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Have SF Giants come up short in Ohtani sweepstakes? Conflicting reports that a deal is in place with Blue Jays

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

The top-secret pursuit of the most coveted free agent in baseball history may — or may not — have reached its conclusion according to a series of conflicting reports Friday morning.If J.P. Hoornstra of Dodgers Nation and formerly the Southern California News Group, a partner of the Bay Area News Group, is to be believed, then the San Francisco Giants have come up short once again in their attempt to attract the game’s top talent on the open market.Shohei Ohtani's choice is in. This is not a drill.: https://t.co/7xWU2Rv6fp— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) December 8, 2023Hoornstra cited anonymous sources Friday morning saying that the two-way megastar had made his decision and will expand his global audience, eschewing the Giants and the front-runners in Los Angeles for the Toronto Blue Jays. Multiple other reports, including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of SportsNet, quickly pushed back and said no decision had been mad...

New SF exhibit reveals origins of those unforgettable Botticelli paintings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

Museum director Thomas Campbell calls “Botticelli Drawings,” the new exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, “a tour de force of scholarship and connoisseurship.”That’s effusive praise for an exhibit, on view through Feb. 11, which gathers a scant two dozen images from the Renaissance master, just about all that have survived for 500 years.These drawings, whether classical and religious figures or a “head of a man in near profile looking left,” were the source of details in paintings and other large-scale works.But the exhibit’s modest title and scholarly approach serve as a window into Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance, with a dozen paintings by him or attributed to his workshop also on view. They’re the vivid, dramatic culmination of the preparatory drawings.Of course his most famous paintings, “La Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus,” have not traveled from Italy to San Francisco. But there are discoveries to be made in the less familiar “Portrait of a Lady,” where the subj...

Mailbag: Explaining Oregon vs. Liberty, Baker’s proposal, the ‘Pac-2’ and Power Five status, the 2004 controversy and more

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

The Hotline mailbag publishes each Friday. Send questions to [email protected] and include ‘mailbag’ in the subject line. Or hit me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline.Please note: Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.I’ve seen no explanation of the College Football Playoff committee’s decision that No. 8 Oregon should get the honor of playing No. 23 Liberty. The committee started the New Year’s Six bowl lineup with No. 5 vs. No. 6. Why wasn’t No. 7 matched against No. 8 and so on, leaving No. 11 Mississippi to play Liberty? — Mike SThe Pac-12 bowl selection process unfolded exactly as expected, with one exception: Oregon’s opponent in the Fiesta Bowl.Fans are outraged by the matchup with Liberty. Why aren’t the Ducks facing another Power Five opponent? Why did the Fiesta Bowl stick them with a Group of Five foe?First of all, the Fiesta Bowl had nothing to do with it. The New Year’s Six assignments are made by the C...

Pope Francis makes first appearance since getting bronchitis

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

Associated PressROME — Pope Francis on Friday made his first public appearance outdoors since being stricken by bronchitis two weeks ago, which forced him to cancel a planned trip to the COP-28 climate conference in Dubai.The pope has been steadily recovering, and for the Dec. 8 holiday devoted to Mary kept a traditional appointment to pray at the Spanish Steps. He arrived in a black car, and blessed a crowd of onlookers before taking a seat in a chair facing a statue of the Madonna.The pontiff prayed for Mary’s mercy for “all the people oppressed by injustice and poverty, tried by war,” adding a special prayer for “the tormented Ukrainian people,” as well as Palestinians and Israelis “who have fallen back into a spiral of violence.”Francis also addressed violence against women, a topic that has resonated in Italy in recent weeks following the killing last month of a 22-year-old female student in northern Italy. “Mary, we need you as a...

Bighorn sheep in Colorado was single, ready to mingle … and stuck on a roof

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

A bighorn sheep became stuck on the roof and deck of a Boulder County home for more than 24 hours this week, likely while he was looking for a mate, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.A bighorn sheep became stuck on the roof and deck of a Boulder County home for more than 24 hours on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. The ram eventually left after Colorado Parks and Wildlife cut a space in a deck railing. (Provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife) Wildlife officers responded to a call about a ram stuck on the roof of a house in unincorporated Boulder County on Tuesday, said spokesperson Kara Van Hoos​e. The ram likely became stuck in the morning.“We were hoping he would come down on his own because he’s on the roof and realizes this is not a great spot for him to be,” Van Hoose said.The ram made it down to the deck of the house at some point and officers hoped he might be able to make it all the way down on his own, Van Hoose said. But after a day and a half, the ram wasn’t showing si...

