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California's first openly gay state Senate leader stepping down

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

The leader of the California Senate said Monday she will step down from her leadership post, ending an historic run as the first woman and first openly gay person to lead the upper legislative chamber of the nation's most populous state.Toni Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego, said she will step down next year. Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat from the state's North Coast region, will replace Atkins as the Senate's president pro tempore.Atkins made the announcement at a news conference with McGuire and most of the Senate Democratic Caucus standing behind her. The display of unity was in stark contrast to the leadership battle that embroiled the state Assembly last year, when new speaker Robert Rivas replaced former speaker Anthony Rendon.Atkins cannot seek re-election because of term limits and must leave the Senate at the end of next year. She said the caucus chose to announce the transition now because “a long, drawn-out successor campaign would not be in the best interest of the Sena...

Giants rookie Kyle Harrison strikes out 11 in electric home debut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Kyle Harrison brought Giants fans to their feet Monday night as he looked to finish the top of the fifth inning. Many fans cheered and clapped, while others pulled out their phones to document what happened next.Harrison launched a 95 mph four-seam fastball down the middle; Cincinnati Reds rookie TJ Hopkins swung but to no avail.The crowd erupted with joy as the two runners left on base dropped their heads. Harrison celebrated his 10th strikeout of the night with an emphatic fist pump and roar as he headed to the Giants dugout.“It was really, really awesome to get out of that and get the guys back in the dugout and keep us ahead,” Harrison said. “That was the biggest motivation on that scream, I was hyped up for the team.”The inning might’ve been over, but Harrison’s night was not. He stayed in for a total of 6 1/3 scoreless innings, surrendering only three hits and two walks while striking out an eye-popping 11 batters in th...

Dodgers hit 4 home runs, including go-ahead drive by Heyward, in 7-4 victory over Diamondbacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jason Heyward hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning that sent the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and James Outman also went deep for the Dodgers — the 11th time this season they’ve hit at least four home runs. They are second in the majors with 204 homers.Los Angeles, which leads the NL West by 13 games over Arizona, won for the 22nd time in 26 games this month.Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen (14-6) allowed a career-high four homers. The right-hander gave up six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.Outman followed Heyward’s go-ahead drive by lining a fastball over the short wall in the right-field corner to make it 6-4. It was the ninth time this season the Dodgers hit back-to-back homers.Outman also had an RBI single in the seventh.The Dodgers struck early with a three-run first on Freeman’s solo shot and Muncy’s two-run drive to right-center for his 31st homer ...

Acuña fends off fans, ties career highs with 4 hits and 5 RBIs in Braves’ 14-4 rout of Rockies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. fended off two fans, including one who made contact with him in right field, while sparking the Atlanta Braves to a 14-4 rout of the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.Acuña tied career highs with four hits and five RBIs, hitting his 29th home run and stealing two bases to increase his major league-leading total to 61. He is one homer shy of becoming the first 30/60 player.One fan got his arms against Acuña during the middle of the seventh inning, just after Atlanta scored four runs to open a 9-4 lead. Two security people quickly grabbed the fan and, as they tried to drag him away, a third security person approached.A second fan then sprinted toward the group, knocking down Acuña, and that fan was tackled as one of the security people chased him down.Acuña wasn’t injured and remained in the game.“I was a little scared at first,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “I think the fans were out there and asking for pictures. I really couldn’t say anythi...

Giants roll past Reds 4-1 behind gem from top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison struck out 11 for his first career victory in his home debut with San Francisco, and the Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1 on Monday night for their third consecutive win.Six days after making his long-awaited major league debut in Philadelphia, the 22-year-old left-hander who went to high school in Northern California was welcomed with multiple standing ovations at Oracle Park, where every strikeout was cheered loudly.Harrison, a third-round draft pick in 2020, allowed three hits and walked two in 6 1/3 shutout innings. He was pulled after Christian Encarnacion-Strand doubled and TJ Friedl walked.Before exiting, Harrison (1-0) was as dominant as billed following an uneven debut against the Phillies that lasted only 3 1/3 innings. He became the first Giants pitcher to retire the first five batters of a game by strikeout since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson did it against Colorado on May 1, 2009. Harrison also worked out of a tw...

