You knew it was coming, didn’t you? Baseball’s reigning Evil Empire took the initiative this week, signing another high-profile starting pitcher and giving its fans something additional to be grateful for during Thanksgiving week (besides, of course, those shots of the Commissioner’s Trophy being shown off here, there and everywhere throughout Southern California). And after the bombshell announcement Tuesday night, that the Dodgers had signed Blake Snell , the howls could be heard throughout the land. The Dodgers are making a mockery of the sport. The rest of baseball can’t compete. They’re signing everybody! And how are the Cincinnatis and Pittsburghs and Colorados of the sport able to compete with an organization that not only brings in boatloads of money – and has created a second source of runaway revenue through its ties to Japan – but isn’t interested in hoarding it? Shouldn’t the next step be a salary cap to restrain this franchise’s runaway spending? Oh, stop it. Competitive balance is not an issue in baseball, period. Four different teams have won the last four World Series, and nine different fan bases have celebrated championships in the last 12 years. There hasn’t been a repeat champion in ... checks notes ... a quarter of a century. (That would be the New York Yankees, the first Evil Empire, in 1999-2000.) Meanwhile, Kansas City, Detroit and Baltimore have all risen from rebuilding to contention in the last couple of seasons. Milwaukee and Cleveland, both smaller markets, were legitimate threats as this past postseason began. And the Padres, long squeezed between Mexico to their south, the Imperial Valley to their east, the Pacific to their west and L.A. to their north, just might have been the second-best team in baseball in 2024 and, may we remind you, had the Dodgers by the neck going into Game 4 of their National League Division Series . Nor are they going away, even with some payroll retrenching in the wake of controlling owner Peter Seidler’s death. (But, nope, still no parade.) Most of the caterwauling, of course, comes from those whose favorite teams were either outbid or declined to spend. Trust me, no ownership in Major League Baseball can claim poverty, even with the cable TV issues that have scrambled some teams’ finances. Yes, big-market teams start with a financial advantage. Yes, Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy and the cord-cutting revolution have factored in. And yes, the Dodgers and Yankees have insulated themselves to a degree by owning their own cable networks. So, maybe, give them some credit for intelligence and foresight? Front Office Sports reported that deferrals on Snell’s reported five-year, $182 million deal, said to be $60 million, would push the Dodgers closer to the $1 billion mark in deferred money owed to five players. Shohei Ohtani’s whopping $680 million deferred on a $700 million contract signed last winter enabled the Dodgers to add additional pieces. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts also have chunks of deferred money in their contracts – as does, interestingly, Teoscar Hernández on his one-year 2024 deal with the Dodgers. That would make that contract even more of a bargain than we thought. And this is an undisputable fact: Salary caps and other payroll-limiting mechanisms put no limits on front office creativity and ingenuity. It’s been pretty well established that in Guggenheim Baseball’s 13-year ownership of the Dodgers, especially after Mark Walter’s organization corrected the problems of the Frank McCourt era and particularly after Friedman arrived from Tampa Bay in 2015, the Dodgers have a smart, savvy organization whose advantages go way beyond their cash on hand. (And yes, as I noted on social media Tuesday night, we do tease them about sometimes trying too hard to be the smartest guys in the room. But most of the time they are, anyway.) Assuming everyone stays healthy – and as we saw throughout baseball in 2024, that’s a tall ask – what will the Dodgers’ rotation look like in 2025? They’ll have left-hander Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who was one of the victims of a soft free agent market last spring and didn’t sign with the San Francisco Giants until March 19. He got off to a dreadful start as a result but was lights out from the start of July. In 14 starts he was 5-0 (and his team 12-2 in those starts), with a 1.23 ERA, an opponents’ batting average of .123, an 0.78 WHIP, five double-digit strikeout games and a 3.8-1 strikeout to walk ratio, and a complete-game no-hitter, an achievement for someone denigrated as a five-and-dive pitcher. Maybe those final three months spurred him to sign early this time. It’s almost certain the Dodgers will use a six-man rotation from the start of the season, and right now they have seven possibilities and who knows what they do from here. They’ll have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher. Tyler Glasnow, Snell’s former teammate in Tampa Bay, will be back, as will Tony Gonsolin in his return from Tommy John surgery. Dustin May, essentially inactive since May of 2023, will return, and Clayton Kershaw is expected to re-sign and has indicated he plans to retire a Dodger. Is there room for free agent Jack Flaherty, last season’s major trade deadline acquisition? Or fellow free agent Walker Buehler, who closed out Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees, following a sometimes spotty comeback from injury? And the wild card might be Roki Sasaki, who will be posted by his Japanese team this winter. The Dodgers had long been considered the favorites to land