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Is baseball’s Shohei Ohtani worth a $701 million contract?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

One big-money California business deal to watch is how rich Angels baseball star Shohei Ohtani will become once his current contract ends this year.Ohtani, who’s making $30 million in 2023, will be a free agent when the season ends. He’ll be available for hire by any of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams to pursue. It’s all but given he’ll sign the priciest long-term contract in baseball history.Now, it’s hard to argue that anybody paid $30 million in a single year is underpaid. Hey, it’s the 15th biggest paycheck in baseball, according to Spotrac. But if you’re not a sports fan, please realize this athlete is arguably the game’s best batter and pitcher – a two-way feat nobody else has pulled off.Next week’s All-Star Game will serve as another billboard for Ohtani’s talents. He’s been named to the American League team twice thanks to his unique mix of skills. The festive gathering will only fuel wild speculation a...

Tribal sovereignty bill falters as Maine lawmakers fail to override governor’s veto

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers failed Thursday to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would have expanded the sovereignty of Native American tribes in the state by ensuring more federal laws apply to them.It’s a defeat for the tribes, which are bound by a land claims settlement that puts them on different footing then the nation’s other 570 federally recognized tribes.Both chambers had voted to enact the bill with big-enough majorities to override the veto, but some House members backtracked under pressure by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. She contends the bill was vague and would lead to lengthy and costly litigation in coming years.The 84-57 House vote fell short of a two-thirds majority after tribal Rep. Aaron Dana, a Passamaquoddy, implored lawmakers to vote for the tribes, saying they want the same thing that the nation’s Founding Fathers wanted.“We seek equality. We seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we seek the liberty and the ...

Quebec social media influencer charged for simulating crimes to gain attention

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

GATINEAU, Que. — An online-video creator who tried to gain popularity by simulating fake crimes has been arrested and charged with attempted public mischief, police in Gatineau, Que., said Thursday.Police in the western Quebec city said Anthony Gagné, 27, recorded himself pretending to commit crimes and posted the videos on social media platforms in an effort to attract a response from law enforcement.The investigation into Gagné began in May, after police said he tried to lure children by driving a van with the words “free candy” printed on the side — an act that led concerned citizens to call 911, Gatineau police Const. Patrick Kenney said.“In this case here, we know that the crime wasn’t real. We know he wasn’t acting with the goal of attracting children to commit a crime. It was to make a video,” Kenney said in an interview.Police then searched the man’s video archive and allegedly found more fake-crime videos.“When investigators b...

Texas officials name suspect arrested and charged in arson that killed 5 in San Marcos in 2018

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) — Officials in San Marcos, Texas, have named the man charged with intentionally starting a fire five years ago which killed five people and displaced 200 others. Jacobe De Leon O Shea Ferguson, of Austin, was arrested early Wednesday, Jonathan Henderson, Fire Marshal for the San Marcos Fire Department announced in a news conference Thursday.Ferguson was a student at Texas State University in San Marcos at the time of the fire, Henderson said. Ferguson is accused of setting the July 20, 2018, blaze which damaged the Iconic Village and Vintage Pads apartments in San Marcos, a city of almost 70,000 people southwest of Austin. Ferguson didn’t live in the building where the fire happened, Henderson said. He and other officials declined to say where Ferguson did live at the time.They also declined to comment on any suspected motive.People who lost loved ones in the fire and those who still bear injuries have known since late 2018 that the fire was set on purpo...

Wisconsin governor’s 400-year veto angers opponents in state with long history of creative cuts

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto that attempts to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years drew outrage and surprise from his political opponents, but it’s just the latest creative cut in a state that’s home to the most powerful partial gubernatorial veto in the country.“Everybody will shout and scream,” said former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, “but he’s got ’em.”Wisconsin governors have the most expansive partial veto power in the country because, unlike in other states, they can strike nearly any part of a budget bill. That includes wiping out numbers, punctuation and words in spending bills to sometimes create new law that wasn’t the intention of the Legislature.That’s exactly what the Democratic Evers did on Wednesday with a two-year state budget passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.The Legislature had language in the budget increasing the per pupil spending authority for K-12 public schools by $325 in the 2023-24 and...

