Today is
Saturday April 20, 2024
ATLANTA (AP) â Travis d’Arnaud hit his first three home runs of the season, including a grand slam in the sixth that gave Atlanta the lead, and the Braves beat the Texas Rangers 8-3 on Friday night for their fifth straight win.
Chris Sale (2-1) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings in the interleague matchup of first-place teams, but the left-hander didn’t want to talk about his pitching.
âTo be honest, nobody cares,â Sale said. âWe’re here to talk about one thing and one thing only. Tonight was about Travis, and that was nothing short of electric.â
After driving in six runs with the three homers, d’Arnaud said âSometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
Adolis GarcĂaâs two-run double off Sale in the sixth tied it at 3.
Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz (0-1) issued one-out walks to Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna before a single by Michael Harris II loaded the bases for the NL East-leading Braves. D’Arnaud lined a fastball from Latz 433 feet to left-center for his third career grand slam and second three-homer game.
D’Arnaud was a surprise offensive star against the AL West-leading Rangers. He entered with six RBIs for the season before driving in six Friday night.
Given an opportunity to join Bob Horner in 1986 against Montreal as the only Atlanta players to hit four homers in a game, d’Arnaud grounded out to shortstop Corey Seager in the eighth. He hit his first two homers off left-hander Andrew Heaney.
âI’m sure everybody was hoping to see something like that,â d’Arnaud said of the chance for a fourth homer.
Heaney allowed three runs and five hits with two walks in five innings. Both walks came in a long first inning.
âI thought he regrouped and threw the ball very well,â Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. âThat’s the guy we need and so he should, I think, feel good about how he finished up his outing.â
Harris added an eighth-inning homer for Atlanta.
On the day ace Spencer Strider made his first return trip to the Braves clubhouse since having season-ending elbow surgery on April 13, a healthy Sale provided a boost of confidence for the rotation. The left-hander allowed only two hits and one run in his first five innings.
Ozuna’s run-scoring single in the first extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest of his career and the longest active streak in the majors.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers: RHP Max Scherzer (back surgery) threw a two-inning simulated game before batting practice as he moved closer to a minor league rehab stint. … Rookie RHP Jack Leiter was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock. He allowed seven runs in his major league debut, Thursday’s 9-7 win at Detroit. âHe’s not going down because of what happened yesterday,â Bochy said, referring to the team’s need for a fresh arm in its bullpen. RHP Owen White was recalled from Round Rock.
Braves: IF Luke Williams was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to share playing time at second base while 2B Ozzie Albies recovers from a broken right toe. David Fletcher, who was called up Tuesday when Albies was placed on the 10-day IL, will share time with Williams. Manager Brian Snitker said Albies is âdoing a lot better than I thought he was going to be.â OF Forrest Wall was optioned to Gwinnett.
UP NEXT
Rangers RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2.92) will face Braves RHP Charlie Morton (1-0, 5.29) on Saturday night. Eovaldi is 3-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 16 career games against Atlanta, including only two appearances since 2019. Morton is 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in seven career starts against Texas.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
WASHINGTON (AP) â Justin Verlander allowed two runs and four hits over six innings to win his season debut for the Houston Astros, 5-3 over the Washington Nationals on Friday night.
The 41-year-old right-hander, who began the season on the injured list because of right shoulder inflammation, struck out four and walked none, throwing 50 of 78 pitches for strikes in his 258th win.
âHe looked really good,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Efficient, threw a ton of strikes.â
Verlander (1-0) averaged 94.3 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs and induced five groundouts. The nine-time All-Star retired the side in order four times and improved to 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in five regular-season starts against the Nationals.
Ildemaro Vargas hit an RBI single in the third and Riley Adams homered in the fourth, cutting Washingtonâs deficit to 4-2.
Verlander had made a pair of minor league injury rehabilitation starts.
He retired his first eight batters before Adams doubled off the base of the wall in right-center field.
âYeah, pleasantly surprised, honestly,” Verlander said. âI kind of tried to cram spring training into three starts and control wasnât quite what I would have liked. The rehab starts and then just look at mechanics and try to find something to make it click. I think what I worked on between last start and this start, just being a little more directional.â
Verlander was 13-8 with a 3.22 ERA last year for the New York Mets and Houston, who acquired him ahead of the trade deadline. Espada was hopeful Verlander could key an early season turnaround.
âItâs very important,” Espada said. “Despite how we started, itâs a long journey. we need him to lead us through this season. We have been in this before. We just got to be patient, continue to fight and once this rotation gets healthy and we start hitting our stride itâs going to be fun.â
Josh Hader allowed Jesse Winker’s sacrifice fly in the ninth and got his second save, striking out his final two batters.
Houston (7-14) stole five bases and stopped a three-game losing streak. Jeremy Peña and Mauricio Dubón had three hits each, Yainer Diaz doubled twice, and Kyle Tucker doubled, singled, walked twice and stole two bases.
