MESA, Ariz. - The Cubs made a splash on the trade market, dealing Chris Coghlan to the Oakland A"s for right-handed pitcher Aaron Brooks. The move was made to free up salary cap space for Dexter Fowler, who the Cubs signed to a one-year deal on Thursday.
Coghlan played a major role for the Cubs in each of the last two seasons, appearing in 273 games with a .265/.346/.793 slash line.
Coghlan was in the Cubs" Opening Day lineup last season, hitting fifth and playing left field.
After Kyle Schwarber came up midseason and moved to left field when Miguel Montero was healthy, Coghlan switched to the infield, playing second base and hitting third in Joe Maddon"s lineup.
[RELATED: Dexter Fowler reverses course, signs one-year deal with Cubs]
Coghlan did not play at all in the Cubs" victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the wild card game, but did appear in six games between the NLDS and NLCS, going 1-for-12 in the postseason.
Coghlan"s role for 2016 was up in the air with Schwarber penciled in for left field, Jorge Soler in right and Ben Zobrist at second base.
Brooks is a 25-year-old right-hander who has pitched in 15 games (10 starts) in the big leagues for the Kansas City Royals and A"s over the last two seasons. In those games, Brooks was 3-5 with an 8.38 ERA and 1.759 WHIP.
Brooks was a former ninth-round pick of the Royals in 2011 and sports a career 4.18 ERA in the minor leagues, where he worked mostly as a starter.
Coghlan was set to make $4.8 million in 2016 and is a free agent after the season. Freeing up that money will allow the Cubs to pay Fowler"s $8 million base salary in 2016.
Earlier in this fifteenth and final season of American Idol, the show producers announced that judges Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr., and Keith Urban would select eight of the ten finalists, leaving only two of the spots up for viewer vote. After much backlash, American Idol producers changed their minds and announced the split would instead be four selections by the judges, leaving six spots for each viewer to vote on.
Going into last nights episode of American Idol, 14 performers remained. The judges four selections were announced, leaving ten more contestants from which viewers can vote for their choices for the remaining six finalists. You can vote multiple times for your favorites, up to ten votes for each contestant. You can cast your vote through any of five methods, including online at www.americanidol.com/vote, on the FOX NOW App, Google Search, Text (SMS), or Toll-free call. Tonights episode of American Idol will feature performances by the ten as well as an announcement of the additional six contestants chosen by the public.
The four American Idol finalists selected by the judges in a unanimous vote were, as reported by Radio TV Talk, Dalton Rappattoni, Olivia Rox, Trent Harmon, and LaPorsha Renae. These four American Idol finalists did not have to perform last night. The remaining ten did have to perform but did not have to pick a new song. Instead, they were to give us whatever they considered their best song from this season. The pressure was on as they each tried to win your vote. How did they do?
American Idol performances kicked off last night with Manny Torres rendition of Stevie Wonders Master Blaster. Buddy TV describes Mannys ability to use the stage and interact with the crowd as being the best part of this one, and Keith Urban agreed. It was good, but the performance did nothing to make him stand out. Gianna Isabella was the next to step up to the American Idol mic and gave us Annie Lennoxs I Put a Spell on You, which had its highs and lows. J Lo encouraged her by saying she thought she had a lot of potential. Thomas Stringfellows performance was viewed as good, as well, but American Idol judge, Harry Connick Jr., told him to be careful of his trademark voice cracking because it feels overdone and can come to be viewed as bad technique. The American Idol judges unanimously liked Tristan McIntoshs performance of Rascal Flatts What Hurts the Most, but some viewers found it pitchy and lacking emotion.
Voting for the #IdolTop10 closes soon! Make sure your favorite moves on by heading to https://t.co/zflQXnsvHE. pic.twitter.com/kkpfeUgeM3
American Idol (@AmericanIdol) February 25, 2016
Avalon Young was next up on last nights American Idol broadcast, and her confidence shined in her rendition of Chris Browns Yo (Excuse Me Miss) in a performance Jennifer called smooth like butter. Jenn Blosil followed with True Colors by Cyndi Lauper and gave a performance Harry said was a flawless lyric delivery, but many viewers found her rendition pitchy and lacking in emotion in the same manner as Tristan McIntoshs performance. Jean Lee did another Ed Sheeran song. This time, it was Make It Rain. Even Harry Connick Jr saw his nerves and said so in his comments.
Hollywood Reporter calls Sonika Vaid among the best on this season of American Idol. Last night she belted out Celine Dions I Surrender. Following Vaids stellar performance was one that wasnt so great by Jeneveve Mitchell. She did Ring of Fire, and it was far from her best. Connick told her that she has a unique sound and that everyone may not get it. MacKenzie Bourg closed out the final American Idol show before viewers make their choices. He sang his own song, Roses, and Keith Urban loved it.
If youve missed any of the American Idol episodes in this farewell season, or if youd like to watch some of them again before casting your vote, you can do so on FOX NOW. The contestants up for the viewers vote for the remaining six finalist spots are Avalon Young, Gianna Isabella, Jeneve Mitchell, Lee Jean, MacKenzie Bourg, Manny Torres, Sonika Vaid, Thomas Stringfellow, Tristan McIntosh, and Jenn Blosil. Well find out the final ten on tonights broadcast of American Idol at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Fox.
Apex, N.C. A husband and wife were arrested Wednesday after an attempted bank robbery in Apex.
Apex police said officers responded to a report of a bank robbery at a Wells Fargo bank at 1100 Beaver Creek Commons Drive at 4:25 p.m. Wednesday.
Aaron Russell Wagoner, 36, of 2628 Arbor View Drive in Cary was arrested inside the bank and his wife, Hannah Wagoner, 22, of the same address, was arrested Wednesday evening.
Both were charged with common law robbery and were being held at the Wake County Jail.
Police said no weapons were involved in the robbery and no injuries were reported.
Earlier in this fifteenth and final season of AmericanIdol, the show producers announced that judges Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr., and Keith Urban would select eight of the ten finalists, leaving only two of the spots up for viewer vote. After much backlash, American Idol producers changed their minds and announced the split would instead be four selections by the judges, leaving six spots for each viewer to vote on.
Going into last nights episode of American Idol, 14 performers remained. The judges four selections were announced, leaving ten more contestants from which viewers can vote for their choice for the remaining six finalists. You can vote multiple times for your favorites, up to ten votes for each contestant. You can cast your vote through any of five methods: online at www.americanidol.com/vote, on the FOX NOW App, Google Search, Text (SMS), or Toll-free call. Tonights episode of American Idol will feature performances by the ten as well as an announcement of the additional six contestants chosen by the public.
The four American Idol finalists selected by the judges in a unanimous vote were, as reported by Radio TV Talk, Dalton Rappattoni, Olivia Rox, Trent Harmon and LaPorsha Renae. These four American Idol finalists did not have to perform last night. The remaining ten did have to perform but did not have to pick a new song. Instead, they were to give us whatever they considered their best song from this season. The pressure was on as they each tried to win your vote. How did they do?
American Idol performances kicked off last night with Manny Torres rendition of Stevie Wonders Master Blaster. Buddy TV describes Mannys ability to use the stage and interact with the crowd as being the best part of this one, and Keith Urban agreed. It was good, but did nothing to make him stand out. Gianna Isabella was the next to step up to the American Idol mic and gave us Annie Lennoxs I Put a Spell on You, which had its highs and lows. J Lo encouraged her saying she thought she had a lot of potential. Thomas Stringfellows performance was viewed as good as well, but American Idol judge Harry Connick Jr. told him to be careful of his trademark voice cracking because it feels overdone and can come to be viewed as bad technique. The American Idol judges unanimously liked Tristan McIntoshs performance of Rascal Flatts What Hurts the Most, but some viewers found it pitchy and lacking emotion.
Voting for the #IdolTop10 closes soon! Make sure your favorite moves on by heading to https://t.co/zflQXnsvHE. pic.twitter.com/kkpfeUgeM3
American Idol (@AmericanIdol) February 25, 2016
Avalon Young was next up on last nights American Idol broadcast and her confidence shined in her rendition of Chris Browns Yo (Excuse Me Miss) in a performance Jennifer called smooth like butter. Jenn Blosil followed with True Colors by Cyndi Lauper and a performance Harry said was a flawless lyric delivery, but that many viewers found pitchy and lacking emotion like Tristan McIntoshs performance. Jean Lee did another Ed Sheeran song. This time it was Make It Rain. Even Harry Connick Jr saw his nerves and said so in his comments.
Hollywood Reporter calls Sonika Vaid among the best on this season of American Idol. Last night she belted out Celine Dions I Surrender. Following Vaids stellar performance was one that wasnt so great, Jeneveve Mitchell. She did Ring of Fire and it was far from her best. Connick told her that she has a unique sound and that everyone may not get it. MacKenzie Bourg closed out the final American Idol show before viewers make their choices. He sang his own song, Roses, and Keith Urban loves it.
If youve missed any of the American Idol episodes in this farewell season, or if youd like to watch some of them again before casting your vote, you can do so at FOX NOW. The contestants up for vote by the viewers for the remaining six finalist spots are Avalon Young, Gianna Isabella, Jeneve Mitchell, Lee Jean, MacKenzie Bourg, Manny Torres, Sonika Vaid, Thomas Stringfellow, Tristan McIntosh, and Jenn Blosil. Well find out the final ten on tonights broadcast of American Idol at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Fox.
It was a stunning show of momentum for his campaign, one that made it increasingly difficult to imagine a scenario where any other GOP candidate wins the Republican nomination.
"We love Nevada," Trump said during his brief victory speech at his party in Las Vegas late Tuesday night. "We will be celebrating for a long time tonight."
"We weren"t expected to win too much and now we"re winning, winning, winning the country," Trump said. "And soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning."
He basked in his success across demographics.
"We won the evangelicals," he said. "We won with young. With won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated."
On Wednesday morning, he looked ahead to a Trump presidency, detailing the three things he"d do on Day 1 if he wins the White House.
"First thing is knock out some of the executive orders done by our president," Trump told George Stephanopoulos on ABC"s "Good Morning America."
"One, on border where people can pour into (the) country like Swiss cheese. I would knock out Obamacare. Take care of our vets and military," the billionaire businessman said.
Narrow battle for second
Not only was it a win in the Silver State, but it was a win with a huge margin. With all of the expected vote in, Trump dominated the race with 45.9%. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz featured in another tight battle for second, with Rubio claiming 23.9% of the vote and Cruz 21.4%.
The results in Nevada, a state where 30 delegates are at stake, demonstrated the power of Trump"s appeal in this anti-establishment year. It also underscored his ability to use his media savvy and enormous popularity to sweep a state with complex caucus rules and where rivals were far more organized.
Trump increased his vote share over what he won in other primary states, outpacing second place finisher Marco Rubio by double digits, even though Rubio spent part of his childhood in Nevada.
Rubio, however, insisted Wednesday morning that "a majority of Republican voters in this country do not want Donald Trump to be the nominee."
Rubio attributed Trump"s continued dominance of the GOP field to the fractured crowd of alternatives.
"Until there"s some consolidation here, you"re not going to have a clear alternative to Donald Trump," he said on Fox News" "Fox and Friends." "If we don"t come together, we"re never going to be able to provide a clear alternative to the direction that Donald Trump wants to take the Republican Party and the country."
One of the most surprising aspects of Trump"s win was that entrance polls showed he was winning among Latino GOP caucus-goers even though he has campaigned on a hard-line immigration platform, including building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Entrance polls indicated Latino caucusgoers made up 8% of the GOP electorate and 45% of them planned to back Trump. Historically, however, entrance and exit polls have not proved to be a reliable measure when it comes to the preferences of minority voters, particularly when the sample size was as small as it was in Nevada.
Still, Trump noted his showing among Latino Republicans in his victory speech: "Number one with Hispanics... I"m really happy about that," he said.
Driving Trump"s victory were caucusgoers who said they wanted a president from outside the political establishment. While Trump played up support among Latino GOP caucusgoers, the electorate was primarily whiteaccounting for 84% of those who turned out to caucus. Some 6 in 10 caucusgoers said they were angry about the way the government is functioning.
