Miami, FL

Miami Marlins to hire Rachel Balkovec as new director of player development

Published

2 years ago

January 9, 2024

Miami Marlins to hire Rachel Balkovec as new director of player development

The Miami Marlins are hiring Rachel Balkovec to become their new director of player development, according to multiple reports.

The newest member of the Marlins’ front office is no stranger to blazing new trails for women in a male-dominated industry.

After graduating from LSU with a master’s degree in kinesiology, Balkovec took a temporary job as the strength and conditioning coordinator for the Johnson City Cardinals – the St. Louis Cardinals’ Rookie league affiliate. Two years later, that role became full-time, and she was the first woman in baseball to hold the position.

In 2019, the New York Yankees hired Balkovec as a Minor League hitting coach after she had spent time working for Driveline Baseball on a fellowship. She became the first woman in baseball to hold a hitting coach position.

Balkovec most recently served as the manager for the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees’ Class A affiliate in Minor League Baseball. When she took that job in 2022, she was the first woman to be a full-time manager for a Major League-affiliated team.

Balkovec coached the Tarpons to a 64-62 record as their manager from 2022-23.

MLB rumors: Latest on Imanaga, Hernandez, Snell, plus more free agent and trade updates

Marlins minor league system

The former Yankees staffer will have her work cut out for her in taking over Miami’s player development program.

MLB Pipeline ranked the Marlins’ farm system at 24 out of 30 teams in August. Fangraphs is similarly low on the Marlins’ minor league prospects, ranking them 26th.

In the last five years, Miami has had just two All-Stars come up through its minor league system: J.T. Realmuto (2018 All-Star) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2022). Only Chisholm is still with the team.

After making the playoffs, Miami will pick 16th in the 2024 MLB Draft, which takes place in July.

Hot Stove: 10 predictions for the rest of the 2024 MLB offseason | Nightengale’s Notebook

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Miami, FL

Russian air attack on Ukraine kills three and sparks sweeping outages

Published

6 hours ago

December 23, 2025

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Russian air attack on Ukraine kills three and sparks sweeping outages

Item 1 of 5 A resident stands in an apartment building damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 23, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

[1/5]A resident stands in an apartment building damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 23, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

KYIV, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least three Ukrainians including a child on Tuesday, triggering widespread emergency power cuts and prompting neighbouring Poland to scramble jets.

The attacks, days after another round of U.S.-led talks to end the nearly four-year-old war, hit energy facilities in western regions the hardest, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

Poland, a NATO member bordering western Ukraine, said Polish and allied aircraft were deployed to protect Polish airspace after Russian strikes targeted areas near the border.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had targeted at least 13 regions as Ukrainians prepared to celebrate Christmas with their families in an attack that showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was not serious about peace talks.

“Putin still cannot accept that he must stop killing,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “And that means that the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia. Now is the time to respond.”

YOUNG CHILD KILLED

A four-year-old child was killed in the central Zhytomyr region, another person in Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine and a third person outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where local officials said at least five were also wounded.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had attacked Ukrainian energy and military facilities and captured two villages along the front line in Ukraine. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv, which often disputes Russian reports of territorial gains.

Moscow has stepped up strikes on Ukrainian energy and logistics to boost pressure on Kyiv as it seeks to alter the terms of a U.S.-backed peace deal. Ukraine has targeted Russian energy exports.

A Ukrainian overnight drone attack sparked a fire at an industrial facility in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, the region’s governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, said. Authorities also reported a fire at the fuel oil supply pipeline at the port of Taman in Krasnodar region, saying it had been put out.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 635 drones and 38 missiles, most of which had been downed.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said all regions were experiencing emergency power outages, adding that nearly all consumers in the western Rivne, Ternopil and Khmelnytskyi regions were without power early on Tuesday.

Critical and energy infrastructure was damaged in the northern Chernihiv, western Lviv and southern Odesa regions, local authorities said. Private energy firm DTEK said one of its thermal power plants had suffered damage.