Washington manager Dave Martinez was ejected by plate umpire Cory Blaser for arguing a caught stealing call against Vargas that ended the eighth. The Nationals are celebrating the fifth anniversary of their 2019 World Series win over Houston in seven games.
MacKenzie Gore (2-1) allowed three runs and seven hits in four innings.
âFrustrating,” Gore said. “But it was kind of one of those things where it wasnât bad. We had a chance. I thought the bullpen was really good again. I just wasnât good enough. It wasnât terrible. I just need to be a little better.â
TRAINERâS ROOM
Espada says LHP Framber Valdez played catch Friday and felt well. Espada expects Valdez to throw a bullpen session of 30-40 pitches this weekend.
UP NEXT
RHP Ronel Blanco (2-0, 0.86) starts Saturday for Houston against RHP Trevor Williams (2-0, 3.45).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
ByTODD ARCHER
DALLAS — If the Dallas Cowboys are in no rush to sign Dak Prescott to a long-term extension, then that’s fine with the quarterback.
Prescott said negotiations have not really begun with the Cowboys on a new deal, although he had what he termed a “great conversation” with owner and general manager Jerry Jones about a month ago.
“I’m focused on here, right now where I am,” Prescott said Friday as he prepared to take part in the Children’s Cancer Fund’s “A Knight to Remember” gala, where he serves as a co-chair with Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. “That’s how I’ve always been. Anytime y’all have asked me, it’s always been about right now, getting better tomorrow. And I’ve been in this situation before, so it’s OK. I’m fine in any situation at that point betting on myself or playing this year out.”
Prescott is entering the final year of a four-year, $160 million deal he signed in 2021 and is set to count $55.4 million against the salary cap. The Cowboys cannot use the franchise tag on him after this year, and he has a no-trade clause.
In 2019, Prescott played out the final year of his rookie deal and was given the franchise tag in 2020. He suffered a dislocated and fractured right ankle in the fifth game of that season but still signed the most lucrative deal in franchise history.
He was asked if he wants to be the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.
“No, I’m not trying to be the highest paid necessarily,” Prescott said. “We’ll wait until the negotiations begin and obviously want to put this team in the best situation.”
Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow has the highest average salary at $55 million, followed by the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson at $52 million. Prescott’s $40 million average is tied for 10th highest in the league.
“I’m not going to say I fear being here or not,” Prescott said. “I don’t fear either situation, to be candid with you. I love this game and love to play and love to better myself as a player and my teammates around me. Right now it’s with the Dallas Cowboys. It’s where I want to be and that’s where I am and that’s the focus. And after this season we’ll see where we’re at and if the future holds that … and then if not, we’ll go from there.”
Prescott has been at the early stages of the Cowboys’ voluntary offseason program, although two other players the team has prioritized in re-signing, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and edge rusher Micah Parsons, have not. Lamb is in the final year of his contract and looking for a long-term deal. Parsons is following a similar plan he had last year, when he worked out away from the team’s facility early in the offseason.
Prescott said he has been in communication with his No. 1 receiver.
“We’ll get the work in, whether it’s him getting into the facility, maybe a deal gets done,” Prescott said. “If it doesn’t, I’ll guarantee that we’ll still find a lot of time to make sure we’re putting in the work [so] that we feel comfortable.”
Prescott was asked about the lawsuit he filed regarding an alleged extortion claim made by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by him in 2017. He said that case will not affect the contract talks.
“I know the truth,” he said. “Very confident in what we filed.”
ByABC News
The Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines are investigating an incident involving the Colorado Rockies during a chartered flight from Denver to Toronto.
In a since-deleted video posted to social media, Rockies hitting coach Hensley Meulens is seen sitting in a pilot’s seat in the cockpit while the plane is in flight.
“Had some fun in the cockpit on our flight from Denver to Toronto. Thanks to the captain and the first officer of our United charter that allowed me this great experience,” Meulens wrote in a caption for the social media post.
A United spokesperson said the airline was conducting its own investigation of the April 10 flight. The airline said the cockpit visit was “a clear violation of our safety and operational policies” and was reported to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We’re deeply disturbed by what we see in that video, which appears to show an unauthorized person in the flight deck at cruise altitude while the autopilot was engaged,” United spokesperson Russell Carlton said.
The pilots on the flight have been withheld from service while the airline investigates, Carlton said.
A spokesman for the FAA said it does not “comment on the details of open investigations” but noted that “federal regulations restrict flight deck access to specific individuals.”
Meulens was not available for comment in the Rockies’ clubhouse on Friday, but manager Bud Black said Meulens was contrite and his job was not in jeopardy.
“Bam-Bam, he apologized,” Black said. “I can’t comment really any further because of what is being called an investigation of the matter. As far as Bam-Bam goes, he apologized to the Rockies, apologized to United, apologized to the team.”
