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Column: Random thoughts on a fall day, from Kyle Schwarber’s postseason record to the perplexing popularity of Pat McAfee

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

Fall might be the best time of the year to live in Chicago.The changing colors and cooler temperatures are always agreeable. The start of the Blackhawks and Bulls seasons provide hope for better days ahead. And the countdown to the first mock draft gives Bears fans something to look forward to as well. It’s a good time to let your mind wander aimlessly, which leads to random non sequiturs like the following.There was only one Mr. October.Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber tied Reggie Jackson’s postseason home run mark for left-handed hitters Tuesday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.Both have 18, so Schwarber figures to set the record soon.The difference is that 10 of Jackson’s 18 home runs came in his five World Series appearances. He had a 1.212 OPS in 98 World Series at-bats, earning the nickname “Mr. October” with his three homers against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1977 Series.Only three of Schwarber’...

Orioles’ John Means looking forward to ‘normal’ offseason, spring training after return from Tommy John surgery

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

As the Orioles packed up their lockers in the visitors’ clubhouse at Globe Life Field last week, John Means had similar — yet also different — feelings of disappointment.Means diligently worked for 16 months to make his way back from elbow surgery and pitched like one of Baltimore’s best starters in September, only to have a flare-up in his left elbow two days before the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers started.“Yeah, it was tough,” Means said about missing the ALDS after the Orioles’ loss in Game 3. “These guys have been so good all year. But obviously I wanted to be out there, try and help this team, but it just wasn’t in the cards.”That elbow discomfort Means felt during his two-inning simulated game turned out to be something “small,” he said, and the decision to hold him out of the ALDS was “just one of those precautionary things.”Past the disappointment of missing the O...

Ravens vs. Lions staff picks: Who will win Sunday’s Week 7 game in Baltimore?

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

Here’s how The Baltimore Sun sports staff views the outcome of Sunday’s Week 7 game between the Ravens (4-2) and the Lions (5-1) at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.Brian Wacker, reporterLions 24, Ravens 17: The Lions’ offense has scored the third-most touchdowns (21) in the NFL, while the Ravens have given up the fewest (6) of any team in the league. But this is also the most complete team Baltimore has faced this season, with the Lions’ defense also surrendering just 18.8 points per game, ninth-fewest in the NFL. Detroit star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is also coming off a 12-catch, 124-yard game, and while the Lions are without running back David Montgomery, rookie Jahmyr Gibbs is likely to return from a hamstring injury.Mike Preston, columnistRavens 21, Lions 18: Detroit is one of the most physical teams in the NFL. The Lions have Jared Goff, who isn’t a great quarterback but is the best the Ravens have faced so far this season. This will be o...

French presidential couple attend funeral service of teacher slain in school attack

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

ARRAS, France (AP) — Loved ones and colleagues mourned and celebrated the life of a French-language teacher who was stabbed to death in a school attack blamed on a suspected Islamic extremist. They remembered Dominique Bernard at his funeral service Thursday as a sensitive, crowd-shy man who loved literature, art and nature and was a devoted, playful mentor to his pupils.French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were among mourners at the cathedral in Arras, the northern French town where Bernard taught at the Gambetta-Carnot school. White flowers adorned the coffin. A crowd, with some people clutching white flowers, also watched the service on a giant screen in an Arras square. Bernard was 57.His wife, Isabelle, described her husband as a great lover of literature, music, art, cinema and “the raking evening light,” who wasn’t fond of computers, crowds and social networks, didn’t have a cellphone and “didn’t like the noise and furor of the worl...

Woman suffers life-altering injuries after being struck by vehicle in Mississauga

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

A woman in her 20s is being rushed to hospital with life-altering injuries after she was struck by a vehicle in Mississauga during the morning commute.Emergency crews were called to Kennedy Road and Brunel Road, north of Matheson Boulevard East, just after 6 a.m. on Thursday.Paramedics say the woman has serious life-altering injuries.The driver remained at the scene.Police have blocked off Kennedy from Brunel to Britannia Road for the investigation.

ICC drops war crimes charges against former Central African Republic government minister

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

THE HAGUE, Nethlerlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court announced Thursday it was dropping some 20 charges including murder, extermination, deportation, torture, and persecution against a former government minister from the Central African Republic, citing a lack of evidence and available witnesses. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the court based in The Hague in the Netherlands, issued a statement saying he was withdrawing all charges against Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka because there were “no longer any reasonable prospects of conviction at trial.”Mokom, 44, was accused of coordinating operations of the anti-Balaka, a mainly Christian group that fought against the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel group. The fighting left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands in 2013 and 2014.During a pretrial hearing in August, Mokom’s defense team told judges that prosecutors had already uncovered evidence that could exonerate Mokom, even before his arrest in neighbor...

Northern Europe braces for gale-force winds, floods

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Northern Europe braced for bad weather including gale-force winds from the east on Thursday and Friday, with authorities saying floods could cause major problems in inland Danish waters and in the Baltic Sea. Danish broadcaster TV2 said it likely would be the worst flooding in 110 years, and the Danish Meteorological Institute said waves could reach 4 meters (13 feet) along east-facing coasts. In the U.K., the Met Office issued a red alert for parts of Scotland, warning of “exceptional rainfall” Thursday and Friday, while in Ireland, Storm Babet brought flooding to several towns and villages, with some areas remaining under water and without power.In Denmark, residents scrambled to place sandbags along exposed areas. In Assens on the central island of Funen, the Danish Emergency Management Agency was deploying huge rubber tubes in the harbor to counter rising water levels, TV2 said. Southern Denmark police urged people along the east coast to leave exposed...

Trucking firm Mullen Group reports $39.1M Q3 profit, revenue edges lower

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

OKOTOKS, Alta. — Mullen Group Ltd. reported a third-quarter profit of $39.1 million, up from $38.0 million in the same quarter last year as its revenue edged lower.The trucking firm says the profit amounted to 42 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 39 cents per diluted share a year earlier.Revenue totalled $504.0 million, down from $518.4 million in the same quarter last year.The company says the decline was due to lower fuel surcharge revenue, declines in overall general freight demand in three of its operating segments and the sale of its hydrovac assets and business in December 2022.On an adjusted basis, Mullen Group says it earned 43 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 51 cents per share a year earlier.Mullen Group offers trucking and other logistics services as well as specialized services for the energy, mining, forestry and construction industries in Western Canada.This report by The Canadian Press was first publi...

2 special elections could bring more bad news for Britain’s governing Conservatives

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Voters are casting ballots Thursday in two special elections in England that could add more misery to the beleaguered governing Conservative Party as it prepares to fight a national election next year.The Conservatives won both Tamworth in central England and Mid-Bedfordshire, north of London, by large margins during the last national election in 2019. But both constituencies’ lawmakers resigned under a cloud.Tamworth legislator Chris Pincher quit after Parliament’s standards watchdog recommended he be suspended for “completely inappropriate” behavior after groping two men at a London private members’ club. Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’ s reluctance to sanction Pincher when the allegations emerged helped trigger Johnson’s ouster at the hands of his own party last year.Mid-Bedfordshire member of Parliament Nadine Dorries resigned over the treatment of Johnson and her own failure to be appointed to Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords. Dorries is a s...

Thursday Forecast: Temps in low 60s with scattered showers

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:44 GMT

CHICAGO — Our Thursday will be mainly cloudy with the chance for on and off scattered showers and seasonable temperatures topping out in the lower 60s.  Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here Showers are likely this evening, before rain chance tapers overnight.  Under mostly cloudy skies, lows will fall to around 50.  Friday Forecast: Our clouds decrease Friday as afternoon highs climb to near 60.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog