DETROIT (AP) A Michigan prisoner has persuaded a judge to throw out his burglary conviction, overcoming long odds by serving as his own lawyer in an appeal of a case that rested solely on his DNA being found on a soda bottle in a beauty shop.

Gregory Tucker, 65, argued that the DNA wasn't sufficient on its own to convict him in the 2016 break-in near Detroit, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings about evidence.

U.S. District Judge David Lawson agreed that the case against Tucker was thin.

Any inference that (Tucker) must have deposited his DNA on the bottle during the course of the burglary was pure speculation unsupported by any positive proof in the record, Lawson wrote in the Aug. 1 ruling.

Anne Yantus, a lawyer who spent 30 years at the State Appellate Defender Office and who isn't connected to the case, said what Tucker managed to do isn't easy.

I'm just impressed that this is a man who had enough confidence in himself and his legal skills to represent himself with a habeas claim, said Yantus, referring to habeas corpus, the Latin term for a last-ditch appeal that lands in federal court long after a conviction.

The petitioner tries to argue that a guilty verdict violated various protections spelled out in federal law. Success is extremely rare.

Tucker was accused of breaking into a beauty shop in Ferndale in 2016. Supplies worth $10,000 were stolen, along with a television, a computer and a wall clock.

Tucker was charged after his DNA was found on a Coke bottle at the crime scene. Authorities couldn't match other DNA on the bottle to anyone.

Speaking from prison, Tucker told The Associated Press that he was overwhelmed by Lawson's ruling. He said he has no idea why a bottle with his DNA ended up there.

A pop bottle has monetary value, Tucker said, referring to Michigan's 10-cent deposit law. You can leave a bottle on the east side and it can end up on the west side that same day.

His victory hasn't meant he's been freed. Tucker is still serving time for a different conviction and can't leave prison until the parole board wants to release him.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, aren't giving up. The Michigan attorney general's office said it plans to appeal the decision overturning Tucker's burglary conviction.

The post 4 dead, at least 9 injured in shooting at high school near Atlanta, authorities say appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

The two presidential nominees are using the week before their debate to sharpen their economic messages about who could do more for the middle class.

After a summer of historic tumult, the path to the presidency for both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this fall is becoming much clearer.

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 3, the 247th day of 2024. There are 119 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 3, 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive an automobile more than 300 miles-per-hour, speeding across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

Also on this date:

In 1861, during the Civil War, Confederate forces invaded the border state of Kentucky, which had declared its neutrality in the conflict.

In 1894, the United States celebrated the first federal Labor Day holiday.

In 1783, representatives of the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War and recognized U.S. sovereignty.

In 1939, Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany, two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland; in a radio address, Britain’s King George VI said, “With God’s help, we shall prevail.”

In 1943, Allied forces invaded Italy during World War II, the same day Italian officials signed a secret armistice with the Allies.

In 1976, America’s Viking 2 lander touched down on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the red planet’s surface.

In 1999, a French judge closed a two-year inquiry into the car crash that killed Princess Diana, dismissing all charges against nine photographers and a press motorcyclist, and concluding the accident was caused by an inebriated driver.

In 2019, Walmart said it would stop selling ammunition for handguns and short-barrel rifles, and the store chain requested that customers not openly carry firearms in its stores; the announcement followed a shooting at a Walmart store in Texas that left 22 people dead.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Singer-musician Al Jardine (The Beach Boys) is 81.
• Actor Valerie Perrine is 81.
• Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet is 71.
• Rock guitarist Steve Jones (The Sex Pistols) is 69.
• Actor Steve Schirripa (TV: “The Sopranos”) is 66.
• Author Malcolm Gladwell is 61.
• Actor Charlie Sheen is 59.
• Filmmaker Noah Baumbach is 55.
• Dance-rock musician Redfoo (LMFAO) is 49.
• Actor Garrett Hedlund is 40.
• Olympic gold medal snowboarder Shaun White is 38.
• Model-actor Kaia Gerber is 23.
• Actor Jack Dylan Grazer is 21.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joe Musgrove pitched six strong innings and Fernando Tatis Jr. went 0 for 4 in his first game back since June 21 as the San Diego Padres beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0 on Monday.

Luis Arraez had two RBI singles for the Padres, who edged ahead of Arizona and into the NL’s top wild card spot.

