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Daily Cubs Minors Recap: Mora, Mena and Caissie homer, while Alcantara is making a nice first impression in Mesa; Ramirez hits first pro homeron August 3, 2021 at 4:02 pm

Cubs Den

Daily Cubs Minors Recap: Mora, Mena and Caissie homer, while Alcantara is making a nice first impression in Mesa; Ramirez hits first pro homer

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Daily Cubs Minors Recap: Mora, Mena and Caissie homer, while Alcantara is making a nice first impression in Mesa; Ramirez hits first pro homeron August 3, 2021 at 4:02 pm Read More »

PepsiCo to sell Tropicana, other juices, in $3.3B dealAssociated Presson August 3, 2021 at 3:09 pm

PepsiCo will sell Tropicana and other juices to a private equity firm in a $3.3 billion deal.

The New York drink and snack company will keep a 39% non-controlling stake in a newly formed joint venture in the deal with PAI Partners.

The sale reflects the industry’s uncertainty about demand for fruit juice as consumers look for healthier options with less sugar, said Howard Telford, head of soft drinks at Euromonitor International, a market research firm.

“This deal reflects the desire of the industry to focus and innovate around a smaller core of categories and brands, including water, energy drinks, coffee and the staple carbonated soft drinks,” Telford said.

U.S. juice sales volumes actually rose last year as more people enjoyed breakfast at home during the pandemic and sought the immunity benefits of vitamin C, Telford said. But that was a blip in a longer-term decline. Overall juice sales fell 3% between 2015 and 2020, the data firm said.

Juice consumption in the U.S. peaked in 2003 at 4.2 billion gallons, but by 2017, that had fallen to 3 billion gallons, wrote Brian Sudano, the managing partner of Beverage Marketing Corp. The group does not see that trend changing.

Pepsi rival Coca-Cola Co. has also been shedding slow-selling brands, including Odwalla and Zico juices, over the last year so it can focus on stronger performers. But Coke is holding on to its Minute Maid and Simply juice brands for now.

The juice business delivered about $3 billion in revenue for PepsiCo last year, but at operating profit margins that were below the company’s overall margins, it said. In its annual report, Pepsi said falling juice sales offset gains for other products in North America, including water, sports drinks like Gatorade and energy drinks like Propel.

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the deal “will free us to concentrate on our current portfolio of diverse offerings, including growing our portfolio of healthier snacks, zero-calorie beverages, and products like SodaStream.”

PepsiCo bought Tropicana in 1998 and the Naked juice brand, also part of the sale Tuesday, about 10 years later. It was heading in another direction by 2018 when it bought SodaStream, the carbonated drink machine company, for more than $3 billion.

PepsiCo Inc., based in New York, has the option to sell certain juice businesses in Europe.

The deal is expected to close late this year or early next year.

Pepsi shares were flat in early trading Tuesday.

___

AP Business Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.

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PepsiCo to sell Tropicana, other juices, in $3.3B dealAssociated Presson August 3, 2021 at 3:09 pm Read More »

NYC will require vaccination proof for indoor dining, gymsAssociated Presson August 3, 2021 at 3:04 pm

NEW YORK — New York City will soon require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for anyone who wants to dine indoors at a restaurant, see a performance or go to the gym, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday, making it the first big city in the U.S. to impose such restrictions.

The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the Delta variant. People will have to show proof that they have had at least one dose of a vaccine.

“The only way to patronize these establishments indoors will be if you’re vaccinated,” de Blasio said. “The goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time. If we’re going to stop the Delta variant, the time is now. And that means getting vaccinated right now.”

The Democrat said some details of how the program will work still need to be worked out. The policy will go into effect on Aug. 16 but inspections and enforcement won’t begin until Sept. 13, the week that the city’s public schools reopen for the fall.

Vaccination cards will be accepted as proof of inoculation, along with state and city apps.

De Blasio has focused on getting as many New Yorkers vaccinated as possible while resisting calls to mandate masks indoors, as several cities and counties in California have done.

De Blasio said Monday he was making “a strong recommendation” that everyone wear a mask in public indoor settings but stressed that the city’s “overwhelming strategic thrust” remained getting more people vaccinated.

