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Louisville wastes early lead, holds off Eastern KentuckyLopsided loss sinks the reeling Saints further into evaluation mode
Ours is not a country that arrests its journalists. Until it is. Many people say, as the once and future president is wont to intone, you shouldn’t pay any attention to what Donald Trump threatens, only to what he does. This has always seemed to me like the weirdest meme, as a president has the actual power to do stuff, and that people who work for him have the power to, for instance, arrest and imprison people. It’s akin to those who maintain, when Trump says something or other that is absolutely outrageous, that he is “clearly joking. Don’t you have a sense of humor?” I do. It’s my favorite sense. Trump does not. Can you imagine him telling a joke, for instance? You cannot. He doesn’t know how to tell a joke. Ever heard him tell one? You have not. That’s OK. It’s a personality deficit, but it’s not a crime (unlike possibly writing mean things about Trump). Those of us who do — admittedly easy, given Trump — are, according to him, “scum,” “evil,” “the enemy of the people.” You’ll recall how he used his bully pulpit during his first miserable term in the White House to pontificate about how ABC, CBS and NBC should have their broadcast licenses revoked for saying mean things about him. Trump, as is so often the case, had no idea what he was talking about, since the broadcast networks don’t have or need federal licenses. It’s local affiliates that do, as part of the regulation of the public airwaves. Still, it’s the thought that counts. Marty Baron, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, told NPR he expects the incoming administration “to go after the press in every conceivable way ... (using) every tool in the toolbox — and there are a lot of tools.” “I think (Trump’s) salivating for the opportunity to prosecute and imprison journalists for leaks of national security information — or what they would call national security information,” Baron says. “I would expect that he would deny funding to public radio ... and TV.” The kinds of countries that arrest journalists on trumped-up spying charges are your Russias, your Chinas, your Irans. Baron’s Iran correspondent, Marin’s own Jason Rezaian, was convicted of espionage when he was editor of the Post. Unlike the president-elect, Rezaian has a sense of humor. After being arrested at gunpoint in a parking garage, his first interrogation focused “on a Kickstarter project he launched to grow avocados in Iran. (‘Where was the guacamole?’),” the journalist joked in a book, “Prisoner.” But these are the kinds of things that, we like to think, can’t happen here. Until they do. Because Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, says that’s just what he intends if he comes to the Justice Department. “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media,” Patel told the lousy Steve Bannon, still a Trump confidante after his own proper arrest for mail fraud and money laundering after ripping off Americans who thought they were donating money to “build the wall” — Trump pardoned him; he later did time in prison for contempt of Congress. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But, yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.” “This concern is not hypothetical. President-elect Donald Trump has openly vowed to use federal agencies to punish his critics and political adversaries.” Amy Fettig wrote in a recent op-ed. As a critic who is among the “you all” the unqualified AG nominee refers to in his ramblings on the podcast hosted by the ex-con, I suppose I better start looking over my shoulder and listening for the feds’ knock on the door come late January. I’m easy enough to find, as are my many words of derision directed at a man with zero appreciation for First Amendment rights. But it’s not just me. It’s you, too. Baron concludes: “The objective here is to suppress free expression by anyone. ... So this is just the first step. And I think people should keep that in mind.” Larry Wilson is on the Southern California News Group editorial board.
NoneFor a few hours last week, I panicked. I was in downtown Loveland and suddenly realized I was without my phone and purse.MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Marcus Adams Jr.'s 25 points helped CSU Northridge defeat Utah Tech 89-79 on Sunday night at the Stew Morrill Classic. Adams added five rebounds for the Matadors (4-1). Keonte Jones added 23 points while shooting 8 of 15 from the field and 5 for 10 from the line while they also had nine rebounds and three blocks. Scotty Washington had 19 points and went 7 of 14 from the field (3 for 6 from 3-point range). Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, obituaries, sports, and more.
WASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday due to a technical issu e just as the Christmas travel season kicks into overdrive and winter weather is threatening more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. American flights were cleared to fly by federal regulators about one hour after a national ground stop order was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. There were 1,447 delays for flights entering or leaving the U.S. early in the day, with 28 cancellations. Snow was falling early in New York and Dallas-Fort Worth International, which is American Airlines' main hub, was getting hit with rain. Dallas-Fort Worth had the most delays, followed by Charlotte, North Carolina, Washington, New York, Chicago and Miami Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. And any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have “interline agreements” that let them put stranded customers on another carrier’s flights. This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. That’s because finding a last-minute flight on another airline yourself tends to be very expensive. Just before 7 a.m. Eastern time, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all American Airlines flights grounded in the U.S. at the airline’s request. American had reported a technical issue affecting its entire system with millions traveling for the holiday. American said in an email that the problem Tuesday morning was caused by a vendor technology issue that “impacted systems needed to release flights.” The groundings couldn’t come at a worse time for the millions of travelers expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers over the holidays and through January 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Friday and Sunday, and on Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 29. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. “Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday,” AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation’s highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. Boston, New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C., are the metropolitan areas primed for the greatest delays, according to the company.
Canned soup, or carton soup, is straight-up taken for granted. Packaged soup is the most ordinary of foods, lining the shelves of every supermarket and so small, inexpensive, and easy to ship and stock that it's found in plenty of drug, convenience, and big-box stores, too. But canned and boxed soup is really a marvel of ingenuity and a relatively modern invention; the process started to get perfected in only the 19th century. The techniques by which soup is placed into and stored in cans and packages without refrigeration for months or even years were revolutionary, making it easier to preserve food and feed millions of people around the world. In the 20th and 21st century, processed soup is still big business, and most anyone can find a variety of soup at their local supermarket to provide heat, nourishment, and nutrition. It's such big business that it's a cutthroat industry. The major soup manufacturers and store brand providers routinely do away with underperforming varieties to make way for new ones or just to avoid losing money. The loser in this situation: the loyal customers who very much enjoyed and appreciated those soups that disappeared. Here are all the most sorely missed soups once found in grocery stores around the United States, but not anymore and likely never again. Campbell's Fresh-Brewed Soup In the 2010s, the hottest kitchen appliance in years was the Keurig single-serving coffee maker. With the aid of specially-made and approved K-Cups, the machine brewed a supposedly perfect cup of coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate) one at a time, individually. In 2015, got in on the burgeoning K-Cup market while also helping Keurig market its brewers as useful for more than just beverages. The product: Fresh-Brewed Soup. It came in two varieties: Homestyle Chicken Broth & Noodle, and Southwest Style Chicken Broth & Noodle. It was even pitched as a low-calorie item — because an individually-made serving of the K-Cup soup was much smaller than that offered by a traditional can of soup. It was arguably needlessly complicated, or at least more unnecessarily involved than dumping a can of soup and some water into a pot. Customers were expected to extract from a box of Campbell's Fresh-Brewed Soup a noodle pocket and a K-Cup full of dried broth. To make hot soup, one would empty the noodle and ingredients pack into a large cup and allow it to catch the runoff of sending the broth pod through the Keurig. While one can , not very many customers want to use their coffee makers for soup, and Campbell's got rid of Fresh-Brewed Soup less than a year after its launch, in 2016. Many Campbell's Chunky Soups Soup, particularly canned soup prepared as directed, is almost categorically broth-heavy and light on ingredients, and in the 1960s Campbell's tried to reinvent the convenience food as a thick, calorically significant meal choice with Campbell's Stout Hearted Soups. The idea wasn't immediately successful, but it took off when it was rebranded as Campbell's Chunky in 1970, promoted