VANCOUVER, BC – MARCH 04: Jake Virtanen #18 of the Vancouver Canucks celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs with teammates Adam Gaudette #96 and Nils Hoglander #36 during NHL hockey action at Rogers Arena on March 4, 2021 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
The Chicago Blackhawks have been busy so far this trade season. They made two trades with the Florida Panthers that they did very well in. Instead of selling off the free agents on the team, they have only (so far) made trades that somewhat came out of nowhere. The latest one came today (deadline day) when they sent Matthew Highmore to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Adam Gaudette. This is a very good trade for the ChicagoBlackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks did very well in this trade with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Chicago Blackhawks saw some nice improvement from Matthew Highmore but he is a guy that has a ceiling as a fourth-liner. Gaudette isn’t too far off but he has shown the ability to chip in a fair amount of offense. Highmore feels like a guy who could be up and down from the NHL to AHL every year.
As for Gaudette, he is going to come in and be in the team’s bottom-six right away and stay there. He is 24 years old with a lot of upsides. So far this season on a bad Canucks team, he has four goals and three assists for seven points in 33 games played. It is a bit of a down year for sure but he had 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points in 59 games played last season. All of those numbers are career highs. If he can bring that level of offense to this Blackhawks team, they will be ready to roll.
Gaudette comes from Northeastern University. There, he won the 2018 Hobey Baker Award as the best player in the country. He led the NCAA with 30 goals and 60 points. His 1.62 points per game also led the nation during the 2017-18 season. It was a great year for him as he tried to elevate himself to the National Hockey League.
This is a great player for the Hawks to bring in for Highmore. He has a good amount of upside as this team tries to get younger in all areas. Highmore isn’t old or anything but he doesn’t have a pure skill that Gaudette has.
There might be a few more trades that the Blackhawks make in order to make room for roster spots. This team is moving in a new direction as it tries to get younger while remaining competitive. It will be interesting to see if Mattias Janmark, Carl Soderberg, or Calvin de Haan make it through the day as Blackhawks. For now, be happy with Gaudette because this was a great trade.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a second trade on trade deadline day and the fourth trade over the past two weeks. This time, it comes with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Blackhawks traded Mattias Janmark to Vegas in a trade that looks really nice for Chicago. They also sent a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Golden Knights and they received a 2021 second-round pick and 2022 third-round pick. It is the Blackhawks swapping Janmark for a second and a fifth for a third if you want to look at it that way.
The Chicago Blackhawks are doing well for themselves on trade deadline day.
Mattias Janmark was a depth signing for the Blackhawks during the offseason. It didn’t look like they were going to be a competitive team so the signing was a bit confusing because guys like Janmark normally sign with contenders. Well, the Blackhawks were a little bit better than people expected and he thrived. With Chicago this year, he had ten goals and nine assists for 19 points in 41 games.
Those are good numbers for a guy playing in a middle-six of any team. Now, he is going to go to the Vegas Golden Knights who are a legit Stanley Cup contender. His depth scoring should really help them be a more well-rounded offensive attack. He is also the type of guy that you love to have around playoff time.
Janmark was on that Dallas Stars team that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020 bubble. That Dallas team went through Vegas to get there so he knows how they play fairly well. It was a nice pickup for Vegas as well as it was good asset management for the Hawks.
The Blackhawks getting a second-round pick out of it along with upgrading 2022 picks is really smart. Stan Bowman deserves credit for the way he handled this trade because the Hawks now have some better draft picks. Janmark probably wasn’t coming back so this was good for them.
It is fair to cheer on Janmark with Vegas for a few reasons. The first is that he was an impressive player during his short time in Chicago. The second is that he clearly helped the Hawks gain some extra assets by playing well and being a good team guy. Trading off depth guys on expiring contracts is always the right move and the Hawks deserve kudos for that.
In this image from video, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill discusses motions before the court Monday, April 12, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. Chauvin is charged in the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd. | AP
The request came from the attorney for former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. Defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.
MINNEAPOLIS — The judge in the George Floyd murder case refused a defense request to immediately sequester the jury Monday, the morning after the killing of a Black man during a traffic stop triggered unrest in a suburb just outside Minneapolis.
The request came from the attorney for former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. Defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.