Meulens is in his second year as the team’s hitting coach. He has previously served as a coach and manager for the Dutch national team.
Colorado (4-15) has lost five straight, including its final two games against the Blue Jays.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
ByMYRON MEDCALF
Coban Porter, the younger brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a woman in Colorado last year.
The January 2023 crash in Denver killed Kathy Limon Rothman and seriously injured her passenger. Porter, who caused the crash after he ran a red light and slammed into the other vehicle, received an additional two-year sentence for the passenger’s injuries that he will serve concurrently.
According to The Denver Post, prosecutors on Friday said Porter was speeding and had a blood alcohol level of .19, more than twice the legal limit of .08.
Porter had pleaded guilty in February to vehicular homicide and vehicular assault as part of a plea agreement that had reduced his sentence to a maximum of eight years.
“All I can really say is that I’m sorry,” Porter told the courtroom Friday, according to the Post. “I know that I’m never going to be able to right that wrong. … I never thought I’d be standing here. I thought I was invincible. It wasn’t the first time I chose to drink and drive. I’m so sorry.”
Michael Porter Jr. testified on his brother’s behalf during Friday’s hearing, saying in part, according to the Post, “I know that if I were in your shoes and it was reversed, I would have a lot of feelings as well.” Others also spoke on behalf of the Rothman family.
Coban Porter had been a freshman on the University of Denver men’s basketball team prior to the crash, averaging 11.4 points during the 2021-22 season.
Porter’s sentencing follows Wednesday’s announcement that the NBA had banned Jontay Porter, his and Michael Porter Jr.’s brother, after an investigation revealed that the two-way player for the Toronto Raptors had violated “league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.”
Michael Porter Jr. missed the Nuggets’ practice Friday to attend his younger brother’s sentencing. His coaches and teammates are rallying behind him amid a trying week.
“It has not been easy for him,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “That’s why I give him credit, because he’s carrying so much in his heart and on his mind. For him to go out there and do the job that he’s doing, it speaks to how much strength that young man has.”
Jamal Murray said Porter’s family travails aren’t a topic of conversation in the locker room.
“I don’t think we’ve spoken to him about it. That’s just not something we talk about,” Murray said. “We’re just keeping it professional here and we all support him. He’s handling it really well. Obviously, it’s not easy. But yeah, we’re just letting him deal with it.”
Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.
ByALAINA GETZENBERG
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula is looking into a potential sale of a minority interest in the team, the team said in a statement Friday, while emphasizing that no new investment would involve changing the Pegula family’s controlling interest.
“The Pegula family has retained Allen & Company to explore the potential sale of a non-controlling, minority interest in the Bills,” the team said in its statement. “These discussions only involve the Bills and no other team. No investment would be possible without Terry Pegula and the Pegula family maintaining a controlling interest in the team.
“Their continued commitment to Western New York, the new Highmark Stadium, our fans, and the other teams in their portfolio remains unchanged. Neither the team nor the Pegula family are able to comment further at this point.”
The Pegulas, who also own the Buffalo Sabres, the National Lacrosse League’s Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks, and the American Hockey League’s Rochester Americans, purchased the Bills in 2014 for $1.4 billion. Forbes reported in August that the Bills now are worth $3.7 billion, while Pegula is worth $6.8 billion.
The Washington Commanders sold in July for a record $6.05 billion.
The Bills are amid construction on new Highmark Stadium, which is being built across the street from their current stadium in Orchard Park. The stadium, which was initially expected to cost $1.4 billion, received a then-historic $850 million in public funding, with the Pegulas handling all additional costs.
As ESPN reported in March, the NFL is looking into potentially altering regulations surrounding team ownership, including private equity firms being a possibility, as many other professional leagues, such as the NBA, MLB and NHL, allow.
ByJEFF BORZELLO AND PAUL BIANCARDI
Four-star senior Justin Pippen, son of Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, announced his commitment to Michigan on Friday.
Pippen chose new coach Dusty May and the Wolverines over a final list that included Cal, Florida, Stanford and Texas A&M.
“I like the feel of the campus and school,” Pippen told ESPN. “I wanted to be at a big school. They can help me reach my end goal of making the NBA.”
Michigan was a late arrival into Pippen’s recruitment, but shortly after May was hired as Juwan Howard’s replacement in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines entered the mix.
“I was really going to make a decision between my other schools,” Pippen said. “Then I got a call from Coach Dusty May. I wanted to give him a chance. We set up a Zoom call. I went on a visit and I felt it was the right place and situation for me.
“Coach Dusty May has been straight up with me. He sees me playing both on and off the ball. He even mentioned they are bringing in other guys.”
