Blue

Brian Wolfe, a standout pitcher at Servite who played three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, has died at age 45, his wife shared Tuesday on Facebook.

“I’m am sorry to write this but after a really really difficult and torturous battle Brian Wolfe passed away early this morning,” Rachell Wolfe wrote.

No other details have been provided.

Wolfe was one of Orange County’s most dominant high school pitchers during the late 1990s. After going 8-0 with an ERA of 0.27 as a sophomore in 1997, he was the Friars’ ace the next two seasons.

Honored both years as a member of The Times’ All-Orange County team, Wolfe went 11-2 with a 1.37 ERA and a county-best 139 strikeouts as a junior and was 12-0 with a 1.30 ERA and nearly 100 strikeouts as a senior.

After committing to Cal State Fullerton in the fall of 1998, Wolfe opted to sign with the Minnesota Twins organization after being drafted in the sixth round (179th overall) the following summer. He spent the next several years working his way up through the minor leagues with the Twins, Milwaukee Brewers and Blue Jays before making his major league debut with Toronto as a relief pitcher in 2007.

Wolfe appeared in 72 games over three seasons with the Blue Jays, compiling a 5-5 record and a 3.81 ERA in 82.2 innings pitched. He became a free agent after the 2009 season and spent the next nine years playing in Japan with Nippon Professional Baseball, playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (including the 2013 season as teammates with Shohei Ohtani), Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (winning the Japan League title in 2014 and 2015) and Saitama Seibu Lions.

Former MLB outfielder Brandon Barnes posted a tribute to Wolfe on Wednesday, calling his fellow Orange County native “one of my best friends and a mentor.”

Sept. 2 (UPI) — Workers removed a 24-foot-tall blue sculpture by Joel Shapiro from the grounds at the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center on Wednesday amid President Donald Trump‘s efforts to overhaul the venue in Washington, D.C.

The abstract blue sculpture of a stick figure appearing to be mid-kick called Blue was installed outside the Kennedy Center in 2019. Shapiro, who died in 2025, said the artwork was a “celebration of possibility,” The Washington Post reported.

The National Park Service announced the temporary closure of the northbound lane of Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway between the Kennedy Center and the Potomac River to allow heavy machinery to remove the sculpture.

A representative at the Kennedy Center told The Hill the sculpture’s relocation will be determined by the Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation.

“We are deeply grateful to Joel Shapiro for the years Blue has spent animating our campus and connecting visitors to his vision,” the representative said. “We are honored to have been stewards of his vibrant work and park of his enduring legacy.”

The venue confirmed the work to remove the sculpture was done at the facility’s request but didn’t specify the reason. The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation declined to comment on the move.

The removal of the sculpture is one of several changes to take place at the Kennedy Center in the past year. The Board of Trustees voted in December to add Trump’s name to the building less than a year after the president dismissed the entire existing board and named new members, who in turn elected him chairman.

Since then Trump announced the building would be renamed to include his own name, which sparked a legal battle resulting in the courts ordering his name to be removed from the facade. Trump also planned to shutter the building for two years to carry out renovations.

KIMBERLEY Walsh gave a fans a look at her sunny family holiday – where she rocked several designer swimsuits.

The former Girls Aloud star soaked up the sun at a lush resort in Cadiz, Spain with her three sons and hubby Justin Scott.

They looked tanned and relaxed on their holiday where the lads tried their hand at golf, they ate lots of yummy food and Kimberley looked sensational.

One of her eye-catching bikinis included an electric blue triangle set which showed off her incredible figure.

Kimberley sipped on a frozen margarita while wearing the suit and relaxing on a sunlounger.

The singer shared a photo dump from her holiday which showed the happy family having a great time.

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“Sotogrande [resort] you were the perfect way to round off the summer! The resort is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we had the most gorgeous few days!” she captioned the post.

Last year, Kimberley had a mini-reunion with some of her Girls Aloud bandmates and paid a touching tribute to Sarah Harding who died from cancer in 2021.

She caught with Nicola Roberts and Cheryl to celebrate the opening night of musical Hadestown UK in London’s Lyric Theatre – where Nicola was one of the stars.

The evening also marked Cheryl’s return to the spotlight and it was more recently announced that she would become a judge on The Voice UK.

The former X Factor judge has not been on prime-time TV for six years, with filming for the new series of the ITV show beginning on September 11 in Manchester.

It would be her first prime-time TV role since she was a dance captain on BBC1 show The Greatest Dancer in 2020.

It would also be the first time Cheryl has been in the limelight since her ex, One Direction singer Liam Payne, died in October 2024 aged 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

The pair shared nine-year-old son, Bear.