The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 5-3 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series on Monday night.
The Phillies’ Bryce Harper crushed a 420-foot home run in the first inning, lined an RBI single in the third inning, walked and scored in the fifth inning, while Nick Castellanos hit a second-inning home run – his fifth home run over three postseason games, tying Reggie Jackson’s moment from the 1977 World Series, when he homered once in Game 4, once in Game 5 and three times in the Game 6 clincher for the New York Yankees.
Game 2 will take place Tuesday night at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park for Game 2; the Diamondbacks’ Merrill Kelly will facing the Phillies’ Aaron Nola.
A 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy was killed in his Illinois home by his landlord, who has been charged with murder and hate crimes after allegedly stabbing the boy to death because he was Muslim. The boy’s mother was also critically wounded the anti-Muslim hate crime, with police calling it a “senseless and cowardly act of violence.” The brutal killing comes amid heightened tensions in the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East and at a time when Muslim and Arab communities in the U.S. are warning against hate toward their people stateside.
The boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was stabbed 26 times at his Plainfield home by Joseph Czuba, 71, Saturday, investigators said. He died at the hospital. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, was stabbed more than a dozen times; she is at a hospital and is expected to survive. When officers arrived at the scene, about 40 miles (64km) south-west of Chicago, they found Czuba sat on the ground outside the property with a cut to his face. He was taken to hospital for treatment before being questioned by detectives, and later charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes and aggravated battery. The Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release: “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
A funeral service and burial was held on Monday afternoon at the Mosque Foundation in the town of Bridgeview, Illinois which is sometimes referred to as “Little Palestine” because of its large Palestinian-American population. At the end of the funeral, a small white casket, which at one point was covered in the Palestinian flag, was carried away.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois, based in Chicago, said that the office had opened a federal hate crime investigation into the stabbings to determine whether the suspect violated federal law. The Department of Justice warned the incident may “further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence.”
In statements on Monday, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas condemned the attack. President Joe Biden said: “This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are. The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.”nVice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she and her husband “grieve with the family of Wadea Al-Fayoume. We unequivocally condemn hate and Islamophobia and stand with the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim American communities. The Biden-Harris Administration will continue working to protect our communities against hate and senseless violence.” Mr. Mayorkas said: “There is no humane world that can and should tolerate the murder of an innocent child because of his identity. The tragic events in the Middle East…have brought ideologies of hate to the fore across the world – notably antisemitism and Islamophobia. This must end.”
Thousands of Americans boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Monday in an attempt to aid in the evacuation of Israel, would take then take them to neighboring Cyprus. In Cyprus, American evacuees will be able to board commercial flights to take them the rest of the way home. The race to evacuate comes after Israeli military said they are preparing for an all-out ground assault on Gaza in retaliation for last week’s deadly attacks by Hamas that killed at least 1,400 people, including at least 29 Americans.
The US Embassy in Israel announced the evacuation plan, offering the 2,500 Americans and their immediate family members in Israel the opportunity to leave by sea. The cruise ship line Royal Caribbean offered aid in helping with evacuation efforts, after commercial airlines mostly stopped flying into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport.
Amid the escalating hostilities in the region, thousands of Americans, including infants and young children, headed to the port city of Haifa hoping to board the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas. The passage from Haifa to Limassol Port in Cyprus was expected to take between 10 and 12 hours, with food and internet service available to passengers on board. According to embassy officials, boarding got underway at 8 a.m. local time and was available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The State Department also said that in addition to the ship, chartered flights from Israel will be available for American citizens through Tuesday.
Miami Marlins chairman and principal owner Bruce Sherman announced Monday that general manager Kim Ng is leaving after three seasons as general manager. The 54-year-old Ng became the majors’ highest-ranking woman in baseball operations and the first female GM in the four major North American professional sports leagues in a groundbreaking hire in November 2020.
Ng just completed the final guaranteed year in her contract, with the Marlins exercising their team option for her to return for the 2024 season, but Ng declined her mutual option. Sherman said in a statement: “We thank Kim for her contributions during her time with our organization and wish her and her family well. We will immediately begin a thorough and extensive search for new leadership as we plan to continue to invest in the Marlins organization both on and off the field. We are committed to our fans and the South Florida community and look to build off the momentum of the great progress of this year.”
On Monday, Ng told The Athletic about her decision to leave the Marlins: “Last week, Bruce and I discussed his plan to reshape the Baseball Operations department. In our discussions, it became apparent that we were not completely aligned on what that should look like. I felt it best to step away. I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Marlins family and its fans for my time in South Florida. This year was a great step forward for the organization.”
Ng brought in Marlins coach Skip Schumaker ahead of the 2023 season, who went on to lead Miami to an 84-78 record and its first postseason berth since 2020. Before then, the last season in which the Marlins made the playoffs was in 2003, when they won the World Series.
