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In the wake of Chile’s Catholic abuse crisis, victims struggle to find justice

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — After she learned what happened, Helmut Kramer’s mother cut the priest out of photographs from her son’s baptism.“She kept the photos after that,” said Kramer, who was sexually abused at age 12 in a Jesuit school in Antofagasta, a city in northern Chile. “My mom is still Catholic, but she never attended Mass again. She says that she will never set foot in a church, and she does not trust the pope or any priest,” the 53-year-old Chilean said.His mother’s feelings echo Chileans who have distanced themselves from the Catholic Church since 2010, when victims of another priest, Fernando Karadima, raised awareness about clergy sex abuse in the country.According to polling firm Latinobarómetro, the decline in confidence in the Chilean Catholic Church is one of the largest in Latin America. It fell from 77% in 1996 to 31% in 2020. Currently half of Chile’s 18 million population identify as Catholic and the number of religiously unaffiliated rose from 18% in 2010 to 35...

In Chile, justice eludes victims of Catholic clergy sex abuse years after the crisis exploded

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Soon after she learned what happened, Helmut Kramer’s mother grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the priest out of photographs from her son’s baptism.“She kept the photos after that,” said Kramer, who was sexually abused at age 12 in a Jesuit school in Antofagasta, a city in northern Chile. “My mom is still Catholic, but she never attended Mass again. She says that she will never set foot in a church, and she does not trust the pope or any priest,” the 53-year-old Chilean said.His mother’s feelings echo hundreds of Chileans who have distanced themselves from the Catholic Church since 2010, when victims of another priest, Fernando Karadima, raised awareness about clergy sex abuse in the South American country.The Karadima case shook the Vatican itself and marred Pope Francis’ trip to Chile in 2018. Instead of applause, he was greeted with unprecedented protests against a papal visit. The scenario worsened when Francis accused Karadima’s victims of slander. He la...

Blake Snell pitches 7 hitless innings and strikes out 10 in win over Rockies

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO — NL Cy Young Award contender Blake Snell lowered his big league-leading ERA to 2.33 and struck out 10 in seven brilliant innings for the San Diego Padres, who took a combined no-hitter into the ninth before beating the Colorado Rockies 2-0 on Tuesday night.Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth to lift the Padres to their season-high sixth straight win.Snell, who has never gone eight innings in the majors, threw 104 pitches before making way for Robert Suarez, who worked a perfect eighth. All-Star closer Josh Hader (1-3) came on to start the ninth and promptly allowed Brendan Rodgers’ leadoff single up the middle. The last-place Rockies finished with two hits.Snell, a 30-year-old lefty, walked four to increase his major league-high total to 95.Snell is trying to become the seventh pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues. He won the AL prize in 2018 with Tampa Bay.Center fielder Trent Grisham and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. both m...

Man arrested for killing L.A. County deputy may have been involved in road rage incidents

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

New details about the man arrested in connection with the killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy were revealed as a memorial to honor the deputy took place on Tuesday. Witnesses provided more details about the suspect, Kevin Salazar, 29, in the hours leading up to the fatal shooting of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, 30, on Sept. 16 in Palmdale.The sheriff's department confirms that on the same day Clinkunbroomer was killed, two people reported separate road rage incidents involving Salazar. A memorial to honor Clinkunbroomer near the Central Park stairs in his hometown of Santa Clarita is growing Tuesday night as loved ones and community members arrive to pay tribute.At the top of a hill, attendees can sign cards offering messages and condolences to the deputy’s family.Memorial climb held for L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer at the Central Park stairs in Santa Clarita on Sept. 19, 2023. (KTLA)Memorial climb held for L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan...

SF Giants’ wild card deficit grows as Alex Cobb exits crucial start vs. D-backs in third inning

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

PHOENIX — The Giants understood the stakes at hand in this two-game series against the Diamondbacks. Win both and 2½-game gap in the wild card standings would be almost entirely erased; a split would clinch the season series and secure a potentially important tiebreaker.That factored in as much as the added days of rest for Alex Cobb’s troublesome hip when they chose to push his scheduled start back from Saturday in Colorado to Tuesday’s series opener in Arizona. It’s hard to imagine the decision backfiring worse.In an 8-4 loss, Cobb walked off the mound after throwing two pitches in the third inning Tuesday night, clearly bothered by the impingement in his left hip. He seemed to labor through all 52 of his pitches, put base runners on in each of his two innings and left having allowed five runs.The loss was the Giants’ 24th in 29 road games since July 18 and their fourth in their past five contests. This one dealt a serious blow to their postseason chances.W...

