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Cubs and Braves meet to decide series winner

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

Atlanta Braves (70-38, first in the NL East) vs. Chicago Cubs (57-54, third in the NL Central)Chicago; Sunday, 2:20 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Braves: Charlie Morton (10-9, 3.62 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 128 strikeouts); Cubs: Justin Steele (12-3, 3.03 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 106 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Braves -121, Cubs +101; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves meet on Sunday with the three-game series tied 1-1.Chicago has a 57-54 record overall and a 31-28 record at home. The Cubs have the fourth-ranked team slugging percentage in the NL at .422.Atlanta has a 33-18 record on the road and a 70-38 record overall. The Braves have the top team slugging percentage in the NL at .501.The matchup Sunday is the third meeting between these teams this season.TOP PERFORMERS: Nico Hoerner has 21 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and 58 RBI for the Cubs. Ian Happ is 9-for-34 with three doubles, five home runs and nine RBI over the last 10 games.Ronald Ac...

Nationals try to keep win streak going against the Reds

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

Washington Nationals (48-63, fifth in the NL East) vs. Cincinnati Reds (59-54, second in the NL Central)Cincinnati; Sunday, 1:40 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Nationals: Jake Irvin (3-5, 4.97 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 62 strikeouts); Reds: Lyon Richardson (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Reds -159, Nationals +136; over/under is 11 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Washington Nationals will try to keep their three-game win streak going when they visit the Cincinnati Reds.Cincinnati is 28-28 in home games and 59-54 overall. The Reds have the fifth-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .329.Washington has a 26-29 record on the road and a 48-63 record overall. Nationals hitters are batting a collective .259, the sixth-best team batting average in MLB play.The teams square off Sunday for the seventh time this season. The Reds lead the season series 4-2.TOP PERFORMERS: TJ Friedl has a .277 batting average to lead the Reds, and has 17 doubles, three triples and nine home runs. Matt McLain is 12-for-39 with ...

Cardinals and Rockies meet, winner secures 3-game series

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

Colorado Rockies (43-67, fifth in the NL West) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (49-63, fifth in the NL Central)St. Louis; Sunday, 2:15 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Rockies: Austin Gomber (8-8, 5.68 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 77 strikeouts); Cardinals: Zack Thompson (2-3, 4.76 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 21 strikeouts)BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies play on Sunday with the three-game series tied 1-1.St. Louis has a 25-32 record at home and a 49-63 record overall. Cardinals hitters have a collective .331 on-base percentage, the fourth-ranked percentage in the NL.Colorado has a 43-67 record overall and an 18-37 record on the road. The Rockies are 21-8 in games when they did not give up a home run.The matchup Sunday is the sixth time these teams match up this season. The Cardinals have a 3-2 advantage in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado has 21 doubles, two triples and 23 home runs for the Cardinals. Lars Nootbaar is 13-for-36 with two doubles, four home runs and seven RBI over ...

Pope announces next World Youth Day will be in Seoul, South Korea in 2027

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis announced Sunday that the next World Youth Day, the big Catholic faith festival, will be held in Seoul, South Korea in 2027.The announcement marks the first time the festival returns to Asia since 1995, when millions of people turned out for one of St. John Paul II’s biggest events, in Manila, Philippines.Francis shared the location for the coming year’s festival at the end of the Lisbon edition of World Youth Day.The Associated Press

Three dead in overnight airstrikes and shelling across Ukraine

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Three people have died during a night of air strikes and intense shelling across Ukraine, officials said Sunday, as Kyiv’s military exchanged fire with Russian occupation forces.Two people were killed and four more were injured following a Russian air strike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said the head of the local regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion center in the area’s Kupyan district late on August 5.“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life.”A woman in her eighties was also killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-held Donetsk, the city’s Moscow-appointed mayor Alexei Kulemzin said Sunday.The attack also set alight the main building of the M. Tugan-Baranovsky University of Economics and Trade, said the Moscow-installed he...

