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Tyson Bagent won his 1st NFL start. A look at 12 key numbers as the Chicago Bears ready to face the Los Angeles Chargers.

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

Coming off a 30-12 romp over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Chicago Bears will finish off the AFC West portion of their schedule Sunday night when they travel to Los Angeles to face the Chargers.Matt Eberflus is still looking to win consecutive games for the first time as Bears coach. But the Bears have played much better in all three phases this month and will wrap up October on the “Sunday Night Football” stage. As the game approaches, here’s a look at 12 attention-grabbing facts and figures.1Combined total of turnovers and sacks taken by Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent in his first NFL start Sunday. Bagent completed 21 of 29 passing attempts for 162 yards and a touchdown and posted a 97.2 passer rating. He also had three runs for 24 yards. Bagent averaged 7.7 yards per completion and didn’t attempt a pass that traveled more than 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage but still guided the Bears to a runaway victory. Of the last 10 quarterbacks to make their first...

Maine police expand shelter-in-place advisory to Bowdoin after mass shooting as manhunt continues

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine — Maine authorities expanded a shelter-in-place advisory Thursday morning after a shooting left multiple people dead and sparked a massive manhunt for a 40-year-old man law enforcement identified as a person of interest in a mass shooting on Wednesday.Maine state police said they were extending a shelter-in-place advisory in effect in Lewiston, the second-largest city in the state, and Lisbon to Bowdoin, which they said was the hometown of Robert Card, the person of interest.This photo released by the Lewiston Maine Police Department shows Robert Card, who police have identified as a person of interest in connection to mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. ( Lewiston Maine Police Department via AP)“We are expanding the shelter in place advisory and school closings to include the town of Bowdoin.  Please stay inside your homes while more than 100 investigators, both local and federal work to locate Robert Card who is a person of interest in t...

Ravens vs. Cardinals scouting report for Week 8: Who has the edge?

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

The Ravens played their best game of the season to rout the Detroit Lions, 38-6. The Cardinals fell to 1-6 with a 20-10 road loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Who will have the advantage Sunday?Ravens passing game vs. Cardinals pass defenseLamar Jackson played one of the best games of his career against the Lions, completing 21 of 27 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns. He made use of excellent pass protection from a healthy offensive line, patiently waiting for his receivers to pop open and finding them with pinpoint accuracy. Even when the Lions did pinch in on him, Jackson danced away from trouble and identified the right target. He used the threat of runs to draw the defense to him, then beat it with throws into abandoned spaces. Six Ravens, including fullback Patrick Ricard and running back Gus Edwards, caught passes of 20 yards or longer. For all that wondrous variety, tight end Mark Andrews (five touchdowns, 19 first downs on 28 catches) and wide receiver Zay Flowers (at le...

Weekly applications for US jobless benefits tick up slightly

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose last week but remains historically low as the labor market continues to show strength amid high interest rates and inflation.Jobless claim applications rose by 10,000 to 210,000 for the week ending Oct. 21, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s applications were the fewest in eight months.Jobless claim applications are considered a proxy for layoffs.The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 1,250 to 207,500.Overall, 1.79 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Oct. 14, about 63,000 more than the previous week. In an effort to stem persistent inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March of 2022. The central bank’s goal is to cool the economy and labor market and bring down rising wages, which it says feeds inflation. However, the labor market an...

Man United reports Premier League-record revenues of $783.5 million

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United reported revenues of 648.4 million pounds ($783.5 million) for the last financial year Thursday, a Premier League record.The latest financial figures from United come at a time when British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is reportedly ready to buy a 25% share of the English club from its American owners, the Glazer family.Overall revenue is up by 11% compared to the previous year even though United competed in the Europa League and not the more lucrative Champions League. The club still reported a loss of 42.1 million pounds ($50.9 million).United’s wage bill for the period was down 52.8 million pounds ($63.8 million) to 331.4 million pounds ($400 million), which was attributed to “squad turnover” and the team’s absence from the Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo was among several highly-paid players to leave the club. The report said no dividends had been paid to the Glazer family and other shareholders.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com...

