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Column: A blown chance to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays and an injury to Justin Steele make the Chicago Cubs’ day a total loss

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

The Chicago Cubs were in prime position to end a horrible May on a positive note, threatening to send the Tampa Bay Rays to their first series sweep of the season.With a day off Thursday before a 10-game West Coast trip, a win over the mighty Rays would’ve been reason to believe the Cubs’ prolonged stretch of bad baseball was behind them.But a pair of late two-run homers off Mark Leiter Jr. gave the Rays a 4-3 comeback win in front of a sun-baked crowd of 29,360 at Wrigley Field, and an injury to Cubs starter Justin Steele made the day a total loss.Steele was removed after three innings with left forearm tightness, a move the left-hander labeled precautionary.“I’m really not too concerned about it,” Steele said, adding his forearm was “throbbing” after the second inning. But he went out to pitch the third.“Radar went way up, obviously,” manager David Ross said. “The trainers, they felt comfortable, and then watched him pump...

Officials urge students to get involved in open BPS summer programming, summer jobs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

With a “historic” increase to 17,000 BPS summer programming seats and 7,000 youth summer jobs this year, the programs are still looking to fill spots, the mayor and BPS superintendent emphasized.“We’re well ahead of last year for the registration,” Superintendent Mary Skipper said of summer programming at a media availability outside Charlestown High School around noon Wednesday. “But we would like to make sure every single one of those seats is actually filled. We know for every student who attends summer programming and is in session at least three days in the week, they come back more ready to learn, more wanting to learn and more engaged.”BPS added 2,000 additional summer programming seats, and the city added 1,000 youth job opportunities this year, doubling the number of jobs filled last year.“If there’s something you want to learn, there’s likely a program for you,” Skipper added, outlining BPS opportunities in ...

Hull’s extended election to cost taxpayers $20,000

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

Hull taxpayers may have to fork over roughly $20,000 when polls reopen for two hours in mid June after a raging fire prevented some residents from casting ballots during the May municipal election.Polls will be open June 13 between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Hull High School for any residents who couldn’t access the town’s lone polling place on May 15 due to the fire, officials announced Wednesday.A Brockton Superior Court justice last week ordered the small South Shore town to reopen the polls for two hours to ensure all residents had equal access to vote in the annual election, which officials say has had the strongest voter turnout in years.Justice Brian S. Glenny also ruled last Friday the approximately 2,480 votes cast in May would be counted, approving the town’s second emergency motion.“Despite the time and effort it has taken to get to this point, we are proud that we reacted quickly to protect the interests of all the voters of our good town,” Hull Town Clerk Lori West wrote in ...

Francisco Alvarez’s offensive spark puts him in All-Star Game conversation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

Voting for the 2023 MLB All-Star Game has officially opened and while Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo are early favorites, Mets rookie catcher Francisco Alvarez is also putting himself in the All-Star conversation.The 21-year-old has sparked a Mets’ offense that looked listless and, at times, lifeless only a month ago. The Mets desperately needed someone to drive in runners and Alvarez has done exactly that. His eight home runs are tied for the third-most out of all qualified rookies and his 19 RBI are tied for 10th.The Mets always knew they had something special in the Venezuelan backstop, but they weren’t expecting an offensive outburst like this in 2023. He started the season in Triple-A and likely would have stayed there had Omar Narvaez not gotten injured.“It’s not like it’s out of the realm of possibilities that he has that skill to be considered there, but we might not have thought that it was going to be this year, but maybe next year” manag...

East Boston man charged after alleged melee with cops on the Common over public drinking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

An East Boston man who police were going to cite for drinking in public instead ended up facing much more serious charges of two counts of assault and battery on a police officer.Boston bicycle cops were patrolling the Common at around 7 p.m. Friday and, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, saw a man walking around with a liquid they believe to be alcohol, which he tried to conceal when he caught a glimpse of one of the officers. The officers told him to stop but he allegedly tossed the bottle in the trash and, when they caught up with him, allegedly provided a false name and said he didn’t have an ID.Police say the man, later identified as Isaias Plaza, then tried to make a break for it but an officer grabbed his sweatshirt, causing Plaza to fight two officers. During the action, a silver pistol containing six rounds allegedly fell from Plaza. Police say he also had a baggie with a substance “believed to be crack cocaine.”Plaza, 23, of East B...