“Ultimately, your honor, the question becomes will the jury be competent to make a decision regardless of the potential outcome of their decision,” Nelson said.
Judge Peter Cahill said he will not sequester the jurors until next Monday, when he anticipates closing arguments will begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what, if anything, they may have seen about unrest following Sunday’s police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.
In the wake of the shooting, hundreds of protesters broke into businesses, jumped on police cars and hurled rocks and other objects at police in Brooklyn Center. Officers in riot gear fired gas and flash-bang grenades.
Prosecutor Steve Schleicher argued against sequestering the Floyd jury, saying: “I don’t think that would be an effective remedy.”
Schleicher also opposed questioning the jurors, saying: “World events happen. … That’s just what happens. And we can’t have every single world event that might affect somebody’s attitude or emotional state or anything be the grounds to come back and re-voir dire all the jurors.”
The judge had previously asked jurors to avoid news during the trial.
The ruling came as the trial entered its third week, with the prosecution close to wrapping up its case and giving way to the start of the defense. Prosecutors built their on searing witness accounts, experts rejecting Chauvin’s use of a neck restraint, and medical authorities attributing Floyd’s death to a lack of oxygen.
When testimony resumed Monday morning, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed earlier experts in saying that Floyd died of low oxygen levels from the way he was held down by police.
“It was the truly the prone restraint and positional restraints that led to his asphyxiation,” the expert said.
Rich rejected the possibility that Floyd died of a drug overdose. And he said he found no cardiac problems in Floyd’s medical records. In fact, he said, “Every indicator is that Mr. Floyd had actually an exceptionally strong heart.”
Corroborating other experts’ testimony, Rich said that Floyd was “restrained in a life-threatening manner,” noting among other things that he was facedown on the ground, his hands were cuffed behind his back, a knee was on his neck, his hands were pushed upward, and a knee was on the lower half of his body.
Derek Chauvin, 45, who is white, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25 death. Police had been called to a neighborhood market where Floyd was accused of trying to pass a counterfeit bill.
Prosecutors Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck as the 46-year-old Black man lay pinned to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes.
Bystander video of Floyd, pinned by Chauvin and two other officers as he cried, “I can’t breathe!” and eventually grew still sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S.
Chauvin’s attorney has argued that Floyd’s death was caused by drug use and underlying health conditions, including heart disease. He is expected to call his own medical experts. Nelson has not said whether Chauvin will testify.
This satellite photo from Planet Labs Inc. shows Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Iran’s Natanz nuclear site suffered a problem Sunday, April 11, involving its electrical distribution grid just hours after starting up new advanced centrifuges that more quickly enrich uranium, state TV reported. It was the latest incident to strike one of Tehran’s most-secured sites amid negotiations over the tattered atomic accord with world powers. | Planet Labs Inc., AP
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media widely reported that the country had orchestrated a devastating cyberattack that caused a blackout at the nuclear facility.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran blamed Israel on Monday for an attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged its centrifuges — sabotage that imperils ongoing talks over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal and brings a shadow war between the two countries into the light.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media widely reported that the country had orchestrated a devastating cyberattack that caused a blackout at the nuclear facility. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge operations carried out by the country’s secret military units or its Mossad intelligence agency.
While the nature of the attack and the extent of the damage at Natanz remains unclear, a former Iranian official said the assault set off a fire while a spokesman mentioned a “possible minor explosion.”
The attack also further strains relations between the U.S., which under President Joe Biden is now negotiating in Vienna to re-enter the nuclear accord, and Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to stop the deal at all costs.
Netanyahu met Monday with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, whose arrival in Israel coincided with the first word of the attack. The two spoke briefly to journalists but took no questions.
“My policy as prime minister of Israel is clear: I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel,” Netanyahu said. “And Israel will continue to defend itself against Iran’s aggression and terrorism.”
At an earlier news conference at Israel’s Nevatim air base, Austin declined to say whether the Natanz attack could impede the Biden administration’s efforts to re-engage with Iran in its nuclear program.
“Those efforts will continue,” Austin said. The previous American administration under Donald Trump had pulled out of the nuclear deal with world powers, leading Iran to begin abandoning the limits on its atomic program set by the accord.
