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Blue Jays to open Rogers Centre roof on earliest date ever tonight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

The Toronto Blue Jays will play with the roof open at Rogers Centre for the earliest time on the calendar in history on Wednesday when the club hosts the Detroit Tigers in the second home game of the year.The club announced the roof status just under four hours before game time.The Roof is OPEN tonight Enjoy it, #BlueJays fans! pic.twitter.com/S9qM5zPt4F— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 12, 2023The April 12 opening is four days ahead of the previous earliest date — April 16, 2002, against the Boston Red Sox when the Blue Jays lost 14-3. The stadium opened in 1989.Unseasonably warm weather was expected to lift the temperature to a high of 29 C in Toronto on Wednesday, though it will dip for the 7:07 p.m. ET / 4:07 p.m. PT first pitch and as the game goes along.Some were wondering if the roof would be opened for the home opener at the newly renovated stadium on Tuesday when the temperature was cooler, but still above normal. However, GM Ross Atkins said tests still had...

911 calls show chaotic moments during Kentucky bank shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Frantic calls from witnesses reporting a mass shooting at a Louisville bank were released Wednesday by police — including from a woman who was on a virtual meeting and saw the shooter, as well as one from the man’s mother, who told a 911 operator that her son “currently has a gun and is heading toward” the bank.“I need your help. He’s never hurt anyone, he’s a good kid,” said the woman, who identified herself as the gunman’s mother.None of the callers are identified by name and other information is edited out of the calls, but the first call that came in was from a woman who was on a video call inside the bank. She screams and cries throughout the four-minute call and says there is an active shooter at the downtown branch of the bank.“I just watched it on a Teams meeting,” she says. “We were having a board meeting. With our commercial (lending) team.”“We heard multiple shots and everybody started saying, ’Oh my God and then he came into...

Los Angeles DA files charges against 2 cops in 2020 shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two former Los Angeles-area police detectives have been charged in the 2020 shooting of an unarmed man that left him paralyzed from the waist down, the district attorney said Wednesday.Former Whittier detectives Cynthia Lopez and Salvador Murillo opened fire on April 30, 2020, as Nicholas Carrillo ran from them. Two bullets struck him in the back — one severing his spinal cord — as he climbed a fence to escape. “Although he was lucky to survive, his life was forever changed and he must now begin using a wheelchair,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Wednesday during a news conference.Murillo is charged with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and two counts of assault under color of authority. Lopez faces two counts of assault under color of authority, one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle and one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Prosecutors filed the charges Tuesday. The detectives were in plainclothes a...

Prairie premiers’ fears about Lametti comments have ‘no grounding in truth’: Trudeau

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Prairie premiers of distorting the words of his justice minister after comments David Lametti made at a meeting of Assembly of First Nations chiefs last week.Lametti told the meeting he would commit to “looking at” federal-provincial natural resource transfer agreements, after some chiefs called for Ottawa to repeal the law that gives the four western provinces control over resource development. The premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba released a joint statement asking Trudeau to “immediately retract these dangerous and divisive comments,” saying the agreements are fundamental to the provinces’ economic autonomy. Meanwhile, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs praised what they took as Lametti’s commitment to review the law. “With First Nations’ rights to self-governance, royalties and compensation for extracting renewable and non...

City of Toronto, MLSE draft deal protecting company from 2026 World Cup losses

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

TORONTO — The City of Toronto and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment have drafted an agreement detailing their proposed partnership surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which aims to shield the company from suffering any losses related to matches in Toronto.  Canada is co-hosting the tournament along with Mexico and the United States. In June, Toronto was named as one of the host cities.  The city’s Feb. 10 letter of intent addressed to MLSE states that the company will serve as the project manager for upgrades to the downtown BMO Field stadium and the MLSE training facilities in Toronto’s north end, which will both be used for the tournament.The letter sent by the city to The Canadian Press outlines “principles” that will govern future “Definitive Agreements” between Toronto and the company, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.  Those include “keeping MLSE ‘whole’ financially,” but “without ‘double dipp...

