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Why Sean Payton is “extremely good” at developing late round draft picks and where Broncos might look for steals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

By the end of April, hundreds of NFL draft picks and undrafted free agent signees will be packing their bags and gearing up for rookie minicamps.Jake Witt might well be the only one training for that moment in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.The Northern Michigan University offensive lineman is a walking representation of the idea that, if you can play, the NFL will find you. Heck, he’s only just started playing and the league still caught wind of the athletic, 6-foot-7 tackle prospect on the Lake Superior shoreline.Witt chose to play basketball at Michigan Tech out of high school, transferred to NMU after a year to pursue academics, walked onto the football team in the spring of 2020 and then spent the COVID-19 shutdown training for the new sport before beginning his college football career as a tight end in 2021.That alone was a big change for a kid who played 8-man football in high school and starred as a wide receiver.“I had never blocked anybody,” he told The Post recently.Now he...

Me & My Car: ’47 Chevy in San Ramon among first true postwar trucks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

World War II ended in 1945, and General Motors was anxious, as were the other automotive companies, to get back to the business of selling cars and trucks.Related ArticlesLocal News | Me & My Car: Bay Area owner loves his ’34 Ford pickup truck Local News | Me & My Car: New home may be sought for ’69 Mercedes in Contra Costa Local News | Me & My Car: Danville owner doesn’t baby his ’87 BMW 325i at all Switching from making critical war material like aircraft engines, bombers and tanks to making cars and trucks was a big job. All the manufacturers started building basically vehicles styled and even made for the 1942 model year. And business was good as the public had not been able to buy new cars or trucks for almost five years. There wasn’t any real hurry to bring out newly styled models, as they were selling the prewar models faster than they could manufacture them.Most of the postwar models hit the...

Georgia National Guard Will Use Phone Location Tracking to Recruit High School Children

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

The Georgia Army National Guard plans to combine two deeply controversial practices — military recruiting at schools and location-based phone surveillance — to persuade teens to enlist, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept.The federal contract materials outline plans by the Georgia Army National Guard to geofence 67 different public high schools throughout the state, targeting phones found within a one-mile boundary of their campuses with recruiting advertisements “with the intent of generating qualified leads of potential applicants for enlistment while also raising awareness of the Georgia Army National Guard.” Geofencing refers generally to the practice of drawing a virtual border around a real-world area and is often used in the context of surveillance-based advertising as well as more traditional law enforcement and intelligence surveillance. The Department of Defense expects interested vendors to deliver a minimum of 3.5 million ad views and 250,000 clicks...

Trevor Bauer, shunned by MLB, makes Japanese baseball debut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — Shunned by major league clubs, Trevor Bauer is trying to find his way in Japan where fans are drawn by his near celebrity status and seem unconcerned by domestic violence allegations against him.The 2020 Cy Young Award winner pitched his first competitive game in almost two years on Sunday and said he’s almost ready to debut in Japanese baseball after being shunned by major league teams.Pitching for the Yokohama BayStars minor league team in nearby Yokosuka, Japan — best known as the home of the United States Seventh Fleet — he allowed four hits, no runs and struck out six in four innings before 2,600 fans.The minor-league park usually draws a few hundred spectators. The team said live streaming views reached 77,000 — 15 times the usual 5,000.“I thought the day went really well,” Bauer said. “The stuff was good, the command was good. The health was good. I feel like I’m ready to compete now, but I have to build my pitch count.”Bauer said he was not sure when h...

DC Emancipation Day celebrates a step toward freedom in 1862

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

Celebrations are underway this weekend to mark the signing of the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, which was the beginning of the end of slavery in America.The District’s annual celebration that featured a parade and live music took place on Pennsylvania Avenue Saturday, with other programming continuing into Sunday and Monday.“Today we celebrate life, the goodness of life and the ability to be free,” Francis Curtis Johnson of the D.C. Seniors Cameo Club told WTOP Saturday.Venay Lagon says D.C. Emancipation Day is a day of pride for those whose roots run deep in the District.“I am a third generation Washingtonian, born and raised here. I’m not leaving D.C.,” Lagon said.Giant balloons bearing images of former President Barack Obama and civil rights leader Rosa Parks floated above the marchers in the parade.From the sidewalks, people waved and cheered as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser led the parade up Pennsylvania Avenue to Freedom Pl...

