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2026-08-19T20:01:49Z DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Lebanon on Wednesday extradited a former Syrian military officer under ousted President Bashar Assad and he will be put on trial in Syria, the Interior Ministry said.Maj. Gen. Adel Issa is the first military officer to be turned over by Lebanon since Assad’s fall in late 2024.Lebanon’s judicial authorities decided on Tuesday to deliver Issa to Syria, after questioning him over crimes he allegedly committed during the country’s conflict.Syria’s Interior Ministry said it had asked authorities in Lebanon to hand over Issa to Syria over alleged crimes including intentional killing of more than two persons, the crime of torture resulting in death, and acts of aggression aimed at inciting civil war and sectarian strife.The ministry added that Issa was the commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division and the commander of ground forces in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour until 2016. The ministry posted a photo of Issa wearing a prison uniform. Officials in Beirut said on Tuesday that Issa was turned over to Syria in accordance with a 1951 agreement between the countries that calls for delivering suspected criminals to face justice.After Syrian fighters opposed to Assad marched into Damascus to end the Assad family’s five-decade rule in December 2024, a number of military and security officers fled to Lebanon, where some remain. Dozens of other former members of his security agencies accused of atrocities have been arrested and put on trial in Syria.Last week, a Syrian court sentenced Assad and his younger brother Maher to death in absentia while their maternal cousin, Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, became the most senior security official to be sentenced to death while in custody. The Assad brothers fled to Russia during the ouster. Read More Issa was detained on Aug. 8 when he went to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut for some paperwork. Embassy officials contacted Lebanon’s prosecutor’s office to tell them that Issa was wanted in Syria.Issa had fled to Lebanon by crossing illegally after Assad’s fall, the officials said.Syria’s conflict, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011 before turning into a civil war, left 500,000 people dead and over 1 million wounded.

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) walks along the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Dec. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)2026-08-19T19:18:10Z RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks and cornerback Trevon Diggs are working on a contract, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract, which is expected to be a one-year deal, hasn’t been finalized. Diggs, 27, is a two-time Pro Bowler coming off a season in which he was placed on waivers by the Dallas Cowboys and released by the Green Bay Packers.The Seahawks’ decision to bring aboard Diggs comes less than a week after the team entered an agreement with cornerback Terrion Arnold, whose status for the 2026 season is uncertain.Arnold, 23, is facing eight felony charges stemming from allegations he orchestrated the abduction and beating of three men in February. He became a free agent in June, when the Detroit Lions released him a few days after the kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy charges were levied. Arnold will be placed on the NFL commissioner exempt list when he signs. He will not be permitted to play or practice while the league investigates his case but can be paid and attend team meetings.The addition of Diggs would add depth to a secondary that lost cornerback Riq Woolen to free agency and has been without second-year safety Nick Emannwori, who had offseason ankle surgery, during training camp. In 2025, Diggs played six games for Dallas before sustaining a concussion in an accident at home on Oct. 16. He didn’t explain the cause of the injury to reporters until two months later, when he said he got hit in the head by a mounting pole while trying to install a TV.Even after Diggs cleared the concussion protocol, he remained off the field for what the Cowboys described as lingering knee issues. Diggs then returned for two games before getting waived in late December. Read More He joined the Packers just before their final regular-season game. He played nearly half of Green Bay’s defensive snaps in his Packers debut as the team rested its starters in a 16-3 loss at Minnesota. But he was on the field for only one snap when the Packers lost 31-27 at Chicago in an NFC wild-card playoff game.Diggs had an NFL-leading 11 interceptions and earned All-Pro honors in 2021. He made the Pro Bowl again in 2022 but his performance has declined since, in part because of two major knee surgeries. Diggs has played in 71 NFL games, including playoffs, since the Cowboys took him with the 51st pick in the 2020 draft out of Alabama.The Seahawks fielded arguably the NFL’s best defense last season. No team allowed fewer points per game (17.2), and Seattle finished in the top seven in the league in sacks and interceptions.___See AP’s full NFL coverage here

We start this week with Emanuel’s big story about Amazon buying, and destroying, masses of books to train AI. After the break we talk about a couple of wild cases where people are using AI. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Meta’s new smart glasses patent and research into how perverts are using them. Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. ⁠We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility⁠⁠‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit⁠⁠Person Hides Prompt Injection in Legal Filing Telling AI to Side With Them⁠⁠Meta Patents AI Glasses to Use Facial Recognition to Identify People, Make Highlight Reels of Your Dinner Party⁠⁠Researchers Show How Meta's 'Pervert Glasses' Are Used to Harass Women⁠

President Trump’s promises to restore fiscal order and reduce the amount of America’s debt burden have been hampered by spending on the Iran war, tax cuts and tariff refunds.

A series of recent losses has eroded the president’s winning record, raising new questions about his hold over the party’s voters.

Honestly? We may love it more than the designer option. READ MORE...

CHICAGO — If you walk around the city of Chicago right now, there’s an energy that is palpable. That’s because for the first time in nearly two decades, good baseball is being played on both sides of town.Even with the city’s other marquee sports teams, Chicago is a baseball town, and with two of MLB’s oldest franchises, the intra-city rivalry between the White Sox and the Cubs runs deep. That said, historically, when one team is good, the other typically is not, which usually takes some of the steam out of their annual six-game slate.But this season, with less than six weeks to go, both the White Sox and Cubs are on a postseason trajectory. With the conclusion of their three-game set at Wrigley Field — the Cubs took the first two contests in walk-off fashion before the Sox rallied in the finale — the 66-60 Sox lead the AL Central, and the 74-54 Cubs have a comfortable hold on the first NL wild card. The last time the Cubs and White Sox were both this good this late in the regular season was 2008."It's an amazing atmosphere, and playing in front of these crowds in Chicago is really nice," White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami said Tuesday.This week’s late-season clash between two teams with their eyes on the postseason deserved a playoff atmosphere, and the games didn’t disappoint. The contests featured highlight-reel moments, momentum swings, defensive gems, multiple lead changes, extra innings, walk-off hits and even a lengthy rain delay. And that’s before mentioning the star power, headlined by Cubs center fielder and MVP contender Pete Crow-Armstrong, who delivered leadoff and walk-off heroics in Games 1 and 2, and Sox slugger Murakami, who stunned the Wrigley crowd with a blast to the video board on Tuesday.From opposing dugouts, even the managers couldn’t help but enjoy the high-stakes environment of this Crosstown Classic.“It’s fun when you can sit next to your family member, your best friend, your uncle, and you’re cheering for a different team,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s who gets rewarded in these games more than anybody.”Said Sox manager Will Venable: “I thought, just as a fan of baseball, watching all these guys play how they did and the talent that was out there, the way they played — just big-time players making big plays and doing cool stuff in a great atmosphere. It's just a cool place to play.”Munetaka Murakami sends one off the jumbotron! pic.twitter.com/QxDHvbCNk1— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 19, 2026The White Sox, with a four-game lead in their division, and are six weeks away from their first division title since 2021. They’ve been arguably the biggest surprise in baseball this year, and following three consecutive 100-loss seasons, their rise to the tier of the AL’s best teams has been pretty unprecedented. Meanwhile, for the second year in a row, the Cubs, who are five games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central, are headed toward hosting a wild-card series to begin the postseason. But after an offseason and trade deadline in which they pushed their chips to the middle of the table, they’re looking for more than just a playoff appearance.“I think we've had stretches this year early where we've been the hottest team in baseball, and then the coldest team in baseball, and then the hottest team in baseball again,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “But I feel like the main thing in the second half is just being consistent and playing consistent baseball, and I feel like we've done a good job of that in all three phases of the game.”Between these two Chicago teams, there’s clearly respect for what each has accomplished this season. And with both squads being talked about as among the best in their respective leagues, it’s not hard to appreciate what the other is doing.“I thought they did a great job at the deadline,” Cubs president Jed Hoyer said of the Sox earlier this month. “They’ve put themselves in a great position. They’ve put themselves in a position to get a bye. They’ve got a really good young team.”While MLB teams don’t often like to use individual series as a measuring stick, this week’s meeting at Wrigley Field felt like an appropriate temperature check for these two teams. The three tightly contested games proved without a doubt that the Cubs and the Sox are both prepared to play postseason baseball. Even more apparent is that the city of Chicago is ready, too.Is a Crosstown World Series a pipe dream? Probably. There’s a lot that would have to happen for that to become a real possibility. But the fact that there’s a non-zero chance of Cubs vs. White Sox in the Fall Classic has many in Chicago letting their imaginations run wild.“Sign me up. Yeah, I’m in for all the fun. Everything,” Counsell said with a wry smile before this week’s series began. “You want to hype it up? I’m in for all of it.”

"We'll be there to help him deal with it" – Kane on Musiala diagnosisAfter winning the European Golden Shoe for 2026, Harry Kane offered his full support to Jamal Musiala as he battles to overcome a sudden seizure diagnosis. “Jamal is obviously going through a bit of a difficult moment right now. I know he posted on social media about the small condition that he has,” Kane said, speaking to FourFourTwo. "From our point of view, it's just about supporting Jamal. He's a great player, extremely talented. He's a big part of our team. We feel really sorry for him."We feel frustrated for him when things like that happened in the last couple of games. He knows he has the full support from everyone here at FC Bayern and his friends, his family. "We'll be there to help him deal with it. He's going through something that not everyone goes through, but also there are people who have dealt with it well before.“He's doing everything possible to be his best version. He'd come off the back of a tough injury last season. I know how much he works behind the scenes, how much he's working on the training pitch,” he added.

As they try to defend their NFC North title and take the next step as a franchise, the Bears have a significant issue to address on offense. They still don't know who will protect possible MVP candidate Caleb Williams' blindside, a.k.a. who will be their starting left tackle. For a Bears team that will almost certainly be built around what it hopes is an elite offense — particularly with some injury issues for what might only be an average defense at best — you can understand why sorting out their left tackle competition carries a lot of weight. For posterity, veteran Braxton Jones is listed as the Bears' current starting left tackle on their depth chart. He is facing competition from Theo Benedet and Ozzy Trapilo, who was recently activated off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list after suffering a patellar tendon injury in last year's playoffs.As head coach Ben Johnson alluded to on Wednesday, said competition is likely also pretty awkward for Bears starting left guard Joe Thuney. The five-time All-Pro, four-time Super Bowl champion, and reigning/inaugural winner of the NFL Protector of the Year Award (given to pro football's best offensive lineman in a season) could probably make any combination work with any left tackle. That's why he's a likely future Hall of Famer. But for the Bears' offense to really get off the ground running in 2026, it's better that Thuney gets consistent time to build chemistry with whoever his partner will be at left tackle as soon as possible. The same can really be said for all five members of the Bears' offensive line because the more in-tune every member of a starting offensive line is with each other, the better they generally play as a unit:“I think Joe [Thuney] would like some clarity on who he can build a rapport with,” Ben Johnson said. “It’s been a little bit of a revolving door [at left tackle]. He’s a pro’s pro and he’s willing to do everything, but you want five guys playing as one. We’ll go as long as we need to to figure out who those five are, but at the same time, the sooner we can make that decision, the sooner they can jell as a unit as well. Last year it took us until the bye week before we started clicking as an offensive line and the run game came alive the way we wanted. I think he’s doing a great job. The communication is a huge piece of it.”For everyone's sake in Chicago, it's better that Johnson and Co. sort out who is playing next to Thuney sooner rather than later. Every repetition with the starters counts in the Bears' offensive mission to get off to a fast start.Who was the Bears' starting left tackle last year?Chicago played Benedet at left tackle for much of the year before eventually handing off the reins to Trapilo, who was a second-round draft pick in 2025. Trapilo played well in his stint and probably would've been the incumbent starter heading into this season had he not suffered a serious injury in January. This article originally appeared on For The Win: Ben Johnson acknowledged that Bears LT competition is awkward for future Hall of Famer

The Houston Texans have had some bad luck at the wide receiver position in the past couple of years, and now things have gone south once again.Second-year wide receiver Jayden Higgins went down with a lower-leg injury during a red-zone drill in a joint practice against the Las Vegas Raiders. NFL insider for ESPN and NFL Network Ian Rapoport has confirmed that Higgins appears to have a torn ACL. Sources: #Texans WR Jayden Higgins suffered a torn ACL yesterday during the joint practice against the #Raiders. A tough blow to the Houston receiving room. pic.twitter.com/d39r7fu3E9— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 19, 2026There was some optimism after Higgins walked off the field under his own power without needing a cart, but the news that has been confirmed isn't what Texans fans wanted to hear.The wide receiver position group has dealt with numerous injuries to Tank Dell and Nico Collins and is now also dealing with Jaylin Noel, who has been out with a finger and hamstring injury. At full strength, the Texans looked to have a very deep wide receiver room, but will now navigate the holes that may need to be filled.As for Higgins, he had been rumored to take on a much bigger role this season, after catching over 40 passes last year for 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. Names like Xavier Hutchinson and Tank Dell will be called upon in an offense that will rely heavily on the pass, as C.J. Stroud will also be under the microscope this season.This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Texans' wide receiver room a concern after Jayden Higgins' torn ACL