Anti-establishment fervor
The anti-establishment fervor within the electorate underscored the enormous challenge facing Rubio and Cruz in the coming weeks as they try to stop Trump. Rubio and Cruz had campaigned aggressively in Nevada, but had downplayed expectations as they tried to consolidate Trump-averse Republican voters around them.
Rubio was not even in Nevada on Tuesday night, having moved on to the upcoming states of Minnesota and Michigan. But he has repeatedly noted in recent weeks that surveys show that some two-thirds of GOP voters don"t want Trump as their nominee. On his plane this week, the Florida senator told reporters that as the field narrowed "the alternatives to Trump will get stronger."
"Donald has a base of support and if the majority of our party doesn"t want him as our nominee, we"ll continue to work toward consolidating that," Rubio told reporters.
On the stump, Rubio largely avoided critiques of his rivals as he continually returns to the argument that he is the most electable candidate on the Republican side.
"I am as conservative as anyone else in this race," he said this week in Elko. "But I am a conservative who will win this race."
At a rally in Minneapolis on Tuesday, he warned the crowd against "nominating someone just to make a point ... because they seem angrier than everybody else."
"We"re all angry, we"re all frustrated," Rubio said.
Super Tuesday
Cruz, who is now pinning his hopes on the Southern states that will dominate the upcoming Super Tuesday contests, has attempted to cobble together a coalition of evangelical and libertarian voters, but has faced a string of losses since his win in the Iowa caucuses.
In his speech Tuesday night, Cruz focused on Rubio"s loss to Trump rather than his own disappointing finish.
The results, he said, showed that "the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump and the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump is this campaign."
"If you are one of the 65% of Republicans across this country who doesn"t think Donald is the best candidate to go head-to-head with Hillary, who believes we do better in elections when we actually nominate a conservative, then the first four states have performed a vital function of narrowing this race and presenting a clear choice," the Texas senator said in his speech in Nevada Tuesday night.
Earlier in the day -- in a reflection of the fact that the time left to overtake Trump is running short -- Cruz unleashed some of his sharpest attacks on Trump yet, questioning his credentials as a conservative.
"Part of the reason someone vacillates from position to position to position is they"re not starting from a core set of principles and beliefs," Cruz said.
Trump, in turn, had ridiculed Cruz -- though he laid off those attacks in his victory speech Tuesday night.
"I"ve met much tougher people than Ted Cruz," Trump said in his parting shot at Cruz during a rally in Sparks, Nevada before the caucuses. "He is like a little baby compared to some of the people I have to deal with. He is like a little baby: soft, weak, little baby by comparison."
It was unclear exactly what the GOP turnout would be in Nevada, but anecdotal reports from caucus sites around the state suggested that it was much higher than officials had expected -- due in part to the supporters turning out for Trump.
That led to chaos, confusion and long lines at some caucus states early in the night. Some caucus sites ran out of ballots and several GOP operatives said that volunteers were not adequately trained on caucus rules, leading to reports of violations.
As the caucuses were underway, the Nevada GOP tweeted that no official complaints had been filed, despite reports of violations on Twitter.
In 2012, only 33,000 of the state"s 400,000 GOP voters turned out to caucus -- a mere 7%. So Cruz and Rubio had hoped to win by organizing early, snapping up talented operatives and key endorsements, while beginning caucus trainings last fall in the hopes that a strong organization could overcome Trump"s momentum.
But Trump steamrolled through all of that, capturing the excitement and buzz in the race with his visits here.
In interviews with dozens of Republican voters across the state over the last week, many said without hesitation that they were standing firmly with Trump and had given little thought to the other Republican candidates.
There was evidence of the firmness of Trump"s support in the entrance polls. Almost 70% of Nevada Republican caucus attendees said they made up their mind more than a week ago, while roughly 30% said they decided which candidate to pick in the last week.