Rüdiger racially abused after Real Madrid’s game in Cadiz

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger was racially abused by fans after the team’s game at Cadiz in the Spanish league on Saturday.Video posted by Spanish media on Sunday showed Cadiz fans yelling insults at Rüdiger after he went to the stands to give away his shirt to someone who appeared to be a Madrid supporter. Objects were also thrown at the German defender, who is Black.Rüdiger exchanged a few words with some of the fans yelling at him before giving his shirt away and saluting some of the supporters. Two people who appeared to be members of Madrid’s staff came over to lead the player away from the fans. The incident happened after Madrid’s 2-0 win against relegation-threatened Cadiz.Spanish soccer has been marred by racism this season, with Rüdiger’s teammate Vinícius Júnior having been targeted during several matches. Earlier this month, the Brazilian forward testified against a Mallorca fan who was accused of calling him a monkey during a...

Biden and US Congress want to ban TikTok. At this point it may be impossible

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

As the federal government escalates its efforts against TikTok, it’s coming up against a stark reality: Even a politically united Washington may not have the regulatory and legal powers to wipe TikTok off American phones.A few weeks ago it looked like the company’s days in America were numbered. President Joe Biden’s administration had just demanded that the Chinese-owned video app be sold or face an outright ban in the United States. That effort quickly drew support from Capitol Hill, and gained momentum after the remarkably bipartisan grilling of the company’s CEO last month — with lawmakers accusing TikTok of serving as a Trojan horse for Beijing to “manipulate America” and suck up reams of sensitive data on U.S. citizens.But now, interviews with lawmakers, legal and national security experts and former officials in two administrations — including some directly involved in the TikTok effort — suggest that a ban may simply face too many hurdles to ever work.Some in...

Virginia Tech shooting victim from Mass. remembered 16 years later

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

(WHDH) — The April 16, 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech claimed 32 lives, and at the time, was the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. Twenty-seven students and five staff members were killed in their classrooms, including the only Massachusetts victim of the shooting, 20-year-old Ross Alameddine of Saugus. He also attended Saint Mary’s Grammar School in Melrose.

As a return visit to Wrigley Field nears, former Chicago Cubs OF Jason Heyward embraces a new opportunity with the LA Dodgers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

Seven months ago, Jason Heyward was unsure of the next step.He openly wondered if his impending offseason release from the Chicago Cubs might mean the end of his playing career. The Los Angeles Dodgers provided the ideal environment, however, and most importantly a clear path to making a big-league roster.Heyward’s fresh start in LA has been accompanied by a powerful first impression. While the contact issues still exist, three of the 33-year-old’s four hits have been home runs. It already exceeds his home-run total last season with the Cubs when he recorded one in 151 plate appearances. Heyward hasn’t produced a double-digit home-run season since 2019.Heyward nearly slugged his fourth of the season Saturday night against his old team, but Cody Bellinger, in the comfort of his old home, tracked the ball perfectly to snag it on a leaping catch at the center-field wall to rob him of a two-run home run in the second inning.“I thought it was a homer off the bat t...

Fishermen at Japan PM attack acted fast to swarm suspect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:54 GMT

WAKAYAMA, Japan (AP) — As soon as Tsutomu Konishi noticed an object that flew over his head and landed near Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a campaign event at this fishing port, he and a group of other fishermen swarmed the man who officials later identified as a suspect in the attack. As a security officer covered the object with a bullet proof briefcase, one of the fishermen grabbed the man’s neck from behind, another pushed his head down, and Konishi latched onto his leg. They were holding the man as police officers pulled him to the ground. A few moments later Saturday there was an explosion, the crowd fleeing in panic as officers dragged away the suspect, a man wearing a silver backpack. The team effort by the fishermen in this close-knit community has created a buzz on Japan’s social media, prompting many to wonder if they were plainclothes police officers. Senior members of the fishing community say they and police had fully prepared to welcome the prime minister...