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Major League Baseball will implement a pitch clock and ban defensive shifts beginning in the 2023 season, people familiar with the matter said, an attempt to quicken pace of play and reinvigorate offenses as a means of combating the sport’s faded appeal with fans. An 11-person joint committee that includes four active players recommended the changes. Former Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox executive Theo Epstein served as an adviser to the committee. The league also will increase the size of bases by three inches, a measure it believes will reduce collisions and injuries. The changes, expected to be announced...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Governor Brown said federal officers will be leaving the ground in Portland by Thursday. She tweeted the news early Wednesday morning. “After my discussions with VP Pence and others, the federal government has agreed to withdraw federal officers from Portland. They have acted as an occupying force & brought violence. Starting tomorrow, all Customs and Border Protection & ICE officers will leave downtown Portland,” she said. https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/1288497308733018113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1288497308733018113%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.koin.com%2Fnews%2Fgovernor-brown-says-feds-leaving-portland-by-wednesday%2F Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf confirmed the news, saying in a statement that federal officers will be replaced with Oregon State Police. “That plan includes a robust presence of...

Originally, we were seeing the usual list of subjects being attacked, mostly in the form of Confederate Civil War monuments. But since then, it’s spread to everything from bronze images of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to Spanish Conquistadors. Tearing down a sizable, heavy monument can be hard work, however, and potentially dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Stepping into the breach this week is the magazine Popular Mechanics. Author James Stout offers up some “helpful” advice on how to understand all of the physics involved and the most efficient way to accomplish the task. The title seems...

Seattle protesters storm City Hall, demand mayor resign after driving police out of area, declaring autonomous zone Hundreds of protesters, aided by a sympathetic City Council member, stormed Seattle's City Hall Tuesday night to demand the mayor's resignation, just days after seizing a six-block downtown zone that includes a shuttered police precinct. SEATTLE PROTESTERS DECLARE 'COP FREE ZONE' AFTER POLICE LEAVE PRECINCT Demonstrators remained peaceful, without reports of violence or injuries, but are pushing Mayor Jenny Durkan to step down if she refuses to defund the city's police department. The protesters continued to camp out in a self-declared “Capitol Hill...

Senate votes to rein in Trump's power to attack Iran BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 02/13/20 02:10 PM EST Eight Senate Republicans voted with all 47 Democrats on Thursday to rein in President Trump's ability to take military action against Iran, paving the way for a veto showdown with the White House. Senators voted 55-45 on the resolution, spearheaded by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), that would require Trump to pull any U.S. troops from military hostilities against Iran within 30 day unless he gets congressional approval for the military actions. The rebuke comes just a week after senators voted to acquit...

The Center for Immigration Studies published new estimates of the 2020 census that show states won by President Trump wind up losing 24 seats in the House, corresponding with a loss of 24 electoral votes, thanks to mass migration and our policy of counting immigrants for reapportionment. In total, 26 seats are transferred as a result of factoring in total immigration, which includes those who became naturalized. If you just look at current immigrants who are not naturalized, they cause a transfer of 10 seats, thanks to the policy of counting them along with citizens in state reapportionment. To put...

After lawyers on both sides and the judge traded back and forth at a "status hearing" today, it was decided that the leading Tier 1 defendants (Cliven Bundy, Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne and Pete Santilli) in the Bunkerville Standoff will be tried alongside the two defendants not convicted after their first two trials (Eric Parker, Scott Drexler). Trial date is set for Tuesday October 10th. Parker and Drexler agreed to be tried with the other defendants in the interests of them getting a trial quicker. Those five along with the Tier 3 group have now been held without...

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify in public to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday on his role in the Russia investigation. Mr Sessions, who wrote to the Senate Intelligence Committee at the weekend, has asked that the hearing be open. He will face questions about undeclared meetings with Russian officials and the president's firing of the FBI chief. Media reports last week said Mr Sessions had offered to resign because of tensions with the president.