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton against the Dallas Cowboys | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The New York Giants surprised us by trading guard Daniel Faalele to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Wednesday morning.It was a surprising move for a few reasons. First and foremost, because Faalele has been considered one of “Harbaugh’s Guys”, a player the coach just likes, and whose familiarity with Greg Roman’s run schemes and Harbaugh’s culture was an edge over other players vying for a roster spot. Faalele spent most of the offseason and training camp as the second-string left guard.Finally, it was surprising that GM Joe Schoen was able to get a sixth-round pick in return for Faalele.That got me to wondering: Could the Giants have other trade candidates on the roster? These types of trades rarely happen this time of year… But we just had one come out of the blue (pun slightly intended), so why not more?After all, one aspect of Schoen’s tenure that hasn’t gotten nearly enough credit is how well he reads the rest of the NFL and secures value on the trade market.WR Darius Slayton or WR Darnell MooneyThe Houston Texans just received a gut punch when wide receiver Jayden Higgins tore his ACL in a joint practice with the Las Vegas Raiders. Higgins is an ascending player and was primed to be a big part of the Texans offense. Now, the Texans may need help at receiver.As it happens, while the Giants’ receiving corps isn’t scaring anyone, they do have something of a surplus of outside receivers.Lance Zierlein of NFL.com floated Slayton as a possible trade target for the Texans, and Mooney could fill a similar role as an option across from Nico Collins. Slayton’s speed as a field stretcher is attractive. However, he also comes with a hefty contract, and the Giants might have to accept a lower pick to compensate.Mooney, meanwhile, is easier to fit under the salary cap, but he’s also much closer to Tank Dell’s size than the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Higgins. Either way, the return of Malik Nabers, the ascension of Malachi Fields, and Odell Beckham Jr. getting open even if he isn’t getting the ball, could make one of these “locks” more expendable than we were expecting a few weeks ago.K Ben SaulsGood kickers are tough to find, and it seems as though the Giants have found themselves two. Dominic Zvada seems to be leading the competition between him and Sauls and has been both longer and more consistent in practices. If the job is Zvada’s to lose now, the Giants would likely love to sneak Sauls through to the practice squad.However, if the alternative is Sauls being claimed off of waivers or signed off the Giants’ practice squad for nothing, they might be willing to take a late-round pick for him. Perhaps even working out a deal with the Jets, who scooped up Jason Sanders after the Giants cut him earlier this summer.iOL Jake KubasThe Texans weren’t the only team to take a gut punch due to injury this week. The Los Angeles Chargers suffered a big loss with OC Tyler Biadasz being out indefinitely with an ACL injury. The Chargers drafted center Jake Slaughter out of Florida this year, and he could be in line to take the starting job, but that might convince them to backfill behind him.Kubas has Center/Guard versatility and appeared to play well at center against the Vikings. The Giants might not want to part with the versatile interior lineman; however, they do have veteran Lucas Patrick returning from injury as well as the recently-signed Brendan Jaimes.Really, any of the three reserve centers may appeal to the Chargers, and John Harbaugh does know their head coach a bit.CB Paulson AdeboThis one might be the biggest surprise if it comes to pass, and could potentially net the biggest gain for the Giants. However, with Deonte Banks, Greg Newsome II, and Colton Hood all seeming to rise up the depth chart while Adebo slides down, it’s possible that the Giants could look to get out from under the cornerback’s three-year, $54 million contract a year early.The Detroit Lions are currently fielding Rock Ya-Sin and DJ Reed as their outside cornerbacks, and could view Adebo as a valuable addition. The Lions are a “base” defense that uses nickel at the lowest rate in the NFL (37.2% of snaps, nearly half the league-average 61.1%), making outside corners particularly important. Schematically, they have similar tendencies as the Giants did under Shane Bowen, running off-man at similar rates and with similar blitz rates.The Giants obviously wouldn’t want to risk the depth of their secondary; however paying Adebo $24 million to be a depth player is less than ideal.

Former US Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona testified in court today about the moment she understood the wife of her bodyguard knew that the pair was having an affair. Months into the adulterous relationship, the bisexual then-congresswoman sent her bodyguard lover, Matthew Ammel, an encrypted message on Signal, she explained in testimony reported by The New York Post. Related “Kyrsten Sinema is a homewrecker!” Jilted ex-wife accuses in jaw-dropping lawsuit “I miss you,” Sinema wrote to Ammel on October 3, 2024. The reply, after months of secret liaisons in multiple cities under the guise of being “guarded” by the staffer, did not come from Ammel, but his wife, Heather. “Are you having an affair with my husband?” the message read. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Sinema, the one-term, bisexual political iconoclast, had been outed. She did not respond. What followed was months of heated allegations, divorce for the Ammels, and a rare “alienation of affection” lawsuit from Heather Ammel, targeting Sinema as a “homewrecker.” Just six states — Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah — have the archaic law on the books, a holdover from 18th-century English common law imported to America. Heather Ammel, who resides in North Carolina and raised her three children there with her former husband, claims that state’s “alienation of affection” law applies to Sinema. The civil claim allows a spouse to sue a third party with an accusation of wrongfully causing the loss of affection in a marriage, or what a Duke Law Journal paper calls an effort to “constitutionally curtail cuckolding.” Sinema’s lawyers say that since no sexual activity between the then-senator and Ammel took place in North Carolina, the law doesn’t apply to her. Heather Ammel is suing Sinema for $75,000. In court testimony, Sinema, the former Democrat turned Independent who managed to alienate both colleagues and voters in her time as a US senator, described the start of her affair with Ammel, then a member of her security detail, starting on a trip to the Napa Valley in 2024. In a July 31 deposition filed in federal court, Sinema said the two first had sex over Memorial Day weekend, while she was still serving in the Senate, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. “We were staying at an Airbnb in Napa, California. We were outside. Matt kissed me. We went inside and had sex,” Sinema testified. Additional filings describe an affair that lasted months and continued on trips to New York City for a wedding, at her Washington, D.C. apartment, on a trip to Aspen, Colorado, and in her primary residence as senator in Phoenix, Arizona. Sinema acknowledged that, during the relationship, she knew Ammel was married and had three children. Court filings also include messages from Sinema to Ammel. In one, she wrote, “Putting my hand on your heart. I’ll see you soon. I miss you.” Asked if a wife might be concerned by such a message, Sinema replied, “Yes.” In more testimony today in North Carolina federal court, where a judge will decide if Heather Ammel can proceed with her “homewrecker” suit, Ammel claimed that Sinema had “groomed” her husband while taking advantage of his struggles with depression. Sinema “had her hooks” in him, Heather Ammel testified. Watching her marriage collapse, “I felt completely powerless,” she said. “It’s me against a United States senator who has power and money,” she explained. “And she had her hook in him.” Asked by her attorney if Sinema’s behavior amounted to “grooming” her now ex-husband, Heather Ammel replied, “Yes.” Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Liberian first lady Jewel Howard Taylor speaks to journalists at the ruling National Patriotic Party headquarters in the Liberian capital Monrovia Friday, July 11, 2003. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis,File)2026-08-19T20:31:28Z MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia has charged former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with drug trafficking, money laundering and other offenses as part of an investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday.Howard-Taylor, who was vice president from 2018 to 2024, was stopped while attempting to leave Liberia at Roberts International Airport and taken to Liberia National Police headquarters, the ministry said in a statement.She faces charges including unlicensed importation, sale, distribution and transportation of controlled substances, drug trafficking, criminal solicitation, criminal facilitation, criminal conspiracy and money laundering.Howard-Taylor was married to former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who was convicted by an international war crimes court for sponsoring atrocities in Sierra Leone. The government also charged three foreigners in absentia for their alleged roles in the network: Croatians Nikolai Ivancic and Mihovil Vrovac and Ukrainian Tara Zaderieko.Authorities said they would pursue measures to locate and apprehend them.The charges follow last month’s announcement of Liberia’s largest-ever drug seizure — tons of cocaine worth about $336 million, which authorities said implicated senior police officials. Both cases were not connected. In recent years, West Africa has emerged as a key transit route for cocaine trafficked from South America to Europe, with smugglers taking advantage of porous borders and weak enforcement in parts of the region.____AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Lindsay Clancy listens during her murder trial Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Plymouth, Mass. (Amanda Sabga/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)2026-08-19T20:28:25Z PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Lindsay Clancy didn’t appreciate the “wrongfulness” of killing her three children because of her mental health issues, a psychologist testifying for the defense said at her murder trial Wednesday.The testimony of Dr. Paul Zeizel is the strongest evidence yet to support the defense contentions that Clancy should not be held legally responsible for murder because she has bipolar disorder and was in the grip of a rare mental illness called postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children before trying to kill herself. Zeizel began seeing Clancy as a patient at a hospital after the deaths. “She was unable to conform her behavior to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she had “a mental disease or a defect.”___EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. ___Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old. Postpartum psychosis is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Researchers estimate that the condition — which is more serious and less common than postpartum depression — afflicts 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Prosecutors say the former labor and delivery nurse planned the January 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family. Clancy was not getting betterZeizel, who said he spent more than 35 hours with Clancy over dozens of visits and reviewed her medical records, said she went to a perinatal clinic in December 2022 because she felt her “brain was damaged,” “she should kill herself” and that she “is never going to get any better.” She also showed signs of psychosis, was paranoid and feared that people could hear her thoughts and that she would lose her children. Read More “She was worried that her children would be removed from her and that she would never see them again,” he said. But just because she was in a psychotic state, Zeizel said, that didn’t mean she couldn’t do “everyday tasks of living” like driving and searching the internet, a reference to the fact that the day of the killings she took her daughter to the doctor, played with the children in the snow and searched online for a pharmacy and a restaurant.“So the fact she is not talking about the unicorns in the corner, she is not slurring her words and she is not unable to walk, to your opinion to a degree of medical certainty, does that mean she is not in a psychotic state?” Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington asked.Zeizel responded: “It does not.” Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Prosecution challenges Zeizel’s credibilityOn cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out mistakes Zeizel made in his report about Clancy and questioned whether he could be objective about her diagnosis when he was seeing her as a patient and working with the defense including appearing with Reddington at a news conference.Zeizel acknowledged that there was nothing in Clancy’s medical records in which she reports hearing voices telling her to kill herself, only that she told her caregivers that “she wanted to die.”Prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of Clancy’s suicide attempt. After strangling her children, Clancy jumped from a second-story window and remains paralyzed from the waist down. Prosecution brings up the children’s birthdaysProsecutor Shanan Buckingham also read from daily reports from Tewksbury Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital where Clancy stays, that included the anniversary of the killings and what would have been her children’s birthdays. Those reports mentioned her parents sometimes visiting or her talking with other patients. But they never mentioned anything she did to remember her children.Reddington asked Zeizel if he saw anything in the record from the hospital about her “laughing, and partying and having a good time” while in the hospital. “Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” Zeizel said.Zeizel also said Clancy often talks about her children, aiming to dispel prosecutors’ contention that she never mentions them. “She really loves them and misses them and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day,” Zeizel said.If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty because of a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility. MICHAEL CASEY Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto

