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Readers sound off on new MLB rules, NYCHA homes and rewriting Black history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

Don’t shorten baseball games by cheapening themFlushing: It has become obvious that fans watching the recently construed shortening of Major League Baseball games have become turned off by the new rule speeding up the conclusion of games that have been tied at the end of nine innings. And starting the 10th inning by placing a player of the offensive team on second base before the inning starts is not a legitimate method of bringing the game to an early conclusion.I suggest that another solution is right before our eyes if we dare to examine prizefighting: If neither fighter has scored a knockout, then at the end of a 10-round boxing match, a point system is invoked to declare the winner. If this is working for boxing, why can’t it work for baseball? The point system would be easy to execute by assigning a 4 for every home run, a 3 for every triple, a 2 for every double and a 1 for every single or walk acquired by the offensive team. The team that has acquired the most po...

Nissan plans $663 million investment in Renault’s EV unit Ampere and says profit leapt in April-June

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Nissan plans to invest 600 million euros ($663 million) in Ampere, Renault’s electric vehicle and software entity in Europe. The two companies also plan to establish more equal cross-shareholdings in the French-Japanese auto alliance, they said Wednesday.The change will end a disparity that had caused friction between the automakers.Renault Group and Nissan will retain 15% cross-shareholdings in each other, and Renault will transfer 28.4% of its Nissan shares into a French trust, to keep voting rights of each side at 15% of the total, the companies said in a statement.“The agreements that have been signed today allow us to step into the next chapter of the alliance,” said Jean-Dominique Senard, chairman of the alliance.The change is subject to regulatory approval. When the alliance was set up in 1999, Nissan was on the verge of bankruptcy. The deal initially announced earlier this year also calls for the companies to work together on marketing, vehicles and techno...

Al Jazeera condemns Egypt’s decision to add some of its journalists to a terrorism blacklist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The pan-Arab news network Al Jazeera has condemned a recent decision by Egyptian authorities to brand some of its journalists as terrorists.The media outlet, which is owned by the Gulf state of Qatar, said that “a number” of its Egyptian journalists and presenters had been added to a list of alleged terrorists published in an official newspaper earlier this month following a ruling by the Cairo Criminal Court.“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly denounces the recent move by the Egyptian authorities to reinstate a number of its journalists onto a newly crafted terrorism list,” the network said in a statement Tuesday. It also called for the release of two reporters — Bahaa Al-Din Ibrahim, who was arrested in February 2020, and Rabee Al-Sheikh, who was arrested in August 2021. Both had traveled back to Egypt from Qatar to visit family, the network said.Egypt launched a crackdown on Al Jazeera after the 2013 military overthrow of an elected but divisive ...

Biden’s son Hunter heads to a Delaware court where he’s expected to plead guilty to tax crimes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is expected to appear before a federal judge on Wednesday to plead guilty to two tax crimes and admit possessing a gun as a drug user in a deal with the Justice Department that’s likely to spare him time behind bars. U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump, will preside over the hearing and must sign off on the deal, in which prosecutors are recommending two years of probation. Hunter Biden is not expected to be sentenced on Wednesday. The deal, announced last month, comes after a yearslong Justice Department investigation into the taxes and foreign business dealings of the Democratic president’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother, Beau Biden. While legally this will clear the air for Hunter Biden and avert a trial that would have generated weeks or months of distracting headlines, the politics rema...

Man, woman killed in crash involving motorcycle in Vaughan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

Two people are dead following a serious crash involving a motorcycle in Vaughan on Tuesday night.The two-vehicle collision between a car and motorcycle happened around 10:15 p.m. on Highway 7 near Thornhill Woods Drive.Police say a man and a woman who were on the motorcycle were pronounced dead. The female driver of the car was taken to hospital with minor injuries.The impact of the collision left the car flipped over onto its roof.There is no word on the cause of the crash.Highway 7 is closed from Bathurst Street to Langstaff Road for the investigation.

