Category Archives: WPTF News

Robot umpires are getting their first MLB test during spring training

Robot umpires are getting their first MLB test during spring training

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is an advocate of the Automated Ball-Strike System, which potentially as early as 2026 could be used to aid MLB home plate umpires, but not replace them. Starting in 2024, MLB focused testing on a challenge system in which the human umpire makes each original call. Data from the spring training test could cause MLB to make alterations to the system for Triple-A games this season.… Continue Reading

Snowy roads lead to hundreds of Virginia and North Carolina crashes as Arctic air brings record cold

Snowy roads lead to hundreds of Virginia and North Carolina crashes as Arctic air brings record cold

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Snowy roads led to hundreds of crashes throughout Virginia and North Carolina, including a series of crashes on an interstate highway involving more than 50 vehicles. Officials continued to ask people to avoid travel on Thursday to allow crews to work on the roads. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol says it responded to nearly 1,200 collisions statewide on Wednesday. Virginia State Police reported early Thursday that there had been nearly 500 crashes statewide since the storm began, including at least 45 involving injuries. An Arctic air mass is bringing widespread, record-breaking cold to the central United States and forecasters expected some locations to experience their coldest temperatures on record this late in the season.… Continue Reading

Sen. Mitch McConnell won’t seek reelection in 2026, ending long tenure as Republican power broker

Sen. Mitch McConnell won’t seek reelection in 2026, ending long tenure as Republican power broker

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Mitch McConnell has announced he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce populism of President Donald Trump. The Kentucky Republican chose his 83rd birthday on Thursday to share his decision to retire when his current term ends in January 2027. McConnell is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. McConnell helped forge a conservative Supreme Court and steered the Senate through tax cuts and presidential impeachment trials. McConnell informed The Associated Press of his decision before he addressed colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.… Continue Reading

RJ Davis scores 21 to help North Carolina beat NC State 97-73

RJ Davis scores 21 to help North Carolina beat NC State 97-73

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — RJ Davis scored 21 points, Seth Davis added 15 on 6-of-9 shooting and North Carolina never trailed as the Tar Heels beat in-state rival N.C. State 97-73. Ven-Allen Lubin scored 13 points and Ian Jackson 12 for North Carolina. Drake Powell made a layup that gave the Tar Heels the lead for good just over four minutes into the game and spark a 10-0 run that made it 16-6 about three minutes later. UNC shot 57% from the field, outrebounded the Wolfpack 40-21 and led by double digits for the final 33 minutes. Jayden Taylor led N.C. State with 19 points and Dontrez Styles added 18 on 7-of-10 shooting.… Continue Reading

Senate confirms Kelly Loeffler, former Georgia senator, to lead Small Business Administration

Senate confirms Kelly Loeffler, former Georgia senator, to lead Small Business Administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate has confirmed Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia businesswoman and former senator, to lead the Small Business Administration. The Senate approved Loeffler on a 52-46 vote Wednesday. At SBA, Loeffler will oversee an entity responsible for helping businesses satisfy debts, payroll and other expenses during times of disaster. Loeffler co-chaired Trump’s second inaugural committee and served in the Senate during the last year of his first term. During her brief stint on Capitol Hill, the former WNBA owner and executive was the Senate’s wealthiest member. She is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, the publicly traded firm that owns the New York Stock Exchange.… Continue Reading

Winter-weary East Coast hit with another storm as temperatures plunge elsewhere

Winter-weary East Coast hit with another storm as temperatures plunge elsewhere

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The latest in a long line of winter storms is taking direct aim at the East Coast where heavy snow and some ice is forecast across several states. The storm that dropped snow in the Midwest promised to bring more misery to some places just starting to clean up from deadly weekend floods. The National Weather Service says snow totaling up to 10 inches is possible along the Atlantic Coast in Virginia, and significant ice could accumulate in parts of eastern North Carolina. More snow also is expected in Kentucky, where 14 people died in weekend flooding.… Continue Reading

DOGE notches courtroom wins as Elon Musk crusades to slash federal government

DOGE notches courtroom wins as Elon Musk crusades to slash federal government

WASHINGTON (AP) — Although some parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda are getting bogged down by litigation, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is having better luck in the courtroom. Labor unions, Democrats and federal employees have filed several lawsuits arguing that DOGE is running roughshod over privacy protections or usurping power from other branches of government. But judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents haven’t always gone along with those arguments, at least so far. Most notably, DOGE critics are failing to obtain temporary restraining orders that would prevent Musk’s team from accessing sensitive government databases.… Continue Reading

Trump and Zelenskyy trade barbs as US-Ukraine relations sour over the war with Russia

Trump and Zelenskyy trade barbs as US-Ukraine relations sour over the war with Russia

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump are deteriorating rapidly. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” and Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” in comments that were sure to complicate efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy also said he would like Trump’s team “to be more truthful” as he offered his first response to a series of striking claims that Trump made a day earlier, including falsely suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.… Continue Reading

Phil Berger’s confirms reelection bid, setting up likely 2026 primary with local sheriff

Phil Berger’s confirms reelection bid, setting up likely 2026 primary with local sheriff

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Senate leader Phil Berger has firmed up publicly plans to run again for his Senate seat next year. It appears to set up a Republican primary in March 2026 in his district against longtime Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Page announced last week that he would run for the 26th Senate District regardless of whether Berger wanted to continue representing the area. Berger’s comments on Tuesday go beyond what he told reporters about his political future the day before Page’s decision became public. Berger joined the Senate in 2001 and has been the chamber leader since 2011.… Continue Reading

Arctic air sweeping south over Plains shatters record temperatures in North Dakota

Arctic air sweeping south over Plains shatters record temperatures in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Arctic air gripping the Plains has broken cold-weather records in North Dakota. The capital city of Bismarck dropped to minus 39 on Tuesday, breaking the record of minus 37 set in 1910 for the same date. And late on Monday, Bismarck sank to minus 35, shattering a 150-year-old record low of minus 35 for Feb. 17. A gradual warmup is expected in coming days. Parts of southwestern and south-central North Dakota are forecasted to hit the 50s on Monday. More than 95 million people are in the deep freeze due to a polar vortex.… Continue Reading

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