The mayor announced last week that city employees would be required to get vaccinated by mid-September or to face weekly testing, and he has offered a $100 incentive for city residents who get inoculated.

About 66% of adults in New York City are fully vaccinated, according to official data.

On Monday, the U.S. reached President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot into 70% of American adult s — a month late and amid a surge by the delta variant that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting renewed pandemic regulations around the country.

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NYC will require vaccination proof for indoor dining, gymsAssociated Presson August 3, 2021 at 3:04 pm Read More »

Chicago Cubs: 3 mistakes that led to 2021 dismantle of rosterVincent Pariseon August 3, 2021 at 3:00 pm

(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
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Chicago Cubs, Jason Heyward

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The Chicago Cubs were one of the best teams in Major League Baseball for a few years there. They had a core filled with players like Anthony Rizzo, Jon Lester, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Willson Contreras that led to a lot of wins. Unfortunately, they have started to dismantle that core as they try to rebuild their team for the future. They ended a World Series drought that lasted 108 years but now it is time to move on.

Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez are the three biggest pieces from that group that was moved during the week of the 2021 MLB Trade Deadline. The Cubs were not a very good baseball team before that and now it is even worse. They haven’t been World Series contenders since 2017, despite being pretty good in 2018 and 2020.

All of those guys are going to be remembered in Chicago for a very long time. They were all elite for their entire tenures but it was time for a change. That was proven when they all hit home runs in their first games with their new teams.

They will be fan favorites for a long time but they will also be playing with their news teams for the rest of this season and we will see what happens beyond that. Some people are hopeful that they return after the season is over but that is incredibly unlikely.

It is up to Jed Hoyer to get the Chicago Cubs rebuilt and back in a winning direction.

There are a lot of reasons to wonder what happened. Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and the entire management did a very good job early on but some big mistakes have led to the dismantling that you saw last week. These are the three biggest mistakes that the team made that led to it:

Next: One horrible trade

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Chicago Cubs: 3 mistakes that led to 2021 dismantle of rosterVincent Pariseon August 3, 2021 at 3:00 pm Read More »

Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama could get new vote on unionAssociated Presson August 3, 2021 at 2:33 pm

The union that tried — and failed — to organize Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama may get a do-over.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on Monday said that a hearing officer for the National Labor Relations Board has recommended that the vote by workers in April to overwhelmingly reject the union be set aside and that another vote be held in its place. The hearing officer determined that Amazon violated labor law, according to the union.

Amazon countered in a statement that “our employees had a chance to be heard during a noisy time when all types of voices were weighing into the national debate, and at the end of the day, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a direct connection with their managers and the company. Their voice should be heard above all else, and we plan to appeal to ensure that happens.”

The NLRB, which could not be reached for comment, has not yet issued a final decision, which would typically come two or three weeks after the initial recommendation.

The RWDSU said Monday it supports the initial recommendation by the hearing officer.

“Workers endured an intensive anti-union campaign designed by Amazon to intimidate and interfere with their choice on whether or not to form a union,” it said in a statement.

The union said in a filing in April that Amazon threatened workers with layoffs and even the closing of the warehouse if they unionized. It also said Amazon fired a pro-union employee, but declined to name the person.

Many of the other allegations by the union revolve around a mailbox that Amazon installed in the parking lot of the Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse. It said the mailbox created the false appearance that Amazon was conducting the election, intimidating workers into voting against the union. Security cameras in the parking lot could have recorded workers going to the mailbox, giving the impression that workers were being watched by the company and that their votes weren’t private, according to the retail union.

Workers overwhelmingly voted against forming a union, with 1,798 rejecting it and 738 voting in favor of it. A total of 3,117 votes were cast, about 53% of the nearly 6,000 workers at the warehouse.

The union push was the biggest in Amazon’s history and only the second time that an organizing effort from within the company had come to a vote. But Bessemer was always viewed as a long shot since it pitted the country’s second-largest employer against warehouse workers in a state with laws that don’t favor unions.

