Canada’s Hadwin enters RSM Classic to try new swing before end of PGA Tour season

WASHINGTON – U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has picked a former Michigan congressman as his upcoming administration’s ambassador to Canada.

Trump said in a statement that Pete Hoekstra would help him “once again put America first.”

Hoekstra thanked Trump on social media platform X, saying he was honoured for the opportunity.

He must still be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Hoekstra served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump’s first term as president.

The current U.S. envoy to Canada, David Cohen, has held the post since 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A former University of Virginia student pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally shooting three football players and wounding two other students on the campus in 2022.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and five counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. A four-day sentencing hearing is scheduled to open Feb. 4 in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors read a summary in court Wednesday of what they allege happened the day of the shooting, including chilling details not publicly released before.

While riding on the bus in the hours before the shooting, Jones texted an adult mentor he had known for several years and stated, “tonight I’m either going to hell or jail. I’m sorry,” according to the summary. The Associated Press obtained a draft copy of the summary.

Jones had been scheduled to stand trial in January on charges including aggravated murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole in Virginia. The first-degree murder charges he pleaded guilty to in a plea agreement with prosecutors carry a sentence of 20 years to life.

Authorities said Jones opened fire aboard a charter bus as he and other students arrived back on campus after seeing a play and having dinner together in Washington, D.C. The shooting erupted near a parking garage and prompted a 12-hour lockdown of the Charlottesville campus until the suspect was captured. Many at the school of some 23,000 students huddled inside closets and darkened dorm rooms, while others barricaded the doors of the university’s stately academic buildings.

The university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 also endured the violent “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, which drew hundreds of white nationalists protesting the planned removal of a Confederate statue. A car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring several others.

Authorities had not released a motive in the shooting by Jones, a former member of the university’s football team. Football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed, while a fourth team member, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan, were wounded.

Jones’ time on the team did not overlap with the players he shot, according to the draft copy of the prosecutors’ summary. And there was no indication Jones and the players knew each other or interacted until briefly before the shooting.

A witness previously told police that Jones had targeted specific victims.

The summary read by prosecutors said one student told authorities that on the bus ride back to campus, he heard Jones quietly talking to himself, saying, among other things, “I’m sorry if I offended you. I didn’t mean to offend you,” “I’ve been through so much in my life,” and “I don’t have any weapons,”

Jones turned irritable after the football players arrived at the start of the trip, prosecutors said. Jones also sat alone at the play and on the ride home.

A woman who had previously rejected Jones romantically had swapped phone numbers with Chandler, one of the men who was later killed, according to prosecutors.

Jones told his adult mentor via text before the shooting to, “Just tell my story. I was a good guy I never meant or initiated any harm to anyone,” prosecutors also stated.

In his final message, Jones typed, “they not getting off this bus.”

Jones also texted several family members, including his mother, to say he loved them, according to prosecutors. He also told his younger brother that something might happen, adding a siren emoji.

During the rampage, Jones “methodically checked each seat until he reached the back of the bus” to shoot some of his victims, the summary said.

The university’s president, Jim Ryan, said Jones’ guilty plea represents “another step in a lengthy and painful journey for the families of the victims and for our community.”

“We continue to grieve the loss of three beloved members of our community and the injuries suffered by others on the bus,” Ryan’s statement added.

Within days of the shooting, university leaders asked for an outside review to investigate the school’s safety policies and procedures, its response to the violence and its prior efforts to assess the potential threat of the student charged. School officials acknowledged Jones previously was on the radar of the university’s threat-assessment team.

In June, Kimberly Wald, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families, announced that the university agreed to pay $9 million in a settlement. Wald said the university should have removed Jones from campus before the attack because he displayed multiple red flags through erratic and unstable behavior.

Attorney Michael Haggard, who represented the families of three of the five shooting victims in the civil case, said they were initially opposed to a plea agreement because they wanted Jones to face trial and receive the maximum punishment possible under the aggravated murder charges, which is life without the possibility of parole.

“It was difficult for them. They would have wanted more, but they are anxiously awaiting this sentencing. They want life in prison,” Haggard said.

Haggard said the families are eager for the release of the report on the independent investigation, adding, “They wanted a trial to learn more about what the heck happened.”

University officials said they had postponed the report’s release last year over concerns it could affect Jones’ trial. The school leadership said in a statement Wednesday that they plan its release once sentencing is final in February.

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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.

Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal each won their first Cy Young Award on Wednesday night after the left-handers shared the MLB lead with 18 wins while leading their respective leagues in strikeouts and ERA.

Sale went 18-3 and topped the National League with 225 strikeouts, while his 2.38 ERA in 29 starts was the best among all major league qualifiers in his first season with the Braves. The 35-year-old was an All-Star for the eighth time and won his first Gold Glove this year.