Construction continues on a mixed-use housing and commercial complex Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026, in New Bedford, Mass. (Eleonora Bianchi/The New Bedford Light via AP)2026-08-19T20:23:41Z Massachusetts is facing a housing crisis, and the clock is ticking. The state needs to build 222,000 new homes by 2035 to meet demand, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office.“And those homes have to be affordable to households at all income levels. It’s not enough to build 222,000 McMansions,” said Matt Noyes, the director of state and federal advocacy at Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, or CHAPA. “We need homes that are affordable to low- and moderate-income households, and homes that are affordable to extremely low-income households.”The housing shortage and the economy are linked. Migration out of Massachusetts is on the rise, and employers are struggling to fill open roles, multiple advocates and South Coast lawmakers told The Light.Recognizing this, the House and Senate included several housing-related measures in their respective economic development bills, passed in July. A House-Senate conference committee is now negotiating over which measures will be included in the final bill. But even if the two chambers agree to adopt each others’ ideas, advocates and lawmakers agree there’s more work to do to promote housing growth next year. Yes in God’s BackyardThe so-called Yes in God’s Backyard, or YIGBY, section of the House bill would allow faith-based organizations to build multifamily housing on up to four acres of land they already own without local approval. Developments could be up to 30 units per acre — 20% of which must be income-restricted — or even denser if more units are set aside at affordable rates. The buildings could be up to 45 feet in height, or even taller if local zoning laws allow. The YIGBY provision stems from multiple bills that were before the Legislature this session but did not pass as standalone legislation. Several other states have passed YIGBY laws.An analysis by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and The Lynch Foundation identified nearly 5,000 developable parcels in Massachusetts owned by religious institutions, totaling over 20,000 acres. That land could support over 60,000 new homes, the study found. Read More If half of these parcels are developed, they will generate an additional $60 million in annual tax revenue, Lynch Foundation’s executive director Katie Everett said in a hearing on the standalone bill in September 2025. Religiously owned land is exempt from property taxes, but housing developed on that land would be taxable. In a written statement, New Bedford’s public information officer Jonathan Darling told The Light that city officials in the planning and housing departments “don’t see anything coming” of the YIGBY provision in New Bedford. He did not address a question about how much land in New Bedford is owned by religious institutions. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. A developer is seeking to convert the Holy Family Holy Name School at 91 Summer St. into 44 condos. According to New Bedford’s property database, the land is owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River. But since the provision excludes land zoned for or used by schools, it would not be considered a YIGBY project.Rep. Steven Ouellette, D-Westport, said it would not be “unheard of” to develop housing on religious property in the South Coast, including land owned by three Westport parishes that merged in June 2025. “The churches had some circumstances that they had to pay out money, and people don’t go to church like they used to,” Ouellette said. “So, yes, there are facilities.”Despite this possibility, Ouellette has concerns. Three of the communities he represents — Westport, Freetown and Acushnet — are wary of overpopulation or buildout, no matter who owns the land, he said. Even New Bedford is cautious about overdevelopment, Ouellette said. Housing advocates who have lobbied for YIGBY bills this session are more optimistic.“There are a number of religious institutions that really could benefit from building housing on their property from a financial standpoint, and it’s also an opportunity for them to live out their faith mission by developing housing that’s affordable to members of the community,” Noyes from CHAPA said. “It’s a win-win for everyone concerned.” Duplexes by rightThe Senate bill would allow duplexes on any residentially zoned land where single-family homes are allowed, regardless of local zoning laws. The bill would allow cities and towns to establish “reasonable” regulations. But the regulations can’t prohibit duplexes that are less than three stories and can’t make the development “physically or financially infeasible.”Legalizing duplexes was among housing advocates’ top priorities for this Legislative session. It was included in a sweeping Yes in My Backyard bill that never made it to a full chamber vote. According to Abundant Housing Massachusetts’ Executive Director Jesse Kanson-Benanav, duplexes are already permitted by right or with a special permit in about 70% of the state. “Duplexes and three-deckers have really been the backbone of working-class housing opportunities,” Kanson-Benanav said. “This is just saying that a type of home that has been the core of the fabric of meeting housing needs in Massachusetts for so long can be built a little bit quicker in a few more places without driving up the ultimate rental or ownership price.” Though the House version of the bill did not address duplexes, Rep. Christopher Hendricks, D-New Bedford, said the provision is a “big step” that could have a significant impact in New Bedford. Site plan reviewHousing advocates say it’s a major victory that both chambers’ bills would establish a statewide site plan review system — through which cities and towns decide whether a proposed development complies with local regulations. Currently, each city and town has its own review system. According to Abundant Housing’s Kanson-Benanav, some of these “arbitrary (and) discretionary” processes create barriers to building housing, rather than ensuring the developments fit into the community. Long review timeframes make development more expensive, a cost which is often passed on through higher rent or ownership prices, he said. Some local review processes “might discourage people from building new homes altogether that we desperately need in this time of an extreme housing shortage,” Kanson-Benanav said.Both versions of the economic development bill would establish a 90-day decision deadline for site plan reviews, with limited exceptions. Generally, if there is no decision within that timeframe, the development would automatically be approved. Both bills prohibit local zoning laws from dictating the “aesthetic” of a development. Each version also allows developers at least three years to complete “substantial” construction, at which point the municipality can require reapproval. Other provisionsThe House and Senate are attempting to address the housing crisis in several other ways in their respective economic development bills. According to Rep. Christopher Markey, D-Dartmouth, the bills aim to “give everyone a chance,” including renters, first-time homebuyers and those looking for their family home.“I think the idea is trying to do as many different things as we can, not a big one-size-fits-all thing, although there is some element of that,” Markey said. “But the idea that we’re not taking all our money and putting it in one place is really important.”Both versions of the bill would allow cities and towns to approve the conversion of underused commercial properties into multifamily housing and mixed-use developments. Each bill permits communities to provide incentives for these projects, including tax relief.The House version includes $50 million in “grants and technical assistance” for communities that choose to participate.Rep. Mark Sylvia, D-Fairhaven, identified commercial conversion as one of the most important housing measures in the House bill, noting that there are many old commercial properties with potential in New Bedford. “We’re looking at it here on the South Coast, but across the Commonwealth there are a lot of old commercial buildings that could potentially be converted,” Sylvia said. “That has happened organically in the past, but to provide incentive to do it, I think, is really a good step in the right direction.”Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, filed a successful amendment to the House bill that would increase the annual Housing Development Incentive Program cap from $30 to $40 million and raise the per-project limit to $5 million. The program is “designed to create more market-rate and mixed-use housing developments in Gateway Cities,” Cabral told The Light in a written statement. It provides tax relief to developers in two ways: cities can exempt the real estate tax on all or part of the increased property value resulting from improvements on the site, and the state may give the developer a tax credit for qualifying project expenses. Hendricks, Sylvia and Ouellette co-sponsored the amendment, which was adopted during debate. According to Hendricks, developing market-rate housing tends to lower rents in surrounding areas. He noted that New Bedford is already doing a “great” job of putting shovels in the ground. In December 2025, a housing project on Acushnet Avenue was awarded $2.5 million through the Incentive Program. Other housing-related measures in the House version include strengthening fair housing enforcement in real estate and allowing cities and towns to establish a framework in which tenants can purchase their home if it is on the market. The Senate version aims to increase the number of home inspectors and aligns grant programs to incentivize housing production.“Housing grant and tax credit program requirements for developers should be geared to the developers who actually create affordable housing for hard-working citizens who can’t afford the out-of-control cost of living in the state,” Sen. Mark Montigny said in a written statement to The Light. “Developers must be incentivized to create the housing needed and not the status quo. When state money is involved, those receiving it need to be held accountable.”What comes next?Housing advocates and lawmakers say the Legislature has made significant progress in addressing Massachusetts’ housing crisis. They point to the MBTA Communities Act of 2021 and the Affordable Homes Act of 2024. Even the environmental bond bill currently in conference committee attempts to increase the housing supply. “We didn’t get into the current housing challenges overnight. We’re not going to get out of them overnight,” Noyes said. “But the Legislature is really continuing to push forward, which is really to their credit. They recognize the scope of the challenge and recognize that they can’t rest on their laurels, and they have to continue to pass more and more policies that will allow for the homes we need to be created.”Still, many of them said there is still a long road ahead. Kanson-Benanav told The Light that Abundant Housing lobbied for two other housing measures that were not addressed this session: reforming minimum lot size and parking requirements. Massachusetts has some of the country’s highest average minimum lot sizes for single-family homes, averaging 20,000 square feet, according to Abundant Housing. That makes housing more expensive. And local zoning laws often dictate how many parking spaces are required for a new housing development — mandates that are “old, outdated and expensive,” Kanson-Benanav said. The spaces are often underused, and the cost is passed on in higher rent or ownership prices. There were twoamendments filed to the Senate bill to address these issues, but neither was adopted. The House and Senate have the rest of the year to negotiate on a final version of the bill.“We know that even when we see a final compromise version of this session’s economic development bill that we can’t rest,” Kanson-Benanav said. “There will be more to be done next legislative session.”Markey said he’d like the Legislature to spend more money on down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. Sylvia and Ouellette raised concerns about federal tariffs driving up homebuilding costs, though that is largely driven by federal policy.“It’s not just that it’s expensive to live in Massachusetts. It’s expensive, period, right now,” Ouellette said. “We can have all the policies in the world, but we’ve got an underlying problem with the cost of materials.”Sylvia predicted that the Legislature will continue to help communities address the high cost of infrastructure upgrades next session, which “goes hand-in-hand with supporting housing.” Ouellette added that he’d also like to see more old mills converted into housing. ___This story was originally published by The New Bedford Light and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd (35) and Paige Bueckers, rear, toss keepsakes to fans after the team's win in a WNBA basketball game against the Connecticut Sun in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)2026-08-19T20:40:11Z ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd is set for season-ending surgery on a sore knee that has sidelined this year’s No. 1 overall pick for the past five games.The team said Wednesday that Fudd will have arthroscopic surgery on her right knee next week in Connecticut, where she starred for UConn before becoming the Huskies’ second consecutive top overall pick by Dallas. Reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers was the No. 1 choice last year.Fudd was eased into the lineup as a rookie, coming off the bench for the first six games. She scored 24 points in that sixth game and immediately became a full-time starter. Fudd had a season-high 26 points in a win over Seattle in June.Fudd, who averaged 13.1 points in 30 games, went through warmups before a home game against Golden State on Aug. 7 and was held out of the game “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the team. The soreness persisted. Bueckers and Fudd won the 2025 national championship together at UConn before Bueckers was drafted by the Wings, who are 3-8 since a six-game winning streak that was the longest since the franchise moved to Texas 10 years ago.Dallas is still in good shape to make the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Wings play Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at the home of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.___See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Golfer Zach Holland resigned from WingHaven Country Club after faking a hole-in-one at a membership event, admitting fault after a video of the incident went viral. What do you think? “A country club is no place for a status-seeking phony.” Pete Hyslop, Pan Scraper “I can’t think of a worse punishment than playing golf.” Austin Schug, Window Froster “His behind the back swing did feel a little implausible.” Juno Davis, Shirt Buttoner The post Golfer Resigns From Club After Faking Hole-In-One appeared first on The Onion.