him, and even Snell’s signing might not change that. Then again, the way the 2024 Dodgers went through pitchers because of injuries – 40 for the season, including 12 starting pitchers – shouldn’t they be tempted to grab every reasonably healthy arm they can and sort it out as they go along? But this is, and should be, the bottom line: Every fan in every sport wants the people running their favorite team to care as much about winning as they do. In a lot of cities, with a lot of teams, that’s really hard to envision. In Dodger Stadium, it’s not hard at all. And if they’re going to be the new Evil Empire, why not just lean into it and have Dieter Ruehle play “The Imperial March” (i.e., Darth Vader’s Theme) before every game? jalexander@scng.comTweet Facebook Mail Some on social media have been saying Ariana Grande got paid more for Wicked than her co-star Cynthia Erivo, but the movie's studio is setting the record straight. There have been rumours that Grande was paid as much as US$15 million ($23 million) for her role as Glinda, and Erivo received US$1 million ($1.54 million) for playing Elphaba. But the studio is denying that. READ MORE: ABC chairman unleashes on Joe Rogan Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande attend the "Wicked" New York premiere. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images via CNN Newsource) "Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder," a spokesperson for Universal said in a statement shared with several outlets. "The women received equal pay for their work on Wicked ." CNN has reached out to Universal for comment. Both women are being hailed for their performances in the Jon Chu-directed musical. Audiences have been flocking to theatres to enjoy what is the first part in a planned two-film franchise. Wicked reportedly raked in an estimated US$162 million ($249.3 million) at the box office during opening weekend. 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Newly released pictures show Joe Biden meeting Hunter Biden's Chinese business partnersThe decision by Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group came after a woman who said Mr McGregor raped her won a civil claim for damages against him. Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a case at the High Court in the Irish capital. In a statement, a spokesman for Musgrave said: “Musgrave can confirm these products are no longer available to our store network.” The network includes SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.” A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.” It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor. He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand. He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021. On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter. The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series. Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game. IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. “We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. “Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.” Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to Ms Hand. Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intended to appeal against the decision.
Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100VANCOUVER — Vince Dunn scored his second goal of the game 2:15 into overtime as the Seattle Kraken rallied from a three-goal, third-period deficit to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Saturday afternoon. Jaden Schwartz's second goal of the game tied it 4-4 with just 49 seconds left in the third period with Seattle's goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker. Matty Beniers also scored for the Kraken (16-19-2), who ended a five-game losing skid. Brock Boeser scored two goals, one on the power play, for the Canucks (17-11-7), who were playing without two star players. Conor Garland also scored his first goal in 13 games for Vancouver. Jake DeBrusk celebrated his 500th NHL game with his team-leading 16th goal and added an assist. Carson Soucy and J.T. Miller each had two assists. Canuck goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 16 shots. Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves. Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes and centre Elias Pettersson missed the game with undisclosed injuries. Pettersson broke out of a seven-game scoring drought with a pair of goals in Vancouver’s 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Monday. He left that game in the third period. Hughes had two assists in the win over San Jose. Last year’s Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenceman leads the Canucks with 42 points and 34 assists. TAKEAWAYS Canucks: Vancouver has just one win in its last five games (1-2-2). The Canucks outhit the Kraken 14-3 in the first period. With Hughes out, Soucy and Tyler Myers logged over 22 minutes of ice time each. Kraken: Seattle has been outscored 27-11 during the last six games. The Kraken power play was 0 for 3 against Vancouver and has scored three times in 17 attempts the last six games. KEY MOMENT With their goaltender pulled the Kraken scored goals 1:22 apart of force the overtime. KEY STAT Boeser has five goals in his last three games. He managed just one in 13 after missing seven games with a concussion. UP NEXT Canucks: Play the Flames in Calgary on New Year’s Eve. Kraken: Return home to play Utah on Monday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2024. Jim Morris, The Canadian PressChlamydia could make koalas extinct. Can a vaccine save them in time?
