Latest news with #Mintz
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Truman air wing returns home after long, eventful trip to Red Sea
VIRGINIA BEACH — A long, eventful deployment reached the finish line Friday as the F/A-18s from the carrier Harry S. Truman flew in formation over Virginia Beach, as the crews' loved ones waited eagerly near the runway. After 8 1/2 months, Carrier Air Wing returned to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach on Friday. 'I'm just so happy to be home,' said Capt. Leslie Mintz. 'I'm so happy everyone is home and reunited with their families.' The aircraft carrier and its strike group spent more than five months defending merchant mariners and military vessels from Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It lost three F/A-18s during that time, but no crew members. One of the fighter jets was shot down accidentally by friendly fire. A second fell overboard as the carrier made an abrupt turn while the jet was being towed. A third crashed into the Red Sea after the aircraft failed to land on the carrier. .'] Even after the incidents encountered while deployed, Mintz said one word she would use to describe the air wing would be perseverance. 'It is a bond that will never be broken, what we have done together,' Mintz said. Kendall Warner,
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bar-B-Cast on Red Sox's struggles and ugly season: 'Alex Cora is going nowhere at least this season'
(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.) Based on the conversation between Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman in this episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast," it's clear that while things look bleak for the Red Sox, the season isn't over — but there's a lot of frustration and concern. Advertisement The Red Sox aren't mathematically eliminated, and there are still scenarios where they turn things around, especially if prospects contribute and some injured players return and perform. But the path forward is "complicated" and hope is fading, reflected in Boston's big drop in playoff odds. The team's flaws are showing, and unless things change quickly, they're at risk of falling out of the race for good. Here are the key points Shusterman and Mintz discussed on the show: Poor performance, bad breaks The Red Sox have struggled recently, particularly with a five-game losing streak entering Friday, lots of one-run losses (6-15 in one-run games), and multiple walk-off defeats. There have also been key injuries — especially to Alex Bregman and Tristan Casas — and some roster inflexibility. Advertisement Their playoff odds have plummeted from preseason hopes of 56% down to 18%, according to Fangraphs, as Shusterman mentions. This drop reflects their poor play and the surprising strength of other teams. Why manager Alex Cora is safe this season Mintz and Shusterman discussed some odd roster choices and poor communication, especially around locking Rafael Devers into the DH spot. However, neither Mintz nor Shusterman believe Cora is on the hot seat, and they think he's handled the chaos relatively well. "Alex Cora is going nowhere at least this season," Mintz said. "If I had to rank baseball operations juice amongst MLB managers he would be toward the top of that list. Yeah, he just signed a new contract. The organization believes in him and frankly I think he has done a fair, good enough job keeping this thing from going completely off the rails because it is not his fault." Advertisement Despite the mess, there's still hope in the farm system, with top prospects like Roman Anthony pushing for a call-up (though the front office seems reluctant for a mix of service time and roster jam reasons). The "Bar-B-Cast" wouldn't pick Boston to win the division at this point. Shusterman still gives the Red Sox a chance to sneak into a playoff spot, though his confidence is shaken. For more of the latest baseball news and debates, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What to make of the Braves drama involving Ronald Acuña Jr., Jarred Kelenic and Brian Snitker?