A 6-foot-3 combo guard who attended Sierra Canyon High School (California), Pippen was a late breakout in his prep career. A four-star guard, he will likely be ranked in the final ESPN 100 rankings for the 2024 class.
It’s a similar story to his brother, Scotty Pippen Jr., who emerged as a star at Vanderbilt after being underrecruited coming out of high school and played in 21 games for the Memphis Grizzlies this season.
His family fully supported his decision to attend Michigan.
“They let me make my own decision,” Justin said. “They know it’s great academically. They both spoke with Coach May.”
Pippen is one of the most improved prospects in the nation. He worked on his shooting accuracy, refined his ballhandling skills and sharpened his ability to read ball screens in the offseason. He has developed a keen scoring instinct and an aptitude for creating opportunities for his teammates.
Pippen is the first pickup since May moved to Michigan, although the Wolverines are in the mix for a long list of transfers. They’re currently pursuing Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis and Vladislav Goldin, Ohio State’s Roddy Gayle Jr., Auburn’s Tre Donaldson and Yale’s Danny Wolf.
ByISRAEL GUTIERREZ
MIAMI — The atypical 8-seed is back.
The Miami Heat, who last year ran through the Eastern Conference playoffs as the lowest seed, earned the eighth spot again after beating the Chicago Bulls, the same team Miami defeated to earn last season’s final playoff berth.
The victory sets up a first-round clash with the 64-win Boston Celtics, the team Miami beat in seven games in last year’s Eastern finals and the one it has faced in three of the past four conference finals.
Without Jimmy Butler, who injured his left knee in Miami’s first play-in game and is expected to need several weeks to recover, the idea of a repeat run for the Heat seemed a stretch, at best.
But Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made a defensive decision before Friday’s 112-91 defeat of Chicago that might have injected some hope back into this band of culture carriers.
Spoelstra gave his center, Bam Adebayo, the responsibility of guarding Chicago’s leading scorer, DeMar DeRozan.
The team captain responded with what he called “another day in the office,” limiting DeRozan to 22 points and four assists.
More importantly, Spoelstra said Adebayo gave his team hope with Butler out. Hope in the game against Chicago and possibly extending to the series against the Celtics.
“What we needed, what we felt like, was inspiration,” Spoelstra told ESPN. “And Bam was our most inspiring player, especially with Jimmy being out. The two of them are our most inspiring players. And they’ve always been. When they’re locked in at their highest level competitively, we feel like we can beat anybody. With Jimmy out, I had to.
“We felt like DeRozan is a guy who can totally take over a game in a one-game deal. If our most inspiring player has to make an impact, it would be against their best scorer.”
The major question entering Friday was how the Heat would make up for Butler’s offense and steadying overall presence.
Butler’s replacement in the starting lineup, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., helped alleviate that pressure, while Tyler Herro had a near triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
That left Adebayo able to concentrate on his defensive assignment. With Nikola Jovic, at 6-foot-10, capable of defending some centers, the Heat have the versatility to use Adebayo this way. And facing a Celtics team with a nontraditional center in Kristaps Porzingis in the first round, you can envision Adebayo taking on either Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum in that best-of-seven series.
“I haven’t even thought about that,” Spoelstra said. “This was for this kind of deal, to set the tone for the game, to help alleviate any stress or pressure from anyone else in the locker room, Bam had to be that, which he was.”
With Adebayo settling the Heat defensively, Miami’s offense was able to run (20 fast-break points) and overcome 15 turnovers. Another pair of defensive weapons, reserves Haywood Highsmith and Delon Wright (four steals between them) complemented Adebayo well, helping keep the Bulls to 38% shooting.
Spoelstra using Bam to inspire worked to perfection.
“Bam’s absolutely incredible,” Jaquez said. “It just goes to show we have enough. That’s inspiring to us as his teammates.”
Given the 18-win difference between the Celtics and Heat this season, as well as Boston’s 3-0 record against Miami, there shouldn’t be much reason for Boston to fear the Butler-less Heat.
But those who watch Celtics games might still be a tad concerned. The Boston Globe sent a reporter to Miami to cover this play-in game despite the Heat not being considered a realistic threat to oust the Celtics this year.
If you listen to Adebayo, the difference between the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds won’t be nearly as noticeable once the series begins this time, either — largely because of what he brings to the floor.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Adebayo said. “It’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be in the mud. It’s not going to be pretty basketball. That’s usually how it is when we play that team.”
ByANDREW LOPEZ
NEW ORLEANS — Prior to Friday night, the week had not gone the way Brandon Ingram would have hoped.
As the New Orleans Pelicans forward attempted to come back from a bone bruise in his left knee, he had two subpar games as the Pelicans dropped the regular-season finale and the first play-in tournament game to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ingram responded Friday and as a result the Pelicans are headed to the playoffs.
Behind a team-high 24 points from Ingram and an all-around defensive effort, the Pelicans defeated the Sacramento Kings 105-98 to advance to the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. New Orleans will face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.