“It means a lot. It’s a special night,” said Sale, derailed by a string of injuries the past several seasons. “I just can’t express how thankful I am for everybody that stuck by me. It would have been easy to jump ship and write me off.”

Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and a big league-best 228 strikeouts in 31 starts for the Tigers. He was a unanimous winner in voting for the American League prize by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America that was completed before the playoffs.

“All the hard work, all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, moments like this make it extremely worth it,” Skubal said, also in an interview on MLB Network.

Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes in the NL. Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler got the other four and finished second. Hard-throwing Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes was third only two days after being selected the NL Rookie of the Year.

Kansas City starter Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) was runner-up to Skubal, and Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (47 saves) came in third.

Clayton Kershaw had been the NL’s last pitching triple crown winner in 2011, which was also the previous time both leagues had a pitcher accomplish the feat. Kershaw won the first of his three Cy Young Awards with the Los Angeles Dodgers that year, and 24-game winner Justin Verlander took the AL honor for Detroit.

With Sale and Skubal this season, there have been 25 times when a pitcher led his league in wins, strikeouts and ERA among qualifiers. A Cy Young Award followed every time.

“Chris Sale’s a guy that when I was going to college and in high school, you idolize left-handed pitchers, and kind of how he competes and goes about his business, it’s pretty special to watch,” Skubal said. “I met him at the All-Star Game and that was really, really cool, so to be able to share this moment with him is really special and something that I’ll cherish the rest of my life.”

Beset by injuries since helping Boston win the 2018 World Series, Sale didn’t have any major issues in his Braves debut until he was scratched because of back spasms from their final regular-season game, which they needed to win to make the playoffs. He was then left off the roster for their Wild Card Series loss to San Diego.

Atlanta acquired Sale in a trade last December after he made only 31 starts for the Red Sox from 2021-23. He missed the 2020 season and most of 2021 after Tommy John surgery. He made only two starts in 2022 after he fractured a rib and then broke his left pinkie. He broke his right wrist riding a bicycle in August 2023, ending his final season with Boston.

Sale was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year last week at Major League Baseball’s All-MLB Awards Show.

“Talk about motivation, right? To be able to show my sons hard work, dedication and not giving up. My wife had my back the whole time. I’m sure I was a real peach at times during some of those injuries,” he said. “And just with my parents, my family, I was talking to my dad the other day about this and whether it did or didn’t happen, he was proud of me.”

This was the third time Sale finished among the top three in Cy Young Award voting. He was the AL runner-up in 2017 after his first season with Boston behind Corey Kluber, who was also the Cy Young Award winner in 2014 when Sale finished third while with the Chicago White Sox.

Sale won the eighth Cy Young Award for the Braves organization. Most of those came in the 1990s, when Greg Maddux won three in a row with Atlanta from 1993-95 — after being the 1992 winner with the Chicago Cubs. Tom Glavine won twice (1991 and 1998), and John Smoltz was the 1996 winner. Warren Spahn was the first in 1957 when the Braves played in Milwaukee.

Detroit now has six Cy Young Awards. Denny McLain won back-to-back in 1968 and 1969, and reliever Willie Hernández was the 1984 winner. Verlander’s Cy Young Award with the Tigers came two years before Max Scherzer win in 2013.

Skubal made his big league debut in 2020, two years after the Tigers drafted him in the ninth round.

In an unforgettable 2024 regular season filled with dominant performances, Skubal pitched at least six innings in 25 of his 31 starts. He was 6-0 in his first nine starts, and also finished the season the same way — 6-0 in his last nine starts while the Tigers made their surprising push to the playoffs.

He made his playoff debut with 17 consecutive scoreless innings before a five-run fifth that including a grand slam by Cleveland’s Lane Thomas in the deciding Game 5 of their AL Division Series. That 7-3 loss ended the Tigers’ season.

“There’s only one happy team at the end of the year, but it was a ton of fun to be a part of,” Skubal said. “It’s the memories, and obviously the experience will help our club going forward. So it was really fun, and I’m glad that we got to experience that as a team, especially as a young team, too, so it’s only up from there.”

The 22-year-old Skenes is the fifth rookie to finish among the top three in Cy Young Award voting. Only Fernando Valenzuela won both awards in the same year, in 1981 with the Dodgers in the National League.

Clase, with a 0.61 ERA in 74 1/3 innings over 74 games, is the first reliever to finish among the top three in Cy Young voting in either league since Angels closer Francisco Rodríguez came in third for the AL award in 2008.

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This story makes a correction in the last paragraph to note that Trevor Hoffman was not the previous reliever to finish among the top three in Cy Young Award voting in either league. Francisco Rodríguez finished third in 2008 AL voting.

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