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Column: The Carolina Panthers made QB Bryce Young the No. 1 pick. Here’s why it matters to Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

For the last four months, Bryce Young has stood in and taken the shots he knew were coming during the pre-draft process.Not built to last in the modern-day NFL. Too short. Too slight. Too risky.Young has fielded questions on his physical shortcomings and answered them with a “control what you can control” mindset. “It’s fair,” he said.Young also took every opportunity he had — from interviews at the combine to his pro day workout at Alabama to visits at the facilities of the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans and Las Vegas Raiders — to sell teams on his skills and his mentality.On a stage Thursday night at Union Station Kansas City, Young got his “Welcome to the NFL” hug from Roger Goodell and took his pedestal as the top pick in the 2023 NFL draft.There it was, at 7:17 p.m., the No. 1 selection.The pick the Chicago Bears once owned was spent by the Panthers. For the 18th time in 25 years, the No. 1 player drafted was a quarterbac...

Local prospects in the NFL draft: Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon and Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski taken in the top 11 picks

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

The Tribune is tracking where players from Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Illinois high schools are selected in the 2023 NFL draft.Devon Witherspoon, CB, Illinois1st round (No. 5) to Seattle SeahawksA consensus All-American during his fourth season in Champaign, Witherspoon was the second defensive player drafted and the first cornerback off the board. The Pensacola, Fla., native had three interceptions and 14 pass breakups in 2022, didn’t allow a touchdown all season and had the nation’s best coverage grade according to Pro Football Focus.“I’m energetic, physical. I’m a dog on the field,” Witherspoon told reporters. “I’m just very confident in what I do, passionate. I love to show my emotions out there on the field.”It’s the highest an Illinois defensive back has been drafted and the highest the Seahawks have taken a cornerback under the Pete Carroll regime.Peter Skoronski, OL, Northwestern/Maine South1st round (No...

Mike Lupica: Pat Riley and the Heat wake echoes of ‘90s Knicks at the Garden

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

We get Knicks vs. Heat back this weekend, get that kind of basketball revival. It means we get Pat Riley back as an opponent, and that truly means one of the most formidable opponents New York has ever had in basketball. Of course he was. Of course he is. Riley changed everything at the Garden before he went to Miami and changed everything there. All that will be missing this time is old Coach Riles standing up the way he did that time when the boos came, telling the Garden to take its best shot.He was, briefly, a giant of the place after Dave Checketts convinced him to come out of retirement, come coach Patrick Ewing, come to New York and make the Knicks matter again, which he sure did.He eventually left badly after the 1994-95 season, as badly as he could by faxing in a resignation after Heat owner Micky Arison had been tampering with him (for at least a year) and became Pat the Rat on the back pages. But the man who had first become a coaching star with the Showtime Lakers became...

Heat-Knicks predictions: See who Sun Sentinel staffers are picking to win

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

Eastern Conference semifinals (Best-of-7 series)Heat vs. Knicks: Game 1 Sunday at New York, Madison Square Garden, 1 p.m., ABCLatest line: Knicks favored by 4 points in Game 1Dave Hyde, Sports Columnist: Heat in 6After what the Heat did to top-seed Milwaukee, I’m not picking against them. The Knicks’ Julius Randle isn’t fully healthy. Bam Adebayo won’t have a big body to neutralize him. If the Heat can beat Milwaukee in 5, I’ll take the Heat to close out the series on their homecourt in Game 6 and prevent a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. How can you possibly pick against Jimmy Butler?Ira Winderman, Heat Writer: Heat in 7Even without Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo at the finish, the Heat were able to knock off the No. 1-seed Bucks in five games. So doubt Jimmy Butler at your own risk against the No. 5 seed. Lack of bodies? Lack of homecourt advantage? Just more adversity for Erik Spoelstra to turn into the latest rallying cry. From play-in this time to...

The Chicago Bears have 3 picks on Day 2 of the NFL draft. Here are 10 prospects who could be a fit.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

The Chicago Bears addressed a major need in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night, bolstering their offensive line by selecting Tennessee tackle Darnell Wright at No. 10 overall.Wright was the second offensive lineman to come off the board after Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr. went to the Arizona Cardinals at No. 6. He projects as an immediate starter at right tackle and will provide added support for Bears quarterback Justin Fields.Still, the Bears work in this draft has only just begun with general manager Ryan Poles holding nine more picks, including three for Friday night’s second and third rounds. The Bears will next go on the clock at No. 53 overall, with an additional Round 2 pick at No. 61. They will also pick first in Round 3 at No. 64.The Bears still have major needs to fill on defense, specifically at defensive end and defensive tackle. They could also still stand to add talent and depth at cornerback and receiver. Here are 10 prospects that could be ...