It’s the 2025 national title game for women’s college basketball in Tampa, Florida, and Geno Auriemma is not happy about his star player’s defense. His UConn Huskies are seeking their record 12th crown against Dawn Staley’s South Carolina, a program that’s rising in the sport and threatening Connecticut's throne.“Paige,” Auriemma calls out to All-American senior Paige Bueckers. “Put a (expletive) hand up. It’s the (expletive) national championship game here, man.”UConn went on to win that game in dominant fashion, 82-59, capping off an accomplished college career for Bueckers as she, Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong and company delivered the Huskies their first national championship since 2016, restoring the signature program in women’s college basketball back to the mountaintop of the sport.But that moment in the game is also emblematic of something else: the demands of Auriemma, what it takes to play at UConn and what he requires of his players as he has built the most iconic powerhouse in the sport.It’s also the opening scene of a three-part docuseries that will debut on Apple TV on Friday, Aug. 21 titled “The Dynasty: UConn Huskies.”Executive produced and co-directed by Matthew Hamachek and Erica Sashin, the film goes inside the most successful program in the history of women’s basketball, how Auriemma built it from the ground up, the culture he instilled, and dives deep into the stories behind the team’s rivalries, championships and legendary players.Sashin has made documentaries about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, billionaire Rupert Murdoch and magician David Blaine. Among other credits, Hamachek has a bit more of a background in sports, having directed the 10-episode mini series about the New England Patriots for Apple TV and a two-part documentary on Tiger Woods for HBO.Speaking with USA TODAY Sports earlier this week, Hamachek says he didn’t know much about UConn, Auriemma or any of the great players the Huskies had produced before embarking on this project.“I think that gives you a little bit of perspective as a storyteller. It allows you to focus more on finding the things that make these extraordinarily talented people very human,” Hamachek told USA TODAY Sports. “Geno talks about the fear of failure, about not being mentally tough enough. I think we've all at times sort of grappled with that.“They are these larger-than-life figures and it's very easy to dismiss what they're going through as something that you can't relate to. What we focused on with this one was, what makes these people relatable? And then we sort of investigate what made this program tick, what made all of these people tick.”Among those who participated in sit-down interviews for the series include a who’s-who of UConn greats such as Rebecca Lobo, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Shea Ralph, Maya Moore, Swin Cash, Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong, Jennifer Rizzotti and Breanna Stewart, as well as Auriemma and Bueckers. Others interviewed for the series include Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, former UConn men’s coach Jim Calhoun, Auriemma’s longtime assistant Chris Dailey, Pat Summitt’s top assistant Mickie DeMoss, and journalists Sally Jenkins, Jackie MacMullan, Jeff Goldberg and Alexa Phillippou.Minutes into the first episode, Breanna Stewart says, “I miss the four years that I was at UConn, but I don’t wish to go back.”There’s then a hard cut to Auriemma talking to players at a practice, saying, “Do you understand the meaning — the (expletive) meaning — of mental toughness?”And then Sue Bird: “It has to be us against (Auriemma). You won’t survive if you don’t figure that out.”And then Diana Taurasi: “He starts to tighten those screws and I’m like, ‘Yeah. This is what I want to feel. This is the energy I need.’”And then Tamika Williams: “He challenged our heart. He challenged us to compete. I think that’s why I fell in love with Geno.”That sets the tone for the title of the first episode, “Fear of Failure,” which is mostly focused on Auriemma’s journey to becoming the head coach at UConn, the environment he created and how it produced champions, going through his beginnings as a high school assistant coach all the way through the late 1990s. It touches on Auriemma recruiting Lobo, studying the triangle offense under Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson, how he butted heads with UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun, and his first championship in 1995.“A really fascinating thing with Geno, the thing that he coaches out of everybody that is part of his team is this fear of failure, but that's something that he has for himself. He has this incredible imposter syndrome,” Hamachek said. “He talks about this idea that he realized that if he could just be better than somebody at something, if he could beat them at something, that is what let him feel like he belonged.”Episode 2, “The Dynasty,” is centered on the program’s transformation into a behemoth. It’s highlighted by Auriemma’s rivalry with Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, a heralded recruiting class led by Sue Bird and how they clashed with veterans like Shea Ralph, how Auriemma’s family immigrated from Italy to the U.S. when he was 7, the arrival of Diana Taurasi, and how Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart kept the machine running.Hamachek says that interviews with Ralph and Taurasi really stood out.“Shea played with an intensity that I don't think I could think of a comparison of another athlete. She was there for this incredible period of time,” Hamachek said. “Having sat across from Tom Brady and other great athletes, nobody was as intimidating as Diana Taurasi. You can just tell she looks right through you. She looks like she would do anything to win at all times. It was so impressive to sit across from her.”The final episode, “Breaking Point,” is often told through the lens of Paige Bueckers as it details her hype, her potential, the expectations placed on her, her injuries and battles, and how she eventually ended UConn’s national championship drought. Filmmakers arrived onto UConn’s campus midway through the 2024-25 season in January and followed the Huskies closely through their national title win over South Carolina.“I really wanted to highlight how much each of these players had to sacrifice along the way, what they had to go through physically, mentally, everything in order to get there,” Hamachek said. “As we start filming, that team finds a way to turn itself around. None of us understood what had gone on and why that had happened. And so that was a really interesting thing, where slowly but surely, as we started to talk and do interviews with the players… Geno took some pretty drastic measures in order to sort of snap (Bueckers) out of it, or whatever you want to call it, and it was brutal.”Filmmakers captured pivotal moments in that season, like how Auriemma challenged Bueckers after UConn’s loss to Tennessee in front of the team during a film session. In the documentary, Bueckers called it “devastating” and questioned if she still wanted to be at UConn.“I took a risk,” Auriemma says. “(Bueckers) is either going to quit or she’s going to change. So I tried to hurt her like losing hurts.”“It was very awkward to be in there,” Sarah Strong, then a freshman, says in the third episode. “I wasn’t expecting him to attack Paige like that. He was just yelling at her and, I don’t know, just saying really hurtful things to her. It was really shocking to me.”But what followed was a players-only meeting with Bueckers leading it. Then the Huskies had a dominant road win over South Carolina and the Huskies never lost another game for the rest of the season.What Hamachek hopes people take away from the docuseries is how difficult it is to achieve high levels of success and what some people go through to get there.“Each of the people that are in this story has sacrificed and given up things to accomplish greatness,” Hamachek said. “In order to obtain greatness, you have to really sacrifice a lot, and the grit and intensity with which all of these incredible athletes dig deep with is remarkable. It was really inspiring for me as somebody who came in not really knowing all that much about women's basketball.”This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Apple TV series examines Geno Auriemma’s ‘fear of failure’ at UConn

What are the Cincinnati Reds’ projections in 2027 for right-hander Tony Santillan?They expect to have five weeks of the reliever at full strength down the stretch to help evaluate his fit into the plans as he heads into his second winter of arbitration eligibility.Santillan, a dominant high-leverage guy for the 2025 playoff bullpen who has struggled this season, returns from an eight-week oblique injury when the Reds open a three-game series in Phoenix this weekend.Reds player moves Cincinnati Reds demote Noelvi Marte to minors, call up Will BanfieldReds GM Joey Votto Joey Votto answers questions about Reds' GM, coaching jobsHe pitched his third of three one-inning scoreless outings for Triple-A Louisville this week and will be on a third day’s rest when he’s activated for the Diamondbacks opener. He struck out five and even more importantly walked none in those three innings.Santillan, who had a 2.44 ERA in 80 games during the 2025 playoff season, has a 5.23 ERA, 14 walks and a career-high nine home runs allowed in 34 games this season.The Reds, who vow to retool to try to bounce back and contend next season, are paying Santillan $1.8 million this season.Graham Ashcraft, another key late-inning member of the Reds' successful bullpen in 2025 before missing most of this season with an elbow injury, is to throw one more live-batting-practice/simulation this week before starting a minor-league rehab assignment with Louisville next week.That could put him on track for a return from the IL sometime during the next homestand (Aug. 31-Sept. 6), barring setback.This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Two possibly key players in Reds' 2027 plans near return from injury

Chicago Bears rookie safety Dillon Thieneman didn't have to change jersey numbers in his transition from college to the pros. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)AP Photo/Melissa TamezLAKE FOREST, Ill. — Caleb Williams seemingly placed the ball where only wide receiver Kalif Raymond could get it Tuesday during Chicago Bears training camp. Williams, the face of the franchise and this year's Madden NFL video game, slung a sublime pass that landed downfield in Raymond's bucket near the boundary. To just about everybody watching outside Halas Hall, that completion marked one of Williams' top throws of the day. To rookie safety Dillon Thieneman, the play was the reason he voluntarily spent time after practice working on Cover 2."I could have probably got a little more depth, had a little more vision to Caleb to see where his eyes were looking so I could move that way," Thieneman told Yahoo Sports.He explained that, as the offense's condensed formation expanded, he needed to get deeper and then take a better angle toward the ball.Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now!Thieneman, a do-it-all defensive back the Bears selected with the No. 25 overall pick in this year's draft, slapped his hands together in frustration once Raymond made the grab, with the 22-year-old close behind.His defensive coordinator at Oregon, Chris Hampton, describes Thieneman as "routine-oriented." Ducks director of speed and performance Kyle Bolton said they used to call Thieneman "The Terminator.""That dude, he's like a robot," Bolton remarked to Yahoo Sports.Thieneman would arrive early, always sit in the same spot, have breakfast, stretch and then get a couple sprints in before the session began, even if it was a walkthrough. And he would always stay late, Bolton explained. That part of Thieneman's routine hasn't changed. He's carried it to the NFL, where he's committed to executing pre-planned drills or addressing a pain point from that day's practice so that he can visualize the moment bothering him and go through it again."Nobody has worked harder," Purdue defensive coordinator Kevin Kane told Yahoo Sports.Kane, Thieneman's DC the first two years of his college career, added: "Nobody's put himself in a position to be where they're at today more than him."Where Thieneman is today is on the starting defense of a Bears team that culture-changing head coach Ben Johnson wants to not only win the Super Bowl but also score the most points per game in league history. Thieneman is in the back end of a unit challenged with keeping pace.He's among the fastest players on the team. He needs to be one of the fastest learners, too. The Bears are counting on him in a new-look secondary that has already lost reigning Super Bowl champion safety Coby Bryant for four to six months because of a left knee injury the former Seattle Seahawks standout suffered in camp.How change of direction vaulted him to ChicagoThieneman's stint at Purdue is well-documented. A three-star prospect from Westfield, Indiana, Thieneman followed in the footsteps of his two older brothers, Jake and Brennan, who joined the team as walk-ons and wound up playing roles in the Boilermakers' secondary.Jake and Brennan, nine and seven years Dillon's senior, mentored Dillon as he grew into a more heralded high school recruit than either of them. As the story goes, Dillon sports a No. 31 jersey because he's a combination of Jake and Brennan, and they wore No. 41 and No. 38 at Purdue (Dillon merged Brennan's "3" with Jake's "1" to make "31").Jake and Brennan showed middle school Dillon what it meant to study and train like a college athlete. By the time Dillon reached West Lafayette in the winter of 2023 as an early enrollee on scholarship, he hit the ground running.Kane, currently in his first season back as the Boilermakers' DC after coaching as an assistant at Minnesota in 2025, said he'll still get players who come in as freshmen without knowing what the A-gap is. Dillon Thieneman, meanwhile, appeared seasoned from the jump."Just his demeanor and his approach, how he attacked the drills — there was no learning curve," Kane said."So you're like, 'Holy cow, this kid should still be in high school. And he's out here doing better than the kids that have been here in college football for the last two or three years.'"Thieneman won Big Ten Freshman of the Year that season while establishing himself as Purdue's first All-American DB since 1990. He clocked out with six interceptions, but the Boilermakers were in the basement of the Big Ten. They sank even lower during Thieneman's adversity-worn sophomore campaign, after which he said a difficult goodbye to Purdue."Getting to Oregon, one of the main reasons I chose them was, when I was on my visit, they told me exactly what my weaknesses were and what I needed to work on and then their plan for me to get better," Thieneman said.Thieneman, who is 6-foot and 201 pounds, has been synonymous with speed for years. His first Purdue interception was made possible by him sprinting across the field and plucking a Fresno State deep shot out of the air like a center fielder tracking a fly ball toward the alley.In the pre-draft process, he ran a 4.35, the fourth-best time of the participating safeties at this year's NFL Combine. But at his position, more than straight-line speed is required.In part thanks to testing Bolton administered at Oregon, Thieneman sharpened his change of direction. Doing so upgraded his open-field tackling. Thieneman was all smiles after being selected 25th overall by the Bears during April's NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.Emilee Chinn via Getty ImagesThieneman went on to reduce his missed tackle rate to a career-low 8.3% while playing a career-high 434 defensive snaps in the box, according to Pro Football Focus."I think he became maybe the best open-field tackler in the country his junior year," said Hampton, who was promoted to DC in January after doubling as Oregon's co-defensive coordinator and a secondary coach the past three seasons.Additionally, Thieneman conceded a mere 145 receiving yards, just 8.1 per reception he gave up, per PFF. He was part of a Ducks unit that ranked 12th in points per game allowed (17.9) and fourth in passing yards per game allowed (157.9) last season. After experiencing a combined five wins at Purdue, he assisted Oregon in piling up 13 in one season, en route to the College Football Playoff semifinals."He can do anything, really," Hampton said. "I mean, he can sit in the box. He can play the deep half, he can play in the post, he can cover. He's really a jack of all trades."Thieneman isn't slowing down, but the game isEarly in training camp, on Aug. 6, Johnson recalled a conversation he had days prior. "It's funny. Someone made a comment to me from Tuesday's practice," Johnson said at the time: 'That looked like his Oregon tape. The practice on Tuesday, that looked like his Oregon tape.' It's hard to say that. It was our second day in pads. "But you can see that play speed start to show up."Johnson, though, qualified that anecdote by pointing out that Thieneman was thinking a lot. He's wired to "be on every little thing," the second-year Bears frontman asserted."And, so, when you are like that, you can potentially, in your quest to be right every time, slow down," Johnson continued.The antidote to that mental quicksand? Reps. And more reps.They're paying off, says Chicago's WR1, Rome Odunze.Along with extolling Thieneman for being a regular near the top of the Bears' speed board, Odunze said Tuesday that he can tell that the game is indeed slowing down for the rookie. Odunze mentioned an in-breaking route Thieneman invaded to break up a play in camp."It's something that takes a little bit of savviness, a little bit of knowing what's happening, seeing the field to accomplish," Odunze said. "So I think the game is slowing down for him a good bit, and he's seeing things a lot quicker."There was a similar moment in the Bears' preseason opener this past weekend when Thieneman took away a dig from Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. Had Watson thrown the ball there, Thieneman could have made a play on it:Dillon Thieneman (#31) wanted Watson to throw this dig so bad lmao. Look at how quickly he erases that window, forces Watson underneath pic.twitter.com/5gbZKnwSC0— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) August 18, 2026Thieneman's college coaches harp on the fact that he's voracious for the "why" behind his responsibilities within the context of the defense. He isn't just doing what he's instructed to do. He understands why and where his teammates are supposed to be as well."It's like a puzzle piece," said Thieneman, who, despite the "Terminator" moniker, can crack the biggest of smiles. "It all fits together. Understanding the man's job next to you helps you understand your job more because you know what he's looking for and then you know what you're looking for."The homework portion of football hasn't ever bothered Thieneman. Hampton recounted how, unprompted, Thieneman watched Oregon's entire 2024 season when he transferred in. That winter, he took fastidious notes while the Ducks' coaching staff was on the road recruiting."By the time we got off the road, he had already studied," Hampton said. "And when we started teaching the defense, he already was acclimated and had an understanding somewhat because he had taught himself."Recently, he's been forging a relationship with a comparably versatile DB, Cam Lewis, who has filled the vacancy Bryant left at free safety. Whereas Thieneman is a rookie first-round pick, Lewis is a former undrafted free agent in Year 8. He was with the Buffalo Bills the past seven seasons. Along the way, he plugged holes at cornerback, nickel and safety.In the early days working with Thieneman, a soft-spoken and humble Lewis characterized him as "a natural-born playmaker.""On a communication aspect, he's been on it. Like, he's really been on it," Lewis also said of Thieneman on Aug. 6.Together, Thieneman and Lewis will direct traffic as the last line of defense for the Bears. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen outlined at the start of camp that Chicago must be better in pass defense this season. That's dependent on both pass rush and coverage. Those two are intertwined, with the latter especially falling on a secondary that features Thieneman.Chicago led the NFL with 33 takeaways in 2025. It also ranked a pedestrian 22nd in passing yards allowed per game (227.2).Bears general manager Ryan Poles was looking for more speed in the back end. He got some while bringing aboard a player with "off the charts" football character Poles said in April reminded him of tight end Colston Loveland.Loveland, the Bears' first-round pick last year, helped ignite Chicago's offense. Thieneman is tasked with learning on the fly to elevate a defense hoping to do its part."He's one of one," Bolton said. "Once he's calibrated to where he needs to be in the NFL, it'll be 100%."Getting to that point will be a race against time. Luckily for the Bears, Thieneman's quick, both with his feet and his mind.

