Twins get good, if not definitive news, on right-handed relievers

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There was good, if not definitive news, regarding a pair of right-handed relievers the Twins were counting on not just to pitch this season, but pitch well.

Brock Stewart, who has been lights-out when he pitches, had a successful live bullpen session before Friday night’s game against the Houston Astros at Target Field and appears close to a rehab assignment.

Justin Topa, who has yet to pitch for Minnesota since being acquired in the deal that sent Jorge Polanco to Seattle in January, will throw a bullpen Saturday morning and said his injured left knee feels better since getting a platelet-rich plasma injection in mid-May.

Topa, who was diagnosed with a partial tear in his patella tendon, had the PRP injection his first attempt at rehab was unsuccessful. Last season in Seattle, he had a 2.61 earned-run average and 1.145 WHIP in 75 innings pitched.

Topa, 33, doesn’t appear all that close to pitching with the Twins, but closer.

“It’s been feeling really good up to this point,” Topa said Friday.

Stewart, 32, seems closer.

Since being promoted to the big-league club last season, he is 2-0 with an 0.61 ERA and 1.073 WHIP for the Twins. Last year, he was limited to 29 appearances because of elbow soreness. He started this with 13⅓ scoreless innings but hasn’t pitched since April 29 because of tendinitis in his right shoulder.

Stewart, however, threw 20 pitches to live hitters before Friday night’s game and came off the mound feeling good, even if he did plunk Kyle Farmer on the shoulder.

“He said it’s all good, but it’s not all good,” Stewart said. “I don’t need to be hitting my teammates.”

The good news is his velocity was up between 95 and 96 mph, up from 90 to 92 mph his first time back on a mound. Before being hurt, Stewart was averaging 97 mph on his four-seamer and sinker, and hitting 98 and 100 on the radar.
“Hopefully, it will keep ticking up to where it was,” he said Friday. “At the end of the day, I just want to be healthy and help the team, and I think I can help the team if I’m 95, 96. Obviously, 99 to 100, that would be great, but I just want to be able to pitch and then the next day come in here and be ready to pitch again.”

That would be great for the Twins, whose plans for this season featured Stewart and Topa playing big roles in the bullpen.

Manager Rocco Baldelli said he didn’t know what Twins trainer Nick Paparesta and pitching coach Pete Maki had in mind for Stewart before adding, “But he’s going on a rehab assignment at some point. When that is, I don’t have at the moment.”

“We’re going to have him continue throwing at a high level,” the manager continued. “We’re going to have to like what we see. He’s going to have to face some hitters in a live-game situation. And then we’ll hopefully be able to bring him back. I think we’re getting towards that point, but I can’t tell you when he’s pitching.”

A dangerous heat wave is scorching much of the US. Weather experts predict record-setting temps

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By CLAIRE RUSH and REBECCA BOONE

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A slow-moving and potentially record-setting heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. are also sweltering, with oppressive heat and humidity expected to last through Saturday.

Widespread temperature records are expected to be tied or even broken during the heat wave, with much of the West Coast likely to see triple-digit temperatures that are between 15 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit (8 and 16 degrees Celsius) higher than average, the National Weather Service said.

“The duration of this heat is also concerning as scorching above average temperatures are forecast to linger into next week,” the weather service said.

In the Portland, Oregon, suburb of Gresham, Sherri Thompson, 52, was waiting in her car with her 14-year-old chihuahua Kiwani for a cooling center to open late Friday morning. Thompson has lived in her car for three years and can only run its air conditioning for about 20 minutes at a time as it causes the engine to overheat.

Thompson said the high temperatures prompted health concerns, as she had been hospitalized for a heat stroke in the past.

“I have anxiety and panic attacks and I get worried. I don’t want to have another heat stroke, and everything just triggers my anxiety a lot,” she said.

Inside the air conditioned center, Multnomah County spokesperson Julia Comnes oversaw county staff and people working with a local homeless services provider as they lined up thin mattresses in rows on the floor and set up cots for people with disabilities. She said the space had capacity for up to 80 people.