Minister Sam Kawale fails to respond to fertilizer deal questionnaire after over a monthThe former Picture Palace is the 26th historic building in Prescot town centre to benefit from restoration work as part of Knowsley Council’s wider regeneration programme for the town. The Grade II listed building is a rare example of its type and was one of the earliest cine-variety houses in the country. The expert restoration work focussed on the exterior of the building and was carried out by Knowsley Council with support from Purcell, specialist conservation-accredited architects. Historical photographs were used to help recreate some of the original design features, which were created in the flamboyant Edwardian Neo-Baroque style. This has all helped to bring the building back to its former splendour. READ > Works to major M62 junction to cause 'unavoidable delays' The work has been funded jointly by Historic England and Knowsley Council as part of the Prescot Heritage Action Zone project. The work includes: Cllr Tony Brennan, Knowsley’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic development said: “The restoration of the former Prescot Picture Palace building is the single biggest project the council has undertaken as part of our successful High Street Heritage Action Zone project here in Prescot. "The architectural heritage and cultural history of this iconic building is incomparable, and I am delighted that we have been able to safeguard this building and its heritage for many more years to come.” A picture taken inside Prescot Picture Palace in 2021 (Image: Stock) Associate Architect at Purcell, Jane Roylance added: “We are proud to have contributed to the conservation of the Grade II listed Prescot Picture Palace, a much-loved icon of Knowsley’s heritage, which has carefully restored the building’s original features. The works form the first phase of the building’s regeneration which will secure its future for generations to come.” Historic England’s Julie Griffiths said: “We’re delighted to see this historic gem in the heart of Prescot now fully restored and ready for a new use. This is testament to the hard work of Knowsley Council, local people and expert contractors who’ve worked together to make this happen.” The former Prescot Picture Palace Cinema at 8-14 Kemble Street was established in 1912. The Prescot Picture Palace Company Ltd purchased number 12 to 14 Kemble Street (a pair of amalgamated C19 town houses) and plans were approved by the Urban District Council for their conversion into a cine-variety theatre in September of that year. At its opening it was described as presenting a palatial appearance and ‘quite luxurious’ with the theatre seating 630 customers, which increased with the addition of a balcony around 1913. The U-shaped balcony, carried on ten pairs of columns, was accessed by a central L-shaped staircase off the foyer. The Picture Palace served as a picture-drome, music-hall and Variety Theatre. It was operated as part of the J F Emery Circuit by 1923, renamed ‘Palace Cinema’ in 1927, and equipped with a British Thomson-Houston (BTH) sound system by 1929. In 1957 the cinema closed, and the building became a carpet and furniture warehouse. The plan form remained unchanged until the mid-1970s, although the 1920s cinema seating was removed from the auditorium and stored in the upper floors. Around 1975 former shops (8-10 Kemble St) were purchased by Tudor Bingo and incorporated into the cinema building. Number 8 was a purpose-built early-C20 shop, with an Edwardian shopfront to the ground and first floor, and Number 10 a former C19 house converted to a shop. Both shop frontages were boarded up and modifications included the creation of internal access between the newly purchased buildings and the former cinema, and the removal of the cinema entrance entablature for a fascia sign. A flat roof extension was added to the rear of numbers 8-10 and another at the south end of the auditorium’s east elevation. Internally the east arm of the balcony was extended to the south end of the auditorium, over the stage and beneath the proscenium arch. Coral Bingo took over the bingo club in the late 1980s and established a social club, with the loss of the shop front to number 10 for the insertion of two ground floor windows. In 1995 the buildings were purchased by Prescot Community Church (an Elim Pentecostal Congregation), who remained in residence until 2021. Knowsley Council acquired the building in 2021, and the revival of the building is the single largest project of Prescot’s High Street Heritage Action Zone project, jointly funded by Knowsley Council and Historic England. Prescot was selected as one of the 68 high streets to benefit from the High Streets Heritage Action Zone scheme in 2020. The £3.1 million heritage-led regeneration programme has seen major investment from Knowsley Council and Historic England into a number of key projects in Prescot town centre.Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN): Among the Most Promising Cancer Stocks According to Hedge Funds