“This was the goal at the beginning of the year,” Ingram said. “Throughout it, we had some injuries. We had different things happen. But we had another opportunity today and we came in and everybody contributed.”
Following Tuesday’s loss, during which he didn’t play the final seven-plus minutes, Ingram was in the Pelicans’ practice facility early Wednesday morning getting up shots and working his way back to find his form.
Ingram suffered the injury against the Orlando Magic on March 21 and sat out until the final game of the regular season Sunday. He said it was tough trying to find that rhythm early, but things clicked Friday.
“It’s been one my healthiest seasons and I was out for three weeks just watching and just trying to stay disciplined,” Ingram said. “It’s hard just trying to stay disciplined, trying to stay locked in knowing I wanted to be out on the floor. I was losing some of my conditioning a little bit and just trying to stay ready.
“That was three weeks that passed, and I was just coming in and trying to play 30 minutes after all that and be locked in. I was, of course, hard on myself because I didn’t think it mattered that I just came off the knee injury. Those first two games didn’t go how I wanted to go, but I just wanted to give it all tonight and trust my teammates, trust my stuff and we ended up winning.”
One of Ingram’s defensive plays ended up being a turning point for New Orleans in the second quarter. After a rough start that included Sacramento scoring 11 points off Pelicans turnovers in the first quarter, New Orleans started to seize momentum in the second.
With 7:19 left in the quarter, the Kings got a fast break after another Pelicans turnover. Ingram ran back and fouled Harrison Barnes as he went up for a shot attempt. Barnes missed both free throws and the Pelicans responded with a quick 7-0 run to take the lead for good.
Ingram picked up his third foul with 3:20 left in the second quarter but stayed in the game after a brief conversation with Pelicans coach Willie Green.
“I told him, ‘I’m taking you out.’ And he said, ‘No, I need you to trust me,'” Green said. “So that’s the relationship part of it that he and I, along with the rest of the guys, you build a relationship and that’s a moment where I said, ‘OK, I trust you. You better not pick up your fourth.’ And he was able to play through it.”
Ingram said it was important for him to stay in and help the Pelicans get to halftime with a bigger lead.
“I thought I could control the game,” Ingram said. “Thought I controlled the game the first quarter, the second quarter. And I knew that it was about time for us to go on a run.”
The win moved the Pelicans to 6-0 against the Kings this season thanks to the play-in tournament and the in-season tournament.
“They’re good, long and athletic,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We’ve been hurt by the 3 by these guys, and we turn the ball over. For us, we have to be the aggressor on offense and take care of the ball. We try to thread the needle with our passes, turn it over, then our floor balance is poor. Then they get out and create separation. They’re a good team.”
New Orleans had struggled at home leading up to the game, losing five regular-season games at home and then dropping Tuesday’s play-in game against the Lakers. The team went 28-14 on the road this season, so to switch things up Friday morning, the Pelicans had their shootaround at the Smoothie King Center instead of at the team’s facility.
The switch worked and now the Pelicans, who won 49 games this season, are in the playoffs. They become the fourth team in NBA history to win at least 49 games but enter the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, joining the 2008 Denver Nuggets (50-32), the 2010 Thunder (50-32) and the 2014 Dallas Mavericks (49-33).
“We deserve it,” Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. said. “That’s how we felt coming into this game and that’s how we felt going into the last game. You don’t win 49 games by accident, that doesn’t happen. You don’t just slip and do that in a historic conference. We’re a really good team and we deserve to be here. We showed that tonight and we’re proud to be going to Oklahoma.”
LONGVIEW â According to our news partner KETK, the Longview Fire Department put out a notice to the public saying that a dangerous drug was found. âWe had a recent encounter with âcandyâ that tested positive for fentanyl,â LFD said in a Facebook post. âThis is a narcotic that can be lethal when ingested. This drug is being used to lace other substances and cannot be detected through taste or smell.â
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug said to be 100 times more potent that morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. It is often disguised as other pills or added into other drugs as it makes drugs cheaper, more powerful and more addictive. However, the drug is also more deadly and canât be seen, tasted or smelled. Fentanyl test strips are used to test if drugs are further contaminated with the substance. Read the rest of this entry »
A hack that caused a small Texas townâs water system to overflow in January has been linked to a shadowy Russian hacktivist group, the latest case of a U.S. public utility becoming a target of foreign cyberattacks. The attack was one of three on small towns in the rural Texas Panhandle. Local officials said the public was not put in any danger and the attempts were reported to federal authorities.
âThere were 37,000 attempts in four days to log into our firewall,â said Mike Cypert, city manager of Hale Center, which is home to about 2,000 residents. The attempted hack failed as the city âunpluggedâ the system and operated it manually, he added.
