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Orioles pitcher Grayson Rodriguez has small town roots. His friends and family prove that.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

Grayson Rodriguez is not from Houston.His mother, Temple, gets frustrated when she sees it written that her son is a Houston native.“Please tell them,” she pleaded. “He is not from Houston. He was just born there because I was high risk. He’s from Nacogdoches.”To some, the distinction might not seem important. Houston, about 140 miles south, is the closest major city in Texas to Nacogdoches.But the significance of noting that Rodriguez, the Orioles’ top pitching prospect, isn’t from Houston — population 2.28 million — and is instead from Nacogdoches — population 32,118 — was obvious Wednesday when he made his MLB debut in Texas against the Rangers. Seated behind the third base dugout for his first big league start were scores of Rodriguez supporters from Nacogdoches — family, friends and former teammates and coaches — all donning either Central Heights High blue or Orioles orange.“It was a lot of fun...

Weekend need to know: Easter events, Cirque du Soleil; road closures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

It’s the Easter Holiday weekend and the city is celebrating with the annual Beaches Easter Parade, as well as a Good Friday procession.Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA has also arrived in Toronto, and jazz lovers can check out a live Caribbean Jazz show.A long weekend also means some businesses will be closed. Check out what is open and closed for Good Friday here.There are no scheduled subway closures this weekend, but ongoing roads closures continue. Scroll below for those details.Here’s what’s happening this weekend:Top eventsBeaches Easter Parade & Easter Egg Scavenger HuntThe Beaches Easter Parade weekend is back in the city.Events include an Easter egg scavenger hunt taking place on Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.Participants can register online and download an app to reveal the scavenger hunt’s clues.Groups will decipher clues that will lead to 12 different locations across The Beach.Once the hunt is complete, participants will receive instructions guiding t...

Jill Biden keeps ‘EGGucation’ theme for Easter Egg Roll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden wants the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll to be about more than just coaxing hard-boiled eggs across the lawn to a finish line. A teacher for 30 years, the first lady is again turning the annual tradition into an “EGGucational” experience. A variety of stations on the South Lawn and Ellipse will help teach thousands of children about farming, healthier eating, exercise and more, the White House announced on Thursday. In a nod to Biden’s “EGGucation” theme, NASA sent a souvenir wooden White House Easter egg to the International Space Station for the astronauts to help teach students about gravity. About 30,000 people, most of them children, are expected to participate in the festivities in nine waves between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday, the White House said. Participants include military and veteran families, caregivers and survivors, including those from the USS Delaware and the USS Gabrielle Giffords. Both Navy vessels are sponsored by ...

Global shares trade mixed amid worries about slowing economy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were trading mixed Thursday as investors turned their attention to upcoming earnings reports and other economic indicators. France’s CAC 40 added 0.2% in early trading to 7,329.86, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% to 15,553.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5% to 7,697.24. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up less than 0.1% and that for the S&P 500 was almost unchanged. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 1.2% to finish at 27,472.63. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 7,219.00. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.4% to 2,459.23. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 20,331.20. The Shanghai Composite declined 0.3% to 3,312.63. While efforts to cool inflation by raising interest rates are designed to slow overheated economies, the worry is that central bank policymakers might overdo it, leading to recession. Many regional economies are seeing weakness in exports due to softer demand in major markets lik...

Pope leads Holy Thursday service in Vatican basilica

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis led the first of two major Holy Thursday ceremonies, presiding at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica as he continues his stamina-testing Holy Week appointments days after battling bronchitis in the hospital.The pope’s voice sounded strong during the basilica Mass as he read a long homily during the service, which was dedicated to the theme of the priesthood . Francis, who is 86, was discharged five days earlier from a Rome hospital, where he received antibiotics administered intravenously. Inmates at a juvenile prison on Rome’s outskirts awaited the pontiff later in the day for Mass and the foot-washing ritual that commemorates the final supper of Jesus before crucifixion. It is the same juvenile facility where Francis carried out the foot-washing — a powerful symbol of humility and priestly service to others — shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013. From the start, Francis has used his papacy to stress attention to those living on society’...

