundation for Autism and Epilepsy (http://thelaurafoundation.org) and the general desire for classic events, they may be just the right spot for Halloween fun.The first year they decorated a handful of cabins for trick or treating, brought in some food and added a few games and activities. About 300 folks attended. But word got out fast and just a few ...

Editorial: High Court to tackle federal bureaucracy in new term

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

As the first Monday of October nears, the U.S. Supreme Court prepares for another term. On the docket in coming months are cases touching on a variety of important subjects, including the First Amendment, the separation of powers, immigration, gun rights and the reach of the federal bureaucracy.The justices have thus far agreed to hear 21 cases, the most prominent of which is Lopez Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which offers the court the opportunity to rein in the nation’s ubiquitous regulatory state. The case involves a rule that the National Marine Fisheries Service imposed on herring fisheries, but the issue touches on the broader question regarding the authority of federal agencies.In 1984, the high court created the “Chevron doctrine,” which holds that the courts should generally defer to regulatory agency interpretations of “ambiguous” congressional statutes. This rule greatly empowered Washington bureaucrats to create and interpret law even if the statute upon which they ac...

Dear Abby: Dad’s fired, the truth stuns family

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

Dear Abby: My dad is the breadwinner in our family. A few years ago, he got fired for looking at “inappropriate” material at work. When he told us what happened, he described it as a raunchy comedy special. So, being a good son and thinking Dad was wrongfully terminated, I started calling law firms to see if he had a case. That’s when the truth came out.Not only had he lied, but he also stabbed me in the back when I went to bat for him. His job was tailor-made to suit him. In one stupid act, he managed to get canned. He also lost his excellent health insurance, dental, vision, 401(k), profit sharing, life insurance, the respect of his family and probably his co-workers (who most likely heard through the rumor mill).Dad knows he has health problems, my mother also has several, and I have a chronic condition as well. I no longer trust him. To make matters worse, I have no education beyond a high school diploma and have had no luck finding a job, so there’s no p...

Possible DUI crash in Carl's Jr. drive-thru leaves one with major injuries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A two-car collision in a drive-thru line at a Kearny Mesa Carl's Jr. on Saturday left one person hospitalized with major injuries, San Diego police said.The crash was reported to authorities around 6:40 p.m. in the 3800 block of Convoy Street. A Toyota Tacoma was traveling northbound on Kearny Mesa Road when the driver struck a curb, went airborne and landed on a Honda sedan that was stopped at one of the drive-thru windows.The driver of the Tacoma, identified as a 23-year-old man, was transported to a nearby hospital for major injuries, according to SDPD. His current condition or identity is not known at this time.The driver of the Honda, a 40-year-old woman, and two elderly passengers sustained minor injuries in the crash, police added.Officers with the SDPD traffic division are investigating the incident and remain on scene as of 9 p.m. Saturday night. At this time, officers believe that the driver of the Tacoma was driving under the influence of alcohol.As of 9:30 p...

Armenia grapples with multiple challenges after the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

Tens of thousands of now-homeless people have streamed into Armenia from the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, controlled by its emboldened adversary, Azerbaijan.Swarms of protesters are filling the streets of the Armenian capital of Yerevan, demanding the prime minister’s ouster. Relations with Russia, an old ally and protector, have frayed amid mutual accusations.Armenia now finds itself facing multiple challenges after being suddenly thrust into one of the worst political crises in its decades of independence following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.Developments unfolded with surprising speed after Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region that has run its affairs for three decades without international recognition.Starved of supplies by an Azerbaijani blockade and outnumbered by a military bolstered by Turkey, the separatist forces capitulated in 24 hours and their political leaders said they would dis...

Populist, pro-Russia ex-premier leads leftist party to win in Slovakia’s parliamentary elections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A populist former prime minister and his leftist party won parliamentary elections in Slovakia, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message, according to almost complete results.With results from 99.2% of some 6,000 polling stations counted by the Slovak Statistics Office early Sunday, former Prime Minister Robert Fico and the leftist Smer, or Direction, party led with 23.3% of the votes.The election Saturday was a test for the small eastern European country’s support for neighboring Ukraine in its war with Russia, and the win by Fico could strain a fragile unity in the European Union and NATO.Fico, 59, vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine in Russia’s war if his attempt to return to power succeeded.The country of 5.5 million people created in 1993 following the breakup of Czechoslovakia has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia invaded last February, donating arms and opening th...

Afghan Embassy closes in India citing a lack of diplomatic support and personnel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Afghan Embassy said it is closing in New Delhi from Sunday due to a lack of diplomatic support in India and the absence of a recognized government in Kabul.But it will continue to provide emergency consular services to Afghan nationals, it said in a statement.“There has been a significant reduction in both personnel and resources available to us, making it increasingly challenging to continue operations,” the statement said.India has not recognized the Taliban government, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. It evacuated its own staff from Kabul ahead of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago and no longer has a diplomatic presence there.The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi has been run by staff appointed by the previous government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, with permission from the Indian authorities. There was no immediate comment by India’s External Affairs Ministry, but an official said last week that the Afghan ambass...

Native Hawaiian neighborhood survived Maui fire. Lahaina locals praise its cultural significance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:12 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Shaun “Buge” Saribay felt like giving up. Hours of makeshift firefighting with garden hoses and buckets of water across Lahaina didn’t stop flames from consuming his house, his rental properties and thousands of other structures in his beloved hometown.Drained, dirty and delirious, he continued anyway, pedaling a bicycle he found during the apocalyptic night of Aug. 8 to one Lahaina neighborhood he was determined to save as a symbol of enduring Hawaiian heritage.Although Native Hawaiians including Saribay live throughout Lahaina, the Villages of Leiali’i is the only community in West Maui exclusively for Hawaiians. Part of a program Congress passed in 1921 to give Hawaii’s Indigenous people land to live on, Leiali’i and other so-called homestead communities have become not just key to economic self-sufficiency, but reserves of Hawaiian culture and traditions as well.Just two of the neighborhood’s 104 homes were lost to the fire, an immense re...