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3 things we heard from the Chicago Bears, including a new hire for the coaching staff and the latest on Nate Davis’ injury

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus spoke with reporters Monday at Halas Hall to recap his team’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.Along with Eberflus declaring quarterback Justin Fields doubtful to play Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders because of a thumb injury, here are three other things we learned.1. The Bears hired Phil Snow as a senior defensive analyst.Snow, who has coached in college and the NFL since 1979, will do advance scouting of opponents for the defensive coaching staff. Eberflus said Snow will present his reports to coaches on Mondays and Tuesdays but will not coach on game days.Snow was the Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator under coach Matt Rhule the last three seasons until the Panthers fired him in October 2022 after Rhule was fired. Snow coached linebackers for the Detroit Lions from 2005-08.He was a college defensive coordinator most recently at Baylor and also at Temple, Eastern Michigan, Washington, UCLA, Arizona State and Boise State.Ebe...

Nazis protest outside Healey’s home – governor doesn’t even mention it

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

Neo-nazis are not welcome in Massachusetts, the governor said after a group of them gathered in protest outside of her private residence.About a dozen masked members of the group NSC-131 stood across the street from the governor’s Arlington home on Saturday night, holding a protest that resulted in no arrests and no physical violence, but spreading a message of hate that Gov. Maura Healey said does not fly in the Bay State.“These Neo-Nazis and white supremacists are trying to scare people from exercising their rights and standing up to their hate. We won’t tolerate it in Massachusetts,” she said in a written statement. The governor did not mention the protest during a Monday press availability.Local CBS affiliate WBZ was the first to notice the gathering outside the governor’s home over the weekend, reporting a gathering of men chanting anti-immigrant slogans and holding a sign that read “New England is ours, the rest must go.”Healey’s staff confirmed the protestors were membe...

‘No place in America’: Biden, elected officials condemn stabbings of Muslim family in Illinois

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

The weekend stabbing death of a 6-year-old Muslim boy and wounding of his 32-year-old mother allegedly at the hands of a landlord upset about the escalating war between Israel and Hamas drew swift condemnation from politicians across Chicago and the nation.Hours after the charges were announced Sunday, President Joe Biden said he was sickened to hear of the fatal stabbing of Wadea Al-Fayoume and the serious wounding of his mother, Hanaan Shahin.“This act of hate against a Palestinian Muslim family has no place in America,” Biden wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal.”Joseph Czuba, 71, of Plainfield, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in a “senseless and cowardly act,” the Will ...

Reps slam Squad ‘cease-fire’ talk while hostages held by Hamas — possibly some Americans

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

With 200 hostages still being held captive — possibly some Americans — Bay State congressmen are saying now is not the time for a cease-fire in Israel.The U.S. State Department says the number of Americans killed since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas has risen to 30 — with 13 more still missing.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Monday that at least 199 hostages are known to be held in Gaza, a number much greater than previously believed, according to The Times of Israel.Hamas has also released another video of a hostage on their Telegram channel, this time showing a young woman receiving medical attention after what appears to be a serious arm injury, the Jerusalem Post is reporting.All this, says U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Salem), should end all talk over a cease-fire with Hamas.“Did we call for a cease-fire and de-escalation after Pearl Harbor? Instead of pushing Israel into a ceasefire with an organization that has proven it is hellbent...

Kansas is No. 1 in the preseason men's AP Top 25; Duke, Purdue next as 5 teams get first-place votes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

Bill Self likes to remind his team that the faces may change at Kansas but the expectations within his program never do.Expectations outside the program? Turns out they are as high as possible this year.The Jayhawks were the clear No. 1 pick in the AP Top 25 preseason men's basketball poll released Monday, earning 46 of 63 first-place votes to easily outdistance No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Purdue. It's the fourth time since Self's arrival in Lawrence that his team will start the season on top but the first time since the 2018-19 season.“You know you'll have a target on your back playing at Kansas,” said Kevin McCullar Jr., who decided to return for a second season with the Jayhawks and fifth in college hoops. "We'll have that chip on our shoulder, you know, prove everybody wrong, and state why you should be the No. 1 team in the nation. You go out there and use that. You use that as fuel every day.”The Jayhawks had a disappointing follow-up to their 2022 national title last season, losing ...