Tafara Gapare throws down 19 points and a highlight dunk, and Maryland beats Bucknell 91-67
Bethune-Cookman 79, North Dakota 67
Viral Thanksgiving strangers Jamal Hinton, Wanda Dench set to continue beloved tradition for 9th year: ‘He’s changed my life’Prices involve a lot of psychology. That's why retailers roll out 3-for-1 discounts, promote offers to buy one get one free, and round prices down to end in 99 cents. Similarly, a high-priced stock can dampen an investor's enthusiasm. After all, would you rather have five shares of a stock, each worth $100, or half a share that is worth $500? I think most people would choose the former. With that in mind, let's examine a few high-priced stocks that investors are hoping will execute a stock split in 2025. Fair Issac When I put together a similar list of anticipated stock splits one year ago , Fair Issac ( FICO -1.23% ) was at the top of my list. And while my other two choices ( Nvidia and Chipotle Mexican Grill ) did split their shares in 2024, Fair Issac didn't. Nevertheless, it turned in a fantastic year, as its shares have rallied almost 80% as of this writing. However, that leaves Fair Issac shares priced at more than $2,000 a share. The company's most recent stock split came more than 20 years ago, and at this point, the company could easily perform a significant split, perhaps as much as a 20-to-1, bringing its share price down to around $100 a share. At any rate, investors should keep an eye on this credit rating juggernaut. With its asset-light business model, the company generates excellent profitability, with gross margins around 80% and operating margins above 43%. Moreover, Fair Issac has steadily grown its revenue from $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion over the last five years, representing yearly growth of about 8%. In other words, this under-the-radar financial mainstay is an excellent business, stock split or not. Netflix A few years ago, another stock split seemed out of the question for Netflix ( NFLX -1.80% ) . Shares tumbled nearly 75% in the first half of 2022, bottoming near $166. Yet, since then, the company and its stock have come roaring back. Shares have recently crossed the $900 mark, as revenue and profits have reached all-time highs. That has investors wondering whether the company might announce its first stock split since 2015. I think Netflix will announce a stock split, perhaps as much as a 10-for-1 split at some point in 2025. Meanwhile, the company remains a solid investment. The addition of an advertising tier , along with the company's crackdown on password sharing , has pushed Netflix's operating margin to an all-time high of 25.7%. NFLX Operating Margin (TTM) data by YCharts What's more , the company has emerged as the big winner in the streaming wars. According to November data provided by Nielsen, streaming video now accounts for over 41% of all viewing hours. And of that 41%, Netflix now accounts for 7.7% of all streaming hours, trailing only YouTube (10.8%). Meanwhile, key Netflix competitors like Amazon 's Prime Video (3.7%), Hulu (2.9%), and Disney + (1.9%) remain way behind. As a result, Netflix's stock could continue surging in 2025 -- and perhaps make a stock split even more likely. Tesla Finally, there's Tesla ( TSLA -4.95% ) . It was a mostly lackluster year for Tesla shares -- until Election D ay . Yet, once Donald Trump was named the winner of the election , Tesla shares skyrocketed, thanks to Elon Musk's close ties to the incoming president. As of this writing, Tesla shares are priced at over $450 a share, making them ripe for a potential stock split in 2025. Tesla's most recent stock split was a 3-for-1 split carried out in 2022. When that stock split was first announced in June 2022, shares were trading around $700. Therefore, it's possible the company might consider a 2-for-1 split if shares were to reach and hold the $500 level in 2025. In any event, investors may want to consider Tesla for a few reasons. Obviously, the stock has gotten a bump thanks to Musk's key role within the incoming Trump administration, but there are other reasons, too. The company appears close to deploying some form of autonomous driving along with robotaxis in Austin, Texas. It's another sign that the company may be about to unlock new value propositions that Tesla investors have long hoped for. In addition, some analysts are even more excited by the company's humanoid robot, Optimus. Given recent advancements in artificial intelligence technology, humanoid robots could soon become mainstays in any number of labor-intensive jobs. That presents another potentially lucrative market for Tesla to explore in the coming years. Tesla stock is once again approaching levels at which a stock split is plausible. And even more importantly, the company appears to be firing on all cylinders.