But German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed concern that it could affect the talks. “All of what we are hearing from Tehran is not a positive contribution to this,” Maas told reporters.
In a statement, the White House said it was aware of the Natanz attack and that “the U.S. was not involved in any manner,” without elaborating.
Details remained scarce about what happened early Sunday at the facility. The event was initially described only as a blackout in the electrical grid feeding above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls — but later Iranian officials began referring to it as an attack.
A former chief of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the attack had set off a fire at the site and called for improvements in security. In a tweet, Gen. Mohsen Rezaei said that the second assault at Natanz in a year signaled “the seriousness of the infiltration phenomenon.” Rezaei did not say where he got his information.
The facility seemed to be in such disarray that, following the attack, a prominent nuclear spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi walking above ground at the site fell 7 meters (23 feet) through an open ventilation shaft covered by aluminum debris, breaking both his legs and hurting his head.
“A possible minor explosion had scattered debris,” Kamalvandi said, without elaborating.
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh acknowledged that IR-1 centrifuges, the first-generation workhorse of Iran’s uranium enrichment, had been damaged in the attack, but did not elaborate. State television has yet to show images from the site, which saw new advanced centrifuges turned on there Saturday.
“The answer for Natanz is to take revenge against Israel,” Khatibzadeh said. “Israel will receive its answer through its own path.” He did not elaborate.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, meanwhile, warned Natanz would be reconstructed with more advanced machines. That would allow Iran to more quickly enrich uranium, complicating the nuclear talks.
“The Zionists wanted to take revenge against the Iranian people for their success on the path of lifting sanctions,” Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Zairf as saying. “But we do not allow (it), and we will take revenge for this action against the Zionists.”
Officials launched an effort Monday to provide emergency power to Natanz, said Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s civilian nuclear program. He said the sabotage had not stopped enrichment there, without elaborating.
The IAEA, the United Nations body that monitors Tehran’s atomic program, earlier said it was aware of media reports about the blackout at Natanz and had spoken with Iranian officials about it. The agency did not elaborate.
Natanz has been targeted by sabotage in the past. The Stuxnet computer virus, discovered in 2010 and widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation, once disrupted and destroyed Iranian centrifuges there during an earlier period of Western fears about Tehran’s program.
In July, Natanz suffered a mysterious explosion at its advanced centrifuge assembly plant that authorities later described as sabotage. Iran now is rebuilding that facility deep inside a nearby mountain. Iran also blamed Israel for that, as well as the November killing of a scientist who began the country’s military nuclear program decades earlier.
Israel also has launched a series of airstrikes in neighboring Syria targeting Iranian forces and their equipment. Israel also is suspected in an attack last week on an Iranian cargo ship that is said to serve as a floating base for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off the coast of Yemen.
Multiple Israeli media outlets reported Sunday that an Israeli cyberattack caused the blackout, but it remains unclear what actually happened there. Public broadcaster Kan said the Mossad was behind the attack. Channel 12 TV cited “experts” as estimating the attack shut down entire sections of the facility.
While the reports offered no sourcing for their information, Israeli media maintains a close relationship with the country’s military and intelligence agencies.
In recent weeks, Netanyahu repeatedly has described Iran as the major threat to his country as he struggles to hold onto power after multiple elections and while facing corruption charges. Stopping the nuclear deal has been a repeated theme of his comments.
___
Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Robert Burns and Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem; Matthew Lee in Washington, and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
This Planet Labs Inc. satellite photo shows the moments following an eruption of La Soufriere volcano in the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, Friday, April 9, 2021. | AP
Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows down the volcano’s south and southwest flanks.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent — La Soufriere volcano fired an enormous amount of ash and hot gas early Monday in the biggest explosive eruption yet since volcanic activity began on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent late last week, with officials worried about the lives of those who have refused to evacuate.
Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows down the volcano’s south and southwest flanks.
“It’s destroying everything in its path,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Center, told The Associated Press. “Anybody who would have not heeded the evacuation, they need to get out immediately.”
There were no immediate reports of injuries or death, but government officials were scrambling to respond to the latest eruption, which was even bigger than the first eruption that occurred Friday morning. Roughly 16,000 people who live in communities close to the volcano had been evacuated under government orders on Thursday, but an unknown number have remained behind and refused to move.
