A few hours before the Twins hosted the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night at Target Field, they got some good news regarding injured pitcher Zebby Matthews.

Though he’s still recovering from a shoulder strain that he suffered in June, and he’s not quite ready to be activated from the injured list, Matthews checked off a very important box pregame by throwing live batting practice.

“It was about 40 pitches,” Matthews said. “It felt really good.”

There were some ups and downs for Matthews throughout the throwing session. He admitted that his control was occasionally impacted by the adrenaline coursing through his veins while facing live batters for the first time in more than a month. All part of the process.

“It’s always tough,” Matthews said. “You try to recreate the bullpen to make it as much like a simulated game as possible. Once the hitter gets in the box, it’s always a little bit different. Just trying to feel good out there and then throw stuff in zone.

Maybe the most interesting part of Matthews throwing live batting practice was the fact that he pitched to injured rookie infielder Luke Keaschall, who suffered a forearm fracture in April after being hit by a pitch.

“To see him in the box was fun,” Matthews said. “It’s always fun throwing to him.”

Not surprisingly, manager Rocco Baldelli wouldn’t put a timeline on when either Matthews or Keaschall would return to the lineup, only saying that he was excited to see them back in action.

“They looked good,” Baldelli said. “I’ll kind of leave it at that.”

The next logical step for Matthews, in particular, would be a rehab assignment with the St. Paul Saints.

“I would think so,” Matthews said. “We will talk about it over the next couple of days.”

As soon as Matthews is ready to return to the rotation, the Twins will be happy to have him. They are currently without ace pitcher Pablo Lopez, who is on the injured list with a shoulder strain, and fellow pitcher Bailey Ober, who is on the injured list with a hip impingement.

Not that Matthews is getting too far ahead of himself. He knows better than to do that.

“You have to be patient,” Matthews said. “You can’t rush anything.”

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It came as a great relief when writer/director James Gunn announced his new “Superman” film, which opens in theaters on Friday, would not be an origin story.

After all, anyone with even the slightest interest in this movie surely knows at least the basics of his biography. After learning their planet Krypton is about to perish, two parents put their baby in a spaceship and point it toward Earth, where he’s adopted by farmers who realize the lad has supernatural powers which, when he grows up, he uses to make the world a better place. The story of Superman, at its core, is an immigrant success story.

And yet, after Gunn told the Times of London in an interview published over the weekend that “yes, it’s about politics, but on another level it’s about morality,” Fox News hosts went into overdrive on Monday, complaining that the “Superwoke” movie embraced “pro-immigrant themes.”

To be certain, there are political themes in “Superman.” The main villain is a raging, self-centered billionaire who uses media, social and traditional, to spread lies and hatred. The secondary villain is a doddering, power-hungry elderly man with an unruly mop of hair and a flock of advisors who constantly shower him with unearned praise.

And a significant portion of the film is devoted to masked thugs who disappear the villains’ enemies to a secluded and harsh prison camp without anything close to due process. (It’s worth noting that filming on “Superman” wrapped last July, which makes some scenes feel eerily prescient.)

But, as Gunn said in the same interview, “there is also a flying dog in the film who wears a cape.” And, despite all odds, that flying dog — whose name is Krypto — is one of the best things about an overstuffed, but never boring, film that’s far more than just another superhero tale.

This image released by Warner Bros.Pictures shows Krypto the dog, in a scene from “Superman.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

“Superman” serves a reboot to DC’s cinematic universe, which began with 2013’s “Man of Steel.” In it, director Zach Snyder — whose 2004 film debut was a smart and stylish remake of “Dawn of the Dead” that, to date, remains his finest moment — reimagined Superman as a brooding, but sexy, Christ-like figure unafraid to murder his opponents.

From there, Snyder’s own films got increasingly tedious and ridiculous. And despite a few bright spots in “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman,” all but one (2023’s “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”) of the eight most recent DC flicks failed to recoup their budgets and earned mostly negative reviews.

One of those flops, 2021’s “The Suicide Squad,” served as Gunn’s entry into DC territory after the success of his “Guardians of the Galaxy” series for rival studio Marvel, which stand among that company’s most-loved entries. Gunn’s work inspired Warner Bros. Discovery to hire Gunn, and his longtime collaborator Peter Safran, to oversee the new universe that starts with “Superman.”

