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Start over? Stay the course? Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles is nearing a series of landmark decisions.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

Certainly Ryan Poles knows the cameras are everywhere, his every move being watched. Analyzed. Interpreted. Debated.Before Monday’s road matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Poles was doing his usual pregame speed-walk around the perimeter of the field when he crossed paths with Justin Fields, who was on his way to the locker room. Without breaking stride, Poles gave his quarterback a fist bump and, quite naturally, a Chicago television reporter caught the moment, delivering it promptly to Bears fans, including all the ravenous social media sleuths seeking clues on what the general manager might be considering.Was there possibly anything in Poles’ stride or Fields’ facial expression to decode?In the third quarter of the Bears’ 12-10 victory, the ESPN broadcast zoomed in on Poles, this time inside a U.S. Bank Stadium suite after a first down running play to Roschon Johnson. Briefly, the GM shook his head and circled his right index finger in a bit of a ̶...

Norman Lear, producer of TV's 'All in the Family' and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with "All in the Family" and “Maude,” propelling political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of sitcoms, has died. He was 101.Lear died Tuesday night in his sleep, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles, said Lara Bergthold, a spokesperson for his family. A liberal activist, Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that were embraced by viewers who had to watch the evening news to find out what was going on in the world. His shows helped define prime time comedy in the 1970s, launched the careers of Rob Reiner and Valerie Bertinelli and made middle-aged superstars of Carroll O'Connor, Bea Arthur and Redd Foxx.“I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family,” Reiner wrote on X, fomerly Twitter.“All in the Family” was immersed in the headlines of the day, while also drawing upon Lear's...

Dutch military police have discovered 47 migrants hiding in a truck heading for United Kingdom

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch military police found 47 illegal migrants hidden in a truck that was about to board a ferry to the United Kingdom, the force said Wednesday.The men, women and children of various nationalities were discovered Tuesday night in the town of Hook of Holland after a dog trained to sniff out people alerted officers, the Marechaussee force said in a statement.The Dutch truck driver was detained on suspicion of people smuggling, and his illicit passengers will be handed over to migration authorities in the Netherlands, according to the statement.Interceptions of such large numbers of migrants are rare in the Netherlands, but further along the North Sea coast, thousands of people from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the English Channel to the U.K.More than 27,300 have done that this year, a decline on the 46,000 who made the journey in all of 2022.Last month, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that the government’s...

Italy reportedly drops out of China Belt and Road initiative that failed to deliver

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italy has formally withdrawn from China’s global Belt and Road initiative that seeks to deepen relations with foreign countries through infrastructure investments, Italian media reported on Wednesday.Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had previously signaled Italy’s intention to withdraw from the agreement, which was up for renewal. The Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that a letter with the formal notice had been delivered to Beijing in recent days. Meloni’s office declined to comment on the report.Italy became the first G7 country to sign on to the initiative in 2019, when the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement party-led government promoted it as a way of increasing trade with China while getting investments in major infrastructure projects. Neither appeared. In the intervening years, Italy’s trade deficit with China has ballooned from 20 billion euros to 48 billion euros ($21.5 billion to $51.8 billion.) And investments in Italian ports tha...

Big bank CEOs warn that new regulations may severely impact economy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The heads of the nation’s biggest banks say there are reasons to be concerned about the health of U.S. consumers — particularly poor and low-income borrowers — in their annual appearance in front of Congress on Wednesday.The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and five other large firms also took the opportunity to impress upon senators that the Biden Administration’s new proposed regulations for the industry may hurt the U.S. economy going into an election year and at a time when a recession is possible. Wall Street’s most powerful bankers have regularly appeared in front of Congress going back to the 2008 financial crisis. Among those testifying before the Senate Banking Committee include JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and Goldman Sach’s David Solomon. When both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats, the CEOs would appear in front of both the House Fin...

