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Mike Lupica: Buck Showalter and the Mets learning how quick things can turn bad in the big city

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

Brian Daboll must wonder sometimes if he’ll hear it from all precincts if the Giants start out 2-6 next season the way Buck Showalter is hearing it right now. It reached the point this week where Mets general manager Billy Eppler felt compelled to give Buck a vote of confidence. Maybe Eppler thought that would quiet the noise. But it never does in sports if your team keeps losing. And the Mets sure do.Seriously, ask yourself a question:Why assume things might be different for Daboll, who became the king of Jersey last season and became Coach of the Year for taking the Giants back to the playoffs, if the Giants start suddenly playing like slobs? Showalter again became Manager of the Year for putting the Mets back in the playoffs. And you know how much of a period of grace that earned him?Not even half-a-season.The Mets won 101 games last season, same as the Braves did. Showalter showed up and changed the culture around the Mets the way he did when he became manager of the Oriol...

The Dutch king apologizes for his country’s role in slavery on 150th anniversary of abolition

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologized Saturday for his country’s role in slavery and asked for forgiveness in a historic speech greeted by cheers and whoops at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery.The king’s speech followed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s apology late last year for the country’s role in the slave trade and slavery. It is part of a wider reckoning with colonial histories in the West that have been spurred in recent years by the Black Lives Matter movement.In an emotional speech, Willem-Alexander referred back to that apology as he told a crowd of invited guests and onlookers: “Today I stand before you. Today, as your King and as a member of the government, I make this apology myself. And I feel the weight of the words in my heart and my soul.”The king said he has commissioned a study into the exact role of the royal House of Orange-Nassau in slavery in the Netherlands.“But today, on this day of remembranc...

UK press watchdog finds a tabloid column about hate for Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, was sexist

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A column in The Sun tabloid that fantasized about seeing Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, being pelted with feces as she was paraded naked through the streets was sexist, Britain’s press watchdog found.The column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson in December described how he hated the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level.” He said she used “vivid bedroom promises” to turn Harry into a “warrior of woke” and controlled him like a sock puppet.“The imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the duchess,” said Edward Faulks, chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation. “IPSO’s purpose is to protect the public and freedom of expression by upholding high editorial standards. In this case, The Sun failed to meet these standards.”The independent organization, which most U.K. newspapers, magazines and digital news outlets voluntarily commit to be regulated by, found that multiple “pejorative and prejudicial...

New cable car near the Matterhorn allows non-skiers to cross between Switzerland and Italy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A new cable car that allows visitors without skis to cross between Switzerland and Italy near the Matterhorn, one of the most famous Alpine peaks, went into service on Saturday.The operator, Matterhorn Zermatt Bergbahnen, says the new service enables the highest-altitude border crossing in the Alps. It links the Klein Matterhorn cable car station in Switzerland, at more than 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) above sea level, with Testa Grigia in Italy, at 3,458 meters (11,345 feet).Cars take about four minutes to travel the 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) over the Theodul glacier. The new stretch closes a cross-border gap, enabling tourists to travel between the Swiss resort of Zermatt and its Italian counterpart on the other side of the Matterhorn, Cervinia — with several changes of cable car.An adult return trip on the “Matterhorn Alpine Crossing” between Zermatt and Cervinia, also known as Breuil-Cervinia, will cost 240 Swiss francs ($267) through the end of August and 218 francs ...

Biden will host Sweden’s prime minister at the White House as the Nordic nation seeks to join NATO

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Sweden’s prime minister at the White House on Wednesday in a show of solidarity as the United States presses for the Nordic nation’s entry into NATO, a bid stalled by objections from two members of the Western military alliance. Biden and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson plan to “review our growing security cooperation and reaffirm their view that Sweden should join NATO as soon as possible,” the White House said a statement Saturday. The leaders also will discuss the war in Ukraine and China.Sweden and neighbor Finland dropped their long-standing military neutrality after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and applied for NATO membership, seeking protection under the organization’s security umbrella. Finland, which shares an 832-mile (1,340 kilometer) border with Russia, joined NATO in April. Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, has seen its ascension delayed by Turkey and Hungary;...

Police search for 2 men who fled scene of multi-vehicle crash in Scarborough

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

Police are looking for two men who fled the scene of an early morning crash in Scarborough.Investigators say they were called to the area of Kennedy Road and Sheppard Avenue East just after 6 a.m. for a crash involving four vehicles including a TTC bus. One of the cars then struck a bus shelter and a tree. Two men from that vehicle fled the scene.The bus was empty at the time and the driver did not sustain any serious injuries. Paramedics tell CityNews two people were assessed at the scene and one person was taken to a nearby hospital suffering from non-life threatening injuries.

Man charged for officer impersonation, battery of teen girls: Park Ridge police

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

CHICAGO -- A suburban man is being charged with multiple felony counts for impersonating a police officer and battery of teenage girls, Park Ridge Police said. According to police, 38-year-old James E. Tripi from Streamwood is facing two counts of false impersonation of a police officer, 2 more counts of unlawful restraint and two counts of aggravated battery.Park Ridge police stated two separate reports made of a man approaching teenager girls and telling them he is a police officer -- on June 14 and June 23 between the hours of 11:45 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. Tripi allegedly told the girls he is a police officer and proceeded to pat them down, grabbing the buttocks of one of the girls. 4 shot, 1 fatally after shooting in Chicago Lawn: CPD Park Ridge Police Department deployed women officer decoys dressed as teenage girls as a part of the investigation. The two officers decoyed were walking in the 300 block of South Lincoln Avenue around 12:00 a.m. when they were approached by the off...

Saturday Forecast: Warm, mid-80s chance of showers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

Saturday: Warm conditions with low pressure bringing a good chance for showers and thunderstorms.  And showers are expected to be light mainly north of I 80 with heavier downpours south of that corridor. Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)High temps on Saturday will climb into the mid-80s with cooler weather coming Sunday.Chicago Area Radar | WGN TV

Weekend Gardening with Tim Joyce: Perennial garden suggestions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

Join WGN Weekend Morning News for Weekend Gardening with Tim Joyce for more tips on perennial gardening. Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

What is a flash drought? An earth scientist explains

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:39 GMT

(The Conversation) - Many people are familiar with flash floods – torrents that develop quickly after heavy rainfall. But there’s also such a thing as a flash drought, and these sudden, extreme dry spells are becoming a big concern for farmers and water utilities.Flash droughts start and intensify quickly, over periods of weeks to months, compared to years or decades for conventional droughts. Still, they can cause substantial economic damage, since communities have less time to prepare for the impacts of a rapidly evolving drought. In 2017, a flash drought in Montana and the Dakotas damaged crops and grasses that served as forage for cattle, causing US$2.6 billion in agricultural losses.Flash droughts also can increase wildfire risks, cause public water supply shortages and reduce stream flow, which harms fish and other aquatic life.A developing flash drought in the central U.S. covered 64% of corn territory and 57% of soybean territory in late June 2023. Areas marked S a...