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Column: After youth on special teams proved costly last year, the Chicago Bears hope that experience turns into a plus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

After upgrading the roster on both sides of the ball, the Chicago Bears hope to be in more close games in 2023, the kind in which a key play here or there on special teams can make the difference.The Bears lost by nine or more points seven times during last year’s 3-14 season. In four of the losses by eight or fewer points, a key special teams breakdown was part of the problem.The Bears had far bigger issues in 2022. The passing offense was abysmal, with blame to go all around, and was particularly ineffective in late-game situations. The Bears have added wide receivers DJ Moore and Tyler Scott and veteran tight end Robert Tonyan, overhauled the running back room and project to have two new starters on the offensive line.The run defense was miserable and the pass rush nonexistent. The Bears spent big on linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, and general manager Ryan Poles drafted three defensive tackles and two cornerbacks. Perhaps he will sign an edge rusher in the we...

Chicago Cubs get shut out again by the San Diego Padres, but Kyle Hendricks shows ‘vintage’ stuff in his 3rd start back

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

A long layoff and serious shoulder injury can create uncertainty in which version of a pitcher comes back, even with Kyle Hendricks’ pedigree.The Chicago Cubs’ inconsistencies over the last five weeks continued in a four-game series split against the San Diego Padres, getting shut out twice, including Monday’s 5-0 loss. Hendricks, though, pitched well in his third start back. He went six innings and allowed four runs with most of the damage coming in a three-run second when he lost his rhythm.“It looked like vintage Kyle to me,” manager David Ross said.Ross was forced to watch most of the game from the clubhouse after getting tossed one out into the second inning. He stormed out of the visitors dugout at Petco Park moments after his ejection when Hendricks fell behind 2-0 to Padres catcher Gary Sánchez.A fuming Ross directed his frustration about an inconsistent strike zone to plate umpire Phil Cuzzi, who handed him his second ejection of the seaso...

At least $900,000 stolen by employees of US-based aid group operating in Congo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — An American-based aid group said that at least $900,000 was stolen from it’s Congo programs by members of the organization who conspired with outsiders. GiveDirectly said that it learned that people on its Congo team worked with people outside the organization to defraud the cash transfer program, diverting aid from more than 1,700 impoverished families over six months, starting in August 2022.“This fraud was only possible because of a specific change we made in our payment process in order to work in this remote, insecure region of (Congo),” according to the statement from Monday. “We feel deep regret for not catching this sooner and take seriously the vulnerabilities it exposed,” it said.GiveDirectly said that an investigation is ongoing and that it was able to recover “a very small portion of the lost funds,” but the majority of the $900,000 will likely be “uncoverable.” But the group is working to ensure that families impacted by the fraud get their m...

Bernardo’s transfer to prison that treats sex offenders not unusual, professor says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

Notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison that specializes in treating violent rapists almost three decades after his conviction is not unusual says a Quebec criminology professor who studies sexual murderers.Bernardo, who has been serving a life sentence for kidnapping, torturing and killing 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont., was quietly transferred to La Macaza Institution, a medium-security prison about 190 kilometres northwest of Montreal, last week.Bernardo was initially incarcerated at the Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario and later spent about a decade at the Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security prison just outside Kingston.Family members of Bernardo’s victims and Canadian politicians have expressed outrage at the transfer, with Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino calling it “incomprehensible.”In a statement on Monday, the Correctional Service...

Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Kelly Clarkson, Kane Brown, Lil Wayne headline iHeartRadio festival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Kelly Clarkson, Kane Brown and Lil Wayne are among the headliners this fall at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Festival in La Vegas, which will be broadcast live throughout the country.The lineup for the two-day event Sept. 22-23 at T-Mobile Arena also includes Miguel, Public Enemy, Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw, TLC and Thirty Seconds to Mars. Ryan Seacrest will host and fans can hear it all via iHeartMedia radio stations or watch it streaming on Hulu. Highlights will be available on-demand on Hulu in the weeks following the event.The general public will be able buy tickets starting on June 16 on AXS.com, with Capital One cardholders able to get access beginning June 14. “This is the only festival in the world with this range of genres — spanning all the styles you hear on our 860 stations and the iHeartRadio app. Each performer can sell out on their own, so it’s incredibly rare that you can see them all together on the same stage,” Tom Poleman, chi...