Tatis was activated from the 60-day injured list after being sidelined with a stress reaction in his right thighbone. The star right fielder received loud ovations during the pregame lineup announcements and when he ran out to his defensive position to start the game, gesturing to the fans along the way.

He grounded out twice, fouled out and struck out.

Tatis won both the NL Gold Glove Award and Platinum Glove Award in 2023, his first season playing right field.

Musgrove (5-4) was making his fifth start since a 2 1/2-month stay on the injured list with right elbow inflammation. He held the Tigers to three hits while striking out eight and walking two.

The first two batters in the fourth reached before Musgrove retired the side. He put two runners on with two outs in the sixth before striking out Colt Keith.

Robert Suarez pitched the ninth for his 31st save.

Tigers opener Tyler Holton went two innings before Brenan Hanifee (0-1) took over. Mason McCoy beat out an infield single with one out in the third and advanced on Hanifee’s throwing error, and then scored on Arraez’s single to right.

Arraez hit another RBI single in the eighth and Manny Machado added an RBI base hit.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: Manager Mike Shildt said RHP Yu Darvish (right elbow inflammation) and SS Ha-Seong Kim (right shoulder inflammation) are making progress, but the team hasn’t decided what the next steps are for them. … While Tatis was activated, OF Bryce Johnson was optioned to Triple-A El Paso and DFA’d José Azocar. … LF Jurickson Profar got his first day off since June 22.

UP NEXT

MLB wanted the Padres to take Monday off to break up a long stretch of games, but the team wanted to play on the holiday and take Tuesday off. Tigers RHP Keider Montero (4-6, 5.17 ERA) is scheduled to start Wednesday night, while the Padres haven’t named a starter.

— By BERNIE WILSON, Associated Press

By BRIAN SLODYSKO and DAN MERICA The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Italo Medelius was leading a volunteer drive to put Cornel West on North Carolina’s presidential ballot last spring when he received an unexpected call from a man named Paul who said he wanted to help.

Though Medelius, co-chairman of West’s “Justice for All Party,” welcomed the assistance, the offer would complicate his life, provoking threats and drawing him into a state election board investigation of the motivations, backgrounds and suspect tactics of his new allies.

His is not an isolated case.

Across the country, a network of Republican political operatives, lawyers and their allies is trying to shape November’s election in ways that favor former President Donald Trump. Their goal is to prop up third-party candidates such as West who offer liberal voters an alternative that could siphon away support from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.

It is not clear who is paying for the effort, but it could be impactful in states that were decided by miniscule margins in the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

This is money West’s campaign does not have, and he has encouraged the effort. Last month the academic told The Associated Press that “American politics is highly gangster-like activity” and he “just wanted to get on that ballot.”

Trump has offered praise for West, calling him “one of my favorite candidates.” Another is Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Trump favors both for the same reason. “I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100%.”

Democrats are exploring ways to lift Randall Terry, an anti-abortion presidential candidate for the Constitution Party, believing he could draw voters from Trump.

But the GOP effort appears to be more far-reaching. After years of Trump accusing Democrats of “rigging” elections, it is his allies who are now mounting a sprawling and at times deceptive campaign to tilt the vote in his favor.

“The fact that either of the two major parties would attempt financially and otherwise to support a third-party spoiler candidate as part of its effort to win is an unfortunate byproduct” of current election laws “that facilitate spoilers,” said Edward B. Foley, a law professor who leads Ohio State University’s election law program. “This phenomenon is equally problematic whichever of the two major party engages in it.”

One key figure in the push is Paul Hamrick, the man on the other end of the call with Medelius in North Carolina.

Hamrick serves as counsel for the Virginia-based nonprofit People Over Party, which has pushed to get West on the ballot in Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as North Carolina, records show.

In an interview, Hamrick declined to say who else besides him was orchestrating the effort and he would not divulge who was funding it. He vigorously disputed any suggestion that he was a Republican, but acknowledged that he was not a Democrat, either.

His history is complex.

Hamrick was chief of staff to former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a one-term Democrat who was booted from office in 2003 and later was convicted and sentenced to prison on federal bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud charges. Hamrick was charged alongside his former boss in two separate cases. One was dismissed and he was acquitted in the other.