“Some of the hazards associated with this weekend especially is that it’s still pretty early in the season. We had a pretty cool June, so our bodies aren’t totally acclimated yet to the heat,” she said. “For people living outside or more vulnerable people, the cooling space like this is really important for them to just cool off for a few hours.”

The blistering weather in the Portland region is expected to last at least through Monday, National Weather Service meteorologist Clinton Rockey said. If the triple-digit temperatures (well over 37 degrees Celsius) stretch into Tuesday, then the region will match a record last seen in July 1941, with five consecutive days of more than 100-degree weather, Rockey said.

The duration is a problem: Many homes in the area lack air conditioning, and round-the-clock hot weather means people’s bodies aren’t able to sufficiently cool down at night. The issue is compounded in many city settings, where concrete and pavement can store the heat, essentially acting as an oven.

“That’s what drives people batty,” Rockey said. “It’s going to be obnoxious. And unfortunately for some people, if you’re not having good shelter, it could be a very challenging, life-threatening situation.”

In Arizona’s Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, while the causes of more than 160 other suspected heat deaths were still under investigation, according to the county’s most recent report on such deaths through June 29.

That doesn’t include the death of a 10-year-old boy earlier this week in Phoenix, who suffered a “heat-related medical event” while hiking with his family at South Mountain Park and Preserve, according to the Phoenix Police Department.

Among extremes, the forecast for Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park calls for daytime highs of 129 degrees (53.8 degrees Celsius) on Sunday, and then around 130 (54.44 C) through Wednesday. The official world record for hottest temperature recorded on Earth was 134 degrees (56.67 C) in Death Valley in July 1913, but some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 recorded there in July 2021.

At Bullhead City, Arizona, the temperature already had reached 111 degrees (44.4 C) by 11 a.m. Friday. The city opened a pair of cooling centers for seniors and others, but locals seemed to be taking it in stride.

“While this is a heat wave and we urge everyone to be cautious, we typically don’t see large attendance at our cooling centers unless there are power outages,” Bullhead City spokesperson Mackenzie Covert said Friday. “Our community is hot every summer. Our residents are kind of aware of it. They all tend to have working air conditioners.”

Figure skaters took to the ice at the Reno Ice Rink in Nevada starting at 6 a.m. Friday, general manager Kevin Sunde said. By the time the rink closes at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Sunde expected nearly 300 people would have visited, with more parents hanging around to watch kids’ hockey practice than usual.

“They may not be getting on the ice themselves, but enjoying the cool,” Sunde said. “We’re the only sheet of ice within about an hour’s drive.”

In Norfolk, Virginia, Kristin Weisenborn set up her table at an outdoor farmer’s market to sell sourdough bread. The air was hovering just below the triple digits, but the 58% humidity in the air made it feel more like 114 degrees (46 C), according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s so hot, I just hope there’s a lot of people here that can buy my bread,” said Weisenborn, 42, whose Krid’s Crumbs bakery is based in Virginia Beach.

“Otherwise we’re just standing here sweating,” she said, adding that unsold bread will be donated or frozen.

Despite the layer of unmoving humidity that hung between tables, people were already buying Weisenborn’s loaves of bread as the market got underway.

“It’s hot, but it’s July,” Weisenborn added. “Better than snow, I guess.”

___

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press journalists Scott Sonner in Sparks, Nevada; Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina; John Antczak in Los Angeles; Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; and Ben Finely in Norfolk, Virginia contributed.

Letters: ‘Socialized’ medicine? No, the V.A. delivers ‘earned care’

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Earned care, not ‘socialized medicine’

Quite frequently in some circles it is popular to describe VA medical care for veterans as an example of “socialized” medicine. While it is true that the federal government pays for medical support for veterans, it is not universal care. It is earned care, which is based on what is better described as a meritocracy.

Veterans merit their care because they have earned it based on an agreement veterans made with Congress. In 1980 I enlisted and served until 2008. In 1980 we were assured we were enlisting in lifetime care in response to offering to fight and if necessary die for your freedom and our country.