HS basketball stars team up for Napa prep school

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

NAPA, Calif. (KRON) -- Napa's Prolific Prep is known for turning out basketball stars. In addition to a number of high-major Division 1 stars, NBA players like Gary Trent Jr. and Jalen Green attended the North Bay high school. This year will be no different. Prolific Prep boasts the two top-rated recruits in the 2026 class: AJ Dybantsa and Tyran Stokes. Both sophomores will have targets on their back, but they are looking forward to growing together on their quest for a national championship. KRON4 went out to Napa to speak to the young stars. Stokes, a Louisville, KY native, has already been in Napa for a year. When he heard Dybantsa was a candidate to join him at Prolific Prep, he put his recruiting hat on. How 49ers’ Taybor Pepper became a long snapper "When my coaches first told me that they were interested in him, that's when I started heavily recruiting," Stokes said. "Every day I'm calling him randomly, 'AJ, slide, slide, slide. We might as well.'"Dybantsa is a Massachusett...

Player of the Week: Georgetown Prep’s Colin Reynolds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

(new Image()).src = "https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384&cid=c2ffed0c-3624-46c0-b10f-97c976d290a3";cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384",mediaId: "639d29d1-5d81-4bb3-8815-004f577340a9"}).render("939bdcd2eeed4944b0e255488677e16d"); });Georgetown Prep running back Colin Reynolds rushed 30 times for 253 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winning four-yard score in overtime, as the Little Hoyas edged Woodberry Forest, 28-25. For his efforts, Reynolds was named the Military Bowl DC Touchdown Club High School Football Player of the Week.Georgetown Prep running back Colin Reynolds rushed 30 times for 253 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winning four-yard score in overtime, as the Little Hoyas edged Woodberry Forest, 28-25. For his efforts, Reynolds was named the Military Bowl DC Touchdown Club High School Football Player of the Week. (Courtesy Donhee Cui)“The first time I saw ...

This is what it’s like to maintain the US nuclear arsenal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

KANSAS CITY NATIONAL SECURITY CAMPUS, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. will spend more than $750 billion over the next decade to revamp nearly every part of its aging nuclear defenses. Officials say they simply can’t wait any longer — some systems and parts are more than 50 years old.For now, it’s up to young military troops and government technicians across the U.S. to maintain the existing bombs and related components. The jobs are exacting and often require a deft touch. That’s because many of the maintenance tasks must be performed by hand. The Associated Press was granted rare access to nuclear missile bases and weapons production facilities to see how technicians keep the arsenal working while starting the government’s biggest nuclear overhaul since the Cold War. This is how they do it and who they are:SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLLBecause the U.S. no longer conducts explosive nuclear tests, scientists are not exactly sure how aging warhead plutonium cores affect detonation...

Inside the delicate art of maintaining America’s aging nuclear weapons

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

KANSAS CITY NATIONAL SECURITY CAMPUS, Mo. (AP) — In an ultra-sterile room at a secure factory in Kansas City, U.S. government technicians refurbish the nation’s nuclear warheads. The job is exacting: Each warhead has thousands of springs, gears and copper contacts that must work in conjunction to set off a nuclear explosion.Eight hundred miles away in New Mexico, workers in a steel-walled vault have an equally delicate task. Wearing radiation monitors, safety goggles and seven layers of gloves, they practice shaping new warhead plutonium cores — by hand. And at nuclear weapons bases across the country, troops as young as 17 keep 50-year-old warheads working until replacements are ready. A hairline scratch on a warhead’s polished black cone could send the bomb off course. The Associated Press was granted rare access to key parts of the highly classified nuclear supply chain and got to watch technicians and engineers tackle the difficult job of maintaining an aging nuclear arsen...

Japan records a trade deficit in August as exports to China, rest of Asia weaken

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:26:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s exports fell 0.8% last month from a year earlier, with steep declines in shipments to China and the rest of Asia, its largest regional market. Imports sank nearly 18%, the Japanese Finance Ministry said in preliminary data released Wednesday. That left a trade deficit of 930.5 billion yen ($6.3 billion) in August, for the second straight month of red ink, it said. Exports to Asian markets fell 8.8%, while imports dropped about 13%. A large share of that was an 11% drop in the value of shipments to China, whose economy has slowed in recent months as a hoped-for rebound from disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic fizzled. “We think the weak recovery in China will continue to have a negative impact on exports for a while, but semiconductors seem like they are bottoming out from the down cycle,” Robert Carnell, regional head of research Asia-Pacific at ING, said in a report.He said the strong contribution to economic growth in the April-July quarter was expected to we...