Indian opposition lawmakers rally against Modi government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — More than 100 Indian opposition lawmakers, including members of the Congress party, staged a protest march Thursday after the end of a parliamentary budget session that was marred by shouting and disruptions to proceedings amid a standoff with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.The demonstrators carried big national flags and chanted slogans warning that India’s democracy is in danger, and accused Modi’s administration of “misusing” government-run investigation agencies to intimidate opposition leaders. They were blocked by police after walking a short distance from the Parliament building and forced to disperse. The opposition leaders from more than a dozen parties ended the protest with a news conference.Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress party chief, criticized the disqualification of his party’s leader, Rahul Gandhi, as a member of Parliament less than 24 hours after his conviction by a court in a defamation case. Gandhi is expected to lea...

NPR protests as Twitter labels it 'state-affiliated media'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has labeled National Public Radio as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a move some worried Wednesday could undermine public confidence in the news organization.NPR said it was disturbed to see the description added to all of the tweets that it sends out, with John Lansing, its president and CEO, calling it “unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way.”It was unclear why Twitter made the move. Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, quoted a definition of state-affiliated media in the company's guidelines as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”“Seems accurate,” Musk tweeted in a reply to NPR.NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual o...

Trump’s New York legal drama: What’s next

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

(The Hill) - Former President Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday kicked off months of proceedings that will stretch well into the 2024 campaign season.Beyond learning the 34 felony charges Trump is accused of, the court proceedings also set the stage for the legal battles to come: deadlines for Trump’s attempt to dismiss the indictment, a trial date agreement and a battle over media access.Here’s a look at what happens next in the case:DiscoveryAfter their multi-year investigation, prosecutors in the coming days will begin providing the evidence they collected to Trump’s legal team.Becky Mangold, a prosecutor in the district attorney’s Major Economic Crimes Bureau, at Tuesday’s arraignment indicated the documents would come in three stages.First, she said prosecutors could provide within a week the stenographic grand jury minutes and notes of witness statements for those who appeared during the secret proceedings.Second — comprising the bulk of the materials — the district attorney’s of...

Spicy food not doing enough to conjure warmth? Try a spicy cocktail!

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

A few weeks ago, I did a roundup of some of my favorite spicy foods — couched in a suggestion that they might help warm you as winter continued to drag on.Since I’m still looking out my window at nearly a foot of snow covering the lawns across the street, I thought I’d offer you another one of my favorite ways to warm up, which also happens to be a way to forget about all the white stuff. Let me introduce you to the spicy cocktail.Yes, bloody Marys are often spicy, but we are going to skip over those in favor of lighter, brighter drinks that are spiked with chili peppers of one sort or another.I will say that most of these drinks were not as spicy as I wanted them to be, but they are all tropical and delicious and offer a little tingle for your taste buds that might make you forget for a few minutes that outside is still looking like winter.Cross-eyed Mary from Tongue in Cheek on St. Paul’s Payne Avenue. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)Several options at Tongue in CheekWhy...

Adirondack Northstars return home after winning national championship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:50:58 GMT

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Girls ice hockey is on the rise in the Capital Region. Right on the heels of the Adirondack United's breakout inaugural season in the high school ranks, a local travel team made some history of its' own this week. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The Adirondack Northstars won the national championship of the 2023 Chipotle-USA Hockey Girls Tier II 14U 1A tournament Monday out in Irvine, California. They arrived at the championships Thursday, and rattled off six straight victories over five days, capped off by a 2-1 title win over Team Colorado. It was an experience the players won't soon forget."I was really excited; it felt like a dream," said goalie Aurora Graham-Hayes, who's an eighth grader in the Warrensburg Central School District. "We came off the ice, and were, like, "Did we actually just do that? Like, that's crazy." That hasn't happened in our organization. We're a really small town. Be...