6 projects in the remaking of San Jose’s downtown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

The transformation of a hotel tower into housing for San Jose State students stands to have a big effect on the character of downtown — but smaller projects will also contribute to the remaking of the city’s core.Some recent reports on changes downtown, with links to full articles:1/ Spartan Village on the Paseo. San Jose State University has leased the south tower of the Signia Hilton and said it plans to buy the building. The university will use the tower to house 700 to 800 students starting next fall, with amenities including “an expansive dining area and a community kitchen, a fitness center, a games room, co-learning spaces and a study lounge in the sky bridge,” SJSU said. | More images from the planned makeover2/ Home Eat. A new restaurant will take over the space formerly occupied by the Flames, in the ground floor of the parking garage across from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library.3/ Housing towers, Fourth & Santa Clara. Investors in a huge ...

State abortion bans bar exceptions for suicide, mental health

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

Sandhya Raman | (TNS) CQ-Roll CallIn the year since the Supreme Court outlawed the national right to an abortion, 18 states have implemented abortion bans that specify that mental health or suicidality do not qualify as a health-related exception for the woman — a deviation that’s occurring despite growing national momentum to treat physical and mental health equally.Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age. Nearly 23 percent of pregnancy-related deaths are attributed to mental health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“These are the conditions that are killing women and the absolute greatest risk factors for them are mental health conditions like depression and substance use disorders,” said Constance Guille, founder and director of the Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Division at the Medical University of South Carolina. “So these conditions are absolutely just as deadly as many other conditions in med...

Police deem Pleasant Hill shelter-in-place subject who allegedly shot wife 'no threat'

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

(KRON) -- The suspect at the center of a shelter-in-place in Pleasant Hill Thursday night shot his wife with a shotgun but was not taken into custody, according to the Pleasant Hill Police Department. Pleasant Hill PD responded to the residence on Cleopatra Drive shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday for a welfare check on a woman who reported to family that she'd been locked out of home by her husband, police said.At the scene, officers located the woman who had minor injuries to her lower body. Officers, police said, determined that the woman had tried to enter her home through a barricaded garage side door and that her husband had fired a single shot from a shotgun toward the door, striking his wife. Palo Alto mail carrier robbed by 2 men; $150,000 reward offered The woman was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and was later released. The husband remained inside the residence by himself, according to police.Officers secured the scene and called in crisis negotiat...

San Francisco man who pushed elderly woman off Muni bus arrested, police say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A San Francisco man who allegedly pushed an elderly woman off of a Muni bus and knocked her unconscious in September has been arrested, police said Friday. Police said the unprovoked bus push happened on Mission and 16th streets on September 7. A 76-year-old woman said she tried to board a city bus when a stranger pushed her, causing her to scream and fall backwards. The woman's head struck a concrete sidewalk and she lost consciousness, police said. The man got off the bus and walked away. Good Samaritans stopped and helped the unconscious woman until paramedics arrived. "SFPD would like to thank the bystanders who stopped and provided aid to the victim," the San Francisco Police Department wrote.Police viewed video footage of the bus assault. The video showed the man intentionally pushing the woman, "unprovoked, with his body as he exited the bus. The suspect did not stop as the victim screamed and fell backwards," SFPD wrote. The elderly woman later recove...

Chiefs missing 4 starters, including top RB Isiah Pacheco, with Buffalo visiting on Sunday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:49 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will be without four of their starters, including running back Isiah Pacheco and left tackle Donovan Smith on offense, when they play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.The Chiefs also will be without linebacker Drue Tranquill and safety Bryan Cook, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Friday.Pacheco, who had offseason shoulder surgery, bruised the same shoulder and missed the entire week of practice. The league’s fifth-leading rusher was coming off a big game, running 18 times for 110 yards and a score in a 27-19 loss to Green Bay.Former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has largely fallen out of favor in the Kansas City offense over the past two years, will start at running back against Buffalo. Jerick McKinnon will be back from a groin injury and back him up while Deneric Prince is expected to be elevated from the practice squad to provide additional depth.“(Edwards-Helaire) has been a really good mentor and leader in the room; it st...