Socialized medicine is best described as a social entitlement which is gifted as an entitlement or human right. Veterans are not asking for a social entitlement because they are just in America, they merit earned care as promised by your and my representative government.

They merit it because, as Abraham Lincoln once said, they “have borne the battle.”

David Warren Knight, White Bear Lake

 

Beyond either/or

The choice of either/or has brought about an electoral attitude of disinterested, disengaged contemplation to American life as a whole, viewing it merely as a spectacle.

Thursday evening when the current president met the former, we could have learned something new, been engaged, had RFK Jr. been welcomed onto the debate stage. But CNN is the media appetizer of either/or. And I am so utterly tired of it.

The two extremes of the political parties will only contrast our nation’s true challenges with unimaginative reflection. Much like the last time the two met, more finger pointing will only fuel further anger and divisiveness.

When will our political choices at last move beyond either/or? A question I direct pointedly to CNN and the like.

Julia Bell, St. Paul

Or what?

Is the USA a great country , or what? Hard to so easily steal a quarter of a billion dollars in many other countries, including Somalia.

T. J. Sexton, St. Paul

 

If …

I can go along with classroom display of the 10 Commandments if posted next to a similar display of the Bill Of Rights.

I can go along with a Pledge to the Flag if it includes an oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States of America.

I can go along with prayer in schools if it is inclusive to the dozen or so other religions of the people.

Joe Danko, North St. Paul

 

Compare and contrast

I am so happy for the Phillips family who finally got to bring their baby home to Minnesota.

They had to “work for months to secure the array of U.S. and Brazilian documents needed to let him leave Brazil and enter the US.”

All this for an innocent baby, yet for the last three years, this administration has allowed undocumented people to come by thousands without any paperwork to flow across our border. Some are committing horrible crimes against our young women and attacking our police.

It is truly ridiculous and dangerous.

Patricia Boyd, St. Paul

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UMN plan would seek donations to keep president’s Eastcliff mansion

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The University of Minnesota’s board of regents is set to review a plan recommending the school seek donations to keep the Eastcliff property, a St. Paul mansion that has served as the university president’s residence for more than 60 years.

If the board approves the plan, it’ll end more than a year of uncertainty surrounding whether the U would hold on to the riverfront property, after a task force report in 2022 questioned its upkeep costs.

A group put together by the board to review options for keeping the property will recommend the school seek private donations to help cover operating and capital costs.

The Eastcliff Property Task Force is set to present its recommendations at the board’s meeting on Wednesday, July 10. Their study found it would be feasible to raise money for operating costs and repairs over the next five years. The plan would have the backing of the University of Minnesota Foundation.

Most of the costs would be covered by philanthropy, but the U would still support some of the operating costs, the school said.

“With the bulk of expenses transitioned out of the University’s operating budget, this proposal would free up additional funding to directly support students, faculty, researchers and community engagement programming,” the U said in a news release announcing the plan.

Eastcliff was built in 1922 on the east bank of the Mississippi River near the University of Minnesota for lumber magnate Edward Brooks Sr. His family donated the property to the U in 1958, and it became the home of university presidents in 1961.

The 10,000-square-foot mansion has served as a space for honoring students and faculty and has hosted visiting dignitaries, such as the Dalai Lama in 2011.

Since last summer, Eastcliff has been home to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his family as the official Governor’s Residence on Summit Avenue undergoes major renovations. Their lease was set to run through September 2024, but there are options for an extension if the renovations take too long.

In the meantime, new university president Rebecca Cunningham, who assumed her role July 1, is staying in an apartment near campus, according to a university spokesperson.

In recent years, UMN officials started to question the cost of keeping the mansion. The board at one point considered selling Eastcliff due to maintenance and operation costs.

In December 2022 a Board of Regents task force said money the school spends on Eastcliff would be better used for other school objectives.

At the time, Eastcliff only had three endowments totaling $1.3 million, and the U said it would need between $15 million and $20 million from donors to create an endowment to cover expenses.

The mansion cost about $377,000 a year to operate between 2012-2022, with costs supporting maintenance, grounds and custodial staff, the Pioneer Press previously reported.

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