Though he insists he is not a Republican, Hamrick voted in Alabama’s Republican primary in 2002, 2006 and 2010, according to state voting records maintained by the political data firm L2. He was tapped briefly in 2011 to work for the Alabama state Senate’s Republican majority. And since 2015, according to federal campaign finance disclosures, he has contributed only to GOP causes, including $2,500 to the Alabama Republican Party and $3,300 to Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican who has trafficked in conspiracy theories.

Hamrick denied that he voted in any Republican primaries, suggesting that the voting data was inaccurate.

For years, he was a consultant for Matrix LLC, an Alabama firm known for its hardball approach.

Matrix LLC was part of an effort in Florida to run “ghost candidates” against elected officials who had raised the ire of executives for Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest utility.

Daniella Levine Cava, the current mayor of Miami-Dade County, was a target. As a county commissioner, Levine Cava had fought with FPL. When she ran for reelection in 2018, Matrix covertly financed a third-party candidate they hoped would siphon enough votes to tip her seat to a Republican challenger, The Miami Herald reported in 2022.

Hamrick was deeply involved. A company he created paid the spoiler candidate a $60,000 salary and rented a $2,300-a-month home for him, according to the newspaper and business filings made in Alabama. Hamrick said the candidate worked for him to help recruit business. Hamrick denied having anything to do with the man’s campaign.

Either way, it did not work. Levine Cava was reelected before winning the mayor’s seat in 2020.

Now Hamrick is playing a prominent role to place West’s name on the ballot in competetive states. Hamrick surfaced in Arizona two weeks ago after a woman told the AP that a document was fraudulently submitted in her name to Arizona’s secretary of state in which she purportedly agreed to serve as an elector for West. She said her signature was forged and she never agreed to be an elector.

After the AP published her account, Hamrick said he spoke to the woman’s husband, trying to rectify the situation and “gave some information.” Hamrick declined to say what information was shared. He also tried to persuade another elector who backed out to recommit to West, according to interviews and voicemails.

The next day, with the deadline to qualify for the Arizona ballot just hours away, Brett Johnson, a prominent Republican lawyer, and Amanda Reeve, a former GOP state lawmaker, made house visits to each as they tried to persuade both to sign new paperwork to serve as West electors.

Johnson and Reeve work for Snell & Wilmer, which has done $257,000 worth of business for the Republican National Committee over the past two years, campaign finance disclosures show.

Hamrick declined to comment on the role of Johnson and Reeve. They did not respond to requests for comment.

West did not qualify for the Arizona ballot.

Other Republican-aligned law firms also have been involved in the national push, opposing Democrat-backed challenges to West’s placement on the ballot:

— In Georgia, Bryan Tyson, a partner at the Election Law Group, represented the state Republican Party as it tried to keep West on the ballot. The firm has collected $60,000 in payments from the RNC since April, campaign finance records show. Tyson did not respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger overruled an administrative law judge and placed West, Stein and Party for Socialism and Liberation nominee Claudia De la Cruz on the ballot. Tyson did not respond to a message seeking comment.

— In North Carolina, Phil Strach, a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association, successfully challenged in court a North Carolina State Board of Elections decision to bar West from the ballot. Strach did not respond to a message left for him.

— In Michigan, John Bursch, a senior lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group that helped overturn Roe v. Wade, successfully fended off a challenge to West’s placement on the ballot. Bursch’s firm, Bursch Law PLLC, was paid $25,000 by Trump’s campaign in November 2020 for “RECOUNT: LEGAL CONSULTING,” according to campaign finance disclosures. Bursch did not respond to a request for comment.

— In Pennsylvania, a lawyer with long-standing ties to Republican candidates and causes, unsuccessfully argued in August for West to stay on the ballot. The attorney, Matt Haverstick, declined to say in an interview who hired him or why. People Over Party, the group Hamrick is affiliated with, had tried to get West on the ballot.

None of these actions was funded by West’s campaign, though he and his “Justice for All” party have coordinated at times with Hamrick’s People Over Party, according to legal filings, a news release and social media posts.

In North Carolina, People Over Party, worked with Blitz Canvassing and Campaign & Petition Management — two firms that routinely work for the GOP — to gather signatures for West. Hamrick later responded in writing on behalf of workers for the two companies after the state election board opened its inquiry.

