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Thrifty at the top: Orioles and Rays among MLB’s lowest payrolls, highest win totals

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

The Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays each fielded full lineups Wednesday that will be paid less this year than several players on the New York Yankees. Their payrolls haven’t mattered, though. The two thrifty teams have the highest win totals in the American League.Baltimore’s 10 starters in Wednesday night’s 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals included its highest-paid player, pitcher Kyle Gibson, but their entire lineup combined to total less in payroll than Yankee superstars Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton are each paid individually in 2023.Baltimore (91-54) and Tampa Bay (90-57) have piled up victories this season — they’re the only AL teams with 90 wins — with prudent budgets. The teams rank 27th and 28th among MLB player payrolls, according to Spotrac, but have the second- and third-best records in baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Yankees have spent more on players this year, but all sit below the Orioles and Rays...

Orioles ready for high-stakes series vs. Rays in battle for AL East: ‘It’s going to be electric’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

Brandon Hyde is one of the few in the Orioles’ dugout with postseason experience.“It’s totally different,” the former Chicago Cubs assistant and current Orioles manager said. “You’ve got serious adrenaline going.”The upcoming series against the Tampa Bay Rays — the Orioles’ most consequential set in years — will feel as close to playoff baseball as perhaps any in the regular season can.The fate of the American League East is in the balance, and the way the four games at Camden Yards play out will have an outsized impact on determining who will claim the top spot by season’s end. Baltimore owns a two-game lead over Tampa Bay ahead of Thursday’s opener with the potential of clinching its first playoff berth since 2016 as early as Friday.Outfielder Austin Hays, one of several veterans who braved the club’s painful rebuild, said the Orioles have done well at focusing on their games rather than how the Rays are...

2023 Toyota Prius is redesigned and revitalized

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

While the originator of the hybrid electric continues to leave its mark on the auto industry, consumers continue to enjoy great pricing, fuel mileage while not sacrificing space and usability. For Toyota, the Prius is a staple to the fleet and one that deserves nicely sized recognition.In 2023, and over a quarter of a century in the Toyota fleet, a 5th generation Prius is released and now with a 2.0L 4-cylinder hybrid engine with front wheel drive. Our tester, a 2023 Prius Limited wrapped in Reservoir Blue, had very nice appeal. 6 model options exist in the Prius fleet with Limited AWD topping the Hybrid sedan option. Our Limited tester came with heated rear seats and a digital rearview mirror. 33 accessory options such as all-weather floor mats, body side moldings etc. are also available for purchase but in our tester we only experienced the cargo mat in the trunk.On the exterior, it’s all about increased styling. With a redesigned front fascia and windshield design, we notic...

Venice faces possible UNESCO downgrade as it struggles to manage mass tourism

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

VENICE, Italy (AP) — A scowling gondoliere ferrying sightseers 10 at a time across the mouth of Venice’s Grand Canal scolds passengers to sit still and frets over being shorted the bargain 2-euro fare.The brief journey perched along the sides of a packed gondola is a far cry from romantic scenes of gondolieres serenading couples as they ply Venice’s picturesque canals but is emblematic of the city’s plunge into mass tourism.The storied and fragile lagoon city is not alone in its struggle to manage an onslaught of tourists in the low-cost flight era. But the stakes are particularly high this week as the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decides whether to add Venice to its list of endangered world sites. A decision could come as early as Thursday. A declassification would appear an indictment of the city’s management of tourism, after it escaped a downgrade two years ago when the Rome government enacted a ban on cruise ships off St. Mark’s Square and in the Giudecca canal. ...

UK police pay damages and express regret to protesters arrested at London vigil for murdered woman

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British police have paid damages to two protesters who were arrested while attending a vigil for a woman murdered by a serving police officer. Thursday’s announcement comes as the London force tries to rebuild trust after a series of incidents that exposed racism and sexism within its ranks.Patsy Stevenson and Dania Al-Obeid were detained at the March 2021 protest vigil in London, which police said violated pandemic lockdown rules in place at the time.The gathering was called after Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London woman, was abducted and murdered by an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer as she walked home at night.The crime shocked the country, angered many women and raised questions about a police force that unknowingly harbored a murderer in its ranks. Police officer Wayne Couzens later pleaded guilty to Everard’s murder and was sentenced to life in prison.A planned vigil was canceled after police told organizers it would violate coronavirus restrictions, ...

