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Pickleball pros, amateurs invited to compete at Fenway Park

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

Fenway Park is welcoming a new sport to the iconic baseball field. A three-day pickleball tournament, with professional and amateur play, is coming to Boston July 13 to 16. Fans are encouraged to attend with access to the concessions and even the courts.Registration opens Thursday to rent one of the 12 temporary courts in the outfield. These courts can be rented for up to 10 people for 80 minutes. Amateurs can register to be randomly selected to compete as well.This tournament is the first of three ballparks featured in Pickleball4America’s Ballpark Series and the only one on the East Coast. Fenway Park joins Oracle Park in San Francisco and Coors Field in Denver in bringing pickleball to their communities

Wegmans to close store in Natick Mall

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

The Wegmans grocery store inside the Natick Mall will soon close, Wegmans officials announced Thursday. The store opened in 2018. Roughly five years later, officials said the site is set to shut its doors “later this summer.”“Making these decisions is never easy. However, we do it for the long-term benefit of our people, our customers, and our communities,” said Wegmans New England division Human Resources Director Brien MacKendrick. “Unfortunately, with this non-traditional location we are unable to attract enough customers for our business model to work.”Wegmans said it identified Natick as an ideal location for a store in 2009. When the Natick store eventually opened in the Natick Mall, officials said the site’s 134,000 square feet across two levels made it one of the company’s largest locations.Among amenities, the store also opened with its in-house fast-casual restaurant counter, The Burger Bar, serving burgers, salads, sandwiches, milkshakes, soup, and sides.While an exa...

Hurricane season is here: NOAA predicts a ‘near-normal’ season with 12-17 named storms

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

After last year’s hurricane season peaked with the incredibly powerful, deadly and destructive Hurricane Ian, what do meteorologists expect for this summer and fall?As the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season kicked off on Thursday and goes until Nov. 30, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters are predicting “near-normal” hurricane activity this year.NOAA forecasters with the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, are projecting a range of 12 to 17 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, five to nine could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including one to four major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher).The upcoming Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be less active than recent years, due to competing factors — some that suppress storm development and some that fuel it — driving this year’s overall forecast for a near-normal season.“...

Max Scherzer, Mark Canha power Mets past Phillies to complete sweep with 4-2 win

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

The Mets needed a sweep as badly as Mark Canha needed home runs. They got both of those this week in a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.Canha powered the Mets past the Phillies for the second time in as many days with another two-run homer that helped the team defeat its NL East rivals 4-2 on Thursday afternoon at Citi Field. His timely hitting has been crucial for the Mets in the series and he’s been responsible for six of the Mets’ eight runs.Right-hander Taijuan Walker made his Citi Field return and took the loss thanks to Canha’s shot in the bottom of the fourth. The Mets (30-27) were down 2-1 when the outfielder took a 3-1 fastball over the fence in left-center field. Walker left a 90 MPH fastball right out over the middle of the plate. It was a meatball of a pitch and Canha did what good hitters do with that kind of pitch, homering for the fifth time this season.That inning was the end for Walker (4-3). His outing started with a tribute video on ...

Money stored in Venmo, other payment apps could be vulnerable, financial watchdog warns

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Customers of Venmo, PayPal and CashApp should not store their money for the long term with these apps because their funds might not be safe during a crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned on Thursday. The alert comes several weeks after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank, which all experienced bank runs after fearful customers with uninsured deposits pulled their money en masse. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures bank accounts up to $250,000. But money stored in Venmo or CashApp or Apple Cash is not being held in a traditional bank account. So, if there is an event similar to a bank run with these payment apps, those funds may not be protected. Some of these funds may be eligible for pass-through insurance coverage if the customers do certain activities with the apps, the CFPB says, but generally by default these apps are not covered by deposit insurance. Fo...