Legal officials say Myanmar’s Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal of Suu Kyi’s bribery conviction

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear a special appeal of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s bribery conviction for allegedly receiving gold and thousands of dollars from a former political ally, legal officials said Tuesday.Suu Kyi, 77, was arrested when the army toppled her elected government in February 2021, and was tried on a range of charges for which she was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison. Her supporters and independent legal experts say the cases were politically motivated in an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s takeover while preventing her from returning to politics.Two legal officials familiar with Suu Kyi’s cases said the Supreme Court decided last Friday to hear the special appeal of the corruption case, in which she was convicted of receiving $600,000 and seven gold bars in 2017-18 from Phyo Min Thein, the former chief minister of Yangon, the country’s biggest city. She was sentenced to five years in prison in April la...

Swedish royal family marks Sweden’s 500 years as independent country

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s royal family has taken part in ceremonies Tuesday marking 500 years since the Scandinavian country emerged as an independent nation. King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia were first in the town of Strangnas, 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, where Gustav Vasa was elected king of Sweden in 1523. His election ended the so-called Kalmar Union with Norway and Denmark, which had endured since the 14th century. Sweden was eventually transformed from an elective monarchy into a hereditary monarchy, where the crown would be passed on from father to son. On Tuesday morning, the royal couple and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson arrived at the Gothic-style cathedral, built between 1291 and 1340, which is in the heart of Strangnas, a quiet town with a population of about 13,000. In Stockholm, Crown Princess Victoria appeared in national dress, and her husband, Prince Daniel, opened the gates of the downtown palace with free ...

Muslim community hosting vigil for 2nd anniversary of deadly London, Ont. attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

Members of the Muslim community in London, Ont., are to host a vigil today to mark the second anniversary of the worst mass killing in the city’s history.Salman Afzaal, his wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were run down by a pickup truck on June 6, 2021.The couple’s nine-year-old son was seriously hurt.RELATED: Family speaks out ahead of 1st anniversary of hate-motivated attack in London, Ont.Prosecutors allege the attack was an act of terrorism targeting London’s Muslim community. Nathaniel Veltman, who was 20 at the time of his arrest, faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.He is set to stand trial in September.Maryam Al-Sabawi, who is 16 years old and was friends with Yumna, is helping to organize the vigil and says the theme for this year is “resilience.”The event begins at 7 p.m. in London. Mayor Josh Morgan, Canada’s special representative on com...

4.9 magnitude quake strikes southern Haiti; 3 dead, several injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 struck southern Haiti early Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring several others, authorities said.The quake struck before dawn near the southern coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.The three people who died were found under a collapsed house where rescuers were searching for more people, Frankel Maginaire with Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency in Jeremie told The Associated Press.He said several children were at the hospital being treated for injuries they received after they panicked and ran.Crowds of people milled through the street after the quake, anxious about aftershocks.The earthquake struck almost a year after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti and killed more than 2,200 people, with Les Cayes sustaining the most damage. Some people who lost their homes last August are still living in camps.In 2010, a m...

Pope briefly at hospital for tests two months after bronchitis, returns to Vatican

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:54 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis briefly went to a hospital on Tuesday for tests and returned to the Vatican, witnesses and news reports said, two months after he was hospitalized with an acute case of bronchitis.The ANSA news agency said Francis went to Rome’s Gemelli hospital Tuesday morning for tests. Witnesses at the Vatican’s Perugino gate, one of the main entrances to the city state, told The Associated Press that Francis returned to the Vatican a short while later, and greeted guards as he usually does. Francis, 86, spent three days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in late March. Initially, the Vatican said he had gone in for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed. He was put on intravenous antibiotics and was released April 1, quipping that he was “still alive.”The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He also suffers from sciatica nerve pain and ...