Richard Robertson, with the seismic research center, told local station NBC Radio that the volcano’s old and new dome have been destroyed and that a new crater has been created. He said that the pyroclastic flows would have razed everything in their way.
“Anything that was there, man, animal, anything…they are gone,” he said. “And it’s a terrible thing to say it.”
Joseph said the latest explosion is equivalent to the one that occurred in 1902 and killed some 1,600. The volcano last erupted in 1979. Ash from the ongoing explosions has fallen on Barbados and other nearby islands.
One government minister who toured the island’s northeast region on Sunday said he saw an estimated two or three dozen people still remaining in the community of Sandy Bay alone, prompting Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to urge people to leave.
“It is over time for you to leave,” he said. “It is dangerous.”
The ongoing volcanic activity has threatened water and food supplies, with the government forced to drill for fresh water and distribute it via trucks.
“We cannot put tarpaulin over a river,” said Garth Saunders, minister of the island’s water and sewer authority, referring to the impossibility of trying to protect current water sources from ongoing falling ash.
He told NBC Radio that officials also are trying to set up water distribution points.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves said government officials are meeting Monday afternoon to talk about difficulties with food supplies.
Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel told the radio station that the damage was extensive in the island’s northeast region, which he toured on Sunday. Forests and farms were wiped out, with coconut, breadfruit, mango and soursop trees destroyed, as well as plantain and banana crops.
“What I saw was indeed terrible,” he said.
Cots, tents, water tanks and other basic supplies were flooding into St. Vincent as nearby nations rushed to help those affected by the eruptions. At least four empty cruise ships floated nearby, waiting to take evacuees to other islands who have agreed to temporarily receive them, including Antigua and Grenada. Gonsalves, however, said he expects his administration might call off the cruise ships since the vast majority of people seem to be staying in St. Vincent for now.
The only people evacuated from St. Vincent via cruise ship are 136 farm workers who are part of a seasonal agricultural program and had been stranded on the island. The group was supposed to fly to Canada, but their flight was cancelled as a result of Friday’s explosion. They arrived Saturday in St. Lucia and will board a flight to Canada from there.
Gonsalves told NBC Radio on Sunday that his government will do everything possible to help those forced to abandon their homes in ash-filled communities.
“It’s a huge operation that is facing us,” he said. “It’s going to be costly, but I don’t want us to penny pinch…this is going to be a long haul.”
Gonsalves said it could take four months for life to go back to normal in St. Vincent, part of an island chain of that includes the Grenadines. The majority of the 100,000 inhabitants live in St. Vincent.
Among them is Ranique Chewitt, a 32-year-old salesman who lives in South Rivers, located southeast of the volcano.
He hasn’t had to evacuate, but said he is worried about his health and water supply and hasn’t left home since the first eruption on Friday morning: “I do get shortness of breath from dust, and I am inside.”
The pandemic also is complicating response efforts. At least 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported since the eruptions began on Friday, and all those going to shelters are being tested. Those who test positive are taken to isolation centers. More than 3,700 people are in 84 government shelters.
The eastern Caribbean has 19 live volcanoes, 17 of those located on 11 islands. The remaining two are located underwater near Grenada, including one called Kick ’Em Jenny that has been active in recent years. The most active volcano of all is Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital of Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.
Wood is a six-time Michelin Bib Gourmand winner in the heart of Chicago’s Northalsted neighborhood. Tucked at 3335 N Halsted St, the restaurants’ mixture of small and large plates, plus desserts, make it a sought after destination for diners on the North Side. And now, returning triumphantly, Wood reintroduces their brunch menu just in time for the bright spring weekend mornings.
The new menu consists of all things, sweet, savory, and boozy. Brunch is now available on Sunday’s from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Wood also offers seating on their expansive patio, which will be open weather permitting. But for those who are all in on Wood rain or shine, here’s a taste of what the menu will feature:
Diners can start out with signature items such as Banana Bread French Toast, served with caramelized bananas, pecans, oat granola, and topped with maple syrup, Green Eggs and Ham Benedict, featuring poached eggs, house-smoked ham, asparagus, béarnaise, and chive on an English muffin, or a Soy-Braised Pork Belly dish featuring house-butchered Slagel family farms pork, fried eggs, edamame, scallions, gingers, and rice porridge. For those who are looking for more simple dishes, various omelet options are also available to order. Additionally, there will be a variety of brunch desserts available such as Cinnamon and Sugar Beignets served with chocolate sauce and a twist on the classic banana split.