The annual “Country Jam Colorado” will take place in Grand Forks, CO on June 20-22, 2024; and has confirmed its 2024 lineup will feature artists including Parker McCollum, Jelly Roll, Thomas Rhett, Flatland Cavalry, Koe Wetzel, Lee Brice and more.
The festival posted: “What y’all have been waiting for… your 2024 CJCO lineup is here and HOT! Alumni presale begins October 16th at 8am and general on-sale begins October 20th at 8am MT. Let us know who y’all are most excited to see in the comments ↓”
“Country Jam” is the first and longest-running festival in Colorado. Gil Cunningham, President and CEO of Neste Live!, a joint venture of event promoters Live Nation, said in a statement: “We always want to deliver the best possible overall experience and caliber of talent we can for the fans whether it’s a first-time festival or a thirty-plus year old festival like Colorado. We have added premium options this year to Colorado in addition to the offerings fans have come to expect. There’s quite literally something for everyone.”
Tickets and camping will go on sale to the public Friday, October 20, with VIP tickets also available to purchase on October 20. VIP tickets include access to the festival VIP seating area and VIP Hospitality with amenities such as complimentary food and beverages during a festival happy hour, a private restroom, pop-up samplings as well as a private bar throughout the weekend.
Maddie & Tae will release We Need Christmas (Extended Version) on October 27, featuring three additional Christmas classics – “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” “The Christmas Song” and “White Christmas” – on the nine-song project, which features holiday favorites and original songs. The country duo said in a statement: “We had so much fun making and releasing We Need Christmas, we decided to extend it! We hope y’all feel the joy and spirit.”
Maddie & Tae also recently released their new single, “Heart They Didn’t Break,” which is available for streaming: here.
To pre-order/pre-save We Need Christmas (Extended Version), head here.
For more information on Maddie and Tae, visit www.maddieandtae.com.
Creed frontman Scott Stapp has shared his brand new single “What I Deserve” featuring Yiannis Papadopoulos, off his new solo album “Higher Power,” set for release on March 15th, 2024. Higher Power also features vocalist Dorothy on the song “If These Walls Could Talk”.
Higher Power is the follow-up to Stapp’s 2019’s The Space Between the Shadows. Stapp said in a statement: “We all want back what we give. ‘What I Deserve’ is about two people understanding who they are individually and coming to a place where they can express exactly what they each want, need, and deserve. The duality in the song is that both sides are expressing the same thing and coming to an understanding of the faults of the other. This song pleads both guilty and innocent with Yiannis’ guitar solo being the voice that articulates a chaotic search for deliverance and the epic release of passionate closure.”
Of the album, Stapp said: “Higher Power was born out of never ending consequences with triggered, yet naive defiance. It’s the realities and realizations of being human in this experiment we call life – holding onto hope in the dark waiting for the light.”
Take a listen to “What I Deserve” – here. Higher Power can be pre-ordered: here.
Lamb of God have shared their new song “Evidence” on digital streaming platforms, releasing the track to celebrate the the first anniversary of the band’s latest album, Omens. “Evidence” was previously available only as a bonus track on the Japanese CD release of the album.
Lamb of God also commemorated the anniversary of Omens with the release of their documentary Making Of: Omens, which details the creation of the album. You can see the documentary via the band’s YouTube channel.
Lamb of God is gearing up to set sail on their headlining Headbangers Boat cruise, which departs from Miami on October 31st, making stops in the Bahamas, and returns to port on November 4th. The sold-out festival on the sea also features Mastodon, GWAR, and more.
Take a listen to Lamb of God’s “Evidence” in the lyric video – here.
Simon & Schuster Audio said that Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams will narrate the audiobook of Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me, set for release Oct. 24.
Spears will read an introduction on the audiobook, which will be released simultaneously with the book. Spears said in a news release: “This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it. Reliving everything has been exciting, heart-wrenching, and emotional, to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audiobook. I am so grateful to the amazing Michelle Williams for reading the rest of it.” Williams expressed her support for Spears in a statement, saying: “I stand with Britney.”
A synopsis via Simon & Schuster calls the book “a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith and hope. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’ groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love — and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.”
The audiobook will be published simultaneously with the other editions of The Woman in Me, available for preorder- here.
Simon & Schuster Audio said that Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams will narrate the audiobook of Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me, set for release Oct. 24.
Spears will read an introduction on the audiobook, which will be released simultaneously with the book. Spears said in a news release: “This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it. Reliving everything has been exciting, heart-wrenching, and emotional, to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audiobook. I am so grateful to the amazing Michelle Williams for reading the rest of it.” Williams expressed her support for Spears in a statement, saying: “I stand with Britney.”
A synopsis via Simon & Schuster calls the book “a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith and hope. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’ groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love — and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.”
The audiobook will be published simultaneously with the other editions of The Woman in Me, available for preorder- here.
Editorial credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com
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Alumni presale begins October 16th at 8am and general on-sale begins October 20th at 8am MT.
