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True or false: QB Justin Fields’ performance Sunday gives Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles reason to stick with him in 2024

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

Fresh off a convincing 28-13 upset of the first-place Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears are suddenly pursuing something that seemed unattainable 10 weeks ago. December relevance.No, the Bears haven’t nudged their way into the “in the hunt” column of all the playoff graphics yet. They are still 5-8, in last place in the NFC North and behind 11 other teams in the conference as the regular season enters the home stretch.But who knows? A third consecutive victory next weekend in Cleveland could reawaken the wildest of playoff fantasies for the Bears and their fans. Sunday’s victory wasn’t just encouraging. It was thoroughly convincing. The Bears outscored the Lions 18-0 after halftime, made the big plays when they needed them most and then sealed the deal in the late stages of the fourth quarter.The quest to build on this newfound momentum and confidence will continue in Week 15. To set the stage, Tribune writers Colleen Kane and Dan Wiederer survey the scen...

Hundreds without lights after vehicle crashes into power pole

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. — Hundreds were left without power in El Cajon Tuesday morning after a vehicle crashed into a power pole.The crash was reported just after midnight in the 1700 block of N 2nd Street in El Cajon's Bostonia neighborhood, according to logs from the California Highway Patrol.When first responders arrived on scene, crews found a power pole split in half, with the top hanging by wires. According to CHP, San Diego Fire-Rescue confirmed that the pole's downing caused a power outage in surrounding neighborhoods. Crews complete work to bury power lines under major North Park road As of 6:15 a.m., about 1,164 San Diego Gas & Electric customers in Bostonia, Granite Hills and East El Cajon are currently without power, according to the utility company's outage map. Power is expected to be restored around noon.No additional details were immediately available about what caused the crash or whether there were any injuries.Road closures are in place along 2nd Street betwee...

Motorcyclist killed in multi-vehicle crash in Chula Vista; One driver fled scene

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. — A motorcyclist was killed in a multi-vehicle collision in Chula Vista Tuesday night. Police are asking for the public's help in finding one of the vehicles involved that fled the scene.Authorities were alerted to the crash around 8:31 p.m. after receiving a report of a collision involving a motorcycle in the 00 block of H Street. When CVPD officers arrived on scene, the motorcyclist was found lying in the eastbound lane of H Street with major trauma.Medics with the Chula Vista Fire Department attempted lifesaving measures on the motorcyclist, but he was later pronounced dead on scene. Their identity is being withheld by authorities at this time. Man hit, killed by car in East County Preliminary investigation led officers to determine that there were three vehicles involved in the traffic collision in addition to the motorcycle, however, only two remained on scene. The third vehicle, described by police as a white SUV, had fled the scene.No additional details...

OPP charge woman with first-degree murder in baby girl’s death

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police have charged a 30-year-old woman with first-degree murder following the death of a 10-month-old baby girl.Officers were called to a home on South Line B in Grey County on Dec. 7 for reports of an unresponsive infant.The baby was taken to a London, Ont., hospital where she died.Police have charged Nancy Brubacher, 30, of Grey Highlands with first-degree murder.She remains in custody pending a bail hearing.Officers have not revealed the relationship between the woman and baby at this time.The investigation is ongoing.

Death of Adam Johnson sparks renewed interest in guard mandates for youth hockey

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) — A day after professional hockey player Adam Johnson suffered a fatal cut to his throat during a game in England, Dan Sacco went out and ordered his 10-year-old twins new neck guards.Colton and Harper Sacco play together as squirts — 9- and 10-year-olds — for the youth hockey program in North Branford, Connecticut. They already had neck guards, which are required for youth hockey in the state, but Sacco said he took another look at them after Johnson’s death in October.“They were small,” he said. “So I got new ones that are made not to be sliced through and they’re bigger. It’s scary.”Harper, a center, was not a big fan.“At first I said it was a choking device, because it went up to here,” she said, pointing to her chin. “But I got used to it.”Johnson’s death has renewed a national debate over whether there needs to be uniform standards and mandates for neck guards and other safety equipment when it comes to youth ...

