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Readers sound off on a Mets legend, air pollution and Mike Pence’s religion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

An indelible memory of original Met Roger CraigStaten Island: When I heard on June 4 that former New York Met and legendary manager and pitching coach Roger Craig passed away, I thought of a night almost 60 years earlier. Craig had lost 18 games in a row, pitching for a very poorly hitting Mets ball club. His plan on Aug. 9, 1963 was to break the hex by changing his uniform number from 38 to 13.The game, in the ancient Polo Grounds, went to the bottom of the ninth with the Mets and Chicago Cubs tied 3-3. Improbably, the Mets put runners on second and third with two outs. Joe Hicks had singled and Al Moran, with a batting average of .198, doubled behind him. Manager Casey Stengel called up pinch hitter Tim Harkness to bat for Craig. If the run did not score, Craig would be out of the game and his chance for the historic victory would vanish.Harkness was walked intentionally, bringing up leadoff hitter Jim Hickman (famously immortalized in our very first Gold’s Horseradish Mets ...

San Francisco police: 9 victims hit but no deaths in Mission District mass shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Multiple victims were struck by bullets during a mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District Friday night, but authorities said there were no fatalities.“We can confirm there are 9 shooting victims — all are expected to survive their injuries,” the San Francisco Police Department said in a tweet.Police said there was no ongoing threat and the shooting “appears to be targeted and isolated.”The city’s Department of Emergency Management issued an earlier tweet asking people to avoid the area of 24th Street and Treat Avenue.Police said officers responded to the shooting shortly after 9 p.m., KPIX-TV reported.The victims were transported to a hospital but their conditions were not immediately known, KPIX-TV reported.The police did not immediately report making any arrests.The Associated Press

Indonesia set to deport Australian surfer jailed for drunken rampage in conservative province

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Australian surfer who was jailed for attacking several people while drunk and naked in Indonesia’s deeply conservative Muslim province of Aceh was set to be deported Saturday evening to his country after he agreed to apologize and pay compensation.Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, from Queensland, was detained in late April on Simeulue Island, a surf resort in West Aceh regency, after police accused him of going on a drunken rampage that left a fisherman with serious injuries.Risby-Jones was released from prison on Tuesday after he went through a restorative justice process and apologized for the attack and agreed to pay compensation to the fisherman’s family. That allowed him to avoid going to court and facing a possible charge of assault that could have landed him up to five years in prison.His lawyer, Idris Marbawi, said the two sides agreed that Risby-Jones would pay the fisherman’s family for hospital fees and a traditional peace ceremony. The total payme...

Montenegro holds snap parliamentary vote that could determine its EU path

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro is holding an early parliamentary election Sunday, a vote that could provide indications of whether the small NATO member in the Balkans will overcome the deep political divisions and instability that have hampered its route to joining the European Union.Some 542,000 voters are eligible to choose among 15 parties and coalitions fielding candidates, ranging from groups that are staunchly pro-Western to ones that are pro-Serbian and pro-Russian. The election will be Montenegro’s first in more than 30 years that does not feature Milo Djukanovic, who served almost continuously as the country’s prime minister or president since 2001. He lost a presidential election in April and has taken a back seat in politics.Polls and analysts predict that the centrist Europe Now movement, led by financial expert Milojko Spajic and the current president, Jakov Milatovic, is most likely to be the top vote-getter but without enough seats in parliament ...

Jamal Murray, and the five minutes that saved the Nuggets in Game 4: “I’m not going to fight it”

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

MIAMI – On the first possession after Nikola Jokic went to the bench with his fifth foul, the ball nearly rolled out of bounds.The broken play ended with Aaron Gordon chucking a desperation 3-pointer from the wing, and Denver’s lead, down to just eight only a few minutes into the fourth quarter, looked more tenuous than ever.The white-hot Heat crowd was roaring, sensing a momentary chance to stake their claim to these Finals.A lineup of Jamal Murray, Jeff Green, Bruce Brown, Christian Braun and Gordon was in and tasked with surviving the dreaded non-Jokic minutes. All that was on the line: a chance to push the Nuggets to the doorstep of their first-ever championship.But even on that first broken play, the Heat tipped their hand. Murray was unbothered.“Tonight it just felt like they were blitzing every pick-and-roll, just basically trying to limit my shot attempts, and I just wasn’t fighting it,” said Murray, who finished with 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting but dished 12 assist...

