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Cornerback Jaylon Johnson is among the absentees from Chicago Bears OTAs. How big of a deal is it?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus had a concise response Tuesday when asked about attendance at Tuesday’s organized team activity at Halas Hall.“We’ll coach the guys who are here,” Eberflus said. “That’s really all I can say.”Not present was a handful of expected starters, including cornerback Jaylon Johnson, guard Nate Davis, wide receiver Darnell Mooney and safety Eddie Jackson.Mooney and Jackson are working back from the season-ending injuries they suffered in Week 12 last year. Mooney fractured his left ankle in the Bears’ Nov. 27 loss to the New York Jets, while Jackson injured the Lisfranc ligament in his left foot. Mooney needed surgery; Jackson did not.Eberflus seemed optimistic about the recovery of both players.“They’re progressing,” he said. “All I can say is that they’re progressing right along with where they’re supposed to be. It’s all positive and we expect them back soon. When t...

Owner and operator of sober homes in Greater Boston arrested, charged with 37 counts of fraud

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

The owner and operator of a chain of Boston-area sober homes under the name “A Vision From God” has been arrested and indicted on 37 fraud-related charges.Daniel Cleggett, 37, of Kingston, and Nicholas Espinosa, 37, of Randolph, were arrested Tuesday morning, according to federal court records, in connection with an indictment charging them each with 21 counts of wire fraud, six counts of money laundering, two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of mortgage fraud conspiracy, and one count of making false statements to a mortgage-lending business.Cleggett — the owner of the business, which he founded in 2016, according to the indictment — was separately charged with four counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements to a mortgage-lending business.U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson released the pair after they came in for an initial appearance in federal court in Boston.A Vision From God LLC, which Espinosa runs, operates nine separate sober homes wit...

Household watch: Netflix to charge extra $8 for viewers outside subscriber’s home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

Netflix on Tuesday outlined how it intends to crack down on the rampant sharing of account passwords in the U.S., its latest bid to reel in more subscribers to its video streaming service as its growth slows.To combat password sharing, Netflix said it will limit U.S. viewership of its programming to people living in the same household. Those who subscribe to Netflix’s standard or premium plans — which cost $15.50 to $20 per month — will be able to allow another person living outside their household to use their password for an additional $8 per month, a $2 discount from the company’s basic plan.Without providing details how it authenticates subscriber identities or accounts, Netflix assured that everyone living in the same household of a U.S. customer will still be able to stream TV series and movies “wherever they are — at home, on the go, on holiday.” The company based in Los Gatos, California has roughly 70 million U.S. accountholders.The long-anticipated ...

Aaron Rodgers tweaks his calf in practice, Jets QB doesn’t believe injury is serious

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

Tuesday was the first day the media could watch Jets OTA practice since the team acquired Aaron Rodgers.But all the assembled media saw of Gang Green’s new superstar quarterback was him standing on the sideline for 90 minutes.After warming up with his teammates, Rodgers spent most of Tuesday’s practice without a helmet on the sideline. He tweaked his calf while warming up and took the day off as he didn’t participate in either individual or team drills.“I just tweaked my calf pre-practice conditions,” Rodgers said. “I don’t think it’s too serious.”Rodgers didn’t go inside with trainers to get looked at as he watched Zach Wilson run the first-team offense during 7-on-7 drills throughout the day. It appears not practicing Tuesday was just a precautionary measure. He also chatted with assistant coaches during the practice session and pointed out directions to players as the Jets were running a new offense under Nathaniel Hacke...

Sununu shifts to back legal pot in Granite State 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

CONCORD, N.H.— A shift by Gov. Chris Sununu’s to support marijuana legalization has inspired a last-minute push for new legislation.Though several bipartisan bills in support of legalizing recreational marijuana have cleared the House in recent years, Sununu opposed them and they ultimately failed in the Senate. But after the latest defeat earlier this month, Sununu announced that he would back legalization if lawmakers took a different approach.The House Commerce Committee voted Tuesday to amend an unrelated bill as a vehicle for a new plan where the state regulates marijuana the same way it controls the sale of wine and liquor, in line with what the Republican governor and potential presidential candidate outlined.The bill that was defeated in the Senate would have included a 12.5% tax levied at the cultivation level. The latest measure is similar to a plan lawmakers considered last year that would put the New Hampshire Liquor Commission in charge of regulating and selling c...