Stellantis profits soar 37% in first half of the year as electric vehicle sales rise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

MILAN (AP) — U.S.-European carmaker Stellantis on Wednesday reported a 37% boost in earnings in the first half of the year, driven by strong North America income and an increase in electric vehicle sales in Europe. Profit in the first six months of the year was 10.9 billion euros ($12.07 billion), compared with 7.96 billion euros in the first half of 2022. The carmaker set record net revenue in the first six months of the year of 98.4 billion euros, up 12% over a year earlier. It came as shipments rose to 3.327 million vehicles from 3.033 million.CEO Carlo Tavares called the first-half performance “outstanding,” saying that it “supports our long-term stability.”Sales of all-electric vehicles rose by 24% to 169,000 vehicles as Stellantis became the third-largest producer of EVs in Europe, led by the Fiat New 500, Open Mokka and Citroen Berlingo. Stellantis has 25 electric vehicles on the market and is launching another 23 by the end of next year.North America accounted for 57% of adj...

WATCH: Funnel cloud over US Capitol goes viral

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Observant visitors to the area around the U.S. Capitol building on Tuesday afternoon were treated to a unusual sight: the unmistakable shape of a funnel cloud extending diagonally from the sky and seemingly almost reaching the tip of the Capitol dome itself.This photo provided by Peter Kiley shows a small funnel cloud over the U.S. Capitol dome on Tuesday, July 25, 2023 in Washington. (Peter Kiley via AP)The funnel cloud never touched down on the ground and therefore can't be classified as a tornado. There was no damage and no reports of any other funnel clouds in the area Tuesday. But a photo of the thin, wispy twister curving over the Capitol drew more than 1 million views on Twitter.Although the area around Washington isn't considered a tornado hotspot, small proto-twisters like the one Tuesday “certainly do happen sometimes,” said Austin Mansfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.They're most common during what Mansfield called “convection se...

Mega Millions jackpot climbs to $910 million after no one wins top prize

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $910 million after Tuesday night’s drawing produced no big winners, extending a stretch of bad luck dating back to April.The numbers drawn were: 3, 5, 6, 44, 61 and the yellow ball 25The absence of a winner for the estimated $820 million jackpot brings the count of fruitless drawings to 28, at least for the big prize.The new $910 million prize is among the largest in U.S. lottery history and follows a $1.08 billion Powerball prize won by a player July 19 in Los Angeles. California lottery officials haven’t announced a winner for that jackpot, which was the sixth-largest in U.S. history.The largest U.S. jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball prize won in November 2022.The largest U.S. lottery prizes:$2.04 billion (Powerball): Nov. 7, 2022; California$1.586 billion (Powerball): Jan. 13, 2016; California, Florida, Tennessee$1.537 billion (Mega Millions): Oct. 23, 2018; South Carolina$1.348 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. 13,...

UAlbany football reports for training camp

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Nothing screams "football season" quite like the start of training camp, and Tuesday the University at Albany football team reported for its' camp. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! The Great Danes are one month away from their season opener with Fordham. They were picked 11th out of 15 teams in the newly renamed Coastal Athletic Association preseason poll released Tuesday.After a 3-8 campaign last year that saw five, one-possession losses, the Danes are keying in on one specific element of their game ahead of the upcoming season."For us, it's just "finish,"" said rising sophomore quarterback Reese Poffenbarger. "Or execute in the times we need to. It's not even a pressure thing. We would be down and came back when the pressure was on. But we just made little mental errors, stupid penalties, or we didn't finish a drive (like) when we were up 11 points against Fordham. We don't finish a drive; they get the...

Slammers get coal in their stockings as ValleyCats unload for 14 runs on "Christmas in July" night

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:17 GMT

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Tri-City ValleyCats (37-24) smoked five home runs in a 14-5 victory over the Joliet Slammers (27-34) on Tuesday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Joliet got on the board in the second. Christian Fedko led off the frame with a single off Dwayne Marshall. Kyle Novak then walked. Oscar Campos tried to backpick Novak but threw the ball away, allowing Fedko to score and give the Slammers a 1-0 lead. Tri-City responded with a seven-run second. Oscar Campos singled off Ryan O’Reilly, and Ian Walters belted his ninth homer of the year. Jaxon Hallmark reached on an error, and stole second. Pavin Parks left the stadium with a two-run jack — his first since June 21 in Quebec against the Capitales, and seventh of the season. Cito Culver walked, and Jakob Goldfarb launched a two-run tater, his ninth of the 2023 campaign. Juan Kelly, in his ValleyCats debut, followed suit with a solo ...