CNN"s Eugene Scott, David Wright, Betsy Klein, Lauren Selsky, Gabe Ramirez, Gregory Wallace, Colin McCullough and Teddy Schleifer contributed to this report.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs Golden State Warriors - Full Game Highlights | February 6, 2016 | NBA
A look at the starting lineups and inactives, as well as referees and a pregame note of note for Wednesday"s 7:30 p.m. game between the Heat and Warriors at AmericanAirlines Arena (TV: Fox Sports Sun. Radio: 790-AM, 106.3-FM, 710-AM-Spanish).
Starting lineups
MIAMI HEAT (32-24)
Center: Amar"e Stoudemire
Power forward: Luol Deng
Small forward: Justise Winslow
Shooting guard: Dwyane Wade
Point guard: Goran Dragic
Inactive: Tyler Johnson, Chris Bosh, Beno Udrih.
Coach: Erik Spoelstra.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (50-5)
Center: Andrew Bogut
Power forward: Draymond Green
Small forward: Harrison Barnes
Shooting guard: Klay Thompson
Point guard: Stephen Curry
Inactive: Festus Ezeli, James Michael McAdoo.
Coach: Steve Kerr.
Referees: Tony Brothers, Tony Brown, Tre Maddox (With Ron Garretson, Marat Kogut, Karl Lane, Ben Taylor in NBA Replay Center).
Pregame note of note: Heat forward Luol Deng recorded his fourth double-double this season and his third in as many games with 13 points and 16 rebounds in Monday"s 101-93 overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers. It is the first time he has had a double-double in three consecutive games since signing with the Heat in the 2014 offseason and the first time he has had three such consecutive games since March 27, 2013 through March 31, 2013, while with the Bulls.
Slushie thrown on anti-gay demonstrator Jason Daltons Uber profile picture (left), Daltons car being towed away via Wood TV-8
In a dark and grisly series of events Saturday night, police allege that Uber driver Jason Dalton shot 8 people in three different locations, killing six people. But the story gets even crazier, as Dalton allegedly not only picked up passengers between shootings, he continued to drive people around after his last shooting at 10:24pm at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. One of his last passengers before Dalton was arrested even joked, Youre not the shooter, are you?
A man from Indianapolis who was visiting the Kalamazoo area talked with the local news and wished to be known only as Derek. He, his wife, and his in-laws were at a restaurant, Bells Eccentric Cafe, when they heard about the shootings. They decided that theyd be safer using Uber than walking. They were picked up at 12:12am, roughly a half hour before Dalton was arrested.
My father mentioned from the back seat, you know, the situation with the shooter, Derek told Wood TV-8. I kind of jokingly said to the driver, Youre not the shooter, are you? He gave me some sort of a no response shook his head
At that point, nobody knew that the alleged shooter was an Uber driver, but for some reason Derek pushed him for another response.
I said, Are you sure? And he said, No, Im not, Im just tired, Derek told the local news. And we proceeded to have a pretty normal conversation after that.
Derek and his family were dropped off at 12:19am and Dalton was arrested roughly twenty minutes later. Derek provided the news channel with his receipt as proof that he was likely Jason Daltons last passenger that night.
Previously it had been reported that the ride he gave to one man between Daltons alleged murder of two people at a Kia dealership and the Cracker Barrel shooting was chaotic and frightening. Derek said that Dalton seemed calm during their entire ride.
It has also been reported that a woman had hailed an Uber around 11pm, roughly a half hour after Daltons last shooting spree at Cracker Barrel. Theres no word yet on precisely how many people Dalton drove around that night. Nor the more inappropriately macabre question of what ratings he received for his rides.
Update, February 22, 5:40pm: Uber had a conference call with some reporters today and said that Dalton passed a background check and had an Uber driver score of 4.73.
Overall, his rating was good, Joe Sullivan, Ubers chief security officer was quoted as saying by Quartz. Before the events it was a 4.73.
Quartz points out that a 4.73 isnt actually considered good.
But on Uber, a rating of 4.73 isnt good. In fact, its a number that Uber has previously defined as below average, needs to improve, and close to the threshold at which drivers risk deactivation.
Either way, this guy probably isnt going to be getting near the steering wheel of an automobile anytime soonUber driver or not.