US Open honors Billie Jean King on 50th anniversary of equal prize money for women

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After a rousing tribute from former first lady Michelle Obama, Billie Jean King on Monday celebrated the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Open becoming the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male competitors, promising never to stop fighting to maintain that hard-won progress.“While we celebrate today, our work is far from done,” King said in a speech to a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd between night matches. Echoing a quote from Coretta Scott King, she said: “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and you win it in every generation.”Obama introduced the 79-year-old tennis legend by recalling how King, the U.S. Open champion in 1972, rallied her fellow women players to threaten a boycott of the next year’s tournament unless women got the same pay as men. It was announced that summer that the women’s champion’s paycheck would increase $15,000 so that both men’s and women’s cha...

A partir del miércoles, China no solicitará a viajeros presentar prueba negativa de COVID-19

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwán — China ya no solicitará presentar un examen de COVID-19 con resultado negativo para los viajeros que arriben a partir del miércoles, lo que presagia su reapertura al resto del mundo tras años de aislamiento que comenzaron cuando el país cerró sus fronteras en marzo del 2020.Wang Wenbin, portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, anunció el cambio durante una sesión con la prensa el lunes.China puso fin a su política de “cero COVID” en diciembre de 2022, tras años de medidas draconianas que en ocasiones incluyeron confinamientos de ciudades enteras y largas cuarentenas para las personas infectadas. “¡No salgas!”: recomiendan confinamiento en China para evitar contagios de COVID-19 ¿Repiten la historia? Beijing en vilo por la construcción de centros COVID-19 China en enero puso fin a la exigencia de cuarentenas para sus propios ciudadanos que llegaban del extranjero, y en los meses recientes gradualmente ha ex...

Julio Rodríguez and the Mariners stay red hot with 7-0 win over Oakland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Julio Rodríguez kept up his torrid August with four more hits including a two-run homer and an RBI double, J.P. Crawford hit his fifth leadoff homer and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 7-0 on Monday night.Seattle won its fourth straight and for the 12th time in the past 13 games as the hottest team in baseball kept rolling behind its suddenly unstoppable offense. The Mariners have 20 wins in August matching the most wins in a month in franchise history with two games remaining.It was Rodríguez and the bats leading the way yet again.Seattle scored at least six runs for the 12th time in 18 games, and while most of the lineup contributed it was the top of the order doing most of the damage against the lowly A’s.Crawford hit his 12th homer on the second pitch of the bottom of the first inning from Kyle Muller. Eugenio Suárez sandwiched a pair of doubles around and walk and scored once. Teoscar Hernández had a pair of RBI singles.Rodríguez scorched a 112 mp...

The math problem: Kids are still behind. How can schools catch them up?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

On a breezy July morning in South Seattle, a dozen elementary-aged students ran math relays behind an elementary school.One by one, they raced to a table, where they scribbled answers to multiplication questions before sprinting back to high-five their teammate. These students are part of a summer program run by the nonprofit School Connect WA, designed to help them catch up on math and literacy skills lost during the pandemic. There are 25 students in the program, and all of them are one to three grades behind.One 11-year-old boy couldn’t do two-digit subtraction. Thanks to the program and his mother, who has helped him each night, he’s caught up. Now, he says math is challenging, but he likes it.Other kids haven’t fared so well.Across the country, schools are scrambling to catch up students in math as post-pandemic test scores reveal the depth of missing skills. On average, students’ math knowledge is about half a school year behind where it should be, according to education...

Suspect barricaded in Encanto house by San Diego police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The suspect in a shooting that exchanged gunfire with San Diego police Monday night has been barricaded in an Encanto home.Officers responded to reports for a shooting on the 500 block of Iona Drive near the intersection of Market Street and Akins Avenue around 8:45 p.m. As of 10 p.m., a heavy police presence remains in the area surrounding the house, including SWAT officers.SDPD says the suspect could be in possession a long gun. Just before 10:10 p.m., the suspect also appeared to set a fire in the home. FOX 5 crews reported hearing gunshots erupt right before the flames became visible.San Diego Fire-Rescue was dispatched to the scene. Injuries in the shooting and fire have not been disclosed at this time.Authorities are asking the public to avoid the area around the scene. The perimeter is shown below in a map posted by SDPD to X, formerly known as Twitter.Photo of impacted area surrounding the Encanto shooting.For those that live around the scene, SDPD is asking peo...