The Hillary Clinton email scandal can seem complicated. But it’s easy to understand. Here is the full story: Hillary Clinton set up a private email server, and a private email network for herself and her family and Abedin. Doing so could prevent her emails from being “accessible” to the federal government, not to mention Congress. The private network allowed Clinton, Abedin, and aides Cheryl Mills and Jake Sullivan to swap emails with the Clinton Foundation, various world leaders, and Doug Band’s global consulting firm Teneo Holdings, where Abedin also worked during her time at the State Department. This would have...

Catchy little tune. Nicely done for a youtube. Studio quality.

On Sunday, President Obama’s administration announced that he would, by executive order, change the name of Mount McKinley to Mount Denali. He did not explain the decision, which frustrated Ohio legislators upset at the slap at President William McKinley’s legacy; he is expected to speak on the topic today in Anchorage.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism Saturday of fellow party member and Arizona Sen. John McCain for being “captured” during the Vietnam War brought sharp rebuke from others in the GOP field. “He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit, in Ames, Iowa. “I like people who weren’t captured.” Most of the 14 other GOP candidates, including some at the summit, immediately criticized Trump’s remarks. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry tweeted that McCain “is an American hero” and that all U.S. prisoners of war “deserve our nation's highest debt of gratitude” and...

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Monday that President Obama is "very interested" in the idea of raising taxes through unitlateral executive action. "The president certainly has not indicated any reticence in using his executive authority to try and advance an agenda that benefits middle class Americans," Earnest said in response to a question about Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calling on Obama to raise more than $100 billion in taxes through IRS executive action. "Now I don't want to leave you with the impression that there is some imminent announcement, there is not, at least that I know of,"...

Couple kill cops in cold blood - reportedly yell "This is the start of revolution".

A Taliban commander close to the negotiations over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told TIME Thursday that the deal made to secure Bergdahl’s release has made it more appealing for fighters to capture American soldiers and other high-value targets. “It’s better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people,” the commander said, speaking by telephone on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.” The commander has been known to TIME for...

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Michael Sam made history Saturday afternoon, as the St. Louis Rams made him the 249th overall choice in the 2014 NFL draft. The Missouri defensive end becomes the first openly gay player to be drafted in league history and seeks to be the first openly gay player ever to play in the NFL. Video of Sam receiving the call from the Rams and coach Jeff Fisher revealed the player's emotion while surrounded by friends, family and his boyfriend. "In a world of diversity we live in, I am honored to be a part of this," Fisher...

The Pentagon plans to scale back the US Army by more than an eighth to its lowest level since before World War II, signaling a shift after more than a decade of ground wars. Saying it was time to "reset" for a new era, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recommended shrinking American forces from 520,000 active duty troops to between 440,000 and 450,000.

The Captain says he is calling it a career. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced Wednesday afternoon that he will retire following the 2014 season — his 20th in the major leagues. Jeter, who appeared in only 17 games last season due to an assortment of injuries, made the announcement on his Facebook page. “I could not be more sure. I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball,” he said.

First lady appears to fail to see the funny side as her husband takes a 'selfie' with Helle Thorning-Schmidt and David Cameron For a memorial service it was a remarkably jovial scene: Barack Obama, David Cameron and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish prime minister, huddled together for a smart phone photograph. But one person looked distinctly less amused by the world leaders' "selfie" - Michelle Obama. The First Lady stared straight ahead, hands clasped in her lap, while her husband laughed with the Europeans at Nelson Mandela's memorial in Johannesburg. Another photograph shows shows her looking on, unsmiling, as Mr Obama...

As Americans prepare to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech during the March on Washington, Rev. Jesse Jackson has decided now would be a good time to accuse the Tea Party of being just like the Confederacy. “The Tea Party is the resurrection of the Confederacy, it’s the Fort Sumter Tea Party,” Jackson told (Politico), referring to conservative opposition to President Barack Obama. Jackson said he is “absolutely” convinced that Republican opposition to Obama has more to do with race than it does with actually opposing White House policy.