Jefferson Thomas, a longtime Republican operative from Colorado, submitted petition signatures that his firm, The Synapse Group, gathered on behalf of Stein in New Hampshire, records show. He did not respond to requests for comment.

In Wisconsin, Blair Group Consulting oversaw West’s petition signature drive to qualify for the ballot, as previously reported by USA Today. David Blair, the firm’s president, was a the national director of Youth for Trump during the 2016 campaign and was a spokesman in the Trump administration. Blair declined to comment.

Mark Jacoby, whose signature gathering firm Let the Voters Decide often works for Republicans, was involved in the failed Arizona push to get West on the ballot. The California operative has was convicted in 2009 of voter registration fraud, court records show. Jacoby did not respond to a message left at a phone number listed to him.

Medelius, the North Carolina co-chairman of West’s “Justice for All Party,” said the partisan battles over third-party candidates amounted to a “gang war.”

“If they want to use us for cannon fodder, there’s not much I can do about it,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Farnoush Amiri in Chicago and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

Today is Monday, Sept. 2, the 246th day of 2024. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 2, 2013, on her fifth attempt, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

Also on this date:

In 1666, the Great Fire of London began, which would destroy more than 13,000 homes and hundreds of additional structures, including St Paul’s Cathedral, over the ensuing three days.

In 1789, the United States Treasury Department was established.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces occupied Atlanta.

In 1935, a Category 5 hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys on Labor Day, claiming more than 400 lives.

In 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, which provided aid to public and private education to promote learning in such fields as math and science.

In 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

In 1969, in what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable.

In 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jetliner crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard.

In 2005, a National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina.

In 2018, a huge fire engulfed Brazil’s 200-year-old National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, as firefighters and museum workers raced to save historical relics.

In 2019, a fire swept a boat carrying recreational scuba divers that was anchored near an island off the Southern California coast; the captain and four other crew members were able to escape the flames, but 34 people who were trapped below died.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R-Wyo., is 93.
• Horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas is 89.
• Former United States Olympic Committee Chairman and former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth is 87.
• Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is 76.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Nate Archibald is 76.
• Actor Mark Harmon is 73.
• Tennis Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors is 72.
• Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson is 64.
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is 62.
• Actor Keanu Reeves is 60.
• Boxing Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis is 59.
• Actor Salma Hayek is 58.
• R&B singer K-Ci is 55.
• Electronic music DJ/producer Zedd is 35.

Scottie Scheffler has polished off the best year in golf in nearly two decades with the biggest prize.

He had a few nervous moments at the Tour Championship until running off three straight birdies around the turn at East Lake and pulling away from Collin Morikawa.

That made Scheffler the FedEx Cup champion with its $25 million bonus. Scheffler won seven times on the PGA Tour and an Olympic gold medal.

The eight victories are the most since Tiger Woods won eight times in 2006. The FedEx Cup bonus pushed his season earnings to just over $62.2 million.

Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene each hit a two-run homer, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on Sunday.

The Tigers (70-68) earned their second series win in the last 13 against Boston and won the season series for the first time since 2017. They trail the Red Sox (70-67) by a half-game for fourth in the AL wild-card race.

Brant Hurter (3-1) pitched five innings of one-run ball for the win. He entered with two on and one out in the second and got Wilyer Abreu to bounce into a double play.

Jason Foley, the fourth Tigers pitcher, got his 20th save with a perfect ninth.

Red Sox opener Cooper Criswell pitched four perfect innings, striking out five. But Rich Hill (0-1) and Zack Kelly faltered.

Jarren Duran's two-out RBI single lifted Boston to a 1-0 lead in the fifth, but the 44-year-old Hill issued a leadoff walk to Kerry Carpenter in the bottom half. Jace Jung struck out before Torkelson hit a drive to left for his eighth homer.

Greene made it 4-1 in the sixth, lining a two-run homer his 20th off Kelly that went just inside the right-field foul pole.

Boston's search for late-game offense led to Red Sox manager Alex Cora playing Conner Wong in left field for his first appearance in the outfield since college.

UP NEXT

The Red Sox return home for a three-game series with the New York Mets. Neither team had announced their pitching plans for the Labor Day opener.

