Latest news with #RobertMurray
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
MLB trade deadline preview: buyers & sellers
Subscribe to Baseball Bar-B-Cast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube There is slightly over a week until the MLB trade deadline. Rumors are running rampant as it nears the time for teams to decide if they are going to bolster their roster for a run towards the postseason or if they are going to cut their losses and prepare for the future. Some will be buyers and some will be sellers. That is exactly what Jake and Jordan discuss. They break down each team and project what moves those teams might make. Eugenio Suárez is the biggest name being rumored to be swapping jerseys by next week. Will he be the latest Bronx Bomber or will another team come in and take the star? The Dodgers have had a far less spectacular season, thus far, than many expected, and their pitching depth needs help. Who might they go get to help them on their quest to repeat as World Series champions? The two best teams in baseball are notorious for not doing much at the trade deadline. What kind of moves, if any, will the Milwaukee Brewers and the Detroit Tigers make? 30 teams, more than 30 possibilities and one podcast to cover it all. Plus, Robert Murray, MLB Insider for FanSided, joins the show. He gives his thoughts on what to watch for as we approach the trade deadline. He also tells the story of the career-altering moment he broke the Rafael Devers trade news. Don't forget about our special MLB Trade Deadline Live Show. In just over a week, on July 31, you can join Jake and Jordan live as they cover the final moments of the trade deadline and react to all of the drama that unfolded. (5:26) - AL Buyers (24:11) - Red Sox & AL Messy Middle (34:10) - AL Sellers (39:34) - Robert Murray joins the show (57:13) - NL Buyers (1:09:02) - NL Messy Middle (1:15:57) - NL Sellers🖥️
Associated Press
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Former Rhode Island Gov. Edward DiPrete dies at 91
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Former Rhode Island Gov. Edward DiPrete, who served as the state's chief executive for six years and was later jailed for corruption, has died. He was 91. Robert Murray, DiPrete's former chief of staff, co nfirmed that the Republican died Tuesday after celebrating his 91st birthday with family. DiPrete, a Republican, served as the state's 70th governor from January 1985 until January 1991. Less than a decade later, he became the first and only former Rhode Island governor to go to prison, having pleaded guilty to bribery, extortion and racketeering charges stemming from his time as the state's chief executive. DiPrete served one year in prison. After his 1999 release, the former governor said he hoped Rhode Islanders would still remember his accomplishments as governor. 'I hope historians 25 years from now will say that was a good period in time from a person who did make some mistakes, no question, and did some things he paid dearly for,' he said. Political analyst Darrell West said DiPrete presided over years of relative economic strength in the state, but that his guilty plea and imprisonment were the last memory he left with the public. 'He was the first and only governor to go to jail,' West said. 'That's an ignoble thing to be on his record.' DiPrete served as governor for three two-year terms, winning reelection in 1986 and 1988, but losing to a Democrat in 1990. A year later, DiPrete was fined $30,000 by the state's Ethics Commission for improperly influencing the award of a state contract, but the former governor's legal odyssey was just beginning. DiPrete and one of his sons, Dennis L. DiPrete, a civil engineer who had never held office, were indicted on March 29, 1994, accused of accepting bribes from architects, engineers, developers and landlords in return for state contracts. The DiPretes were charged with taking at least $294,000 in bribes while the Republican was governor. As they headed for trial in 1997, Superior Court Judge Dominic Cresto dismissed all charges against the pair after finding the attorney general's office had disobeyed his order to turn over evidence to defense lawyers, a move that stunned the top state prosecutor. The state Supreme Court reinstated the charges in January 1998 after the attorney general's office appealed, ruling that Cresto had no authority to dismiss them. On Dec. 11, 1998, less than a month before he and his son were scheduled to stand trial, DiPrete pleaded guilty to 18 counts of bribery, extortion and racketeering, admitting he accepted $250,000 in exchange for state contracts. He was sentenced to serve one year in a work-release program at the state prison. Critics called the sentence too lenient, including then-Gov. Lincoln Almond. DiPrete said he pleaded guilty to end the stress on his family and because he knew it would keep his son out of jail. 