“We’re excited to welcome guests back to our dining room for brunch service,” says Executive Chef Devin Kreller. “Throughout the restaurant shut down earlier this year, we have been working hard to continue to excite guests to dine with us. We took the time to focus on bringing joy back to the neighborhood, which I think is reflected in our new brunch menu and offerings.”
And you know we couldn’t forget about the boozy brunch fans because what’s some Green Eggs and Ham Benedict without a drink to accompany it.
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Diners can choose from various brunch cocktails including House-Smoked Bloody Mary’s, Farm Orange Mimosas, Moscow Mules, Aperol Spritz, and more. Wood’s house cocktail menu will also be available for purchase at this time. Signature cocktails include The Last Sunset On Earth which features Hendrick’s gin, caramelized pineapple, St. Germain, Campari, yuzu sour, lemongrass, Dolin vermouth blanc, and rosewater mist. Wood also features various beers on tap and offers an extensive wine list.
More About Wood
Wood is a jewel of Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood, having won the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand award six times. Since opening in 2012, Wood has served as an upscale dinner and drinks destination, while staying both casual and approachable. The moniker has a number of meanings: it first pays homage to owner and longtime industry veteran Franco Gianni’s late father who was a woodworker for more than 50 years, but also references the distressed dark wood paneling throughout the dining room and wood-fired oven that the menu centers around. Executive Chef Devin Kreller’s menu focuses on highly seasonal, shareable plates featuring locally grown produce, house-butchered meats, house-made charcuterie and flatbreads. The drink menu is known for its innovative, hard to put down cocktails as well as a list of affordable wines by the glass and craft and import beers. For more information, visit www.woodchicago.com and check out @woodchicago on Instagram and Facebook.
LAS VEGAS — A desert city built on a reputation for excess and indulgence wants to become a model for restraint and water conservation with a first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on.
Las Vegas-area water officials have spent two decades trying to get people to replace thirsty greenery with desert plants. Now, they’re asking the Nevada Legislature to outlaw roughly 40% of the turf that’s left.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates there are nearly eight square miles of “nonfunctional turf” in the Las Vegas metropolitan area — grass that no one ever walks on or otherwise uses . It can be found in street medians, housing developments and office parks.
They say this ornamental grass requires four times as much water as drought-tolerant landscaping like cactus and other succulents. By ripping it out, they estimate, the region can reduce annual water consumption by roughly 15% and save about 14 gallons per person per day.
Las Vegas might be known for splashy displays like the Bellagio fountains on the neon-lit Strip, but officials say residents of bedroom communities and sprawling suburbs embrace conservation measures.
“The public perception outside of Las Vegas is certainly much different — and has been for a long time — than the water conservation ethic within the community,” said Colby Pellegrino, the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s water resources director.
California imposed a temporary ban on watering ornamental grass during the past decade’s drought. But no state or major city has tried to phase out certain categories of grass permanently.
“The scale of this is pretty unprecedented in terms of a full ban on this nonfunctional turf,” said John Berggren, a water policy analyst with the group Western Resource Advocates.
The proposal is part of a turf war waged since at least 2003, when the water authority banned developers from planting green front yards in new subdivisions. It also offers owners of older properties the region’s most generous rebate policies to tear out sod — up to $3 per square foot.
But those efforts are slowing. The agency says the number of acres converted under its rebate program fell last year to six times less than what it was in 2008. And water consumption in southern Nevada has increased 9% since 2019.
Last year was among the driest in the region’s history. Las Vegas went a record 240 days without measurable rainfall.
And the future flow of the Colorado River, which accounts for 90% of southern Nevada’s water, is in question. The waterway supplies Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Mexico. As drought and climate change cut into the amount of useable water the river provides, the amount allocated to Arizona, California and Nevada is projected to be cut further.