with the TV ad tagline, "It's so chunky you'll be tempted to eat it with a fork." Packed into extra-big cans to hold the soups made with large meat chunks and big portions of vegetables, the line sold particularly well in the 1990s after Campbell's started hiring NFL players to star in commercials for Chunky Soup, branding it, "The soup that eats like a meal." Numerous individual varieties of Chunky Soup have come and gone over the past 50-plus years. The original four flavors have all since been retired: Chunky Beef, Chunky Vegetable, Chunky Turkey, and Chunky Chicken. In the 2010s, Campbell's aggressively added new styles to the line and made space for them on the production line and on store shelves by getting rid of older flavors that didn't sell as well as they used to. In came Spicy Nashville-Style Hot Chicken and Texas-Style BBQ Burger, and out went Philly-Style Cheesesteak, and then Meatball Bustin' Sausage and Rigatoni. One of the longest-available Chunky Soups finally disappeared in 2023: Chunky Chicken Mushroom Chowder, part of the line since the mid-1970s. Dinty Moore Meatball Stew page. The name brand of budget canned stews and soups isn't a real person, but the name of a man who ran a diner in the early 20th century comic strip "Bringing Up Father," who served up corned beef and beef stew to the main character Jiggs. The strip was so popular that a chain of real-life Dinty Moore restaurants opened in New York City, and in 1935 Hormel skirted copyright laws and launched a line of canned goods under the same name. "Bringing Up Father" kept running until 2000, but by then Dinty Moore soups had long since surpassed the comic in popularity and name recognition. As of 2024, Dinty Moore Beef Stew and Chicken & Dumplings remain in production. Another, soupier style sold in a similar red-and-white can as its brand-mates, Dinty Moore Meatball Stew, was available for decades. It was more or less the regular Dinty Moore Beef Stew, with soft potatoes, peas, and carrots in a brown broth, but with processed balls of ground meat used as the protein instead of pieces of whole beef. Hormel never found a significant audience for the Meatball Stew, and it stopped making it sometime after 2010. About half of the entire Progresso soup line Progresso is a company that isn't afraid to evolve. Starting out in Italy in the 19th century, Progresso canned Italian foods in the U.S. in the early 20th century and moved into soups by the 1940s, the first to pack split pea, lentil, and minestrone into metal cylinders. Pillsbury bought Progresso in 1969 and sold it to General Mills in 2001, by which point it was known as one of the most productive and familiar soup brands in the U.S. By 2020, Progresso was regularly manufacturing and distributing around 90 different kinds of canned soup, which company leaders decided was far too many. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as customers' shopping and eating habits rapidly changed, General Mills executives opted to immediately end production on 40 of the soups it identified as its poorest sellers. Gone immediately, and probably forever, in the name of cost-cutting and allocating resources to make the flavors customers really did want: Chicken and Orzo with Lemon, several versions of chicken noodle soup, Chicken Cheese Enchilada, and Green Pea. Campbell's Pepper Pot Not as popular or as well-known among canned soup buyers as it once was, Pepper Pot was first sold in the vast Campbell's line in 1899. A spicy melange more like a stew than a soup, Pepper Pot was hot because of the inclusion of jalapeño peppers and red pepper flakes in the modern recipe, along with plenty of potatoes, onions, carrots, bacon, and beef tripe. Similar to any number of Campbell's beef-and-vegetable soups, Pepper Pot was different in that it was based on a specific, traditional recipe. That stew was a regional Philadelphia favorite where it took hold after being introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean and West Africa centuries ago. Never reaching the ubiquity or sales of its other soups like Tomato or Chicken Noodle, Campbell's nevertheless kept Pepper Pot soup in production for well over 100 years. That product became one of the few mass-produced Caribbean foods in the United States. Demand for the item dwindled over the decades and by the 21st century it was such a low-seller that Campbell's decided to stop making and distributing it in 2011. Wolfgang Puck Organic Free Range Chicken Noodle Soup One of the first modern-day celebrity chefs, Wolfgang Puck found fame by helping to create fusion cuisine (melding old-fashioned French styles with West Coast and Asian elements) and to popularize California cuisine. His name carried a certain level of quality and expertise, and from 1997 on, it graced a line of canned soups produced by Country Gourmet Foods. An innovator in organic mass-produced products, Wolfgang Puck Organic Free Range Chicken Noodle , became one of the line's top sellers, and within a decade on supermarket shelves, it propelled overall sales of $22 million. In 2008, the household name in canned soup, Campbell's, purchased the Wolfgang Puck soup portfolio from Country Gourmet, as well as the right to license the celebrated chef's image and name on soup and