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Guerrero and Kirk HR, Bassitt wins as Blue Jays blank Padres 4-0 to avoid sweep

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Chris Bassitt combined with three relievers on a six-hitter, and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a three-game sweep by beating the San Diego Padres 4-0 on Thursday.Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk homered for Toronto, which managed just one run in the first two games of the series. Kirk went 3 for 3, and Whit Merrifield and Jordan Luplow each had two hits.“Every win matters,” Bassitt said. “The division that we’re in is the best division in baseball, so you’re excited about any win.”Toronto began the day in third in the AL East, five games behind Baltimore and Tampa Bay. The Rays and Orioles were set to meet in Florida on Thursday night.While Bassitt said he doesn’t keep track of his team’s position in the standings, Guerrero confessed he can’t resist checking.“I’m always on top of that,” Guerrero said through a translator. “Since the first game of the season, I’m looking at the standings, where we are in our division. We were far behind. Now, little by li...

Families form nonprofits to address gun, school safety after Nashville school shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pausing at the microphone, 5-year-old Noah took a breath and softly stated, “I don’t want any guns today or any day in my school.”His mom, Sarah Shoop Neumann, wiped away tears as she held the young boy. It had been more than four months since a shooter indiscriminately opened fire while Noah was at a private elementary school in Nashville, killing three of his schoolmates and three adults. And Neumann wanted action.Joining a group of families from The Covenant School, Neumann and others on Thursday announced that they had created two nonprofits to not only promote school safety and mental health resources, but also form an action fund to push legislative policy changes that would place certain limits on firearms inside the politically ruby red state of Tennessee.“We can create brighter tomorrows for our state so no other community has to endure the suffering,” Neumann told reporters at a news conference. “And our children can go to school without...

Yankees 3B Josh Donaldson transferred to 60-day injured list

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson was transferred to the 60-day injured list, a decision that means he can’t play until Sept. 14 at the earliest.Donaldson hurt his right calf while running to first base Saturday at Colorado, and the 37-year-old was put on the 10-day IL the next day. New York said he was diagnosed with a grade 3 strain.A three-time All-Star, Donaldson was on the IL from April 5 to June 2 because of a strained right hamstring. The 2015 AL MVP with Toronto, Donaldson is hitting .142 with 15 RBIs. Ten of his 15 hits have been home runs.New York acquired Donaldson from Minnesota in March 2022 along with shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and backup catcher Ben Rortvedt for catcher Gary Sánchez and third baseman Gio Urshela, Donaldson hit .222 last year with 15 homers and 62 RBIs.He has a $21 million salary in the final season of a $92 million, four-year contract he signed with Minnesota. The deal includes a $24 million mutual option for 2024 with an $6...

Capstar Financial: Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Capstar Financial Holdings Inc. (CSTR) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $7.8 million.The bank, based in Nashville, Tennessee, said it had earnings of 37 cents per share.The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.The bank holding company posted revenue of $45.5 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $28.8 million, which fell short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $30.2 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CSTR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CSTRSource

Jason Momoa hosts Discovery’s ‘Shark Week,’ featuring feeding frenzies and junkie sharks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Discovery Channel has landed the perfect host this year for “Shark Week,” none other than a huge fan of all ocean creatures — Aquaman.Jason Momoa, who in real life dreamed of a career as a marine biologist before Hollywood anointed him an ocean god, is going back to his roots to celebrate all things shark. “My heart is in the ocean,” Momoa told The Associated Press from Tahiti, moments before taking a trip to swim with some of the apex predators. “Doing ‘Shark Week’ is a no brainer.”Momoa will be the week’s recurring master of ceremonies, dipping in and out of the channel’s roughly 20 new hours of programs that start Sunday. Episode encores run most nights, too.Viewers will get to see rare sharks off the coast of South Africa, examine deadly shark attacks off the posh beaches of Egypt’s Red Sea and investigate whether sharks in Florida waters are getting high on cocaine.The week kicks off with a sort of nautical nod to “Jackass.” Researchers in the show “Belly ...

Outgoing Commanders owner Dan Snyder fined $60M, sexually harassed employee; team deliberately hid money, probe finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Outgoing Commanders owner Dan Snyder fined $60M, sexually harassed employee; team deliberately hid money, probe finds.Source

Investar: Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Investar Holding Corp. (ISTR) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $6.5 million.The bank, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said it had earnings of 67 cents per share.The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 37 cents per share.The holding company for Investar Bank posted revenue of $34.5 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $20.5 million, falling short of Street forecasts._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ISTR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ISTRSource

Hate speech posted on economics website is traced to leading universities, research finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anonymous comments with racist, sexist and abusive messages that were posted for years on a jobs-related website for economists originated from numerous leading U.S. universities, according to research released Thursday. Some economists have long condemned the website, Economics Job Market Rumors, for its toxic content. The site, known by its acronym EJMR, is run by an anonymous individual and is not connected to a university or other institution. That fact had fed speculation that those who posted hateful messages on it were mostly online cranks who might not be economists. Yet the new research indicates that users of the website include individuals at top-tier colleges and universities, including Harvard, Stanford and the University of Chicago, and many others.“Our analysis reveals that the users who post on EJMR are predominantly economists, including those working in the upper echelons of academia, government, and the private sector,” the paper concluded. It wa...

Former Trump State Department official convicted for attacking police during Capitol riot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who worked as a politically appointed State Department official in former President Donald Trump’s administration was convicted Thursday of charges that he attacked police officers during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Judge Judge Trevor McFadden heard testimony without a jury before he convicted the former official, Federico Guillermo Klein, and a co-defendant, Steven Cappuccio, of assault charges and other felony offenses stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.Klein and Cappuccio were among nine co-defendants charged with crimes related to one of the most violent and pivotal episodes of the Jan. 6 siege: brutal waves of hand-to-hand combat between rioters and police officers in a tunnel leading to a Capitol entrance on the Lower West Terrace.Klein and Cappuccio converged on the tunnel as outnumbered police officers struggled for hours to hold back the mob of rioters, prosecutors said in a court filing....

Par-5 18th causes havoc at British Open as Fowler and Thomas run up card-wrecking scores

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:27 GMT

HOYLAKE, England (AP) — For all the concern over the new par-3 17th at Royal Liverpool, the real headache was No. 18.The par-5 finishing hole featuring a rare internal out-of-bounds running the entire right side and five bunkers surrounding the front of the green brought some of the world’s best players to their knees at the British Open on Thursday.Literally in the case of Rory McIlroy.The tournament favorite’s first round ended with the improbable sight of him standing with his right leg inside a bunker and his left knee on the downward slope beside it, before he splashed out to rescue par in his level-par 71. Moments earlier, up against the face of the bunker, he’d failed to hit the ball out sideways.Justin Thomas could only dream of making par.The two-time major champion drove out-of-bounds and later sent his ball from one greenside bunker to another, before blasting out through the green and winding up making 9 for an 11-over 82 — his highest round in a major....