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Defending champion Aces return to WNBA Finals, beat Wings 64-61 to complete sweep

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A’ja Wilson had 13 points and 13 rebounds, including a tying layup late, and the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces advanced to the finals for the third time in four years, scoring the game’s final 11 points to beat the Dallas Wings 64-61 on Friday night.Alysha Clark made a tiebreaking free throw with 1:45 left. Jackie Young added two more free throws with 2 seconds remaining — after the Wings had missed two potential go-ahead shots — and Las Vegas completed a three-game sweep.The Wings, hosting a semifinal game for the first time since the franchise moved from Tulsa to North Texas in 2016, had a 61-53 lead when Arike Ogunbowale made a running layup with 4:59 left. They didn’t score again.Ogunbowale, who finished with a game-high 18 points, came up short on a 3-pointer as time expired after Dallas was able to call timeout and get one more shot.Even though Dallas was focused defensively on Wilson, ending her WNBA record string of three co...

Urquidy brilliant in emergency start, pitches Astros to crucial 2-1 win over Diamondbacks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — José Abreu hit a two-run double, José Urquidy pitched six shutout innings in an emergency start and the Houston Astros held off the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 on Friday night.Gold Glove shortstop Jeremy Peña made a diving play that kept the Astros ahead in the eighth, and the defending World Series champions strengthened their position in the American League playoff race. Houston holds the final wild card and could still catch Texas atop the AL West. The Diamondbacks trailed 2-0 going into the ninth before Alek Thomas reached with one out on an error by second baseman Jose Altuve. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. struck out but Gabriel Moreno followed with an RBI double off the left-center fence that was just shy of a homer.Ryan Pressly then coaxed a weak groundout from Jace Peterson for his 31st save.The loss denied Arizona a chance to clinch a postseason berth, but the D-backs are still in good position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017. They’re in the secon...

Silas Bolden has 2 TDs to help No. 19 Oregon State beat No. 10 Utah 21-7

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Silas Bolden caught a 27-yard touchdown pass and ran 45 yards for another score and No. 19 Oregon State handed No. 10 Utah its first loss of the season with a 21-7 victory Friday night. Damien Martinez added an early touchdown dash and the Beavers (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) rebounded from last weekend’s close loss to No. 16 Washington State. Utah (4-1, 1-1) was still without quarterback Cam Rising, who warmed up with the team but was in street clothes at kickoff. Rising, a sixth-year senior who has led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 titles, tore his left ACL during the Rose Bowl in January and needed surgery. He has been practicing with the team, splitting reps with Nate Johnson, but hasn’t been cleared to play. Johnson, making his third straight start, completed just three of 12 passes for 35 yards before he was replaced with Bryson Barnes in the third quarter. Last weekend after Utah’s 14-7 victory over UCLA, Johnson apologized on social media for the la...

Daniel gets first major league win as Angels beat A’s 5-1 in Oakland’s 111th loss

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Davis Daniel pitched five scoreless innings for his first major league win, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat Oakland 5-1 on Friday night and sending the Athletics to their 111th loss.Chase Silseth returned from a concussion to make his first start since Aug. 26 and allowed one run and two hits in four innings. He had been sidelined since he was hit by an errant throw from third baseman Trey Cabbage.Daniel (1-1), a 26-year-old right-hander who made his major league debut on Sept. 7, completed the four-hitter. He struck out two and walked one in his third big league appearance.Mickey Moniak, who had been out since Sept. 5 with left back tightness, hit a two-run homer in the fifth off Ken Waldichuk (4-9).David Fletcher and Nolan Schanuel had RBI singles in the fourth, and the Angels got another run when left fielder JJ Bleday bobbled Schanuel’s hit and then hooked his throw wide of third for a double error.Oakland (49-111) is on a 3-12 skid, and has the ...

Column: The Chicago Cubs’ playoff fate could be decided Saturday after a gut-wrenching loss to the Milwaukee Brewers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

After another tough one-run loss Friday night at American Family Field, the Chicago Cubs found themselves on the brink of elimination with two games remaining.A season marked by wild swings was about to end, perhaps as soon as Saturday night in Milwaukee.Manager David Ross said after the gut-wrenching 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Brewers that the feeling in the clubhouse was no different than it had been the last week or so.“Same as it’s been,” Ross said. “We’ve got to win every game. It’s been that way for a while now. I know the score.”In a season as crazy as this, the possibility of overtime seemed like the perfect ending for a Cubs team that has gone from 10 games under .500 to playoff contender to potentially collapsing with 14 losses in 20 games down the stretch.The Miami Marlins’ suspended game against the New York Mets on Thursday meant the Cubs could have forced them to play the final inning Monday to beat them out for t...