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Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama could get new vote on unionAssociated Presson August 3, 2021 at 2:33 pm Read More »

Evanston linebacker Sebastian Cheeks commits to North Carolina.Mike Clarkon August 3, 2021 at 2:25 pm

Sebastian Cheeks freely acknowledges becoming one of the best prep football players in Illinois wasn’t a solo effort.

On Wednesday, Cheeks was in steamy, non-air-conditioned Beardsley Gym at Evanston to announce his commitment to North Carolina. The four-star rising senior thanked many who helped him along the way, from family to coaches to friends.

But maybe the biggest boost came from two people,

“I have two older brothers [Gabriel and Logan] that have just pushed me my whole life,” Cheeks said. “And that improves everything. They’ve made me competitive.

“I remember being in the front yard, playing basketball, 2 a.m. in the morning, just going at it. I was always the youngest brother and I love to compete. I had a little bit of bang with my oldest two.”

Now, Cheeks is a 6-3, 210-pound linebacker rated fourth in Illinois, 15th nationally at his position and 131st overall in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.

His 27 Power Five offers include Notre Dame, nine from the Big Ten (Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin) and six from the SEC (Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt).

In the end, College Football Hall of Famer Mack Brown, who won a national championship at Texas in 2005, won out.

The Tar Heels entered the chase earlier this year and immediately made a good impression on Cheeks.

“Honestly, they kept it authentic,” he said. “And I knew once I took my official [visit], it was pretty much a wrap.”

Cheeks said he found an immediate connection with Brown, assistant Jay Bateman and the rest of the coaching staff. And he met his deadline of making a college choice before his senior season, which starts with practice beginning Aug. 9 and the season opener on Aug. 27.

“Anytime you commit, I think it’s a little bit of weight off your shoulders,” Cheeks said. “It’s a good feeling, I’m blessed to be in this position.”

Speaking of positions, Cheeks got his first offer as a running back. He was one of two Division I prospects in the Wildkits backfield with Quadre Nicholson, who made his college debut during the abbreviated spring season with Miami (Ohio).

But Cheeks always knew where his future lay.

“I knew that I wanted to be on the defensive side of the ball,” he said. “I knew I just wanted to hit.”

Maine East’s rising star

Yaser Alawadi didn’t play his first football game till he was a freshman at Maine East. He only had one more that year, a full sophomore season and then a few games during this spring’s pandemic campaign.

But with that small body of work, Alawadi is a three-star prospect at offensive tackle and one of the state’s best in the class of 2022. He’s No. 23 among Illinois’ rising seniors and in the top 150 nationally at his position according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

His size — 6-8, 300 pounds — has a lot to do with it.

“Coaches like that,” Alawadi said. “That’s the one thing you can’t teach.”

Even with recruiting being shut down for months during the pandemic, Alawadi has snagged Power Five offers from Michigan State, Purdue, Iowa State, Kansas and West Virginia.

That’s even with some schools waiting to see some film on him this fall to gauge his progression.

“I’m pretty raw,” Alawadi said. “I’m a little bit behind my class, you could say.”

Maine East coaches encouraged Alawadi, who also is a thrower for the track team, to try football and he eventually came out late in his freshman season. “They had to put me on the JV level,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

But after an offseason of working on his technique, Alawadi played on the varsity as a sophomore and college coaches started to take notice.

The future looks bright, given how much upside he can work on.

“Keeping my shoulder pads down, learning more about football,” he said. “It’s not just going out there and hitting people.”

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Evanston linebacker Sebastian Cheeks commits to North Carolina.Mike Clarkon August 3, 2021 at 2:25 pm Read More »

LIVE Blog: Boeing Starliner OFT-2 Launchon August 3, 2021 at 2:10 pm

Cosmic Chicago

LIVE Blog: Boeing Starliner OFT-2 Launch

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LIVE Blog: Boeing Starliner OFT-2 Launchon August 3, 2021 at 2:10 pm Read More »

Chicago Murder Map And Neighborhood Totals – 2021 Updateon August 3, 2021 at 2:17 pm

Getting Real

Chicago Murder Map And Neighborhood Totals – 2021 Update

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Chicago Murder Map And Neighborhood Totals – 2021 Updateon August 3, 2021 at 2:17 pm Read More »

Bounce Backon August 3, 2021 at 2:27 pm

Free Your Mind

Bounce Back

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Simone Biles wins bronze medal on balance beamWill Graves | Associated Presson August 3, 2021 at 1:08 pm

TOKYO — Simone Biles found something a little more manageable than the weight of the world.

