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Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus hopes to add a senior defensive analyst to his staff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

The Chicago Bears plan to hire a senior defensive analyst in the near future, a move intended to help the coaching staff regroup after last month’s sudden resignation of defensive coordinator Alan Williams.Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Monday afternoon he has been in contact with several candidates for the new role, which will be primarily responsible for helping the Bears defense do advanced scouting on future opponents.“It would give us ideas and things for how to attack that upcoming opponent,” Eberflus said. “Just to get another set of eyes for advancing for us with that.”Eberflus wouldn’t say who the team has been in contact with and couldn’t offer a timetable for when the hire might be made. But he noted his close friend and mentor Rod Marinelli would not join the Bears. Marinelli was the Bears’ assistant head coach under Lovie Smith for four seasons from 2009-2012, also serving as defensive coordinator for the final thr...

Facing elimination, Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer to start Game 3 of ALDS on Tuesday vs. Rangers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

Dean Kremer started perhaps the two most important games of the Orioles’ regular season, and he delivered both times.He’ll likely need to again for Baltimore to stay alive.Manager Brandon Hyde on Monday named Kremer as Baltimore’s starting pitcher for Tuesday’s Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers. Hyde did not name a Game 4 starter, though it’s likely to be veteran Kyle Gibson should the Orioles win Game 3 at Globe Life Field.Baltimore dropped the first two games of the ALDS, as Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez weren’t their second-half selves in their postseason debuts. Bradish didn’t make it through five innings Saturday after a rough fourth inning, and Rodriguez was hammered for five runs in the second inning of his short start Sunday.Tuesday, it’ll be up to Kremer, who went 13-5 with a 4.12 ERA in the regular season, to help keep their season alive. He’ll pitch opposite Rangers r...

Trump says war in Israel would not have happened on his watch

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

WOLFEBORO, N.H. — It’s hard to say what precisely was eating at the former president, but a speech he delivered in New Hampshire on Columbus Day lacked some of the vigor typically evident in a Trump campaign address.Even while making the bold assertion that the war Israel finds itself in against Hamas would not have occurred had he been left in the White House for a second term, he seemed more circumspect than might be expected from the famously bombastic businessman.The voters were as engaged as at any Trump rally. Indeed, hundreds waited outside or in the hallways of the at-capacity Kingswood Arts Center while the 45th president declared to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 800 that it was the weaknesses of Biden administration policies that led to the deaths in Israel over the weekend.“Can you imagine what this guy has done to us? That would have never happened, the attack on Israel would have never, ever happened,” Trump said early in his hour-and-a-half-long address, his ...

Ted Schwinden, a two-term Montana governor, dies at age 98

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Ted Schwinden, a wheat farmer and Word War II veteran who gained national attention for keeping his home phone number listed during two terms as Montana’s governor, has died. He was 98.Schwinden died Saturday in Phoenix at his daughter’s home, son Dore Schwinden said Monday. The cause of death was “old age,” his son said: “He went to sleep in the afternoon and didn’t wake up.”Ted Schwinden was a Democrat who served as Montana’s 19th governor from 1981 and 1989. He and his wife, Jean, opened the governor’s mansion to the public for the first time and often welcomed the public tours in person.The governor periodically drew national attention because he answered his own, listed telephone. Radio talk shows throughout the nation would call him at home for impromptu interviews.“When Ted was on the phone, it was impossible to tell if he was talking to the governor of Oregon or a custodian at the Capitol. Every caller warranted his respect and full a...

Video of traffic stop that led to Atlanta deacon’s death will be released, family’s attorney says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Video showing a traffic stop that led to the death of a 62-year-old Black deacon could be publicly released as early as Thursday, a lawyer for the Atlanta man’s relatives said Monday after a meeting with prosecutors.Relatives of Johnny Hollman Sr., who died Aug. 10 after he was shocked with a stun gun by an Atlanta police officer, have seen the video and contend the officer should be charged with murder.Mawuli Davis, a lawyer for the Hollman family, said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told him and relatives that the video would be publicly released as soon as Willis concludes that all witnesses have been interviewed.“It’s not a question of if it will be released,” Davis told reporters outside the Fulton County courthouse after the meeting. “It’s now a question of when and how soon.”Jeff DiSantis, a spokesperson for Willis, did not dispute the release could come as early as Thursday. He said he couldn’t comment on how long it might be bef...