'Sparing my son and my grandchildren the anguish of these proceedings far outweighed any personal desires to put the state to its proof,' the elder DiPrete said in a statement. A state judge later revoked DiPrete's $50,777 annual pension in November 1999. He appealed, arguing he deserved compensation for past public service, including work for the city of Cranston. The state Supreme Court disagreed, ruling in 2004 that his conduct as governor meant the state Retirement Board did not have to honor his pension. DiPrete often touted his 'everyman' persona while in office, taking his large family on vacation in a Winnebago motor home and sometimes serving guests supermarket fried chicken from the RV. In 1987, he decided to park the motor home outside the Rhode Island State House during a snowstorm and slept in it to avoid being stuck in the snow.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former Rhode Island Gov. Ed DiPrete dies at 91
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Ed DiPrete, who won three terms as Rhode Island governor during economic boom times in the 1980s but eventually went to prison due to widespread corruption in his administration, has died. He was 91. DiPrete's death was confirmed by Robert Murray, who worked for him in the mayor's office and the governor's office. DiPrete rode strong job growth to three successive election victories as the Republican candidate for governor in 1984, 1986 and 1988, before he was finally defeated in 1990 by Democrat Bruce Sundlun – on Sundlun's third try – after a weakening economy and a drumbeat of corruption allegations had tarnished his reputation with voters. Edward Daniel DiPrete was born in Cranston in 1934. He graduated from LaSalle Academy and the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, then served in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1959 before joining his father's real-estate firm. DiPrete's political career began in 1970 when he won the first of two terms on the Cranston School Committee; he followed that by winning two terms on the City Council. His ascent continued in 1978 when he was elected mayor of Cranston, a job he held for three terms, developing a reputation as a popular pragmatist friendly to business. DiPrete won the governor's office in 1984, becoming the first Republican to hold the job since John Chafee lost it in 1968, on a platform that promised economic revival after a brutal recession. He pushed through tax cuts and trumpeted a drop in the unemployment rate to a record low of 2.9% in 1988, despite the ongoing decline of manufacturing locally. DiPrete's tenure coincided with a brief revival in the electoral fortunes of Rhode Island Republicans, and he had enough pull in the national GOP that then-President George H.W. Bush headlined a 1989 fundraiser for him. The president called DiPrete 'simply one of the finest governors in all the 50 states,' as well as 'a close friend and a trusted adviser.' But allegations of misconduct haunted the DiPrete administration almost from the start. DiPrete's first transportation director resigned just months after the new governor took office, and a notorious 'Cranston land deal' that benefited DiPrete's son financially caused so much outrage that it almost cost him re-election in 1988. The various scandals scarred DiPrete's administration and eventually implicated him personally. After three successful campaigns, DiPrete suffered a massive defeat in 1990 at the hands of Democrat Bruce Sundlun; just 26% of voters supported the incumbent. Less than an hour after DiPrete left office Sundlun was forced to close dozens of the state's banks and credit unions, symbolizing the problems stored up during his predecessor's tenure. Four years later, in 1994, DiPrete and his son Dennis were indicted on charges of racketeering, extortion, bribery, and perjury stemming from his governorship. DiPrete finally pleaded guilty in 1998 in exchange for leniency toward his son; he was given a one-year prison sentence, becoming the first Rhode Island governor to go to prison. 'To the people of the state and the state itself, I am deeply sorry,' DiPrete said at the time of his sentencing. DiPrete mostly stayed out of the public eye after getting out of prison, though he occasionally made appearances in public and was involved in a lengthy court fight over whether he was entitled to pension benefits. His wife, Patricia, died in 2011 after 55 years of marriage. The couple had seven children. Funeral arrangements have not been announced. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Telegraph
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
What Tchaikovsky's darkest opera could teach Putin's Russia