Members of public service union vote in favour of federal strike mandate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Members of the public service’s largest union, which represents more than 120,000 federal workers, have voted in favour of a strike mandate.The Public Service Alliance of Canada can now launch a strike anytime in the next 60 days, with national president Chris Aylward saying workers were prepared to strike as soon as Wednesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that the government believes in collective bargaining and is looking closely to ensure that it can still deliver important services. Trudeau acknowledged that some federal workers are hurting.“We know they are challenged with the rising cost of living as so many people are, we see inflation starting to come down and those conversations will continue to happen at the bargaining table,” he said. Aylward said at a press conference Wednesday morning that bargaining for fair wages is top of mind and members are prepared to strike for as long as it takes. “The majority of our members are ...

Alleged boat pilot charged in English Channel migrant deaths

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A man who allegedly piloted a small boat packed with migrants that capsized while crossing the English Channel in December has been charged with four counts of manslaughter.Ibrahima Bah, 19, is due to appear at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to face the charges related to the Dec. 14, 2022 capsizing. His nationality was not made public.Helicopters and lifeboats that responded to a distress call in the night rescued 39 people — many plucked from the frigid waters — off the coast of southern England, authorities said. Four bodies were recovered.The British government has been trying to dissuade migrants from coming to the U.K. and has been trying to stop smugglers, who charge thousands of dollars per person to cross the Channel in flimsy inflatable boats. At least 27 people died when a boat sank in November 2021. Bah also faces a charge of facilitating attempted illegal entry into the United Kingdom. He is due to stand trial for that crime later this year.The ...

Judge blocks rules intended to protect nation’s waterways

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a federal rule in 24 states that is intended to protect thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways throughout the nation.U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland in Bismarck, North Dakota, halted the regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the 24 states, most of which are led by Republicans. The regulations were finalized in December 2022, repealing a rule implemented during President Donald Trump’s administration but thrown out by federal courts.Opponents of the regulations, which define which “waters of the United States” are protected by the Clean Water Act, have called the rules an example of federal overreach and argued they would unfairly burden farmers and ranchers. The preliminary injunction affects Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Misso...

Former Art Institute of Chicago payroll manager admits to stealing millions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

CHICAGO — A former payroll manager for the Art Institute of Chicago, accused of misappropriating more than $2 million in museum funds, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court. Michael Maurello, 56, of Beach Park, was federally charged with multiple counts of wire fraud and bank fraud after being accused of depositing museum funds into his personal bank account from 2007-2020.SEE ALSO | Juul to pay $462 million settlement to 6 states including IllinoisAccording to a written plea agreement, Maurello admitted to keeping spreadsheets and notes to track the misappropriated money so that he could later make reversals within the payroll system.When asked about such payments in January 2020, Maurello lied to the museum’s assistant controller and later edited and altered a report from the museum’s payroll system to hide information about the stolen funds.Maurello will be sentenced on Sept. 14. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison followed by up to three years on supervised rel...

It's a different feel in this Bulls' postseason in 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:00 GMT

Matt Peck of CHGO joined "9 Good Minutes" on WGN News Now, an online talk show that features local journalists discussing a wide variety of Chicago sports topics.TORONTO — Getting back to postseason play hasn't been the celebration it was a year ago for a franchise that is looking to return to the top of the National Basketball Association.While fans weren't naive to the fact that the team needed work in April 2022, winning 45 games and returning to the playoffs was something to feel good about. It was a small step back to respectability after a mostly forgettable Fred Hoiberg and Jim Boylan era that saw the team miss the playoffs for four-straight campaigns.But an inactive offseason started turning the tide more towards the negative and that only continued into an inconsistent regular season. Never were the Bulls over .500 after November 2, never winning more than three games in a row over the 82-game slate.Great efforts against some of the NBA's best were often followed by lacklus...