Dominican Republic to reopen its border to essential trade but not Haitians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic government said Monday it will temporarily allow trade of essential products, including food and medications, on its border with Haiti. But it said it will maintain a ban on the entry of Haitian citizens amid a dispute over the construction of a canal targeting a river that runs through both countries.The measure will come into force on Wednesday starting at 8:00 a.m. in four border provinces in an effort to facilitate the trade of products aimed especially at children, the government said in a statement.The announcement comes weeks after the Dominican Republic announced the closure of all land, air and sea borders with Haiti in a dispute about construction of a canal on Haitian soil that would divert waters from the Massacre River in order to alleviate a drought that affects the Haitian Maribaroux plain.This generated a diplomatic crisis between both countries that share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.The Dominican...

Las Vegas-area teachers union challenges law prohibiting members from striking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada’s largest teachers union filed suit Monday against a state law making it illegal for teachers and other public school employees to go on strike over pay and working conditions in the country’s fifth-largest school district, which includes Las Vegas.The Clark County Education Association argues in its lawsuit that the 1969 state law prohibiting public employee strikes is unconstitutional. They said it also infringes on the First Amendment rights of its approximately 18,000 members in nearly 380 schools in Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County who are waging a contentious monthslong contract battle. They also argue that the state’s definition of a strike is overbroad, sweeps away constitutional rights and gives way for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.The Clark County School District and the state of Nevada are both listed as defendants in the lawsuit.In emailed statements, the Clark County School District said it is evaluating the complaint, an...

Pumpkin weighing 2,749 pounds wins California contest, sets world record for biggest gourd

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A Minnesota horticulture teacher set a new world record in California on Monday for the heaviest pumpkin after growing a giant jack-o’-lantern gourd weighing 2,749 pounds (1,247 kilograms).Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, won the 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, with an enormous, lumpy, orange pumpkin that could produce at least 687 pies.“I was not expecting that. It was quite the feeling,” said Ginger, 43, who has been growing pumpkins for nearly 30 years and last year set a new U.S. record for growing a giant gourd. The previous world record for heaviest pumpkin was set by a grower in Italy who produced a 2,702-pound (1,226-kilogram) squash in 2021, according to Guinness World Records.Gienger grows his gourds in the pumpkin patch in his backyard. He said this year he decided to give his plants extra care, watering them up to 12 times a day and feeding and fertilizing them a bit more than usua...

Hollywood writers vote to approve contract deal that ended strike as actors negotiate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood writers have voted almost unanimously to approve the contract agreement reached by their union leaders that ended a strike after nearly five months, while actors remain in negotiations to find a way out of their own strike.The Writers Guild of America announced Monday that 99% of the 8,525 members who cast ballots voted to ratify the deal.The agreement was widely touted as a win by leaders, and widely praised by members, with major gains in payment, size of show staffs and control of artificial intelligence in scripts. The result of the vote taken over the past week was never really in doubt.“Together we were able to accomplish what many said was impossible only six months ago,” Meredith Stiehm, president of the WGA-East, said in a statement.Meanwhile, nearly three months after their strike began, leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American of Television and Radio Performers were back in contract negotiations with studios on Monday, a week after ta...

What to know as war between Israel and Hamas militants rages on for a third day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:11:35 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli government promised Monday to hunt down Hamas fighters and to punish the Gaza Strip following a surprise weekend attack killed more than 900 people in Israel, including at least 260 at a crowded music festival that became the scene of one of the country’s worst civilian massacres. A day after formally declaring war, Israel’s military worked to crush Hamas fighters who might remain in southern towns and intensified its bombardment of Gaza, where almost 500 people have died since Saturday’s unprecedented incursion. The militants blew through a fortified border fence and gunned down civilians and soldiers in Israeli communities along the Gaza frontier during a Jewish holiday. Israel struck back with airstrikes, including one that flattened a 14-story tower that held Hamas offices. Here are some key takeaways from the conflict:WHAT DOES THE WAR DECLARATION MEAN?The declaration gave the green light for Israel to take “significant military steps” a...