soup-adjacent items. Instead, somewhere along the way, Campbell's shut down the entire Wolfgang Puck soup brand. As of 2024, it doesn't list any Wolfgang Puck soups on its website, and they aren't stocked by major retailers like Amazon and Walmart. Campbell's Scotch Broth If a broth is a hot, salty, and savory liquid with no solid ingredients, then Scotch Broth isn't a broth. Falling somewhere in between a soup and a stew in terms of heartiness, Campbell's produced its own take on a dish dating back to 18th century Scotland sometimes known as Scotch barley broth. Traditionally made with beef or mutton, along with barley, peas, onions, and root vegetables, Campbell's version utilized lamb (similar to mutton), as well as barley and finely cubed potatoes and carrots all set inside of a mutton-based broth. Scotch Broth was a niche item, as hinted by the extra "Special Selections" golden banner slapped onto the labels of the stuff produced in the 2010s. Around 2011, Campbell's stopped making, canning, and distributing Scotch Broth for the U.S. market. The company never publicly or widely confirmed that Scotch Broth was no longer in production. In 2023, a Campbell's customer looking for answers directly asked the soup company's customer service account on X, formerly known as Twitter. "This product has been discontinued. We don't like to discontinue items that may be a staple in your home," the Campbell's representative explained. "We sometimes discontinue certain items so we can focus our efforts on upcoming offerings." Trader Joe's Organic Butternut Squash Soup Autumn is about , and it's easy to celebrate at Trader Joe's. Along with perennial private label favorites like Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese, Pumpkin Butternut Squash Bisque, and Butternut Squash Italian Lasagna, customers could almost always find many cartons of its Organic Butternut Squash Soup in the canned and packaged soup aisle. A for some shoppers, the soup was smooth and creamy, more like a bisque than a soup and tasted like liquified butternut squash, all tangy and nutty. It was convenient, too: Diners simply poured out a portion into a bowl or pot and then heated it up and then refrigerated any leftovers in the carton it came in. And yet by 2023, the Trader Joe's Organic Butternut Squash Soup started to disappear from stores nationwide, never to be restocked. Outsider company Pacific Foods is reportedly the supplier and manufacturer for many Trader Joe's soups, and a very similar organic butternut squash variety is distributed to major grocery outlets. But as for a Trader Joe's-branded and sold organic butternut squash soup, that simply doesn't exist anymore. Trader Joe's Cioppino Seafood Stew is a classic of American seafood based cuisine. In the 1850s, Italian-American fishermen took whatever they couldn't sell of their daily haul, cut it up, and mixed it up with wine, garlic, onions, herbs, and tomatoes to create the hearty, varied seafood stew that takes its name from an Italian word that means "chopped" or "torn." A food-waste averse dish that's easily amenable but always packing the same Italian-inspired flavors and seafood heft, cioppino became a standard item at Italian and seafood restaurants around the country, and Trader Joe's for many years sold a frozen make-your-own cioppino kit that was as affordably priced as it was tasty. A big bag of the heat-and-serve soup sold for just under $6, unbeatable for all that shrimp, cod, clams, and mussels. In 2022, Trader Joe's confirmed that the noted absence of its store-brand Cioppino Seafood Stew could be attributed to how the company had discontinued the item. Two different Trader Joe's Gazpacho products Through a program of house-branding and countless unique and inventive products marketed through fun in-store signage and its "Fearless Flyer" newsletter, Trader Joe's can easily build fervor for a new item that smoothes out into a loyal following. The funky, small-supermarket chain regularly rolls out so many new products that it has to get rid of old ones at just as rapid a clip, and that can even include items that it has stocked for years. By the mid-2010s, plastic tubs full of Trader Joe's version of gazpacho were a staple. Sold refrigerated and meant to be sold that way, it was a blend of tomatoes, citrus juice, garlic, peppers, and vinegar, based on the Andalusian classic chilled summer soup. That soup didn't quite sell enough units for Trader Joe's to justify keeping it around, so it eliminated the original Gazpacho from its production lines and introduced Roasted Tomatillo Gazpacho. That didn't perform much better for the grocery store, and that one is currently no longer available from Trader Joe's either. Campbell's Green Pea Soup Pea soup is such a simple dish that it's not surprising it's ancient, with records of it being consumed in ancient Greece and Rome as far back as 500 B.C. Most modern versions are based on the one brought to the U.S. by French-Canadian mill-workers in the 19th century, including Campbell's Green Pea. That long available canned soup was a basic recipe and mild in flavor, combining split peas, water, butter, sugar, flour, and extracts of onion and celery. Campbell's kept selling enough of the stuff well into the 21st century, favored