Weekend peace talks in Miami brought together U.S. officials with Ukrainian and European delegations, alongside separate contacts with Russian representatives, as Washington tested the scope for a settlement.

Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede its eastern Donbas region and significantly restrict its military capabilities before it stops fighting, terms which Zelenskiy has rejected.

Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Dan Peleschuk; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Michael Perry, Philippa Fletcher

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Body camera footage shows fatal police shooting in Miami

Published

18 hours ago

December 22, 2025

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Body camera footage shows fatal police shooting in Miami

Published: December 22, 2025 at 5:25 PM

Authorities release body camera footage from fatal Miami police shooting

MIAMI — Newly released body camera footage from a 2024 deadly police shooting shows the moment officers pulled the trigger.

It happened on June 25 of last year in a home off Northeast 25th Street in Miami.

According to Miami police, a man called 911 to report his roommate, a woman identified as Mariel Rivera Samuel, was charging him with a kitchen knife.

The man says the two don’t know one another but were renting rooms through AirBnb at the home.

When officers spoke to Samuel, she said her roommate tampered with her drink, implying that he urinated in her apple juice, according to the footage.

Officers said they were going to take Samuel to a mental health facility for a Baker Act, but she came at them with a knife.

A State Attorney’s Office close out memo said, “Rivera-Samuel came within inches of stabbing or cutting Officer Burgos.”

Police say it was then they were forced to fire.

“According to that close out memo, the State Attorney’s Office determined the shooting was legally justified,” said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales.

The SAO said the case is officially closed.

Bridgette Matter

Bridgette Matter joined the Local 10 News team as a reporter in July 2021. Before moving to South Florida, she began her career in South Bend, Indiana and spent six years in Jacksonville as a reporter and weekend anchor.

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Bengals Dismantle Dolphins 45-21 | POSTGAME RECAP, NOTES & QUOTES

Published

2 days ago

December 21, 2025

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Bengals Dismantle Dolphins 45-21 | POSTGAME RECAP, NOTES & QUOTES

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Bengals’ defense shut down the Dolphins’ vaunted running game and then set it sights on rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers with four straight turnovers (one a fourth-and-one stop) to begin the second half in Sunday’s 45-21 victory over Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.

Quarterback Joe Burrow’s offense turned the four turnovers into four touchdowns, three of them for running back Chase Brown in a stunning third quarter that included the first career interceptions for rookie linebacker Barrett Carter and fifth-year cornerback Jalen Davis.

In leading the Bengals to their most points in a dozen years, Burrow sifted his second-best passer rating of his career at 146.5 on four touchdowns and 309 yards generated by 25 of 32 passing. And that was with 11:22 to go in the game, when he was relieved by Joe Flacco.

The turning point came on the first drive of the second half when Dolphins running back De’Von Achane’s 31-yard screen pass on third-and four was negated by an offensive pass interference call. On the next play, Bengals safety Jordan Battle put his helmet on the ball after tight end Greg Dulicich caught a 10-yarder. The ball popped out and defensive end Myles Murphy recovered at the Dolphins’ 34-yard line.

The offense delivered in six plays, capped by a Burrow flip to Chase Brown for a nine-yard touchdown pass that made it 24-14 less than six minutes into the half.

Brown caught it at the five-yard line and spun inside to leave Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks, the NFL’s leading tackler, in the lurch on his way to scoring both through the air and ground in the same game for the third time this season.

The Bengals took a 17-14 lead late in the first half when Burrow engineered a one-minute touchdown drive, keeping it alive on third-and-10 from the Miami 38 when he escaped Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler and then flung it short across his body to tight end Drew Sample for a 27-yard gain.

Halfback Samaje Perine hammered home a four-yard touchdown run with 1:24 left in the half, and the Bengals’ defense snuffed out any hope of Miami doubling up when they received the second-half kickoff.

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