(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.) Last week's MLB drama starring superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. and manager Brian Snitker feels like must-see TV for Braves fans — and for anyone who cares about baseball's unwritten rules and the changing culture of the game. Hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman broke it all down on the latest episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast." If you missed the moment, here's the short version: Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic thought he hit a home run, admired it, then realized he needed to hustle and was thrown out at second base. Manager Brian Snitker, when asked later about the play, essentially shrugged it off, saying that Kelenic always hustles and that he hadn't even noticed the mistake until it was brought to his attention later. Enter Ronald Acuña Jr., currently rehabbing and watching from home. Acuña responded on Twitter to Braves beat writer Mark Bowman's tweet about Snitker's non-reaction. Ronald's not-so-subtle point in his since-deleted tweet? "If it were me, they would have taken me out of the game." As Mintz and Shusterman pointed out, that isn't a hypothetical. This actually did happen with Acuña in 2019, when Snitker benched him for a similar base-running mistake. Mintz and Shusterman dive into the not-so-subtle double standard at play in this situation. When Acuña made his mistake, Snitker made a very public example of him, saying, among other things, "You've got to run. It's not going to be acceptable here. ... And that name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back of that jersey." With Kelenic? Total non-event. Snitker seemed to miss the play entirely when it happened and downplayed it after the fact. Sure, there are layers here. The Braves' outfield is hurting lately, Kelenic has the "plays with his hair on fire" label, and, it must be acknowledged, there's a cultural component at play when a flashy Latin superstar receives different treatment than a scrappy white guy. As Mintz puts it, 'Obviously, there's the double standard, which is founded in, like, Ronald is a Latin guy who is cool, and Jarred Kelenic is, like, your scrappy white guy out there doing his best. That is definitely a part of this.' Was Ronald right to speak up? Mintz and Shusterman both agree: Acuña's frustration is justified, but he mishandled it. "That's a legit gripe," Mintz says. "[But] send it in an email, right? Talk about it in person. ... I am happy that Ronald did this in public because it's hilarious, and we can joke and talk about it on the podcast, but it's not the way you go about it." In other words, the double standard in the treatment of two Braves players is real, but it was the right message, wrong medium. 'Multiple things can be true," Mintz says. "Ronald is right in what he believes, and he is wrong in how he chose to exhibit that.' Does this one social media post reflect some kind of clubhouse meltdown? Probably not. Still, Mintz ponders, 'When is the last time we saw a player publicly criticize a manager on the internet?' Forget the play on the field; this is a signal that, for Atlanta, things aren't humming along as smoothly as they have in recent years. The Braves might iron this out internally, but now the rest of the sport will be watching to see how they handle it. "No one looks good here," Mintz says. "Kelenic looks bad. Snitker looks bad. And I actually do think Acuña looks a little bit bad. He looks the least bad, but he still looks bad." For more on this and other baseball debates, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Erek Barron, former U.S. attorney for Maryland, joins D.C. law firm
Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron was honored in the House of Delegates and Senate in February, a week after he resigned. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters) Erek L. Barron, a former state delegate and the first Black U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, has a new gig at a law firm in Washington, D.C. Barron will work for the white-collar defense and government investigations practice at Mintz, where he will lead the firm's crisis management and strategic response team that will include civil, criminal, and regulatory matters. 'Erek is a highly respected lawyer with an impressive background both in public service and private practice,' Bob Bodian, Mintz's managing member, said in a statement Monday. 'His extensive experience in high-stakes litigation, investigations, and corporate matters — combined with his various high-level positions in government — will bring immediate value to our clients across a broad range of industries.' Besides being recognized for its work on technology, biotech and life sciences, the firm's website said it was one of 765 U.S. businesses get to a perfect score of 100 from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation on its Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion. 'The firm has a commitment to core values which includes diversity, and absolutely something that is important to me,' Barron said in a brief interview Monday. 'I'm glad to be at a place that sticks by its principles.' Barron said he began working last week at the firm, where he expects some of the work to mirror work he did as U.S. attorney from October 2021 until he resigned February. Barron was nominated by President Joe Biden (D) and made history as the first Black U.S. attorney for Maryland when he was confirmed. 