UN Security Council meets to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions on Israel-Hamas war

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council met Monday evening to vote on rival Russian and Brazilian resolutions that reflect deep divisions over the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the latest Hamas’ attacks and Israeli retaliation.But immediately after the meeting was gaveled to order, the United Arab Emirates ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, asked for members to go into closed consultations, and the 15 council ambassadors left the room. Several diplomats said they wanted a delay in the vote, especially on the Brazil resolution.The U.N.’s most powerful body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has failed to respond to Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed some 1,300 people and to Israel’s airstrikes that have killed 2,750 Palestinians and its order to Gazans in the north to head south to avoid an expected ground war.The Russian draft resolution, which was scheduled to be voted on first, calls for “an immediate, durabl...

Colorado court upholds Google keyword search warrant which led to arrests in fatal arson

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s highest court on Monday upheld the search of Google users’ keyword history to identify suspects in a 2020 fatal arson fire, an approach that critics have called a digital dragnet that threatens to undermine people’s privacy and their constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. However the Colorado Supreme Court cautioned it was not making a “broad proclamation” on the constitutionality of such warrants and emphasized it was ruling on the facts of just this one case.At issue before the court was a search warrant from Denver police requiring Google to provide the IP addresses of anyone who had searched over 15 days for the address of the home that was set on fire, killing five immigrants from the West African nation of Senegal. After some back and forth over how Google would be able to provide information without violating its privacy policy, Google produced a spreadsheet of sixty-one searches made by eight accounts. Goog...

Soccer match between Belgium and Sweden suspended after gunman kills 2 Swedes in Brussels

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Thousands of soccer fans were kept inside Belgium’s national stadium for about 2 1/2 hours Monday after a game between host Belgium and Sweden was suspended at halftime following a gunman fatally shooting two Swedes in Brussels before kickoff.The European Championship qualifier was being played some 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the shooting in the center of the Belgian capital city, with over 35,000 fans attending the match. With the suspect still at large, Belgian authorities kept fans inside the venue for security reasons before they started the evacuation around midnight local time.Fans chanted “All together, All together” inside the King Baudouin Stadium after the match was halted, with thousands of supporters from both sides also shouting “Sweden, Sweden!” Eric Van Duyse, spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, told reporters the investigation was centering on “a possible terrorist motivation for the shooting.”“During the evening, a claim of responsi...

Colombia signs three-month cease-fire with FARC holdout group

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s government and the rebel group know as FARC-EMC on Monday signed a three-month cease-fire and formally began peace talks, as President Gustavo Petro tries to bolster his plans to pacify rural areas ahead of regional elections that will take place at the end of October.In an event that took place in the township of Tibu, near Colombia’s border with Venezuela, both sides also agreed to cease attacks on civilians and set up a group that will monitor the cease-fire and could include United Nations personnel.“Peace today seems to have been eclipsed when sirens, bombs, shouts of pain and desperation can be heard in places like the Middle East, Europe or sub-Saharan Africa” said Camilo González, the government’s lead negotiator. “These peace talks (in Colombia) are a bet on life and freedom.”FARC-EMC are currently Colombia’s third largest armed group, with around 3,500 members. The group is led by left-wing guerrilla fighters who refused to join a 2...

New York judge rejects Indiana ex-U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer’s request to remain free pending appeal

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 07:12:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer cannot defer his surrender next month to serve a nearly two-year prison sentence resulting from his insider trading conviction because there was overwhelming evidence of his crimes, a federal judge said Monday.Judge Richard M. Berman ruled there was no substantial question nor any close question of law to warrant letting the Indiana Republican remain free until his appeal is decided. He said prosecutors had presented “compelling testimony and documentary evidence” of Buyer’s crimes and “devastating evidence of an attempted cover-up.”The judge noted that a jury capped a nine-day trial by returning its March verdict in less than four hours. Prosecutors say he made illegal stock trades based on insider information while working as a consultant after serving in the House from 1993 to 2011.The lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and was a House prosecutor at ex-President Bill Clinton’s 1...