Justin Jones, a Clark County commissioner who serves on the water authority’s board, doesn’t think ripping out ornamental turf will mess with people’s lives.
“We are not coming after your average homeowner’s backyard,” Jones said.
But regarding grass in the middle of a parkway, where no one walks, he said: “That’s dumb. The only people that ever set foot on grass that’s in the middle of a roadway system are people cutting the grass.”
Sprinklers water grass near a street corner in Las Vegas’ Summerlin neighborhood.Ken Ritter / AP
The agency has different regulations for yards and public parks. Based on satellite imaging, it says banning ornamental grass primarily would affect common areas maintained by homeowners associations and commercial property owners.
Jones said the proposal has drawn resistance in some master-planned communities, but water officials say years of drought-awareness campaigns and policies like the rebates have cultivated a cultural change.
Southern Nevada Homebuilders’ Association lobbyist Matt Walker said consumer preferences have reached a point that potential homebuyers from wetter regions aren’t turned off from neighborhoods that have parks but no ornamental grass. Conservation frees water, reduces per-capita consumption and strengthens builders’ arguments that the desert can accommodate more growth, Walker said.
Salt Lake City requires a certain amount of yard and median greenery. Phoenix, where some neighborhoods are lush from flood irrigation, has never offered grass-removal rebates.
The Las Vegas water-conservation efforts mostly ignore toilets, showers and dishwashers because the water authority treats and recycles indoor wastewater, letting it flow into Lake Mead — the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam. That’s filtered again for reuse.
A draconian anti-grass policy might not work in downtown Phoenix, said Cynthia Campbell, water resources adviser for the nation’s fifth-largest city. Trees and grass blunt public health dangers of “urban heat islands,” she said.
Las Vegas water managers worry their efforts could backfire if the community doesn’t buy in.
“There comes a point when people’s demands start to harden,” Campbell said. “They’ll say, ‘This is the point of no return for me.’ For some people, it’s a pool. For some people, it’s grass.”
Lake Mead — the reservoir on the drought-stricken Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam — is the primary water source for Las Vegas, a desert city considering a first-in-the-nation policy to limit water use by banning grass that nobody walks on. John Locher / AP
CJ Jacobson of Aba and Ema teaches us how to make his open-faced sandwich featuring crushed avocado and caramelized cheese. Read the full recipe here, and our guide to Chicago’s best sandwiches here. (Video sponsored by Turano Baking Co.)Read More
Mar 9, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Chicago White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech against the San Diego Padres during a Spring Training game at Camelback Ranch Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The city of Chicago is lucky to have a really nice cross-town rivalry between the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs. It is always a lot of fun to be around but there is the actual baseball side of it as well. Each team is off to a slower start than they want but they each believe they can and will get it on track. There are also some really good pitchers on each side but Michael Kopech might be the best one to play in this town.
Michael Kopech has been brilliant for the Chicago White Sox so far this year.
On the Cubs, the only pitcher who really is worth mentioning right now is Kyle Hendricks. Jake Arrieta has been fine so far but they know they don’t have the guy that led them to the World Series anymore. Yu Darvish is gone and their bullpen isn’t that good.
As for the White Sox, they are loaded with pitching talent. The bullpen hasn’t been what we know it will be yet but they certainly have some talent. Of course, the rotation has amazing pitchers with guys like Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Dallas Keuchel, and Dylan Cease who are all so talented. Michael Kopech is more talented than all of them.
Those guys might all be more accomplished than Kopech but he has the stuff to get to their level and beyond. There is not a pitcher on either team to take over him long term. He is coming out of the bullpen right now but will be a starter in no time.
He only has 6.1 innings pitched so far this season with an ERA of 0.00 and a WHIP of 0.47. He was credited with one win so he is 1-0 on the season. It has been incredible to watch so far and it is likely going to continue. He certainly isn’t going to give up 0 earned runs this season but he should keep that number relatively low.
What is it that makes Kopech the best? Well, he has a devastating fastball that moves across the strike zone and he can get it into triple digits. When batters face him, they know that they have a lot to deal with. When he combines that fastball with some of his offspeed stuff, the hitter has no chance. It is a real treat to see after missing him for so long due to injury and opting out. Hopefully, he keeps it going and proves to everyone that he is the best in this town even more.
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