Bronze.

The American gymnastics superstar earned her seventh Olympic medal and second in Tokyo with a third-place finish in the balance beam final on Tuesday, a week after she took herself out of several competitions to deal with a mental block that prevented her from twisting while performing.

Biles drilled a slightly watered-down version of her usual routine in front of a crowd that included IOC President Thomas Bach. The bronze — matching the one she captured in Rio de Janeiro five years ago — moved her into a tie with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals by an American gymnast.

“This definitely feels sweeter than Rio’s bronze medal on beam because I did a good beam routine,” she said.

Biles, using a double-pike dismount — no twisting required — posted a score of 14.000. That was good enough for bronze behind the Chinese duo of gold medalist Guan Chenchen (14.633) and Tang Xijing (14.233).

“I had nerves but I felt pretty good,” she said.

Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee of the United States finished fifth. The 18-year-old Lee won three medals in Tokyo, including silver in the team final and bronze on uneven bars.

Biles pulled out of competition earlier in the Tokyo Games, saying she felt “the weight of the world” on her 4-foot-8 frame. She shoved it aside to reach the podium for the 32nd time in major international competition.

Biles arrived on the floor about 90 minutes before the competition started, wearing a red, white and blue leotard emblazoned with nearly 5,000 crystals. If she was nervous, it hardly showed. She warmed up as if it was just another day back in the gym her family owns in the northern Houston suburbs. Twice she hopped onto the beam to do a run-through of her routine and she stuck her double-pike dismount to applause from the stands and the whir of dozens of cameras.

Biles arrived in Tokyo as the face of the U.S. contingent in Japan and perhaps the Games themselves. Yet the brilliance she’s summoned so easily for so long during her run atop the sport came undone after qualifying on July 25.

She bailed out of her vault during the first rotation of the team finals on July 27, then stunningly removed herself from the competition as a matter of protection because she was having difficulty locating herself in the air. She later described the phenomenon as “the twisties” and subsequently pulled out of the all-around, uneven bars, floor exercise and vault finals.

The decision amplified increased attention on the importance of mental health in sports in general and among Olympians specifically. Add it to the growing list of movements the 24-year-old Biles has become a touchstone for during her rise to stardom.

She’s spent the last week continuing to train and be evaluated by team physician Dr. Marcia Faustin while doubling as lead cheerleader for a U.S. women’s team that has racked up some serious hardware in her absence.

“Put your health and safety first above all things,” Biles said.

Lee became the fifth straight American woman to capture the all-around title and added a bronze on uneven bars. MyKayla Skinner, placed into the vault final after Biles scratched, soared to silver. On Monday, Jade Carey’s long journey to the Olympics ended with a victory on floor exercise after Biles gave her a pep talk following a nightmarish vault performance in which she tripped at the end of the runway and narrowly avoided serious injury.

Her return to competition on beam served as a fitting ending to her Olympic experience. She earned bronze on the event in Brazil five years ago thanks in part by reaching down to grab the 4-inch piece of wood after she slipped. The decision cost her gold but assured her of a fifth medal and the one, in retrospect, she said she’s most proud of.

While she hasn’t officially announced her retirement — she’s hinted that she might want to stick around in some fashion until the 2024 Paris Games to honor coaches Laurent and Cecile Landi, who are both French — a long layoff awaits. She’s headlining a post-Olympic tour through the fall but stressed recently she plans to stay close to the sport.

“I just need to process this Olympics first,” Biles said.

If Tuesday night was her official goodbye, she did it on her terms. Just like she has for most of an eight-year elite career that pushed the boundaries of gymnastics and saw her achieve the kind of crossover success typically reserved for sprinters like Usain Bolt and swimmers like Michael Phelps.

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Simone Biles wins bronze medal on balance beamWill Graves | Associated Presson August 3, 2021 at 1:08 pm Read More »