Justin Fields to DJ Moore? Early returns are positive — and now the Chicago Bears can put their wide receivers in the right order.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said multiple times last season he never has been with a team that spent as much time practicing the two-minute offense as the Chicago Bears did.So it was no surprise Tuesday afternoon at Halas Hall, near the end of the Bears’ second organized team activity of the spring, when 1:40 was put on the clock. What quickly followed was something Getsy — and Bears fans — could get used to.On the first snap, DJ Moore won a clean release off the line of scrimmage. After a quick double move, he was sprinting downfield.“Just played pitch and catch after that,” Moore said.The deep shot from quarterback Justin Fields wasn’t just a first down. The offense was in field-goal range. One play provided the smallest of glimpses, but everything was in rhythm and the Bears have a bona fide threat for opposing secondaries.“The first thing I would say is speed,” coach Matt Eberflus said of his reactions when the team got on the...

Man killed while helping ducklings safely cross busy California street

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

ROCKLIN, Calif. (AP) — His family says it’s no surprise that Casey Rivara’s final act was one of compassion. When he spotted a mama duck trying to guide her ducklings across a busy California intersection, Rivara stopped his car at a red light and got out to help them make it to safety. Rivara made sure traffic in all directions was stopped, witnesses said, then escorted the duck and her babies to the other side of the street around 8:15 p.m. last Thursday in suburban Rocklin, northeast of Sacramento. “All the ducks made it safely across,” said 11-year-old Jude Peterson, who was watching with a carpool group after track practice. “He did something amazing.” His good deed done, Rivara was walking back to his car when another vehicle came through the intersection and struck him. He flew through the air and landed in the street. The 41-year-old father of two died at the scene. “Casey was the kindest, most amazing husband and father. Even his last act in this world was a sign of h...

Bulgarian writer wins International Booker Prize for darkly comic memory novel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel won the International Booker Prize on Tuesday for “Time Shelter,” a darkly comic novel about the dangerous appeal of nostalgia.The book beat five other finalists to the prize, which recognizes fiction from around the world that has been translated into English. The 50,000 pounds ($62,000) in prize money is divided between author and translator.“Time Shelter” imagines a clinic that recreates the past, with each floor reproducing a different decade. Intended as a way to help people with dementia unlock their memories, it soon becomes a magnet for people eager to escape the modern world.French novelist Leila Slimani, who chaired the judging panel, said it was “a brilliant novel full of irony and melancholy.”“It’s a very profound work that deals with a contemporary question and also a philosophical question: What happens to us when our memories disappear?” she said.“But it is also a great novel about Euro...

Texas AG accuses state’s House speaker of being intoxicated

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called Tuesday for the resignation of the state’s GOP House speaker, accusing him of being intoxicated on the job in a statement that shook the state Capitol. In a tweet, Paxton accused Republican Dade Phelan of presiding over the Texas House “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication.” He cited no specific evidence, but the tweet came days after conservative critics of Phelan circulated video on social media that appeared to show the speaker slurring his words while presiding over the Texas House on Friday night.Phelan’s office did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The speaker returned to presiding over the House shortly after Paxton released the statement as lawmakers continued working through bills. Paxton also asked the House General Investigating Committee, which include allies of Phelan, to look into the matter. On Tuesday afternoon, the committee was holding a closed hearing i...

Medicaid plans to audit the prices of costliest drugs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:45:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday it is planning to conduct a yearly audit to verify the prices drug makers charge on a handful of the costliest prescriptions covered by Medicaid. Under the proposal, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would require as many as 10 drug makers every year to furnish the government with proprietary and non-proprietary information as evidence to support the price it charges states, which administer Medicaid. Drugs that cost Medicaid the most money — some as much as $2 million per treatment — will be selected for the survey. The proposal was prompted by rising drug prices and complaints from states leaders who say they are having trouble negotiating those costs with manufacturers, said Dan Tsai, director of Center for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Services. “We’ve got very high cost drugs, who have no competition,” Tsai said Tuesday. More than 90 million people are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, wh...