Volleyball tournament preview: Needham, Milford are the picks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

Much of the excitement in boys volleyball this year circled around the idea of just how thin the line is that separates the contenders. A parity-ridden regular season has confirmed that and the Div. 1 state tournament field has the potential to wash away the chalk.But ironically enough, the primary team most coaches were excited to catch up to is still unbeaten.Contenders across both divisions flooded to play top-seeded Needham (22-0) in a rigorous regular season, but the Rockets have overcome them all to increase their win streak to 68 games.There’s no reason to believe they can’t go the distance for a third straight year, only twice allowing a team to get two set victories against it. Two-time All-Scholastic senior Raymond Weng is one of the most elite, versatile players in the state, and pairs with All-Scholastic outside hitter Ethan McCarron to lead a collection of standouts who thrive in their respective roles.No. 2 Lowell (19-1) is on a collision course to meet the Rockets in ...

Massachusetts State Police investigating ‘several suspicious fires’ in Blue Hills Reservation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

State Police are investigating a recent string of “suspicious fires” in Blue Hills Reservation, as officials seek tips from the public about the intentionally set fires.There have been a number of burns in the park over the past few weeks amid very dry and windy conditions, according to the Friends of the Blue Hills. Under these dry and breezy weather conditions, fire becomes unpredictable and especially dangerous to firefighters.Massachusetts State Police are now trying to track down who’s setting these hazardous blazes in the reservation south of Boston.“State Police are investigating several suspicious fires in the area of the Blue Hills Reservation in recent weeks,” a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said in a statement on Wednesday.“We encourage anyone with information on intentionally set fires, whether in the Blue Hills or elsewhere, to contact the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit at 978-567...

Corporate Amazon workers protest company’s climate impact and return-to-office mandate in walkout

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

By ED KOMENDA (Associated Press)SEATTLE (AP) — Telling executives to “strive harder,” hundreds of corporate Amazon workers protested what they decried as the company’s lack of progress on climate goals and an inequitable return-to-office mandate during a lunchtime demonstration at its Seattle headquarters Wednesday.The protest came a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect returning workers to the office three days per week. Previously, team leaders were allowed to determine how their charges worked.The employees chanted their disappointment with the pace of the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint — “Emissions climbing, time to act” — and urged Amazon to return authority to team leaders when it comes to work location. Wearing a black pirate hat and red coat, Church Hindley, a quality assurance engineer, said working from home allowed him to live a better, healthier ...

MSPCA seeks to place 2,500 dogs into adoptive homes by the fall amid national crisis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

More than 100 dogs are up for adoption through MSPCA-Angell, and organization officials say they are seeking potential adopters who can immediately provide the pooches with forever homes.This is the beginning of an “ambitious” goal of placing 2,500 dogs into homes by the fall – a campaign spurred by what officials are describing as a crisis amid plummeting adoptions and overcrowded shelters.“For the MSPCA’s adoption campaign to be successful, the 142 dogs already bunking down in the organization’s adoption centers in Boston, Methuen, Salem, and Centerville on Cape Cod need to be placed in homes as soon as possible,” officials said in a release Wednesday.Mike Keiley, MSPCA’s director of adoption centers and programs, said the organization has taken in 10% more dogs so far this year compared to the first half of 2022 due to an increase in owner surrenders.The dogs currently at MSPCA are a mix of local surrenders and those brought here through transports, said Sara-Rose Brenner, senior...

Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout combine for 3 homers off Lance Lynn — totaling 1,345 feet— in the Chicago White Sox’s 12-5 loss

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:35:55 GMT

Mike Trout launched a 461-foot, two-run homer to left-center on Lance Lynn’s sixth pitch against the Los Angeles Angels.Two innings later, with Trout on first after getting hit by a pitch, Shohei Ohtani hit a 425-foot, two-run homer to center against the Chicago White Sox starter.Ohtani got to Lynn again the next inning with a 459-foot, two-run homer.Lynn and the Sox couldn’t slow the two superstars in a 12-5 loss in front of 17,015 on Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field.“You give up six runs on three swings, that just can’t happen,” Lynn said. “Especially the two guys that did it. Those are guys you can’t let beat you. And today I let them put it to where the (Sox) offense, it was too big of a hole for them.“I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be more efficient. I’ve got to make better pitches and get some outs there.”Lynn allowed eight runs on eight hits in four innings as the Sox lost two of three in the series...