In Muleshoe, about 60 miles to the west and with a population of about 5,000, hackers caused the water system to overflow before it was shut down and taken over manually by officials, city manager Ramon Sanchez told CNN. He did not immediately respond to phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
âThe incident was quickly addressed and resolved,â Sanchez said in a statement, according to KAMC-TV. âThe cityâs water disinfectant system was not affected, and the public water system nor the public was in any danger.â
At least one of the attacks was linked this week by Mandiant, a U.S. cybersecurity firm, to a shadowy Russian hacktivist group that it said could be working with or part of a Russian military hacking unit.
The group, calling itself CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, claimed responsibility for January attacks on water facilities in the United States and Poland that got little attention at the time.
Cybersecurity researchers say CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn was among groups suspected of Russian government ties that engaged last year in low-complexity attacks against Ukraine and its allies, including denial-of-service data barrages that temporarily knock websites offline.
Sometimes such groups claim responsibility for attacks that were actually carried out by Kremlin military intelligence hackers, Microsoft reported in December.
Cypert, the Hale Center city manager, said he has turned information over to FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
The FBI declined to comment, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a branch of DHS, referred questions to the cities that were targeted.
In Lockney, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Hale Center and home to around 1,500 people, cyberattackers were thwarted before they could access that townâs water system, city manager Buster Poling said.
âIt didnât cause any problems except being a nuisance,â Poling said.
Last year CISA put out an advisory following November hacks on U.S. water facilities attributed to Iranian state groups who said they were targeting facilities using Israeli equipment.
Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said in December that attacks by Iranian hackers â as well as a separate spate of ransomware attacks on the health care industry â should be seen as a call to action by utilities and industry to tighten cybersecurity.
In March, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan and Jake Sullivan, assistant to the president for National Security Affairs, sent a letter to the nationâs governors asking them to take steps to protect the water supply, including assessing cybersecurity and planning for a cyberattack.
âDrinking water and wastewater systems are an attractive target for cyberattacks because they are a lifeline critical infrastructure sector but often lack the resources and technical capacity to adopt rigorous cybersecurity practices,â Regan and Sullivan wrote.
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AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) â A Texas appeals court has ruled that Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton can face discipline from the state bar association over his failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. A disciplinary committee of the State Bar of Texas accused Paxton in 2022 of making false claims of fraud in a lawsuit that questioned President Joe Biden’s victory. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeals said Paxton can be sanctioned by the committee because the lawsuit seeks to punish him in his personal capacity as an attorney and not as a public official.
âThe focus of the Commissionâs allegations is squarely on Paxtonâs alleged misconduct â not that of the State,â Judge Erin Nowell, an elected Democrat, wrote in the 2-1 opinion.
The lone Republican on the panel, Judge Emily Miskel, was in dissent.
A similar lawsuit was also brought against one of Paxton’s top deputies. Earlier this week, a coalition of state Republican attorneys general urged the Texas Supreme Court to reject efforts by the bar to impose discipline. All nine members of the state’s highest civil court are Republicans.
âAs in that case, we will appeal this ruling and we have full confidence the Supreme Court of Texas will not allow false claims by the State Bar and partisan political revenge to affect professional licensure of the stateâs lawyers,â Paxton spokeswoman Paige Willey said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the State Bar of Texas and the committee accusing Paxton declined to comment on the ruling.
Paxton is among the highest-profile attorneys to face a threat of sanctions for aiding in efforts led by former President Donald Trump to throw into question Trump’s defeat.
The state bar’s disciplinary group’s punishments against an attorney can range from a written admonition to a suspension or disbarment. The disciplinary process resembles a trial and could include both sides eliciting testimony and obtaining records through discovery.
Paxton is not required to have bar membership in order to serve as attorney general.
State bar officials began investigating complaints over Paxtonâs election lawsuit in 2021. A similar disciplinary proceeding was launched by the group against Paxton’s top deputy. That case awaits a ruling by the Texas Supreme Court.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) â A 10-year-old boy has confessed to an unsolved killing in Texas, telling investigators that he shot a man he did not know while the victim slept, authorities said Friday.
The boy, who was just shy of his eighth birthday when the man was shot two years ago, has been evaluated at a psychiatric hospital but cannot be charged with the crime because of his age at the time, the Gonzales County Sheriffâs Office said in a news release. Texas law requires a child to be at least 10 years old to have criminal culpability. The boy is being held in juvenile detention for threatening a student on a bus in another incident earlier this month, authorities said.
Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while he slept at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of San Antonio, investigators said. He had just moved in a few days before.
The boy’s possible connection to the case was uncovered after sheriff’s deputies were contacted on April 12 of this year about a student who threatened to assault and kill another student on a school bus. They learned the boy had made previous statements that he had killed someone two years ago.
The boy was taken to a child advocacy center, where he described for interviewers details of Rasberry’s death âconsistent with first-hand knowledgeâ of the crime, investigators said.
