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Freeman reaches 100 RBIs and Dodgers beat Rockies 8-2 to near 3rd straight 100-win season

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer to reach 100 RBIs for the fourth time, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 8-2 on Wednesday night in another step toward their third straight 100-win season.Freeman hit a three-run homer off Justin Lawrence in a four-run eighth inning, raising his season totals to 28 homers and 101 RBIs. The seven-time All-Star also reached 100 RBIs with Atlanta in 2013 and 2019 and in his first season with the Dodgers in 2022.Teammates Mookie Betts (106) and Max Muncy (104) have topped 100 RBIs this year and J.D. Martinez has 98.At 98-60, the Dodgers need only a split in their last four games to become the first team to win 100 games in three straight seasons since the 2017-19 Houston Astros. After Thursday’s series finale, the Dodgers close at San Francisco. The NL West champions will have a bye in the first round of the playoffs as the No. 2 NL seed behind Atlanta.James Outman also homered and had three hits for the Dodgers, wh...

Tyrone Taylor leads Brewers to 3-2 win over Cardinals

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyrone Taylor hit two run-scoring doubles and the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers came from behind to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Wednesday night.Taylor’s second double in the seventh drove in Brian Anderson with the tiebreaking run after Anderson doubled off Jacob Barnes (0-1).“Tyrone’s a pretty primary piece right now, the way he’s played the second half of the season,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s just an all-around player. That’s what keeps you in the lineup.”Taylor is batting .333 (18 for 54) with seven doubles, four home runs, 13 RBIs, 12 runs and a 1.042 OPS over his last 16 games. “I think it’s important to win at any time of the year,” said Taylor, who had two stints on the injured list with a right elbow sprain. “That’s what we go out there to do every day. We’re just trying to do our best every day and play to win.”William Contreras doubled and scored on Taylor’s hit a...

Alexandria planning to expand license plate reader program aimed at identifying stolen cars

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

City leaders in Alexandria, Virginia, are planning to expand a program that uses license plate readers to detect stolen cars, among other things.At an Alexandria City Council meeting this week, Police Chief Don Hayes said the pilot program has been so successful in six months that the city is going to increase the number of plate readers on local roads.The six devices in place as part of the pilot program, Hayes said, averaged 220 plate hits per month, and helped police close 14 cases, make 33 arrests/warrants and recover over $240,000 in property.Now, the city is planning to deploy 12 more readers, particularly on corridors used to enter Alexandria, Hayes said. He didn’t offer a timeline for when the additional plate readers would be in place.“We recovered some of those stolen autos, and in some of those stolen autos, there were stolen guns,” Hayes told the Council. “Or, they were just guns that people were probably going to use in a crime. So, we are findin...

Brian White scores his 13th goal of the season to help Whitecaps tie the Rapids 2-2

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Brian White scored his 13th goal of the season in the 78th minute and the Vancouver Whitecaps tied the Colorado Rapids 2-2 on Wednesday night.Vancouver (11-10-9) played its seventh straight away match, going 3-2-2. The Whitecaps, who haven’t played a home match since Aug. 20, host D.C. United on Saturday.White headed in Sebastian Berhalter’s corner kick to cap the scoring and set a career-high in goals. He is just the second player in Whitecaps MLS history to record multiple 12-goal seasons, joining Camilo Sanvezzo.Vancouver defender Mathías Laborda opened the scoring in the 11th minute with his first MLS goal. The Whitecaps nearly made it 2-0 three minutes later, but Colorado goalkeeper Marko Ilic denied White’s point-blank header.Colorado forward Diego Rubio tied it at 1-all in the 47th. Rubio mishit a cross from Calvin Harris, but he stuck with it and poked it home. Rubio, who recorded a goal and an assist against Portland on Saturday, moved into third...

Acuña becomes first 40-70 player, Albies lifts Braves over Cubs 6-5 in 10 innings

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. slid into second base ahead of the throw, adding another slice of history to an already unprecedented season. He grabbed the bag and hoisted it above his head, soaking up the cheers from the home crowd after becoming the charter member of the 40-70 club.A short time later, Acuña rounded third and barreled for for home, diving headfirst across the plate with the run that gave the Atlanta Braves another comeback victory — and provided baseball’s most thrilling player with his MVP statement. “It’s really an incredible moment,” Acuña said through an interpreter, his two young sons squirming in his arms after a celebratory soaking from his teammates.Ozzie Albies drove in Acuña with a 10th-inning single that clinched home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs for the Braves, who dealt the faltering Chicago Cubs another devastating setback by rallying time and time again for a 6-5 victory Wednesday night.Acuña delivered a run-scoring single ...

