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From Venezuela to Coors Field, Yonathan Daza took path to majors familiar to many Latin American players

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

Colorado Rockies center fielder Yonathan Daza (2) during 2023 media photo day at spring training at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Feb. 24, 2023, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The image is an in-camera multiple exposure, created with two images merged into a single frame. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)From playing baseball with a stick in the streets of Maracy, Venezuela, to hitting at spacious Coors Field, Yonathan Daza hiked a steep road to the majors, one familiar to many Latin American prospects.Daza’s challenges were both common (new language/culture) and tragically uncommon (a rocky childhood that included the loss of his older brother to gun violence).But the Rockies’ outfielder insists that those difficult times made him into the player he is today.“(My upbringing in Venezuela) made me a lot stronger, for sure. It matured me as a person,” he said. “The things I experienced at home gave me no fears to get through the minors. I think it helped ...

Avs Mailbag: Will Gabriel Landeskog return in time for start of Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

Denver Post sports writer Bennett Durando opens up the Avs Mailbag periodically throughout the season. Pose an Avalanche- or NHL-related question for the Avs Mailbag.Do you see a major shakeup this offseason on the roster? The cap situation looks really bleak.— @Pokecheque (via Twitter)Definitely not a major shakeup, but cap navigation is a natural consequence of winning a championship. The Avs are actually pretty fortunate to have five top-six forwards locked up for the next two years after this: Nathan MacKinnon through 2031, Valeri Nichushkin through 2030, Gabriel Landeskog through 2029, Artturi Lehkonen through 2028 and Mikko Rantanen through 2025. Those five contracts equal $39.475 million — about 47% of next season’s projected $83.5 million salary cap.Four of Colorado’s top-five defensemen also remain under contract next season, equaling $22.6 million (27%). In total, the Avs have 13 returning contracts worth a combined $64.875 million. That covers most...

UK's Prince William visits troops in Poland on surprise trip

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

Prince William, the British prince, visited Poland unannounced Wednesday (22 March) to express gratitude to British and Polish troops for their support of Ukraine. He also met refugees fleeing Russia to share their stories.His office stated that the heir-to the throne traveled to Rzeszow, in southeast Poland, to meet Mariusz Blaszczak (Defence Minister), and to speak with members of the Polish defense force and British troops stationed there.Following Russia's invasion, the NATO builds up strength on its eastern flank. The British are part of that NATO deployment.Although the royal's trip is not being publicised, his spokesperson stated that William was keen for it to go ahead and that it was something he requested.William stated that he was present to express gratitude to the British and Polish troops for their close partnership. "I also want pay tribute to the ingenious humanity of the Polish people. Your hearts have been as open as your homes.The Prince of Wales will travel to Wa...

Endangered hooded vulture escapes from Oakland zoo after aviary was hit by fallen tree

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

OAKLAND — An endangered hooded vulture escaped from the Oakland zoo aviary that was destroyed after a massive tree fell on it during a storm. But the bird has remained on zoo grounds, and officials were working Thursday to entice it back.The male hooded vulture and five other exotic birds, including two pied crows and three superb starlings, flew out from the aviary at the Oakland Zoo on Tuesday amid a wind-packed storm that pummeled the Bay Area, zoo spokeswoman Erin Dogan said.But the birds stayed on zoo grounds, and a team of at least 12 zoo workers armed with binoculars, nets, and crates has already recovered the three starlings, Dogan said.“They are choosing to stay near the zoo and near the aviary because it seems that’s where they feel safe,” she said.Related ArticlesWeather | Battered California faces billions in storm damage to crops, homes and roads Weather | California flooding victims return to ravaged farm town Weather | Marin ...

Jury convicts gang figure of murdering Bay Area teen

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

A Marin County jury has convicted an alleged gang leader in the deadly attack on a Novato High School student nearly seven years ago.The jury found Edenilson Misael Alfaro guilty of one count of murder, one count of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated mayhem. The mayhem charge refers to dismemberment or permanent disfigurement.Alfaro, 27, faces a potential sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.The verdict Wednesday afternoon capped a trial phase that started with opening statements on Sept. 30 and included testimony from nearly three dozen people, including Alfaro. He acknowledged being at the crime scene but denied personally killing the student, Edwin Ramirez Guerra.The jury acquitted Alfaro of a charge of trying to arrange the murder of an accomplice who cooperated with investigators.“We had an amazing jury,” said Deputy District Attorney Geoff Iida, the trial prosecutor. “They committed over six months of their lives to this case.”“Nothing can ma...