The boy said he had been visiting his grandfather, who lived a few lots away from Rasberry in the RV park. He described the 9 mm pistol and its âdirt and army greenâ color, and said he took it from the glove box of his grandfather’s truck.
The boy described entering Rasberry’s RV, shooting him in the head, and shooting again into the couch before leaving, then returning the gun to the truck, investigators said.
The boy told his interviewer he had seen Rasberry in the RV park earlier in the day, but never met him and had no reason to be mad at him. Rasberry’s body was found after he failed to show up for work for two days.
The boy said his grandfather later sold the pistol. Deputies located it at a pawn shop. Shell casings from the previous crime scene were matched to the gun, investigators said.
The boy was placed in 72-hour emergency detention âbecause of the severity of the crime and because of the continued concern for the childâs mental wellbeing,â the sheriffâs office said.
He was brought to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment and then was taken back to Gonzales County. He was placed in juvenile detention on a charge of making a terroristic threat for the school bus incident.
It was not immediately clear if the boy’s family has an attorney. The Associated Press left a telephone message seeking comment at the office of Gonzales County Attorney Paul Watkins.
(SELMER, Tenn.) -- On March 22, 2006, minister Matthew Winkler was found dead, shot in the back in his Selmer, Tennessee, home.
Winklerâs wife, Mary, and the coupleâs three children were missing in the aftermath of the grisly discovery, and there was growing concern that the family had been kidnapped.
So, when 24 hours after Matthew Winklerâs death a gray minivan matching the description of the Winklersâ missing vehicle was spotted in Orange Beach, Alabama, 400 miles from the familyâs home, police officers stopped the van and approached the vehicle with guns drawn.
In the minivan, they found Mary Winkler and her three daughters.
Local law enforcement escorted the children out of the minivan and ran a search of the vehicle. A shotgun was found in the trunk of the minivan and Mary Winkler was brought in for questioning.
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In that moment, Mary Winkler went from being a potential kidnapping victim to a suspect in the murder of her husband. According to Jason Whitlock, an Orange Beach police officer, Winkler was stoic and didnât ask any questions.
âShe got out and she never asked why she was stopped, why there were officers pointing guns at her or anything,â Whitlock said. âShe really made no expression on her face. And she was detained.â
A â20/20â episode airing Friday, April 19, at 9 p.m. ET and streaming on Hulu the next day features new footage of Mary Winklerâs arrest and a case that brought national attention to a small town in Tennessee.
Stan Stabler, then a corporal with the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation, questioned Mary Winkler but kept wondering why Winkler would drive her girls hundreds of miles away from their home.
âThis is my last time to be with them,â Winkler said. âI just want to be with them before they had bad days. Have a happy day.â
According to Stabler, Winkler was very subdued and did not disclose much detail about what happened the night her husband was killed. After two hours of questioning, Winkler admitted she was holding the gun but said she neither pulled the trigger nor remembered doing so.
Winkler implied her motive behind killing her husband had to do with the way he treated her.
âI love him dearly but, gosh, he could just nail me in the ground,â she said. âI have nerves now and I have self-esteem. And so my ugly came out.â
In her police interview, Mary Winkler described her husband as a good man but seemed to imply she had thought about killing him in the past. When asked by Stabler, âYou thought about doing it before?â Mary replied, âitâs crossed minds.â âIâve been battling it, not to do that, forever and I donât know why,â Winkler said.
On March 25, 2006, Winkler waived her right to an extradition hearing and returned to Selmer. She was held in McNairy County Jail and faced charges of first-degree murder.
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The small town of Selmer, Tennessee, was now at the center of a high-profile trial, with media converging from all over the country to cover the Mary Winkler case. The town was on edge and people wondered why Mary Winkler killed her preacher husband.Mary Winklerâs sisters told ABC News they saw a change in her once she got married.
âI donât remember hearing her laugh,â Tabatha Freeman, Maryâs sister, said. âShe was not a happy person.â
In recounting seeing a bruise on Mary, her sister Amanda Miller said, âI didnât say anything cause, I didnât know how to,â Amanda Miller, Maryâs sister, said. âIf I was to say, âWho gave that to you?â and that would make her mad, I wouldnât see her again.â
And Mary Winklerâs father, Clark Freeman, who also claimed to have seen bruises on Mary, said she wasnât the Mary that he knew.
âOne day I confronted her. I said, âMary Carol you are coming off as a very abused woman, very battered,ââ Freeman said. âMary Carol would hang her head and say, âNo, everything is all right.ââ
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âAnd several times, I talked seriously to her about leaving him,â Freeman said. âAnd she just did not want to.â
As investigators dug deeper into the Winklers' lives, they came to believe that Matthewâs killing may have been about money.