Detroit flies across the country for a holiday afternoon game against the San Diego Padres. The game comes two days after the Tigers honored their 1984 championship team, which beat the Padres in the World Series in five games. The teams have Tuesday off before finishing the series on Wednesday and Thursday.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

DETROIT (AP) — Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene each hit a two-run homer, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on Sunday.

The Tigers (70-68) earned their second series win in the last 13 against Boston and won the season series for the first time since 2017. They trail the Red Sox (70-67) by a half-game for fourth in the AL wild-card race.

Brant Hurter (3-1) pitched five innings of one-run ball for the win. He entered with two on and one out in the second and got Wilyer Abreu to bounce into a double play.

Jason Foley, the fourth Tigers pitcher, got his 20th save with a perfect ninth.

Red Sox opener Cooper Criswell pitched four perfect innings, striking out five. But Rich Hill (0-1) and Zack Kelly faltered.

Jarren Duran’s two-out RBI single lifted Boston to a 1-0 lead in the fifth, but the 44-year-old Hill issued a leadoff walk to Kerry Carpenter in the bottom half. Jace Jung struck out before Torkelson hit a drive to left for his eighth homer.

Greene made it 4-1 in the sixth, lining a two-run homer — his 20th — off Kelly that went just inside the right-field foul pole.

Boston’s search for late-game offense led to Red Sox manager Alex Cora playing Conner Wong in left field for his first appearance in the outfield since college.

UP NEXT

The Red Sox return home for a three-game series with the New York Mets. Neither team had announced their pitching plans for the Labor Day opener.

Detroit flies across the country for a holiday afternoon game against the San Diego Padres. The game comes two days after the Tigers honored their 1984 championship team, which beat the Padres in the World Series in five games. The teams have Tuesday off before finishing the series on Wednesday and Thursday.

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press

 

 

Associated Press

NOVI (AP) — Two teenagers were shot, one fatally, just outside the Michigan State Fair in what police described late Saturday as an isolated incident.

Police in Novi, where the fair is held, said gunshots were reported just before 10 p.m. Saturday. The shooting took place in the fair’s parking lot and was initially described as an active shooter situation, prompting several law enforcement agencies to respond. Authorities later deemed it an isolated crime.

“There is no threat to the community,” Novi police said late Saturday in a statement on the social media platform X.

Michigan State Police troopers from two locations and their canine units were among the agencies to respond to the reported shooting.

“Troopers, deputies and officers from several local departments assisted Novi police with establishing a perimeter and cleared the convention center without locating the suspect,” the state police tweeted.

Both victims, 14-year-old teenage boys, had arrived at the fair with friends. Investigators said they believed the shooting stemmed from an argument in recent days.

The teens were taken to a local hospital where one 14-year-old was pronounced dead. The other was reported in stable condition, police said.

Police have not identified a suspect.

Novi is about 30 miles northwest of Detroit in southern Oakland County. The state fair ends Monday and it opened Sunday with shortened hours and required parental supervision of minors.

 

Tarik Skubal allowed one run in eight innings and struck out eight to become the fourth Detroit left-hander with 200 strikeouts in a season as the Tigers celebrated the franchise's 1984 World Series championship with a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Jack Morris threw the ceremonial first pitch to Lance Parrish, and Skubal (16-4) gave a performance that would have fit onto Morris' resume. He allowed Tyler ONeills first-inning homer, but Boston only hit three singles after that as Skubal made it through the eighth for the first time.

It was a little fitting that it was the 1984 night and that's the deepest I've pitched into a game, he said.

Skubal joined Hal Newhouser, Mickey Lolich and Matthew Boyd as the team's only left-handers to strike out 200 in a season. He now has 201, and could be a month away from something Morris never did winning a Cy Young.

Tarik is a special player, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. He's anchored this staff all season. He has gotten a lot of attention, but he keeps doing his work. I get to see all of it, not just the eight innings tonight or the routine seven innings, but the dominance, the strikeouts, the low hits, the low walks and the low ERA.

Tyler Holton pitched the ninth for his sixth save as the Tigers moved within 1 1/2 games of Boston for fourth in the American League wild-card race.

(Skubal) is amazing he should probably win the Cy Young, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. That means we need to come out tomorrow and win the series.

Boston's Nick Pivetta (5-10) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk in six innings.