Photo by Manx GP. It is with heavy hearts that we report that racer Mauro Poncini, 29, has died, following an incident during qualifying for the 2026 Manx Grand Prix. The Swiss rider is survived by his parents Florio and Manuela, sister Marzia, and girlfriend Sharon.The Caslano, Switzerland, resident was an established road racer, though this year marked his debut at the Isle of Man's Mountain Course.Poncini and another competitor were involved in the incident during the opening lap of the second qualifying session. The second competitor has not been identified, though race organizers report he sustained minor injuries and is receiving treatment at Nobles Hospital on the Isle of Man.Begin Press Release:Statement Issued From The Manx Grand Prix RacesWith great sadness, the Manx Grand Prix Races confirms that Mauro Poncini, 29, from Caslano, Switzerland, died in an incident during Tuesday's qualifying at the 2026 Manx Grand Prix. The incident occurred at Cruickshanks, on the opening lap of the second qualifying session.Mauro was an experienced competitor within the Supersport and Supertwin classes, with an established record of competing at a number of road racing events prior to making his Mountain Course debut this year.The Manx Grand Prix Races pass on their deepest sympathy to his father Florio, mother Manuela, sister Marzia and girlfriend Sharon, as well as his family and friends.Statement From the Swiss Moto Federation (via Google Translate)In memory of Mauro PonciniDecember 21, 1996 – August 18, 2026It is with deep shock and great sadness that we learned of the passing of our pilot Mauro Poncini.Mauro lost his life on August 18, 2026 during the Manx Grand Prix qualifying on the Isle of Man. He was only 29 years old.Mauro was a person with an extraordinary heart, deeply affectionate towards his loved ones and all the people around him. Thanks to his warm and open nature, he was well loved by fellow riders and appreciated by all for his great humanity.With Mauro, the Swiss motorcycle family loses a passionate and deeply committed rider. He lived his passion with all his heart, with courage and absolute dedication. Now, too soon, this same passion has taken him to heaven with him.At this very difficult time, our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones, his friends, fellow riders and his team. To all of them we express our deepest condolences and wish them much strength.Rest in peace, Mauro. You will forever be part of our motorcycle family.Swiss MotoBecome a Motorcycle.com insider. Get the latest motorcycle news first by subscribing to our newsletter here.

Marcus Rashford made his Manchester United debut in 2016 [Getty Images]Marcus Rashford said he would like to play football without his "name being mentioned every day" after Gary Neville tried to start a conversation about the Manchester United forward on a podcast.Rashford replied to a clip of the Stick to Football podcast in which Jamie Carragher expressed his frustration when former United defender Neville asked for thoughts on Rashford."Can we do a podcast without mentioning Rashford?" Carragher said."Stop it. Oh my God. It's like the Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and Rashford… like a little part of the podcast. The Trent part or the Rashford part."Rashford replied to the clip in a post on X, saying: "Thanks, Jamie. It would be great to be able to get my head down and play football without my name being mentioned every day."The 28-year-old looks set to stay at United after spending last season on loan at Barcelona, with whom he won the La Liga title.His last competitive appearance for United came under former manager Ruben Amorim in December 2024, but he could feature in their Premier League opener against Hull on Saturday.Speaking after United's 4-2 friendly defeat by AC Milan on Saturday, defender Harry Maguire said he hoped Rashford would stay at Old Trafford because he is a "big asset" and a "huge threat".How Carrick's Man Utd are shaping up for Premier League seasonMan Utd's decision to make Baleba their 'third midfielder'Signings impress but squad issues remain - learnings from Man Utd's summer

Researchers thought that insects might not live there because their respiratory systems would implode from water pressure. But certain fly larvae in East Africa make daily trips toward the bottom of Lake Malawi with the help of strong air sacs that contain a stretchy protein

2026-08-19T21:14:41Z WASHINGTON (AP) — The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs like Social Security and Medicare and interest on the burgeoning deficit to make up an enormous share of federal spending. The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting the defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out President Donald Trump’s almost-6-month-old Iran war to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said the Trump administration “has been focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending while accelerating economic growth to get America’s debt-to-GDP ratio trending in the right direction.” However, experts say the exploding debt and the latest record milestone is already affecting Americans’ pocketbooks by raising borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowering wages from businesses that have less money available to invest and creating more expensive goods and services. Advocates for a balanced budget also warn that the long-term trend of borrowing more and paying more in interest will force Americans to face tougher fiscal tradeoffs ahead. “The federal debt is already raising the cost of living and choking out other spending and investment, threatening our economy and Americans’ long-term prosperity,” said Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Read More “Our current fiscal trajectory is plainly unsustainable, and that’s the best-case scenario. AI disruption, a recession, global war, or any number of other events could quickly push us over the edge from a challenge into a full-blown crisis,” Spellings said in a statement.The U.S. is subject to a statutory debt limit, or a limit to federal borrowing, which Congress has the authority to set, adjust or abolish. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that the U.S. will most likely reach the debt limit of $41.1 trillion sometime between late winter and mid-summer of 2027, requiring Congress to again vote on whether to raise or suspend the debt limit. The U.S.’ fiscal position stands at the worst among other developed countries, according to recent data analysis from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development FATIMA HUSSEIN Hussein reports on the U.S. Treasury Department for The Associated Press. She covers tax policy, sanctions and any issue that relates to money. twitter mailto 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

The Pentagon is seen from the air, July 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2026-08-19T20:57:55Z The longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes has announced his retirement, ending a decades-long career with the military newspaper as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon moves to exert editorial control and eliminate what it asserts are “woke distractions.”Max D. Lederer Jr. announced his retirement, effective at the end of September, in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. In the memo, seen by The Associated Press, Lederer, the second full-time civilian in the position, wrote that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”The announcement comes less than four months after the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman for the newspaper, whose job it was to safeguard editorial independence. The news outlet is partly funded by the Defense Department but, but has a legacy of independence from military and government leadership. “No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence,” Smith wrote in a column. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stars and Stripes has recently been at the forefront of some of the reporting on conditions for sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and concerns for their mental health during the aircraft carrier’s long deployment — concerns that President Donald Trump has downplayed. It’s part of larger, government-driven changes to the military publicationThe publisher’s retirement also comes seven months after the Pentagon announced in a social media post that it would essentially overhaul the newspaper to align with the department’s current messaging.The secretary’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, wrote on on X in January that the Pentagon “is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” He said the department will “refocus its content away from woke distractions.” Read More “Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Parnell wrote. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”More broadly, the developments at Stars and Stripes come against a backdrop of increased efforts by Hegseth to control media coverage of the department. Last year, officials attempted to impose restrictions on journalists working inside the Pentagon, which, in turn, led most news outlets to turn in their access badges and walk out. Then this summer, the Pentagon took another step and declared its press office a classified space — instituting a policy that journalists must be accompanied by an escort on Pentagon grounds. That policy is being challenged in court. In mid-July, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the policy could stand, overturning a lower court decision.In her April column titled “The Pentagon is trying to silence me,” Smith, the former ombudsman, expressed concern over increasing restrictions on the media. “For nearly a year, Pentagon leadership has placed more and more restrictions on the mainstream media,” she wrote. “The New York Times sued and when the Defense/War Department lost in court, instead of following the judge’s ruling Secretary Hegseth and company pivoted, finding another way to restrict journalists.”Of Stars and Stripes, Smith wrote: “This newspaper has a long history of commitment to the military community and to journalistic values. Please don’t let it be controlled by Pentagon brass.”The departing publisher objected to certain changesLederer was not made available for an interview with the AP. In the interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he did not feel the modernization efforts the Pentagon announced in March were appropriate, in particular a transitioning of print products to digital — fearing that would limit accessibility for troops.“I don’t feel that there’s a full recognition of the value of multiple platforms versus only a digital platform,” Lederer was quoted as saying. In a letter to congressional leaders that was seen by the AP, Rufus Friday, the chair of Stars and Stripes’ advisory board of publishers, wrote that the development “threatens Stripes’s editorial independence.”Roughly half of Stars and Stripes’ budget comes from the Pentagon, and its staff members are considered Defense Department employees. The outlet’s mission statement emphasizes that it is “editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command” and that it is unique among news organizations tied to the Defense Department in being “governed by the principles of the First Amendment.”The newspaper traces its lineage to the Civil War. It has been reporting about the military steadily since World War II, to an audience mainly of service members stationed overseas. ___Jocelyn Noveck writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. JOCELYN NOVECK Noveck is an Associated Press national writer specializing in culture and gender, and a film critic. twitter mailto 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Dr. Erica Schwartz testifies during a Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions committee confirmation hearing to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)2026-08-19T20:54:48Z NEW YORK (AP) — In her first large staff meeting, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promised Wednesday to advocate for the agency while acknowledging that congressionally funded programs lacked staff and employees were feeling burned out.Dr. Erica Schwartz also said she wouldn’t hesitate to disagree with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if necessary — but said she wouldn’t do so publicly.Schwartz started at the head of the Atlanta-based federal agency last week, taking the reins from a series of temporary directors. She spoke to CDC employees Wednesday at her first “all hands” staff meeting. The Associated Press heard a recording of the meeting.Schwartz mentioned an AP story this week about CDC programs that have congressional appropriations but functionally are dead or nearly dead because the CDC staffers who did the work were laid off by President Donald Trump’s administration or remain on leave. She did not say exactly what she will do about these “zombie” programs and about staffers who feel exhausted and overloaded, but said she will meet with CDC staffers to learn more about the situation and what can be done.“The good news is, I’m here,” she said. “I’m Week 1 of being here, and now I can certainly be able to advocate for the CDC. I think when you have (had) that leadership vacuum, it’s, you know, it’s hard to get that advocacy.” Schwartz previously served in uniformed government jobs with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Public Health Service. When she disagrees with other leaders she does so in private, “because that’s just part of the uniformed service person in me,” she said. She said she would continue to do so, but “not in front of the media.” Read More She also promised to build public trust in the agency through “radical transparency, scientific rigor and honest communications,” echoing language used by Kennedy. Schwartz is the 22nd leader of the CDC, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats. In her talk Wednesday, she acknowledged the challenges agency employees have faced. Largely due to layoffs and resignations, the agency has lost 3,000-plus employees, more than one-quarter of its workforce. Morale has plummeted as a succession of mostly temporary leaders has come and gone. The front office has been staffed by political appointees with little or no training in medicine or public health.Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement, took several steps that ran counter to CDC research and recommendations, including disbanding an expert advisory committee and appointing his own panel that included several vaccine skeptics.CDC staffers asked questions Wednesday, including one about Trump’s executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held but discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.Schwartz said a task force on childhood vaccine safety is being established and she is on the panel. It has not met yet, she said. The panel has been given 90 days to report to Trump, she added.Some current and former CDC employees said Schwartz appeared to be earnest, but want to see what she does. The National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers, issued a statement after the meeting.“CDC staff and the American people deserve a strong, independent leader who will follow the science, defend public health expertise and put the health and safety of the public ahead of political pressure,” the statement said. “Dr. Schwartz has spoken about rebuilding trust. That trust must be earned through action.” ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. MIKE STOBBE Stobbe mainly covers public health for The Associated Press. twitter mailto

Democrats in Alabama and beyond are trying to harness Black anger over the Supreme Court’s weakening of the Voting Rights Act and the Republican redistricting that followed.