As COP28 talks try to curb warming, study says Earth at risk of hitting irreversible tipping points

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The world is in danger of hitting the point of no return for five of Earth’s natural systems because of human-caused climate change, a team of 200 scientists said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations’ climate summit. The report on so-called “tipping points” — moments when the Earth has warmed so much that certain side effects become irreversible — looks at 26 different systems and points to five of them — the melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, the dying off of warm-water coral reefs, the thawing of permafrost and impacts to a North Atlantic ocean current — as close to triggering.“These tipping points pose threats of a magnitude that has never been faced before by humanity,” said Tim Lenton, the report’s lead author and Earth systems scientist and the University of Exeter in the U.K.The warnings come as negotiators discuss how best to slash emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas at the U...

DeSantis appointees accuse Disney district predecessors of cronyism; Disney calls them revisionist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees to Walt Disney World’s governing district on Wednesday released a series of reports justifying their takeover and accusing their Disney-controlled predecessors of being a part of “the most egregious exhibition of corporate cronyism in modern American history.”The reports commissioned by the Florida governor’s appointees to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, or CFTOD, were the latest salvos in the ongoing court and public opinion battles between Disney and DeSantis over who controls the district. The governing body provides municipal services such as planning, mosquito control and firefighting in the roughly 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) in central Florida that make up Disney World.The reports were being presented Wednesday during a meeting of the district’s board.The feud started last year after Disney publicly opposed the state’s so-called don’t say gay law, which bans classroom lessons on s...

France will carry out 10,000 checks at restaurants, hotels before Paris Games to avoid price hikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French authorities will carry out checks at 10,000 hotels and restaurants across France ahead of the Paris Olympics next year in order to limit expected massive price hikes during the Games.Tourism minister Olivia Gregoire said Wednesday that all 1,600 hotels located in the French capital city will be inspected by the French fraud control agency by the summer.The 2024 Paris Games will run from July 26-Aug. 11. The Paralympics will then take place from Aug. 28-Sept. 8.French media reported last month that the Paris tourism office had seen a sharp increase of 314% in hotel rates during the dates of the Olympics and Paralympics, with the average price of a one-night stay in the Paris region rising from 169 euros ($182) in July 2023 to 699 euros ($755) a year later.In France, hotel rates are set freely and won’t be capped during the Games but French authorities hope inspections will keep prices in check.Speaking to Sud Radio, Gregoire said that business owners could b...

‘Know My Name’ author Chanel Miller has written a children’s book, ‘Magnolia Wu Unfolds It’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Chanel Miller’s next book after her prize-winning memoir “Know My Name” will help fulfill a longtime dream — to write and illustrate children’s stories. Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, announced Wednesday that Miller’s “Magnolia Wu Unfolds It” will be released April 23. The publisher is calling the book a “funny and poignant story of friendship and community” centered on a New York City laundromat, a 10-year-old detective and the timeless mystery of missing socks.“I crafted these characters because I was longing to move freely through the world with fearless curiosity, to refocus on life’s funny little miraculous moments,” Miller said in a statement. “I was craving joy and they helped me find it.“The book will feature Miller’s black and white drawings.Miller was first known to the public as “Emily Doe,” the anonymous victim of sexual assault whose widely read impact statement came out on the day in 2016 that he...

FAA is investigating after 2 regional aircraft clip wings at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:13:49 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Two regional aircraft clipped wings Tuesday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating, officials said.The FAA said the wingtips of GoJet Flight 4423 and SkyWest Flight 5433 made contact about 7 p.m. as both jets were waiting for gate space at O’Hare.The two aircraft then “taxied safely to the terminals, where passengers exited normally,” the FAA said in a statement based on preliminary information.No injuries were reported, said FAA spokesperson Rick Breitenfeldt.SkyWest said its flight was operating as United Express and maintenance crews were inspecting the aircraft late Tuesday, WBBM-TV reported. The station reported that the SkyWest flight had arrived from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, while the GoJet flight had arrived from Richmond, Virginia.The Associated Press left messages Wednesday morning for both airlines seeking comment on the incident and asking whether the jets suffered damage.The Associ...