After O'Neill's homer, the Tigers took the lead with two runs in the second.

Spencer Torkelson hit a one-out single and Zach McKinstry extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games with a double. Trey Sweeney hit a fly ball to left ball that Rob Refsnyder couldn't play against the wall, driving in two with a double.

Hinch credited his third base coach, Joey Cora, with the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

We've talked all year about being aggressive, Hinch said. There have been a few outs at home, but you have to take risks to make those plays. That's part of our identity.

Alex Cora said he wasnt surprised that Joey Cora his older brother made the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

They took a gamble with the runner at third that third base coach is very aggressive, Alex Cora said, never mentioning his brother by name. We knew that coming in, of course. Not every third base coach would send that runner, but he makes decisions based on catching people off guard.

The Tigers got a pair of singles in the seventh, but both Ryan Kreidler and Parker Meadows were picked off first. Meadows was caught by 44-year-old Rich Hill, the only player on either roster who was born when the Tigers last won the World Series.

Kreidler made up for his mistake in the eighth, retiring Triston Casas with a jump throw from foul territory behind third.

Skubal didn't even expect to be on the mound for the eighth.

It was a special night, with the 1984 team in the ballpark, and the crowd was incredible," Hinch said. They were giving him a standing ovation after the seventh, and I was trying to say No, no, youre going back out there for the eighth.'

UP NEXT

The teams finish the three-game series on Sunday with Detroit RHP Ty Madden (0-0, 1.80 ERA) making his second start against RHP Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.34).

__

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Boston starter's name to Nick Pivetta, instead of Nick Pavetta.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Today is Sunday, Sept. 1, the 245th day of 2024. There are 121 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 1, 1985, a U.S.-French expedition located the wreckage of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

Also on this date:

In 1715, following a reign of 72 years, King Louis XIV of France died four days before his 77th birthday; he was succeeded by his five year-old great-grandson, Louis XV.

In 1897, the first section of Boston’s new subway was opened, creating the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

In 1914, the passenger pigeon, once one of the most abundant bird species on earth, went extinct as the last known example, named Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

In 1923, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some 140,000 lives.

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, an event regarded as the start of World War II.

In 1964, pitcher Masanori Murakami of the San Francisco Giants became the first Japanese baseball player to play in a Major League Baseball game.

In 1969, a coup in Libya brought Moammar Gadhafi to power.

In 1972, American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, as Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned before the resumption of their 21st and final game.

In 1983, 269 people were killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace.

In 2004, Islamic terrorists took more than a thousand people hostage in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia; the siege would end three days later in gunfire and explosions, leaving 334 people dead — more than half of them children.

In 2015, invoking “God’s authority,” Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to gay couples again in direct defiance of the federal courts and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail. (Davis would spend five days in jail as a result, and is currently appealing a ruling ordering her to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in related legal fees.)

Today’s Birthdays:

• Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 86.
• Comedian-actor Lily Tomlin is 85.
• Singer Barry Gibb is 78.
• Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 74.
• Singer Gloria Estefan is 67.
• TV host-author Padma Lakshmi is 54.
• Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira is 53.
• Fashion designer Rachel Zoe is 53.
• Actor Scott Speedman is 49.
• Composer-producer Ludwig Göransson is 40.
• Actor-singer Zendaya is 28.

DETROIT (AP) — Tarik Skubal allowed one run in eight innings and struck out eight to become the fourth Detroit left-hander with 200 strikeouts in a season as the Tigers celebrated the franchise’s 1984 World Series championship with a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Jack Morris threw the ceremonial first pitch to Lance Parrish, and Skubal (16-4) gave a performance that would have fit onto Morris’ resume. He allowed Tyler O’Neill’s first-inning homer, but Boston only hit three singles after that as Skubal made it through the eighth for the first time.

“It was a little fitting that it was the 1984 night and that’s the deepest I’ve pitched into a game,” he said.

Skubal joined Hal Newhouser, Mickey Lolich and Matthew Boyd as the team’s only left-handers to strike out 200 in a season. He now has 201, and could be a month away from something Morris never did — winning a Cy Young.

“Tarik is a special player,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s anchored this staff all season. He has gotten a lot of attention, but he keeps doing his work. I get to see all of it, not just the eight innings tonight or the routine seven innings, but the dominance, the strikeouts, the low hits, the low walks and the low ERA.”