Mary Winkler became entangled in an alleged âlottery scam,â according to investigators. Scammers would send an email or letter to the so-called winner with a fraudulent check worth thousands of dollars. In these scams, the recipient is usually instructed to pay taxes and fees before they are eligible to receive a bogus lump-sum payment.
Prosecutors say that Mary Winkler never paid the required âfees.â Instead, they claim she cashed the counterfeit checks and, when the bank learned the funds were not available and the checks would not clear, ultimately owed more than $16,000. Investigators argue thatâs when Mary plotted to cover her alleged losses.
Investigators allege that Winkler then began writing checks from one bank to cover checks at another bank, a practice known as âcheck-kiting.â
âShe knew that she didnât have the funds in the bank to cover the charges,â John Mehr, retired Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Supervisor, said. âAnd that is an illegal act.â
According to investigators, Mary Winkler went to great lengths to hide her financial woes. They say she opened a personal account out of town in her name only, changed her mailing address to a P.O. Box and tried to remove Matthewâs name from one of the bank accounts.
On April 9, 2007, the murder trial began with the prosecution pushing for a first-degree murder conviction. Mary Winkler testified in her own defense.
The prosecution argued Mary Winkler killed her husband to cover up her alleged financial schemes. But when it was the defense's turn, Mary testified that Matthew was the one who ordered all of the bank deposits.Although investigators believe that the money was the motive in this case, they never charged Mary with any financial crimes.
Mary testified at length about her relationship with her husband. âHe threatened me with a shotgun many times,â Mary Winkler testified. âPutting it in my face. He told me, if I ever talked back to him, that he would cut me into a million pieces.â
District Attorney Walt Freeland told ABC News, "There was no indication from any of the people interviewed that Mary had ever disclosed it to them as a friend or it never came out about any physical abuse. She described Matthew as being a fine man and there was never a hint of any abuse."
Mary Winklerâs testimony of alleged abuse then shifted to what she described as unnatural sex acts. On the stand, Winkler was asked to pull out a white platform heel and a wig that she alleged Matthew would make her wear during sex.
âWhen they brought out the shoe and the wig, and put those on the witness stand, there was a gasp in the courtroom. It was just a moment in this case, I think, that everything turned,â Jamey Tucker, a local reporter covering the trial, said. âHearing the preacherâs wife accuse her dead husband of all these things that were not allowed in the Churches of Christ congregations. These were sins.â
On April 18, 2007, the jury convicted Mary Winkler of voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison and, with time already served, Mary would spend only one more week in jail and 60 days in a mental health facility.
During Mary's sentencing, Matthew Winklerâs mother, Diane, denied Maryâs claims that her son was abusive and confronted her about the abuse allegations. âThe monster you have painted for the world to see I donât think that monster existed,â Diane Winkler said. âThereâs been no remorse from you. Youâve never told your girls youâre sorry. Donât you think you at least owe them that? Youâve never told us youâre sorry. I think you at least owe us that.â
During her detention, Mary Winklerâs three daughters were living with Matthewâs parents. Mary had been allowed supervised visitations, but Matthewâs parents filed a petition for the adoption of the children and termination of Maryâs parental rights.
Following the verdict, Mary Winkler was locked in a battle to regain custody of her daughters. Winkler appeared on âThe Oprah Winfrey Show,â saying she agreed to the interview in order to speak out for those in similar situations to what she claimed she experienced with Matthew, and to express the importance of getting her girls back.
In 2008, Mary Winkler and Matthew Winkler's parents, Dan and Diane, reached an informal agreement out of court, giving her custody of her three daughters.
A few years later, Mary sat down for one more exclusive interview with a local television station to reveal a setback in her life.
âI had found out that Mary had been diagnosed with MS, multiple sclerosis,â Janice Broach, a local reporter, said.
It has been 17 years since Mary Winkler killed her husband and she now lives a quiet life with her daughters. ABC News correspondent John Quinones reached out to Mary and says she told him she doesnât want to talk about what happened all those years ago.
âWeâve moved on,â Winkler said. âIâm busy taking care of my three daughters.â
Marc Dorian, Tami Sheheri and Taigi Smith contributed to this report.
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TYLER â The defense team of a former nurse convicted of murder, appeared in court on Thursday to discuss the reported harassment of jurors. According to our news partner KETK, the 114th district court convened on Thursday to address Judge Austin Reeve Jacksonâs motion against the legal team of a convicted former CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Francis nurse. Reeve Jackson said the court had received numerous complaints of investigators and lawyers attempting to contact jurors and ârefusing to accept the answer of âno, I do not want to speak with you.ââ
The judge said jurors informed the court that spouses had opened the door and informed members of the defense that the juror did not wish to speak to the legal team. Jurors were also reportedly âcontacted multiple times in the morning, late at night, interrupting family hours, dinner hours from kids and other family members.â Read the rest of this entry »