by vegetarians because it was one of the few mass-market pea soups that didn't also include pieces of ham. And then Campbell's caught up with the industry standard. It introduced a new flavor of condensed soup in its iconic red-and-white cans: Split Pea, Ham, and Bacon. That seemed to push Green Pea out of production. At least when Campbell's discontinued its original formulation Green Pea soup, it recommended an alternative for customers. Campbell's Canadian branch oversees Habitant, which makes an old-fashioned French-Canadian-style pea soup, closer in style to the company's now disappeared Green Pea flavor. RecommendedUp to 7 inches of snow expected through TuesdayHOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans made mistakes in every facet of the game Sunday against the Tennessee Titans to lose for the third time in four games. C.J. Stroud threw two interceptions, the defense gave up multiple big passing plays and Ka′imi Fairbairn missed a 28-yard field goal that would . “Just a disappointing loss for us,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We didn’t do anything well enough to win this game. Out of all the positives that we did have, there were way too many negatives, too many negative plays.” for a touchdown in the third quarter and the Texans tied a franchise record with eight sacks. Danielle Hunter led the group with a season-high three sacks and Will Anderson Jr. added two in his return after missing two games with an ankle injury. But the offense sputtered for most of the game as Joe Mixon was held to 22 yards on 14 carries. But Ryans refused to blame the offense for the loss. “Our offense did plenty,” Ryans said. “They gave us enough points. On defense, we have to be able to stop them.” Chig Okonkwo grabbed a short pass and rumbled 70 yards for a touchdown to put the Titans (3-8) up 30-27 with 9 1/2 minutes remaining. Safety Eric Murray missed a tackle that would have stopped him near midfield. It was the last of three big passing plays the Titans had Sunday. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine got in front of the defense and was wide open for a 38-yard TD catch that made it 10-7 late in the first quarter. Calvin Ridley had a 63-yard reception that set up their next touchdown in the second. “It was just way too many negative plays,” Ryans said. “Defensively, unexplainable explosives for touchdowns. We didn’t play good across the board and that starts with me.” Despite this, the Texans (7-5) had a chance to tie it with less than two minutes remaining, but Fairbairn’s short field-goal attempt sailed wide left. He fell to the ground after the miss before getting up and slamming his helmet on the field. “The most frustrating part about it is out of all the bad things that happened, we still had a chance to finish the game,” Ryans said. “Everything that could go wrong, it went wrong. We still had a chance there to tie it up and finish the game, and we didn’t.” The Texans forced a three-and-out, but couldn’t move the ball after that and Harold Landry sacked Stroud in the end zone for a safety to make it 32-27 and allow Tennessee to snap a two-game skid. Stroud threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns, but his two interceptions Sunday give him five combined in the past three games. He now has more interceptions in 12 games this season (nine) than he had in 15 games as a rookie last season (five). “It’s no secret that I haven’t been playing well ... I’ve got to be harder on myself,” he said. “I’m not going to hold my head down. I know I can be a great player, but I’ve got to make better plays.” ___ AP NFL:
It seems everyone except champion Joey Logano is eager to see to a change to the NASCAR playoff format. How to fix it remains up for debate. Logano won his third Cup Series championship earlier this month, re-igniting the conversation about whether the current playoff format is the best way to determine a worthy champion. Logano wound up winning four races this season, but only had 13 top 10 finishes in 37 races and clearly didn’t have one of the best cars over the course of the season. Logano, it seemed, did just enough to get by. He got his share of breaks, too, using what amounted to a Hail Mary win in Nashville — stretching his empty fuel tank through five overtimes — to qualify for the postseason. He was actually eliminated from playoff contention in the second round, only to be reinstated after a competitor’s car was ruled to be illegal. Logano’s run to the title has left some drivers wanting to see the system altered, with suggestions ranging from minor tweaks to major changes. “I think the message we are trying to send is: Make the regular season matter more,” said Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 car for Joe Gibbs Racing and a co-owner of the 23XI Racing team. He suggested increasing the bonus points a driver gets during the regular season. “The (Christopher) Bells, (Kyle) Larsons, they deserve to have a really good buffer there to make it through the (playoff) rounds,” Hamlin said. “We’re in a sport where you can get caught up in so many wrecks and different things that can happen. ... There are 26 (regular season) races and they are proving to be not that substantial to winning a championship and that’s