Tyler Holton pitched the ninth for his sixth save as the Tigers moved within 1 1/2 games of Boston for fourth in the American League wild-card race.

“(Skubal) is amazing — he should probably win the Cy Young,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “That means we need to come out tomorrow and win the series.”

Boston’s Nick Pivetta (5-10) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk in six innings.

After O’Neill’s homer, the Tigers took the lead with two runs in the second.

Spencer Torkelson hit a one-out single and Zach McKinstry extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games with a double. Trey Sweeney hit a fly ball to left ball that Rob Refsnyder couldn’t play against the wall, driving in two with a double.

Hinch credited his third base coach, Joey Cora, with the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

“We’ve talked all year about being aggressive,” Hinch said. “There have been a few outs at home, but you have to take risks to make those plays. That’s part of our identity.”

Alex Cora said he wasn’t surprised that Joey Cora — his older brother — made the decision to send McKinstry to the plate.

“They took a gamble with the runner at third — that third base coach is very aggressive,” Alex Cora said, never mentioning his brother by name. “We knew that coming in, of course. Not every third base coach would send that runner, but he makes decisions based on catching people off guard.”

The Tigers got a pair of singles in the seventh, but both Ryan Kreidler and Parker Meadows were picked off first. Meadows was caught by 44-year-old Rich Hill, the only player on either roster who was born when the Tigers last won the World Series.

Kreidler made up for his mistake in the eighth, retiring Triston Casas with a jump throw from foul territory behind third.

Skubal didn’t even expect to be on the mound for the eighth.

“It was a special night, with the 1984 team in the ballpark, and the crowd was incredible,” Hinch said. “They were giving him a standing ovation after the seventh, and I was trying to say ‘No, no, you’re going back out there for the eighth.’ ”

UP NEXT

The teams finish the three-game series on Sunday with Detroit RHP Ty Madden (0-0, 1.80 ERA) making his second start against RHP Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.34).

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press

With most states reliably red or blue, the path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency runs through seven states where the contest is expected to be narrowly decided.

Those are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All together, they are home to only 18.3% of the country’s population.

The Associated Press has been tracking the campaign appearances of the Democratic and Republican tickets since March.

Since then, Pennsylvania has been getting the most love from both campaigns, with a total of 21 visits, including one planned this coming weekend. Wisconsin and Michigan are close behind with 17 and 16, respectively.

Most states haven’t been visited at all, and a handful with clusters of wealth, such as California, get attention not for their voters but when the campaigns want to tap the wallets of the rich.

Today is Saturday, Aug. 31, the 244th day of 2024. There are 122 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed as the car she was riding in crashed on the Pont de l’Alma bridge in Paris; her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul (who was found to have been intoxicated at the time of the accident) also died.

Also on this date:

In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of up to 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people.

In 1962, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent of British colonial rule.

In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike.

In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents that had claimed the lives of Weaver’s wife, son and a deputy U.S. marshal.

In 1994, Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.

In 2006, Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” was recovered by Norwegian authorities after being stolen nine days earlier.

In 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed and telling those divided over the war in his country and around the world: “it’s time to turn the page.”

In 2019, a gunman carried out a shooting rampage that stretched ten miles between the Texas communities of Midland and Odessa, leaving seven people dead before police killed the gunman outside a movie theater in Odessa.

Today’s Birthdays:

• World Golf Hall of Famer Isao Aoki is 82.
• Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 79.
• Singer Van Morrison is 79.
• Rock musician Rudolf Schenker (The Scorpions) is 76.
• Actor Richard Gere is 75.
• Actor Stephen McKinley Henderson is 75.
• Attorney and author Marcia Clark is 71.
• Olympic gold medal hurdler Edwin Moses is 69.
• Rock singer Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze) is 67.
• Rock musician Gina Schock (The Go-Go’s) is 67.
• Singer-composer Deborah Gibson is 54.
• Queen Rania of Jordan is 54.
• Golfer Padraig (PAH’-drig) Harrington is 53.
• Actor Chris Tucker is 53.
• Actor Sara Ramirez is 49.
• Former NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is 41.
• NBA All-Star Jalen Brunson is 28.