'We tackled a lot of big, complex problems across the board in the legal space, civil and criminal, touching nearly every substantive area of the law,' Barron said of his time as U.S. attorney. In one of the biggest cases of his tenure, the office charged three people in January 2024 for a nearly $2 billion cryptocurrency fraud scheme. Brenda Chunga of Severna Park pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with scheme, in which she allegedly received at least $3 million in proceeds. Prosecutors charge that Sam Lee, living in the United Arab Emirates, cofounded Hyperfund with Rodney Burton of Miami. The two, with Chunga, promoted the company and sold investment contracts through HyperFund's online investment platform between June 2020 and November 2022, but began to block investor withdrawals as early as July 2021. In December 2024, Barron's office announced the convictions of two people who lied to investors on the development of drugs to treat COVID-19 and HIV drugs by a publicly traded biotechnology company called CytoDyn Inc. A release from the office said Nader Pourhassan of Lake Oswego, Oregon, received more than $340,000 from sales of CytoDyn stock and Kazem Kazempour of Potomac received $4.4 million personally and his company received more than $22 million. Prior to his work as U.S. attorney, Barron worked with then-Sen. Joe Biden from 2007 to 2009 as counsel and policy adviser on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. Barron, who also worked as a partner at the D.C. firm of Whiteford Taylor & Preston, represented Prince George's County's 24th District in the House of Delegates from January 2015 to October 2021. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX He co-chaired a work group to assess budget and safety problems with Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and served on the state's Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council. Its work to assess and improve the state's sentencing and corrections practices led to the Justice Reinvestment Act in 2016. Less than a week after Barron resigned from the U.S. attorney's office, he was honored by his former colleagues in the General Assembly in both chambers. 'Having known Erek for over two decades, I am confident that his leadership, collaborative approach, and successful track record in both the public and private sectors will be a tremendous asset to our D.C. office and to Mintz overall,' said Michelle Lipkowitz, managing member of the firm's D.C. office.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The pope is a White Sox fan: Baseball and the conclave collide in the holiest fandom twist
(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.) Every so often, baseball and the outside world collide in ways that feel more mythic than real. On the latest episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast," hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman reveled in one such moment: when the brand-new pope turned out to be a Chicago White Sox fan. Let's break down why this story became instant baseball legend. A new pope is big news. But this one hits different. As Mintz says, 'All of religious history has led up to this. Yes, my dear friends, the pope is a White Sox fan.' It's the sort of news that, as podcasters, you can't wait to get behind the mic for. 'There just isn't a better feeling,' Shusterman notes, than being gifted 'so much incredible stuff to talk about.' When news broke that Pope Leo XIV hails from Chicago, speculation erupted: Cubs or White Sox? Initially, reports — and even the Cubs' own social media! — leaned Cubs, but then the story pivoted. It wasn't until the pope's own brother appeared in an interview that the truth emerged. 'He's always been a White Sox fan,' the brother declared. Despite the family split (mother: Cubs; father: Cardinals), the pope stayed loyal to the South Side. Mintz summarizes the stance: 'He's not just, yeah, he liked the White Sox, and then they move on. He's like, yeah, I don't know where all this Cub stuff is coming from. He's always been a White Sox fan.' As Shusterman adds, 'This man is not just, you know, grew up and thought Luis Aparicio was cool. This guy … has been into the Sox for a long time now.' The ultimate proof? A photo from the 2005 World Series featuring His Holiness at a White Sox game, Nokia phone in hand, basking in the glory of Chicago's first championship in generations. 'Going to a World Series game as a fan is an expensive thing to do," Mintz says. "... This is someone who had opinions on Mark Buehrle. Now he's the pope.' Does it fit? Jake and Jordan think so. 'The White Sox are what you would call a poverty franchise," Mintz says. "And what is the pope supposed to do if not take care of the poor?' They laugh, but there's truth there: A team starved for hope and leadership now has a weird, cosmic link to the Vatican's top spot. The hosts muse about what this could mean for the franchise. 'If the White Sox, along with his guidance … can rise,' Jordan says, 'maybe some divine influence will help.' The White Sox themselves quickly embraced the connection. They sent a custom jersey and hat straight to the Vatican and invited the pontiff to his 'cathedral' at 35th and Shields. Well, would you look at that... Congratulations to Chicago's own Pope Leo XIV — Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 8, 2025 Don't expect the pope to be rocking a fitted cap from the balcony or tossing out a first pitch, at least not according to precedent. But Pope Francis (a fan of Argentina's San Lorenzo) held up plenty of soccer scarves and jerseys, so maybe we'll see Pope Leo XIV do the same. Mintz can't resist asking: 'If the pope comes out here and is like, 'I don't want robo umps,' does that move the needle?' But as Jordan and Jake both note, the larger point is the narrative: 'Some things are bigger than baseball,' the White Sox said in a statement, 'and in this case, we're glad to have a White Sox fan represented at the Vatican.' This intersection of faith and fandom is the kind of bit that only baseball can provide. The new pope is a White Sox fan — documented and witnessed. Cubs fans might grumble, but for a franchise starved for miracles, this moment offers hope, humor and maybe, just maybe, a prayer for the South Side. For more of the latest baseball news and debates, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.