Judge scolds Giuliani for false claims about election workers during defamation trial

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The judge overseeing a Georgia election workers’ defamation case scolded Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday for comments made outside the courthouse in which he insisted his false claims about the women were true. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell warned Giuliani’s lawyer that the remarks his client made to reporters about Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss when leaving the courthouse a day earlier amounted to “defamatory statements about them yet again.”The judge appeared incredulous, asking Giuliani’s lawyer about the contradiction of his opening statements calling Freeman and Moss “good people” but then the former mayor repeating unfounded allegations of voter fraud.“How are we supposed to reconcile that?” she asked the lawyer.Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph Sibley, conceded her point and told the judge he discussed the comments with his client, but added: “I can’t control everything he does.” He also argued that the mayor’s a...

Kentucky woman seeking court approval for abortion learned her embryo no longer has cardiac activity

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A pregnant woman in Kentucky who filed a lawsuit demanding the right to an abortion has learned her embryo no longer has cardiac activity, her attorneys said Tuesday.Her attorneys didn’t immediately comment on what effect the development would have on the lawsuit filed last week in a state court in Louisville. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, was seeking class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion. The suit filed last week said she was about eight weeks pregnant.The attorneys urged other Kentucky women who are pregnant and seeking an abortion to reach out if they are interested in joining the case. The lawsuit says Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban violates the plaintiff’s rights to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution.“Jane Doe sought an abortion in Kentucky, and when she could not get one, she bravely came forward to challenge the state’s abortion ban,”...

Spain seizes 11 tons of cocaine in shipping containers. Most of the drugs found among frozen tuna

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities have confiscated 11 tons of cocaine and arrested 20 people in two different operations against the smuggling of the illegal drugs inside shipping containers, Spain’s National Police said Tuesday.Police said that 7,500 kilograms of cocaine seized by agents in the northwestern city of Vigo were hidden between pieces of frozen tuna. Investigators said that a criminal organization was using a frozen seafood company as a front to bring the drugs from South America to Spain.A separate sting by police in the Mediterranean city of Valencia led to the seizure of 3,400 kilograms of cocaine found in false bottoms of shipping containers in the eastern city’s port.Police didn’t reveal the exact dates of the operation, only indicating that they had been carried out recently. They said both rings were linked to criminal organizations from the Balkans region.The Associated Press

Quebec cold case: Man faces first-degree murder charge in young girl’s 1994 killing

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec provincial police say they’ve arrested a 61-year-old prison inmate in the killing of a young girl in a Montreal suburb nearly three decades ago.Investigators say Réal Courtemanche, detained at La Macaza Institution in Quebec’s Laurentians region, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the 1994 killing of Marie-Chantale Desjardins.Desjardins was just 10 years old when she disappeared on July 16, 1994, after she left a friend’s house at the end of the day in Ste-Thérèse, Que., northwest of Montreal.Her body was found four days later in the neighbouring community of Rosemère in the woods behind a shopping centre.Provincial police say Courtemanche will appear before a judge later today in St-Jérôme, Que., northwest of Montreal.Authorities say the arrest was made possible thanks to innovative methods in forensic biology by the province’s crime lab.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2023.The Canadian Press

Ottawa to launch pre-approved home design catalogue, bring back post-war effort

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:28:06 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is planning to launch a catalogue of pre-approved home designs to speed up the home-building process for developers.Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced today the federal government will begin a consultation process to develop the catalogue in January.Fraser says this brings back a policy from the post-Second World War era when the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. developed blueprints to speed up the construction of homes.A report released this summer co-authored by housing expert Mike Moffatt came with a set of recommendations for the federal government that included developing such a catalogue.Fraser says the initiative will start with low-rise builds and will then explore a potential catalogue for higher-density construction.The minister says the catalogue should come together sometime next year.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2023. The Canadian Press