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Cameron Smith has strong finish at U.S. Open as he looks toward British Open title defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cameron Smith’s strong play during the final nine holes of the U.S. Open Sunday could give him a boost when he defends his British Open title next month.Smith shot 3 under on the more difficult back nine at Los Angeles Country Club to close with a 67. The Australian finished tied for fourth at 6-under 274, although he wasn’t seriously in contention.It’s the third time in the last four majors Smith has finished in the top 10. He tied for ninth in last month’s PGA Championship.It also equals his best finish in a U.S. Open with the other being in 2015. He had missed the cut the past two years.“The game is feeling really good, and just probably a little bit of confidence,” Smith said. “This is kind of a big tick of the box, I think. Obviously a world-class field, world-class venue, and it got really tough on the weekend, as well.”Smith has two LIV Golf events on his schedule before the British Open starts on July 20 at Royal Liverpool.ANOTHER H...

US beats Canada 2-0 to win CONCACAF Nations League on goals by Balogun, Richards

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Folarin Balogun and Chris Richards scored their first international goals, both off assists from Gio Reyna, and the United States beat Canada 2-0 on Sunday night for the Americans’ second straight CONCACAF Nations League title.Richards scored in the 12th minute from a corner kick and Balogun, who debuted in Thursday’s 3-0 win over Mexico after choosing to play the U.S. over England, doubled the lead in the 34th.The Americans were again led by interim coach B.J. Callaghan, who took over May 30 and also will run the team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup starting next weekend. Gregg Berhalter, brought back as coach Friday 5 1/2 months after his contract was allowed to expire, won’t be on the sidelines until September exhibitions.While the U.S. extended its home unbeaten streak against Canada to 22 games dating to 1957, Canada remained without a title since the 2000 Gold Cup.Reyna sparked both goals, then left at halftime with a calf injury and was replaced by...

Slumping Pirates calling up 2021 top draft pick catcher Henry Davis from the minors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates are calling up heralded prospect Henry Davis. the top pick in the 2021 draft, to help the team that has lost six straight games and tumbled from the top spot in the NL Central.Pirates manager Derek Shelton said after Sunday’s 5-2 loss to division-leading Milwaukee that Davis, who has played catcher and outfield, will join the team at PNC Park on Monday for the start of a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs.“I’m excited,” Shelton said. “He deserves to be here. I think he’s shown that. We’ll probably talk more about it (Monday). Our two catchers will be staying, so we’ll be using him in different ways.”The 23-year-old Davis is being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis, where he batted .286 with a homer in 10 games. The 6-foot, 220-pound Davis opened the season at Double-A Altoona, where he batted .284 with 10 home runs. He is hitting .284 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs in 51 combined games Double-A and Triple-A this season.The Pirat...

Colorado's Wyndham Clark plays big and becomes a major champion at the US Open

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the city of stars, Wyndham Clark had his own script in mind in the U.S. Open.In front of him was Rory McIlroy, one of golf's biggest talents who looked ready to end his perplexing nine-year drought in the majors. Next to him in the final group Sunday was Rickie Fowler, a Southern California native who returned from a three-year slump and was poised to finally win his first major.Clark carried a message from his late mother — “Play big,” she always told him — and the belief he could compete with anyone on any stage.No stage was bigger than a U.S. Open on the edge of Beverly Hills. That's where Clark delivered clutch saves, a signature shot that gave him control and the steady nerves to hold off McIlroy and become a major champion.“I feel like I belong on this stage,” Clark said after closing with an even-par 70 for a one-shot victory over McIlroy. “Even two, three years ago when people didn’t know who I was, I felt like I could still play and compete against the...

Blinken’s day one in Beijing yields agreement for more meetings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his first of two days of meetings in Beijing on Sunday with rhetoric suggesting that the two countries are taking steps to curb the bilateral acrimony that has curdled the U.S.-China relationship.Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang emerged from their meeting with twin readouts describing that encounter as “candid and constructive.” Blinken secured an agreement from Qin to continue their discussions in Washington “at a mutually suitable time.” Both Blinken and Qin stressed the need for the two countries to improve people-to-people contacts that Qin said should include educational exchanges and an expansion of passenger flights between the two countries.That language suggests that both Blinken and Qin are inching toward an off-ramp from months of rancor that Qin said had driven bilateral ties to “their lowest level since the establishment of diplomatic relations” in 1979. The fallout over a Chinese spy balloon found...

Editorial: As China & Cuba get closer, Biden must engage with Havana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

Few countries in the Western Hemisphere have evoked for Americans the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine as much as has Cuba. For years, the Soviets used the island nation 103 miles off the coast of Florida as a listening post, and, in 1962, they brought the world to the brink of existential conflict by secretly placing nuclear ballistic missiles on the island.Today, America’s most worrisome unwelcome guest in the Caribbean is China. That’s also true elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere.Beijing has been using Cuba as a spy base since 2019, the White House said recently. The Biden administration’s statement was aimed at refuting a Wall Street Journal report that China was planning to build a new listening post in Cuba, though, given the history, it’s anything but comforting to know that Beijing has been eavesdropping on the U.S. from close range for the last four years.Both economically and militarily, China looms as a worrisome threat to U.S. interests. The U.S. can expect China to step u...

Roxbury International Film Festival celebrates a milestone with stellar lineup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

You must be doing something right to hit a 25th anniversary, as this year’s Roxbury International Film Festival has shown.“It is amazing! Our audience is one of the biggest reasons we’ve lasted,” Roxbury artistic director Lisa Simmons said in a phone interview. “We created this niche for our festival by celebrating filmmakers of color. Our byline is to be fiercely independent.”Among the significant changes over the years, “More films!  We became more international, because so many filmmakers are from around the world. It’s no longer a local festival simply supporting local filmmakers. It’s supporting people from all over.“We’re now known among filmmakers as a festival to come to.”Being larger means this year Rox 25 can screen 84 films in person and online.More than simply showing many varieties of international cinema, “We’re doing workshops, supporting local writers and actors for our script reading program. And we work with Black-owned restaurants to bring filmmakers just to hang ...

How office language — and etiquette around it — has changed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

“Proud to say we are leveraging core competencies to align with the shift to omnichannel.”Whether this sentence makes you laugh or cringe, it is immediately recognizable for its overuse of corporate buzzwords and jargon.But this isn’t exactly a helpful alternative for an all-hands email or public announcement: “Q1 results just dropped and they’re lit!”For a private Slack message to a co-worker, though? Why not?Casual, digital-influenced language is crashing the old formal structures of workplace communication, thanks in no small part to hybrid office arrangements and the variety of messaging apps now in use. And every new generation of workers brings a new vocabulary.“It has been a concern for employers over the last five to 10 years with new generations coming in with new styles of seeing the world — everything is so casual and quick and instantaneous,” said Karen Burke, HR knowledge adviser at the Society for Human Resource Managemen...

Parker: Wanted – a presidential campaign about vision & principles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

With the most recent entry of former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie into the presidential race, I count now 13 Republican candidates in the field.Former President Donald Trump retains a strong lead in the polls, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a strong second.But it is still very early in the game, and even the most casual observer of politics knows that the situation is fluid and what will be remains to be seen.What is clear is that in the big picture of things, Americans are not at all happy with the situation in their country.In most recent Gallup polling, only 18% say they are satisfied with the direction of the country.This is not new.Looking at the breakdown by party ID, Gallup shows, as of April, only 4% of Republicans satisfied with the country’s direction, 16% of independents and 29% of Democrats.This tells me there is a big opportunity for change to a Republican presidency.But the question remains: Who and what it will take?More im...

Asante-Muhammad: Baby bonds boldest step to closing racial wealth divide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:18 GMT

Juneteenth celebrates the end of chattel slavery in the United States. But over 150 years later, discriminatory public policies have prevented African Americans from closing the racial wealth divide in this country they helped build.Policy created that divide — and policy can close it.One state is showing how to move forward in advancing racial economic equality. This year, Connecticut is launching the country’s first “Baby Bond” program.This program will invest $3,200 for every baby born into poverty in the state. The bonds are projected to grow to between $10,000 and $24,000 in value, depending on when they’re used.When they reach an age between 18 and 30, these Connecticut residents will be able to use that money to start a small business, get a higher education or job training, or buy a home.That money goes to poor residents regardless of their race. But because Black and Latino residents of the state are poorer than their white counterparts, the program will significantly addre...