not something you want.” Hamlin suggested that over the past three years the Team Penske champions — Logano twice and Ryan Blaney once — “didn’t have to do much” during the regular season. “And that’s probably not good,” Hamlin added. NASCAR likes the current playoff system because of the emphasis it places on each race heading down the final stretch of the season in its never-ending quest for Game 7 moments. Stock car racing’s governing body remains open to tweaking the format — if it improves the sport. “I love that aspect of it,” Bell said of the emphasis on the playoff races, “but maybe adjusting the points systems to make sure we get the right cars into the championship event would be awesome.” Blaney said it’s up to drivers to adapt the rules in place. But he said in his “ideal world” he’d like to see the top 16 drivers on points in the regular season qualify for the playoffs. He said race winners should get 10 or 15 points instead of five, and that the regular-season champion should get an additional 30 points. Blaney’s final suggestion involves fewer elimination races. He suggested the 16-car field should be cut to eight after five playoff races, with the remaining eight drivers competing over the final five races for the championship. “I would like to see a group of races to end the year where you are not going to have anyone run away with it and you’re going to have three to five races and you’re still going to have some really good competition going on,” Blaney said. Logano just shakes his head and offers a sarcastic smile at all the tweak talk. He was emphatic about the system not needing to be changed after his clinching win at Phoenix and didn’t stray from that conviction at last Friday’s annual awards ceremony in Charlotte. When asked if there are any changes that need to be made, Logano replied, “Nothing, personally. I wouldn’t change a thing,” adding that he thinks the format is “super entertaining.” Of course, if you’ve won three championships since 2018, why would you want to change? “I think we all need to understand why we changed it in the first place, it’s because the fans said they didn’t like the way it was, so we changed it,” Logano said. “And then everybody loved it. And it was great. And now, oh, we’re going to complain about it again? C’mon, guys. Geez.” Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs win at the buzzer again, topping Panthers 30-27 on Shrader's field goal
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Ten yards into a scramble, Patrick Mahomes could have easily slid for a first down or simply ducked out of bounds and moved on to the next play. Instead, the three-time Super Bowl MVP up the field, helping to set up Spencer Schrader’s 31-yard field goal as time expired as the Chiefs held on to beat the Carolina Panthers 30-27 on Sunday. “At that point, yards are more important than getting out of bounds,” Mahomes said. “With three timeouts, I just tried to just cut through and Justin Watson had a great block and was able to get down the field and get out of bounds.” The game-winning drive was the 21st of Mahomes’ career, and the Chiefs won a game decided in the final seconds for the fifth time this season. Eight of the Chiefs’ wins have come by one-score margins. “You always want to have some blowouts and be a little calmer in the fourth quarter, but I’ve always said it could be a good thing when you get to the playoffs later in the season knowing that you have been in those moments before, and knowing how to attack it play by play not making it too big of a moment,” Mahomes said. Then he smiled and said: “But I would say this more than anybody, I would love to win a game not by the very last play.” Mahomes completed 27 of 37 passes for 269 yards and in his first game at Bank of America Stadium and ran for 60 yards — including 33 on that last-minute play — as the Chiefs (10-1) scored on six of their eight possessions. Noah Gray caught four passes for 66 yards and scored two touchdowns for the second straight week, and for the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. Kareem Hunt ran for 68 yards on 16 carries and caught three passes for 19 yards. Bryce Young played well for Carolina (3-8), finishing 21 of 35 for 262 yards and a touchdown while leading the Panthers back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game on Chuba Hubbard’s 1-yard touchdown run and 2-point conversion with 1:46 remaining. Panthers coach Dave Canales, who benched Young earlier this season for veteran Andy Dalton, said last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick “absolutely” will remain the team’s starting QB next week. That’s a break from Canales’ recent pattern of waiting a few days to name a starter. “Bryce is certainly making the most of his opportunities,” Canales said. “And he is making a statement to all of us. Showing us he can make plays in critical areas. He did a great job extending today.” Said Young: “For me, I just want to focus on what I can control. Regardless, I always have the same mindset and preparation, wanting to be better throughout the week. I am definitely grateful for confidence.” Still, there is room for improvement. The Panthers moved the ball well but struggled in the red zone, resulting in field goals of 30, 32, 