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Column: Montez Sweat’s big contract with the Chicago Bears gives him security — and with it comes big-time pressure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

At least Montez Sweat has his bearings now.He doesn’t know the names of plenty of folks at Halas Hall yet, maybe even a few Chicago Bears teammates. But he can navigate the building, which wasn’t the case when he was introduced Nov. 1 before even learning where the locker room was.Sweat has had eight practices and played in two games with the Bears before their NFC North matchup Sunday against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. He sneaked in a trip home to Atlanta last weekend with the extended time off following the Thursday night game and saw his 1 1/2-year-old son, Shiloh.But it has been a whirlwind of a life-changing experience — he signed a four-year, $98 million extension four days after the Halloween trade, with the Bears sending the Washington Commanders a second-round pick.As Sweat continues to settle in to his new environment, does he have a greater sense of relief, or is he feeling pressure now that he’s one of the highest-paid edge rushers in the NF...

Ukraine’s troops work to advance on Russian-held side of key river after gaining footholds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops worked to push back Russian forces positioned on the east bank of the Dnieper River, the military said Saturday, a day after Ukraine claimed to have secured multiple bridgeheads on that side of the river that divides the country’s partially occupied Kherson region.Ukraine’s establishment of footholds on on the Russian-held bank of the Dnieper represents a small but potentially significant strategic advance in the midst of a war largely at a standstill. The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said its troops there had repelled 12 attacks by the Russian army between Friday and Saturday. The Ukrainians now were trying to “push back Russian army units as far as possible in order to make life easier for the (western) bank of the Kherson region, so that they get shelled less,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command, said. In response, the Russian military used “tactical aviation,” including Iranian-made Sha...

Taylor Swift fan dies at Rio concert as fans complain about high temperatures and lack of water

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A 23-year-old Taylor Swift fan died at the singer’s Eras Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro Friday night, according to a statement from the show’s organizers in Brazil.While the cause of death for Ana Clara Benevides Machado has not been announced, media reported that fans were not allowed to take water into the stadium despite soaring temperatures, and the city’s mayor has demanded changes before Swift’s final two shows.In a handwritten note shared on her social media, Swift said she had a “shattered heart.”“There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young,” the singer wrote.The show’s organizers, Time4Fun, said on Instagram that Benevides was attended by paramedics after feeling unwell. She was taken to the stadium’s first aid center, then to a hospital, where she died an hour later, the statement read.Several local media reported that water bottles were not allow...

Tempers flare and bills languish as Speaker Johnson confronts the same problems that vexed McCarthy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — By most accounts, Speaker Mike Johnson inherited a House Republican majority in disarray after the sudden ouster of his predecessor last month.But as Johnson, R-La., tries to rebuild that slim majority, he’s fast running into the same hard-right factions and divisions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was unable to tame. That’s disrupting the party’s agenda, shelving priorities and leaving gnawing questions about any leader’s ability to govern.Capitol Hill devolved into fresh scenes of political chaos this past week as tensions soared. A Republican senator challenged a Teamsters union boss to a brawl, one of several outbursts involving lawmakers, and the untested new speaker was forced to abandon his own party’s schedule and send everyone home early for Thanksgiving.“This place is a pressure cooker,” Johnson lamented. Hopefully, he said, people will “cool off.”But the outlook ahead appears no better. House Republicans who pledged to slash federa...

One man critically injured in 2-alarm fire at east end apartment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

A man was fighting for his life following a two-alarm fire in the city’s east end. Fire crews were called to an apartment building on Gamble Avenue in the area of Cosburn Avenue and Broadview Avenue just before 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Officials say they rescued one person from a second-floor unit who was without vital signs.Paramedics tell CityNews they transported one man, believed to be in his 50s or 60s, to a trauma centre in life-threatening condition. One other person was treated at the scene for minor injuries. Fire officials say the blaze has been extinguished.

Residents battling a new train line in northern Mexico face a wall of government secrecy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The family of Germán Robles set up a camera trap in 2002 and, to their surprise, caught a black bear wandering through their farm in northern Mexico where residents fear a new freight train line will soon bisect their properties.The bear, spotted while Robles was in middle school, prompted the family to let a portion of their land go wild after rearing cattle for four generations. Eventually they spotted ocelots and golden eagles, six different species of rattlesnake and a jaguar. Scientists flooded in and by 2011 the ranch was federally designated a Natural Protected Area.Now Robles fears the sanctuary he built with his father is in danger, as government contractors begin felling trees and bulldozing the path for the railroad toward his family’s Aribabi ranch and the town of Imuris, 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of the U.S.-Mexico border.“Things will change completely in a matter of weeks, you know,” Robles said, adding that the project will fragment habit...

SpaceX launches its giant new rocket but a pair of explosions ends the second test flight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship on Saturday, but lost the booster and then the spacecraft minutes into the test flight.The booster had sent the rocketship toward space, but communication was lost eight minutes after liftoff from South Texas and SpaceX declared that the vehicle had failed.The trouble cropped up as the ship’s engines were almost done firing to put it on an around-the-world path. Minutes earlier, the booster exploded, but not until its job was done, putting the ship on a course toward space.At 400 feet, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.The first test flight in April ended in an explosion soon after liftoff.

Woman found dead in home after fire in Back of the Yards: CPD

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

CHICAGO -- A woman is dead after a house fire in Back of the Yards early Saturday morning, police said. Toddler accidentally shot, killed by 3-year-old brother in Gary: police According to police, firefighters and officers responded to a house fire in the 5900 block of South Winchester Avenue around 4:18 a.m. and found a woman unresponsive. The woman was pronounced dead on the scene and the incident is being investigated.

Cooler air behind the Friday's front

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The dry cold front that moved through Central Texas Friday has made it to the lower valley. North winds left behind will lead to cooler temperatures today and tomorrow. There won't be any highs in the 80s today as there were Friday.Today's normal high is 71°Highs will be warming tomorrow and Monday before the next front arrives.The next cold front provides a chill for Thanksgiving DayThe overcast sky this morning will clear in the afternoon to a partly cloudy sky. Look for a partly cloudy evening followed by increasing cloudiness overnight. Much of Sunday will be gray with very little clearing. There were also be a very low chance of a few isolated areas of rain.An upper-level low this morning is moving towards the California coast north of San Francisco. It will move into the northern half of the plains states resulting in a moist southwest flow aloft from the Pacific. A cold front will also be in the area Monday.Warm and wet Monday followed by cooler and drier wea...

Movie review: Eli Roth’s slasher flick ‘Thanksgiving’ an underbaked holiday dish

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:21 GMT

Gather ’round the table, horror fans, because Eli Roth is finally serving up his long-gestating holiday feast: the seasonal slasher movie “Thanksgiving.” The idea for this film got rolling some 16 years ago with the 2007 Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature “Grindhouse,” in which Roth and his longtime friend Jeff Rendell cooked up a joke trailer inspired by their love of themed horror movies and a Massachusetts childhood spent just down the road from Plymouth, the site of the first Thanksgiving.When horror fans first got their eyes on the “Thanksgiving” trailer, it sparked a fervent appetite for the whole meal, but with the full film finally hitting theaters, after 16 years of discussion and development, it proves the adage — also true for Thanksgiving meals — that there can be too much of a good thing.A mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts, in “Thanksgiving.” (Pief Weyman/Sony Pictures/TNS)“Thanksgiving” is an ent...