Gunn keeps the action moving fast and furious from the very first scene, in which Superman has lost a battle for the first time. From there, the audience is ushered into this new world through a series of fun and breezy, and sometimes comical, sequences that fill in the plot.

Without giving away any spoilers, there is a lot going on in “Superman.” Not all of it works, but Gunn never lingers on any one topic for too long and manages to tell multiple stories in an economical running time of just two hours. (No superhero movie should ever clock in past the two-hour mark.)

Overall, the casting is brilliant. David Corenswet, an actor who has worked steadily in film and television over the past decade but is just now making his big breakthrough, portrays the title character as a truly kind, gentle giant who looks for the good in people. He sees his main goal as protecting and serving his beloved adopted home and its people. (One flaw in the film is that we don’t see enough of Superman as his alter ego, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent.)

Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) sizes up her coworker in disguise (David Corenswet) in “Superman.” (Jessica Miglio/Warner Bros. Entertainment)

Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane is sharp and spicy, while Nicholas Hoult channels both Tom Cruise and Billy Corgan as the villainous Lex Luthor. Gunn also chose wisely in selecting actors for the other superheroes — which are called metahumans in this world — a quartet of lesser-known characters in the DC universe: Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Nathan Fillion as the Guy Gardner Green Lantern (complete with his awful bowlcut from the comics) and Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl. (What, James Gunn, no love for Matter-Eater Lad?)

Gunn also tosses in winks and nods to the many decades’ worth of Superman portrayals in print, film and television, including even decidedly uncool stuff like “Superman III” and the “Super Friends” cartoon series.

And then there’s Krypto, who Gunn modeled after his own rescue pet. Mostly untrained and wildly rambunctious, Krypto is a good dog who is also a very bad dog (in a good way). It’s a sheer delight every time that little doggo shows up on screen. He’s also a reminder of why, when it works, “Superman” works well. Yes, it gets political at times. But it also celebrates the sheer goofiness inherent in comic books unlike any film before it. I’m excited to see what comes next.

‘Superman’

Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion
Rated: PG-13 for violence and language
Should you go? When it works, “Superman” flies high. 3 1/2 stars.

By WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Turns out Donald Trump gauges his esteem for presidential predecessors by how well their portraits fit into his White House redecorating scheme. Or sometimes how well the frames around those portraits do.

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“I’m a frame person,” Trump said Tuesday during a meeting with his Cabinet. “Sometimes I like frames more than I like the pictures.”

Trump wrapped up a 90-plus-minute session by explaining how he personally worked to redecorate the Cabinet Room, seeming to take real joy in choosing which portraits were hung. The president also said he helped choose the room’s drapes and polled those present about whether he should repaint the room in gold leaf. (Cabinet members think he should.)

“I actually spent time in the vaults. The vaults are where we have a lot of great pictures and artwork. And I picked it all myself,” Trump said. “I’m very proud of it.”

The president said that meant “a lot of time, effort” and “very little money.” He even recounted having gone to Secretary of State Marco Rubio ‘s office and directing that a grandfather clock there be moved to the White House.

“As president, you have the power — if I go into the State Department, or Department of Commerce or Treasury — if I see anything that I like, I’m allowed to take it,” Trump said, drawing laughs. He offered the anecdote despite there not being any record of Trump having paid a public visit to the State Department during Rubio’s tenure.

Trump also pointed out each portrait and shared what he thought of each ex-president depicted. He started by indicating “the great Andrew Jackson ” and went from there — renewing his frequent praise for William McKinley and getting in a dig about how Bill Clinton once offered donors overnight stays in the Lincoln bedroom in exchange for campaign contributions.

Here’s what Trump said about some past presidents:

James K. Polk (1845-49):

“That’s a gentleman named — and we call him — President Polk. He was sort of a real-estate guy. He was — people don’t realize — he was a one-termer. But he was a very good president. But, and I’m not sure I should be doing this, he actually gave us the state of California.”