Kazakh President warns of threat to the very foundation of world order

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has warned that divisions within states and tensions between them are threatening to bring down the world order that has existed since the foundation of the United Nations. In his keynote speech to the Astana International Forum, the President called for nations to recognise the strong imperative to come together, even as geopolitical pressures are pushing them apart, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.Welcoming representatives of every continent and from the worlds of government, diplomacy, business, and academia to the Astana International Forum, President Tokayev said it was a dialogue platform with a mission, to candidly review the global situation, identify the leading challenges and crises and to tackle those challenges through dialogue in a spirit of mutual cooperation. Also to renew and rebuild a common culture of multilateralism and to amplify voices for peace, progress and solidarity. He said that the Forum explicit...

Serial liar finally found out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

Boris Johnson’s political obituaries have now been written, many recording how a combination of arrogance and laziness made him completely unfit to be Britain’s Prime Minister. And yet there is no escaping that he was a truly consequential politician, whose legacy will last long in the UK, the EU and beyond, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.There is a temptation to simply draw a line from Boris Johnson’s early career as a journalist once sacked for making up a ‘fact’ but then building a career based on fabricating ‘facts’ about the European Union. He has after all quit the British Parliament because it became clear that a report would find that he had lied to MPs about the drinking and partying in 10 Downing Street during the Covid pandemic.‘Serial liar finally found out’ is a tempting headline and not a wholly unfair one. But his decision to stand down as an MP “at least for now … bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically” deserves a wider assessment....

Nine people shot in San Francisco’s Mission District

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO – Nine people were shot Friday night in San Francisco’s Mission District, police said.Officers from the Mission Station were called to the area of 24th Street and Treat Avenue at 9:07 p.m. for a report of a shooting, a San Francisco police spokesperson said in an email. They arrived to find multiple people suffering from gunshot wounds.Medics were summoned to the scene to treat and transport the victims to area hospitals.“All are expected to survive their injuries,” police said in a social media post. “At this time, the incident appears to be targeted and isolated. There is no known threat to the public at this time.”KGO-TV reported that the shooting happened during a block party.Anyone with information related to the case can contact the police department at 650-575-4444. AVOID THE AREA Please avoid the area of 24th/Treat St as we conduct an investigation related to a shooting. At this time, can confirm multiple victims – their medical conditions are unknown. Up...

No more gambling site confusion: MDOT reclaims expired URL on license plates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

Marylanders were confused earlier this month when the website domain on the license plates of about 15% of registered vehicles in the state led computer users to an online gambling and virtual cockfighting website in the Philippines.The War of 1812 license plates were designed to commemorate the bicentennial of the war in 2007 and the URL used on the plates, www.starspangled200.org, led to the state’s War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission.Ownership of the domain changed when the commission ended in 2015. The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration recently took action to reclaim the expired domain, said Ashley Millner, deputy director of media relations, in an email to WTOP.“In partnership with the state Department of Information Technology, the MVA engaged the services of a reputable domain broker and was able to successfully recover the URL earlier this week,” Millner said.“Going forward, the MVA will maintain the URL, which will redirect visitors to the agency...

No pot by the ocean: Ocean City lawmakers take steps to prevent cannabis use

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

In less than a month, marijuana use and possession will be legal in Maryland. But Ocean City isn’t on board with any changes.Ahead of July 1 — when possessing and using small amounts of marijuana becomes legal in Maryland — Ocean City council members are taking steps to ensure most public places remain cannabis free.Councilmembers unanimously passed the first reading on an ordinance to ban cannabis consumption licenses and fine those that violate it, according to Ocean City Today.There are also discussions about how to prevent resort businesses from selling or allowing pot on their property. The existing laws that prevent smoking on the beach or boardwalk will remain in place.Source