How the rule changes can turn the A’s tragic offense into something intriguing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The Oakland A’s hit four home runs in their final exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday. But unlike previous seasons, they won’t be counting on power to fuel their offense.A roster rife with young players and veterans fit for a MLB-low $53 million payroll will have to get creative to score runs. That means plenty of contact, stolen bases, hit-and-runs and focus on pitch selection; any means necessary to put pressure on opposing pitchers and defenses.“I think the biggest message to these guys is not necessarily to sit back and hit the three-run homer,” manager Mark Kotsay said before Monday’s game. “We have guys in the lineup with power, but the message is to get on base and put together a professional at bat for the next guy.”The A’s couldn’t find much power in Spring Training’s dry Arizona air, but had no issue cutting through the marine layer at Oracle Park. Jesús Aguilar, Esteury Ruiz...

Skelton: Newsom denies the obvious. California is no longer in drought

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

Gov. Gavin Newsom came close but couldn’t quite bring himself to say it: The drought’s over.It’s disappointing when a governor won’t acknowledge what ordinary citizens already know because they can see things for themselves.Another drought will emerge soon enough. It always does. That’s the California pattern — climate change or not.But right now, the biggest threat this spring is flooding from rivers leaping their banks.There’s just something about California governors and water officials that prevents them from admitting we’re through a dry spell and into a wet period.They fear we’ll resume taking long showers and swamping our lawns. We’ll stop conserving water and go back to wasting it. So, they treat us like children, denying the obvious.On Friday, Newsom and his water advisors stood on a Sacramento Valley farm flooded with storm runoff and pointed out that this has been one of California’s wettest winters on record. The Sierra snowpack is historically deep.And we’re still in a ...

Elias: California joining Western power grid makes no sense

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

Almost everyone who lived through California’s 2000-2001 energy crisis remembers rolling brownouts and blackouts, plus thefts in the billions of dollars from California consumers by Texas companies like Enron and Reliant Energy, which purposely shut down power plants to create an electricity shortage and raise prices and profits.Related ArticlesLocal Opinion | Elias: Supreme Court case in works may cancel California’s EV mandates Local Opinion | Opinion: Senior year is a costly high school rite of passage Local Opinion | Elias: California’s fentanyl death rate likely rising due to mislabeled pills Local Opinion | Elias: California’s transit budget cut makes sense in light of numbers Local Opinion | Elias: Six other states ganging up on California over Colorado River water This was classic market manipulation, enabled by California’s 1998 electricity deregulation law, which encouraged re...

Another storm hits Bay Area Tuesday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The leading front of another big storm is set to arrive in the Bay Area Monday night before the brunt of the storm hits Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The incoming storm will bring gusty winds with moderate to heavy rainfall. The NWS advises to expect urban and small stream flooding, downed tree limbs and trees, and potential power outages."Another week another storm system," said KRON4 Meteorologist Kyla Grogan. "This all-too-familiar dance is happening once more in a season that has been impressive already. The biggest impacts from this latest round of weather will be wind and rain." Many ski resorts near Bay Area are extending ski seasons, thanks to feet of fresh snow The strongest winds are expected along the coastline and at higher terrain, the NWS said. The National Weather Service warned that the winds could easily topple trees because the very wet winter has left soils saturated. A wind advisory for Monday nig...

Care, ‘magic’ help DC’s cherry blossom trees defy age

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

Peak bloom has arrived for the thousands of Japanese cherry blossom trees at the National Mall in Washington, and the area is awash in magnificent pink and white.Predicting the timing of peak bloom — defined as when 70% of the blossoms have opened — has been getting harder. In the 1920s, the average peak bloom was April 5. That moved up to March 31 in recent years, and the 2023 peak arrived yet a week earlier, according to the National Park Service on Thursday.“I’m feeling like this is going to be the trend” due to climate change, said Matthew Morrison, the park service’s urban forester charged with overseeing the trees’ care. The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs through April 16, celebrates Japan’s 1912 gift of 3,020 cherry trees to the city of Washington. Two of those trees were planted by First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, with just a few onlookers present. That small gathering ...