Tee Thursday: Nemacolin courses to Dye for

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

For me (thankfully, since it’s a long, long process to get to the point where playing well is a safe expectation), the golf experience is about more than the score.It’s the scenery, challenge, people, fresh air, the uniqueness of a course and just plain being outdoors and soaking in the world while I work at hitting a little ball into a little hole.If you’re like me and want your golf outing to be a tapestry of all that, welcome to the Nemacolin Resort (https://www.nemacolin.com) and its 36 holes of pure Pete Dye vision (and diabolical instinct, at times). The two resort courses, Mystic Rock and Shepherd’s Rock, are challenging and unique; breathtaking and just plain beautiful.Both courses serve as a centerpiece to the sprawling Western Pennsylvania resort, where you’ll find a spa, pools, posh lodging, lots of food choices and more. But today we’ll talk about the golf.Let’s start with Mystic Rock. I’d say it’s my favorite of the two since, while super challenging, it’s a bit more fo...

Analysis: By North Korean standards, Pvt. Travis King’s release from detention was quick

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Maybe it never sense for North Korea to hold on to Pvt. Travis King.Just over two months after he sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, King was put on a plane back to America after the North released him into U.S. custody.Several recent American detainees had been held for over a year — 17 months in the case of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was arrested during a group tour. He was in a coma when he was deported, and later died.King’s case was unique, not least because he was one of the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea to deter potential aggression from the nuclear-armed North.There had been speculation that North Korea would try to maximize the propaganda value of an active duty U.S. soldier who voluntarily crossed into its territory, reportedly because he was disillusioned with racism in the military and American society. The North has often been accused of using American detainees as b...

Food prices are rising as countries limit exports. Blame climate change, El Nino and Russia’s war

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

How do you cook a meal when a staple ingredient is unaffordable?This question is playing out in households around the world as they face shortages of essential foods like rice, cooking oil and onions. That is because countries have imposed restrictions on the food they export to protect their own supplies from the combined effect of the war in Ukraine, El Nino’s threat to food production and increasing damage from climate change. For Caroline Kyalo, a 28-year-old who works in a salon in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, it was a question of trying to figure out how to cook for her two children without onions. Restrictions on the export of the vegetable by neighboring Tanzania has led prices to triple. Kyalo initially tried to use spring onions instead, but those also got too expensive. As did the prices of other necessities, like cooking oil and corn flour.“I just decided to be cooking once a day,” she said.Despite the East African country’s fertile lands and large workforce, ...

Wildfires can make your California red taste like an ashtray. These scientists want to stop that

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

ALPINE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. West Coast produces over 90% of America’s wine, but the region is also prone to wildfires — a combustible combination that spelled disaster for the wine industry in 2020 and one that scientists are scrambling to neutralize.Sample a good wine and you might get notes of oak or red fruit. But sip on wine made from grapes that were penetrated by smoke, and it could taste like someone dumped the contents of an ashtray into your glass.Wine experts from three West Coast universities are working together to meet the threat, including developing spray coatings to protect grapes, pinpointing the elusive compounds that create that nasty ashy taste, and deploying smoke sensors to vineyards to better understand smoke behavior. The U.S. government is funding their research with millions of dollars. Wineries are also taking steps to protect their product and brand.The risk to America’s premier wine-making regions — where wildfires caused billions of dollars...

First congressional hearing on Maui wildfire to focus on island’s sole electric provider and grid

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:59:32 GMT

Hawaii’s top public utility officials and the president of Hawaiian Electric are expected to testify Thursday in a congressional hearing about the role the electrical grid played in last month’s deadly Maui wildfire. Members of a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee are expected to question the utility officials about how the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century began — and whether the electrical grid in Lahaina was safe and properly maintained. The fire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, mostly homes. It first erupted at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, when strong winds appeared to cause a Hawaiian Electric powerline to fall, igniting dry brush and grass near a large subdivision.Among those expected to testify are Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura, Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chair Leodoloff Asuncion Jr. and Hawaii Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick.Energy and Commerce Committee chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers; Oversight and...