The prince and his wife, whose relations with King Charles and the rest of the royal family have long been strained, will remain non-working royals, according to a person familiar with the decision.

Interest rates on U.S. government bonds can affect everything from auto and student loans to mortgages.

A veteran detective with deep connections in the city’s rap scene, he served as a one-man intelligence unit and liaison to the music world.

In this image taken from drone footage, workers clean squid from a roadway in Narragansett, R.I., Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (John McNamara/PierPicture via AP)2026-08-19T21:40:58Z A tractor-trailer rollover sent a truckload of squid spilling into a Rhode Island roadway, leaving a stench as they sat in the road for hours in the summer heat. Local authorities have dubbed it the “Squidpocalypse of ’26.”It was a warm, sunny day in the coastal town of Narragansett when the spill happened Sunday, and Narragansett Police Capt. Ryan Prest said he was told that the scene “started to smell bad as the squid sat out in the sun for a few hours.”The fully-loaded trailer was taking the squid to a processing facility out of town when the trailer dislodged and tipped on its side as the driver was navigating a turn, spilling a “substantial portion” of its calamari cargo, the police department said in a statement.Police responded at 9:27 a.m., and the intersection wasn’t reopened until 5:15 p.m., authorities said.Video of the scene showed a trailer on its side and massive piles of squid on the road. “Squid has a distinctive odor to it,” Richard Stevens, a Narragansett resident and fisherman, told WJAR. “It can be very foul smelling, especially if it lands on the road and stays there for awhile.”Heavy equipment and a dump truck were used to remove the squid, Prest said. The driver and a passenger in the truck cab weren’t injured, and no other vehicles were involved, Prest said. The Rhode Island State Police Commercial Enforcement Unit is investigating but it’s unclear if any enforcement action will be taken, Prest said.“We have not issued any citations,” Prest said. “I’m not sure if there will be any citations issued by the state police.” Read More State police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Narragansett Police Department made light of the situation in a social media post on Wednesday, stating that the town is “still recovering” from the “Squidpocalypse of ’26 — the spill that put ‘slippery when wet’ to shame.”___Kelety reported from Phoenix.

In this image taken from drone footage, workers clean squid from a roadway in Narragansett, R.I., Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (John McNamara/PierPicture via AP)2026-08-19T21:34:37Z Tens of thousands of people in northwest Indiana remained without power Wednesday, more than a week after deadly storms leveled trees and knocked down power lines across the region.Northern Indiana Public Service Co., the area’s sole utility, has said its crews have been working nonstop to fix the outages and has restored power to 285,000 customers since Aug. 11. But the utility said 85,000 customers were still without power as of Wednesday morning, including more than 22,000 in Gary, where residents have lined up at community centers for hot meals and chances to charge their phones.Jeremy Spurrier, a 51-year-old safety manager at a wastewater plant, said he is fortunate he has a generator to power the home he shares with his girlfriend and daughter in the town of Portage, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. But the generator is expensive — it goes through about $75 worth of gas a day — and Spurrier said all of the food in his refrigerator has spoiled, forcing the family to rely on nonperishables like soup. Spurrier, who has diabetes, has had to drive to Illinois to get ice to keep his insulin usable. “If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined,” he said.Spurrier said a NIPSCO representative told him to expect to be without power for nearly another week — the utility was hoping to restore power to his home by Aug. 25. He said neighbors with generators have chained them to prevent thefts, while those without generators have been forced to either move in with others who have power or rely on community food distribution sites that have sprung up. Read More Gary, a majority-Black city, has been especially hard hit, with some residents voicing frustration that the city was being ignored. Gary Mayor Eddie Melton acknowledged that locals were “frustrated and exhausted” but said more than 600 linemen were working to restore power in the city.“NIPSCO has never ceased or stopped working in the city of Gary. ... I want to reiterate this is clearly not just a Gary situation. It is a northwest Indiana situation,” Melton said. A 4-year-old boy, three men and three women were among those who had died since the storms began Aug. 11, said Liz Woods, a spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. In a statement Tuesday, NIPSCO called the destruction “unprecedented and widespread,” and said crews from around the country have arrived to help repair downed wires, broken poles and damaged equipment. Authorities said that someone fired upon a NIPSCO vehicle over the weekend while it was making repairs in Gary, prompting officials to have to increase security for NIPSCO crews.In Whiting, Indiana, Myra Carden, 74, said her home wasn’t damaged by the storm — “not even a chair was blown over in the yard.” But she was in her second blackout Wednesday.Carden, her son and their three dogs lost power for more than two days last week. Then the electricity went out again Tuesday.“More than once I have put in an outage report,” she said. ”All I get back is, ‘You already put in a report.’ Well, what do you want me to do? ... This doesn’t make sense. Of course I’m not a lineman; I’m a paralegal.”Carden uses a generator to keep the refrigerator humming but only when someone’s home to monitor it.“We have a deep freeze in the garage packed full with beef and chicken. I’m sure everything will be thrown away,” she said. R.J. RICO Rico is a U.S. Desk editor and reporter based in Atlanta for The Associated Press. He has covered housing, immigration and activism in the South. twitter mailto

A sign in support of a proposed constitutional amendment backed by the group Respect Missouri Voters sits outside the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City, Mo., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)2026-08-19T21:20:09Z JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri court has rejected a request to let voters decide in November whether to erect some of the nation’s strongest protections for laws passed by citizen initiative. The ruling Wednesday by a Cole County judge upholds a decision by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who had blocked the amendment from the November ballot despite thousands of petition signatures for it. Hoskins asserted that the measure violated the state constitution by containing multiple subjects and restricting a republican form of government.The proposed constitutional amendment would have required 80% of lawmakers to vote in favor of repealing or amending voter-approved initiatives in order to change them. It also would have barred the Legislature from increasing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, shortening the time to collect them or otherwise weakening initiative rights. The ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green is likely to be appealed.About half of U.S. states give people the power to propose laws or constitutional amendments by collecting petition signatures to place items on the ballot. Missouri has been at the center of a national battle over direct democracy. In August, voters overwhelmingly defeated a measure placed on the ballot by lawmakers that would have imposed one of the nation’s toughest standards for passing citizen-initiated amendments. Read More The group Respect Missouri Voters led a petition drive to strengthen voter rights pertaining to initiatives after lawmakers last year repealed a paid sick leave initiative approved by voters in 2024 and referred a new amendment to the November ballot seeking to reverse voter-approved abortion rights. DAVID A. LIEB Lieb covers issues and trends in state governments across the U.S. He’s reported about government and politics for The Associated Press for 30 years. twitter mailto

Cornerback, wide receiver, and kicker? The Jacksonville Jaguars' Travis Hunter knocked a field goal through the uprights during Wednesday's practice.In a video posted on social media, it looked like Hunter was kicking -- around -- a 30-yarder. As the ball went through the goalposts, the crowd roared, and Hunter sprinted in celebration.“We got @cameronglittle’s backup.” 😂@TravisHunterJr | @Reece_Parkinsonpic.twitter.com/l8fkNM2Y1M— Jaguars UK and IE (@JaguarsUKandIE) August 19, 2026However, ESPN's Michael DiRocco noted that Hunter was actually 1-for-5 on the day kicking, missing his first four attempts.So it's safe to say that Cam Little's job isn't in jeopardy.For a look at how Hunter performed on offense and defense during Wednesday's practice, you can find that here.This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Travis Hunter makes a field goal at Jaguars' training camp practice

Michael Page, one of the most dynamic strikers in the UFC, is taking his talents to the wrestling world.MVP is set to compete in a freestyle wrestling match against Alexander Shlemenko at RAF 14, which is scheduled to go down at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas on Oct. 3. The event streams live on FOX Nation, and the match will be contested at cruiserweight. The promotion announced the booking on Wednesday.Page, a former Bellator welterweight contender, has been competing in the UFC over the last two years, where he's gone 4-1. His last bout was back in March when he defeated Sam Patterson in a unanimous decision. Like Page, Shlemenko also made his name fighting under the Bellator banner. There, he won and defended the Bellator middleweight title three times. He also won multiple tournaments under Bellator. Shlemenko, 42, is still competing in MMA. He's got 89 professional fights, with his last one being in June at ACA in Russia.RAF 14 is headlined by a matchup between UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan vs. Dillon Danis.VEGAS ARE YOU READY? 👀Alexander Shlemenko takes on Michael Page OCT 3 in Las Vegas at #RAF14Tickets in bio. Watch on @foxnationpic.twitter.com/XFjBW7kkgw— Real American Freestyle (@RAFWrestlingUSA) August 19, 2026This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC's Michael 'Venom' Page books RAF debut

In their storied football history, the USC Trojans have had countless heroes. But they have also encountered quite a few villains.In a recent story, ESPN’s college football writers decided on the greatest enemy for every power conference program. For USC, they had none other than the NCAA itself.“The Trojans count both UCLA and Notre Dame among their most bitter rivals, yet there is no more fraught relationship than the one they have had with the NCAA,” Paolo Ugetti wrote. “Sixteen years later, the sting surrounding the way the NCAA punished Reggie Bush and USC following an investigation into Bush receiving what it deemed improper gifts is a lingering part of the identity of Trojans fans and, to an extent, the program as a whole. As the sport has become as professionalized as it ever has been, the way Bush's missteps and the heavy punishment USC received (bowl ban and vacating wins, including a national title) look in comparison has only served to reinforce USC fans' belief that their team was unfairly punished.”Personally I might have gone with Vince Young for the way that he broke the hearts of USC fans in the 2006 Rose Bowl. You could also make a strong case for quarterbacks Brett Hundley and Andrew Luck, both of whom played for a USC rival and went 3-0 against the Trojans. Ultimately, though, given the injustice that the NCAA hit USC with back in 2010, it is tough to argue too much with ESPN’s decision.Contact/Follow @TrojansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of USC Trojans news, notes and opinion.This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: ESPN has the NCAA as USC’s greatest all-time enemy

Pakistan opener Azan Awais was dismissed off the very first ball of the first Test against England at Headingley on Wednesday, becoming only the second Pakistani opener ever to suffer the unwanted fate.Ollie Robinson produced a superb delivery to trap Awais lbw with the opening ball of the three-match series. The right-arm seamer's wobble-seam delivery moved sharply into the left-hander and struck him in front of off stump. Awais played around the ball and was given out by umpire Chris Gaffaney.Pakistan reviewed the decision, but replays showed a clear gap between bat and ball, while ball-tracking indicated three reds with the delivery hitting the top of middle stump. Awais departed for 0 off one ball.The dismissal made Awais only the second Pakistan opener to be dismissed from the first delivery of a Test. The previous instance came in 1983, when Mohsin Khan was dismissed off the first ball against India in Jalandhar.Robinson joins select England listRobinson's strike also made him only the fourth England bowler to take a wicket with the first ball of a Test played in England.Maurice Tate was the first to achieve the feat against Australia at Leeds in 1926, dismissing Warren Bardsley. Geoff Arnold then struck against India at Birmingham in 1974, removing Sunil Gavaskar, while Ryan Sidebottom dismissed Daren Ganga against West Indies at Chester-le-Street in 2007.Robinson became the latest entrant to the list by removing Awais at Headingley.Picked the wicket on the first ball of the Test in EnglandMaurice Tate vs AUS, Leeds, 1926 (W Bardsley)Geoff Arnold vs IND, Birmingham, 1974 (S Gavaskar)Ryan Sidebottom vs WI, Chester-le-Street, 2007 (D Ganga)Ollie Robinson vs PAK, Leeds, 2026 (Azan Awais)*The early breakthrough was also a dramatic start to Robinson's return to the England side. The seamer had last played a Test at Lord's against New Zealand in June, where he claimed match-winning figures of 7-77 in his first Test appearance in two years.— englandcricket (@englandcricket) Robinson leads Pakistan top-order collapseRobinson continued to trouble Pakistan's top order as the opening session unfolded. He removed four of Pakistan's top five batters, helping England seize control after rain had shortened the morning session.Pakistan slipped to 150/7 by tea, with Robinson finishing the extended three-hour session with impressive figures of 4-39 from 16 overs.