Then Trump revealed that his choice of Polk’s picture might have had more do with the portrait’s frame being almost the same size as the frame surrounding Jackson’s portrait, which he suggested was especially aesthetically pleasing: “Polk is actually a very good president who’s got the same frame that I needed, OK.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-61):

“A very underrated president. Built the Interstate (Highway) System. And he was the toughest president, I guess, until we came along. But I don’t mind giving up that crown, because, I don’t want to be too tough on it. But we want to be humane. But he was the toughest president on immigration. He was very strong at the borders. Very, very strong. And, sometimes you can be too strong. He was strong at the borders and, during a certain period of time, there was so strong that almost every farmer in California went bankrupt. And we have to remember that. We have to work together. We have to remember that. But he was a very good president, and a very good general and a very good president and I thought he deserved a position somewhere on this floor.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45):

“He was not a Republican, to put it mildly. But he was, you know, a four-termer. He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And, if you notice, we have a lot of ramps outside. You have a ramp. People say, ‘It’s an unusual place for a ramp.’ It was because of him. He was wheelchair bound. But he was an amazing man.”

Abraham Lincoln (1861-65):

“Over there is ‘Honest’ Abe Lincoln. And that picture was in his, ugh, in his bedroom. And we thought this would be a very important place because this is where wars are ended. I’m not going to say wars are declared. I’m going to say wars are ended. OK? We’ll be positive. And, that’s the picture of Abe Lincoln from his bedroom, sat in the bedroom for many, many years. That was his favorite picture of himself. And the Lincoln Bedroom’s very famous. You remember when Bill Clinton had it and he rented it out to people. We don’t do that.”

John Adams (1797-1801):

“They were the first occupants of the White House. 1800. And John Quincy Adams, Mrs. Adams, they were the first occupants. So we have them looking at each other and, in between their stares is Abraham Lincoln trying to make peace.”

(Trump is correct that John Adams, the nation’s second president, and his wife Abigail, were the first first couple to move into the White House in 1800. But he was mistaken about John Quincy Adams, who was John and Abigail’s son and the sixth president. He served from 1825 to 1829).

William McKinley (1897-1901):

“McKinley was a great president who never got credit. In fact, they changed the name of Mount McKinley and I changed it back because he should have been — the people of Ohio, he was the governor of Ohio — the people of Ohio were very happy when I did that. I heard they were very insulted. They took the name of Mount McKinley off. That was done by Obama a little while ago and I had to change it back. I changed it back. He actually was a great president. He was a president. He was the tariff, the most, I guess since me — I think I’m gonna outdo him — but he was a tariff president. He believed that other countries should pay for the privilege of coming into our country and taking our jobs and taking our treasure. That’s the way he explained it. They took our jobs and they took our treasure. And for that he should pay. And he made them pay. And he built a tremendous fortune.”

Will Weissert covers the White House for The Associated Press.

By JESSE BEDAYN

DENVER (AP) — A funeral home owner in Colorado accused of storing nearly 190 decomposing bodies in a room-temperature building and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000 is expected to plead guilty in federal court, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

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Carie Hallford, who ran Return to Nature Funeral Home with her husband Jon Hallford, allegedly duped the Small Business Administration out of almost $900,000 in pandemic-era relief aid and cheated customers who had paid for cremations the Hallfords never performed.

Instead, the Hallfords are accused of spending the aid and customers’ payments on lavish goods — luxury cars, cryptocurrency and items from stores like Gucci — all while stashing the bodies and sending fake ashes to the families.

The Hallfords were charged with 15 fraud counts last year in federal court, where Jon Hallford already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month.

Carie Hallford is set to change her plea in federal court from not guilty in early August, and is expected to plead guilty, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado.

Hallford’s attorney, Robert Charles Melihercik, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

FILE – This combination of booking photos provided by the Muskogee County, Okla., Sheriff’s Office shows Jon Hallford, left, and Carie Hallford, the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home. (Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)

In a separate case in state court, Jon and Carie Hallford are both charged with 191 counts of corpse abuse for allegedly stashing the bodies between 2019 and 2023 and burying the wrong body in two instances.

The building in Penrose, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, was searched in 2023. Officials discovered bodies stacked atop each other, swarms of bugs and fluid covering the floor. Families were shaken to learn their loved ones’ remains weren’t in the ashes they had spread, but were instead left decaying, some for four years.