Spain records its third hottest summer since records began as a drought drags on

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain this year recorded its third hottest summer since official records began 62 years ago, authorities said Thursday, with temperatures peaking at 46.8 C (116 F) as the country’s severe drought dragged on.The average summer temperature was 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.34 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, the Spanish weather agency AEMET said.The World Meteorological Organization said last week that last month wasn’t only the world’s hottest August scientists ever recorded by far. It was also the second hottest month measured after July 2023.Since 1961, mainland Spain’s average temperature has risen 1.6 degrees C (2.88 degrees F), according to AEMET.Spain’s two hottest summers were in 2022 and 2003.This year’s January-August period in Spain equaled the same periods in 2022 and 2020 as the country’s hottest ever recorded over those months, AEMET said.At the same time, this summer was the rainiest since the turn of the century, AEMET said, though most of Spa...

Video shows fists flying during rush hour wrestling match on Toronto highway

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

Toronto traffic is often frustrating enough to bring on bouts of road rage, but new video making the rounds on social media appears to show two men taking their exasperation to an extreme level.The footage, captured by motorists from multiples angles, shows two men engaged in a wrestling match in live lanes of Highway 401 during evening rush hour traffic.A man who recorded the incident tells CityNews it happened around 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the westbound lanes of the highway near Leslie Street.Another View: Road Rage Turns Into Wrestling Match On Hwy401. Via: Insta/areacode416ix .#HWY401 #ONHwys #ONpoli #RoadRage #fight #Ontario #Toronto #TrafficAlert #trucking #TruckDriver #Transportation #RoadSafety pic.twitter.com/4Lk5hFA0qY— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) September 13, 2023Road Rage Turns Into Wrestling Match On Hwy401. @WhosHassan .#HWY401 #ONHwys #ONpoli #RoadRage #fight #Ontario #Toronto #TrafficAlert #trucking #TruckDriver #Transportation #RoadSafety pic.twitter.c...

Serbia and Kosovo leaders hold long-awaited face-to-face talks as the EU seeks to dial down tensions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo held a long-awaited face-to-face meeting on Thursday in talks aimed aimed at improving their strained relations as calls mount for a change in the Western diplomatic approach toward them amid concern that their tensions could spiral out of control.Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti are in Brussels for talks under the so-called Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process, supervised by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.The last round of the dialogue in June ended without producing any obvious results. Vučić and Kurti refused to meet in person, and Borrell, who held talks separately with both men, conceded that they have “different interpretations of the causes and also the facts, consequences and solutions.”In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Borrell wrote that it was time to begin applying the agreement on the path toward normalization “in earnest. Today, we will see if they ar...

Biden’s rules on clean cars face a crucial test as Republican-led challenges go to an appeals court

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts by the Biden administration to limit pollution from automobile tailpipes — a major source of planet-warming emissions — face a crucial test as legal challenges brought by Republican-led states head to a federal appeals court.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments Thursday and Friday on three cases challenging Biden administration rules targeting cars and trucks. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, and the legal cases could go all the way to the Supreme Court.Republican attorneys general say the legal challenges are needed to curtail government overreach, while environmental groups and the Democratic administration say an adverse ruling could jeopardize protections against deadly pollution that contributes to climate change.The cases before the appeals court will test a 2021 Environmental Protection Agency rule that strengthened tailpipe pollution limi...

Spain’s women’s soccer league players call off strike after reaching a deal for higher minimum wage

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

MADRID (AP) — The players in Spain’s women’s soccer league have called off a strike after reaching a deal to increase minimum wage, the league and unions said Thursday.The first set of games was not played last weekend because of the strike, but the second block of matches will now go ahead as scheduled.The minimum salary for the women’s league until now was 16,000 euros ($17,100), compared to 182,000 euros ($195,000) for the men’s league.The new deal will increase the minimum wage for the women’s league to 21,000 euros ($22,500) this season, with that sum rising to 23,500 euros ($25,200) by 2025. It could go even higher depending on revenue.Last season, of 334 players, 80 players made less than 20,000 euros ($21,400) per year, while the average salary was about 40,000 euros ($42,900), according to the league.The strike, which was announced last week by the players, coincided with the scandal caused by Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales when he kissed a na...