Emerging election issues in New Jersey include lawsuits over outing trans students, offshore wind

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Republicans are seizing on flashpoint issues in this year’s election, aiming to energize voters over the state’s lawsuits against school districts to stop them from outing transgender students to their parents as well as stoking skepticism toward offshore wind turbines.Both subjects are turning up in GOP talking points, fueling the party’s hopes of expanding Republican victories from two years ago when they netted seven seats in the Assembly and Senate. All 80 seats in the Assembly and all 40 in the Senate are up for grabs this November, with mail-in ballots already going out to voters. Democrats have a nearly million-voter registration advantage over Republicans, and they also controlled the redistricting process last year when they had little incentive to redraw maps unfavorably to their party. Democrats, meanwhile, are pointing to what they said was a lesson learned from a close gubernatorial race in 2021: Focus on affordability, ...

An arrest has been made in Tupac Shakur’s killing. Here’s what we know about the case and the rapper

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An arrest has been made in Tupac Shakur’s killing, the latest twist in one of the biggest unsolved cases in hip-hop history.Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested on suspicion of murder early Friday morning and has been indicted on a murder charge in Las Vegas.The case returned to the spotlight in July when Nevada authorities served a search warrant in connection with the rap star’s shooting death. Here’s what to know about one of the most infamous fatal shootings in hip-hop history: WHAT’S NEW IN THE INVESTIGATION?Authorities on Friday arrested Davis, who’s name has long been linked with Shakur’s death. He is the relative of a man who emerged as a suspect shortly after the rapper’s killing. Shakur was gunned down while riding in a car on the Las Vegas strip on Sept. 7, 1996.In July, authorities executed a warrant in the nearby city of Henderson at Davis’ house. He’s the uncle of Orlando Anderson, one of Shakur’s known rivals who authorit...

New York stunned and swamped by record-breaking rainfall as more downpours are expected

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — One of New York’s wettest days in decades left the metropolitan area stunned and swamped Friday after heavy rainfall knocked out several subway and commuter rail lines, stranded drivers on highways, flooded basements and shuttered a terminal at LaGuardia Airport for hours.Some 8.65 inches (21.97 centimeters) of rain had fallen at John F. Kennedy Airport by nightfall Friday, surpassing the record for any September day set during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.Parts of Brooklyn saw more than 7.25 inches (18.41 centimeters), with at least one spot recording 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) in a single hour, according to weather and city officials. More downpours were expected Saturday. The deluge came two years after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped record-breaking rain on the Northeast and killed at least 13 people in New York City, mostly in flooded basement apartments. Although no deaths or severe injuries have been reported, Friday...

Colorado laws that add 3-day wait period to buy guns and open paths to sue gun industry take effect

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

DENVER (AP) — When two Colorado gun control laws take effect Sunday, purchasing a firearm will require a three-day waiting period — meant to curtail suicide attempts and shootings — and gun violence victims will have an easier path toward filing lawsuits against the firearm industry.The laws, pushed through Colorado’s Democrat-controlled legislature this year, come as violent crime and mass shootings surge nationwide — including last year’s bloodshed at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, where a gunman killed five people and wounded 17 others.The new laws edge the once-purple Colorado nearer the Democratic bastions of California and New York. But gun groups have vowed to challenge the restrictions in court, encouraged by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded gun rights last year.The Colorado laws were spurred by waves of protests over gun violence this year. Students flooded the Colorado Capitol’s halls in March after a high school student was shot and ki...

Video provides first clear views of WWII aircraft carriers lost in the pivotal Battle of Midway

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:34:55 GMT

Footage from deep in the Pacific Ocean has given the first detailed look at three World War II aircraft carriers that sank in the pivotal Battle of Midway and could help solve mysteries about the days-long barrage that marked a shift in control of the Pacific theater from Japanese to U.S. forces.Remote submersibles operating 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) below the surface conducted extensive archeological surveys in September of the Akagi and the Kaga, two of the four Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers destroyed during the June 1942 battle, as well as the U.S.S. Yorktown.The high-quality video includes the official identification of the Akagi, while also providing new clues about the final hours of the aircraft carriers. The footage shows how the island, or the tall structure that rose above the Yorktown’s wooden deck, was damaged by extremely high heat and how the crew went to great lengths to keep the American ship from sinking.Julian Hodges, one of the last living veterans who s...