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Google says switching away from its search engine is easy. It’s not.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

Imagine if every time you went to the supermarket, your shopping cart came loaded with the same box of cereal.This cereal happens to be the most popular, so it’s convenient for the store to have it in the cart. If you don’t like it, it’s simple enough to put it back on the shelf and grab a different box.That’s essentially the crux of Google’s defense against the Justice Department in a consequential antitrust trial — the federal government’s first such case in the modern internet era — that is now unfolding in court.The government has accused Google of illegally using partnerships with handset makers, computer manufacturers and browser developers to stifle competitors in online search. Under those partnerships, the Justice Department argues, Google made its search engine the default service on an overwhelming majority of consumer electronics, including smartphones. That then deterred people from trying alternative search engines, such as Bing, DuckDuckGo and others.But Google ...

Grading The Week: Rockies manager Bud Black, pitcher whisperer? Not so much. Not anymore.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

Whatever Bud Black is whispering, they’re not listening.Remember when Black was hired as Rockies manager before the 2017 season and sold as a pitcher whisperer?Colorado had been grooming a bunch of young, live arms in Jon Gray, German Marquez, Tyler Chatwood, Tyler Anderson and Jeff Hoffman, with Kyle Freeland on the way. They just needed a sage, wise voice to get them in line and on track.And it worked. Black steered the Rox to the franchise’s first back-to-back playoff berths in ’17 and ’18 on the strength of that young rotation and on a rock-star infield with Arenado, Story and LeMahieu.But to the kids on the Grading The Week staff, Rocktober feels more like 15 years ago than five.And to be frank, as the Rox hit the 100-loss tape for the first time, we’ve been struggling all week at coming up with more than one starting pitcher under 29 years old whom Black and the Rockies have actually made better since 2019.Bud Black, developer of pitchers — D-Germ...

Opinion: New Supreme Court term will feature women’s rights issues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

The last two Supreme Court terms were a shock to the system. First came the Dobbs ruling that overturned the fundamental constitutional right to abortion care when it struck down Roe v. Wade.Then last year, the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action in college admissions, struck down the Biden administration’s student loan reforms, and gave businesses the right to discriminate against same-sex couples, to name just a few of the consequential decisions handed down by the most activist and ideological Supreme Court in memory.What can we expect from the term that’s about to begin? More of the same? Or even worse?Women will be watching this court to see how far it is prepared to push back against the principle that the government is responsible for expanding equality, fighting for justice and lifting the disadvantaged.We’ve been at this crossroads for too long. Nine justices — three appointed by Donald Trump — have unparalleled power, and last year, the new ultra-conservative majority ...

List: National Merit Scholarship semifinalists from California, class of 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

About 16,000 high school students in the graduating class of 2024 — less than 1 percent of U.S. seniors — were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program.The semifinalists, announced on Sept. 13, qualified based on their scores on the Preliminary SAT. About 95 percent are expected to attain finalist standing, and about half the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, to be announced in the spring.Below are the semifinalists from California, listed alphabetically by city (in bold) and high school.AGOURA HILLSAGOURA H. S.Ring, Calvin O.ALAMEDAALAMEDA H. S.Canavese, Madeleine G.Goldwasser, Bella R.Zhu, AngelicaALBANYALBANY H. S.Chen, Jeremy Y.Shen, Jonah Y.Xu, GraceYang, JustinYang, Nickolas X.ALHAMBRAALHAMBRA H. S.Wang, Raymond S.MARK KEPPEL H. S.Chu, Austin Y.Kamei, Kayla R.Wong, Eva M.ALISO VIEJOALISO NIGUEL H. S.Chen, Jayme J.Choe, Lea Ghosh, ArnabLee, Cooper G. Scherffius, Aidan J.Yang, Artemis I.ANAHEIMCANYON H. S.Patel, Jiya M. Rosu, Alexa...