A key inflation gauge tracked by Fed remained high in March

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key index of underlying inflation that is closely followed by the Federal Reserve remained elevated last month, keeping the Fed on track to raise interest rates next week for the 10th time since March of last year.The index, which excludes volatile food and energy costs to capture “core” prices, rose 0.3% from February to March and 4.6% from a year earlier — still far above the Fed’s 2% target rate. Some Fed officials are concerned that core inflation hasn’t declined much since reaching 4.7% in July. Overall prices ticked up just 0.1% from February to March, the smallest monthly rise since last July and down from a 0.3% increase from January to February, Friday’s Commerce Department report showed. Compared with a year ago, inflation slowed to just 4.2% from 5% in February, though much of that decline reflected lower gas prices. That is the lowest year-over-year overall inflation figure in nearly two years. The government also reported that consumer spending...

Russian missile and drone attack in Ukraine kills 19 people

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

UMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 19 people, almost all of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the center of the country, officials said. Three children were among the dead.The missile attacks included the first one against Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in nearly two months, although there were no reports of any targets hit. The city government said Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kyiv. The strikes on the nine-story residential building in central Ukraine occurred in Uman, a city located around 215 kilometers (134 miles) south of Kyiv. Seventeen people died in that attack, according to the capital region’s governor, Ihor Taburets. They included two 10-year-old children and a toddler. Another of the victims was a 75-year-old woman who lived in a neighboring building and suffered internal bleeding from the huge b...

Stock market today: US futures slip ahead of inflation data

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

Wall Street pointed toward small declines early Friday ahead of the release of closely-watched inflation data that could influence what the Federal Reserve does at its policy meeting next week.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 each slipped 0.4%.The Commerce Department releases its consumer spending report Friday, which contains a measure of inflation that’s closely watched by the Fed. The Fed is has aggressively tried to turn back inflation by raising its key lending rate nine straight times, trying to cool spending by Americans. ExxonMobil shares inched higher after the energy giant reported that it more than doubled its profit during the first quarter. The Texas company produced more oil during the first three months of 2023 in order to overcome declining energy prices as anxiety over a potential recession festered.On Thursday, U.S. benchmarks advanced after Meta Platforms became the latest Big Tech company to blow past profit forecasts. Facebook’s...

UN experts defend Crimean Tatars under Russian occupation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Experts working with the United Nations on Friday denounced reports of human rights violations including abduction, deportation and enforced disappearances against ethnic minorities in Russian-occupied Crimea, calling on Moscow to do more to protect the rights of Tatars and others there. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as part of a regular, rotating review of U.N. member states, took a look at Russia — and areas that it controls — along with five other countries this month. The impact of Moscow’s war in Ukraine on rights and racial hatred drew particular scrutiny. In its review of Russia, the committee of independent experts focused on just one particular aspect of the war — the impact on racial discrimination — which has seen a litany of other rights abuses and violations, including murder, summary execution, rape, arbitrary detention and much more, according to U.N. and other rights monitors.The committee cited reports of “destruction...

Pope in Hungary urges Europe to unite to end war next door

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:00 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Pope Francis on Friday blasted the “adolescent belligerence” that brought war back to Europe and said the continent must recover its founding spirit of peaceful unity to confront Russia’s war in Ukraine.Francis outlined his vision for the future of Europe as he began a three-day visit to Hungary. In a carefully calibrated speech, he demanded that the European Union approve safe and legal ways for migrants to enter and for the Hungarian government not to hold Europe “hostage” to populist demands.Francis didn’t mince words when he addressed President Katalin Novak and Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose lukewarm support for Ukraine has rankled other EU countries. The pontiff recalled the lofty ideals behind the bloc’s founding and lamented that rising nationalism and “adolescent belligerence” had replaced them.“We seem to be witnessing the sorry sunset of that choral dream of peace, as the solists of war now take over,” Francis said. “...