2 New Jersey firefighters died battling a blaze deep in a ship carrying 1,200 vehicles

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two firefighters were killed and five others injured battling a blaze that began deep inside a docked cargo ship carrying more than a thousand vehicles, officials said Thursday.Responding firefighters found five to seven vehicles already on fire when they reached the 10th floor of the cargo ship at Port Newark around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night. The blaze quickly extended to the 11th and 12th floors, and as firefighters were pushed back by the intense heat, two of them were lost, Newark Fire Chief Rufus Jackson said at a news conference at the port, where the fire was still burning early Thursday,Firefighters weren’t initially able to find their colleagues. Outside rescue companies from around the state were called in. Augusto “Augie” Acabou, 45, and Wayne “Bear” Brooks Jr., 49, were found and removed from the structure but unfortunately they lost their lives, Jackson said.Three Newark firefighters and two Elizabeth firefighters were treated for injuries including ...

Carmaker Stellantis signs deal with firm seeking to mine in Nebraska for rare earths needed in EVs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The company that wants to mine for critical minerals in southeast Nebraska has signed a deal with Stellantis, giving the automaker access to the rare earth elements used to produce high-powered magnets needed for its electric vehicles.NioCorp announced the tentative agreement with the automaker whose brands include Chrysler, Alfa Romeo and Maserati on Thursday. The companies didn’t disclose how much Stellantis will pay because those details are still being negotiated, but this deal with such a high-profile buyer will likely provide a boost to NioCorp’s effort to raise $1.1 billion to establish the mine about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Omaha near the town of Elk Creek.It’s also not clear just how much of the highly sought-after elements Stellantis would be able to buy as part of this agreement because NioCorp is still working to determine whether it will be make economic sense to produce the neodymium-praseodymium oxide, dysprosium oxide, ...

The Afghan Taliban say they banned beauty salons because they offered forbidden services

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Women’s beauty salons were banned in Afghanistan because they offered services forbidden by Islam and caused economic hardships for grooms’ families during wedding festivities, the Taliban said Thursday.The explanation came days after the group confirmed they were giving all salons in the country one month to wind down their businesses and close shop, drawing concern from international officials worried about the impact on female entrepreneurs.The ruling is the latest curb on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls, following edicts barring them from education, public spaces and most forms of employment.In a video clip released Thursday, Sadiq Akif Mahjer, the spokesman for the Taliban-run Virtue and Vice Ministry, listed a series of services salons offered that he said went against Islam. Those included eyebrow shaping, the use of other people’s hair to augment a woman’s natural hair and the application of makeup, which would inter...

An SUV crash at a London school kills an 8-year-old girl. A woman is arrested for dangerous driving

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — An 8-year-old girl was killed and 15 people were injured Thursday when an SUV crashed into a private elementary school on a narrow road in southwest London as the children were celebrating the end of the school year. The crash wasn’t believed to be terrorism, and the driver was taken into custody.The girl died at the scene, Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland said at a briefing near the crash site in London’s Wimbledon district.“Our thoughts are with her family at this incredibly difficult time,” said a visibly shaken Kelland, who is the Metropolitan Police force’s local commander for southwest London. “The driver of a car, a woman in her 40s, stopped at the scene and has since been arrested for causing death by dangerous driving and remains in police custody.”She confirmed that the crash wasn’t being treated as terror-related, but urged people not to speculate as to what happened.Dr. John Martin, chief paramedic for the London Ambulance Service, s...

What is Threads? All your questions about Meta’s new Twitter rival, answered.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Threads, a text-based app built by Meta to rival Twitter, is live.The app, billed as the text version of Meta’s photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users in more than 100 countries — including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite some early glitches, thirty million people had signed up before noon on Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Threads. New arrivals to the platform include celebrities like Oprah, pop star Shakira and chef Gordon Ramsay — as well as corporate accounts from Taco Bell, Netflix, Spotify, the Washington Post and other media outlets.Threads, which Meta says provides “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations,” arrives at a time that many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk’s raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for $44 billion. But Meta’s new app has also raised data privacy concerns, an...