Walgreens profit slides as COVID-19 vaccinations fade in Q2

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

A decline in COVID-19 vaccinations and an opioid settlement cut into Walgreens second-quarter earnings, but the drugstore chain still delivered better-than-expected results.Walgreens said Tuesday that it administered 2.4 million vaccinations in its recently completed fiscal second quarter. That’s down from 11.8 million delivered in last year’s quarter, while the omicron variant of the coronavirus was surging. Walgreens also booked a $306-million pre-tax charge for opioid claims and some costs tied to cost cutting and an acquisition.Quarterly net income tumbled 20% to $703 million. Adjusted earnings were $1.16 per share, which is 6 cents better than expected, according to a survey of analysts by FactSet. Sales climbed 3% to $34.86 billion, which was also better than expected. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. runs a network of around 13,000 drugstores globally, with most of its locations in the United States. It’s stores also have become a growing source for care.The company is opening p...

ANÁLISIS | “Momento histórico”: políticos de ascendencia sudasiática están listos para liderar Escocia, Gran Bretaña e Irlanda tras la victoria de Humza Yousaf

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

(CNN) — Cuando Humza Yousaf prestó juramento de lealtad en el parlamento escocés en 2016, vestía un sherwani bordado en oro, una chaqueta tradicional del sur de Asia, y una falda escocesa.“Yo, Humza Yousaf, juro con honestidad y sinceridad de corazón”, dijo con orgullo en urdu, “que siempre seré fiel y seré fiel a su majestad la Reina Isabel, que Dios me ayude”.Ahora se espera que haga historia al asumir como el primer jefe de Gobierno de Escocia no blanco, luego de su elección como líder del Partido Nacional Escocés (SNP) este lunes.El triunfo de Yousaf, que nació en Gran Bretaña, cuya familia remonta sus ancestros a Pakistán, es solo el último reflejo de cómo han cambiado los tiempos a medida que las personas de ascendencia sudasiática ocupan puestos de liderazgo en los parlamentos británico, escocés e irlandés.Nicola Sturgeon anuncia que dimitirá como primera ministra de Escocia cuando se nombre a un sucesorHumza Yousaf sonríe mientras baja las escaleras después de la cerem...

Una gran danesa de Virginia da a luz a 21 cachorros en 27 horas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

(CNN) — Namine, una gran danesa de 2 años, comenzó su épico viaje de parto este miércoles pasado, según WVVA, afiliada de CNN.Esta perra de gran tamaño pertenece a Tanya Dubbs de Pocahontas, Virginia, informa WVVA. Le tomó un total de 27 horas terminar de traer un total de 21 cachorros al mundo, aunque dos lamentablemente murieron poco después del nacimiento.Casi todos los cachorros pesaron más de 0,45 kg, dijo Dubbs.La orgullosa dueña del perro dijo que estaba sorprendida por la cantidad de cachorros nacidos, y esperaba que Namine tuviera entre 13 y 14 cachorros.“Así que llegamos a 16 y luego ella tuvo otro”, dijo Dubbs, según WVVA. “Estaba sentada en la cama y ella estaba en la cama conmigo y yo estaba hablando con un amigo mío y escuché un chorro de líquido y miré y dije que tenemos otro cachorro”.La dueña de Namine dice que planea vender los cachorros una vez que tengan la edad suficiente para separarlos de su madre. (WVVA)Dubbs dijo que planea vender la camada de cachorro...

Inflation driving big increase in Prince William schools’ construction costs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:17 GMT

This article was written by WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.Inflation and rising construction costs are cutting into schools’ purchasing power, costing Prince William County Schools an estimated $674 million extra in borrowing over the next decade.School system leadership says it won’t be a problem for the division to issue more debt than it has in the past and move forward with new schools and renovations as planned. But they’re also hoping that the inflation that’s been hurting county residents for months is, in fact, returning back to normal. If it doesn’t, those projects may require some changes.Between the fiscal 2023 capital improvement program and the plan the School Board approved last week, the estimated cost of the forthcoming Woodbridge Area Elementary School, set to open in 2024, grew from $41.6 million to $61.8 million. Estimates for the replacement of Occoquan Elementary Scho...