PREP FOOTBALL

Allen Park Cabrini 51, Detroit Northwestern 0

Ann Arbor Skyline 19, Detroit University Prep 14

Atlanta 40, Rogers City 36

Battle Creek St Philip 46, Bangor 0

Beal City 22, Ravenna 15

Belleville 35, Clarkston 28

Bessemer 44, North Dickinson 26

Byron Center South Christian 42, Grand Rapids Christian 27

Cin. Elder, Ohio 20, Grand Rapids West Catholic 13

Detroit Cody 32, Detroit Community 20

Detroit Old Redford 18, Dearborn Advanced Tech 8

Dexter 27, Franklin 26, OT

Dryden 22, Kinde-North Huron 14

Ecorse 42, Hamtramck 6

Edwardsburg 48, Glenn, Ind. 8

Elk Rapids 7, Benzie Central 2

Flint Southwestern 22, Burton Bentley 14

Grand Haven 28, Stevensville Lakeshore 21

Grand Rapids Catholic Central 17, Lake Central, Ind. 10

Ida 48, Grosse Ile 6

Jackson 32, Monroe 27

Morrice 50, Breckenridge 28

Norway 48, Stephenson 0

Ontonagon 86, Carney-Nadeau 0

Otisville LakeVille 34, Burton Bendle 18

Petoskey 8, Greenville 6

Pickerington N., Ohio 53, Grandville 51

Portland St Patrick 67, Coleman 12

Prairie Heights, Ind. 24, Bronson 0

Roseville 35, Birmingham Brother Rice 0

Saranac 35, Cheboygan 13

Southfield A&T 46, Beecher 0

St Joseph 30, Niles 7

Standish-Sterling Central 33, Boyne City 14

Traverse City Central 22, Plymouth 14

Traverse City St Francis 67, Charlevoix 22

Waldron 48, Lakeside Danbury, Ohio 28

Westfield def. Detroit Leadership, forfeit

Ypsilanti Lincoln 10, Milan 7

Zeeland West 22, Muskegon 13

DETROIT (AP) — Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran homered in the 10th inning as the Boston Red Sox rebounded after squandering a four-run lead and beat the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Friday night.

The Tigers trailed 4-0 heading in the eighth inning, but rallied and forced extra innings by scoring three times in the eighth and once in the ninth.

But, Rafaela’s 14th homer off Shelby Miller (6-8) scored Nick Sogard and made it 6-4 with one out in the 10th. Duran, who doubled in his first two at-bats, hit Tyler Holton’s first pitch 431 feet into the right-field stands to make it a three-run game at 7-4.

Chris Martin pitched the 10th for Boston, allowing the automatic runner Riley Greene to score on a groundout before earning his second save.

Connor Wong doubled and homered for the Red Sox (70-65), who moved 2 1/2 games ahead of the Tigers (68-68) for fourth in the American League wild-card race.

Kerry Carpenter hit a three-run homer off Brennan Bernardino in the eighth inning to rally the Tigers and end Detroit’s 21-inning scoreless drought.

Zach McKinstry led off the ninth with a single off Kenley Jansen and stole second. Colt Keith struck out before Jake Rogers tied the game with a double to left.

Jansen (4-2) picked up the win.

Red Sox starter Tanner Houck allowed three hits and two walks while striking out six in six shutout innings

Tigers starter Casey Mize allowed four runs on six hits and a walk in six innings. He gave up four doubles and a homer in his first start since a hamstring strain on June 30.

Duran’s early doubles helped Boston to a 2-0 lead. He scored in the first and moved Romy Gonzalez to third in the third, where he scored on Wilyer Abreu’s sacrifice fly.

Houck hit Rogers and Greene in the third, but escaped the inning without harm.

The Red Sox moved out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Tyler O’Neill walked, stole second and scored on Wong’s double.

Detroit didn’t get a hit until McKinstry led off the fifth with a single, but he was thrown out trying to take third on Parker Meadows’ base hit to right.

Wong made it 4-0 with a homer in the sixth.

UP NEXT

The teams play the second game of the series on Saturday — the day the Tigers honor their 1984 World Series champions. Detroit ace LHP Tarik Skubal (15-4, 2.58 ERA) will face RHP Nick Pavetta (5-9, 4.61).

— By DAVE HOGG, Associated Press