It suited his political ideals, and allowed him to escape what he considered the frivolities and trivialities of most of the operas of Mozart and his contemporaries. The idea of justice was vital to Beethoven, and by telling this story so simply he never obscures the message. The Garsington cast is so uniformly excellent that it seems invidious to single individual members out for praise: but Sally Matthews is an entirely convincing Fidelio and Robert Murray was no less outstanding as Florestan. The production runs throughout July, and if you can find tickets you will not be disappointed. Sadly, Jack Furness's production at Garsington of The Queen of Spades has just ended, but was so impressive that the company would be mad to leave it for too long before reviving it. The 10th of Tchaikovsky's 11 operas, it is, along with Eugene Onegin, the only one frequently performed today. Like Onegin, it is based on a story by Pushkin that deals with the dire consequences of obsessive love – and neither opera ends well. Furness's direction contrasts the almost mindless and idle behaviour of the Russian upper classes of the 1770s with the desperately earnest obsession of the less-privileged Herman, the anti-hero and an outsider, for Lisa, the niece of a countess, who is engaged to be married to a prince. Herman dreams of having enough money to marry Lisa himself, and when he hears that the countess knows the three-card secret of how to win at the gaming table, he determines to get the secret out of her: but she drops dead as he is pestering her to tell him. However, she appears before him as an apparition – or at least he thinks she does, given by this stage we have come to realise he is clearly mad and he has earlier hallucinated about shooting Catherine the Great – and tells him the secret of the cards. He goes to the gaming table and on the first two cards, played as the ghost has told him, he wins a small fortune, which he then stakes on the third card, which he believes is the Ace of Spades: in fact it is the Queen, and he loses to his love rival the Prince, who thus exacts revenge. Herman shoots himself, though does so clumsily and dies slowly. Tchaikovsky would die within three years, apparently by suicide. The darkness in the opera is not unrelenting, but it is overbearing. Lisa, ironically, wanted Herman for himself, not for any money he might have, so misery is compounded by irony. And moments after Herman's death the gamblers are playing cards again, as if he had never existed. There is a metaphor there for Russia today, and the opera represented a time of cultural magnificence that, in that benighted country, now seems lost forever.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
MLB Insider Throws Shade at Craig Breslow For His Comments Amid Trading Rafael Devers
MLB Insider Throws Shade at Craig Breslow For His Comments Amid Trading Rafael Devers originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Ever since the Boston Red Sox traded away Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, there has been a sour taste in the mouths of Boston fans. But, for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, he viewed the deal as a positive. Advertisement Now, a few weeks after the Devers trade, the Red Sox are, predictably, struggling offensively. MLB insider Robert Murray of Fansided, who initally broke the news of the Devers trade, threw some shade at Breslow for trading away Devers in a post on social media. Murray pointed out that after the Devers trade, Breslow commented that at the time, it was viewed as ridiculous. Breslow said, "I do think there's a real chance that at the end of the season, we're looking back and we've won more games than we otherwise would've." That quote from Breslow frustrated Red Sox fans at the time, and now, it looks even worse. As Murray states, since that quote, the Red Sox are 3-7, and once again below .500. Advertisement Boston sits eight games behind the New York Yankees for the AL East, the team they swept right before trading Devers. Their loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, losing 9-0, prompted the post from Murray. It was the Red Sox's sixth straight loss, and highlighted how much the team is struggling lately. Boston, after trading Devers, contrary to what Breslow expected, is not a better team. The Red Sox, at this pace, will also lose more games than they would've had they kept Devers. Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow speaks to the media during the MLB General Managers' Meetings at Omni Scottsdale Resort & J. Rebilas-Imagn Images In the minds of Red Sox fans, the Devers deal was a complete disaster. But Breslow was confident publicly about the deal. That confidence, based on the team's recent performances, appears unfounded. Advertisement The Red Sox aren't contenders anymore, as they sit three games out of a Wild Card spot, and barring a quick turnaround, are likely to miss the postseason again. If things get worse, Boston might be a seller in a few weeks. Breslow's decision to trade Devers was immediately met with questions and criticism. His comments afterward also sparked outrage. Now, ten games later, his comments look even worse, and Murray, an MLB insider, is throwing shade at the team and Breslow for their decision to trade Devers. Related: Red Sox Decision to Trade Rafael Devers Labeled Biggest Failure of 2025 Related: Red Sox Receive Positive Update on Alex Bregman's Recovery This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.