Image: NASCAR The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) for the 2027 season, marking the series' first event at the venue since 2019. The race weekend is scheduled for Labour Day weekend, Sept. 3–5, 2027, on the track's 3.957-kilometer (2.459-mile), 10-turn Grand Prix circuit.The Bowmanville, Ontario facility (North East of Toronto) previously hosted the Truck Series annually from 2013 through 2019 and has always produced some spectacular racing and controversial finishes. The inaugural event in 2013 was won by Chase Elliott, with subsequent races won by drivers who later moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series, including Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and Austin Cindric.The 2027 event will serve as the regular-season finale for the Truck Series, establishing the 10-driver field for the playoff race."We are very happy to have the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series back competing at our track," said Myles Brandt, President and General Manager of CTMP. "The series has produced some of the most thrilling racing we've seen here, and we know our fans have been wanting us to bring it back. Our new ownership group headed by Peter Thomson, Chris Pfaff, and Alek Krstajic have all been very supportive in our efforts to get the NASCAR trucks back up here."Ben Kennedy, Chief Operating Officer of NASCAR, noted the venue's history with the sanctioning body."CTMP is a world-class facility that has produced some memorable NASCAR moments on the Grand Prix Circuit over the years, so we're proud to bring the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series back to Canada," Kennedy said. "Bringing the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series back to CTMP gives us a great opportunity to connect with those fans and build on the history we've established at this facility." Image: NASCAR In addition to the Truck Series, CTMP will continue to host its established regional and sports car events in 2027, including the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship on July 11, 2027, and the NASCAR Canada Series, which has raced at the facility since 2007. Become an AutoGuide insider. Get the latest from the automotive world first by subscribing to our newsletterhere.

Fox News and Republicans are apparently scandalized that out bisexual San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who is running for one of California’s U.S House seats, held an August 13 fundraiser at a San Diego, California, lesbian bar called Gossip Grill. The right-wing media outlet notes that the venue’s events include “Girls, Gays and Theys Sundays,” “Cabaret Drag Brunch Pride Extravaganza,” a Friday event named after genital stimulation, as well as menu headings like “Foreplay” (appetizers) and “Happy Endings” (desserts). Many other gay and lesbian bars use sexual innuendo and provocatively titled events to entice patrons. Related Krysten Sinema reveals moment her bodyguard’s wife knew they were having affair Fox News’ article quoted an unnamed National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson who called the bar “the perfect headquarters for [von Wilpert’s] radical campaign.” The spokesperson added that her platform of LGBTQ+ civil rights is “perverted” and “places an undue emphasis on sexuality.” The Democratic candidate supports the Equality Act (federal legislation to establish comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity), and opposes bans on gender-affirming care, as well as “efforts to silence LGBTQ+ students in our schools,” her campaign website states. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Accordingly, the same spokesperson claimed that von Wilpert “pushes hormone treatments on kids,” an inflammatory and untrue way of describing protecting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors (something affirmed by almost all major American medical associations). The spokesperson also said von Wilpert’s agenda “puts sexual content in front of young children,” a similarly untrue and inflammatory dogwhistle in support of anti-LGBTQ+ book bans, which often censor important literary works that sometimes contain depictions of non-heterosexuality. Fox News asked von Wilpert’s campaign about “whether she thought the themes at [Gossip Grill] were appropriate for a congressional campaign.” But Dan Rottenstreich, a spokesperson for von Wilpert’s campaign, said, “[von Wilpert’s Republican opponent, San Diego County Supervisor] Jim Desmond is worried about gay bar theme nights – Marni von Wilpert is worried about how to bring the cost of living down for everyday Americans. That pretty much sums up the choice in this race.” von Wilpert won in the state’s non-partisan primary election last night, earning 20.8% of the vote, alongside Desmond’s 38.9%. She will now face Desmond in the general election this November. Her GOP opponent, Jim Desmond, has an anti-LGBTQ+ record Republican San Diego County Supervisor and U.S. House candidate Jim Desmond (R-CA) | YouTube screenshot In February 2025, Desmond introduced a motion asking the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to formally endorse the federal “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” legislation that would bar transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports. His motion failed. Around the same time, he posted on Facebook claiming the San Marcos Unified School District was pushing a policy allowing “men in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms” — a reference to a district resolution that would have let students and staff use bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identity. The district removed the bathroom and locker room provision in response to outcry following his post. In 2022, Desmond twice voted against a county ordinance modeled on the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which explicitly extended protections to transgender women, gender-nonconforming people, and transgender men. Desmond also responded, “No Reply,” to an ACLU Action questionnaire asking whether he would publicly support California resources to maintain access to gender-affirming care. von Wilpert faced anti-LGBTQ+ attacks from her failed Dem opponent too Last February, California Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar’s campaign faced criticism over a memo suggesting that von Wilpert, as an LGBTQ+ candidate, would fail to win over Latino and veteran swing voters in her newly drawn congressional district. Ryan Darsey, president of San Diego Democrats for Equality, called Campa-Najjar’s memo “heartbreaking,” “divisive,” and “hateful,” and said that it sends “a signal to a group of people that is offensive and homophobic.” Out Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) also criticized the memo. “When I ran for Congress, I heard the same anti-LGBTQ attacks — and I proved them wrong,” Takano said, according to The Advocate. “Our party wins when we build real coalitions rooted in respect and shared values, not when we echo the kind of divisive rhetoric that voters have grown tired of hearing. Democrats won’t defeat Republicans by sounding like them.” Campa-Najjar lost the primary election last night after getting only 10.6% of the vote. Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Also, Trump nominates a Kennedy ally to lead the F.D.A. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.

The call is the latest sign of a rapprochement between President Trump and his former fixer, who served as the star witness against his former boss in New York State Court.

Kristin Purcell spent this past year working from her Florida home and needed a designated space for an office. The creative lead — and chief candle pourer — behind the popular online decor shop, Henro Company, Kristin originally thought she’d use a spare bedroom. READ MORE...

Perfect light is just a tap away. READ MORE...

Prince Harry, and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive for an event, during a visit to Bondi Beach, Australia, April 17, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP, File)2026-08-19T22:06:49Z LIMA, Peru (AP) — The United States will send a military hospital ship to Peru’s Pacific coast next year to help Peru cope with the effects of the El Nino climate phenomenon as part of a broader collaboration with the South American country, U.S. Ambassador to Peru Bernie Navarro announced Wednesday.The announcement comes after Navarro met with Peruvian Foreign Minister Carlos Espá in Miami to discuss cooperation, and at a moment when the U.S. has sent increased humanitarian aid for earthquakes in Colombia and Venezuela. The U.S. is also ramping up its joint military operations in the region. Espá indicated that a road map had been developed, which includes assistance in the form of equipment, expertise, and overflights to prevent, mitigate and respond to the phenomenon. The amount of U.S. aid was not disclosed. Espá also met with U.S. business leaders interested in investing in mining and infrastructure projects. Navarro said in Spanish that the meeting’s objective was to understand Peru’s needs and how to provide support with a rapid response. He noted that aid following the recent earthquake in Colombia would have been faster with better coordination. Navarro indicated that the hospital ship USNS Comfort, which was already in Peru in 2018 and 2019, will arrive in the northern Pacific coast of Peru in February 2027, when El Nino is expected to peak. The El Nino climate phenomenon is a warming of the Pacific Ocean near the equator that affects global weather patterns. According to meteorologists, it could soon equal or surpass the 1997 phenomenon, which caused damage from heat waves, heavy rains, floods and forest fires. Read More President Keiko Fujimori, who took office on July 28, has said that addressing the potentially catastrophic climate phenomenon is a priority.___Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Prince Harry, and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive for an event, during a visit to Bondi Beach, Australia, April 17, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP, File)2026-08-19T22:11:14Z LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have decided to return to the United Kingdom, but they won’t resume their roles as working members of the royal family, Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.King Charles III was alerted to the decision on Sunday and wasn’t told about it during the couple’s visit to the UK last month.The Telegraph – which broke the story – reports that Harry and Meghan’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have already enrolled at British schools and will start classes in September.The decision comes more than six years after the couple gave up their royal duties and moved to California to pursue lucrative media contracts. Returning to Britain will allow the king, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, to see more of his grandchildren.

Olympique Marseille vs Strasbourg Prediction & Betting Tips – 21/08/2026Ligue 1Olympique Marseille21 Aug 202619:45StrasbourgPrediction:Olympique Marseille to win1.73View Odds >Pick your predictionDrawOlympique Marseille vs Strasbourg Prediction & Betting Tips – 21/08/2026 21 Aug 2026 Stade Vélodrome Louis HecqThe Stade Vélodrome plays host to the curtain-raiser of the 2026-27 Ligue 1 season on 21 August as Olympique Marseille welcome Strasbourg in a fixture rich with history. Bruno Génésio takes charge of his first competitive match at the helm, steering a reshaped squad stripped of its leading scorers following stringent financial sanctions. Strasbourg, meanwhile, travel south desperate to arrest a wretched run of three consecutive defeats. Both sides covet an opening-night statement, yet the stakes feel weightier for a Marseille outfit rebuilding under fresh leadership. Our prediction1: Olympique Marseille to win1.73on Betfred· Confidence Medium Odds recorded on 19 Aug 2026 at 23:30 · Odds are subject to changeRecommended Bets Odds recorded on 19 Aug 2026 at 23:30 · Odds are subject to changeMatch AnalysisOlympique Marseille open their Ligue 1 campaign as clear favorites at 1.73, backed by a perfect nine-match unbeaten home record against Strasbourg in Ligue 1 and a structural dominance that Bruno Génésio inherits from day one.9 home Ligue 1 meetings vs Strasbourg without a single defeat at the Vélodrome.8-1 all-time H2H advantage in Ligue 1 gives Marseille overwhelming historical authority.Marseille carry WLLWW recent form, showing a positive momentum shift into the opener.Strasbourg conceded in every one of their last 13 matches, gifting Marseille a prime attacking opportunity.Strasbourg arrive at the Vélodrome in precarious shape at 4.33, having collected just one win in their last five outings. A WDLLL run, a porous defense, and the likely absences of Chilwell and Omobamidele compound their challenge significantly.Strasbourg's WDLLL form reflects a team low on confidence and defensive cohesion.No clean sheet in 13 consecutive matches exposes a structurally broken defensive unit.Key absentees Eduard Sobol (suspension) plus doubts over Delaine and Bakwa further thin Strasbourg's backline options.Key point: With Marseille missing Greenwood and Aubameyang and both defenses leaking, the both-teams-to-score angle at 1.53 offers a compelling complement to the home-win prediction.Form & Statistics: Olympique Marseille vs StrasbourgOlympique MarseilleRecent formWLLWWWins3/5 (60%)Draws0/5 (0%)Losses2/5 (40%)Season statistics (5)4.1Total goals50%Both teams score3.1Goals scored1Goals concededStrasbourgRecent formWDLLLWins1/5 (20%)Draws1/5 (20%)Losses3/5 (60%)Season statistics (5)4.3Total goals58%Both teams score1.8Goals scored2.5Goals concededOlympique Marseille vs Strasbourg: Head-to-HeadOlympique Marseille 20 %Draws 60 %Strasbourg 20 %Average statistics (recent meetings)2.4Total goals80%Both teams score1.2Home goals1.2Away goals40%Over 2.5 goals60%Under 2.5 goalsOdds comparison Odds recorded on 19 Aug 2026 at 23:30 · Odds are subject to changeOur VerdictMarseille's position at the summit, coupled with two wins from their last three at home, makes the home victory at 1.73 our selection. Strasbourg have lost three of their past four away from home and have conceded in each of their last thirteen matches, which bolsters the case for both teams to score at 1.53 as a secondary pick. Under Bruno Génésio, the hosts should have enough quality to prevail despite their summer upheaval. Back the home win with confidence.Questo articolo è a scopo informativo e non costituisce una raccomandazione di gioco.Competition: Ligue 1Stage: Regular Season, 1Date: 21 Aug 2026Time: 19:45 BSTStadium: Stade VélodromeFrequently Asked QuestionsWhat is the best bet for Olympique Marseille vs Strasbourg?Marseille to win is the standout selection here. The home side have never lost to Strasbourg in nine Ligue 1 meetings at the Vélodrome, while Strasbourg have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 13 matches. That structural dominance makes the home win, available at 1.73, a compelling proposition despite the squad uncertainty surrounding Génésio's reshaped side.What time does Olympique Marseille vs Strasbourg kick off?Olympique Marseille vs Strasbourg kicks off at 18:45 UTC on Friday, 21st August 2026. The match takes place at the iconic Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, one of French football's most atmospheric venues and a fortress that Strasbourg have historically found deeply inhospitable.Where can I watch Olympique Marseille vs Strasbourg on TV?Broadcast arrangements for Ligue 1 fixtures vary depending on your territory. In France, the competition's rights are held by dedicated subscription broadcasters. Supporters in the United Kingdom should check their usual sports broadcasting providers. We recommend consulting your local listings to confirm which channel or streaming platform will carry live coverage of this match.What is Olympique Marseille's recent record against Strasbourg?The all-time Ligue 1 head-to-head record is heavily skewed in Marseille's favour, with the home side leading 8 wins to 1 across historical meetings. Crucially, Marseille have never been beaten by Strasbourg in nine home Ligue 1 fixtures at the Vélodrome, a remarkable sequence that underlines their commanding superiority in this particular fixture.