Master Gardener: Tips on Houseplants

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

Did you know that houseplants have been kept as early in history as 400 B.C?  Did you know that after World War II was over, houseplants became wildly popular?Many of us have at least one houseplant in our home, if not several.  If you’re successful at keeping these plants at their peak, congratulations. If you are like me, and struggle with making sure the plants don’t die, then this article may be helpful and set you on the right path.There are several things that can affect the health of a houseplant, namely, light, temperature, humidity, water, fertilizer and of course, pests/diseases.LightHouseplants need light, generally the more the better.  The further away from the window, the intensity of the light goes down dramatically.  If you have windows with Low E glass, realize that this does reduce the intensity of light coming into the room.  Some plants, like cacti and palms, need a higher level of light than snake plants or peace lilies which need a low level of light.Temperatur...

Yankees reinstate Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle from IL ahead of series vs. Dodgers

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

The Yankees are inching closer to full strength. The Bombers officially reinstated Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle off the injured list Thursday ahead of their three-game set at Dodger Stadium.Stanton played in just 13 games this season before suffering a hamstring strain running into second base on a double against the Twins on April 15. The 33-year-old is slashing .269/.296/.558 with four homers and 11 RBI. Manager Aaron Boone said he plans to utilize Stanton in the outfield upon his return.“I thought he looked really good moving around in the outfield yesterday,” Boone said on May 13. “He did a lot of defensive work out there… I would like to [continue playing him in the outfield]. I keep maintaining that when he’s able to do that, I think it’s better for him.”Donaldson, however, returns with some uncertainty as the Bombers’ infield logjam is at full swing. The third baseman strained his hamstring on April 5 and h...

How the SF Giants have become MLB leaders in mental health

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Just down the hallway from the Giants clubhouse, about a 30-second walk away, is a tiny room about the size of a storage closet.Walk inside and the anxiety of life drips off your shoulders. There’s a dimly lit lamp, a brown leather couch, a wooden coffee table with a sandalwood tobacco candle on it and a chair where Dr. Shana Alexander sits, ready to listen.“I love talking to her,” Giants’ ace Logan Webb said of Alexander, the team’s sports psychologist and director of mental health and wellness. “It’s important to have this space.”After signing his $90-million contract extension with the Giants in April, Webb pledged $450,000 to the Giants Community Fund in hopes to raise awareness about fentanyl after it took the life of his cousin, Kade, in 2021.Since then, Webb has become an advocate for mental health. And he’s not afraid to say it: he loves therapy.“I realized I had a lot of (stuff) I needed to get out and talk about,” he said. “Shana actually mentioned it. It w...

Biden trips after speech, tells Air Force Academy graduates their leadership needed

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. Air Force Academy graduates for choosing “service over self” but said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come. His appearance was punctuated by a stumble onstage after handing out diplomas to graduates.“Graduates, you made a noble choice to lead a life of service,” Biden told more than 900 cadets in remarks on the sun-splashed field at Falcon Stadium in Colorado. “Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility. Leadership, yeah leadership.”“In the years ahead, your airmen and guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration because the world is going to get more confusing,” he added. “They’ll put their trust in you. You, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence.”Near the end of the ceremony, the 80-year-old president turned to walk across the stage and tripped. He was helped up by an Ai...

Healey signs onto letter asking textbook publishes to ‘hold the line’ for Democracy

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:57:22 GMT

Textbook companies need to “hold the line for our Democracy” and not cave to governors calling for “censorship” of school educational materials, a letter signed by ten governors, including Gov. Maura Healey, said.The governors said they wrote the open letter — dated May 25 — out of concern that textbook publishers may be tempted to “water down critical information to appeal to the lowest common denominator.” It comes as a debate over what should or should not be included in textbooks for students and libraries plays out across the country.“Our country’s future is at stake. You hold enormous influence in shaping how our great nation’s history is told, and the consequences of your actions will reverberate for generations to come,” the letter reads. “Honestly grappling with our legacy has long been a cornerstone of American patriotism. If we are to continue striving for a more perfect union, then we must carry out our duty of ensuring future generations understand our full ...