Who might SF Giants pick to replace Gabe Kapler? A list of possible candidates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

The San Francisco Giants fired Gabe Kapler as their manager on Friday. Here are a few possible candidates to take Kapler’s place as the Giants’ full-time manager, starting next season.Internal candidatesRon Wotus: Wotus is just finishing his second season as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations. The longest-tenured coach in franchise history, Wotus is in his 36th year within the Giants organization. He joined the Giants’ staff in 1998 and worked under Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou, Bruce Bochy, and Kapler, working as a bench coach and third base coach.Mark Hallberg: Hallberg is finishing his second season as the Giants’ third base coach, as he took over the job after Wotus stepped aside. Spent five seasons in the minors from 2007 to 2011, including two seasons at Triple-A. His only managerial experience came in 2019 when he skippered the short-season A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in Oregon. He’s also coached in the Cape Cod League.Kai Correa: Now the Giants’...

Indiana woman sentenced to 18 years for fatally shooting DC love interest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

A woman from South Bend, Indiana, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for fatally shooting a D.C. man who she was casually dating and stalking in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.Officials said Nijinsky Dix, 40, pleaded guilty on Feb. 13 to a charge of second degree murder while armed after shooting 44-year-old Terry Hickman multiple times in his apartment on Nov. 14, 2020.A police investigation found that Dix, a doctoral student and an employee of the University of Notre Dame, had met Hickman at a bar near South Bend in late February 2020 and the two began “a casual pandemic relationship” that lasted a few months.Hickman was recently divorced and did not want a serious relationship with Dix, according to a release. Dix didn’t accept this and continued to insinuate herself into Hickman’s life.The Justice Department said she was “reaching out to members of his family for support and advice, offering money, trips, and jewelry to th...

Europe thumps Americans again and closes in on Ryder Cup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg put Europe in the record book with the shortest match in Ryder Cup history, a symbol of its utter dominance over the Americans at Marco Simone.The Scandinavia super duo — Hovland of Norway, the FedEx Cup champion, and Aberg of Sweden, only four months removed from college — beat Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka so badly in foursomes Saturday morning that it was over in 2 hours, 20 minutes.The 9-and-7 victory was the biggest margin for any match over 18 holes in Ryder Cup history, a beating so bad that Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player, was wiping away tears.Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood outlasted Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in 17 holes, and Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton delivered the clutch shots on their last two holes to beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.That stretched the lead to 9 1/2 to 2 1/2, the largest lead by any team after three sessions in the current format.U.S. captain Zach Johnso...

Un deslizamiento de tierra deja 10 desaparecidos en Guatemala

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

(CNN en Español) — Este sábado, los bomberos voluntarios de Guatemala informaron a través de un comunicado que se presentó un deslizamiento de tierra en el área de Concepción las Minas, Chiquimula, dejando como saldo 10 personas desaparecidas.Hasta el momento las autoridades no han reportado muertos o heridos.Noticia en desarrollo.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.Source

Kyiv removes Hungary bank OTP from blacklist in bid to unlock EU aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

The Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) announced on Friday that it temporarily removed Hungary’s OTP Bank from a list of “international sponsors of war,” a move the agency said was aimed at securing Budapest’s support for the latest package of EU military aid to Ukraine. The anti-corruption agency said in a statement that the decision was the result of negotiations with the bank and officials in Budapest. A permanent removal from the blacklist will depend on the bank’s willingness to terminate cooperation with Russia, the agency said.The Hungarian bank was added to the blacklist in May because of the “position of the bank’s management to continue operations in Russia.” The “war sponsors” list was created in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in an attempt to deter companies from maintaining their operations in Russia.“The agency hopes that this decisi...

Gloomy weekend start, sun to end it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:16 GMT

Welcome to our 18th weekend with rain since June 1st! Woof… luckily, the weekend will improve as we go forward. This morning, light showers are falling across western Mass and southeast Mass. Dry air is chewing away at the moisture elsewhere. This rain is part of an area of low pressure to our south that will continue to pinwheel in moisture before it exits into tomorrow.We’ll clear the showers northwest to southeast through the day. Clouds will peel away quicker for areas north and west, and that’s where temperatures will climb a couple more degrees. MetroWest will still hold on to a lot of clouds so temperatures will stay below average in the low 60s. Spotty showers linger through tonight across the Cape and Islands.We’ll continue to clear out overnight. Temperatures inland will fall into the 50s. Towns on the coast and Cape will be near the upper 50s/60 thanks to thicker cloud cover.Tomorrow is our better day of the weekend – hooray!Temperatures warm...