All the typical trappings of Fort Collins high school football are in place as a new season kicks off.Except for one major element.For the first time in school history, Poudre football will not face another city team during the 2026 season.Poudre has played at least one of Fort Collins, Rocky Mountain and Fossil Ridge in football every year since opening in 1964. It's usually been multiple matchups vs. city rivals each season since Rocky opened in 1973.But expanded conferences, Poudre's declining enrollment in recent years and scheduling conflicts prevented a city game from happening for the Impalas this fall."It's unfortunate, for sure. That's just the way that things are rolling with conferences changing and our enrollment," Poudre coach Eric Tonkin told the Coloradoan.Expanded conferences are one factor.Poudre is now in an eight-team conference of primarily 4A teams, providing seven league games. The other three city teams are all in a revamped seven-team 5A league, meaning six conference clashes.Then, this year's expanded Canvas Classic tripleheader gave Poudre, Rocky and Fort Collins each another non-league game against other Northern Colorado teams.That left Poudre with only two non-conference slots open in its 10-game 2026 schedule.Declining enrollment has also hit the Poudre program hard in recent seasons. The Impalas dropped to Class 4A in 2024 and have gone 6-24 overall the last three seasons. They're just 3-12 vs. city teams since 2020.Tonkin said Poudre and Fort Collins tried to get a game together this season. However, the timing of when each team needed a game kept changing as other prospective opponents backed out or changed dates.Poudre-Fort Collins is the city's oldest and most-played football rivalry. It's also the only one to be played twice in one season, with playoff matchups in 1974 and 2006."I’m disappointed, especially for their players, because city games are always the ones you look forward to," Fort Collins coach Jeff Brennan said.Rocky coach and alumnus Phil Underwood remembers some intense battles between the Lobos and Impalas during his own Rocky playing days from 1998-2000."Personally, when I knew we weren’t playing Poudre, it was like part of my soul died. We have so many Rocky alumni on our staff that the Poudre game meant a lot to," Underwood said.Rocky-Poudre has been the city's longest continuous football rivalry. The two teams met every year from 1973-2025, spanning 53 straight seasons."It just stinks, because that game has been played for 50-plus years. This year just won’t feel the same," Underwood said.Fossil Ridge and Poudre played every year from 2010-23, but that series was already not continued during this past two-year CHSAA cycle.Tonkin said he understands the headwinds working against these city games for Poudre. Still, he hopes that Poudre can get at least one of its traditional city rivals back on the books going forward."Hopefully, this is the only two-year cycle where this happens. There’s a lot of history and tradition with these games in Fort Collins and we want to continue that," Tonkin said.Poudre's all-time record vs. Fort Collins city rivalsvs. Fort Collins: Poudre leads 36-26-1vs. Fossil Ridge: Series is tied 7-7vs. Rocky Mountain: Lobos lead 27-24-2Fort Collins football history: Here are all-time records for city, PSD rivalriesPoudre football 2026 scheduleAug. 21: at SeveranceAug. 29: vs. Mountain View (Canvas Classic)Sept. 10: vs. BoulderSept. 18: at Longmont*Sept. 25: at Frederick*Oct. 2: vs. Roosevelt*Oct. 9: vs. Loveland*Oct. 16: at Northridge*Oct. 22: at Grand Junction*Oct. 29: vs. Greeley West** - league gamesChris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Why Poudre isn't playing any Fort Collins football rivals in 2026

The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen situation has looked shaky since the second half began. Not only has their major offseason acquisition in right-hander Edwin Diaz been a disaster thus far, but even their typically reliable other options have struggled.Right-hander Evan Phillips owns a 5.27 ERA across 17 appearances. Left-hander Alex Vesia has also not been as reliable in the second half, posting a 4.63 ERA over 14 appearances. The only reliable option has been left-hander Tanner Scott, who will now be moved into the closer’s role following Edwin Diaz’s neck injury.MORE: Dodgers player leaves Rockies game after throwing upFortunately, the Dodgers got back a major reinforcement ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies. “The Dodgers have activated RHP Brock Stewart from the injured list and designated RHP Jonathan Hernández for assignment,” the team wrote on X.The Dodgers acquired Stewart at last year’s trade deadline in a deal with the Minnesota Twins, understanding the risk that comes with a player who has dealt with injuries throughout his entire career. It has not been any different since joining Los Angeles, as this year he has dealt with both a bone spur in his left foot and right shoulder discomfort.However, when available Stewart has been exactly as advertised. Across 14 appearances this season, he has posted a 2.45 ERA with 14 strikeouts and an impressive 0.750 WHIP, also picking up a save along the way. He missed just three weeks with his most recent injury and did not require a rehab assignment, meaning he should slot right back in as a high-leverage arm immediately. The Dodgers are hoping he picks up right where he left off as they try to figure out their bullpen situation before October.— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava speaks during Big Ten Media Days on Thursday July 24, 2025 in Las Vegas.LOS ANGELES - UCLA football is looking ahead to a new direction under head coach Bob Chesney and after a 2025 season that was rife with disappointment, the Bruins from last season are eager to correct everything that awry and prove everyone rooting against them wrong in the process. Last season began as a disaster after four straight losses to teams that the Bruins by all account should have beaten, with the final straw for then-head coach DeShaun Foster being a 35-10 loss to New Mexico State on Sep. 12, 2025 that snowballed into the eventual firings of Foster and both the offensive and defensive coordinators. A surprise upset of Penn State led to a three-game win streak midseason, but the Bruins eventually ended 3-9 on the season and 3-6 in conference play. The new direction that Chesney has taken the team in and a robust transfer class has renewed hope in the program, but senior quarterback Nico Iamaleava has found an extra drive in the idea that the Bruins have been forgotten after how off-track last season was. "I think everybody counted us out, man," Iamaleava said during UCLA's media day. "Last year wasn't a great year for us, so I think we're not on anybody's radar. So I think that fuels us and really playing for each other is going to be the main thing for us."Seniors looking to impressFor Iamaleava, the pressure is on to correct the errors from last season considering it's his senior year and his last chance to restore UCLA to it's former glory as a program. He's not alone in that. 60 players on UCLA's roster this season are either seniors or fifth-years looking at their last chances at making an impression as Bruins, but based on how the team's culture has been transformed in just a few months, the expectations within the team to make those impressions are high. “Everybody counted us out man… We’re not on anybody’s radar, so I think that fuels us.”- Nico Iamaleava on if UCLA will be playing with something to prove this season pic.twitter.com/M2ootLk38a— Jack Haslett (@JackHaslett_13) August 19, 2026"I think every single senior especially, and we're pretty senior-heavy, I think that we all have an extremely high chip on our shoulder," senior kicker Mateen Bhaghani said. "Me personally, I know I do have a chip on my shoulder because this is my last year and I really want to put it all on the line... So we're really trying to make it a special year and I think that we have the right group of boys to do it." That chip on the Bruins' shoulders extends past just the players who were around for the disappointment of the team last season; that sentiment has extended into the new players that have transferred in as well, of which there have been many. #9 Nico Iamaleava of UCLA walks towards the huddle during an NCAA football game against Penn State on October 4, 2025 in Pasadena, CA.Darwin Walker - The Sporting Tribune#9 Nico Iamaleava of UCLA walks towards the huddle during an NCAA football game against Penn State on October 4, 2025 in Pasadena, CA.Even new players feel the driveSenior tight end Josh Phifer, who was one of several players that transferred to UCLA from James Madison University to follow Chesney, feels a certain level excitement at not just being at UCLA, but coming into the program at a time where it's trying to recover it's identity and repair it's reputation. So even if he wasn't on the roster last season to feel the sting of their defeats, he's eager to be a part of their new rise."I really like that I can come in and try to rebuild this place," Phifer said. "I hope in five years... when UCLA wins a national championship, I can come back and be like 'I was a part of what fostered that growth and that culture.'"“I really like that I can come in and try to rebuild this place. I hope in five years… when UCLA wins a national championship, I can come back and be like “I was part of what fostered that growth and that culture.’”-UCLA transfer Josh Phifer on the process of rebuilding UCLA— Jack Haslett (@JackHaslett_13) August 19, 2026A national championship is obviously a lofty goal and one that Phifer wasn't making any promises about for this season, but that process does start with correcting course one season at a time, which UCLA can start doing now.With new life breathed into the program, the Bruins, especially their seniors, are looking to redefine their own legacies and restore that of their program's and that process begins Sep. 5 against Cal to kick off the 2026 season.

Florida State football's offensive line is ready to compete, even if Herb Hand isn't ready to show his hand before the Seminoles' season opener.The construction of the Seminoles' offensive line has been one of the key points of the preseason as the program dipped into the transfer portal to build the trenches. New faces like Nate Pabst, Braydn Welch-Joiner and Xavier Chaplin, all of whom have 1,000's of collegiate snaps, will be mainstays, but that leaves two other roles up for grabs, and Hand feels comfortable with his options."Nothing’s set in stone right now,” Hand said. “We still have 11 days or something like that before we kick this thing off. So a lot can happen... But I like the way the unit’s coming together."Retooling the starting offensive line isn't new to Hand, as he completely rebuilt the Seminoles' offensive line in his first season. It's part of the modern era of college football, and one Hand seems comfortable operating in.The key, for Hand, is having his players available. The offensive line was hampered with injuries during preseason camp, but a relatively healthy spring and offseason allowed for continuity to be built early. While that's a positive, Hand stressed the best way to judge an offensive line is to get as many reps together as possible."Cohesion is so important. The only way you can have it is by repping together," Hand said. "You can watch all the film you want, you can talk about it all you want. But until you go out and experience it together, the best learning is experiential learning.”Pabst, Welch-Joiner and Chaplin have a known skill set, and plenty of reps, but players like André Otto, Paul Bowling and Chimdia Nwaiwu have seized opportunities in the preseason. And they've put their names in the mix to be in the starting five.Otto earned starting minutes as a redshirt freshman in 2024, but was used more as a depth piece last season. Hand said he's "matured" as a player, and more importantly as a leader. Bowling is a sophomore who comes to Tallahassee fresh off a standout freshman season with Troy. Both he and Otto will be options for the Seminoles at the left guard spot. As for Nwaiwu, he's put himself in a prime position to be the right tackle when the season starts. The senior transfer from Stephen F. Austin has put together a solid camp, and he's earned the respect of Hand."He’s got a very high give-a-crap factor," Hand said. "He wants to be an elite player. He still has to play with a greater anchor at times. He’s a strainer. He likes to work. He likes to practice." The Seminoles kick the season off on Saturday, Aug. 29 against New Mexico State, and Hand's confident his unit will be ready, regardless of who is starting, when the offense takes the field for its first drive of the season."We are getting there," Hand said. "I think we will be fine by the time we get ready to kick it off."Florida State football schedule 2026vs. New Mexico State | Aug. 29vs. SMU* | Sept. 7Byeat Alabama | Sept. 19vs. Central Arkansas | Sept. 26vs. Virginia* | Oct. 3at Louisville* | Oct. 9at Miami* | Oct. 17Byevs. Clemson* | Oct. 31at Boston College* | Nov. 7at Pittsburgh* | Nov. 13vs. NC State* | Nov. 21vs. Florida | Nov. 27Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 'Nothing set in stone' on FSU football's O-line, but Herb Hand likes what he sees