Taliban free Afghan activist arrested 7 months ago after campaigning for girls’ education

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban have freed an Afghan activist who campaigned for the education of girls, a local nonprofit organization said Thursday. Matiullah Wesa was arrested seven months ago and spent 215 days in prison, according to the group, Pen Path.Wesa has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan to reverse its bans on female education.Since their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have barred girls from school beyond the sixth grade. Last December, they banned women from going to universities. Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education.Pen Path gave no further details on Wesa’s release or his condition.The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, welcomed the news about Wesa. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Bennett also called for the “immediate and unconditional relea...

What we know about the mass shooting in Maine so far

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — A man fatally shot at least 16 people at a restaurant and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night sparking a massive search for a person of interest who is a trained firearms instructor. Meanwhile, authorities urged residents to lock themselves in their homes and schools announced closures on Thursday.The shooting in the state’s second-largest city is the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.Here’s what we know about the suspect and where the shooting happened:WHO IS THE SUSPECT?A police bulletin identified Robert Card, 40, as a person of interest in the attack. Card was described as a firearms instructor believed to be in the Army Reserve and assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine. The document, circulated to law enforcement officials, said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two wee...

Priest kicked out of Jesuits for alleged abuse of women welcomed into Slovenia diocese

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

ROME (AP) — A famous priest-artist who was thrown out of the Jesuits after being accused of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse of women has been accepted into a diocese in his native Slovenia, the latest twist in a case that has implicated the pope and laid bare the limits of the Vatican’s in-house legal system.The Diocese of Koper confirmed in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday that the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik was accepted as a priest there in August.Rupnik was taken in because he had been expelled from the Jesuits and because the diocese hadn’t received any documents showing that Rupnik had “been found guilty of the alleged abuses before either an ecclesiastical tribunal or civil court,” it said.The statement cited the Universal Declaration on Human Rights’ provision on the presumption of innocence and right to a defense for anyone accused of a crime.Rupnik, whose mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the globe, was declared excommunica...

How Doug Ford’s Ontario government mastered the art of the flip-flop

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, this week, Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra (new to the job after his predecessor resigned amid scandal in September) announced another reversal of a key government policy. This time, it was massive changes to urban boundaries outside several Ontario cities — changes most of the cities themselves fought against.Richard Southern is a Queen’s Park reporter for CityNews. “I think this is a government obviously hurt badly by the Greenbelt scandal, and very actively trying to prevent any future scandals, and as a result we’re seeing a lot of flip-flopping going on at Queens Park,” said Southern. Coming a week after the government introduced legislation to officially reverse its actions on Ontario’s Greenbelt, and on the heels of reversals of everything from pandemic policy to licence plates, is it a positive thing that this government can admit when it’s wrong and change? Or a worrisome sign that so many of its major initia...

Norwegian police investigate claim by Ingebrigtsen brothers that their father and coach was violent

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:29:30 GMT

Norwegian police launched an investigation Thursday into allegations by the three Ingebrigtsen brothers that their father, who had been their track coach at the Olympics and other events, was violent and abusive when they were growing up.On Oct. 19, the three brothers — Jakob, Henrik and Filip — published an op-ed in Norwegian newspaper VG saying their father, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, “had been very aggressive and controlling” and “used physical violence and threats as part of our upbringing.”Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the Olympic gold medal in the 1,500-meter race at the Tokyo Games in 2021.“Somehow, we have accepted this. We have lived with it, and in adulthood we have moved on. At least we thought so,” the brothers wrote. “In retrospect, we realize that it was naive. But two years ago, the same aggression and physical punishment struck again.“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”Gjert Ingebrigtsen has denied any wrongdoing.On Thursday, police in Norway opened a probe ...