29 and 33 yards for Eddy Pineiro, the most accurate kicker in NFL history. The Chiefs wasted no time setting the tone as Samaje Perine returned the opening kickoff 56 yards and Mahomes found on the third play of scrimmage for a 7-0 lead. Gray went nine games without a TD catch before hauling in two last week against Buffalo. His 11-yard score late in the second quarter gave him . Chiefs coach Andy Reid praised Mahomes’ poise but said he was concerned about his team’s nine penalties for 90 yards. Moving on up Kansas City’s Travis Kelce had six catches for 62 yards and moved into third place in career yards receiving by a tight end. He ranks behind only Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten. However, Kelce failed to find the end zone for the ninth time in 11 games this season. Brooks’ debut Running back Jonathan Brooks made his NFL debut for Carolina, but the second-round pick was limited to 7 yards on two carries. Injuries Panthers: Rookie TE Ja’Tavion Sanders was taken to a hospital, . He landed awkwardly on his head after making a catch near the end of the second quarter. Up next Chiefs: Host Las Vegas on Friday. Panthers: Host Tampa Bay next Sunday. ___ AP NFL:
Defiant Adani says committed to compliance after US indictmentCAIRO: Syrian refugees and residents in Egypt face an uncertain future as new regulations may jeopardize their right to remain in the country after Bashar Al-Assad’s ouster earlier this month. European countries quickly suspended Syrian asylum applications after the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept into Damascus on Dec 8, forcing Assad to flee after a 13-year civil war. Other countries are also responding to the changing political landscape. Egypt last week ratified a new law giving the government the power to determine refugee status. A decision has not been made on whether Syrians in Egypt would qualify as refugees under the new law, security sources told Reuters. The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimates six million Syrians are living as refugees around the world, primarily in neighboring countries. It expects 1 million to return in the next six months, but some Syrian refugees fear being forced to return home. Egypt is also suspending the renewal of existing residency permits, held by many Syrians for tourism, education, or business, pending a security check, security sources told Reuters. Syrian residents who spoke to Reuters were mostly unaware of the new rules, and many were also cautious about returning home. “The situation there is not stable and we still do not know what will happen,” said Ahmed Al-Akhras, owner of a car spare parts business, who said his children’s schooling and his shop were other reasons to stay. He said his residency permit renewal was delayed so, like a number of other Syrians, he recently applied for UNHCR refugee status. “If I go back to Syria, it won’t be now,” he said. “We are afraid of the unknown, we don’t know who the new person that took over is, we don’t know the future,” said another Syrian who had been in Egypt for 12 years. Residency decisions would be based on security considerations, the sources said. One cited concerns about Egypt’s own internal security after Assad’s replacement by the rebels. Egypt has taken a diplomatic approach to the upheaval in Syria, but state-linked media have referred to the rebels as “terrorist” groups. With Egypt tackling an economic crisis of its own, officials have often described refugees in the country, which they number at 10 million, as a burden. The UNHCR puts the number of refugees in Egypt at around 800,000, including about 159,000 Syrians. Hundreds of thousands more Syrians have residency permits in Egypt, and many own businesses. “There is no other country in the globe hosting this number of refugees while receiving the same treatment as Egyptian citizens despite the fact we are not a rich country,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters last week, citing the absence of refugee camps and access to free education, healthcare, and subsidies. “This law strikes a balance between upholding our international commitments, while preserving the national security of Egypt.” The law, ratified on Dec 17, transfers the asylum system to the government from the UN, and allows the government to collect more data on the number of refugees. “Of course, the increase in numbers of registered refugees will contribute in providing more aid (from the international community) to Egypt. This is not a bad thing,” said lawmaker Freddy Elbaiady. The law includes provisions protecting refugee rights to work, health, and education and freedom from exploitation. Rights groups have criticized the new law. They point out that the definition of a refugee is ambiguous, and authorities have the right to deport anyone they deem does not qualify. While there was no sign of a sudden deportation of Syrians, it was likely Cairo would change its perception of Syrians as a group in need of protection as the situation stabilizes, said Karim Ennara of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an independent human rights organization. In response to questions by Reuters, the UNHCR said it would continue to advocate for clear asylum procedures in Egypt. — Reuters