‘Everybody’s getting kind of depressed’: San Lorenzo Valley hit hard again by brutal storms

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

SAN LORENZO VALLEY — Dani Piserchio clocked out of her job as a corporate law disclosure analyst late Tuesday and began the journey back to the newly purchased home she had just moved into with partner Don Saputo off of Bear Creek Road in Boulder Creek.The valley was already dark when she arrived so she had to use the light on her cellphone to navigate the steep driveway, which was covered with tree branches and debris from yet another powerful storm that brought heavy rainfall and wind gusts as high as 80 mph to the mountains.Dani Piserchio and Don Saputo clear branches on Wednesday after the large fir tree, at rear, fell onto their Hiawatha Road home in Boulder Creek, shearing off a bedroom from their house. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel) The path was still somewhat unfamiliar, as Piserchio and Saputo moved in only six weeks prior, but it didn’t take her long to recognize what had occurred while they were away at work.A gargantuan fir tree, estimated by Saputo to be 18...

Review: ‘John Wick’ brings stylish violence to the City of Lights

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

By Mark Kennedy | Associated PressA trip to Paris should be on everyone’s bucket list, even John Wick. The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre — what better way to refresh your soul, even as you kick everyone else’s bucket?The un-retired assassin does indeed dive into the City of Lights in the inventive and thrilling “John Wick: Chapter 4” a sequel which elevates and expands the franchise. The fourth installment is more stylish, more elegant and more bonkers — kind of like Paris itself.When we last saw Wick, he was half dead in the gutter after being shot and tumbling several stories off the Hotel Continental in New York. He was on the blacklist with a $14 million price on his head. (Inflation has even hit this franchise: The bounty swells to $40 million by the end of part four.)Wick, as always played with monosyllabic and brooding intensity by Keanu Reeves, leaves his customary trail of death, but there’s a shift here. So often the prey in th...

Search continues for missing 7-year-old last seen near Moss Landing Harbor

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

MOSS LANDING — The search to locate a 7-year-old boy believed missing near Moss Landing Harbor since Wednesday night continued Thursday.The boy’s mother, who later was pronounced dead at an area hospital, was located near the harbor’s launch ramp between 8 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to Monterey County Undersheriff Keith Boyd. It was too early Thursday to release details of the mother’s identity, Boyd said.“There’s a lot of information that we’re trying to assess to determine the how, the why, that led to this situation in fact occurring,” Boyd said. “At this point, we’re not able to release a lot of information of that aspect.”According to the Coast Guard, a good Samaritan initially notified authorities shortly after 7:30 p.m. Wednesday that he had located a 3-year-old boy near Jetty Road. The boy said his mother was missing in the water, Coast Guard authorities wrote in a press release. After a conversation with the child’s family, the young boy later indicated to emergency re...

A tornado in Southern California? Destructive Montebello twister a rarity

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

As business owners and residents pick up the pieces after a rare tornado tore through Montebello on Wednesday, March 22, many are wondering: How in the heck did that happen?Cell phone videos of the small but wild storm racked up millions of videos on social media, and the National Weather Service sent investigators to the scene to figure out what occurred. Forecasters were initially reluctant to label the storm one way or another.Forecasters eventually concluded on Wednesday that the twister spinning through Montebello at around 11 a.m. was indeed an EF1 tornado. Those have winds ranging from 86 mph to 110 mph. It was the strongest to hit Los Angeles since the 1980s.Tornadoes are ranked on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which uses the amount of damage a tornado inflicts to measure possible wind speed and other attributes. The scale goes from EF-0, a light tornado, to EF-5, with winds of 200 mph-plus.Damage from a tornado that struck an industrial area of Montebello yesterday is seen as ...

Ex-Homeland Security employee convicted of molesting young girls in Southern California

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:35:28 GMT

A former Department of Homeland Security employee was convicted Thursday, March 23, of molesting two girls in Irvine, inappropriately touching a third girl and destroying evidence prior to his arrest.An Orange County Superior Court jury found Terry Edward Keegan, 59, guilty of a felony count of lewd acts with a child and misdemeanor counts of child annoyance, sexual battery, battery and destruction of evidence.The jurors acquitted Keegan of a half-dozen other felonies, including continuous sexual abuse of a child and multiple other counts of lewd acts with a minor. Keegan — who had faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted as charged — now faces up to eight years behind bars.One of the girls lived with Keegan and his girlfriend, according to prosecutors, while the other two were her friends. One was 8 years old when the abuse began.The first accusation surfaced in 2016, according to court documents, when a girl told a doctor that Keegan would inappropriately touch her when she...