Pope wraps up World Youth Day with 1.5 million attendees and urges: ‘Do not be afraid of failing’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis told young people on Sunday the Catholic Church needs them and urged them to follow their dreams as he wrapped up World Youth Day in Portugal on Sunday with a massive open-air Mass for an estimated 1.5 million people.“Do not be afraid!” Francis told the vast crowd of pilgrims, many of whom camped out overnight on the Lisbon field so they could be in place for the grand finale of the Catholic festival.Francis largely stuck to script but again skipped much of his prepared homily, continuing the improvisation that has characterized his five-day trip to Portugal. Early on in his 10-year papacy, Francis would frequently go rogue and ignore his pre-planned speeches, seemingly moved by the moment to engage directly with even huge crowds of people. In more recent years, he largely stuck to script especially when visiting places where Christians are a minority or where his audiences might not appreciate his informal style.But in Lisbon, he’s been back on ...

Israeli troops prep West Bank home of Palestinian gunman for demolition following attack in Tel Aviv

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Sunday prepped the family home of a Palestinian gunman for demolition, a day after he killed an Israeli security guard in an attack.On Saturday a Palestinian gunman shot and killed 42-year-old security guard Chen Amir in central Tel Aviv. The attacker, identified by police as 27-year-old Kamel Abu Bakr, was shot at the scene and died later in hospital.Amir’s funeral was expected to take place Sunday. Saturday’s shooting came a day after two Israeli settlers were arrested on suspicion of killing a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Friday night. Palestinian officials said armed settlers entered the West Bank village of Burqa and shot 19-year-old Qusai Matan. The army said the Israeli settlers arrived in the area to herd sheep, leading to clashes between Israelis and Palestinians from the village. Israeli media reported that one of the suspects in the incident, Elisha Yered, was a former aide to an ultranationalist lawmaker in the “Jewish Powe...

At Cafesjian Art Trust’s ‘Highlights,’ a masterful curator showcases a prolific collection — but tickets are hard to come by

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

Most of the 3,500 or so artworks in the Cafesjian Art Trust’s collection spend their days in the museum’s attached warehouse, waiting for their turn in the gallery under curator Andy Schlauch’s carefully angled spotlights.Whereas other museums have vast permanent collections that are always on display, the CAT, which opened last year in Shoreview, works almost entirely in rotating exhibitions.The museum’s current show, “Highlights of the Collection,” opened in June and runs through Oct. 14. It’s the closest thing the museum may get to a permanent collection, Schlauch said.Figuring out how to distill local philanthropist Gerard Cafesjian’s collection into a coherent and digestible show was an exciting curatorial puzzle, which Schlauch pulled off very well. The gallery isn’t terribly large — ultimately, the show contains somewhere around 2 percent, tops, of the museum’s total collection — but the show is balanced and has an approachable flow.“There were a lot of things I wish I ...

Literary calendar for week of Aug. 6

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

LAURA CHILDS: Minnesotan Gerry Schmitt, writing as Childs, signs copies of her 26th Tea Shop Mystery, “Honey Drop Dead,” in which Charleston, S.C., tea shop owner Theodosia Browning hosts an elegant tea celebrating a new park with a community beekeeping project. When a phony beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests, the party ends in chaos. Then a shot rings out and a candidate for the state legislature falls to the ground. Of course he’s dead and Theo has to figure out why. Noon-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, Once Upon a Crime, 604 W. 26th St., Mpls.“None of This is True” by Lisa Jewell. (Courtesy photo)LISA JEWELL: Author of 19 critically-acclaimed novels discusses “None of This is True,” named one of the best books of summer by more than four national publications. This psychological thriller is about a woman who is the subject of her own popular true-crime podcast. In conversation with Minnesota mystery writer Allen Eskens. Pre...

Low-income families will benefit the most from DFLers tax changes. Here’s how.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:12:54 GMT

The tax rebates expected this fall have gotten the most attention, but there is much more in the $3 billion worth of tax changes approved by Minnesota lawmakers in May and much of it is tailored to help low-income families.Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party leaders say roughly $450 million annually of new and expanded tax credits for families with children should cut the state’s child poverty rate by one-third. More than 265,000 filers will benefit from the change.Lawmakers also modified the renters credit by allowing taxpayers to claim it on income tax forms. The change is expect to increase the number of residents who claim it. It will send about $375 million a year to lower-income renters to help them better afford housing.DFLers, who control both chambers of the state Legislature and the governor’s office, say they focused on these types of tax changes to try to address the growing income inequality in Minnesota that was made even more apparent during the coronavirus pand...